Soul Stealer – League of Stories

Ranked Ladder Climbing

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I was honestly nervous about being second pick and just slamming the pedal down on LeBlanc. I wanted to wait until the enemy team picked their AP mid and then I would choose LeBlanc. I agreed with habasaba to trade me an AP for a support, but when the blue team picked Ahri and locked with their first pick I just said “never mind” and locked LeBlanc. Time for a Soul Stealer!

Our game plan was to sprint to the enemy blue at the start of the game, but despite moving as quickly as humanly possible we only tied the other team to mid. They spotted us out as we dropped into their jungle, so we had to retreat. We didn’t want to be seen again, so we cut down river and hooked around to their red. While waiting for that to spawn Leona came walking through the jungle. I guess it is her jungle, but no one was going to get away from that gank. Luckily for me one of my auto attacks picked up the kill, securing me First Blood!

We leashed red for Shyvana and I wandered to mid. Ahri started Crystalline Flash, which made her easy to pick on. She figured she could trade and just heal up using that. Sadly, she didn’t get to trade because she was silenced the whole time. After I chunked half of her life at level two she started to play back a little bit. However, the damage was already done. I had lane advantage, I just needed mana. This is always a conundrum for me as LeBlanc because I don’t build any mana items. Honestly, her mana pool is good enough late game, and I do end up picking up cooldown reduction through my 20 stacks and blue buff. However, this game, when I hit level three Shyvana started pinging our blue buff. My dreams were coming true: Shyvana was giving me first blue.

One interesting part of this game was that we had an AP-tank top in Singed and I was a super fed AP carry in mid lane, but the enemy team bought minimal Magic Resistance. Maokai literally had none. Vayne eventually got a Negatron, but it was too late at that point, and Zed only had Mercury Treads and Hexdrinker. Ahri started to build MR, but she was so far behind that she ended up with 95 AP in her two items, while I was at 500 before 20 minutes.

I had just ran top to help Singed dive Zed. The idiot in me made me tank tower, which left me just about half health by the time Zed was dead (around level seven). I was walking back to mid and made sure I had vision of where Ahri was. Just as I was getting back to lane she shot her charm at me and tried to follow it up with all of her spells. I stepped back to make the charm miss and just blew her up. She didn’t make it halfway back down the lane because of silence and my root.

Something I didn’t realize before was that Soul Stealer gives 16 Ability Power for each kill, which means that even if you’re killing a target that is worth less and less gold it still is granting you money. Depending on which money tier you use 16 AP is worth different amounts of gold. If you spend 435 for 20 then 16 is worth 348 gold. If you spend 860 for 40 then 16 is worth 344 gold. Lastly, if you spend 1600 for 80 then 16 is worth 320 gold. So each kill I get is worth an extra 320-348 gold. Even with this knowledge I was still careful to make sure to spread the love and hunt down each person on the enemy team, and that’s why they were all within one death of each other!

Their Zed did the best on their team in terms of gold, and he was still lower than our support. This game was very one-sided. However, I went to split-push top lane to get some free turrets. I could escape from anyone on the enemy team, or I could duel anyone if they came 1v1. Zed was pushing. He ran away when I got to lane. I pushed in and took the turret. I walked up, cleared the creep wave and started hitting the next turret when Zed came charging out at me. He must have back up because he’s committing to fight me. He ulted on me, and as soon as he came back up I QRW’d him. Dead. His ultimate timed out and I looked up and saw the other four members of his team in mid lane. That means I get top inhibitor tower for free, that’s nice.

The funniest part of this game was the enemy team’s desire to kill me. When we were doing a Baron dance, the enemy team hid on one of our wards in the diagonal bush right at the mouth of river opening to mid lane. I stood right outside of their gap-closing distance on a ward and watched as they drooled. While they were standing there wishing they could pounce on me we sent in Shyvana and Singed to disrupt. Singed flung Maokai my way. Zing, dead. The enemy team tried to retreat, but you can’t escape this team. Shyvana was fast, Nami was fast, Singed was ridiculously fast, and LeBlanc can keep up with blinks and snares.

