By KatanaMordecai

KatanaMordecai

Patches with Pros: Jayce with RoshanNOW of vVv

Mon 9th Jul 2012 - 7:08pm Category: League of Legends

I sat down with RoshanNOW, support player and team captain for vVv gaming, to discuss the most recent Jayce patch after their recent lineup overhaul and victory at the LANcouver event. Although I recorded a video interview with him that turned out to have really good content, too many technical issues have caused me to only release the text interview.

Although I am very disappointed about this, I hope to bring you some really great content in the future and don't want to compromise the pilot Patches with Pros with poor quality. I hope you still enjoy what information I did get though, as I think a lot of it is really great insight into the changes for the most recent patch. 

 Since this patch was so large, we tried to focus on the newest champion and the many changes to supports, as RoshanNOW can offer the best insight in that area.

 

Jayce:

The newest champion has an incredible amount of versatility with his set of seven skills and mix of range and melee. With his ability to gap close, knock back, then transform into a ranged AD with a powerful steroid makes him fairly powerful and fun to play all around.

RoshanNOW adds that the knockback "can be good for peeling as an AD carry." Additionally, he explains that building as a bruiser is probably the best route because "the only way to fully use Jayce's utilities is to jump into the enemy, and if he's a glass cannon, you can't do that."

Although it seems like Jayce could fit almost any role in the game, it surprised me when Roshan said that he thinks Jayce could even fit into the support role. He explains that if his movement speed buff, which is "like a mini Shurelia's," is paired with an actual Shurelia's Reverie, your carry can have incredible mobility.

Overall Jayce seems to be able to fit a huge multitude of playstyles and "has a lot of capabilities in different positions."

 

 

Alistar:

Apparently wanting to tone down the incredible amounts of lane control that Alistar historically brings to the table, Riot came out with pretty substantial nerfs to his mana costs. With triumphant roar's cost increasing from 28 to 40 at level 1, it's certainly a change that players will feel, says RoshanNOW. "Alistar already had mana problems, so this will probably change how I build him by skipping the heart of gold if it's a sustain lane, but if it's a kill lane I'm going to have to build heart of gold" anyway.

 

Janna:

Having just seen Roshan play Janna the night before our interview on his stream, I knew that he could offer some insight on her changes. She received yet another nerf, following the recent change to her shield which removed the bonus AD when the shield's health had been bursted down. Her passive movement speed on zephyr was halved at level one, and the active slow was decreased from a 4 second duration to 3.

Roshan doesn't think "the movement speed passive is going to change her very much-you won't notice it, but one second from the slow duration really affects her early on." Because her slow is such a great attribute that allows the AD carry to harass or kill the enemy, this nerf can decrease the damage dealt to the opponent, and could make it harder to use the slow as an escape as well.

Janna's ultimate, monsoon, also received a nerf of 30 seconds on its cooldown at level one. Roshan describes how "People don't really dive early on, until mid to late" game, and that this means players probably won't feel the cooldown increase all that much. Since many Janna players build cooldown reduction, he doesn't "think you'll feel it in the early game, but mid game-definitely."

 

 

Lux:

Lux has historically been a champion known for very high cooldowns and very high mana costs, which is perhaps the reason she is not seen much in competitive play. Riot is perhaps answering these deficiencies with a decrease in many of her mana costs, as well as an increase in her mana regeneration rate. In the support and AP mid roles, this will obviously help players feel more comfortable casting spells more often. However, this doesn't give her better cooldowns or easier to land skills. RoshanNOW explains that although Lux has extremely high utility, he "still wouldn't use her as a support in competitive play" because she is so skill shot based.

 

 

Nunu:

Nunu seems to be a champion teetering on the edge between viable and unplayable for quite some time. An all around tragically 'okay' champion, he hadn't really found a role he could fit into as well as others. With his slows, great harass, and steroid, he has been a decent support and a mediocre jungler, but little more. The large volume of changes which came out for him during this patch are likely to change all that. Roshan tells us "that this will definitely make people want to play nunu more. The visionary buff from seven to five stacks will be really good for him" and his mana reliance. The buffs to consume will be helpful in sustain, and "challenging or stealing dragon early" from a bot lane position.

 

 

Orianna:

Similar to Nunu, Orianna has not seen large amounts of play lately due to her inability to measure up to other champions in her role. Originally usable in the mid lane and as support, the buffs she recently received certainly gear her skills more heavily towards middle lane now. "Everything that's been buffed makes her more of a damage dealer," but the small nerfs also mean that "her base damage will be higher but the skill damage will be lower and slower."

Because of the way the buffs focus more on damage, he explains that he still "wouldn't use her as a support because her shield takes time to get there. It gives the sight which is really good, but so does Lux."

 

 

Soraka:

Soraka is seeing another set of nerfs following her continual preference in competitive play. It seems as though Riot is having difficulty getting her to the level that they would like to see her at, but Roshan explains that so many nerfs are seriously damaging her viability. "Already Soraka has this twenty second early game heal, that's only three heals per minute. They are making Soraka less viable for play with each update."

The decrease in her armor buff from 5 seconds to 3 makes a big difference in the protection of your carry, especially with such a long cooldown to begin with. Probably the hardest hits Soraka took after this patch, however, was the 40 cooldown increase to her ultimate, wish. Roshan tells us that "you'll definitely notice, and you just won't be able to save people as much".

 

Items:

Athene's Unholy Grail is receiving an increase in its offered Ability Power and Magic Resist, though its mana values remain unchanged. Because it is a fairly new item designed to give champions that benefit from Chalice of Harmony's mana regen a new building option, its lack of a mana regen upgrade between the two items seems detrimental. RoshanNOW says that he "wouldn't build a chalice into unholy grail as a support because it doesn't give you any extra mana. Both [Chalice of Harmony and Athene's Unholy Grail] give you the same mana benefit, it just helps your AP and Magic Resist." He does agree that these changes could be very positive for mid lane champions who need Chalice's mana regen anyway, and are looking for more AP and MR heavy items later on in the game, such as Anivia.

Ionic Spark received a few positive tweaks in its cost and area of effect damage this patch. Although competitive play has seen little of the item aside from HotshotGG's split-pushing Shen, these buffs may change that for some melee champions. As far as AD carries go, however, Roshan believes that "there are tons of better items than Ionic Spark. You don't need the aoe damage when your job is to focus down one target."

Quicksilver Sash has been a very popular item recently among AD carries in professional and lower level play alike. Its extremely high level of utility can often be the difference between getting away and a death. The nerfs it received don't affect this utility, which is likely the biggest attraction to the item for most players. Roshan says that he "thought it was pretty cheap and this just makes it more balanced. People get it at mid to late game, and the cost won't affect it that much" at that point. The increase in cost and the nerf to it's Magic Resist will not likely overshadow the active as the item's most important aspect.

 

Once again, I'm sorry that I couldn't bring you the video of this interview, but I am not willing to compromise on the quality in order to get things out quickly. I was very happy with the content, however, and I hope you are as well. I want to extend an apology to RoshanNOW for not being able to release the video, and a thank you for taking the time to do this. Make sure to check out his stream, and watch for vVv at the next TSM invitational.

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