Leveling Abilities
How important / relevant is it to max an ability at a time? Is it really that detrimental to put in a few into another before maxing out one?
6 Comments
It REALLY depends on the champion and your playstyle.
If you look at Caitlyn for example, if you max anything other than Q first you're going to seriously hurt yourself. Her E can deal some damage but it's primarily utility (you should only be using her net to gap-close for a kill or gap-create to escape [or jump over a wall/bush]). Her W sets a trap, also purely utility and worthless in the early-game duels/skirmishes (they're useful however in the mid-game teamfights as you can either catch opponents out, prevent escapes, or force opponents in to a specific path). Thus, you level Q E Q W Q R Q W Q W R W W E E R E E and there's really very little reason to deviate from that (although some will take traps at level 3, 2, or even 1 for various purposes [can be good for counter-invades]).
In contrast, someone with multiple damage abilities it probably doesn't matter as much. You'll gain a slight disadvantage but it won't destroy you if you level the wrong skill (unless you completely forget to put 1 point in a skill).
As was said, it depends on the champion you're using.
Draven needs to max his Q first, and doesn't get near as much benefit out of ranking either of his other abilities more than 1 point early. In contrast, I can't think of a single skill that Quinn needs to have maxed by level 9 to remain effective.
It's actually how I play jungle Fiddlesticks. Get Drain to rank 3, Dark Wind to either 3 or 5, then max Terrify. Longer fear, better ganks.