Greetings TAW members! My name is Warbuck and it is my pleasure to announce the creation of the LL Division News Group. As some of you may have noticed, a change was needed to the way that our division kept up our blog and the News Group was created not only to revive the blog but to attract readers from all of TAW. This blog will serve multiple purposes and it is our hope that it will provide valuable information to readers both inside and outside of the division.
Many of you do not know who I am and this is with good reason. I am pretty new to TAW and have been a member for roughly a month and a half. It can take some time to get to know people in a new clan and when I learned that NupidStoob was searching for people to be a part of this unit, I threw my hat into the ring because I believe that a position in the unit will allow me to get to know all of the interesting and wonderful people that make up TAW. I am thirty years old and I own my own business as a freelance writer and editor. My experience as a professional writer was viewed as an asset to the News Group and I was offered the position of Editor, which oversees the rest of the News Group and is responsible for editing and delivering content via the blog.
I am honored to have been selected to serve as the News Group Editor and I would like to introduce the team that will be working with me. It is important to know that all members of TAW are invited to submit material to me for review but these three writers will be contributing regularly as official members of the News Group. Without further adieu, I present to you the LL Division News Group.
Einherjar is a Canadian gamer who enjoys playing on both a professional and casual level. Being introduced to video games at a very early age and at the very advent of their popularity has made gaming less of a hobby and more of a way of life for him. He carries a zeal for development and critical analysis, which he feels makes playing games that much more enjoyable.
Einherjar has enjoyed writing from his youth, loving the written word since he was very young. A strong imagination and comfortable dexterity with the English language enables him to enjoy reading and writing and does both on a regular basis. One of his favorite writing tools is a small journal kept by his bed. When an interesting dream remains in his mind in the morning, he'll indulge in a bit of extra storytelling until the inspiration is lost. Reading through the two- or three-page entries later always proves a bizarre and fascinating journey.
Einherjar will be writing about the members that make TAW a fun place to hang out and play League of Legends with friends— as the Member Correspondent for the News Group. He will also update us on what it is like to be a part of the clan from the eyes of those who comprise the Division.
Redoxygen is a swede who joined the media group because she loves writing and is currently studying to become a scriptwriter. Her favorite literary genre to read and write is fantasy, but she enjoys a good action or horror book from time to time. The only things she does during her free time are write stories and play games— which is why she joined TAW.
Although she discovered the gaming world around the age of 11; she didn't realize how boring it could be to play alone until she was older. League of Legends is her main game right now but RPG's used to be her favorite genre. She used to play were Tibia and WoW until moving on to other games, which include League of Legends. The Elder Scrolls V : Skyrim is her favorite game after League of Legends and she is waiting for The Elder Scrolls Online.
As the PBE Correspondent for the Media Team, Redoxygen will be keeping us up to date with patch releases and letting us know about the latest champions that are due to be released. She will also be providing us with original stories that incorporate clan members.
SkippyFo has been a member of TAW for three months and will be reporting general TAW news such as rank advancements, policy changes, contests and current events. He is 16 years old and attends high school as a sophomore in his home state of Tennessee. He is enrolled in advanced journalism classes and contributes bimonthly to his school's newspaper. SkippyFo is honored to have the opportunity to serve the News Group and will do so to the best of his ability.
As the News Group reporter, SkippyFo will be covering breaking news and writing articles that will improve gameplay by providing useful information that will allow players to improve their gameplay and be up to date on ways to test their skill in contests.
I am proud to lead all three of these individuals and look forward to the content that they will provide me in the future. I truly couldn’t have asked for a better team to work with as part of this unit.
Any questions about the LL Division News Group may be directed to me via Teamspeak, the TAW messaging system or email to warbuck@taw.net. I also welcome anyone who wishes to contribute interesting stories, articles or other content that is relevant to the division to send their articles to me via email. I will notify you if your work has been selected for use and your name will appear on the work when it is posted.
Until next time, take care TAW!
Warbuck
Gunnery Sergeant
Hey
As some of you may know recently Mortem [LL 3] has been performing a few songs and concerts on TeamSpeak at odd times.
