Re: Bard - To be fair, Azir and Kallista also released into the low-mid 30s for win rate and didn't become truly playable until after at least one round of buffs each. And Azir at his peak was still a mid 40s % win rate champion who wasn't particularly great in competitive; he just made diamond solo queue a living hell when not banned.
Quinn is afaik most often picked top lane, which would be where lolking gets that. I don't really know what she is, but I'd never pick her bot lane, personally (to be fair, I'd rarely *at most* pick her top lane).
I think he's probably underpowered, which compounds with being a high skill cap champ who teammates need to know how to play with and who demands very good strategic-level knowledge to succeed on.
That is, his win rate is artificially deflated because people still don't know what to do with him... but even when played at a very high level (I have seen some very high level Bard play) doesn't really pay off more than average-level Sona or something.
Just made gold 1 again, in my 6th promo series attempt. Ran into a random rioter in the series, too
I'm on a jinx kick, winning a ridiculous number of games with her. Cassiopeia is also crazy strong, by the way - picked her up while waiting for the balance team to give Azir back.
4-3. Started 4-1, got too excited, dropped a couple games (one mostly my teammates, one mostly my fault). Gotta collect myself and go back in with a level head.
Haven't found the jungle to be all that difficult - I think it's just the fact that it isn't totally free is jarring for people. Like, previously I could pick Rengar and after 8:00 or so expect to heal off jungle camps... now you lose some health on every camp until much later in the game.
I don't think the meta is unimportant at low skill play - I think the meta is different at low skill play and the differences are poorly understood. Agree that understanding your own champion is more important than the meta - at pretty much all levels of play except literally pro teams, actually.
Example: Having a real support is not a good idea until something like ~Silver 3, because below that odds are even if you do well and get your ADC fed, they won't know how to use that advantage effectively (not that Silver 3 ADCs are paragons of good positioning in teamfights, but at least you can rely on them to shoot someone), essentially zeroing out your effect on the game. Below that, if you're getting put in the low CS role bot lane, you want to pick something where you personally can acquire as much power as possible over the lane phase and you personally can take over the game if you succeed. But nobody really does that.
There's something of a catch-22 here, of course: understanding the low skill metagame is itself a skill that will cause you to climb.
To be fair, I've played at plat and teammates don't work together. I work with a bunch of high diamond players, ditto. The exact mistakes change, but the basic structure doesn't. There is no point at which you can rely on your teammates in solo queue - that's not elo he'll, that's just solo queue.
I don't think the Korean teams in general are better than the top NA teams... TSM or Cloud9 would be competitive in Korea. But the top Korean teams - SSW in particular - look pretty unbeatable right now.
The trick to understanding this card is that it isn't a Wrath of God at all. It's a win condition. You play it after developing the right board and win instantly, because you're following up a dragon or something with this to ensure that your dragon connects. It isn't a great win condition because your 6 drop dragon should be able to end the game on its own if you're really playing that kind of magic, but it's a win condition.
I don't think it's a great card but I don't think it could have been costed much cheaper.
Quinn is afaik most often picked top lane, which would be where lolking gets that. I don't really know what she is, but I'd never pick her bot lane, personally (to be fair, I'd rarely *at most* pick her top lane).
That is, his win rate is artificially deflated because people still don't know what to do with him... but even when played at a very high level (I have seen some very high level Bard play) doesn't really pay off more than average-level Sona or something.
EDIT: Feathas, any chance you can point me at a good guide on it? It's something I'd like to be able to play.
I'm on a jinx kick, winning a ridiculous number of games with her. Cassiopeia is also crazy strong, by the way - picked her up while waiting for the balance team to give Azir back.
Looking forward to the tank Jungler patch.
EDIT: Baron got nerfed - anyone tried it yet?
That part specifically got reverted - no extra xp for smiting camps. There are a couple erroneous tooltips that shipped. The rest is all valid tho.
I'm pretty sure there's no choice but Ranger's Trailblazer this patch, except warwick (Skirmisher's) and skarner (stalker's).
Example: Having a real support is not a good idea until something like ~Silver 3, because below that odds are even if you do well and get your ADC fed, they won't know how to use that advantage effectively (not that Silver 3 ADCs are paragons of good positioning in teamfights, but at least you can rely on them to shoot someone), essentially zeroing out your effect on the game. Below that, if you're getting put in the low CS role bot lane, you want to pick something where you personally can acquire as much power as possible over the lane phase and you personally can take over the game if you succeed. But nobody really does that.
There's something of a catch-22 here, of course: understanding the low skill metagame is itself a skill that will cause you to climb.
I don't think it's a great card but I don't think it could have been costed much cheaper.