Crystal Scar

Dominion, the newest gamemode of League of Legends, probably the worst in my opinion, but it's still fun to play once in a while.

Crystal Scar

Early Game

Early game consists of four people going top, while the carry, or a strong laner, goes bottom. This kind of goes with the Summoner's Rift metagame that there is a solo middle laner to get more experience. Each team pushes their lanes as much as possible and its usually medium risk high reward as respawn times are low and you get XP just for existing.

Mid Game

This part of the game consists of mostly early game tactics, but people usually start breaking off and doing their own thing at this point. There could be a couple people helping out the bottom if they need it, there could be people trying to steal the points by using hit and run tactics.

Late Game

This is basically endgame, usually a teams fate is sealed if they don't do well mid-game, but the tables could easily be turned if the other team lets up for a moment in overconfidence.

Twisted Treeline

Imagine Summoner's Rift... Now on a smaller scale.

Twisted Treeline

Twisted Treeline is basically for those who don't like huge team fights and want shorter, more decisive games. There are only two lanes in Twisted Treeline and a much smaller jungle. None the less, games can get pretty intense if both teams play their cards right.

Early Game

Basically consists of a solo top lane, and a duo bottom lane. It has similar flow to Summoner's Rift, as top lane usually comes bot and ganks the bejeezus out of everyone. But more likely to happen is just both lanes farming for ten or twenty minutes before someone makes a mistake and eventually dies or succeeds out of luck.

Mid Game

Mid Game is very short and usually involves the top lane roaming in between the jungle, pushing their lane, and ganking the bottom lane. This is probably the game deciding time in the game and usually impacts how each team plays from then on.

Late Game

This is when both teams are pretty well pushed and have most of their effective build built. Fights usually occur outside one teams base and depending on how well each one does, this is repeated until an ace with more than one player on the opposing team still alive or until one pushes farm enough the enemy team retreating would allow them to win.

Blizzard suing Valve over DOTA

Quite recently Activision Blizzard has announced they will be making a game based around DOTA, also known as Defense of the Ancients. This is causing quite a controversy because Valve at the same time, and maybe even before Blizzard, is working on a new game called DOTA 2. This game is set to release in the near future, and in fact, it's already in beta.

But first you have to know that Blizzard is suing over the name DOTA, and not the game itself. Like many games, DOTA first got it's start as a mod to a game engine. While there's nothing wrong with making mods into actual games. The trouble comes when you look at the editor used to make the original mod, as it states anything created using the editor basically belongs to Blizzard. This means all intellectual property, such as the name, belongs to Blizzard. Now, Blizzard has a relaxed policy towards this, as there are many other games that use similar game mechanics and it wouldn't be right to sue them. But... But... Valve is a huge competitor of Blizzard and Activision, which were merged to create Activision Blizzard, and this would really be a huge boost to Valve's sales, as DOTA and the similar offshoots made around it are very popular among the gaming community, so Blizzard wants to take action.

I'm not going to say whether or not Valve should have the name, as both sides have a legitimate argument. Valve with having the actual creator of DOTA on their team creating the game's sequel. Blizzard with their terms and conditions agreement stating that all your intellectual property are belong to them. So I can tell already that if Valve doesn't back down, then there will be a big mess between the two companies.

Shaco = Chaos

Shaco is one of the most unorthodox and feared champions in the League, of course he is often played wrong which results in everyone hating him, but with the right moves, he becomes an unstoppable force that can go up against anyone and win.


Shaco
The Demon Jester


Oh man... This brings me back, I remember the days I used to play Shaco religiously and I didn't really know how to play him well back then, but it didn't matter. I just used my On-Hit build and pure AS runes and had at it. Sure, it probably wasn't the best build but it fit my play-style of slice-slice-slice just nicely. The key to playing Shaco is to not get dead, but to make others dead. As is the key to playing every character in the League... Except maybe Kog Maw...

So, you're in champion select, and you're thinking to yourself... "Should I play AP or AD Shaco?"

JUST DON'T DO IT!!!

BYAHHHHH
STOP-RIGHT-THERE

DO NOT USE AP... AD IS SO MUCH MORE VIABLE BECAUSE SHACO WITH A CONSTANT DAMAGE OUTPUT BEATS THE REST!!!! ESPECIALLY WITH HIS PASSIVE AND CLONE!!!!






