Season 3 behold!
Elise
The Spider Queen
Elise is so strong right now. There's a very good reason to why I, or in fact, any decent player, would love Elise to the core. Not only is she a sexified version of Brood mother from Dota, she's got so many things that make her probably one of the best characters in the game. Her kit provides to much, and she can function as a mid laner, top laner, jungler or even a support down bottom lane. She's just SOO good right now. I alternate between what role I play whenever I use her, just because she does everything so well.
Laning (Top, Mid)
Elise's laning is pretty much the same thing as Pantheon or Gangplank. You just toss neurotoxins at your opponents until they cry mommy and go home. Against most matchups, she can just play poke and come out on top. To top it off, if your opponent does not go back when they're at low health from the massive neurotoxin poking, changing into spider form and jumping them for a kill is super easy, as her spider form excels at picking off low health targets. She's got great pokes in human form via neurotoxin and volitate spiderling, and a hard stun via cocoon, that can easily set up ganks or kills. In spider form she's got a great single target nuke/execute move via venomous bite that preys on low health targets, an attack speed steroid that buffs herself and her spiders via skittering frenzy for dueling, and rappel, a move that makes her untargettable and allows her to lunge on her target. An amazing kit for laning overall.
Jungle
Elise's jungling phase is also massively easy. For one, in spider form, her spider minions can tank minion damage, and skittering frenzy heals her, so combining these 2 ensure that she gets an incredibly sustained jungle run. Sustain and speed are never an issue, for she clears with average-above average speed, and her health never drops too low. However like most AP junglers, she can't duel worth a damn against invaders, but she can be a good thief, stealing enemy camps. Her ganking is insane. There are so many ways to start a gank as Elise. You can go in with human form (recommended), throw in Q,W and follow up with cocoon to stun them. Then change into spider, rappel on them, Q them and activate W. Or you can start with spider form, rappel on to them, Q,W, then change into human form, cocoon them, Q,W. When it boils down to it, lets just say that as long as your team laner isn't retarded, a kill is almost guaranteed.
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| You thought sexy spiders wouldn't exist? |
Team fights
Elise's role in team fights is pretty easy, its to focus on the enemy carries. Believe me or not, she does an excellent job at this, even if she doesn't manage to kill them, she can very easily force them out of the fight. Start with cocoon, catching their AD/AP carry, then follow up with Q and W. Immediately change to spider form, WALK up to them, Q them and activate W. About now they should be flashing or using their escapes, NOW you rappel onto them for the last bits of damage to finish them off. If they have multiple escapes, flash after them to finish them off (unless its a kassadin, f**k kassadin). But still if you aren't presented with a clear shot, it always works to just jump right in with rappel in spider form and start biting at the enemy carries to scare them off or make them focus you.
There is one thing you have to know about Elise. While it seems like she can do a lot of damage, she isn't the main carry or VIP on the team. If you build Elise as a full glass cannon, you're probably not going to get the most out of her, building her tanky is the way to go, since her % damage on neurotoxin and venomous bite already makes her really strong. In the hands of most decent players, Elise can be really deadly.
My build for Elise
-Boots + 3 pots (laning) / Hunter's machete + 3 pots + 1 ward (jungling)
-Haunting guise
-Sorcerer's boots
-Rylai's crystal scepter
-Warmogs armor
-Liandry's torment
-Rabadon's deathcap
-Zhonya's hourglass/Abyssal scepter
Zed
The Master Of Shadows
Zed is batman, don't try to fool me. Because like batman, he's got a lot of tools to make him feel like a master of the shadows. Bringing forth high burst damage and some sick mobility, Zed can be a real blast to play. Plus, he's an assasin, which means it going to feel immensely satisfying if you get fed. Zed scales very well into the late game, and he functions well as a mid laner, top laner or jungler. I do think he is very viable in top or mid, though I think he's jungling works, its just not as strong.
Laning (Top, Mid)
Zed's laning is all about bullying his opponents out of lane, because he does a lot of damage very quickly, and he is RESOURCE-LESS. He runs on energy, and because of this, he gets to do free harass all day. Maxing out shadow slash (E) is ideal, because it does high damage and is very very spammable. You can use it to farm or harass, and it works well both ways. If your opponent is melee, walk up to them and hit them with E and an auto attack (I think E resets your AA counter), then back off. If you decide to engage on you and fight back, do so by spamming E and only E. Because the cooldown is so short, you will probably win the trade (unless the enemy is a Shen or Irelia or something). If they are scared of you, throw out your shadow and E them, they still take considerable damage. The W + E combo is also your main bread and butter against ranged opponents in the mid lane, follow up with Q and you've dealt some nice harass damage.
