Mandrake Ward more important then we realize.

EzraTwitch·2/18/2015, 12:59:53 PM·4 votes·857 views

The biggest thing about this PBE patch in my opinion is the Mandrake Ward. Since it works against invisible units it will allow riot to include half decent stealth champions in the game again with out absolutely breaking them or making their game-play counter-intuitive as all get out (I'm going to "sneak" up on you and assassinate you, have a giant exclamation mark so you can tell I'm nearby). Champs like pre-rework Eve and Rengar would never have grown to the heights of power they where at if Mandrake ward was in the game at those times, especially considering its a stealth ward so you can drop in your lane to detect ganks coming up the lane from the enemy tower as well.

I hope this ward makes into the game, and further more I hope it marks the return of "Stealth and Stalk" champions now that counter play would be so readily available.

9 Comments

stuartk112/18/2015, 1:04:09 PM1 votes

Playing support and starting with a mandrake ward (dropping it at river just before the bush at 3:30 or so) will be a pretty good start now. Also, they can finally buff Eve without worrying about her becoming too overbearing.

AnCa2/18/2015, 1:25:25 PM1 votes

The mandrake ward is a nice addition to the ward family, it does a vision ward and stealth ward's job both to a lesser degree at the same time. But I do not think this will mark the return of no ! type stealth assassin though.

Since the number of wards you can place are still 3, thus the vision you can cover on the map is not increased. If one would have to start placing mandrake ward there would be less actual wards that provide vision. Mandrake ward only gives a warning ping, you would only roughly know whos there by looking at who else is already on the map. It seems to be only truly useful during laning phase atm. Combining these 2 facts, after laning you would still be relying on well placed green wards, pink wards and oracle trinket after laning against stealth champions. Thus mandrake ward only truely help during early game like its design to be. Those same "stealth and stalk" champion will still have a field day after early game if you buff them to the previous status.

On a side note, this makes Twitch even worst as he is now. If you drop one at the side bush, he cannot pretend to back/roam go invis and walk in and start a ambush 2v2 lane fight at bot. Basically, he has less option to start a fight during laning.

Mandang02/18/2015, 2:15:32 PM1 votes

I just wish these games didn't all subscribe to the "items are the only way you can counter stealth" mantra. Sure, Mandrake ward might be strong, but the stealth champion still puts a gold burden on the enemy team simply by existing.

Also, the other thing that's always bothered me about stealth champs is that a lot of their counterplay relies on team coordination, which is great for the small percentage of players who play 5's, but bad for the majority of LoL's solo queue playerbase. Yes, if push comes to shove, Riot *should balance for the 5s environment, but better still would be if they designed these champs in a way that they could be balanced for both.