May 4, 2012

LoL Aide v1.3.4

This is just an update to reflect the balance changes in the patch that was rolled out earlier this week.

I'm having trouble uploading the new .apk to the Google Play Store, but it should be available for download by tonight.

Two of the classics got pretty nice buffs this week!

Amumu is going to be a beast after his MR buffs, not to mention chopping some time off of the cooldown of his ultimate.  I've been playing him as a hybrid AP/utility jungler, building Philosopher's Stone, Heart of Gold, Mercury's Treads, Will of the Ancients, Rylai's Crystal Scepter, and finishing the build by upgrading into a Shurelya's Reverie.

Annie's changes drastically increase the rate at which she can dish out an AoE stun.  The previous week she was change to only need 4 spellcasts to build up to her stun (with the caveat of losing the ability to charge up via Incinerate (W) if no damage is dealt) and now the cooldown of her Molten Shield (E) is nearly cut in half.  When playing Annie always keep track of your spell counter, and try to land your stuns with Incinerate or Tibbers (in team fights).

Watch out for these two champions!  They've always been viable, though slightly out-shined by newer releases.  Now that they've been buffed I'd expect to see them back in the mix!

Varus is being released next week, so stay tuned for a new update!  As always, sound off in the comments or shoot me an email with any questions.

April 18, 2012

LoLAide v1.3.3 - Hecarim Update


  • Updated to include Hecarim and other balance changes in the latest patch to League of Legends
  • Changed the color of text in Skill Info to mirror the way combat text is colored by damage type (red for physical, purple for magical)
I was actually expecting a double-whammie of Hecarim and Varus this week, but I don't really have anything to complain about.  Hecarim looks like a lot of fun and the other changes made in this patch are all welcome.  CAPS LOCK ANNOUNCER MAKES THE GAME INFINITELY MORE EXCITING.

Hecarim

Hecarim's concept seems pretty similar to Shyvana while stealing a page from DotA's Spirit Breaker.  With two AOE skills, I think he'll be able to clear the jungle at a respectable speed.  Whether or not he'll be able to challenge the speed kings/queens of Dr. Mundo, Shyvana, and Udyr remains to be seen.

His main appeal is probably the insane initiations possible with his ultimate, Onslaught of Shadows.  It's a long-ranged gap closer and an AOE disable which is sure to wreak havoc on an unsuspecting enemy team.  Hecarim will fit into a hard-engage team very well.
Synergies:  Gangplank, Galio, Janna, Nunu, Sona

Countering Hecarim in the jungle is a bit of an unknown currently.  As his jungle speeds and paths become refined in the coming weeks, it will be easier to determine which champions have an advantage over him.  In team fight situations, you'll want to either prevent Hecarim from initiating with poke damage or have some kind of escape plan that can mitigate the effect of him charge into your team.
Counters:  Janna, Lee Sin, Alistar, Caitlyn, Ahri, Dr. Mundo

Thanks for reading!  Hope you all enjoy the new patch.  As always feel free to email or comment.


March 20, 2012

LoLAide v1.3.2 - Lulu


  • Updated to reflect the changes made in Leauge of Legends v1.0.0.136
    • Lulu - Skill Info (rough estimates for skill ranges), Build Guide, Counters, Synergies
    • Balance changes
Lulu

Finally, a new support champion!

I feel that her character design strongly resembles that of Janna.  She has one hard CC, one slow, and a shield that enhances her target's auto attacks.  The important mechanics to note are how Whimsy and Wild Growth combine to create excellent initiations when used on an ally with some sort of gap-closer, such as Wukong, Maokai, or Shyvana.  The effectiveness of Wild Growth is even greater when used on allies with high damage mitigation, so Shyvana's innate armor and magic resistance in particular will make for an excellent combo.  Combine this with the ridiculous movement speed buffs and slowing aura, this all leads me to believe that the Lulu/Shyvana combo will be extremely powerful!

Thank you all for your continued support of LoLAide!  It's always great to hear back from the community, so feel free to contact me.  Cheers!

February 29, 2012

LoLAide v1.3.1 - Fiora and Personal Notes


  • Updated to coincide with League of Legends v1.0.0.135
    • Fiora - Skill Info, Build Guide, Counters, Synergies
    • Balance changes
  • Personal Notes
    • "Notes" tab added to each Champion's listing
    • Write down information that pertains to specific champions
    • Easily store and access your experiences and findings

Fiora

Strengths:
  • Strong melee damage dealer
  • Multiple gap closers
  • Can quickly stack movement speed
  • Riposte gives her strong trading potential in lane
Weaknesses:
  • Sustain is easily out-classed
  • No CC
  • No poking abilities

She has a unique mix of AD burst with Lunge and Blade Waltz and the ability to dish out sustained damage thanks to Burst of Speed.  Her abilities put her in the thick of the battle, so I recommend a tanky-DPS build.  This includes Frozen Mallet to alleviate her lack of CC.

