Rift Life - Issue #4 - The Shield of Valoran
Hey there, I’m Tate (aka captenredbeard). As part of the ‘Rift Life’ NALCS blog series, I’ll be bragging about my low elo grind... The landing page for this week’s issue can be found HERE
So, I recently completed placement matches for Season 8. Honestly, I've spent most of my time playing League of Legends very casually, without putting any effort into it. Last season I got much more into watching the LCS and this inspired me to improve my own gameplay. A day late, and a dollar short...I ended up in Silver II. Nothing special. A few seasons back I think I accidentally made it to platinum without even knowing it. Anyway. All that being said, this season I really want to put some effort into it and see where I can go. Within a couple games just prior to season starting, I realized Taric was in a really good place balance-wise. He is stupidly strong.
At this point I've spammed him through about 38 games, managing a 71% win rate.
Not too shabby. Let's chat about what is making him so strong. His rework was over a year ago, and since then he's seen a lot of pro play. Rightly so.
He's got a moderate heal.
A decently strong shield.
A pretty broken stun.
And a ridiculously over-powered ultimate.
Now, to elaborate on Taric's skills a bit. All of them revolve around close teamwork. I mean that in the literal, proximity, sense as well. His shield creates a connection between you and your ally. This causes his heal to heal in an area of both you and your ally. His stun follows the same principle, creating a line of effect on a delay, from you and your ally. Finally, his ultimate also activates on you and your buddy, after a delay, you and everyone in a close range go invulnerable for a second or so.
All in all, a seriously powerful kit. There's only one problem... People don't seem to understand how he works. People never seem to clump up around Taric for his protection, and they never seem to know what to do with the stun. Regardless, his kit is so powerful, you can basically force people into doing well. The real reason I think he's so strong right now is the rune system and Locket of the Solari. During an engagement, you can pop your shield, heal, massive shield from locket and your ultimate, all at once. Additionally you can take runes to boost all of that.
Even when executed well, it doesn't always work out so well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2040&v=nfSsh6PCWJU#t=55m19s
I'm hoping to use Taric to pull myself into Gold and go from there. What champ are you maining this season? Any role you feel will help you climb the most?
Video and Photo Credits to Riot Games.