I am here today because I have been working with Mortem to try and setup some more organized events that we can all take part in and enjoy.
In regards to that we have setup an interactive concert this Sunday (24 of March) at 21:30 CET, or for anyone from the states or their around 15:30 EST.
We are currently working on setting up more events for the future and I will hopefully be able to provide you with some dates and times in the near future.
Mortem will both be performing some of his own songs and taking requests.
It will be similar to his other small concerts with a cozy atmosphere and a lot of people just having a good time in the company of other TAW members.
And on a final note the concert will be streamed.
I hope to see as many of you as possible at this little event. If anyone else has any talent they would like to share, musical or otherwise feel free to contact me via TeamSpeak or email.
The TAW Icebreaker began this month to a smashing success in North America and both Europe battalions. 27 teams now have their eyes on the top prize for their region. Information on the teams and the current bracket standings are available on our member forums for LL 1, LL 2, and LL 3.
LL has broken the TAW record for the most division members as of January 23rd, 2013 as we approach 350 members across the world. Also, LL 1 currently holds the most members of any battalion in TAW at 175 at the time of this writing. As well, LL 4 has more than doubled in size to 27 members!
Special mention to the following members for their outstanding efforts at introducing people to TAW:
Kalipo with 15 new members for LL 3.
MattShy with 23 new members for LL 4 (much appreciated!).
And Kedzie with the Green 'R' Army of over 60 recruits as of this writing. Thank you all for your amazing efforts to expand TAW.
At the beginning of the year, LL had our first division-wide meeting to discuss what goals we wish to pursue going forward. We have updated our mission statement and outlined a few distinct goals (one of which we've accomplished already!). More information on what direction we're going is listed on the [LL] League of Legends channel on Teamspeak. LL Division's new motto is now "Excelsior Virtute et Vigilare" - Ever Upward by Virtue and Vigilance. Everyone that attended received a new tab on their profile for their time.
Speaking of tabs, a large number of new tabs have now been put into place for members to shoot for. Achieving these will award you with a tab on the TAW website. A full list and discussion is available here.
Because of the huge number of members now deployed in every mandatory practice, LL 1 is introducing an altered FS position to aid the current FS and XO with paperwork. DontBeAJimmy has stepped into the new position. VenomGen has proven to be a very valuable asset to the officer team, though due to outside issues he will be stepping down and shall be replaced by Farefar. I'm sure nobody envies the man who must field 175 players!
Due to LL 4's recent takeoff in membership, MattShy will be stepping into the first officer role for South America as SO. Another nod to him for his work in recruitment.
We wish our officers, old and new, the best in their endeavours.
New SO for LL 4: MattShy
New FS position for LL 1: DontBeAJimmy
New FS for LL 1: FareFar
Retiring FS for LL 1: VenomGen
Some of our European members have already tasted the musical talent of Mortem, and we encourage you to check out his YouTube channel. Anybody with talent is welcome to share it with the TAW community for a shout-out on this blog! Let's see your stuff!
Hey everybody. This'll be a post about a strategy that I've been cooking in my head for those of you that want to have a wombo-combo but don't feel like doing a setup on bot lane. This pair will give your team all the tankiness that it'll need for a game, so that the rest of your team can focus on damage and carrying. We'll be looking at Thresh and Maokai in the Top and Jungle roles, respectively.
Pros
+ Tons of tankiness to soak damage
+ Probably the best initiation combo to ever be concieved in the game
+ 7 sources of CC, 5 of which are fairly reliable
+ Only reliant on one completed item per person
+ Excellent utility for a team
Cons
- Low damage lategame
- Vulnerable ganks early game against junglers
- Less effective against ranged Top champions
- Reliant on solid early game performance and weak against zoning
- Reliant on teammates to do most of the damage and may not be the best choice for solo/duo queue
Maokai is pretty straightforward, here. He'll want to start his jungle in such a way as to be able to gank top lane at level 2, whether that means starting at blue buff or red buff. You'll want to take his W (Twisted Advance) at level 2 so as to be able to gank effectively. The very first gank should be done as fast as possible.
