The Crab and You, why Urgot should be one of your considered picks!

Hello all! As you can probably guess from the title, I want to talk about everyone's favorite special little crab, and why he should be your hidden "OP" pick when you are in draft / ranked.

Now I know what you're saying. "He's terrible!" , "Wtf troll pick" etc. But the truth of the matter is this, he isn't that bad under the right conditions. They key words being "right conditions."

So what are those conditions? Well, with quickly regaining popularity again, Urgot is becoming a better pick once more for the mid lane. This happened before back in season 4 /5. I think it was like a year ago, maybe a bit longer. Forgive me as the seasons are kind of blending together for me, of someone would clarify that would be amazing. Anyway, he became popular because of zed's popularity because he is zed's hardest counter in the game.

Fighting a zed is easy as urgot, as you can easilly land an E then Q Q Q combo him before he can shadow away.If zed ever ults you or an ally, you ult him right back which negates almost all of his damage.

Okay. So he counters zed, why else should I even consider this ugly (beautiful) crab I hear you ask. Great question, I'm glad you asked!

Another common problem eveyone seems to be running into lately is that games are ending sooner. Thankfully for Urgot, this is not a problem! His strong suits are a decent early game once you hit level two due to his bullying potential in the lane phase, but more importantly his mid game can be terrifying. He becomes ttanky with strong damage as well as an ability that can be used to peel, catch, and even engage with if you're far enough ahead. His power spike mid game will help make sure your team doesn't end up with the more common "FF at 20" that has been going on lately with games being decided more quickly.

"Okay lazy, so that's all well and good but what items would I even build for him? This is all pointless if nothing synergizes with him!" Right again you are hypothetical poster! However, I've found that with the preseason that there are more items that synergize with him than before. So let me explain.

, , , , , and a defensive option of my choice.

So some of these are new items, and some are old ones that have received love from the preseason, making them more viable options. Some of these items aren't exactly popular right now either. Death's dance id the main offender I think people underestimate right now, but let me explain why it is perfect for Urgot. It gives him that precious CDR that he needs, it finally gives him reliable sustain through his Qs since he doesn't auto too terribly much, it also helps prevent him from being bursted down the moment he goes in with his ult (which was also buffed in the preseason!).

This build though gives him all he needs. Tons of armor pen, max CDR, mana, and enough resistances, health, and sustain to be incredibly hard to kill in team fights. The armor pen is important due to how his E Q Q Q combo works. The E shreds up to 20% of an enemy's armor. Combine that with a ton of flat armor pen, and you get yourself some targets with next to no armor. The CDR also maximizes your shield ise to soak damage mid fight as well if you need to ult in. This build between maw and sterak's gives him a couple second breath mechanics to stay in the fight longer.

Before the preseason, would not be enough mana alone to solve his mana problems. Hr still has more mana issues than most, especially early game, however a lot of these issues were made easier for Urgot to deal with thanks to meditation in the cunning tree. Thunderlords is also incredibly strong on him because after just your second Q if you land your E will proc it. The cunning tree also offers more flat penetration which is great for Urgot. For Urgot I go 12/18/0, though I'm sure 0/18/12 would also be a good choice for him.

So I've listed a bunch of his strengths and why you should pick him. I'm also going to include when you should not pick him, as I don't want people to blindly picka champ and then get destroyed because of their choice! Urgot's lane phase relies around bullying the enemy. His wave clear isn't exactly pretty to say the least. Anyone who can shove the wave against Urgot from the safety of his E should dominate him in lane. So champuons like (post 6) are all able to handle him fairly well due to their relative safety and wave clear. Urgot isn't the best pick (not exactly the worst either due to his armor shred) if your team is all AD. He isn't bad for an all ad team if you think your team can win quick (so renek top, draven / lucian bot lane, etc).

If you've made it this far through the thread without leaving, first I want to say thank you for taking the time to read all of this. I hope to hear everyone's thoughts, builds, funny stories, whatever it is, involving our beloved crab. I sincerely hope this helps out someone!