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The state of Olaf (Jungle)

WadeWilson1337··3 votes·1,181 views

Olaf has had this amazing reputation as one of the most snowbally champions in the game. He was even a decent pick in worlds, and has seen a few popups in lcs this season, however those are mostly from dedicated players such as Reignover. Due to the nature of his kit, Olaf can be a champion that is hard to balance, this i understand. However, when a champion has under a 45% winrate and the lowest winrate in the jungle role, its time to take a look. A 44.89% winrate with a .63% pick rate is absolutely abyssmal. One of the things people are talking about in 6.4 is Warlords Olaf, however the mastery only does 50% to minions, not monsters. We have no data yet so we have no idea if top Olaf will be any better, however Jungle Olaf is still in the state of not even viable, and its a shame a unique champion like him is in that situation when he has so much potential to be a strong champion with the right nudge. http://champion.gg/champion/Olaf/Jungle for those interested.

22 Comments

LostFr0st2 votes

He got a stupid strong "nudge" this patch. Try Warlord's on him then come back >.< It's ridiculous.

WadeWilson13372 votes

But in the jungle that mastery doesnt benefit him much at all. Thats why people are taking Strength of Ages even on champions like Nidalee, because it is actually beneficial to your clears to an extent (as well as making you better in teamfights of course). if Warlords was 50% to monsters as well, i would have never made this thread, but it still leaves him in a very shaky state.

LostFr0st2 votes

That sucks that it doesn't work on monsters >.< MB then.
Our real question then would be: "why is there only one viable jungle keystone" no?

WadeWilson13371 votes

Thats a good question. But likely what will happen is Strength will just be nerfed so junglers kind of feel like they can take whatever rather than Riot adressing the problem. I mean, Fervor would be broken af if it worked on monsters, Warlords i think isnt entirely unreasonable to make work on monsters even if it is a 25% heal. I honestly couldnt see any other mastery being altered to fit the Jungle, but that is moreso an issue of the design of the current Keystones rather than jungle itself.

LostFr0st1 votes

yeah you're probably right on the last part. I don't think they'll nerf strength though since it doesn't add damage or real tankyness the way Bond did. Imagine if deathfire gave a mini-redbuff if you had smite, or thunderlords gave a mini runic echoes proc mana refund XD

WadeWilson13371 votes

Would be nice and youd probably see some diversity, maybe even letting Fervor having a weakened effect against monsters. Riot is just scared to implement these kind of changes and for them to make warlords bloodlust give sustain, they had to completely remove the attack speed steroid from it...so idk how much faith i have in them changing keystones.

LostFr0st1 votes

[zombie-nunu-bummed]

Jacknife1 votes

I understand people want to try him in as many roles as possible, but maybe jungle isn't his most optimal role.

WadeWilson13372 votes

I mean he only has a 47% winrate in top...which is where Mordekaiser is sitting around to give you an idea as to where hes at.

Jacknife2 votes

Meh, all the more reason to devote yourself to him and learn matchups if you want to get more success out of him. I play him top lane all the time and I usually get a kill about lvl 2-3.

Dark Nephthys1 votes

{quoted}

I understand people want to try him in as many roles as possible, but maybe jungle isn't his most optimal role.

Yea I still feel Top lane is where he is really good. He has some very strong dueling potential and even destroys tanks thanks to his true damage. I just don't feel he makes such an amazing impact as a jungler because he kind of relies on the enemy laners to overextend to get his ganks off since all he offers is a slow that can be easily dodged.

As some one who plays Shyvana a lot top lane (Which I feel that I'm almost the only one now lol..) The only 2 champions that actually give me trouble when I'm Shyvana is Olaf due to his true damage and sustain. Pantheon due to his strong burst and shield. Not saying that everyone else is easy or anything but I've gotten used to the match ups and Olaf is one of the few top laners where I feel like I have to play passive and not try to fight him lol.

WadeWilson13371 votes

If Warlords Olaf isnt as broken as people make it out to be; one of the things i would focus on if i were to change him would possibly be his horrible mana problems in his first clear.

The fact that Olaf is forced to take Talisman even though Machete would give him absolutely outrageous sustain is an indicator as to his problems. I think that perhaps instead of just buffing his numbers, perhaps they could add an affect to his Q where if he picks up his axe, 25-50% of the mana cost is refunded or something along these lines.

SH Azykan1 votes

Q spam with talisman is way better for clearing than with machete. With his Q you are hitting everything in the camp. For the first clear just going gromp > Blue then q spam every camp with blue buff you are set.