Maokai will want to rush Iceborn Gauntlet as quickly as he can. This is the item that he will need to combo with Thresh. Since Maokai can reliably proc the passive on this item after using W, you should walk in front of your opponent and wait for a second before slowing/knocking them up with Q (Arcane Smash). Thresh will be able to land a Q (Death Sentence / Chain) and pull the enemy back through the zone on the ground, so make sure to save the Q for a second proc on Iceborn Gauntlet. Know that Thresh can very easily force people to use Flash, so make sure you're standing in a spot where the enemy will have to flash right into you in order to get away.
You'll want to have Flash and Smite as your summoner spells, and run a defensive rune and mastery page to soak up turret damage and burst from enemy carries.
You'll want to max R > Q > W > E. Starting with E>W>Q>Q>W>R when you're levelling up. Remember that Health is probably the best tank stat there is right now, so make sure you pick up a Giant's Belt and build something out of that. Watch out for champions with big area threat as they can push you away from your ultimate and rob you of a lot of tankiness.
Champions to watch out for, as they can countergank and counterjungle very well against you:
Dr. Mundo
Lee Sin
Shaco
Thresh was released as a support champion, and while he does good in that role I find he is an absolute terror at top lane given the right matchup. He excels at punishing melee champions, but doesn't do so well against ranged champions. You'll want to start with boots and 3 potions, as you need all the speed you can get to kite melee champions. Start with Q (Death Sentence) and take E (Flay) at level 2. Every time a champion enters melee range to get a last hit on melee minions, whip them with an auto attack. When cannon minions come into the lane, let the Q charge for maximum punishment when your enemy tries to last hit the siege minion or risk losing out on the extra gold. The name of the game here is to watch your opponent going for last hits and try to deny them as much as you can. Otherwise play passively and don't try to zone them too far away. You want Maokai to be able to gank them and you probably won't be able to finish a bruiser all on your own early on.
Your very first item that you'll be buying is Frozen Mallet. Since Thresh has 3(!) sources of CC, including two knockbacks and two strong slows, Frozen Mallet adds a lasting CC that you'll use to lock down one person for an absolutely insane amount of time (at least 5 full seconds even with Tenacity). Make sure that you land your entire ability combo before dropping that auto attack to proc Mallet and Q so that the abilties aren't wasted and Q does more damage.
Your typical combo will look like this:
Throw Q.
The enemy will be yanked towards you two times (two short pulls)
Press Q again to fly towards the enemy.
Push them backwards with E (they will be slowed now by E)
Press R.
Use your charged auto attack. This will have landed about 600 damage in total at level 6 and almost always blows a flash.
Chase after them and try to land at least one more auto attack (they'll be horribly slowed by your ult and E).
You'll want to have this mastery page, and a rune page with Armor reds/yellows, MR/level blues, and movement speed quints. This is to maximize your early-game tank potential since this is Thresh's absolute greateast weakness. Pick up Flash and Ignite as your summoners.
You'll want to prioritize R > Q > E > W, levelling Q>E>Q>W>Q>R when first starting. Remember that Thresh is a huge CC machine and scales very well with AD. I recommend Hextech Gunblade as a second item for the sustain, as well as the ridiculous active that adds even more CC to your enormous arsenal of cheesy nonsense. I also like Blade of the Ruined King quite a lot on Thresh, but you have to remember to use both active on your items which can get a little boggling.
Champions to watch out for, as they don't like being chained up:
Jayce
Kennen
Vladimir
Jax
Boots of Mobility / Captain
Iceborn Gauntlet
Warmog's Armor
Spirit Visage
Runic Bulwark
Ruby Sightstone
Boots of Swiftness / Alacrity OR Furor
Frozen Mallet
Hextech Gunblade
Blade of the Ruined King
Mercurial Scimitar
In regards to that we have setup an interactive concert this Wednesday (16 of January) at 21:30 CET, or for anyone from the states or their around 15:30 EST.
Also here is a link for the event
Hey everybody, Nehrak again. I'm here this time to announce LL Division's Icebreaker tournament. The Icebreaker is a tournament set up on the North American, EU West, and EU Nordic/East servers. This tournament is open to ALL TAW MEMBERS who want to get in on the action, even those who are not in LL Division.