After our final battle we were attacking inhibitors and the enemy team surrendered. I felt like we had earned it 11 minutes before, but they felt defeated. I’m hoping that I can keep winning these games to make sure I get some awesome placement. If I get seven more of these games I’ll be a happy camper!

AHGL: Raytheon

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I was worlds away from having most gold on my team, but I was still a contributing factor thanks to the stacks from my trusty Soul Stealer! I always doubt myself when I buy that item. It does set me back quite a bit of money, that I have to make up somewhere else.

800 gold is the equivalent of 40 Ability Power. That means I need to break five stacks to make it even. Two kills and an assist just to not be upside down on a purchase in a video game! That’s a lot of work!

Laning against Kha’Zix was not an enjoyable experience. Despite harassing him early, taking his Flash, and beating him in CS, he was still able to pressure mid successfully. His Void Spikes just out-ranged any of my abilities and moved so quickly that I couldn’t dodge them effectively. I normally stand up far enough to zone the enemy mid player, but against Kha’Zix I didn’t feel like I could stand up far enough because I would take damage from his spikes for free.

The one time I did flirt with death was when I knew Olaf was waiting in the wings. I stepped ahead of my creep wave and ate a full Kha’Zix spike right in the face. It dropped me critically low. Let me walk you through it.

In this first picture Kha’Zix’ spikes had just dropped me to 187 HP, but he was mid-jump ready to end me.

Luckily for me my Distortion was available, so I flew over the wall to safety with plenty of hit points left! All 47 of them!

With two people chasing me I saw the perfect opportunity to bounce back to my friendly Nautilus who had made his way to mid lane.

The enemy team saw that I would be trapped if they circled around me, so that’s just what they did. Olaf doubled back down through lane and Kha’Zix circled around above me, but not before sending me a lovely parting gift of SPIKES!

I figured that since I had only regenerated to 55 HP it may be wise to avoid those spikes or suffer the consequences. With those narrowly missing me I walked back to the edge of that bush in safety and waited for the enemy to close in.

Seeing them this close I knew my time was now. I couldn’t afford to have Kha’Zix hit me with one auto attack, ability, or summoner spell; my time was now. If Olaf had time to land a Wreckless Swing or Undertow then I knew I would be dead. It’s time to Mimic my Distortion to blink over the wall.

It was seconds after this escape that Kha’Zix showed his sportsmanship and wrote “really well done lb” which made me smile. The casters could appreciate some clever juking skills as well!

For my next trick, I’ll make their life bar disappear. At the time of that juke I was merely 1-0-0. By the time I got around to juking again I was 5-1-7 and sitting on 11 Soul Stealer stacks, which rounded me out to 728 Ability Power.

I made the mistake of seeing their red buff up and thinking “Oh goody! We’re going to get this for free!” However, I walked right through a ward to get to my current location so Raytheon knew exactly where I was.

I had no idea anything was going wrong. However, when the support is willing to run at a LeBlanc with 728 Ability Power you start to think you’re in trouble. Here’s a glimpse at what I saw that set me into a panic.

That Dazzle mid-air means anything but harmless. For a champion as squishy as myself it means to make like Tom and cruise. Here is what my spidy sense were tingling about:

I knew I was in trouble so I did what any person would do in a panic, I used Distortion to separate myself from the serious pain I was experiencing.

Even at this distance I was still eating auto attacks from Miss Fortune and at serious risk to eat one Undertow from Olaf and get slowed into my death. I needed more room. So I Mimicked Distortion to push myself further.

Then the realization set in that this was warded. Of course it was, that’s how they knew I was coming in the first place. I needed to disappear. I needed somewhere to go to escape. Turning left honestly seemed like the best option in the moment. If only there was somewhere else I could go.

