Why "Counter" is Such a Dirty Word

Dear Average League of Legends Soloquer,

You are frustrating. You know who you are. You are the kind of player who just watched a top player go tank Ezreal top against singed because he said it was a good counter; then decided to try it out in your next game in Yolo Que because the opposite team first picked singed. Maybe Elo Hell is a real place, maybe it isn't, but it sure feels like it after a string of LoL Counter copycats.

The fact of the matter is, there is a reason why the pro players do everything that they do; I am here to help explain their choices and increase your knowledge of the game in this new Bi-weekly blog. By understanding why the pros do things, you wont only make better choices with your own picks and strategies, but get an edge up on your opponent. This week's focus: The Counter.

What exactly is a counter?

For simplicity, we will just define a counter as a champion that has a significant edge when facing another champion in the laning phase. A quick example of a counter for each position would be something like Darius vs Singed (top), Anivia vs Ryze (mid), Caitlyn vs Ezreal (ADC), Leona vs Soraka (support), and Shyvana vs Amumu (jungle). You may be saying to yourself now, "But Whispers, this is stuff that I could find on any website you quack, why are you giving me examples when I can just look them up on google?" and to that I reply, it is not about what champion you use; it's about why you use them.

PS: I'm going to be using the word "dueling" to describe a 1v1 all in encounter. This isn't Yugioh, don't let your minds wander. Shyvana will never be a Blue Eyes White Dragon. Although maybe Riot should consider it as a skin.

This is why I hate the word counter. How many times have you seen someone go Teemo top vs a Garen because they saw on a LoL Counter website that Teemo "Counters" Garen; then proceed to get stomped into oblivion, causing Garen to run train on the rest of your team as they flee in the wake of his spinning hurricane of blood death and violence?

The reason LoL Counter sites are so deceiving is because even though they do in fact give you a champion that is a counter, your lack of knowledge about that champion and the reason why it is a counter can cause you to lose regardless. It is no different than first pick autolocking Malphite because he wasn't banned for the first game in your last ten games. If you don't know the character it is more beneficial for you to pick a character that you have played often and have extensive knowledge of.

I once had an argument with one of my close friends who is a Master level 1v1 Starcraft 2 player. He said that League of Legends did not take any significant skill and that it was all based off of knowledge of champion abilities and items. In a way, I have to agree. League takes a significant amount of skill, but knowing little things can make an significant difference in the way you play. An example of this would be bush aggro reset. If you use a spell or auto attack an enemy champion, you can immediately run into a bush and avoid taking damage from your opponent's minions. For bot and top lane, this could be an absolute game changer and all it took was a little research to give you an edge on your opponent.

But seriously, all the general talking is done, lets look at some specific examples. Cait is the main ADC counter to Ezreal, but time after time you see Ezreal dominating Cait in lane; why is that? Well, 1v1 early game in a laning phase situation, Ezreal will smoke Cait. It's like watching Lebron James dunk over Helen Keller. No contest. Ezreal can mystic shot and auto attack to burst you down while you have just your auto attacks and possibly a slow and easily dodgeable Q that still wont do as much damage as his auto's and mystic.

So if it is such a no contest, why is Cait a counter? Well Cait's strength is her range and because of her range she can get off attacks earlier than other ADCs, which means she can shoot once then back away. On top of that, her passive gives her a steriod that adds to her poke, which increases how dangerous she is. Ezreal's two biggest weaknesses are his short range, and his inability to hit targets with mystic shot that are behind minions. Early game most of his damage comes from his mystic shot, so by standing behind the minions, you can negate his most powerful spell while still hitting him with auto attacks from your superior range.

Bonus Tactic: I know you have unreasonable tunnel vision when you are last hitting, but pay attention to your opponent's attempts to get last hits; when they use their attack to kill a minion, you can hit them with your attack and they wont be able to strike back because their auto is on cooldown. Just step away after your attack and you got free damage! Totally Coolio!

This is why many Caits lose vs Ezreal, they fail to stay behind the minion line and try to take Ezreal head on. By chipping away at him before engaging, you make it extremely difficult for them to defeat you and can gain a significant minion score advantage.

