PSA: learn how to counterbuild instead of building the same items every game

Critmaster Garen·Sep 29, 2015·3 votes·1,168 views

its not hard to press tab and adjust your build to what your opponent has in his inventory.

i just plowed through a tristana with 5 items in her inventory, who for some reason found it necessary to build a bloodthirster after phantom dancer/i.e. instead of a last whisper against a 500 armor malphite.

this is not just true for this one particular situation. no matter who youre facing, try to think outside the box and adjust your build to your opponent.

there is a garen and darius in the enemy team? maybe you should look into grabbing gauntlet or use your randuins to peel for your squishies.

enemy isnt building bork/ is low on % hp damage? stack health.

youre a mage and the opposing team is mr heavy? maybe think about getting as a defensive item.

19 Comments

2000boxesSep 29, 20153 votes

the people who refuse to build qss or zhonyas against zed and call him op -_-

Critmaster GarenSep 29, 20151 votes

{quoted}

the people who refuse to build qss or zhonyas against zed and call him op -_-

right. not just enemy item builds, but also the champions themselves can be countered by the right items.

most of irelias damage is physical, and she relies on her gimmick of applying her w active as much as possible during the duration. frozen heart and randuins neuter her damage quite noticably.

SEKAISep 29, 20152 votes

{quoted}

the people who refuse to build qss or zhonyas against zed and call him op -_-

If you're AP, getting Qss is a waste of money because it will never scale from the point when it was bought.

Zhonya is just an OP item that counters everybody. And you need that against Zed. I think that's saying something.

2000boxesSep 29, 20151 votes

qss is for adc's so they can upgrade to mercurial scimitar

SEKAISep 29, 20152 votes

{quoted}

qss is for adc's so they can upgrade to mercurial scimitar

Yeah that's cool but what about AP characters?

Asking for every AP ever to rush Zhonya before 6 against Zed is just not realistic, not to mention how broken that item is as a whole.

Riot should give both AP and AD Qss upgrade options.

2000boxesSep 29, 20151 votes

zhonyas is probably one of the best ap items in the game i see nothing wrong with any ap's rushing it

SEKAISep 29, 20151 votes

{quoted}

zhonyas is probably one of the best ap items in the game i see nothing wrong with any ap's rushing it

People rush it because it's effectively broken.

Combat a problem with another problem is a shietty way of balance in this game. It would only work if everyone is equally broken but thing is, they're not.

Not to mention, it's a simple fairness issue, why does ADs have a Qss upgrade but APs don't?

Why does APs have Zhonya where they can control their immunity frame while Maw for AD and GA for tanks, can't?

Fairness is the issue here, pigeonholing holing is the solution Riot came up with and let's be frank, it's atrocious and should be addressed.

Anyway, APs should NOT be told to rush a specific late game item pre 6 just to counter a champ. It's just wrong. What's even worse is Riot intentionally keeping that item broken as it is just to promote and keep this mentality viable.

2000boxesSep 30, 20151 votes

i'm ok with rushing zhonyas I used to do it on twisted fate so i could go for more aggressive play styles and if things got bad i could zhonyas and hopefully get a yellow card once i come out of it zhonya's is one of those items that can be built any time in the game and still be just as big of a powerspike rush it early it gives tons of ap and allows more aggressive playstyle build it mid game it gives tons of ap and keeps you safe from pretty much every thing build it late game it gives tons of ap and keeps you safe from everything

EedatSep 29, 20151 votes

Are you kidding? Who said anything about building QSS on an AP champion? If you can't infere that he meant QSS for AD and Zhonyas for AP then you're probably a complete moron

iStudderSep 29, 20151 votes

First off if you start building hourglass before six you should have item 3191 and he cant just zero you out at lvl six and deff not with the xtra armor. getting an hour glass is fine for ap characters

SEKAISep 29, 20151 votes

{quoted}

First off if you start building hourglass before six you should have and he cant just zero you out at lvl six and deff not with the xtra armor. getting an hour glass is fine for ap characters

That's pretty much only assuming 1v1 situation, there are 4 other enemy teammates and 1 is even actively going around looking to dive people all the time.

