Back with more League of Legends comics

It's been a while since my last post, years in fact. But I'm back again to bring you more League of Legends comics. So if you like this blog and reading about news from Riot or hilarious comics subscribe or follow me for more!

It's been a long time since I played a match but I will be starting ranked again soon and pushing to at least Plat. Have a good week folks and expect lots of posts soon.

I've missed these funny images more than I missed the game!

Looking for some nice art?

My friend has just made an Etsy account to see if anyone is interested in purchasing some of his prints for their living room or home!

So be sure to take a look, I think a couple of them are really worth the money!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/Abstractzz

League of Legends Wallpapers

I haven't posted here in a while, but I've recently collected a few very nice League wallpapers. If you like to rotate your background or just like pretty pictures in general, here's a few awesome desktop images for all you League of Legends addicts. Myself included. I think the Miss Fortune wallpaper is especially well done.

I don't see Brand played a lot at the moment, he's still awesome.

I didn't bother taking the time to count them all, but I'm guessing one or two might be missing.

I can't tell if this one has more champions than the last League wallpaper, but it seems to.

I'm sure I've posted this one before.

Doesn't she look pretty. Her breasts are actually normal size for once too.

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?

The differences between DotA 2 and LoL

Which is better? Defence of the Ancients 2 or League of Legends? This debate is one I've seen countless times, and it's a complete waste of time. Once in a while someone who isn't out to pick an argument points out that the best MOBA game is the one that you enjoy the most. No truer words have ever been spoken. Preference dictates to you and your friends which game is better.

I think the DotA 2 pregame screen is much better.

DotA is unquestionably harder to play than LoL, for numerous reasons. However, LoL does have many qualities that require a good amount of gamer skill and experience to succeed. At high levels of meta play, both titles are unique and challenging. While both games take place on the similar maps with the same goal and route to get there, with some experience you will see they are on opposite ends of the spectrum.

That's not to say this UI isn't aesthetic and pretty.

If you're trying to decide which game is flat out better, you're in the wrong place. This article will outline how both DotA and LoL aren't the same game. If you're curious to find out exactly what separates these two addictive MOBA titles, you're in the right place. People who want to know which game would suit them better, take a look at this list and see if it narrows your choice down.

Differences between DotA 2 and League of Legends

- Runes and Masteries. On LoL, you can customize your champion before the game even starts. With runes and masteries, you can make characters tankier, faster, or hit harder. On DotA, you cannot do anything to adjust your champion before the match begins.
- Passives. LoL champions essentially have 5 abilities. 4 spells to use, and one passive. Most characters on DotA only have 4 abilities, so if they have a passive it will take up a slot.
- Attack animations and last hits. DotA is much harder to last hit. Not only do you have a slow animation to hit minions, but you also have to deny your own creeps. Put it this way: I was getting 5-6 minions every wave on LoL, but when I started DotA, I was proud to get 1-2 last hits each wave.
- Length of the laning phase. In my experience, LoL has a short early game. It's common for somebody to leave their lane at level 3-5. DotA's laning phase extends beyond the 20 minute mark in most matches, because the items are more expensive.
- Active items. DotA has countless items that you can use in combat. Every character you play will use at least one active item. LoL only has a couple of items you can use, such as Gunblade or Ghostblade.
- Summoner spells. There aren't any summoner spells on DotA, which is actually kinda cool. You don't have to worry about people flashing away when you gank them, or igniting you in a close 1v1.
- Brutal Punishments. If you die on DotA, you lose gold. There's no recall to teleport back to base. On LoL, most of the harsh punishments have been removed for a more fun experience. Personally, I like the vindictive loss of gold when you die, and having to buy teleport scrolls to get around.
- Ability Power. When playing a caster champion on LoL, ability power is vital to increasing your damage output. DotA doesn't have ability power. There's nothing to increase the damage of your spells. The closest thing is refresher orb, which resets all of your cooldowns.
- Jungling. In the current meta on LoL, a jungler is necessary. You will rarely play a match without someone in the jungle, because it's a very important role. DotA doesn't require a jungler. Most of the time, you will have 2 people in both of the sidelanes, and it doesn't ruin the match.
- Character availability. When you create an account on LoL, you can only play several select champions until you earn the points to buy more. Playing DotA immediately gives you access to every hero, without exceptions.
- Minimap placement. On LoL, the minimap is on the right side and out of the way. DotA has it on the left, which is bad placement. Whenever you're playing on the radiant team, moving your mouse to the bottom left to escape in a dangerous situation can lead to a missclick on the map, sending you running straight back towards your enemies resulting in death.
- Terrain. There are small differences to the maps, LoL has bushy areas that make inhabitants invisible to the outside eye. DotA has 'juke' points and secret passages between the trees to escape.
- Community. As a general rule, the community of DotA 2 is more elitist. However, the LoL crowd is far more ruthless and spiteful. Both sides have their ups and downs. I can't say which one is better, that's for you to decide. Also, DotA has voice chat ingame.

I'm not entirely sure I've managed to list everything. If you have something to add, please comment! Remember, I am trying not to be biased against either League of Legends or Defence of the Ancients. Sorry if I leaned towards one.

How long until the MOBA market dies?

Ever since DotA was initially released as a mere custom map for Warcraft 3, a new era for RTS games was born. Aptly named MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena), this new genre has exploded in popularity in the last couple of years.

