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Building Your Champion

Valor Bot··2 votes·450 views

Hello,

I have a few questions regarding Champion Builds in League of Legends. I've seen a great deal of guides out there that detail which items to use on which Champ, and much to my confusion, there seems to be a lot of disagreement across the board. What I really want to know is:

(1) How do I find the best Build for my Champion? (2) How can I be sure that it is the best Build? In other words, what are the characteristics of a "perfect" Build? (3) What about a certain Build makes it better for some Champions and worse for others? (4) Should I build my Champion differently according to who I am Laning against? If so, why? If not, why not? (5) Should I build my Champion in such a way that s/he suits my play style, rather than seeking a perfect Build (if one exists)? If so, how do I discover my own play style? What are the different play styles? And how do I build my Champion according to it? (6) I've heard that some Champions "scale" better with some stats while others don't. What does this mean?

I'm fairly new to League of Legends, so please forgive me for such a long list of questions. :)

Thanks for any help,

Zelardo

3 Comments

50000000000000003 votes
  1. Scientific method. Do some research, try it, and fix error. Looking up guides is a good starting place, but you shouldn't finish here. Everyone has a different playstyle, and depending on matchup you should build different items.
  2. It's probably never going to be perfect. Each champion specializes in few things, but have weaknesses in others. Your goal is maximizing that specialty while covering the weakness. Focusing on one thing will always make you weaker at other things, and generalizing to cover all weaknesses will mean that you won't be particularly strong at anything. Some builds will be better than others, but it will never be "perfect."
  3. Let's look at supports, for example. A tanky build will be useful on Braum, Leona, and Taric, but not particularly on Annie, Sona, or Zyra. The kit of champion is the biggest factor in how you build a champion. Some builds may not fit the kit of the champion.
  4. Yes. Champions have strengths and weaknesses, and if you're laning against a duelist, you should generally avoid engaging without ganks. Against snowball champions, it's generally a good idea to play safely.
  5. You should find your own playstyle. Of course, not all champions can be played in any playstyle (it's difficult to go aggressive with Heimerdinger, for example). You may want to poke down the opponent until they get low enough for you to burst them down. You may want to sustain and farm. You may want to go very aggressive and get kills. And depending on your playstyle, you should build differently.
  6. Scaling means that their damage depends heavily on items than base value/utility. Good snowball champions have good scaling, while supports generally don't have good scaling. Late game champions scale well, whereas early game champions don't scale very well.
Valor Bot1 votes

Hey,

Thanks for the quick and thorough response. Now I just have to experiment with a few Builds and try to figure out my own play style. :)

A few more questions: If my Champion has a high attack power base stat and a low defense power base stat, like Quinn, does that mean I should stack as many attack power-boosting items as I can? How should I cover my defense power weakness? Also, to what extent should I take advantage of other stats? (Lifesteal, movement speed, etc.)

Thanks,

Zelardo

50000000000000002 votes

You shouldn't pay too much attention to those stats. I'm not sure about Quinn, but Vayne has 1 or 2 defense power, but she can be built as a bruiser.

But generally, ADCs are supposed to focus on attack. This is necessary because in a teamfight, your team will need someone to consistently deal damage without dying. That's the point of Marksmen. Someone ranged (so that you're less likely to die) who deals a lot of sustained damage. I've seen Quinn going top lane, but I'm not sure how it works. I think it takes advantage of being ranged to constantly harass melee tanks, who generally go top lane.

Low defense can be covered either by building defense (duh) or having enough mobility to kite. Kiting is attacking and moving away from the enemy who's chasing you, which means you can do damage to your enemy without taking any damage.

Lifesteal is a useful stat that lets you sustain in battle, but can be countered by hard CC (stun, etc.). You should just fiddle around with it to see how much lifesteal or movespeed you want. It's called adapting your build.

If you need sustain, you should get health regen/lifesteal. For ADC, lifesteal is almost always better because your autoattacks do a lot of damage. If you need waveclear (you may not necessarily need waveclear if other members of your team can do it), you can get things like Runaan's Hurricane or Statikk Shiv. If you need to kill tanks, you'll need Blade of the Ruined King, Black Cleaver, and/or Last Whisper.

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