Lifesteal is very important on Shaco, as he is pretty squishy, this goes for laning just as much as it does for jungling, and I suggest getting a Vampiric Scepter right off the bat. This will allow you to take damage and harass your enemies safely while forcing you to dedicate more time killing off creeps, or if you're in the jungle, a way to stay alive.

Now, when you get a little more money, I would suggest getting a nice pair of Boots, especially Boots of Mobility, as they add so much mobility to Shaco, faces will melt, especially your enemies'. After this, you might want to experiment and get something other than Wriggles that provides lifesteal, but to this day, I'm not sure if anything is actually better, Wriggles is just a very powerful and helpful item. Next, you want to go straight into an Infinity Edge, as that will boost your damage about 200%. This is where the fear starts growing in the opposing team, you can basically jump on them while their health is low and they won't be able to do anything about it except watch their screens turn grey and taste their own salty tears. This is usually all you need early-mid game, as the damage you'll be doing can easily tear down health bars quickly.

Next up is a Phantom Dancer for that great boost of stats. I personally believe Phantom Dancers are an overused item, but for good reason, it's basically custom tailored for all Melee AD champs, there's no real need after this to get any more crits, or even attack speed for that matter. With this Shaco can slip in and out of battle faster than pubbies running from a Tryndamere.

Now you should be approaching late-game. The next item you would want to get is a Last Whisper, as it gives excellent AD and Armor Penentration, this will help you kill off the enemies tanky dps'ers or anyone with a boatload of armor. To end the game I would get a Bloodthirster for a good deal more damage and that all important lifesteal. Lifesteal has saved my life numerous times when their tanky champs tried to 1v1 me. They may have more life than you, but you have more lifesteal and AD, so whatever they do you can counter-act by attacking back.

Backstab

This is Shaco's passive, I'm mentioning it because it helps a lot, as it gives you 20% more damage when attacking from behind. This can easily burst champs down that are unaware of you or running away.


Decieve

This is a built-in flash with stealth and an attack buff, this is the premier skill Shaco is known for, he can teleport over walls or across pretty big gaps in a matter of moments. His stealth can give him positioning on his next target, catch up with them, or even escape pursuers in the jungle. It's one of the best abilities in the game.


Jack In The Box

These aren't too threatening by themselves unless you give Shaco time to build them up, five of these in a bush at level 1 can easily get first blood, Shaco can even use these to distract enemy champs while he runs in for an easy kill. These scale off of AP so they aren't too good for Shaco, but when you stack them, they really turn up the pain. These also fear enemies that activate them, which can stun them long enough for Shaco to kill them, very very useful.


Shivs

This is Shaco's poke, use it often. They also have other uses, like the fact that if Shaco hits you with it while it's off cooldown, you get a slow applied to you that can allow him to chase and end up killing you. These are really powerful early-game but start losing their use the later it gets, so you might as well just use these as finishers or for the slow, which is very useful. These are also pretty gooone d for jungling as they also apply a sort of blind that makes the monsters have a certain percent chance of missing their attacks. Unfortunately this doesn't work on champions.


Hallucinate

Shaco's ult, one of the best in the game if you build AD, this ult basically summons a duplicate you to help kill your enemies. Very annoying to control sometimes, but the AOE damage it does on death can help you turret dive without actually doing so and since it does all the on-hit effects you do, it can quickly chip away at enemies health bars and even turn the tide in any fight. Enemies will sometimes mistake this as you and kill it first, wasting critical time to focus you and most likely allowing themselves to be killed in the process.


Shaco is a very unconventional character that requires stealth and cunning to win, if you don't have either I suggest just playing Teemo, of course, I made a post for him as well, you can check it out here.

The Creation Kit has Arrived

It has arrived. Sound the trumpets.

The long awaited Creation Kit has arrived for PC, this will bring in a whole new era of downloadable content for Skyrim, especially with Steam Workshops being linked to Elder Scrolls which allows for people to download mods directly from Steam and not a third party site. Some of the new content being hosted on Steam Workshops contains things such as less condescending guards, killable children, and the "useless mod", which only adds a model of a sword to the archmage's room in the Winterhold College, which is almost beyond useless. It must be the honest title that draws so many high ratings. I think the best one of all is the Posh Mudcrabs mod that gives those little fella's a top-hat and a nice golden monocle.

