On the ruby crystal thing, It used to be pretty popular to grab catalyst first, there is nothing wrong with survivability, It’s just not as common in my elo, which I’ll assume is probably like mid.
In low level ELO, it’s probably ridiculously strong to go catalyst first, as most smurfs and low elo players only know scrub bash builds that maximize damage and have no survivability. (or build utterly wrong)
Now, as for Janna, I build her straight AP, although some play her hybrid tank, and others play her AD.
My item build with Janna, looks like this.
meki pendant because I spam Q early game. or you can start with sapphire and a health pot.
boots
3 (if they have alot of magic damage I’ll get chalice, if not.) I go with Tear of the goddess
I build archangels staff
should finish boots, normally mercs
from here I branch off and get either A. more survivability such as a leviathan, mejai’s if i’m feeling saucy or Zhonya’s.
If I get mejais for 6, I don’t like to get two stack items, but sometimes I’ll get leviathan, or I try to get something like banshees veil.
If I didn’t rush it before health, I’ll get zhonya’s now.
Usually finish up games with like 300+ AP,(500 or so If my team is doing well.)
Now for skills, I do this order,
Q, E, Q, W, E, R
Depending on my lane mate, I’ll max either shield or tornado first.
for damage, you’ll want to max tornado, slow then shield, but you want at least one point in to each.
as amumu i’ll still generally build heart of gold/catalyst before I buy even the cheap boots. If I’m going early heart of gold I’ll go heart of gold -> full boots-> rod of ages->etc… If I’m rushing rod of ages I’ll go blue crystal->red crystal->catalyst(if I have enough money cheap boots also)->blasting wand(If I have enough money cheap boots also)->rod of ages->full boots->rylais etc…
Thanks for the man, and since you think those guides are crap do you know any site that I can goto that has good discussions/accurate info? All I know is leaguecraft
league craft, solo mid(which i find is very out of date), and the guides forums of the official LoL site are the only places I know about. League craft has a lot of guides, you have to check their ratings though, a lot of them are terrible but there’s usually at least one good one per character. I can help out with Amumu tips if you have any questions about him, he’s the only person I know well enough that I feel qualified to give advice with.
If your not sure on what to buy as a starter item but still want some survivability, get one of doran’s items (shield,dagger,ring) and a health pot depending.
Shield is my favorite on anyone who isn’t a caster for the hp boost and the hp regen.
At the start play it safe and get boots as soon as you can.
I personally start with a tome on my karthus to get mejai’s asap. And a sword of the occult on my pantheon before boots. But I don’t recomend that if your just starting out.
Asking in game too helps or post up here on srk. I’m sure all of us can help you with any questions you have about champs.
And getting tier 1 runes is a great thing to do until you get tier 3
Edit:
I play shen,nasus,mordekaiser,karthus,warwick and pantheon pretty regularly if you have any questions about them
It’s not that those guides are crap per say, it’s just that there is an enormous amount of them written by complete scrubs or low elo players.
With that being said, just pay attention, try all the guides you want out, if they are working in your elo then it’s great, but sometimes you’ll eventually run in to a hole in the build and have to change it, this is also a great way to learn how to form your own builds for a specific character.
Most of the best builds have like 2-4 core items to shoot for, and like 2-3 Items that are absolutely necessary to build on the fly depending on the other team. (not an end all be all.)
Also, if you want some decent builds
check the aforementioned sites,
Another way, is to check how the top players are playing characters.
You can search for a player by clicking the little magnifying glass next to your friends list.
Here are some top players to search. (spelling may be off)
Phreak
MegaZero
Roku
TreeEskimo
Elementz
Reginald
Also you should watch top player live streams, there are a bunch on solomid and you’ll find that most of them play regularly.
Lastly make it a habit to start uploading your matches to this database http://www.lolbase.net/
I was worried about Mal’s burst damage, but it seems like Cleanse eats the whole thing. It’s kinda sad how Cleanse can save you from the dot, ignite, ult combo. When they finally add counter-picking everyone is gonna get Cleanse as soon as they see him pop up.
As far as builds go. The only thing I’ve noticed a lot of bad guides doing is suggesting berserker’s greaves as your boot item. In their current state, they are easily the worst boot. Merc treads are the go to boot unless you have a reason not to use them.
hey guys i just got the game. every time i go to tutorial to learn how to play, it says i can’t connect. anyone know what may be happening? i can join regular games though.
Hmmm not sure why that’s happening. I’ve never gone to the tutorial map lol.
It’s unfortunate that it doesn’t work for you but try joining practice games for a bit to get your feet wet and learn the game. That should help you out a bit more than a tutorial map would
any ideas on who would be more worth the 6300 points, Karthus or Ezreal? Both of them seem nasty in a solo lane, and both of them have ults that can kill across the map, but I only have enough for one :wasted: