If I made a post about every League of Legends patch or updated, things would get a little out of hand. Riot, despite only selling the highest-priced reskins at less than 50% of a pony, pump out content so fast that I doubt anyone at Blizzard is even able to keep up with the patch notes. “Soon” in Riot-talk generally means “right about NOW”, rather than “3 year + $45 later”.

That said, the latest patch is somewhat different in that it not only included a great reskin of the 5v5 map Summoner’s Rift, but also some in-game changes that reflect the Halloween spirit, along with a bunch of Halloween-based champion skins. The map itself has some great lighting effects and lots of tiny details, and the skins that I’ve seen in-game have all been well done. The newest champion, Lux, has so far been in every game I’ve played (not surprising), but her viability is still up in the air. If nothing else, she brings some interesting things to the table, though she is far from the Morgana-clone that some expected.

My personal climb in ranked play has been going well, as I’m now above 1300 ELO in the 5v5 single queue. At this level I rarely see outright horrible play from anyone, and I can’t recall the last time someone ragequit out. Most matches are also fairly close, and team composition is somewhat consistent. The few times an ‘odd’ pick has been made, that players generally surprises people with how well he played.

Amumu still gets banned 90% of the time, so I’ve played a ton of games with Shen. He is a great champion to play, not only because he is a true tank, but because he can also get himself into position to dish out a surprising amount of damage. His ult also forces you to really pay attention to the mini-map, as anytime I suspect champions are fighting it out I take a quick glance into that lane and see if my ult might be needed. Being able to turn a death into a kill is huge in the early/mid game phase, and late game using the ult to save your carry in a team fight is critical.

When not playing ranked I’m still working on both Tryndamer and Master Yi. Both are considered less-than-optimal champions (though Trynd just got buffed), but for me they are a ton of fun to play. Tryndamer’s main ‘problem’ is that he is a beast in the 3v3 game, so even though he might be a little weak in 5s, he won’t get buffed too much due to the 3s map. Yi on the other hand is tricky in that if he gets rolling, he is more devastating than most champions, but if he has a slow start he brings next to nothing to a team. Jungling with him somewhat solves the early-game issues, but you still need a few early kills to really get the items you need to dominate.

As I’ve written here before, we (Inq) are having a blast with the game, and have built up a nice community in terms of people to play with. If you are at all interested in the game, feel free to use this link, and if you are looking for a good group to enjoy it with, apply here.

Last Chuck-o-the-day: Yup, the book is done, so no more Chuck after this. It’s been fun, but in life, all good things must come to an end (Yankee’s related joke quote, bonus if you can name it).

They were going to release a Chuck Norris edition of Clue, but the answer always turns out to be “Chuck Norris. In The Library. With a Roundhouse Kick.”