Elise has been one of my favorite junglers, and even champions since season 4 but I have found myself playing different champions simply because they just do better in general than Elise. I have never been a fan of full AP elise or anything, but how do you guys who have seen or maybe played with item changes on PBE feel she may do? I would love to play her again but I don't want to feel like i'm gimping myself.
When i started playing LoL ( Early season 5 ) Elise just came out soo uhh I didnt know Elise was a selectable champ in S4 Baunjo
Hopefully her changes are cool cause i never see her ingame anymore :C
The item changes don't really affect her from what I've seen. She's an AP jungler and her items haven't really been changed. Her early game is still amazing while her late game is still meh at best.
She generally just builds Sorcerer Shoes, Runic Echoes and Rylai's Crystal Scepter into defensive items, so it doesn't affect her too badly.
If she wants more AP after that, she would probably grab Liandry's Torment, Void Staff, Abyssal Scepter or Eye of the Watchers (which surprised me, though it really shouldn't have since she used to build Sightstone). IIRC, only Abyssal was really changed among those, so she should still be fine.
I will probably say a few unpopular things about her...
: not so good. Yeah, magic pen, and yeah, AP + Health, but Health + AP is meh for that much price, and the passive does next to jack on an assassin who drains HP to nothing in 2 secs, anyway. Also, very single-target, and limited movement reduction (except single-target, with 
), which brings me to:
: not so good. Yeah, AP + Health again, and more of it, but she doesn't need to amass much AP when done right, and her defenses are a joke without strong assassination, so Health is, again, moot. The slow is nice, and a good bit helpful, but the lack of a real strong synergy, plus lack of movement/CDR/truly useful stat is bad.
This item duo is quite costly, and as I lightly tapped on, has limited movement/CDR/assassination value. I'd shy away.
: not so good. Yeah, defenses on a melee champ, and a good movement speed boost to catch enemies, but nothing to stay in range for her strongest assassination ability, Skittering Frenzy, and she can waste all her effort of approach by attacking from range. Highly lacks everything mentioned thus far, beside a fickle movement speed boost.
: not terrible. The CDR is quite helpful, and Armor to boot is kinda nice. And actually, 
makes a halfway decent item for those reasons, plus a nice movement slow on top of it, and unlike most champs, she couldn't care less about the AD drop, as her base AD was kinda sad to begin with. However, her lack of natural HP, natural MR, meager Armor, and poor damage mitigation otherwise on a heavily melee, single-target champion is sketchy... A bit much for her to be of value as a tank/bruiser. And, on that note:
: ... Yeah. Sure, it has magic damage, which feels nice on top of and 
and 
. However, she's once again an assassin, with poor viability as a true tank-type, or a half-way decent bruiser. Save for a champion that can survive heaps of damage with a decent heap of AoE damage on top, like 
, 
, 
, etc, etc.
So, what works?
: A highly efficient assassin duo, combining for massive movement speed, CDR, and huge Assassination values, particularly with the on-hit effect stacked with high AP and Skittering Frenzy. This duo can stand alone, in fact, no more offense needed...
: ... but why stop there? AP and MR reduction, with high MR on top of it to prevent casters from one-shotting you.
: Huge defenses, conditional (but consistent) movement speed, and maybe the best part, that movement augments in tower range, right where she needs to be potent. Towers are one of the few things that won't whiff that easily when trying to secure kills on champions who play a conservative game to try to throw off your assassination potential.
And as a backup strategy:
: for those games you need some bulk, but can't figure how to afford it. Heavy on-hit punch, with some MR and MPen thrown in, more percent damage, hybrid at that, heaps of AS, decent HP, and an easy kill setup with ranged auto - Cocoon - Venomous Bite - Skittering Frenzy, and no Rappel wasted with heavy slow nearly guaranteed, if caught out.
And yet another strategy:
: Need physical damage? With this much AD/Crit, on top of your natural AS, plus the high APen, your phys damage will be quite decent. Don't underestimate how strong your base damages will be as well, as you are an assassin; your skills will still be quite decent. You will also have weaving speed, excellent duelist defenses, and a speed boost for an emergency on top. Honorable mention to 
instead of , as that combo can be quite tanky without any actual defenses (but of course can afford to pile some on).
Personally, I'd take any of these over any day.
Edit: Another note... And I'll pile on some more popularity. I start 
, and then never upgrade . Elise wants her speed. Instead get 
and fly around at will. A 1.5 second stun, especially as telegraphed as it is, is not going to reliably gank enough kills to get to late game. However, some speed to run past enemy wards quicker or reposition Cocoon better, and even more reliably hit melee autoattacks for you and spideys... It's kinda important, and transitions into your full build much better. 
is good for dueling, but not necessary unless enemy does it, in which case you can usually Rappel and let an ally pelt away. 
is k, but I feel very underwhelming, especially since it costs some clear speed (a Smite charge) regardless.
That jungle item is just not that good. I spend 1k on it and get EXP which I already get at 300-600g, no stats on top, just a new way to waste Smites (or wards) and that same damage vs. monsters that Elise just doesn't need. Back when it was worth gold, I went for it. But EXP, it's just not worth it anymore, even for a caster.
Elise is definitely in the top 5 BEFORE the kindred nerfs. Now that kindred lost some itemization, she can compete even better.
all still great!
on the rise in terms of popularity.
