I get 1-2 towers and sometimes a hib every time I get hold of a rift herald. The key is to hold it until you win a team fight. 4 mins is pretty gracious.
Assuming rift herald becomes a higher priority than dragon, will bot lane move to top?
obsesse11 votesbot lane will definitely not move to top, but I'm sure we'll some very early rotations like old lane swapping/tower trading at high elo. I think its strong but depending on team comp/dragon element I don't think it's always first priority.
MysterQ1 votesBut everyone says games are snowbally. Will you ever get your infernal dragon AP dream when you can just bust an inner turret like nothing. And it gives you control for every future dragon.
obsesse12 votesTo get Herald you will likely have to win a team fight. To use it effectively, you'll also need to win a team fight. If you win back to back team fights, the game is already snowballing in your favor. Herald, dragon, baron, it's all win more at that point. You're already winning fights. Herald doesn't guarantee anything, it just creates a great opportunity for you to take control of the game.
Remember that if you just send him to lane and the enemy team is prepared, they just burst him down and maybe he does a few hundred damage to an outer turret.
MysterQ17 votesIn my ELO, you dont need to win a teamfight for Rift YET. People are not contesting it as much.
Yes, if used incorrectly it will just get an outer turret. But again if you use it correctly it can be insane.
obsesse3 votesI definitely think it's good, honestly I can't wait to see how pro teams prioritize it. I love sending herold to a lane as a split pusher then grouping as a team to force a very tough choice from the enemy team. That headbutt damage is pretty insane the first time you see it.
Hyrum Graff1 votes[{quoted}](name=Hestia Chan,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=nKsiEXPN,comment-id=00000000000000000000,timestamp=2017-05-08T14:31:54.279+0000)
I definitely think it's good, honestly I can't wait to see how pro teams prioritize it. I love sending Gerald to a lane as a split pusher then grouping as a team to force a very tough choice from the enemy team. That headbutt damage is pretty insane the first time you see it.
ftfy
50000000000000002 votesIt's also pretty difficult to contest since top lane isn't warded as much. And a lot of champs can solo Herald.
EndlessSorcerer3 votesRift Herald is rather easy to solo-kill, so you don't need to win a teamfight.
It turns slowly enough that you can just walk behind it to hit the eye and its damage is rather low.
obsesse2 votesYou may not need to, but when I play jungle I make it a priority to keep vision around it. I don't want it getting into enemy hands and if I can get it for free then I will. I'm sure other players also want to prevent enemy teams from taking it and chunking a tower for free.
Poske1 votesThis is how High elo players value objectives Infernal>first Tower>ocean>air (Its on 4th place just because its hardest to solo eventhough its value is nice) > herald > mountain
MysterQ1 votesCool to know.
But I was giving my experience in low ELO. The game isn't just high ELO, in fact most of it is low ELO.
Not trying to be rude. It is good information so thanks. But is that old Herald or new Herald?
Poske2 votesnew herald
Its vastly overated. kinda prefered old one
I am specially sure Shaco,Riven,yasuo,renek,gp,ekko mains ll miss the old one
obsesse4 votesI think this might depend on server, I see Challenger-high diamond players grab new herald in every game. It also seems like you vastly underrate mountain drake, incredibly easy to take and make getting all other objectives better. This is especially important in high elo.
Poske2 votesit gets taken like 75%-80% of games
But it never gets opted for
Keep in mind its new the percentage ll go down since its really subpar..
MysterQ2 votesSure the isolation buff for 20 minutes was nice. But I still have no clue what it even did. This one makes a big team impact. But eh instant reward and gratification.
Vallalan1 votesno way this happens. bot lane doesn't have turret protection. if you send your bot lane top and the enemy sends their duo bot still you will lose bot tower insanely fast as they will push in and damage the tower. your top lane duo can do the same, but the top lane turret has protection and bot doesnt.
herald is not so good that it is better dragon AND first tower gold.
what you WILL see is teams heavily prioritizing winning bot lane so they can quickly rotate the duo and mid up top to 4/5 man herald then push down mid or top for another free tower to snowball their lead.
Apocyliptic5 votesRift Herald is better used as a splitpushing tool than right after acing the enemy team. The reason for this is, if you are able to siege a turret with the rift, you could have probably done that with your four teammates just as quickly. Use Rift when one opponent is dead and the enemy can't respond to the pressure without losing multiple turrets in every lane.
That being said, Rift is pretty good, but it's more of a snowball "my team's gonna beat your team in ten more minutes," kinda thing, while dragon is the safer late game win condition. It's up to you what you get.
Me, being a Mordekaiser main, I get a pet regardless, so it doesn't matter much to me.
muted team chat5 votesHere is commando yi winning a game from 2nd turret -> nexus with herald
balanced
DuskDaUmbreon3 votesIt depends. Drakes are eternal buffs, and favor long games, Herald favors short, swift ones. Long term, Drake is the most vital buff, since +24% AD/AP and +20% true damage to future objectives (only in an optimal circumstance could this happen, obviously) means you will always be stronger than them, even if you reach end-game, with everyone having full build. It also paves the way for 90 true damage per second with Elder Dragon. Baron is temporary, and, while Herald offers at least half a turret (it only has to headbutt once it spawns to do that), drake offers permenant power. Drake becomes even more important if a team has 
, 
, or 
, since they all can get power from it.
