- by Amanda "Mandifesto" Orneck
- Posted on August 30, 2013 @ 11:30 PST
For reasons I shall keep to myself, I've been diving headfirst into League of Legends of late. Now, it's not like I haven't played the game before: In fact I was playing it before it launched, and I have to tell you it felt amazing to pwn a bunch of male gaming journalists dropping Tibbers on their unsuspecting heads in the middle of a GDC play session.
My first experience with LoL was actually about six months older than my Annie triumph. I have fond memories of crowding into a cubicle at Gamepro with Arturis and Riot CEO Marc Merrill, leaning eagerly over a laptop as Marc talked about this new genre they were inventing, and what the Summoner system would look like. But the aggressive nature of the community -- or at least those I encountered -- coupled with, well life, combined to force me off the Fields of Justice for several years, enough time for my account to get wiped and my Summoner name to vanish into antiquity.
All this meant that I had to start over when I decide to head back to Valoran. This actually turned out to be a blessing in disguise, because even though I lost all my (eight, count 'em) epic levels and all the champions (six I believe) I had unlocked, I was now able to approach the game with more gaming experience under my belt and a greater sense of purpose. It was time to level my first Summoner, and to choose a Champion who would guide me through the first levels of the game. As it turned out, that Champion ended up being a seldom-used starchild named Soraka.
The first Champion I selected wasn't Soraka, actually. I picked Sona, because I greatly miss healing, and she and I had fun together for the first couple of games. I then switched to try out some of the DPS characters available during the Free period, but found them rather limited in the face of so many smurfs. By that time I had built up enough Influence Points that I could dip further down into the available characters and find someone who was closer to my play style. It was then that my love of The Last Unicorn led me to pick up Soraka.
Raka and I were a match made in heaven. Not only is she a decent healer, she does sufficient damage to allow me to help the battles, and her ultimate ability Wish is simply amazing for keeping a team up and running. The few guides I've been able to sort through were divided on her play style -- most of them build her out as a pure support class, but my favorite is actually a guide that sets up Soraka for tanking/dps. Being able to silence opponents reminds me of my brief time as a Shadow Priest in WoW (before I thankfully came to my senses and went back to Discipline). Now instead of running from enemies, as is my wont with healers, I run toward them, careful to keep on the edge of their zones.
Am I 'Raka master? Hardly. I am still learning the game, and the learning curve is incredibly steep since you have to absorb all the possible opponent combos and pairings in order to succeed. But I am enjoying a game I never thought I would -- because I hate PvP. And I think that has a lot to do with the little unicorn girl, her Starfall and Infuse, and the wonderful way we work together. We're getting better, and soon we'll be able to hunt down dps with the best of them. We're coming for you Warwick.
So Summoners, who is your favorite Champion, and how did you two meet?
[image via xCristal@deviantart]
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I've had a difficult time getting into LoL, and most other MOBAs for that matter. I'm a fairly non-competitive player, so these games don't appeal to me greatly, though they are fun to jump in to for a little bit here and there. When I do play, I like to use Garon because he is most like Arturis. ^_^
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I crave competition sometimes but the community I've run into in most online games is just too juvenile for me to enjoy these days. I'm with Art that's fun to do drop ins, but I can't seem to do more than that.
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First of all, Saroka is a bad she's mostly only good in lane sustainability. Sona is better, between the all the supports Nami is incredible. But since your 3 years late, I wouldn't expect you to know that. Nami scales better with her heal and has better crowed control than Sona. My favorite champion is Aniva, she has great crowed control and huge burst. Also she is the wisest of all the champions. Great way to blow up the star child. Surprisingly I worked my way up to gold in ranked by supporting my team to victory with Nami because she is the best support.
Garon is crap, he is the easiest champion in all of summoners rift. All you have to do is push the E button and spin to win.
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Like I mentioned, I'm shocked at how much I am enjoying this game. Sure I've followed its progress over the years, but I haven't gotten into it like this before. I never thought I would be able to like PvP matches, but I tend to focus more on supporting the rest of the team, and I am having a blast doing it.
The toughest part so far has been dealing with their tough standards on AFKing. I rarely can find 40 uninterrupted minutes with the Noob in the house, so I have gotten at least one leaver penalty. Alas that isn't something I can help, so I will just have to live with a blemished record. Maybe it adds to my bad girl mystique. :P
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A drunk dwarf? I don't think you know much about the character Arturis...
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The next champion you should try is Janna. She's another pure support that focuses on displacement as well as shielding rather than upfront heals. Also, Nami is a great support, but only at the low-mid level because in the lowest phases of the game, people don't dodge very well. I'd say Sona is a better pick over-all and also easier to use if anything.
As for Soraka being bad, she's a very situational pick. In high level competition, the effects of a good Soraka are very noticeable as soon as you notice fights are 5 for nothing. A coordinated Soraka plus an exceptional ranged carry is pretty much a ticking time bomb... end of the game. Only seen the star child used maybe 6 times in conjunction with Kogmaw and each one was one because the game dragged out too long and Kogmaw hyper carried. Every team comp has its own style... people don't learn the game because they think every team comp works the same in-terms of positioning.
