Dear Mid Lane

RuGu·Mar 3, 2015·7 votes·986 views

When you see the enemy team takes Katarina, or LeBlanc, Zed, Akali, Talon, or pretty much any other super bursty assassin, instead of trying to pick a champion who is equally squishy and high risky / high reward, just take someone Like ChoGath or Swain and don't fudge up the lane for the first couple levels. Why risk having to outplay someone when you can just choose a champion who is far more difficult for them to kill and start cascading uncontrollably.

Your team will thank you for not gambling on a super squishy assassin where the lane will come down to who gets first blood. You'll also be immensely useful later as a late game threat because they won't be able to burst you.

Please and Thanks!

7 Comments

DrCyanideMar 3, 20159 votes

Dear Bot Lane,

When I signal that a snowball, bursty assassin is missing from mid, please fall back towards your tower. I've been doing a good job of denying them kills, I'd rather not have my hard work destroyed because you wanted 3 more CS.

Sincerely, your Mid Lane

EedatMar 3, 20152 votes

Take Swain vs a Leblanc. Bwahahahaha

KomePrePongoMar 4, 20152 votes

Katarina is a disaster in soloQ You can own her in midlane, you can deny farm, roam to other lanes, you can double kill enemy jungler, when they are with katarina trying to kill you. But if the game long enough for her to build ~300ap, you should be praying to gods you have full setup of tanks, because she will kill your team again and again, transforming from 2\7 shit into 12\7 monster. Her mechanics are uncontrollable and the only way to stop her - is a reliable cc (not a skillshot, not a slow thing like vi's or nami's ult) and FOR GOD'S SAKE NEVER UNDERESTIMATE HER. Every fking game I see katarina is picked against me in soloQ - I know that in 80% it's a lose. I don't know in what way she is balanced (for a soloQ, of course) with free resets in teamfight she can burst aroung 1000dps and worst thing is that all her spells do not have animation - they are instant. In one blink of an eye she could E+W 3 times and do half of her ulti simultaneously.

AmazingGoatMar 4, 20151 votes

{quoted}

Katarina is a disaster in soloQ You can own her in midlane, you can deny farm, roam to other lanes, you can double kill enemy jungler, when they are with katarina trying to kill you. But if the game long enough for her to build ~300ap, you should be praying to gods you have full setup of tanks, because she will kill your team again and again, transforming from 2\7 shit into 12\7 monster. Her mechanics are uncontrollable and the only way to stop her - is a reliable cc (not a skillshot, not a slow thing like vi's or nami's ult) and FOR GOD'S SAKE NEVER UNDERESTIMATE HER. Every fking game I see katarina is picked against me in soloQ - I know that in 80% it's a lose. I don't know in what way she is balanced (for a soloQ, of course) with free resets in teamfight she can burst aroung 1000dps and worst thing is that all her spells do not have animation - they are instant. In one blink of an eye she could E+W 3 times and do half of her ulti simultaneously.

I completely agree with this. What I love is when I'm playing and saying to ban Kat and someone responds that "Kat is easy to shut down", or that they will "keep Kat shut down". Game starts, lane goes roughly even, first team fight occurs, Kat gets a double kill, then shortly after gets a solo kill in lane and the laner complains that "you guys fed Kat". Awesomeness.

I also think that spells without an animation are one of the biggest issues. Instant cast spells that don't have an animation are the very definition of "no counterplay". The only skill in Kat's kit that has any sort of counterplay is her ult, which also destroys your entire team in seconds if you don't instantly cancel it.

Blazing TenshiMar 3, 20151 votes

Stomped a Kat in lane with Swain, like 6 kills on her. She still gets like 12 kills by the end of the game going like 12/13. Luckily the rest of the enemy team was ad and couldn't even touch me so I had my team focus on Kat for me while I took care of the other 4.

LunaeMothMar 3, 20151 votes

All of the yes.

AmazingGoatMar 4, 20151 votes

{quoted}

When you see the enemy team takes Katarina, or LeBlanc, Zed, Akali, Talon, or pretty much any other super bursty assassin, instead of trying to pick a champion who is equally squishy and high risky / high reward, just take someone Like ChoGath or Swain and don't fudge up the lane for the first couple levels. Why risk having to outplay someone when you can just choose a champion who is far more difficult for them to kill and start cascading uncontrollably.

Your team will thank you for not gambling on a super squishy assassin where the lane will come down to who gets first blood. You'll also be immensely useful later as a late game threat because they won't be able to burst you.

Please and Thanks!

I actually agree with the underlying sentiment and think that when assassins are strong it really increases solo queue frustration for a lot of players. The reason players play bursty assassins is because their strategy for solo queue is to either get fed and carry, or lose. If they repeatedly all in at low levels and are able to kill their opponent 55% of the time, they will climb. However, if you are playing with a player that does this it reduces your impact on the game and/or forces you to play differently. I'm sure we've all had the experience of successfully zoning out the enemy laner(s) and dominating lane, but not netting any kills, all the while watching kills be traded like candy in another lane. When team fighting starts, your 20 or 30 CS advantage is nearly meaningless if there is a fed Kat/Akali/Riven/etc.