Fun Things to Try in League of Legends

Please note that I don't encourage people to dive into SoloQ without adequate experience on a champion. First-timing should be done in a safe and controlled environment where no person's LP can be harmed. With that out of the way, let's get into it. While SoloQ is all about getting as high on the ladder as you can, things can get a little heated from time to time. You can tilt really easily if things repeatedly don't go your way, and the fun level decreases as a result - this coming from personal experience.

So what can we do to solve this? While I can imagine people being focused on grinding through soloQ with as much success as possible, this does not mean this can't be done without having a little fun or playing things that are out of the ordinary. And this too can mean picking something from the meta and playing it elsewhere (TF Jungle anyone?). So here's to those that want to have fun: five ways to spice up your Ranked play.

Support Orianna: My lord, Orianna's a dormant monster. Similar to how the pros have previously played Support Zyra as a glass cannon mage (because let's face it, she's not going to survive anything if she gets focused), Orianna can fulfill the same role very well. Her Command: Shockwave is a team fight monster and can singlehandedly decide the tide of a fight, but if an midlane Orianna whiffs a Shockwave, the team fight is just about done for. Shifting her to the support role not only removes that pressure from her - though you should attempt to hit any Shockwave nonetheless - it also allows for a strong AoE mage to combo their ult with yours very well. And although the scaling on Orianna's Shockwave isn't all that, nor is the base damage, it is stil about 600 damage team-wide with some AP itemization, and if you imagine something along the lines of a Katarina in there as the AP Mid (which we'll have a look at later on), you have a very potent wombo combo in your team's hands.

But the wombo combo isn't all there is to a Support Orianna. Her laning phase is deceptively strong, most notably because of her ability to perpetually reposition her Ball, allowing her to get low manacost damage in on just-as-low a cooldown. In addition, she has a shield to keep her laning partner safe from anything ranging from a DoT attack (Support Swain let's go!) or any amount of long range poke: Orianna can shield her ally to at least try and mitigate some of this damage. Should you want to push, make a speedy getaway, or catch up to someone, there's always Command: Dissonance, and when stuff's about to go down, a well-placed Shockwave can set you up for some nice combos, even in lane. Although I wouldn't necessarily recommend playing Support Orianna with the unconventional AD I'm about to throw your way, you could most definitely give it a try.

Bluecian: I've always considered getting a Manamune/Muramana on every Marksman because of how most of them either have mana costs that drive you into the abyss, or a skillset that allows for very good usage of these items. Lucian's no exception. With the 'recent' changes to how his passive and E work now, ranking Q>E>W with a capped CDR blue build, it may take you a minute or 20-30 to get to your damage spike, but when you hit said spike, you will maul anything coming your way. Bluecian is all about making as much use of the Muramana Toggle effect in conjunction with Lightslinger to apply very quick shots that all proc the mana-devouring effect that wrecks people's faces. 

Bluecian obviously gets himself a Tear of the Goddess into a Manamune as soon as possible. This is then complemented by Ionian Boots of Lucidity and an Iceborn Gauntlet. The build is then rounded out with a Last Whisper, The Bloodthirster and a Zephyr. These items provide penetrative stats, sustaining stats, Tenacity, Attack Speed and everything a Lucian needs to spell cycle his way through his mana bar. And in the case a Zephyr is not necessary, a Blade of the Ruined King and Essence Reaver work just as well: more lifesteal and more mana sustain in trade for Tenacity.

Kap CDR Katarina: Behold the glorious artisanship that is proccing the Bouncing Blades mark with another Bouncing Blades. With Kap CDR Katarina (Kaptarina, if you will) this is now possible. Stepping onto the rift with 15% CDR and adding Ionian Boots of Lucidity and any 10% CDR item (Twin Shadows, Deathfire Grasp or Will of the Ancients) tops you off on CDR and makes it so that you're basically unaffected by the latest nerfs that slammed her Death Lotus into the trash can. Not to mention that Bouncing Blades at rank 9 has a 4.8s cooldown (and there's a big chance that it takes more than 0.8s for that last target to be hit, allowing same-skill-proccing), and Shunpo has a 3.6s cooldown. Low cooldowns on a champion with virtually no cooldowns to begin with makes her insanely strong.