It's amazing to see how many mods have been added since the Creation Kit was introduced to the public and  even before then, when community modders had to figure out a way to make their own tools and mods. We will no doubt see many extremely developed mods in the near future becoming available due to the Kit being released and the great ones that have already been made will be much more widespread and available through the Steam Workshop.

Veigar: 100% Pure Evil

Veigar shines  as an extremely powerful nuker, but his real power comes from him being pure evil, not many can say they are as evil as Veigar, but those that are as evil as him probably aren't allowed in the US, or the civilized world for that matter. I mean seriously, he wants to swallow your soul...




Veigar Greybeard Skin

Veigar
The Tiny Master of Evil

Veigar is a relatively unique character, not only does he have extremely powerful spells, which do not scale down very much in terms of AP, he has almost infinite potential if you can play him well. It is imperative to this build that you go middle, as middle is the only place where you don't have to compete with your teammates, and two enemies, for minion kills. Now, you might also have the option of playing solo top against their solo top, this is all up to you, as my early game strategy isn't to go all out against the enemy team, it's to get as many MINION kills as possible. Minion kills are the lifeblood of Veigar, if you don't accumulate as much AP as possible, you're worthless to your team. Before we start, let me say this, YOU DO NOT NEED PURE MANA REGEN ITEMS. Early game when you are farming as many minions as possible, you do not need pure mana regen because you shouldn't be playing so aggressive that you cannot cast Baleful Strike. Plus, AP is needed for Veigar at ALL times. Baleful Strike is the cornerstone of Veigar and without it he is just another nuker. Once you start, get as many points as you can in Baleful Strike.

Item-wise, I like to get a Doran's Ring because it offers good health and good AP, while giving you a good amount of Mana Regen as well. Now, I have a love for mobility, and I like to get Veigar Boots of Mobility because you need speed as Veigar, you always want to be caught up with your team so you can lay down the pain as much as possible. After you get the boots, I suggest getting two more Doran's Rings, these offer more survivability, AP, and mana regen for a minimal cost to you. After this I would start on a Rabbadon's Deathcap because it basically boosts your current AP by 130%, I would also start on the Needlessly Large Rod first because it's the more expensive one to buy and I like to get it out of the way first. Then, after getting the Rabbadon's, I go for either the Deathfire Grasp, which basically buffs your AP, your cooldowns, and gives you a fourth spell, which is VERY useful, as it takes away 30% of the targets current HP, plus 3.5% per 100 AP you have, so this easily ranks as one of the best items in the game. The other option, if you're team isn't very good at pushing, is to get a Lich Bane, as it gives you a ton more AP, Magic Resist, Mana, and it also has an added bonus, it gives you AD based on your total AP. This means you can basically kill a turret in three shots if you use it right. Now, after you get that, replace one of your Ring's with a Void Staff so your spells are much more potent. Then replace another ring with Morello's Evil Tome, this gives you more cooldown and more AP. Then, to finish it up you can get whatever you like, as it should be well past an hour game time if you come to replacing your first Doran's.

Baleful Strike

Very useful spell, one of the most useful ones in the game, as you get 1 AP per minion kill. This can add up to over 100 by mid game as you need to keep focusing on killing minions to stay effective. It also has a passive that gives you a bit of AP for killing an enemy champion with any source of damage, it doesn't have to be this spell.

Dark Matter


If you can land it, you're in good shape, most people use this in tandem with Event Horizon to guarantee a hit with it, as it is delayed before it comes down, but when it does, it has a massive amount of damage. This is usually a finsher spell because your other spells will probably already have hit before it even comes down on the enemy player.

Event Horizon

The most annoying stun in the game, if you are caught inside one, the only thing you can do is derp around for a while until the massive amount of damage from Veigar kills you. If you can land this so it auto-stuns an enemy player, they might as well be dead, as you can take them down in health in almost no time flat.

Primordial Blast


At late game you can do well over 1000 damage by yourself, not counting the fact that you do 80% of their AP damage in damage as well, you might as well start crying if you see this coming towards you, as that's the only thing you'll be doing while your dead and waiting to respawn.

Equilibrium


A really nice passive, as it gives you much more mana regen the lower your mana pool gets. You'll never really have to worry about mana as long as you have a bit of regen for this to almost double.