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Why I don't take heal

theArtifacts··3 votes·910 views

Now just from the title I'm going to get downvoted to hell, however I'd like to discuss this since I get so many team mates flaming over me (as ADC) not taking heal.

No my stats aren't great. No my rank isn't high. Heal isn't going to make me all of a sudden Challenjour. But listen to the logic here and decide for your self.

Heal at level 18 heals for 350HP and gives a slight speed boost. At level 18 in most games one ability or two AA's does at least 350 damage. So mid to late game your heal is being negated almost immediately. Yes it is good in saving you early game and possibly preventing a snowball, but that very process in low elo leads to poor decision making. You should not be relying on heal to save you or win the fight. That'll put you into dangerous positions and likely lead to a loss of lane or game.

By not taking heal I tend to take less risks and instead only engage when I'm fairly certain i will win the trade. That's not to say I'm flawless, I will make a mistake now and then but in those instances heal would not have saved me anyway. Instead.. I can get back to lane quickly so objectives and CS aren't overly lost. Or.. if losing lane I can again, back and get tp to lane to avoid dying while trying to hold it or allowing the enemy to take it down easily.

Ive been playing Tristana lately and taking TP is working. Particularly in split push opportunities. Win the team fight? lane is pushed? TP there and get that turret.

Thoughts?

15 Comments

Apollocliptic3 votes

TP is super powerful, which is why it rarely gets buffed or tuned when other spells are, or changes are reverted. Personally I agree, that if you can win without the use of Heal, then TP puts you in a stronger position overall (like some champs that don't take the "mandatory" flash, because ghost on Nasus or ignite on shaco helps them do their job better, and according to their playstyle.

Now for the counter argument.

Heal, unlike Barrier, had about 4 different uses. It can be used for the speed buff to get away, speed buff to secure kill, sustain/save during a fight, or, above all at higher elo, to Juke (by timing your heal instead of spamming it, you can trick an enemy into over extending and secure a kill). These are all good reasons to take heal, but what places it OVER TP, is that you can ALSO use it, for all of the above reasons, on an Ally. Saving them, helping them engage, helping them escape, baiting an enemy. The number of plays go up the higher your skill level, so as you climb, you'll realise how useful it is to have, to the point where some solo lanes still take it. Not to mention, that late game it is still relevant, for denying close kills, and even more so for the speed buff, but also because there are more potential allies you can save with it. If you ever played support, the idea of having heal goes up, because you stop thinking selfishly and start thinking it is good for team play regardless of whether you need it on your own.

Now if it doesn't fit into your playstyle, ignore other people and do your thing, but I am confident that in time, it will start to appeal to you, and you'll slowly gravitate towards it after a few VERY close games where you lost to heal. (It is more often when you fight equal opponents, whereas if they're stronger or weaker, like you said, heal wouldn't have been the deciding factor)

On a side note, I sometimes play top, and my friend does too, we often go half the game without using TP, because even though it is so useful, it is SO useful, that you want to have it up as much as possible. I will often time my backs to return to lane without missing farm anyway, whereas tp'ing to minion is often bait for enemy skills or jungle attacks, and lets team know you can't use it for it's other purposes. The proper use of TP, means that you often don't use it at all, meaning having it becomes wasteful, compared to something you may use far more often.

theArtifacts1 votes

Really don't know why you're getting down voted for posting a legitimate response. Must have some Trump supporters in the crowd.

Apollocliptic1 votes

LOL thanks, that reply made my day ^_^

Geshultz2 votes

I would say taking exhaust on some ADCs with short range like vayne can be very useful. Well taking heal on the support that is passive or doesn't want me in front line as this gives the ADC the ability to duel most people in the game with proper usage of exhaust can save you from taking 1000 damage vs heals speed boost which the support can use to save allies/themselves without having to be in range to exhaust and die.

Could not care1 votes

It is cetainly not a bad decision if you play passive adcs often. Those who like to trade, though, pretty much need heal as sometimes poop escalates too fast and that speedboost can save you from a really bad spot. The healing part, though, is kinda useful too, but I wouldn't say it is super important.

