LoL

No, this post has nothing to do with laughing out loud but everything to do with League of Legends.

Hyrum introduced me to this game on Saturday night (more like Sunday morning - it was midnight) and I wasn't really interested in it until I played. Then I was hooked. I stayed up until 4 that morning just to play.

Now I understand that the people who read this blog don't know or don't care about a computer game, but I don't care that you don't care. I need to get this out somehow and somewhere and no one will listen to me but my lonely blog that no one really reads. So here it goes.

In LoL, there are characters called Champions. You get to choose which Champion you would like to play, although not all are available. My favorite Champion so far is Ashe, the Frost Archer. She was the first Champion I ever played, but that's not why she's my favorite. My second favorite is Sivir, the Battle Mistress. But I'm only going to talk about Ashe in this post.

Ashe is an archer whose health is relatively weak and attack is amazing. I speak from experience. Ashe dies really quickly. She's a ranged Champion so that's not a big surprise. But she kicks freaking butt and that's what I love about her. (Sivir kicks butt, too, but I haven't gotten the hang of her nearly as well as I have Ashe).

Each Champion has special spells - or abilities - that are unique to them. Ashe's abilities are Frost Shot, Volley, Hawkshot, and Enchanted Crystal Arrow.

Frost Shot is an important ability that I really like, but use with discretion. It doesn't take a lot of mana to use once, but when you continually fire upon minions with Frost Shot activated, all your mana is used up and you have none left to use your other abilities with. I save Frost Shot for when I'm fighting against other Champions. Frost Shot slows them down considerably and is essential when I'm chasing someone down.

The Volley is probably my favorite ability and my most used. Volley fires 7 arrows in a, well, volley, to hit multiple targets. It's very useful when there's a group of minions fighting you so that instead of picking them off one by one, you can damage lots of them and move on faster. Also, Volley will apply Frost Shot, meaning that if I have Frost Shot activated, the 7 arrows that come from using Volley will be Frost Shot arrows. That's pretty useful when enemy Champions are mingling with enemy minions.

The Hawkshot I've found to be almost completely useless. The only thing it's good for is finding people in bushes, which isn't all that great. Maybe when I play more and start playing against people with more experience I'll find a use for it.

The Enchanted Crystal Arrow is a special ability that I can't learn until level 6. It's very useful, however, because it freezes the targeted Champion right in place. So if I'm chasing someone down and I don't want them to get away, I shot that big old thing and they stop in place. The Enchanted Crystal Arrow will travel all the way across the map so I can freeze Champions when I'm not even near them. I've found this to be useful when they're about to reach one of my towers and I'm still to far away to defend, if I fire it, it will slow them down enough that less damage will be done to the tower. It's a bit tricky though because you have to time it just right and shoot it at the right angle, otherwise you'll just miss. Also, another cool think about the Enchanted Crystal Arrow is that it freezes anyone near the targeted Champion - but that's only if the arrow hits the Champion. A couple of times I've aimed for one Champion and hit another, but they both got stunned, so that's a pretty useful feature. The arrow has no effect on minions unless they are near a targeted Champion.

The abilities have to be learned to be used and they are learned in levels. Each ability except the Crystal Arrow has 5 levels. Every time Ashe levels, you get to chose which ability to increase. When you increase an ability, the cooldown time goes down and the damage goes up. It's really smart to level the abilities in the right way or you're going to find yourself in a pickle. Here's how I level each ability (I've found this to be the most effective way to get the most damage done to the enemy):

Champion Level 1 - Volley
CL2 - Frost Shot
CL3 - V
CL4 - FS
CL5 - V
CL6 - Enchanted Crystal Arrow
CL7 - FS
CL8 - V
CL9 - FS
CL10 - V (Max)
CL11 - ECA
CL12 - FS (Max)
CL13 - Hawkshot
CL14 - H
CL15 - H
CL16 - ECA (Max)
CL17 - H
CL18 - H

Now, these abilities aren't the only thing that gives Ashe an advantage. Ashe relies heavily on giving maximum damage. She has a special perk that increases her chance of a critical hit the longer she doesn't fight. That doesn't sound like much, but it really adds up when she's traveling to a tower that's about to fall or whatever. She gets a critical hit on every enemy that she happens to hit first.

There's also equipment available to buy as the game progresses and the gamemakers were nice enough to recommend what to buy. I used to just buy in order of recommendation, but I learned that the higher I got Ashe's chance for a critical hit the fastest, the more likely I was to win the game. When Ashe's chance for a critical hit is at its peak, that usually means she's level 18 and does some pretty good damage. That also means that she always crits, no matter what.

This is where a combination of things come in. First, remember Frost Shot? Well, when Frost Shot is fully upgraded and has been activated and Ashe's critical hit chance is maxed out...I would say run, but even that won't save you. I'm not even kidding. Ashe can kill a Champion with full health in 5 shots with that combination. It's freaking annoying when you're not the one playing Ashe, but freaking awesome when you are. It's one of the reasons I love her so much.

By the time that Ashe's crit chance has maxed, all of her abilities have maxed also. That means that Volley cooldown time is like 3 seconds. Ashe just mows down minions with Volley by that time. And even though Ashe's health is on the weak side, when she's level 18, she can take a lot of damage. That's also contributed to the equipment bought.

I love Ashe. The only problem I ever have with her is when she dies too much at the beginning of the game so then it's a nightmare to get her to level, which is essential. If I don't level Ashe very fast at the beginning, I can't get all of her abilities maxed and I can't buy all of the equipment she needs. The best way to level her quickly is to keep her from dying. So playing next to Soraka or another healer really, really helps.

Maybe when I play Sivir more, I'll post about her. She's pretty freaking awesome with her boomerang sword thingy.


Disclaimer: I do not own League of Legends, any Champions mentioned, any pictures added, and any other stuff that I could get sued for. All information was found at http://www.leagueoflegends.com/ where you can also download and play the game for free.