Entering The Shadow Isles: Thoughts on the Remade Twisted Treeline

Hey guys, Fox here. Today I want to talk about the new Twisted Treeline map. In the last few days of Season 2 my friends and I decided to try our hand in 3s and ended up getting to gold rating, and I thought I'd share what I think about the map, now that it's been out for a while.

Early Game and Controlling Alters

With the change of the alters from unlocking at two minutes, to three minutes, the early game has gotten a little less hectic. If you have the intent of level 1 teamfighting starting with boots and a Dorans item(Dorans Shield is great on whoever is going to be your front line), as it will give you the strongest possible fighting power, and after the dust settles on your level 1 goals, you will have time to go back to buy potions. So now there are a few important things to think about.

If you have the ability to check bushes with a skill shot, strong cc and catching power, then roaming as a pack to catch enemies off guard can often lead to a first blood for your team. Now that the alters unlock at three minutes, the enemies may not be in their jungle at all, they may simply just go to lane and start csing minions. If they do this, you can attempt to gank a lone member with your three, or you can bait and camp in the enemy jungle.

If you decide you want to take their alter level 1, you can have one person go alone onto the alter, and the other 2 camp the most likely entrance to the area. There are various tactics you can try, but the most important thing is to stick together, because one person getting caught out will decide who gets first blood.

Champion Roles/Viability

So in the old Twisted Treeline self reliant bruisers were king. Well surprise surprise, bruisers are still the most dominant pick, but that isn't to say they are the only pick. Bruisers like Olaf are very strong, but I believe most roles still have a place on the map, you just need to play smarter.

Bruisers: Bruisers are amazing on Twisted Treeline for their strong dueling ability and simultaneous high damage and survivability. I have seen success even in 3 AD bruisers, and when the enemies build armor, you just build Black Cleaver and Last Whisper, and keep being aggressive.

AP Champions: Now there are a lot of AP casters like Morgana, Oriana, or Ahri, who are very popular on Summoners Rift for their CC and AoE Burst for teamfights. These champions are situational on Twisted Treeline, but struggle a lot due to the popularity of the bruisers, although the changes to Wooglet's Witchcap will help them a lot. If you are looking for Magic Damage to round out your team, I recommend an AP bruiser like Cho'gath, Singed, or Diana, as they have the ability to take a few hits and stay alive to do more damage.

AD Carries: AD Carries are risky for the same reason that AP Carries are. When the enemy team is Jax, Singed, Olaf, their team will run at you and melt you. Also, most Twisted Treeline games are decided by 20 minutes, which is before most AD carries get their major buys to become the strong sustained damage people need them for. If you feel comfortable dragging out the game, I have had success with strong kiting champions like Ezreal, Caitlyn, Vayne, and Tristana, but you need to be aware of positioning because one wrong step and a bruiser will jump on you and destroy you. They are risky, but can work.

Support: I didn't originally think support champions would make any sense on Twisted Treeline. I ran against an enemy team that had a support Nunu that was an absolute menace, and I've seen really amazing Leonas. This requires a little bit better teamwork. I have had a little success having the support essentially be partnered with a bruiser doing a 2v1 bot lane. Assuming the enemy team has one guy who is focusing on clearing the jungle, the bot lane pair will be working on completely zoning and denying the enemy in a 2v1 lane, or they will force the jungler to spend a lot of time bottom. Then when you get the opening to leave lane, mostly when a tower is pushed, you go into the jungle and steal the big mobs, the alter, catch the enemy jungler, or swing around for a gank top lane.

 

The Jungle

So I've mentioned a little bit about how you technically don't need a jungler. You can afford to tackle the jungle in a few different ways. The jungle is not exactly as steady and continuous as in Summoners Rift, where with only three camps and no buffs (Vilemaw is closer to Baron than the standard jungle, I'll get to it in a moment though) you have no real need for smite. I prefer just having the jungle get cleared by whoever is ready to do it, as fast as possible. The less time you spend in the jungle fighting monsters, the more time you have to pressure the map. If you have something like a Dr Mundo, Lee Sin, or Shyvana on your team, they can do an excellent job of clearing the jungle quickly, and moving on to ganking lanes and counter jungling.

Also there is Vilemaw. Vilemaw is honestly a little terrifying. It is just like Baron Nashor in that it provides you a buff and some gold for killing it. It also is similar in that the early game it will deal a ton of damage to you, and you should never do it when the enemy team may interrupt you. If you can kill a few key members of the enemy team, or wait for your bot minion wave to have a strong push, those are the ideal times to go for it. I do not recommend any member of your team takes smite (as it just will be outclassed by Exhaust or Ignite), so be sure your team can get some alone time with Vilemaw.

 

Playing without Wards

The shop does not sell wards on Twisted Treeline, and having to play without wards completely changes the way you need to play. If the enemies are missing, they could all three be hiding in your jungle. If you are alone farming on your tower, you may have sense of security, but the enemies won't hesitate to dive you if they have three against you alone. This makes teamwork, map awareness, and game sense very important. But also it is another reason that playing anything other than bruisers is a risk. If the enemy team has bruisers with crowd control, and you are alone, they will jump out of the bushes on top of you, not even your tower will be able to save you, and you have no way to see it coming.

 

So Wrapping Up

So I guess my most important notes are: work together with your team, play strong duelists, and have map awareness. Due to the size of the map and the number of players, all of these factors are so much more important on 3s. Thank you all for reading and I hope you enjoyed!