okay, lots of stuff - i guess i go by posting order.
Koln:
Picks -> I think jungler should pick first right now - most bans against unknown teams focus on junglers (or at least champs that can jungle well). It is quite possible that no good jungler pick is left if our jungler picks late (Like it happened in our 2nd(?) game where the enemy got hecarim). After that its support/AD picks if possible and if we managed that we will pick at least one of top and mid after the enemy for sure.
Champs -> If everyone learns to play 5 different champs for their preferred role there shouldnt ever be any difficulties if we dont ban our own best played champs. For botlane 3 would probably be sufficient as they are less targeted by bans - however as AD player i can tell you that playing with a different support (both champion and player) completely changes your lane so even with less champs theres more to learn.
Builds -> A few items (nearly all aura items) are REALLY powerful and - with the right team for them - a must to get. corki+taric+ap mid+malphite+amumu = if you dont have abyssal scepter on that team uninstall. Same for the AD aura with an AD heavy team.
Frozen heart is a must-have counter to irelia (well, no real counter but the only thing you CAN do against her carry-killing ability) and generally good if they have multiple autoattack based champs. Randuins omen is also nice for that, but cc reduction affects it so its no good vs irelia at all.
Runic Bulwark should be on nearly any team - its way too good.
Here is what I think: During champ select and loading screen we should be discussing WHAT aura items to get, WHO plans to get it and HOW FAR into the game, since sometimes you wont need frozen heart till lategame. If someone gets fed early obviously they can get one of the items instead of someone else, just make sure we are not building them twice. I guess a checklist for champ-select to talk about it would work to remind us. Who knows what else we manage to put on that list later (opening strategy, general strategy, blah blah)
Mem:
Taking a tower out too ealy is bad. However, once botlane has some items (lets say at least lvl 2 boots + BT or blade of ruined king) it will be possible to kill the tower and (IF they manage to freeze the lane) put pressure on mid tower next. With 2 towers up and 4 ppl mid they will have to group to defend the second tower at least. It is however really important that our adc has enough dmg to make a real difference in mid - the first tower there has to go down FAST, because once 3 ppl are defending it while their adc farms a frozen lane we will be losing the money-war. With the first tower down the adc farming a frozen lane suddenly is UNSAFE there as they have less control of that part of the jungle and we could push either tower next, making it possible to dive-gank and push once someone is alone (assuming oracle to clear jungle wards). It is a very agressive strategy and will either turn the game in our favor quickly or draw the game out long with the enemy having better farm, entering lategame with a disatvantage. Definitely preferable if they have strong lategame champs.
If they dont manage to freeze the lane we get ganking opportunities (or they get very little farm by staying back). Thats a win/win.
For toplane it is a bit different - most of the time top wants to get tanky (or get enough burst) to take out the carry (if not kill him, stop him from damaging anyone else). That means farm, farm and farm. A fast, tanky champ can push and just keep farming - if you saw singed in progames - they just push until the game ends because they cant really be stopped and if they ever come to fights the adc usually cant do anything to them.
I think pushing or not pushing needs to be decided before the game - it will depend on picks and the junglers game changes depending on it too. If the first enemy picks show a push-strat (= fast game) may be good for us, our remaining picks should support it.
Gandalf:
To your gp10 - as I said we should have an idea of how long we want the game to last and pick/build accordingly. Obviously GP10 is the way to go if we plan a long game (and can afford to get it without losing the lane)
We all need to work on our global awareness - while you could have shouted louder it was stupid of all of us that were there not to confirm where their last champ was before going in. Much like we went for a fight mid the other game into a 4v1 with the remaining 4 of their team right behind us... that was called on mumble too and noone listened^^
Mem again:
Dont worry about being calm - I have my own moments where I like to shout at peoples stupidity - I just learned not to push the push to talk button
As we continue to get better (at least I hope we do
) that should become less of an issue anyway.
I heard tear of the goddess is good on singed now as it apparently activates again and again as long as singed poison trail is active (commentary of a progame, dont hunt me down if it turns out to be wrong
)
Gandalf again:
You are absolutely right about having to know your champ - just following a guide may be good enough to win a blind pick game against a random opponent but will completely screw you against someone good with a champ even slightly countering yours if you dont know how to deal with it. Watching a pro (or simply good) player in action analysing him can give you the understanding you need - sometimes you can find a nice featured ranked game in the client with the matchup you are interested in. Another players perspective - while possibly not optimal - may just give you a new idea both for your build and laning tactic.
Or it may show you what not to do - like that malphite that kept leaving toplane to use his ult to kill grav mid for the 5th-10th time in a row (each giving less than 100 gold). Perfect bait grav btw. Your continuous sacrifices allowed jungle draven to lead you all to victory
. Some things we really need to improve though:
