Questions and Answers: Vi Matchups

Every now and again I browse the Guides and New players section on the League of Legends forums. If I find a question that I am suited to answer fairly well, I try to help out the poster by giving my 2 cents. This is a transcript of the original post and my reply.

Question: I main Vi, and sometimes going top is the only or best option. But there's champs I struggle against such as.

Renekton, everyone's favorite gator, I usually beat him Pre 6, after 6 I'm screwed unless I have a jungler with lots of cc. I usually start Cloth, 4 hp pots and 1 mana pot
Darius, can't beat this guy 1v1 pre 6, after 6 can't out dunk him lol I always start red elixir against him.
Singed, I know not to chase, but dat fling. It hurts :s I always start 5 hp pots, 3 wards, 1 mana pot.
Wukong. Went against him once. I never want it to happen again, not sure if it was cause he was smart, (engaging while my passive was down etc.) I started cloth 5

Tips for these matchups are very appreciated

Answer: Renek is just a monster and you won't be able to beat a good one consistently. If you're sure you can outplay and kill him pre-6, you're going to need that kill early on just to survive later. I'd just try to mitigate the damage in this lane by hunkering down and farming, and try to keep Renekton in the lane as long as possible. If you can sneak off for a gank when you have an ulti do it. But always keep an eye on Renekton, because he can ruin the **** out of other lanes if you let him run unchecked.

Darius is super scary for any laner because instead of punishing your mistakes by making you lose CS or being outtraded, you are rewarded with a free trip back to base. My favored tactic to beat Darius is really simple. Start with cloth armor and 5 pots, and farm defensively until i can afford a Giants belt and chainmail. Once you have these two it's virtually impossible for him to beat you in a trade, and if you can buy some more health pots you can outsustain him and eventually land a kill.

This isn't a perfect strategy for Darius, because if you play Vi masterfully I'm pretty sure you can kill him a couple of times early and build a vamp scepter instead. I just prefer to play it safe, because he's still a monster even with the ult nerf. Just know that you don't have to lose to Darius in the lane, you can just make it a stalemate.

Singed is just gay. I honestly try as hard as I can to get a solid trade on him between levels 1-10, because if you don't stop him before then he usually becomes exponentially harder to kill and you'll just end up dying. If you can land your full combo and avoid a good amount of poison you should win.

Wukong is potentially the worst of all match ups. If he's poking you and escaping every time you can try 2 things: Whack down a vision ward to catch him in invisibility, or charge your Q as soon as he uses his fake so you can slap him when he becomes visible. This is another lane that you can win by landing a couple of good combos early. If you wait too long, Wukong will happily harass you down all day.

The only other advice I can give you for Vi at top is spam the bushes to charge your Q, they will predict you're going to charge at them but they will find it much harder to dodge you. If you can't win your lane just freeze it and farm, and if the opponent decides to pull it and zone you out just gank mid or counterjungle.

I play a hell of a lot of Vi but I prefer her jungle. She's a solid choice for top but without a blue it can be frustrating to keep powerhousing the lane. Hopefully this advice provided you with a few ideas and helps a bit, good luck!

If you have any input or think you have better advice, post a comment and let us know!

So ARAM is finally something you can queue for, Howling Abyss!

I've been playing ARAM's whenever I was sick of normal matches for at least a year now. After my short break from LoL I'm happy to come back and see that All Random All Middle is an actual game mode. Riot even gave it a little backstory and a name; Howling Abyss. It's a great way to blow off some steam, and can still be incredibly fun even if you lose.

Ooh doesn't it look pretty.

Having fun whilst losing is something that is hard to achieve in the MOBA genre, which is why Riot decided to cut out some of the harsher penalties that initially came from DotA. That's why ARAM is so refreshing. You don't have to obsess over team composition, which can frequently tear apart people in champion select. You can get a team that is too good to lose, or you can get crushed so hard you can't leave the tower for the entire game. Most of the time it's somewhere in the middle. Regardless, it's out of your hands so you don't have to rage or worry about it.

Despite this, all random can become frustrating if you spam it too much. When you get an awful team multiple times in a row, it's not fun at all. Riot were on the ball making ARAM a match that you can queue for. The Matchmaking takes mere seconds to pop, you never have to wait long.

I got Orianna today, which was lucky. She's lethal on ARAM.

ARAM has become so popular, some individuals have even started to create accounts purely to get the best champion pool to win matches. If you fill your selection with champions like Mundo, Nidalee, and Ziggs; you will always be able to pick up a bunch of kills before you die. I think making an entirely new account just to win ARAM is a little pathetic, but if you spend most of your time playing them then it's probably a good idea.

Now we have Dominion and Howling Abyss to play! So Where's Magma Chamber?