Can someone explain to me Windows of Power in gameplay?

KoKoboto·Oct 28, 2016·6 votes·709 views

And how windows of power effect each class type like tank, fighter, mage, assassin, adc, support etc and if the class even has a window of power thank you!!

10 Comments

Critmaster GarenOct 28, 20169 votes

i think too many people confuse "windows of power" with powerspikes champions have by building items, or with their power curve throughout the game.

windows of power are usually champion kit specific and situational/strategic. in the simplest case it can just mean activating your ult for a massive steroid.

for example for a lot of champions, their windows of power are tied to their ability cooldowns. when a champion has a specific ability on cooldown, his threat can massively drop and pose a window of weakness for the enemy to exploit.

Fiora riposte being on cooldown is a window of weakness for her, that her opponents can exploit for example.

Illaoi has a window of power during her ult. her threat level increases massively during the few seconds her w goes on a shorter cooldown, and she spawns additional tentacles around her.

Darius triggering his passive gives him a massive window of power, in which his threat level increases dramatically and he can potentially weck chain dunk your entire team with large amounts of damage. it closes if you manage to scatter long enough for the timer to run out.

for other champions, windows of power are not quite as large but more frequently available.

Ashe getting 5 stacks on her q gives her a window of power in which she can activate her attack steroid and deal a large amount of damage to you.

Blitzcrank window of weakness is his pull being on cooldown. most of the power budget of his kit is in the ability. so when he doesnt have it available, there is little he can do to you. hes almost entirely useless for the next 15 seconds, and its a moment you can easily all in him and beat him as a ranged carry.

Yorick window of power is when he has enough graves around to spawn a bunch of ghouls and has his e ready available to throw them at you. on the other hand hes not very threatening without ghouls to help him out in a fight. the period between his ghouls being destroyed and not yet having enough graves to make a bunch of new ghouls is a window of weakness.

Commit SudokuOct 28, 20162 votes

they are specific to champions not class

The EcdysiastOct 28, 20162 votes

That can either refer to a champion's window of opportunity to be offenseive/defensive, or the time during the game where they are most powerful and may fall off.

For the first case, it mainly refers to when that champion can fight. Class examples: Short to mid range Mages like Annie, Syndra, and Lux, have the clearest window of power. It's whenever their CC and Ultimate is ready so that they can burst. That window closes as soon as their CC goes on cooldown, if it missed the intended target. Syndra's is slightly different since hers is tied to when she has enough balls to kill the target out for the ultimate. Assassins like Zed are basically in the same boat in that they must have their full burst ready, but they're also limited to when the enemy CC is gone, so they can safely kill their target and leave without getting caught. Tanks', like Sion, window of power are tied to their position. If they aren't in the right position to be the front line and peel, then they have no value. Fighters are in-betweeners. Some, like Lee Sin or Riven have to have their cooldowns up, while others, like Irelia or Yi, just auto attack. Their windows are then tied to cooldowns and position, respectively. And ADC's are the same as fighters, but with their position being in the back line, and since they're the squishiest they must be aware of the enemy mage/support/tank's CC cooldowns and the enemy assassin's position. Support falls into any of the above categories depending on the type of support.

As for the second case, it's based on items. Regardless of the champion, ones with stronger base damage and/or shorter cooldowns generally have lower scaling. Their window of power is in the early game, so they can end before they fall off. AD Shaco is a prime example.

Champs with lower bases and higher scaling do better after they have at least one finished item.

ADCs though, it depends on whether or not they're auto-attack/crit focused. In general the ADCs who rely solely on auto attacks have a stronger late game because they don't have the burst damage for early game, so their window of power opens up around the 18~ minute mark.

Tanks who shine in teamfights also have their windows open around mid-game, when they actually have tank items and can be the front line.

Side note: Juggernauts break all of these rules. Their window of power is completely open since they're designed with damage for the early game that goes well with full tank items in the late. However, that window can be removed if they're kited and built against the entire game.

GULAG 4 UOct 28, 20162 votes

essentially there are 2 meanings of 'windows of power'.

First one is when the champion is at their strongest because resources are up (Aatrox with a full bloodwell, Ult and passive up/ Jax with counterstrike, Kha'zix when you are isolated)

Second one is when they are the strongest at which state of the game:

Pantheon is the strongest during the first 20 minutes of the game then proceeds to fall off like a rock.

Vayne is literally trash and useless and should never get a kill early unless you've fucked up. She is ridiculously hard to deal with lategame in compensation.