The idea that you even need a specific item to function as an insurance policy against 1 particular champ, which it doesn't even work all the time and pretty much auto-fails as soon as there are other factors mixing in, is ludicrous.

And let's not mention that this specific item we're talking about here is one of the most broken/unfair item in LoL's history.

IMHO.

FiveofswordsSep 29, 20151 votes

he shouldnt be able to zero you at six anyway. would need be be quite fed. or you are just bad.

Archon XSep 29, 20151 votes

lw against 500 armor would result in 76.5% dr by the tank instead of 80%.

insignificant

Critmaster GarenSep 29, 20151 votes

[{quoted}](name=Archon X,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=9lc0iLI8,comment-id=0000,timestamp=2015-09-29T06:16:51.344+0000)

lw against 500 armor would result in 76.5% dr by the tank instead of 80%.

insignificant

thats not how resistances work in this game. the tooltip is misleading.

every point of armor increases my effective health against physical damage by 1%. just having a last whisper in her inventory would cause to cut off 1/3 of my effective health against her damage.

they also had a renekton with a cleaver on the enemy team. a bit of teamwork could have done quite some damage.

SEKAISep 29, 20151 votes

"%HP true damage in every champ!!" - Rito.

Oh snap OP just got rekt, we all got rekt!!

I miss when counterbuilding was a thing. Similar thing happened with counterpicking and counterplaying too.

EDIT: Ofc you know I am exaggerating here a bit, but pretty sure you all get the idea. The holy counter trinity has been dying for quite some time by now.

Critmaster GarenSep 29, 20151 votes

{quoted}

"%HP true damage in every champ!!" - Rito.

Oh snap OP just got rekt, we all got rekt!!

I miss when counterbuilding was a thing. Similar thing happened with counterpicking and counterplaying too.

thre are 3 champs who have that type of damage now.

out of those, only vayne is really a problem.

garens true damage is restricted to 1 person. fioras ult can be cleansed with qss and her passive avoided.

vayne is the only of the 3 who has to take little amount of risk to apply her true damage.

SEKAISep 29, 20151 votes

[{quoted}](name=Critmaster Garen,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=9lc0iLI8,comment-id=00010000,timestamp=2015-09-29T06:21:53.153+0000)

thre are 3 champs who have that type of damage now.

out of those, only vayne is really a problem.

garens true damage is restricted to 1 person. fioras ult can be cleansed with qss and her passive avoided.

The combo of the 2 hasn't been rampaging yet, but considering how %HP is literally on every champ now (Lee even has 2 atm) I don't think it's gotta take long before every champ is running with a %HP true damage somewhere in their kit.

When that comes, Riot would enjoy the BigPlays to the fullest because everything would have 10 skill shots, 15 mobility dashes and everyone dies in 1 hit or 2.

Critmaster GarenSep 29, 20151 votes

just got out of another game. the same situation with the enemy draven.

he got fed early, and didnt build armor pen. he tickled me in teamfights while my team just dismantles the rest of them.

dont get it though. stuff like this isnt hard.

Very Hard EngageSep 29, 20151 votes

counter build only works if the enemy rushes flat damage, if they rush pen first items its extremely difficult to counter build, and you would be better off building harder flat damage and going for a skill / volatile lane and sometimes winning/losing but still be potent enough for the team fights.

if anyone has bork, cleaver, youmuu, abyssal as their first items, a counterbuild may not be in the cards for you this match.

granted when i take wukong mid i counterbuild with him just for the express purpose of putting down the enemy mid laner and getting ahead, and it works because they're just not used to dealing with it. they dont have the mana/cd's to kill me at those early levels and i make sure to force them out and they miss tons of cs or just die outright.