The arguments over how to deal with Blitzcrank in lane are kind of pointless because laning isn't when Blitzcrank is overpowered. There are plenty of champions who can be played as an aggressive support in bot lane, where all they do is catch someone in a CC and burst them down. Many of them can do it better than Blitzcrank.

No, Blitzcrank is overpowered after laning ends. Blitzcrank is overpowered when everyone is roaming around as a group, posturing over objectives and looking for team fights. Blitzcrank is overpowered when late game rolls around and despite a score of 0/10/2 he single handedly wins the game by hooking your team's MVP, locking them down with a storm of crowd control and laughing because the rest of his team has murdered that champion before your team even notices.

But most of all Blitzcrank is overpowered because unlike Amumu, Leona, Nautilus or Thresh, he does that without putting himself at any risk whatsoever.

 

I don't really want to say anymore, but honestly, if your adc/apc/damage dealer gets hooked by a Blitzcrank during teamfight phase, it's just horrible positioning. Granted, this could occur due to lack of wards, etc, but horrible positioning is horrible positioning in the end. Don't go out into hooking range with no vision.

 

That awkward moment when you accidentally pull the enemy bruiser or, heaven forbid, Amumu/Karthus, and get aced.

 

Eldee kind of states what I was trying to earlier. If Blitz destroyed you in lane before, he will continue to do so after these nerfs, because being able to "spam hooks" was not the issue that made him powerful in the lane phase, it was your opponents skillshot skills relative to your lane's "retardation" or ability to dodge.

And these nerfs don't matter past the lane phase, they don't affect Blitz in the teamfight phase at all. It isn't like a Nidalee spear where she spams it every CD and an increase of 10 to the mana cost will make a significant difference to what she brings to the fight as a support. The nerfs this patch will mean that after 6 skillshots, blitz may lack the mana to throw another where he wouldn't have before. There's more to it than that, because of regen and what not, but honestly, if you miss 6 hooks in a teamfight you have bigger problems.

edit on Lulu: You can win the lane by maxing either Q or E. Maxing E lets your AD do more in trades, which lets him get the enemy low enough to go for a kill. It's a different kind of poke and perhaps more effective, but requires more skill on the part of your AD carry as well as yourself to time it properly before they get hit but not before they engage.

On the other hand, if you are losing the lane, maxing E will likely help quite a bit more than maxing Q.

 

Been there, done that. Mostly because I got stuck with one of the most toxic players I've ever had the displeasure of playing with, we were down something like 6 towers and 11 kills, they had Baron and nobody wanted to /ff so... I had my reasons. At least I could say I hit 80% of my hooks that game on champions rather than the ever popular minion pull or airballing it.

As for Lulu, I dunno, I've never really noticed anyone max e on her first in lane. Her q is great for poking and at least on the ally side of things, her shield from e seems rather lacklustre in comparison. I usually try and get 2 or 3 points in q then switch over to e, but my Lulu games tend to go horribly, I'm lucky if I hit 11 in most of them =\.

 

The missile speed on Rocket Grab is what needs to be changed, not the mana cost or cooldown. They need to make it harder to land, not limiting how much bad Blitzcranks can spam it.

 

This. Blitz's grab would be much easier to dodge if it wasn't so fast. Give it the same speed as Nidalee's Q or even Viktor's E, and then I think everyone's least favorite Steam Golem will be balanced.

On another note, Darius is such bullshit. Yes, he's easy to counter, but he's also the easiest champion in the game to both play and to snowball with. I just played a game of ranked where the enemy Darius was literally their only threat, and he also initiated for them. God forbid my team focuses him, though.

 

If he was fed he should have built tank anyway, since he doesn't need to build damage.

 

Am I the only one having trouble trying to buy damn Champions? I have a shitload of points but it keeps telling me there's trouble and w/e.

 

I'm tempted to use this handy new img tag thing I learned just today, but the image is huge.

http://i.imgur.com/6SfSGvW.jpg

Infographic on IEM Katowice from the lol reddit.
Renekton tied for the 2nd highest win rate. If you haven't already seen the posts about it, it's because Gambit Gaming used him for his armor pen. His fury enhanced SnD has one of the highest armor pen values in game and his fury enhanced stun applies 3 stacks of Black Cleaver.

Just overall pretty interesting sum up for things you can take away from it as lessons about the game in general.

Also the Thresh spotlight is out.

 

Huh, as someone who only got a passing glance at his kit, I'm pleasantly surprised to see that he doesn't have to actively farm minions to get those souls just so long as he's in the general area. That certainly makes it so that he doesn't need to solo a lane, where the typical champions would have easily curbstomped him.

 

Thresh is good in a solo lane. He farms for awhile, and then once he's tanky enough, engages like a bawse. I've watched him a lot on the PBE.

 

Just carried my team to victory in a 4v5 game as Kassadin. Second game I've played as him, end score was 14/0/5. I quite enjoyed it. Kassadin is way overpowered.

 

I don't think Kass is OP, more one of those champions that needs to be shut down pre-6, which is difficult when he has a long range silence and if you time it wrong, a nasty slow to boot. That said, he seems rather squishy and his best friend (his silence) is also his worst enemy if you have say a Cho'Gath. Definitely a champion that can snowball hard and destroy your carries though, always enjoy watching a good Kass play.

Thresh... Idk. I'm not sure if I liked the fact that the entire spotlight showed him in a supp role. I get you can stack armor runes on him and be useful but something just seems off. I don't know how he'd do in a solo lane either, if you come against someone harass heavy they'll just destroy you, thinking Lee Sin & Riven in particular here given your lack of scaling armor. That and taking armor reds wrecks your last hit ability. Hopefully can spectate some good games later on and see what people are doing/trying.

 

What is this madness. Phreak does a Champion Spotlight on someone who can jungle and doesn't even touch on their jungle? Never thought I'd see the day.

In other news, Deep Terror Thresh looks amazing.

 

Who would ever have expected that a champion designed to support would have a kit that isn't ideal for solo laning or a spotlight that focused on the support role? Madness.

 

He can solo lane... after like forty minutes of straight farming.

 

Man, just had someone pick Nami into Taric/Trist as I brainfrated and took Noct jungle. Ensuing 40 minutes of her raging at me to gank when she gets caught 3 times in a row without warding whilst I put mid & top ahead because bot's just done for.

That and our first pick didn't ban Malph, so naturally everyone but me would group and get ulted. Rough start to the evening's session.

Thresh looks fun though, kinda means we won't be getting a support for a while though... probably for the best when you look at the list come to think of it.

 

^^ Two of those above me are apparently blind.

I said it once, I'll say it agian. Thresh is fine in a solo lane. Armor yellows and 9/21/0 masteries allows you to do just fine up top or even mid. Your kit allows for incredible ganks, your mass of CC allows you to survive them yourself... Honestly his kit is TOO good. Like Irelia, he'll see numbers nerfs, but it won't matter because he will still be useful by sheer value of his kit.

 

Scratch that game. Just had someone who's 1430 ELO try to do a 4th ban. I repeat, tried to do a 4th ban, and locked in Maokai thinking he had a ban open. Forced me to go Mao jungle vs a Shaco jungle, then proceeds to not help me start my jungle, or watch the back of blue buff so Shaco literally just walked in, killed me and stole my buff.

... How are these people this high elo? I just don't understand. I'm not even angry, just confused. Wouldn't have been too bad if the same guy who picked Mao (gave him Lee mid) actually helped. Shaco got me at red because of a nida trap and he must've been nearby as he was on me instantly. No help from either lane, I was still level 2 at 5 minutes =\.