Yordle Xayah3 votesImagine a meta where Harold and Drake are SO IMPORTANT that you have to put your Duo lane in Mid, because you need quick response to either objective.
TheBlackKnight212 votesI think you are right. However, the cost of taking this isn't really that much. RedMercy was able to solo the Rift Herald. It's pretty sad actually.
General Esdeath 2 votes
GET OUT OF MY GOD DAMN LANE
No
gems
TyrekGoldenspear1 votesHear that bot? You may get some relief yet.
SpecterVonBaren1 votesNot really, had an enemy team get Herold and then all rotate bot to kill my bot laners and take two turrets with it.
Angrychickén1 votesI had this exact same thought.
Thilmer1 votes"May be"?
Rift Herald rigth now IS more important than the first dragon. You get Rift Herald and automatically win one lane and destroy two towers; is going to get nerfed soon.
Erockandroll1 votes"May be"?
Rift Herald rigth now IS more important than the first dragon. You get Rift Herald and automatically win one lane and destroy two towers; is going to get nerfed soon.
doubtful, considering how much effort needs to secure the herald and setting it up. (time which could be spent on sieging the towers itself.)
The way I see it, Rift herald getting the outer (and likely the inner) is totally fair.
TheGoomyGamer1 votesdoubtful, considering how much effort needs to secure the herald and setting it up. (time which could be spent on sieging the towers itself.)
What?
**effort **
Can easily be soloed by any champion in the game.
Erockandroll1 votesWhat?
Can easily be soloed by any champion in the game.
eh, Solo by anyone, yes, easily? I think we have different definitions.
I've seen that video myself. But honestly, your going to want at least on person with damage if your going to take him with any speed. Also, if the Jungler isn't Present, Your running the risk of it getting smite stolen.
MunchCrunchLunch1 votesits strong. but you can't do it against a team with good vision. or hell. if jungler rotates to lane. its usless unless you have 3-5 people. because it can easily be killed with the help of a jungler that has smite.
Titanium701 votesThing is Herald offers basicly the same a old Dragon did - granting a gold advantage (by getting a tower), when looking from that perspective it not so surprising the since no dragons effect does something similar - even Infernal is quite bad early on considering fights.
Meep Man1 votesRift Herald is strong if your team can make an opening for it to push uncontested. Otherwise, it falls very quickly against all but the most damage-weak champions. It allows for quicker games if the enemy team doesn't react well or is all killed off early.
Enloct1 votesIt's really hit or miss. It has the potential to run down a lane and destroy everything down to the inhibtor. It also tends to just get a single half hp charge off and do almost nothing. It really depends on the timing. If you can use it while the enemy team is aced its probably game. Otherwise it just forces them to defend a tower as normal.
58697132DEL11 votesIf we got tower first blood and Herald hasnt spawned, i go for it regardless of where/what i am. Always. Throwing it down a lane thats already lost a turret (if not two) is almost a surefire way to do one of 3 things: Crack an inhib Secure another objective IE dragon (or baron if you time it right) Split push and take down even more turrets.
Still seeing folks not play too optimally with this tho. Maybe it's my Heroes of the Storm experience with camps that push with you but a lotta folks squander the time running about aimlessly (and not many folks know its WAY weaker in lane so like, just get 3 decent dmg people to kill it) but yeahno I love the new herald. Lot's better.
ModCaptainMårvelous1 votesDepends where you are.
Did you just do a four man gank bot and come out at good HP? Drag. Three man gank top? Herald.
GigaPube1 votesdespite it being a largely snowball meta, if you push towers too early, without the teamfighting/damage/endurance to resist many forms of defenses, then all you're doing is feeding them minions closer to their base. early inhibs, like before maybe 15 minutes, without the gold lead to back it up, is usually met with a slingshot effect that riot have purposely, and rightfully, implemented, to counteract the supposed cheese strategies of things such as zero damage tryndamere, 5 champs pushing 1 lane for 10 minutes, wave proxying, etc. if you get only 2-3 kills and take herald and 2 top towers, other team can just grab infernal, get 2 safer towers in each other lane, heavy vision/lane/jungle control, then they just go and grab the top wave. if the other team stays, they have no tower to fall back on, they take free damage if they're still trying to hit the tower. if they retreat, they go back and wave clear at outer/inner turrets, and cant go back to top since its way too far away for it to be worth to push it further, instead of grabbing the gold from dead towers in the other lanes. you also lose all jungle pressure, your rotations are suboptimal with the awkward pathing of going from an inhib turret to an outer, or even inner mid turret. point is, riot have done pretty well for the majority of the meta stipulations to indeed be the most effective forms of killing a nexus. the cheese that works, is catching your opponent off guard with smaller changes in "meta" playstyles that can then snowball unconventionally. or just do anything thats OP but, imo with what ive written, its not rift herald ALWAYS being more important than 1st dragon, especially not infernal
Xienwolf1 votesMy personal ideal: People now feel the need to check which dragon element is up first, and then decide to go 2 top or 2 bottom.
Would be cool to not have it a known factor at the start of the game for precisely which lane will be the duo.
