With over 12 million players World-Wide a day, Riot Games smash hit ‘League of Legends’ has gone from strength to strength. At this very moment in time the World Championships are taking place in North America for a grand prize of $2 million for the winning team. The favourites being Taiwanese side Gamania Bears (but don’t tell Fnatics fan base).
Bearing that in mind, I believe a weekly report on the free Champions rotation would be a good idea. Without further ado I give you the free Champions this week:
Best Deployed As: Bottom Lane Support
Pros: Massive Stun, Good Combo and an Area of Effect Silence
Cons: Very reliant on his Rocket Grab, Bad against Range
This weeks free champion list starts off with the Support/Tank that is Blitzcrank, whilst quite a difficult champion to play for beginners (me for instance). Blitzcrank has the ability to be a devastating champion, with a great 1-2-3 combo of Rocket Grab, Power Fist, and Static Field that has the ability to devastate an individual opponent.
Best Deployed As: Top Laner (or Jungler)
Pros: Very good tank, great Ultimate (Arguably the best engager in team)
Cons: Naturally Slow and Bad Farming
Malphite is an Ability Power(AP)/Tank in the free rotation. Malphite in my opinion is the easier of the two tanks to play this week, despite having a slightly lower max health and attack than Blitzcrank. With Seismic Shard, this champion can steal up to 26% of the opponents movement speed from the target for 4 seconds, more than enough time to close down the gap and get in close for Malphite’s Brutal Strikes and Ground Slam. He is most effective when played in the top-lane and is usually the ‘engager’ of the team.
Best Deployed As: Jungler or Top Laner
Pros: Easy to Farm, Fast, Good for Escaping and Engaging
Cons: Susceptible to crowd control
Master Yi, the first Attack Damage Carry of this weeks champion rotation, Yi is a big favourite with a lot of LoL players due in part to his abilities, firstly his Alpha Strike makes farming minions for gold/xp easier, Master Yi is very strong early on through his meditate ability, it allows you to stay in the lane longer than other champions, meaning you will be able to gain levels faster than your opponent. He is most effective as a ‘Jungler’ however he is equally effective as a Top Laner.
Best Deployed As: A Mid Laner
Pros: Naturally Builds as a Tank
Cons: Difficult to play for Beginners, Very reliant on range
Ryze is another popular pick amongst LoL players, he’s a good champion to have on your team if protected well. His Ultimate, when used on minions to farm, can lead to a large gold advantage. This can then be put into buying Rod of Ages, Frozen Heart and the Void Staff which will give you the edge against other champions. It is always worth noting that the more mana Ryze has, the more damage he will deal. This Champion should only really be used in the Mid-Lane.
Best Deployed As: Bottom Lane Support
Pros: Grants Armor, Heals and has a Stun
Cons: Against Ranged he is weak
Taric is a great support/tank, with his Imbue ability, which heals a target ally and himself. If however he targets himself, his heal increases by 40%, this means Taric is very effective at tanking turrets. Where support is concerned, aside from Taric’s Imbue ability, his Dazzle has the ability to stun a target enemy for at least 1.2 seconds allowing your team to ‘gank’ the unfortunate opposition champion. His ‘W’ also grants Armor to the entire team and as a Bottom Lane specialist against all Attack Damage Opposition is very useful.
Best Deployed As: Top Laner or Jungler
Pros: Movement Damage, Speed
Cons: Unreliable Ultimate
Now, Pantheon is a champion that seems to be rarely used, however can be extremely useful. He’s listed as an Assassin/Melee, however Pantheon has the ability to hurl a spear at an enemy champion every four seconds, which, if his Heartseeker Strike has been leveled up once, means his Spear Shot will automatically ‘crit’ against targets with 15% health or below, dealing 50% more damage. Pantheon also has the advantage of Aegis Protection that gives the player a shield after every four attacks that will block the next hit against him. This means he is a great champion to dive in under a turret to attack any low health champion who foolishly believes he will be safe there.
Best Deployed As: Solo Laner
Pros: Very Mobile, Good Attack Damage
Cons: Build Reliant, Low Health
Akali is a ‘squishy’ assassin; a champion who for me is quite difficult to play. It takes a lot of practice to be able to play Akali properly. However if you use her Twilight Shroud correctly which allows her to stealth within a 300-radius area for 8 seconds then she can be very good at surprise attacks. She’s a very mobile Champion who is best deployed as a top or mid laner.
Best Deployed As: Bottom Lane Carry
Pros: Very Mobile, Good AoE Ultimate
Cons: Limited once Ultimate is used
Miss Fortune is a good ranged/carry champion, her passive ability being ‘Strut’ which gains Miss Fortune an additional 25 Movement Speed, a bonus that increases by 9 each second up to a maximum of 70. This allows Miss Fortune to chase down any fleeing champions, her speed bonus is especially useful if her ‘Make it Rain’ ability hits. Miss Fortune is one of the only AD Champions to have an Area of Effect Ultimate. Another Champion who is best used on the bottom lane.
Best Postion As: Bottom Lane Carry
Pros: Best Laning Phase of Any Champion
Cons: No ‘Steroid’ so late game very reliant on build
Caitlyn, another ranged carry like Miss Fortune has a passive attack that makes farming easier, every few basic attacks, she will fire a headshot dealing 150% damage to a champion, or 250% damage to a minion. This will not only push Caitlyn’s gold farming up but also her experience. This champion is great for feeding other team members with her abilities, ‘Yordle Snap Trap’ and ’90 Calibre Net’.
Best Position As: Top Laner or Mid Laner
Pros: Very Mobile, Very High Damage
Cons: Very Hard to Use for Beginners, Reliant on his Build
Zed, one of the best and probably the hardest Champion to play as for free right now. Devastating to use if you know what your doing. Zed’s living shadow is very useful if double-tapped as it will teleport Zed to his shadow immediately allowing for rapid escapes from tricky situations. Zed’s passive ability ‘Contempt for the Weak’ means that whenever Zed auto-attacks an enemy below 50% health, he deals an additional 6-10% of their maximum health as bonus magic damage. However this effect cannot occur on the same target more than once every 10 seconds.
In my opinion this is one of the stronger weeks when it comes to free Champions, with Master Yi and Pantheon leading the way.