Jungle
I wouldn't say Zed is horrible in the jungle, but he can do it. If you send Zed to the jungle, he's a farmer. He can farm really well and his shadow slash lets him clear camps incredibly fast. He has one of the best clear times in the game, and it only gets better as he builds damage. His sustain is HORRIBLE, though when he starts mowing down camps fast enough before they can do damage to him, it doesn't matter as much anymore. He is an excellent thief, as he steals camps so fast. His ganking is admittedly pretty bad, as all you have is a slow via W + E. After the slow you can switch places with your shadow and start hitting him, but unless your laner has some hard CC, he's probably already gotten away. Post 6 is easier for Zed, as his ultimate serves as a gap closer and pretty much makes him an unstoppable burst machine.
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| Featuring! Toilet paper Zed! |
Team fights
As an assasin, Zed's job is self explanatory. Find an AP/AD carry, ult them the moment you see them, use E + Q, hit them once or twice, W + E, switch places with the clone, hit them some more. By then the death mark on them will explode and they will most instantly die (unless you are WAY underfed, which shouldn't happen). After that, you'll probably get focused down instantly and die, but its okay, your job is done. An assasin like yourself, trading your life for a VIP on their team is a very worthwhile trade off. If you somehow DON'T die, make them regret not aiming you by going for the NEXT carry and kill them too, though it will be rather difficult without your ultimate.
Zed is a ton of fun to play. Having high mobility and damage is always fun, and seeing that you get to pick off any squishy you see late into the game should always put a smile on your face. He scales incredibly well thanks to the passive on his W, and be glad. He's actually a viable assassin type character! Lets not forget that he looks like batman.
My build for Zed
-9 pots + 2 wards (laning) / Hunter's machete + 5 pots (jungling)
-Boots of mobility / Ionian boots of lucidity
-2 Doran's blade (laning) / Wriggle's lantern (jungling)
-Brutalizer
-Bloodthirster
-Black cleaver
-Warmogs armor
-Last whisperer
-Bloodthirster (sell wriggles)
Blitzcrank
The Great Steam Golem
It kind of stings that Blitz is always banned in solo queue, because he wrecks too much shit down in bottom lane. He is a ton of fun to play, though he is too good for the fact that good grabs always wins game, and that is kind of unfair. But well, if you want to win a game, you've got to pick the cheap guys, and Blitz is one of those guys. A good grab will usually turn the tide of an entire game. Your team is behind in kills and there's one fed fella on the other side? You grab him and he dies instantly, suddenly your team is winning. Blitz is cool like that. He is one of the few supports that actually have late game impact, like Sona.
Laning (Bottom lane support)
There is really nothing you need to do as Blitz. All you have to do is hide in the brush, zone the enemy and look for a good opening to grab someone, and this opening is hard to come by, so for the majority of the laning phase you will be sitting in that brush doing nothing. You can just run out with W and E them, but with the recent Blitz nerfs it has become more risky to do that. Just look for moments where the enemy carry or support is out of position and throw out a grab. If you grab them, they are either dead, or they either burn flash instantly. Post 6 you actually have decent burst, and if you have a carry like Ashe or Varus, you can have them initiate with their ults, and that will give you an easy pull for an easy kill.
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| Vroom vroom mother f**ker |
Team fights
Its the exact same thing as the laning phase, just on a bigger scale. Anyone you grab is more or less dead, but except now you have to look out for WHO to grab. Grabbing an AP/AD carry, assasin, high mobility champion, squishy will mostly result in a kill and probably a won team fight for your team. HOWEVER, don't go grabbing Alistars, Singeds, Jarvans, Garens, Karthuses, and for the love of god do not grab a f**king AMUMU! Grabbing wrong targets will often lead to disastrous situations for the team so be very careful. You can also engage with flash and your ultimate, since it gives your team a huge opening to go in. If you're focused after you've thrown out your ultimate, so be it, you are a support anyway.
Blitz wins games, and that's that. Even if they don't end up winning, Blitz will destroy the bottom lane. Grabs are so strong, and Riot themselves even said that Blitz is very hard to balance. What do you do as Blitz? Grab VIPs and instantly win team fights, or grab anyone down bottom lane and gain an instant advantage. Blitz is broken like that.
My build for Blitzcrank
-Rejuvenation beat + 4 wards + 1 pot
-Sightstone - Ruby Sightstone
-Philosopher stone
-Kage's lucky pick
-Boots of mobility
-Aegis of the legion - Ruinic bulwark
-Randuin's omen/Abyssal scepter
-Shurelya's reverie
-Twin shadows
Peace out. As long as I play league these will continue.