The Icebreaker tournament will start on the 16th of January, and signups to participate will close on the 12th. All members of LL Division must be signed up, and we encourage everyone else in TAW who wants to participate to sign up. The tournament will be played as a draft on Summoner's Rift, and you can participate even if you don't have enough champions to join draft mode (we have special considerations for such players). All teams will have 6 players (5 main members and 1 sub). Players who join LL Division after team selection will be placed on a team as a substitute. Remember that everybody is welcome! Sign up today! North America (LL 1), Europe Nordic-East (LL 2), Europe West (LL 3).
The competition is sure to be fierce as old tournament winners make another run to defend their title. New upstarts and members are sure to make the tournament interesting. We look forward to having you!
More information on the rules of the tournament here. You can also look at how we choose the teams here.
A lot of people ask me “Nehrak, I want to learn how to play this lane better. What should I do?” One of the very first things I ask them is what champions they are playing in that lane, and almost always their picks are sub-optimal for what they’re trying to accomplish. So what is ‘sub-optimal’ and ‘viable’? How do you tell if a champion is good or bad?
It’s all about what your champion brings to the table for your team. Champions with great utility and damage are always better than a champion with just damage. Take mid lane for example. Brand is seen as a sub-optimal pick if you’re trying to be a good mid player. Why? His damage is one of the highest in the game, he’s got a stun, and his AoE damage is absolutely insane. Why is Brand considered ‘okay’ whereas a champion like Anivia is seen as one of the best? It’s because Brand brings only damage and a single stun, whereas Anivia stuns, slows, she can control a pretty big zone with her ult, and wall people off. There is a lot of gameplay with Anivia that you can use to help your team win the game, on top of doing tons of AoE damage. Anivia is better than Brand in every way except raw burst damage because of everything she brings to the table and is therefore a better choice overall.
Another thing to keep in mind is matchups. We see all the time people asking “who counters X champion?”, and despite knowing what counters what, they don’t understand why, or why some champions are difficult to counter. Let’s take a look at Yorick. Yorick is a pretty safe pick when it comes to counters, and no champions really DUMP hard on him. Why is that? All you have to do is look at his abilities, and the champions that Yorick typically faces. Usually they’re bruisers (tanky dps) with innate toughness and decent damage. These champions are usually susceptible to being kited, and since Yorick can slow as well as heal himself, he’s tough to counter properly because he can do all of that from outside of his opponent’s reach. On top of that, if you gap-close to him, he’s dealing increased damage to you and taking less from his passive, his ghouls are hitting you, he’s healing himself, and he can reset his auto attack for a bit of burst (more with a Sheen). Yorick is difficult to counter for that lane because of his kit, and his innate strength. A champion that is difficult to counter in this way is good for when you have to pick before your opponent.
Lastly, avoid champions that are easily countered. Nasus is a prime example of being one of the easiest champions to counter in the game. Taking a look at his kit, it might not be apparent why right away. He’s got the strongest slow in the game, a decent armor shred and AoE damage, the infamous Q that demolishes squishy champions later on, as well as a big ult that deals a pretty good amount of damage and buffs him to absurdity. The thing is, Nasus’ early game is AWFUL, and his base numbers aren’t that great because of the power loaded into his Q. He needs to farm, and farm, and farm, and really only becomes relevant after 20-25 minutes of sitting top lane. On top of that, he doesn’t trade damage very well because a lot of other bruisers simply out-damage and kill him, so he can’t farm very well outside of his turret. A lot of the time, Nasus will simply be countered by a champion with a good early game, like Riven, Olaf, and Darius, and will not be able to make it to that mid-game relevance. Champions with huge, glaring weaknesses are usually a poor pick unless you are confident that the matchup is in your favour. Nasus can lane fine against a Cho’Gath, for example.
Take these things into consideration when you’re looking for champions to pick up, or are trying to learn a new role.
