Why is the hype level for Rumble under 9000?

A new champion's hype level is demonstrated by the amount of threads created by impatient LoL players who can't wait to get their hands on it. We all remember how hyped up Jarvan IV "the Dragon Knight" was in his pre-release stage. Jarvan boasted huge damage potential and teamfight capabilities, as well as exciting new mechanics that guaranteed his success as a new champion. We also remember Renekton having the same amount of pre-release hype for similar reasons. Before Jarvan and Renekton were released, I remember passing by the LoL forum and spotting tons of "we want XXX" or "is XXX going to be [w.e]" threads. For Rumble, however, not many people seemed to care about his actual release; even less players would rush to buy him on the first day of release. 

My collection of lovely Mages

I love Mages. They go in, release their load, and come out -exactly my style. There are many types of mages: bursty, bulky, and supporty. Generally speaking, I usually call a champion "mage" if it meets all three criteria: 1) AP/mana powered skills 2) naturally built mage style (e.g. not AP Master Yi) 3) not a tank. 

Pros and Cons of Mages
Pros: Bursts hard; utility; AOE damage (usually); good gankers/assassins
Cons: Fragile; Mana/CD reliant; need good team support; usually harder to play than other classes


I have a collection of mages that I play with the most. Here I will introduce each of them, see if they suit your style. I only have a limited amount of time and money so I didn't buy all the mages (sorry Ryze). I will talk about the mages I didn't buy in another post.

Anivia 

My favorite Pokemon mage. I played and fell in love with her since I was level 13. Packing 2 AOE slows, 1 mini-AOE stun, a map hack, and a self-revive, she is an awesome burst and utility champion that can turn the tide of the game. If she is fed, might as well be GG for the other team. Being one of the highest burst-damage mage and best utility character in the game, she is not very popular due to her high skill-cap fail-hard ratio. Just when she almost became FoTM, Riot steps in to nerf her, quelling all QQs and put her back in the loner zone. Today, the Ice Phoenix remains untouched by noobs. (My guide available, check "guides" section)

Release Notes v1.0.0.112 Brief Overview

First of all, screw Jarvan, screw patch notes, new Anivia skin!!! =)

SOMEONE GIVE ME A HELL YEAH

Sorry, excuse my excitement. Let's be professional about this...HEXTECH ANIVIA AND REBUFF Wooooooooooooooooo YEEEAAAAHHHHH! (pronounce: Lil Jon")


Sorry again, don't know what happened...stupid laptop keyboard and twitchy fingers >.>


The patch notes link is here if you haven't seen them yet. The patch will be done tomorrow, hopefully. 
http://www.leagueoflegends.com/board/showthread.php?t=549872


Couple of things I want to touch up on. First of all, this patch should be called "all about Jarvan, baby". He is a very hyped champion. All of you with IP/RP saved up (4.8k, yes), this is a champion you need to buy just for the coolness. I won't speculate about his skills; he will be released tomorrow. I will talk about the game mechanic changes in another entry soon.

Karma, the gentle breeze or the deadly whirlwind?

Karma

What is the first thing you might have noticed when looking at Karma? OMG small boobs WTF *sad face*. She ain’t a looker, although some people might dig gypsy chicks (I, for one, am terribly afraid of all gypsies after reading Stephen King’s Thinner and watching the horror film Drag me to hell). However, I do find her skill set to be very interesting. Let’s take a look at her skills:

10,000 views yay :)

Very surprised and excited today when I saw my blog reached 10,000 views! I know this isn't much but I expect my blog to grow much more in the future. Much love <3 to all the readers for supporting me over the 2 months! I will continue to release articles in the future on a weekly basis. Also, I am starting to write for some other LoL communities like Runeterra. I don't write exclusive articles for anybody yet, so you can always find my latest release on this website. And...my Anivia guide will continue to be updated as long as I play this game.
Link here: http://www.mobafire.com/league-of-legends/build/insight-controlling-anivia-13978


Recently, I started playing Rammus all the time. Although I have to put my beloved Anivia aside, I am quickly gaining interest in playing the armadillo as my second main champion. Rammus is such a great champion for solo-queue normal, ranked, and 5 man premades. Although Rammus is a tank, he has deceptively high damage with his passive, and taunt+W+sunfire/thornmail+ulti combo. Most importantly, Rammus is the king of ganks. In the jungling/early game phrase, Rammus can put tremendous pressure on all the lanes by constantly ganking anyone that overextends. It is true that stealth champions like Evelyn and Shaco can also gank very effectively due to their, well, stealthiness. With Rammus, even if you see him coming, there is not much you can do about it. His powerball is simply too fast to outrun, in addition to his taunt making sure escaping will be near impossible if he has a red buff. Rammus also excels in counter-jungling. If you can predict your opponent's jungle path, you can powerball + smite steal, and get away easily. Outside of laning phrase, Rammus can travel across the map really quickly and finishing off a teamfight that started on the other side of the map. He also has superior teamfight abilities; taunting/shutting down the most dangerous target while rest of his team focus fire. Lastly, need I mention Rammus' ability to tank fountain tower in late game?