A picture like this is a priceless gift to a LeBlanc player; when you see that they have committed to chasing you the direction that you double blinked. Thank you, Riot, for changing LeBlanc to allow plays like this. While my champion stepped left, possibly into the fog of war, I blinked back to that beautiful yellow spot on the ground.

Miss Fortune actually auto-attacked me on accident after I snapped back, dropping me to 56 life. Out of shock I obligatorily used Flash to widen the gap between her and myself. It was in vain as after auto-attacking me once she began to channel her ultimate exactly where I would have been if I hadn’t blinked back to my original point.

I quietly slipped out to the river and recalled with the safety of my team members creating a meat shield around me. Thanks, meat shield!

At the end of this game Caitlyn and I were recovering from this battle of epic proportions. We were walking down mid while the other three members of my team were in bottom lane. I could see super minions flooding in from top and mid where we had already taken the inhibitors. I made the call; force a fight with the enemy team to hopefully bait Shen out and we would take their base.

Caitlyn and I were walking up the stairs into the blue base, and Nautilus threw down his ultimate to get the attention of the enemy team. Each member was tied down with some form of crowd control, preventing them from retreating back to help their poor ally, Shen, who fell almost instantly to the burst of LeBlanc and critical strikes of Caitlyn. With Shen down we quickly took the Nexus turrets and stepped back to prepare for the battle that was surely going to follow.

I fell dangerously low, and had to step back and out, allowing my clone to scout and bait for me. In the meantime, Caitlyn actually fought Miss Fortune one on one and beat her, eating through her health, forcing her Guardian Angel to save Miss Fortune, and then continued to battle her. At the last minute Nautilus swooped in to assist with that kill.

Luckily, Olaf, being a good guy, walked back into Caitlyn at the very last second to let her finish him off to improve her score slightly and make the score screen that much prettier. It was a battle well-fought, but SecurityMetrics prevailed in the end.

Honorable Evaine

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During champion select I requested that our first pick leave Ryze up for me to play in mid lane. However, the enemy team banned out Kayle and then immediately first-picked Swain. Not wanting to brawl with Swain as Ryze, I opted for my champion of choice: Evaine LeBlanc.

I was much less calm going into this match up. I don’t know why, but every time I play LeBlanc I get very nervous and shaky. I think it’s the fear of falling behind and being completely worthless in fights later. The fear of missing out on kills in mid lane and watching the enemy mid become the snowball that I longed to be. I hoped that wouldn’t be my fate.

I took Swain’s Flash at level three, but had to use my ignite to get it. I should have known that I could take it. He doesn’t get a chance to respond to my mobility and burst. Once his Flash was down I checked its cooldown: 300 seconds. I knew Swain had no Flash until 8:30. I messaged Shen and let him know that Swain’s Flash was down for a good while.

When Shen came to gank I made a few key mistakes. First, I responded just a second or two too late and had to walk through an army of creeps. Second, I missed my skill shot E ability. Technically I didn’t miss it, but I’ll explain what happened. The creeps proc’d my passive, so I got a clone. I walked the clone down into the river to face-check the Swain while I walked around the back side in case Swain was running. My clone found Swain, which kept me at a safe distance so that I couldn’t get bursted. Shen got to just beat on Swain, but Swain is a durable monkey. I wanted to get in the mix, help Shen, and make sure to pick up the kill on Swain.

You have to understand where I am now! I just looped down the ramp to the river where if I turn right I walk over to the dragon pit and if I turn left I walk into a row of bush that leads to mid lane. I am shooting Swain from that bush. My Q lands and I shoot my Ethereal Chains to hit Swain and A MINION STEPS IN THE WAY!!!!! Why on Earth was there a minion tanking for Swain?!?! Ugh. So Swain ISN’T silenced and proceeds to unleash all of the spells he’d been holding on me. Sad face.

