How do I win more in ARAM?

BLU Medic·3/29/2015, 8:20:16 PM·1 votes·3,864 views

I'm too stupid to comprehend playing Summoner's Rift or Twisted Treeline, but I want to do better in ARAM. I have way more loses than I have wins though, and I find it nigh impossible to carry my team. I also don't know how to itemize depending on situations. What can I do to improve? How do I get team mates to follow when I initiate? How do I beat a team of ADCs and heal-spamming tanks? And how the hell do you play Master Yi? Assuming that I own 25 champions, what is the chance that I'll eventually get to play Vel'Koz (who I own) in ARAM?

My issue is that I can't carry a team. I'm not strong enough, and I lag too much to last hit and get extra gold to buy stuff more quickly.

I know it's dumb asking for help for a non-Summoner's Rift game mode, but still, I am sick of having a 40% win rate.

28 Comments

Raxicor3/29/2015, 10:11:49 PM6 votes

Aram is my favorite mode for winding down. I'm not the best at teaching things in detail, but I can give you a couple tips that may help you out.

First off, don't worry about last hitting. Gold generates faster than in other modes. Also a lot of your gold comes from kills and assists here. The minions are mainly there for pushing power. You may noticed that a lot of fights midgame revolve around when the minions reach the tower.

Before initiating you want to wait until your team pokes down the opposing team then pick up someone who is out of position. If you are uncomfortable about initiating or if you find that its just causing you to die a lot, let someone else on your team do it and follow up with them. Also, before you all in on someone, make sure you make them blow their escapes first. Like if its a Caitlyn , wait until after they use the net.

Builds depend on what sort of class your character is:

ADC: build damage/crit/lifesteal, maybe look into a if you're against a lot of cc. I think people forget its in that mode.
Tank: look at what the opponent team comp is. If its mainly AP with get magic resist and health, if they're AD then stack on armor and health. If its a combination on the two, build for what you think is the earliest threat.
Mage: build that AP damage! You are the burst the rest of your team needs. is a good first buy on mages so that they can spam those spells for longer or if you're a tanky mage, rush that !
Assassin: Again, you want that damage that makes those squishies cry. Build AD or AP depending on what your champion scales from. There are certain exceptions like . Riot claims she's an assassin but the state of her kit leaves her as more of a tanky AP caster.
Support: Build like your evil twin. Make them the super tank or APC that they were destined to be before meta put them bot with less gold. x'D

Some champions gain different advantages on this smaller map. For instance if your team already has a tank and you have Nasus , build that puppy like a wizard because his AP damage from E and R hurts A LOT! Remember that item 3027 from earlier? That's the time to rush it! Blitzcrank Is also very versatile on this map. I've seen him tank, bruiser, or mage. Poppy does well on the map because there are two walls that are perfect for her stun.

Okay, on to MasterYi ! You probably want to play him pretty passive until lvl 6. His only form of poke is his Q, but don't do it on the champions right away. He returns to the thing he Qed on wherever it goes, including if they ran into the tower! I would suggest using it on minions if an opponent is carelessly standing near them. Be very cautious when you do this and click away from the minion afterward. He is mainly good at cleaning up fights so don't worry about doing the most damage to the enemy. Wait until they're low, E-R-Q to victory! You might just get a penta. ;)

Also champion selection is determined by a random number generator so its impossible to know how often you'll get Velkoz other than its a 1 in 25 chance. lol

Sorry its long winded and some of this you probably already know, but maybe there's a nugget of knowledge in there you can take to the Abyss. :)

Oh one more thing! If you are ADC and the enemy has item 3075 build that item 3102 . It will help with that magic damage problem.

Gear Kitty3/30/2015, 1:27:45 PM3 votes

As a fellow ARAM fan, i'll give a few pointers others might not of dropped on you.

Keep track of your Healing Relic timers: They start at 3:10, and respawn every 30 seconds and can make or break a seige! Try to share them out if you can. That doesn't mean to hold it there forever because that one low-HP Ez on your team just won't pick it up, you can't help idiots. Someone needs to take it in that scenario, it'll come back again in 30 seconds and that's okay!

Keep your eye on the prize: Even if your team is entirely AP Mages and Supports, SOMEONE needs to build in a way so they can focus down a tower. Whether that means AD Lulu or a couple on your team depends on who you have an who the enemy has. The only objective on ARAM is to destroy the enemy's Nexus, and that means you need to hit buildings. Waiting for late game when the Bonus AP damage starts piling up can be too late. This is where a shines on some people.