She can be played as a jungler, but I feel she lacks two vital characteristics:  fast-clearing and CC.  While she is no slouch when it comes to slaying monsters, her lack of an AOE ability results in slower clearing than Udyr and Shyvana.  She can gank with a Red buff, but other junglers will provide more CC and be able to secure more kills.  She does have the ability to tower-dive at level 6 with impunity.  

Personally, I think she belongs in top lane.  Her Duelist passive and Riposte allow her to trade well with other melee champions.  Just be wary of facing top laners with superior healing, such as Warwick and Udyr.

Who counters her:  Udyr, Warwick, Lee Sin, Irelia

Who she counters:  On paper Riposte is a good way to deal with Gangplank's Parrrley (you'll block the physical damage but still be affected by Grog-soaked Blade) and Wukong's Crushing Blow.  I'm hesitant to say she counters anyone this close to her release, but these are possibilities I've considered.  I'm interested to see how Blade Waltz interacts with AOE spells such as Kennen's Slicing Maelstrom.

Who she plays well with:  Basically anyone with a form of CC.  A tank-initiator will allow her to dish out her damage without taking the brunt of the enemies burst.  Maokai, Amumu, Kennen, and Morgana are all good options.  Speed buffs from Sivir, Gangplank, Sona, Janna, and Nunu will help her stick to her targets easily.

Notes


These should be pretty intuitive.  Click "New Note" to begin writing a note.  Pressing the "Confirm" button or pressing Back on your device will save the note.  All of the notes you've written pertaining to a champion will appear in a list.  Clicking on a listed note will open up the note editor again.  Press-and-hold a note and you will have the option of deleting it.

Future Updates


The additions of Notes was the last major feature I wanted to add to LoLAide before revising the inner-workings of the application.  Along with this revision will come new additions that people have been requesting (ratios, passives) as well as other functions like multiple build guides for each champion.  However, these changes are likely to be large in scope, and require a significant amount of time to fully develop.  As such, the next major patch (v2) should not be expected anytime within the near future.  Hopefully the next version will be worth the wait.

That being said, I don't intend to drop all other work on LoLAide.  Rest assured that I will continue to update LoLAide to reflect changes that Riot makes to League of Legends, as well as shifts in the meta-game that influence strategies.

I'm also planning on writing a few posts for this blog that aren't directly related to LoLAide.  I have a few articles in the works pertaining to champion-specific strategies and team fighting.  Let me know if you have any other topics you'd be interested in reading about.

Thanks!


LoLAide reached its one-thousandth download earlier this week!  I'd like to thank everyone that's downloaded the app and been kind enough to provide feedback.  As always, all are welcome to contact me through email, comments, or in-game.

February 23, 2012

LoLAide v1.2.1 - Timers


  • Jungle Timers
    • You can now access the "Timers" tab from the main screen to keep track of when monsters respawn

The timers are designed to be simple and intuitive.  They are arranged in an approximation of how the creep camps are laid out on Summoner's Rift.  One press will begin the timer and disable any additional presses so that you won't accidentally restart the timer.  You can press-and-hold a button to force-reset a given timer.  The text will flash a yellow warning signal when only 30 seconds remain, then turn red and play a short sound to alarm you when a monster respawns.  Also, screen dimming is disabled while on the Timers tab so that you can always keep track of them.

Head on over to the Android Market and update LoLAide to begin using the jungle timers.  As always feel free to contact me if you encounter any bugs or have a suggestion.  Happy hunting!

February 21, 2012

LoLAide v1.1.3


  • Shyvana's build guide fixed
  • Gragas's build guide fixed


LoLAide v1.1.3 was pushed out last night, and I forgot to make a blog post about it.  The only changes are fixes for Gragas and Shyvana.  I'm working on implementing jungle timers, so stay tuned!

February 18, 2012

LoLAide v1.1.2


  • Jarvan IV's build guide fixed

This is just a small update to fix an issue with Jarvan IV's build guide.  Hope everything is working smoothly now.

Thanks to everyone that pointed out the issue!