Now you can see why it is so important to understand your own champ and your opponent's champ before you decide what to pick. If you don't understand how to preform the counter, then picking the champion could actually be detrimental. Another great example is Garen vs Darius. This matchup is hotly debated, as many don't actually believe Garen is a counter to Darius because Darius wins so often.

Let's just take a look at darius then: Darius pre level six wins battles off of trades, with damage coming from both physical and magical sources. He often will use his Q and run back, saving him from most of the harm that you can return to him, or he will lead with W and auto attack until you are at the edge of Q range, which not only gives him multiple stacks of his passive, but also keeps you from running. Even though his poke is great, his straight up dueling ability is even better. If you try to all in him, 9 times out of ten he will just plain out damage you and come away with the kill; even if you do manage to kill him he could still kill you with his passive.

At level six straight up dueling him is out the window. With all of this at his disposal, how could garen win, especially when he is a melee range champion? Well you have to consider Garen's strength: his mobility. With his Q he can increase his speed and take away Darius' slow, and with his E he can do damage even while moving! The best part is his ultimate rivals Darius' in power, making them equal when coming down to the final strike.

Garen wins the matchup by being the more knowledgeable and smarter player. If Darius uses his E, you can immediately use Q (which you should be maxing), pop W, and spin away with E to do a little extra damage and to dissuade him from chasing with auto attacks. The Q silences his high damage spells and also removes the slow IF he gets it off, while his W lowers the damage over time passive and any auto attacks. Combined with your passive ability to heal, you trade ridiculously well with Darius, until it is time to bring down the massive sword of light down from the heavens and scalp another Noxian for Demacia.

Make sure to type DEMACIA in all caps as you dance on his corpse, it is psychologically frustrating for them and could cause a tilt.

Even the jungle is an effective place to use this knowledge. Lets say you have absolute balls of steal and doesn't afraid of anything so you decide banning amumu is for scrubs. The other team first pick auto locks him because they know they just got a free win because hey, this is solo que, and you don't let the mummy out to play.

What is the game plan now you titanium narded god, you man among boys, you fearless woman pleaser? You pick Shyvana, because you know enough about the game to understand that the mummy is going to have a reason to cry when you are done with him. Amumu is strong with numbers, his entire skill set is based on taking down multiple enemies and keeping enemies from running. He is amazingly good at closing gaps and sticking to enemies because he can just walk and do damage to them. If you let him sit around farm/gank, it doesn't matter what LoL Counter said about Shyvana, because you are about to get smoked by a little sad mummy who no one wanted to go to the prom with. Embarrassing. So what do you do? You absolutely refuse to set foot in your own jungle.

Shyvana with Burnout and her Q have arguably some of the best 1v1 dueling damage outputs in the game, while Amumu does nearly nothing for damage once he uses E. By watching the lanes and making sure they can't get in the jungle and interfere, you can make Amumu's farming ability almost impossible by slaughtering him anytime he wants to get near any of the camps. It takes an insane amount of map awareness as well as knowledge of jungle routs and timings, but it can easily be done once you have that knowledge.

Bonus Tip: In general, most junglers will attempt to get a smiteless leash on blue buff and then proceed directly to red buff. Knowing this you can get a smiteless leash yourself and then lie in wait at their buff. This is especially effective if you put on those movement speed quints that you have been neglecting for the last few games because you just want a little more sweet deeps. Save a laner's life, don't neglect your MS quints.

TLDR: Make sure you know your champion and the champion you are facing before you decide to pick your counter. Sometimes it is better to just pick a champion you know rather than one that "counters" your opponent. Also realize that even if you know both champions insanely well, there is always that chance you are playing a Korean smurf who will curbstomp your counter and leave you in the trash back where you left your dignity.

Final Bonus Tip: When playing support, sustain champs beat poke champs, poke beats burst, and burst beats sustain

Hope I could help, if you have any questions about specific champions or comments in general, feel free to leave them in the comment section or message me on twitter @WhispersDig.