It’s been a while
I’ve been spending most of my free MOBA time playing Heroes of the Storm. It’s such a huge time commitment keeping up with just one meta, that spreading my attention across multiple games (in a competitive way at least) can feel insurmountable at times.
But having played League of Legends since its beta, I can never truly give it up. Having spent more time with it this past month or so, I’m basically all caught up.
Illaoi
The last time I checked in was with Kindred, but since then there’s been a few more additions.
Illaoi the Kraken Priestess is a character that kind of came and went for me. She had a really cool interactive website, but soon after, she faded into a distant memory after Jhin was released. I changed that recently though, and found her to be fun enough with her bruiser-based kit and random spirit tentacles that pop up along the walls of a lane.
She also has access to a standard line-attack Q that’s good for waveclearing, a buff that makes her next auto-attack a dash (and triggers her tentacles), and an E that rips the spirit from an enemy that can be attacked and slow foes if they run too far. The latter is pretty rad as it sends your opponent into a dream-like state as a “vessel,” summoning tentacles around them like a Lovecraftian horror tale. Her ultimate also summons more tentacles and doles out AOE damage.
With no real escapes it’s easy for her to get punished if she wanders too far, but since she has a middle of the road winrate, she’s somewhat viable in public play.
Jhin
Jhin is one of those Champions that really spoke to me even during his teaser phase. His whole “beauty and death” shtick is interesting, as is his unhinged personality and Fiddlesticks-like stalky stature. He’s one of the more interesting characters I’ve seen come out of League in quite a while.
His grenade is great for knocking out multiple champions in teamfights as well as neutral mobs, and he also has a unique line attack in Deadly Flourish that scans for enemies, and even roots foes that have been marked by his passive shot (his ultimate, Curtain Call, is also very cool to watch). Jhin’s “E” trap is the cherry on top, as he’s not only great for finishing off opponents that are running away, but slowing them for others to finish off as well. I find myself being a little more active while playing him without needing to dive, which is really fun.
It helps that I’m a sucker for ranged AD roles, especially ones that have an ammo mechanic (like Heroes of the Storm‘s Tracer). Jhin is in a really good spot in the meta right now too, and I recommend grabbing him if you haven’t already.
Aurelion Sol
Out of all of the Champions listed here, Aurelion Sol is the one that comes out most on top when it comes to viability, rivaled only by Jhin.
His ability to both command the middle lane and jungle makes him a very versatile hero in just about any gametype. He might not look like it but he is a mage, and can deal out surprising amounts of damage in seconds flat. Sol is also a giant cosmic dragon, and a complete badass. He has it all!
In all seriousness, his passive allows three stars to circle around his character, which are integrated with nearly all of his moves — one of which can extend the range in which they circle out of his character model — and what a range it is. Sol is a very effective harasser, and can inherently waveclear right from the start. The power to directly to fly over walls also facilitates his ability to jungle or enter impromptu teamfights.
Even if he’s nerfed in the future, he’ll still be a blast.
Taliyah
I dug Taliyah’s anime intro, but the in-game character itself is fairly underwhelming from an aesthetic standpoint, at least compared to everyone above.
Her main conceit involves the mastery of rocks, which culminates with a rock surf board that’s probably the coolest thing about her. She also has a standard Q skillshot, a pop-up area-of-effect (that can be directed), and a nice waveclear power that has a target area shaped like a baseball diamond.
You can do some really cool plays with her, like surfing in, walling off an area to prevent escapes, and dealing some chip damage while your team does the real heavy lifting, but those events are so few and far between if your opponents have any awareness or escapes available. Since she’s the 131th Champion in League of Legends, it may take a while until she gets some balance love.
Next up is Kled the Cantankerous Cavalier, who adopts Heroes of the Storm‘s mount mechanic with his “trusty steed” Skaarl.