I recommend everyone to learn how to play Rammus. He is such an amazing champion for 3150 IP. Buy him now!


Good luck and have fun!

A look at Caitlyn's skills

First of all, let me just say that most of the leaks for patch v1.0.0.108 are fake. The fake leak with Fiddlestick's fear range increased to 1000 -absolutely BS. And Teemo WILL NOT get a new skin! Or, I could be entirely wrong and Riot truly wants to mess up the game. I have always been able to find leaked patch notes from PTR, but recently Riot has been really dedicated in sealing away all the leaked info. So my advice would be not waste time trying to find leaks. Just wait for the official patch to come out. (Jan 4th? I think). But one thing that is in the next patch we know for sure, and that my friends, is the sexy sheriff Caitlyn.

Caitlyn

Abilities:

Piltover Peacemaker: Caitlyn revs up her rifle for 1 second to unleash a penetrating shot which deals physical damage (deals less damage to subsequent targets).

Yordle Snap Trap: Caitlyn sets a trap to reveal sneaky yordles. When sprung, the trap immobilizes the champion and deals magic damage over 1.5 seconds.

90 Caliber Net: Caitlyn fires a heavy net to slow her target. The recoil knocks Caitlyn back.

Ace in the Hole (Ultimate): Caitlyn takes time to line up the perfect shot, dealing massive damage to a single target at a huge range. Enemy champions can intercept the bullet for their ally.

Headshot (Passive): Every 8 attacks (attacks while in brush count as 2), Caitlyn will fire a headshot, dealing either 150% damage to a champion or 250% damage to a minion.

The way I see it, Caitlyn is another step Riot took to transition from Team-based/AOE to more ganking orientated metagame. In my opinion, Caitlyn would likely be an AD burst/carry (or an AD mage). Looking at her skills, she seems to do tons of damage in bursts and crazy long range, but likely burdened with high cooldowns and poor teamfight abilities. Caitlyn isn't likely to be similar to Ashe or Tristana or pretty much any range carries. Her skills require very careful positioning, map awareness, and pre-planning. In other words, she is similar to Teemo! 

My thoughts on playing Cassiopeia

Normally, I don't buy champions that are in their first few weeks of release. However, I was reading the LoL forums yesterday, someone posted that Cassiopeia was apparently created by the same champion designer for Anivia. This intrigued my interest (I am a die hard Anivian), as I opened the LoL client as quickly as I could to check her info and price. Not to my surprise, she is rated at maximum difficulty and is a caster, much like Anivia. Some might say her handling difficulty is even beyond that of Anivia. As a player that is proud to main one of the hardest champions in the game, I simply could not let Cassiopeia take the new "hardest playable" champion spot if I want to keep my pride (hehe). Of course, she is also very interesting and likely won't be used much by others, making Cassiopeia players a unique find just like Anivia players. So I decided, I must buy her at all cost!

All you need to know about Smurfing

"Smurfing Gaming term: Entering your regular server under a different name so u can see whats going on without being recognized. In League of Legends, smurfing is an intentional act by an experienced player to gain personal benefits such as increasing referrals, playing with beginner friends, or make oneself feel better."


Before you say something along the lines of "omg hypershatter u smurfette noob", I ask you to read this article carefully and thoroughly with an open perspective. For the past months, I have been playing my smurf account every now and then. I figured none of my friends would have enough time and dedication to play an online game for more than a couple of hours before giving up, and spamming referral links on random forums isn't worth the time or effort.

Do you belong in your ELO?

Ever since ranked games have been introduced, I've been seeing countless rant threads posted in the forum complaining about how "ELO hell" is impossible to get out of, thanks to feeders/leavers/etc...Although I have not been to the deepest end of the so-called "ELO hell", I can tell you one thing: you belong in your ELO, no excuse, no exceptions.


Most players that complain about being stuck in "ELO hell" simply don't understand what it takes to carry themselves to a higher ELO. Because they don't truly understand their weaknesses and playing style, blaming others for losing is much easier. Think about it this way, if there is such a thing called "ELO hell" where its impossible for GOOD PLAYERS SUCH AS YOURSELF to rise to a higher ELO, then how did hundreds of other players do it? Do you think Riot is purposely fking with you by putting all the feeders, leavers, non-english speakers and trolls in your team for shits and giggles? To put it in an even more humiliating way, how the hell did Milkfat climbed to 1750 rating when he has only been playing LoL for 32 days? (I don't care who he duo-queued with).