Sneaky Sneaky - Twitch in the LCS
For much of the spring split in the LCS, we’ve seen the bottom lane primarily comprise of one of the big four AD carries: Lucian, Jinx, Caitlyn, and Sivir. Lately, though, a newcomer to the carry throne has been sneaking around. Thanks to a resurgence in OGN, bottom laners have been eyeing Twitch as a high-value pick to abuse his stealth and to bring huge damage to the role.
Pew Pew
Twitch’s abilities center around one thing: his passive, Deadly Poison. With every basic attack, he adds a stack of the stuff, dealing true damage every second. The rest of his abilities synergize perfectly with Deadly Poison. Venom Cask will add two stacks immediately; the attack speed buff from Ambush allows him to apply stacks faster; and once all the stacks are loaded up, Expunge's damage is immense. Twitch is all about getting that true damage going and taking full advantage of his opponents’ weakened state.
For a meta focusing heavily on huge tanks, true damage is invaluable. Neither armor nor magic resist can do anything to reduce the damage, putting the big guys in a rough situation. It may not look like a ton of damage at first glance (only 8 per second at max level), but it definitely adds up when Twitch is able to ramp up the stacks to 6.
When positioned correctly, Twitch can do a good amount of damage to a single target. However, his ultimate ability Spray and Pray is definitely what he’s brought to the Rift for. Undeniably his biggest contribution to team-fights, it has perhaps the most fitting title of any ability in the game. Activate it, start firing, and pray that your foes are close enough to the initial target to take the piercing shots’ full brunt of damage. In this situation, Twitch can nearly take down an entire team by himself. And since Spray and Pray also adds Deadly Poison to all enemies hit by it, a final activation of Expunge will drop multiple opponents.
Grabbing the Plague Rat with a composition that focuses on holding the opposing team in a single place, and he’ll do wonders for you. Both Gambit and SK Gaming found wins in the EU LCS playoffs by combining him with Orianna and her Command: Shockwave. Sure, their opponents could do their best to spread out when he starts Spraying and Praying, but when Shockwaved back into the center, it's hard to avoid taking tons of damage.
Trapping the Rat
Mobility is a problem for Twitch. He doesn’t have any real escapes outside of his Ambush, and if he’s taken damage while trying to go stealth, it can take him up to three seconds to get away; more than enough time to get squashed. Without a way to peel away attackers for himself, champions that can get on him and keep him running can cause real problems for him. Also, proper usage of Spray and Pray is incredibly reliant on both his teammates to get their opponents in place and his opponents grouping up.
Perhaps the best example of a good counter-strategy would be the first game of Alliance vs. Copenhagen Wolves in the EU quarterfinals. At first glance, it looks like Tabzz's Twitch was the only one doing well on his team, grabbing six of his team’s eight kills. However, the Wolves did two things exactly right: They spread out and kept him on the move.
Look at their composition. Jax, Xin Zhao, Yasuo, Caitlyn, and Karma. Each one of them either has a gap closer or the ability to speed up themselves and allies. As such, they could either jump on Twitch to make him back off, or simply go after his teammates, dodging him entirely.
He may have managed to pick off a few of them in the process - six, to be precise - but Alliance was never able to force a big, game-winning multi-kill. Even when they won a team-fight, Twitch's low range and mobility made him unable to effectively take objectives without the highly mobile Wolves finding him and taking him down.
Dominance in the Playoffs
If the North Americans are looking for a strong ADC pick to bring into their games this week, they might want to take a look at Twitch. In the five games he’s been picked, his team has won four of them. Thanks to his incredible team-fighting capabilities, he forces opponents to play around him.
And it shows. He averaged 4.8 kills a game with 5.4 assists through the EU playoffs, only dying 2.8 times per game. It’s clear that teams are starting to increasingly value him, even causing Fnatic to ban him against SK Gaming in the EU grand finals after Candy Panda handed them their sole loss in the series.
Now, we watch to see if Twitch comes into popularity across the Atlantic.
has always been a great pick since season one. Why is he getting the recognition he's been deserving for years just now?
slows could scale with AP in order to make a big bully jungler in your face. Side effect, we might even see the returns of Top Carry since the jungler can now bring utility and tankiness to the Rift.
say?
he gets wrecked
hey, you wanna come to base and see my 
;)
