In games that I'm in there's often situations where my team can get a Rift Herald for free yet they either don't want to get it or it never crossed their minds until I pinged it. With its duration and synergy with a lot of champions it can be very valuable if given to someone that's fed. If this is the case, why don't people take it more if its not possible to take a dragon or tower?
Because in order to get rift herald you literally need the enemy team afk, the stars and planets aligned correctly, downhill road with favorable wind, a pinch of salt over the shoulder for good luck, the waves perfectly frozen in order to not waste several minions...
And for what?
A +5% effective hp WHEN YOU'RE ALONE and a risible buff on your autos every now and then?
Give me a reason why i would want to get rift herald besides "i have nothing else to do".
Hell, i would rather counterjungle the enemy raptors over taking rift herald if i have time, it's more useful.
inb4 next patch counterjungling gets nerfed
It almost always takes 2 people and is a huge time investment. While it's great on split pushing champs and burst assassin's, that's about it.
It's not exactly valued in pro play either, which is why riot is looking to either rework it or remove it.
It's something to take if theres nothing better to do/take and theres minimal risk involved, but the thing is that's very rarely actually the case. If top/mid aren't shoved in, theres a fairly reasonable chance of the enemy top/mid showing up and murdering you mid-herald so it's probably not worth the risk, and if mid/top are shoved in, then taking a tower directly (giving increased map pressure and gold) tends to be an option that pays off more than taking herald.
Whats more, if both top and mid turret and dragon are all dead pre-20 minutes, theres a reasonable chance things are already snowballing in your favour, so you don't need herald.
Several reasons I think.
Its way too tanky and requires u to have some form of healing or damage mitigation. Its just not rewarding compared to other objectives. You cant really do it unless the enemy top laner has threw the game most of the time.
Biggest issue is simply agency. It doesn't feel good to fight Herald as two, when only one of you can get the buff. Just isn't particularly rewarding, even if it's good for the team in a stats sense.
And actually, Even in the pro scene, I find it being taken less and less. I think the buff itself is good, but Herald is rarely contested in the same way dragon or Baron is. (My guess, Herald is just too difficult an objective to take)
It deals quite a bit of damage and many of the meta junglers and top laners don't build tanky enough early enough to warrant finishing a play and then taking Herald. Most people would rather just shove some waves and deny the enemy team some more gold.
wut?
in the games I'm in, people fight for that shit
You pretty much guarantee a victory if you get it. The win rate with herald is around 80%
I can usually solo it or run it in a VERY quick duo around 18:00 in unless I've lost my lane. It's a nice little buff regardless of if you're top, mid, or jungle.
It's too beefy, too damaging, and disappears too early in the game. Even though it supposedly disappears at the 20 minute mark, you actually have to start at like 18:30 just to be safe. And since it no longer goes to the killer (which is fucking retarded), any feeding shitter on your team, or the enemies, can pick it up.
One of my favorite things as Morde jungle is to get a dragon and use it to take Rift. Almost makes up for playing Morde.