Mr CarbonOct 28, 20161 votes

I don't know if I'm feeling a lengthy post at this time of day like I usually do...

So to keep it short... it isn't necessarily the class of champion that has it's window, but rather each individual champion itself.

Example for mages... Katarina is useless pre 6, once she finishes her first item spike and hits level 6, she has a very powerful mid game window that she does ALOT of damage if she manages to get out of lane. She then scales very well and has a great late game into squishy comps.

Let's compare... Syndra very strong level 1-3 and throughout her laning phase, very easily has the ability to solo kill her laning opponent multiple times. Syndra has great single target damage and AOE in the mid game, but has a power trough that starts after roughly 35 minutes or so. this "fall off" is her exiting her power spike.

Hopes this gives a bit of insight, I could talk on this all day... check out http://leaguetales.com/

NaqelOct 28, 20161 votes

Such windows are whenever your side gets a statistical advantage in lane: -If you timed a recall to go shoping just right, you're both still the same level when you return but you have gear. -If you kill minions faster than the enemy, you get levels a few seconds before they do.

In both of those situations, there is(in theory) a moment of opportunity for you to attack the enemy from a position of mathematical superiority, similar to a jungler ganking.

Creating and taking advantage of those moments is the key to victory in the laning phase.

Such moments may also more subtly appear on their own, due to the way each individual champion increases in power as they level up, some champions are simply stronger than others at certain points in the game.

Sona PingOct 28, 20161 votes

You mean like power spikes and scaling? I can't. You can't do that because except in the absolute vaguest of terms, those don't just vary depending on the champions, they vary depending on the build of the champion, which then varies depending on what specific champion it's built on.

AMYS GRAVEOct 28, 20161 votes

An example of a window of power is when a trinity force is purchased. Its also often called a power spike. Trinity force damage in the mid game is quite a lot, but later as champions tank up a bit through buying their items and just getting their HP/lvl trinity force damage doesn't scale into the late game. So trinity forces window of power is between its purchase and the point in a game where a different item would offer more power. An Infinity Edge for instance has a late game window of power because of its damage multiplying effects. When people talk about windows of power they are usually referring to mid game power spikes like trinity, or yommus which has flat pen which is good early but gets outscaled by % pen later on.

From a champion perspective Renekton bullies nasus early, so he has to dominate or else he will get outscaled by nasus late game. So in that matchup renekton's window of power is the early game until nasus can start to deal with him.

Often a champions window of power is relative to their build, like crit ezreal (haven't seen that in a while) does not have the mid game window of power that blue ezreal has, so taking a different build can offer a different window of power for the same champion.

A window of power is generally relative to another thing being measured against, either another champions scaling in a particular lane matchup, different builds for the same champion, some team comps have different strengths at different phases of the game relative to each other, etc....

mad grimmOct 28, 20161 votes

every champ is different... but generally :

ADC: 2 items - around level 9-13+ Mage: 2 damage items, level 6 & 9. Fighter: fighters are usually really strong throughout the game, but get more powerful after 1 defensive item and 1 offensive item. Assassin: usually get a power spike level 6. or (2 dps items) Tank: after 2 defensive items they become rather hard to kill that early in the game. Support: After finishing Gold-Item, Sightstone, and a utility item.

hope this helped you a bit.

p.s this is general, might be off to specific champs, but those are generally power windows for the roles.

Teridax68Oct 29, 20161 votes

Several players have mentioned this in the comments already, but generally a window of power is a period of time when your champion is especially strong. In-combat, this can be when your champion just activated a steroid ability, for example (i.e. an ability that increases your stats or gives you some other kind of persistent combat bonus). More generally, this can be a time when a champion has all of their abilities up, including their ultimate, because they can essentially use all of their available power on demand.

On an even larger scale, this can also be used to describe stages in the game where your champion is at their strongest, and this is where windows can apply to classes and not just champions (each champion has their own unique windows of power). Many tanks and fighters, for example, especially divers, tend to be strongest early game, which would be their window of power, and fall off afterwards. Mages and assassins tend to have their window of power at mid-game, when roaming and burst are especially important, and marksmen and supports often tend to peak late-game due to their teamfighting contributions. However, all of this varies from champion to champion, and there are obviously a lot of exceptions, e.g. early game marksmen, late-game fighters, etc. If you want to know a champion's exact windows of power, that can only really be done by looking at the champion itself, what their abilities do, and what items they work with.