Flaherty1 votes

Anyone who is semi competent will take advantage of the fact you don't have heal and will poke you out of lane or win fights because they have it. Yes TP is good for getting back into lane or late game but as a carry you don't want to be splitpushing across the map late game and early game you can easily get fucked so unless the game drags on for 50 minutes you will be behind in items and levels. Just because you have heal doesn't mean you have to play poorly because you think you're safe, that kind of mentality will cause anyone to fail regardless of what spell they take. It may not seem like much late game but 350 hp and that speed boost might be the difference between dying and barely staying alive long enough to take out 3 of the enemy team to prevent them from taking baron and finishing the game or something. As the carry you want to be with your team because you are the damage, you could argue that having tp will lead to more poor decision making because you decide it's fine for you to split top lane and can just tp to bot when they are taking elder dragon but that's several seconds you aren't with your team when they need damage. I think you would perform better overall in the role with heal, but that's an opinion.

Zoshiro1 votes

If you are getting poked and dominated in bot at the start, it means you are a bad LoL player. Having heal to make up for some of the damage you are taking due to lack of skill with not negate it enough to make a difference. No reason to take heal, I can see why 99% of the game is stuck at bronze...you read these boards, and every bit of info is wrong or just horrid advice. Tp is great, but only for a few champs...mainly those that can set up a great gank. As an adc, you should generally use ignite...as a support, you are going to want exhaust...no where in the world of LoL do you want to use heal, UNLESS YOU ARE SO INEPT THAT YOU ARE NOT ABLE TO USE EXAUST OR IGNITE. If that is the case, and you will waste you summoner ability, then go for heal...but never go for barrier. Now, ghost is another great and useful skill...it gives you a huge bump to move speed, and allows you to ghost through minions, for TEN seconds. Or if you are Ivern , just say hell with it and rock the smite/flash when you support/top/mid...if you want to see the other team with a titled jungler, try that and dont let them have much of a jungle to work with.

Flaherty1 votes

First of all, It's actually more like 25% of the game is bronze. More people are silver than bronze. Being dominated doesn't mean you are bad necessarily, just not as good as the lane opponent. Regardless, you see every adc in the lcs taking heal and they aren't bad players.

Branagen1 votes

Follow your heart

LadyRenly1 votes

Id much rather the support like Nami or Sona take Heal for the windspeakers boost, but they never do it because "meta"

Mole Lord1 votes

One reason heal is the go-to summoner spell for adc's is because it also heals your support. This is crucial in early game fights. Unless you are mechanically better than your lane opponents, heal is probably the best choice. That is, if you're playing like a traditional all damage carry. If you're looking for a split push adc hybrid, then by all means, take tp. Just keep in mind you can't all in as well as the other bot laners.

Zoshiro1 votes

Ghost is better than heal for the most part...question is, who the f are you playing with? I have several accounts 1 at high, 1 mid, and lower end level of the ranked elo and almost never see people waste on heal, and never have once heard anyone said use heal...why even make this pointless point to say why you don't use heal, when no one cares?

theArtifacts1 votes

{quoted}

Ghost is better than heal for the most part...question is, who the f are you playing with? I have several accounts 1 at high, 1 mid, and lower end level of the ranked elo and almost never see people waste on heal, and never have once heard anyone said use heal...why even make this pointless point to say why you don't use heal, when no one cares?

At least every other game someone is bitching about it. So it may be good to have some discussion for low elo players to see that it isn't necessarily a must-use spell.

Randomonium1 votes

Split pushing as an ADC normally gets you killed against any team that is at least semi competant. Furthermore, I can't tell you how often a well timed heal has been the difference between me getting a double kill in lane and giving the enemy team a double kill.

In my mind running TP in bot lane is a crutch. It says to me "I know I'm going to get pushed out of lane because of my bad positioning so I'm going to run a summoner spell that allows me to get back to lane quickly." If you learn to control the wave properly you shouldn't need TP and you should be able to time your backs appropriately to not miss much CS.

Do what you want but if was up against an ADC with TP you better believe I'm going to all in them at the first opportunity because I know I have a combat advantage over them.

Ishidar1 votes

I take heal on my Soraka because it lets me heal, and then heal some more without having to get too close to Starcall. Personally, I think the supports should have heal, and adc's can take ghost, barrier, exhaust, ignite, whatever suits them.

BECAUSE

The biggest benefit to heal isn't the healing or the movespeed but the fact that it works on an ally. That's why bot lanes use it instead of solo lanes in competitive play (typically). The adc may or may not always have a support nearby, they might be cs'ing, splitting (oh god), the support is roaming, whatever. Vayne loves to 1v1. The support, however, is almost never alone unless warding, and if a support gets caught out warding, heal won't save them anyway. Flash MIGHT. So it makes much more sense for the support to have the spell that heals an ally and self.

And to your point, heal is 700 HP at lvl 18 because of the fact that it hits two people. You have to think macro, not just about what heal does for yourself.

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