I enjoy playing League of Legends and DotA 2. In the past, I've even put a lot of hours into Heroes of Newerth whilst it was in beta. Because the MOBA community numbers in the millions, lots of game developers are trying to seize a piece of the cake.

In fact, there are so many of these games in production, that within the next year the market will be flooded and diversified to the point of ruin, just like the MMORPG genre. People say you can't have too much of a good thing. Take one look at the MMO market and say that again. Sure, there's a lot to choose from; but the premise behind Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games is to play online in with a huge playerbase. In fact, the term massive is getting more redundant by the day. Why? Because with every shit developer in the world looking for some easy money, new MMORPG games come out weekly. With each new release, a chunk of the people who play MMO games peel off to play it. Eventually, there will be so many games that when you finally find one you enjoy- you will be annoyed to discover that there are only 10 other players.

The reason I'm ranting about the MMORPG market is because this is happening to the MOBA market. Slowly but surely the genre is being overpopulated with bad titles. There's a Lord of the Rings MOBA, even Marvel and Blizzard are making their own versions for a slice of profit. And that's what it comes down to. The gaming industry is happy to kill off a brilliant genre of game for a little bit of money.

You can argue that more battle arena games are better and you would be partly right. It's like the arms race. More competition means developers have to step up your game and beat the other companies to the next level of content. However, that's not what will happen. Instead, all you will see is clones of LoL and DotA with copyrighted characters from another franchise. Instead of trying to innovate the MOBA genre, companies will simply fall into complacency and copy the others.

It's happened since the beginning of the gaming industry, someone makes a popular game that breaks ground and pushes the industry to new heights. For the next year, every major developer tries to copy them on the simple principle: 'If they can make money from it so can we!'. One step forward, two steps back. Up until recently, this shameless copycat behavior can be seen as nothing but an annoying tribute to some of the greatest gaming experiences ever produced.  However, with gaming becoming deeply tethered to the internet in the last few years, reproducing the same game with a different cover is damaging the online community and the industry. The worst part is that ultimately, there's nothing anyone can do about it.

I understand my article may make the issue seem more serious than it is. It's not killing the gaming industry, you will still be able to play your favorite MOBA games and enjoy them with your friends. They will still be fun, and you will still have people to play with. But in a few years when you're waiting for 30 minutes in a queue to play one match, how long will it take for you to find another genre and drop MOBA's altogether?

I'm sure this is a topic lots of people have an opinion on. If you have any input leave a comment and let us know!

Zac is pretty awesome

After barely playing LoL over last couple of weeks, I really enjoyed coming back to play Zac. He's not half bad for a flubber on steroids. I didn't expect him to be an ability power champion, I assumed he'd be AD.

Now I've only played a couple of matches on him, but I already feel like he's better at top lane instead of the jungle. He scales well throughout the game, although his potency drops a little once the laning phase ends. If you can dominate top, it's really easy to pressure other lanes with his catapult. Once you get your ultimate, you can put an end to any team skirmishes very quickly.

Zac's abilities cost a fair percentage of his current health, which can be restored by picking up pieces of goo that peel off him. This is a great mechanic, because it restores you based off the percentage of your maximum HP. When you're on low health you can sustain yourself fairly well by landing abilities and grabbing blobs of yourself.

So far I've only built Zac with items to keep myself alive while boosting damage, such as Rylai's and Abyssal scepter. If you can pick up an early Warmog's he becomes a great diver. However, I'm quite eager to see someone build him straight up AP. A glass cannon build on him could be very scary, but you'd be melted in a teamfight.

I've seen a few calls of OP in matches and on the forums, but I think he's quite balanced. His passive that brings him back to life is annoying to deal with, but with a couple of people that slime dies instantly. It's also got a very long cooldown.

I think Zac is a good addition to any team at low to medium elo. At high levels of play I don't think he'd be that useful with anything but a solid tank build. Once everywhere on the map gets warded, he can't get into a good location to land a slingshot. Let's just hope Lissandra is just as fun.

Girls Generation Ahri!

This skin has been floating around the LoL forums for quite some time now. Every Ahri player and his dog are out showing support for this amazing skin. It's not even the kind of skin I'd like, but I'll buy it just because it looks so amazing.

Adorable. A fine example of how sex sells.

If you like the look of Girls Generation Ahri, go to the forums and give it an upvote and a comment to increase the chances of Riot making it. It really does look nice, I'll buy it just because it looks unique. It's a brilliant concept, awesome design, and the support in the threads proves it.

It looks amazing ingame too!

Come on Riot, the artist has practically done all the work for you. You guys can do this, just like Pool Party Ziggs! Girls Generation shouldn't just be an Ahri skin, I want to see one for Caitlyn, Vi, Soraka, even the male champions!

League of Legends comics, again.

It's been a while since I posted some of these. LoL comics get better as time goes by. If you want to view some of the other comics I've posted over the years, check this out. Everyone loves League comics, including me. Enjoy!

Oh Teemo. That face.

I salute anyone who tried this.

Dear god, I want this champion. He needs a few nerfs though!

This is less common now, but honor whores are everywhere.

Every time. Every damn time.

Who honors people anyway?

Oh plagiarism, you so shameless.

So many people do this, it's the very reason I don't harass bad players.

I've won games with this very method. Play Singed. Laugh at other team. Win.

I hate it when people ignore the new pings, they are useful when your team isn't retarded.