Hello everyone and welcome to a new series of blog posts regarding the LL Division. Here is where you'll be able to find all the latest information and goings-on in TAW's own corner of the League all over the world. If you have suggestions or topics that you'd like to see covered by these posts, PM or email Nehrak with your ideas! With that, let's get started.
After a long haul through a round-robin set of matches, the two top teams in the NA Battalion, Fireteam Gangnam Style and Fireteam Heartbreaker faced off in the final to claim the $10 RP prize (1380RP). Heartbreaker had a very durable team when faced with Gangnam Style's very disruptive team. The game started off fairly close, but in the end, Heartbreaker pulled ahead and lived up to their namesake. Special thanks to all who participated and made the tournament possible.
Now that the tournament is over, members of the NA reserves will have a chance to be placed upon a team for a shot at the championship! Over the course of the next few weeks, NA practices will be where the command staff and Fireteam Leaders determine your skill level so that we can balance the teams as best as possible. More info on NA Fireteams here.
Another tournament is currently in the works for members of 3rd battalion. This tournament will be based on a round-robin system, as well as some other sweet twists. The tournament itself is designed to build your team's synergy through the use of additional tournament points awarded through scrims. The competition is sure to be tough, so arrange your practices and scrims accordingly!
For more information, check out the tournament document here.
LL Division's ranks have been exploding with new recruits in no small part because of our recruitment drive. You may be pleased to hear that LL vies for the top spot as the largest division in TAW, with our membership exceeding 200 members! 1st battalion is currently running a contest for the member who can recruit the most people, and similar initiatives are in the works for our EU battalions. Pay attention during practice announcements for information regarding recruitment incentives, you might just bag a prize.
That's right, LL Division has set its sights on the new server for South America. That means that all of our friends dancing near the equator now have the chance at their own battalion! 4th battalion - now headed by Alecsandri - is in the process of spinning up a new team. If you are on the South America (Brazil) server, get into contact with your command staff to request a transfer to LL's newest battalion.
Hello really awesome [EU LL]
We want to talk to you about some of the changes and things that have happened in our battalion.
As you may have noticed, or not, there is summer out there, and thus battalions have encountered some challenges. We have lost a lot of members, and the rest of the members have trouble to attend, because summer is just too awesome to stay inside. We want to keep on going forward, because we know, that you people want to play, thus we shall not give up! Lets keep on coming and try our best, to make the greatest battalions in TAW. We know, you guys can break the old records of attendance and reach new heights!
New changes to [EU LL2]. As you may have heard Urkosh stepped from CO position giving Blondie a chance to prove he can do an even better job. Blondie has been promoted to
1st Lieutenant and is also reorganizing the CoC of the nordic-east server. Brynollf took the SO position temporary and a new SO is being trained to bring fresh blood to the battalion staff. The XO position has been given to NupidStoob.. Since there have been such big changes in both battalion rosters, all the squads are remade or reorganized. Creating more steady squads and bringing people together to have fun times playing with each other. For that we are looking for possible candidates to take over Squadleader (SL) positions. We are investigating the roles people play mainly so we can put the sqauds better together as well.
At the moment we have 3 external teams. 1 is on west and 2 on east. Those teams have started practicing together and will soon start playing scrims and tournaments. If you have interest in any of the teams feel free to contact your Field Specialist (FS).
Hello everybody
As most of you know we split our awesome Europe battalion into two separate battalions, to increase the awesomeness in the League of legends world. Currently we have a battalion for each server in Europe. EU Nordic & East is battalion with tags [LL 2] and EU west has [LL 3] tags. Having Nordic & East with complete battalion staff we were left with re-making battalion staff office for West side.
West was going through biggest change, since we had to look for new CoC members. After some time we were finally able to fill in all the main positions, find awesome pony brothers and have our LL 3 battalion fully functional. The new team has been settling in for few weeks and are getting used to all of the new things and duty's. Trying to improve their battalion they meet up and discuss different ideas.