You dont need warlords to work in the jungle, his W gives him far more than enough sustain with the jungle items. Warlords will be amazing in teamfights and skirmishes. Likely see 18/0/12 (warlords) if he is against a team that cant burst him out and 6/6/18 with SotA if the enemy team has an answer for him (like a cho'gath or darius)

WadeWilson13371 votes

His issue isnt his clear speed or his sustain, its his absurd mana problems. Even with blue buff i more often then not see Olaf basically oom by his 4th camp on his first clear. Hes just in that feels bad to play position kinda like Velkoz against a mobile team comp. Hes just in such a bad spot that i never see him and have zero desire to play him because of how weak he is.

SH Azykan1 votes

his first clear is absurdly fast, and is only gated by his mana. If he didnt have that mana gating without blue buff he would very quickly become obscene in the jungle (think like Udyr level clearing but with Olaf's kit, it would be horrifying to deal with)

also you directly mentioned taking machete for sustain, but it isnt needed because of how olaf's kit works. You could easily grab machete if you wanted to AA through the camps but while it does conserve mana it takes so much longer.

He isn't weak, he takes getting used to. Take advantage of when you have blue buff to power farm, then when you don't have it pressure the lanes while picking up camps and get vision control. Get your items to out statcheck people and then group and go ham.

WadeWilson13371 votes

"Hes not weak"....he has THE lowest winrate in the jungle. 45%. Thats pretty damn weak. For gods sake, Jarvan is the second lowest. When youre below Jarvan theres a problem.

SH Azykan1 votes

the most popular masteries for him last patch was still running thunderlords...he had a much better winrate with fervor of battle and strength of the ages both.

Also the new warlords is pretty nice on him as well. It opened up some flexibility and I feel he is definitely not in need of a buff.

Also I never felt Jarvan was weak either. Just his kit wasnt the best for the meta (everyone can leave his ult that is popular right now except kog who shreds him anyways)

If immobile hypercarries like Jinx, Ashe, and Twitch were more popular; Jarvan would have had a far better winrate. He is one of those champs reliant on what other champions are popular in the meta. I still picked Jarvan to success in the right matchups. Olaf also falls into a similar situation. Right now he can get hard bursted out. Which hurts him because he wants a slug fest. If Olaf loses his mana gating though he will become oppressive and cripple some champions being played at all, especially in top lane.

Also Rek'Sai, Lee Sin, and Kindred are all rather low winrate as well, are you telling me that they are weak? When they are all still staples in competitive play?

WadeWilson13371 votes

Reksai, Lee Sin, and Kindred are all high skillcap champions. I have seen many Reksais just walk into a group of enemeies because they didnt pay attention to their tremors. Lee sin is naturally mechanically difficult and is notorious for how hard he falls off late game, and if you arent good with Kindred, you can singlehandedly lose a teamfight with your ult. High difficulty and low winrate is to be expected. If any of those champions had positive winrates, they would be broken like Kindred was before preseason and the bork changes.

Warlords doesnt work on monsters, so no one will be running it on him. In top lane he his winrate is the closest to Mordekaiser i believe...not exactly powerhouse tier level.

SH Azykan1 votes

the only keystones that matter against monsters are bond of stone and strength of the ages. and neither of those actually help olaf clear better. He doesnt need extra sustain in the jungle, his built in sustain is enough for clearing. Warlords is far superior in fights though if he is unable to be completely bursted out or cc locked (in which case SoTA will be better).

Olaf falls into the same boat as RekSai. Can be stupidly strong if played correctly, but a lot of people just run at the enemy team and expect it to work.

Most people will be swapping between SotA and Warlords on Olaf depending on the enemy team comp.

You already admitted you don't play olaf, why not listen to someone who actually does?

WadeWilson13371 votes

You mistake have zero desire to play and play him. I like Olaf. i have played him multiple times. I know how his clears work. I know that his ganks are very hit or miss, quite literally, and are not particularly strong. You are for some reason absolutely convinced because you personally find success with Olaf that you somehow overide the fact the average person could literally play any other jungler and do well with it.

WoonStruck1 votes

Right now, Olaf isn't a problem. Its how over-powered ADCs are atm.

He has good objective control, great dueling, great scaling, good damage, good disengage, considering how he functions, surprisingly low CD on his ult.

There's no 'low point' on Olaf I feel outside of early mana problems. He's not weak, people are just bad at him, and the meta is one that he is almost doomed to fail in.

Qwertywinner1 votes

Have you tried solo botlane olaf? It can work quite well if your team doesn't feed their jng.

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