Know Thy Enemy, Know They Self: Knowing the expected damage/CC duration/recharge of all the abilities in the game will go a LOOOONG way. Timing your team's ults/CC for a big engage is one of the foremost ways to win. If Fiddle keeps wasting his Ult when J4 only has 10 more seconds before his is up and Leona blew hers 20 seconds ago and Rumble is using his just for waveclear, you're gonna have a bad time.

Have a go-to first buy for all the champion classes, and make it quick: This is the downfall of so many team early game. The STUPIDEST THING I've seen in ARAM is someone sitting around at the start of the match, waiting so they can go to lane with a . The power the item gives you is MUCH WEAKER than the fact that you just handed the enemy team a 4v5 for several minutes. You're not getting CS, Assists, good Exp, or Kills if you're just sitting at base waiting for your first buy. The only class of champion that I might change a first-buy with are ADCs. I'm a rebel who believes Hexdrinker is a truly good buy when faced with a Magic heavy team, and as such, if I'm against one, instead of going ---x5-x2, I go ---x3-x2 Which leads into the next tip.

SUSTAIN IS QUEEN!!!: If you go into the fray with no plan for negating your enemies' damage, you are going to lose. End of Story. Do Not Pass Go, Do Not Collect $200. You either have sustain in your kit (healing AND mana), you watch the Relics like a hawk, or YOU BUY POTIONS SERIOUSLY THEY'RE SO CHEAP. If your first buy leaves no room for potions, it's a bad first buy. Healthbars are so low and Healing is so weak that you have to be able to keep YOURSELF upright. I start all my mana Mages with a , and many of my tanks the same way (, , , , just to name a few). Cata and 3Red-2Blue is a perfect early sustain option. Too many people buy early Mana-Regen and go OOM for 3 minutes because their total mana isn't enough for good regen. I laugh at them while I chuck a near-endless supply of Nidalee spears, Karthus skittles, and Donger rockets. Yes, your damage WILL suffer in the early game if you rely on the AP in items, but the enemy will have no choice but to blow more blue-bar your way to eat through your Health and Sustain.

** Know your SPEED, and contest the Bush**: This comes from the quick buy at the start. Unless the enemy team has vision in some way (Nidalee/Caitlyn traps, Ashe E, Quinn, Ziggs, Lux, etc.) you need to fight over the bush at the very start. My hard rule is, if I reach my second turret by the 35 second mark, I face check the first and maybe second middle bushes. Anything after that and I probably hold by the tower. For me, ADCs are the toughest to do this with because they have the most items I purchase. Mages get the Cata, Tanks get the Cata or +3Red+2Blue (or 5 Red if they don't use mana, hello Garen!) Assassins depend on the champ, but my APMana Assassins grab a Cata anyway. For most of my roster, I get off the starting block by the 13-15 second mark, which gives plenty of time to get to the bushes. You have to fight over those bushes because otherwise you give the enemy team full power in the first minute. I've seen so many good teams fall apart and want to surrender at the 3 minute mark because they gave up First Blood, don't be like that.

-Someone- needs to Tank: Just as someone needs to be a turret threat, someone needs to be a meatshield in some way. Baiting out your enemy's poke and focus onto someone who can handle it is just as important on the Abyss as it is on the Rift. If everyone is a super squishy support who only shields themselves, you're gonna have a bad time. That doesn't mean you have to buy a Randuin's and Banshee Veil to do so. A nice tanky build for many mages is ++. It gives good AP, a lot of Health (so your passive regen is stronger too, don't scoff at that), and armor for turrets and AD. or or (if you self heal or spell vamp) are your MR options.

I have a specific Teemo build I use almost exclusively in ARAM. item 3027 item 3152 item 3151 item 3065 ( item 3111 OR item 3047 ) and ( item 3115 OR item 3165 ) Teemo WILL BE FOCUSED by the opposing team. You can't deny that, the Global Taunt is too strong. Played normally, he either has to hide a lot and shroom up, or take to the frontline and tank the enemy. With this build (and bonus MR/Armor/AP from Runes) You WILL survive MUCH longer than a normal Teemo, enough that your team should be able to counter-engage on your now On-Cooldown enemies. I've had soooooo many opposing teams rage at my MAANMO build for being near unkillable, and falling into the trap of focusing the tank. SpellVamp doesn't apply to his E damage, but his Q is single target and his shrooms can hit a whole wave if you bunch them up first, he heals almost as fast as a Vlad.