Welcome the new staff members on west [LL 3]:
CO - Corniator [LL 3CO]
XO - TheDahaka [LL 3XO]
SO - arjen [LL 3SO]
FS - Smurfy [LL 3FS]
Although the battalion staff positions are filled in, we always welcome our members to join in on improving battalion sharing their ideas and taking up other positions, such as SL, DI, TS, TI. Remember people, we try our best to make your stay with us to be as awesome as possible, but we still require your help. If you feel like you have enough courage and initiative to help your battalion staff, go talk to them or send them mail. All members are welcome into discussions and to join some of the battalion staff meetings. If you don't know when you battalion staff is gathering for meetings, again, go and talk to them to find out when they have the "secret" meeting.
Thank you for your time :)
TurtoisBee [LL DO]
It was a rainy Autumn day and I was sharpening my spear while sitting on the summoner platform, preparing my self for the upcoming battle. My spears needed to be sharp enough to pierce my enemy’s armor with my Heartseeker Strike and Spear Shot.
I know I need to be full of confidence when I bash the enemy with my shield, but I lacked the courage and faith in my strengths.
I have faced the dangerous battlefield, I’ve crossed the line, the point of no return. I’ve arrived at level 30 - and realised that the true battles start now!
I was finishing my preparations for battle when I heard someone talking to the merchant and arguing in the shop - and as I turned around I saw Granny Smith. She kicked that red rat’s face, I have a feeling he tried to cheat here, unlucky creature.
Granny Smith turned around and looked at me, her deep purplish eyes piercing me like Ashe’s arrows, enchanted with the power of Infinity Edge.
But they weren’t as cooled, she seemed concerned. She approached me slowly - and slapped me hard across the face. “Wake up boy! What’s with that scared look? Get some confidence! Let me tell you, everyone was once where you are now, and feeling the same way you do now!”
“Remember that Pinky Pie NupidStoob? Do you think he was always brave, strong and wise like he is now? NO! Just like you now, he was once scared, a cry baby, cowering on the summoner platform confused and uncertain. Unlike other summoners he stepped forward and overcame those weaknesses! He became a great fighter and later a strong leader.”
“Remember, it’s not only about your fighting. You need to see what is happening around you. I remember there was this one young kid. She didn’t have the best fighting skills at that time, but she had sharp eyes, an open heart and desire to support and help her team members. That summoner, LadyFlame, proved herself and became a squad leader. (Hehe, she reminds me a bit of my self in my younger days, I was a real live flame!)
Granny Smith slapped my face again, pushing me off the platform and into the heat of battle. Strangely I felt better and more confident. I was strong that day and able to defeat my enemy!
My head still hurts though after those 2 slaps! Granny Smith has quite a temper.
Thank you for your time
TurtoisBee [LL 2CO]
Good day dear summoners. I would like to congratulate our external squad:
TAW Alpha.
http://www.esl.eu/eu/team/5612184 ( /#mce_temp_url# )
As you may have heard our brave warriors ware showing spectacular results in ESL G4LoL this Sunday, 27 of November. As usually showing up for the event on time around 12’o clock with their minds set to victory, and thus they were ready to show the enemy teams what they are made of! Moving all the way up to 5th round and fighting with their fullest. Defeating many teams and proving they are force to be reckoned with.
http://www.esl.eu/eu/login/validate#/eu/lol/west/go4lol/cup65/rankings/ ( #mce_temp_url# )
So again, congratulations to our TAW Alpha team members and if you see them online on TS or game give them a big GZ and pony hug.
People who played on ESL last Sunday were:
Zakasou (ZeeVengence)
TheGrimRaper
Ryoutaru
KoalaBamboo
JCMVenom
Thanks for visiting our League of Legends Blog. We would like to tell you a bit about who and what we are!
We currently have three battalions, the first battalion is run by Truehunt who is the commanding officer of the North American battalion, the second battalion is run by NupidStoob who is the commanding officer in the EU battalion and the third battalion is run by Gobbles who is the staff officer in the OC division. Each divison uses there respective clients, and the oceanic region uses the NA client but in accordance to the oceanic timezone.
Here in the League of Legends division all of our battalions strive too provide the optimum gaming experience for their members, suiting all your needs wether they are competitive or casual. Join TAW and become part of this growing and joyus community.