And it doesn't end there. Your laning pressure increases exponentially because of your ability to consistantly spam Bouncing Blades to whittle your opponent down, and with Twin Shadows and Movespeed Quints, you'll be fast enough to just about proc every Bouncing Blades mark with whatever's at your disposal at that time. And the main reason why Kaptarina is any good: you just about mitigate any nerfs done to your ult cooldown. Cap CDR at max rank means the cooldown on it is 27 seconds. 2 Kills and your ult is back off cooldown. You can say all you want about how Kaptarina has less damage than a normal Katarina, but one less kill required to reset it is pretty immense. Not to mention if you don't get the reset yet, your skills are off cooldown way sooner (about 25% sooner), so you can chase your kills down if need be (4.8s cooldown Q, 3.6s cooldown Shunpo, 2.4s cooldown Sinister Steel). A lot of resources to get a lot of stuff done really quickly.

Yorick Jungle: While not quite as strong as he was in the pre-preseason jungle, Yorick jungle is a beast if you keep your own blue buffs (which you can, if you have Kaptarina mid). If Elise was strong because she had her Spiderlings tank for her, then Yorick is equally strong because although his Ghouls time out, they are stronger and more resilient than Elise's Spiderlings. On the other hand, Yorick has an entirely different skillset to his disposal so the two aren't 100% comparable. What makes Yorick jungle so strong, is his stickiness, his speed, his clear and his unexpectedly high damage output. Little a jungler can fight 1v1 against a Yorick if they both have double buffs at their disposal. Yorick has 15% more damage, 15% less damage taken, Ghouls that attack... lots of things that go for Yorick.

And if his base damage wasn't good enough, he has a revival tool in his Omen of Death, which is insanely neat because you can safeguard your Marksman from any and all incoming oneshots and have a copy of him at the same time. Should your Marksman drop still, you at least get him back briefly. And Yorick's combination of decently spammable abilities, good base damage and damage mitigation make him an excellent bruiser. Getting Mercury's Treads, the Warrior enchantment on either the Ranger's Trailblazer or the Stalker's Blade, a Frozen Heart and Iceborn Gauntlet and you'll be an insanely durable, fast, sticky, and hard hitting gravedigger.

Toplane Sejuani: Similar to how Maokai gained an immense rise in power with the swapping around of his kit, I foresee Sejuani being a very potent top laner. She has sticking power, crowd control, insane burse (although set back a bit by character unfriendly mana costs), and some innate tankiness that is enhanced by her abilities and how they combine with her stats. From the get-go, Sejuani's always been a kind recipient of bonus HP. This is further improved by how she's received a Bonus HP scaling on her W (which was moved to her Q in her rework, then re-moved to her W in the switcheroo) which now functions as a Total HP scaling (which is kind of insane considering she starts the game with 600HP at least) and her reworked passive that gives her free tankiness as long as there's a Frost'ed target around.

Sejuani - being as manahungry as she is - makes very good use of a Rod of Ages since all those stats benefit Sejuani greatly. From there, there's more than one road that leads to Rome. You can go off-tank with an Abyssal Scepter, Rylai's Crystal Scepter, Zhonya's Hourglass and a Void Staff, or you can just transition into the beefiest tank the world ever saw with basic tank items like a Randuin's Omen, Frozen Heart, Warmog's Armor and other tanky items, depending on the situation. But the best part is that Sejuani doesn't have to wander off anymore after doing her ult-Q-W-E thing as she used to need to. She can actually stick around and deal a lot of AoE damage with her Flail of the Northern Winds and Permafrost and dash around combat (in moderation) with her Arctic Assault. An allround well-balanced bruiser, I'd say.

Of course, there's more unconventional picks than meet the eye. Item builds can also be changed around (from AP Katarina to AD Katarina, for example), or just a very unconventional champion (like Urgot) put in a spot where he usually does belong (Marksman). And if it works... why fix what isn't broken? Tell us down in the comment section below what your unconventional picks are and why you like them so much. Coballz out.