NazgulStig3/30/2015, 6:00:45 AM1 votes

In ARAM it all depends on your champion and even though people say your skills have nothing to do with a win I disagree. Your skills are important no matter what map you play. Many people cant play Aatrox in ARAM and even say that he is useless, that is probably because you never built Aatrox for team fights. Aatrox is one hell of a tank in ARAM mainly due to the fact that he has two lives, AOE burst(little bit AP will increase it), knock up, etc. ARAM is the best place to try and learn how to build a champion for team fights and in case of assassins you will learn that the time to engage in a team fight is crucial. One good example is Yi, you don't just run in to the enemy team and Q and pray to live, you wait for their hard CC to go down and then jump on the low hp/ squishy target, this will make you chain Q because it almost resets on kill. Coming to champions and their effect, it is a true fact that a poke heavy team will dominate an all melee/low poke team but it doesn't mean you will lose. A poke heavy team like Velkoz Xerath Ahri Orianna Jinx against an all melee team seems unfair but allow them to push to your turret and this will give you a chance to jump on to them, go aggressive, talk to your team and make a strategy, interrupt their ults and this will mean the glass canon team will lose to you. They have damage and range but you can be tanky and once in melee range they cant do much as they are mostly glass canon. ARAM is not only a place to learn team fights, champions and builds, it is also a place where you learn to exploit weaknesses a champion has and proper counters. BTW I am new to the forum and this is my first post so feel free to correct me if I am wrong.

Gym Leader Yaki3/30/2015, 12:05:48 PM1 votes

Well if you have an ARAM account (only good ARAM champs), then it should be fairly easy. Some champs are poke, some champs are "wait until it's the right moment to go in" (Master Yi), and some are "wait until our ultimates are all up and lets go in" (like Malphite).

Chaining ultimates is HUGE when you have champs with power AOE ults.

4nth0l0gy3/30/2015, 2:05:45 PM1 votes

My biggest tip is to watch your team's summoner spells in champ select. One of your slots is almost always going to be filled by summoner 4 , or maybe summoner 6 , but your other slot is very wide open. A lot of people take summoner 7 , and I think that's a good choice on an ad carry like Vayne or Caitlyn . However, sometimes you need an summoner 14 for a DrMundo or a Swain . Or maybe they'll have something scary like a MasterYi or a Katarina ; never hurts to take summoner 3 for something like that. Maybe your team is really pokey and mana reliant; giving five players free mana with summoner 13 can make a huge difference before people get their mana items.

I try to make sure my team has at least 1 summoner 14 and 1 summoner 3 always; if we don't already, I usually try to take one of them myself. You wouldn't believe how many first bloods has netted me after an enemy flashes away.

Maximum Zilean3/30/2015, 6:47:38 AM1 votes

The mode is partly luck based. And because of this some games will be flatout unwinnable from the start (Rare, but it happens sometimes in ARAM).

Even if your entire team rolls a bad comp of 5 bruisers against their poke comp, its best to tank up and stall. (Most high poke champions fall off later in the game). This gives you free engages because they can't reliably wear you down.

And another key thing I can recomend. Build for the situations the game throws at you.

Lets say you roll XinZhao against their poke heavy comp. Build tanky and initiate fights. Sure you won't deal L33T DPS, but your being a huge threat by isolating their carries with a good ult.

Only Play Darius3/29/2015, 10:19:53 PM1 votes

You don't reliably win ARAM.

ARAM for the most part isn't based on skill. ARAM is decided on which team has more champions that can do damage without getting near the enemy.

Aatrox Tryndamere RekSai Trundle XinZhao Warwick are some of the biggest turds in ARAM. They are designed around splitpushing and small skirmishes, neither of which are possible in ARAM.

Meanwhile Xerath TwistedFate Lux Ezreal Blitzcrank Caitlyn Ashe Malzahar Morgana Velkoz Karma are extremely overpowered because they can constantly damage you without stepping in harm's way. In summoner's rift you beat them by either flanking them or simply pushing another lane so they are forced to fight on your terms, neither is possible in ARAM. You have only one path to reach them, and their entire team is always standing in your way.

ARAM is supposed to be a less stressful gamemode BECAUSE skill is not the main factor in victory. ARAM is good for learning champs you would have otherwise never played, but if you are looking to ARAM for general improvement, you won't find it.