So now I’m headed back to lane and I’m 0-1-1, Shen got the kill on Swain, but Swain is a kill up on me and I didn’t get any extra time in lane to myself. By the time I get back to mid my blue is about ready for me to get. I go and pick it up, it had eight life left, so I was thrilled to get to kill it with an auto attack. I walk back to mid, having just leveled to six, I see Swain using his ultimate to clear the creep wave. He probably knows whats coming. I blink into the lane, get my full combo down on him, and finish him up with another Q when it came off cooldown. Swain is dead, but Ignite and his E are ticking on me. I’m dipping lower and lower. Potions aren’t healing fast enough. I’m going to lose blue buff. Suddenly I’m shielded. By the time Shen lands he’s already walking away to go farm more of his jungle. All he says is “I didn’t know if you’d make it!” What a pal!

I clear out mid lane and run back to buy my first item: Mejai’s Soul Stealer. This has been a pretty core item in my LeBlanc build lately. My decision was based on my belief that if I could kill Swain with just an Amplifying Tome before, then if I got a couple levels and had my Soul Stealer then I would be just fine against him.

I don’t know if Shen saw my Soul Stealer purchase but it seemed like he did because he swung past mid to gank a couple times. Each time he did I netted myself two stacks. Eventually I started to roam bottom because top was winning on his own. Bottom was doing quite well themselves; the enemy bot lane was 0-3 combined at the time. When I went down and snuck through the lane in the bushes the enemy team was too afraid to come out and farm, so I wandered up the river to Dragon and the enemy blue. We were converging on what was beginning to look like our first team fight. The enemy team had a much harder time fighting with us in close quarters. We cleaned up anyone who got too close, stole their blue and took Dragon for free.

By this point we owned their jungle. I was walking towards their blue, chasing Lulu and Miss Fortune when Hecarim started to pincer me from the backside. Hecarim was below half. He must not have realized that I wanted him to chase until he was close enough. He was within range and still charging fearlessly. As soon as I hit the bushes I turned back on him and instantly destroyed his health bar. I was walking towards him as I cast the two spells that dropped him. I walked right through where he was standing to the tune of a double kill. I was left unscathed, but I wasn’t ready to leave.

Shen was standing in bottom lane while the enemy team grouped to stop his push. He wasn’t afraid of them, but couldn’t exactly engage them either. I was in their jungle, but got as close to the lane wall as I could and waited patiently. The enemy team grew tired of Shen taunting them and they slowly pushed forward. I blinked over the wall and instantly wrecked Lulu then blinked back. Nothing left. The enemy team tried to chase but they were met with chains of ethereal. Shen and I walked out, laughing.

At the 20 minute mark the surrender vote came out. I could be considered a feeder this game, but I prefer to be called the feeder that helped force the surrender vote. After all was said and done I was honored by each of my team mates for achieving 16 stacks in a matter of 20 minutes. They all thought that was pretty special.

AHGL: The Zappos Scare

Thursday Night Fun!

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We played some fun games a couple Thursdays back and I wanted to post some of the results up here. This was probably my prettiest loss of the evening. If it’s any consolation, my second death came right at the buzzer because I got trapped between Trundle and Tristana. I thought I picked the lesser of two evils, but apparently I did not.

This game only happened because I agreed with Jake not to ban out Elise if he wouldn’t ban out LeBlanc. He stayed true to his word and I did as well. This setup an epic clash of the titans in mid lane.

I didn’t get as fed as I wanted to, but I definitely did all I could to keep Jake from getting ahead. He spent a surprising amount of time killing off my team. It was very unfortunate. I only made it to 20 stacks once in this game, which is never a good sign with Leblanc. The enemy controlled too much of the map including Baron and Dragon. We could never contest it.

I did have a few nifty escapes where I would get away with almost no health left. It felt SO great sometimes. I saw Tristana exhaust and ult my clone once. That’s always entertaining to watch.

We had a really good time. I hope we have more nights like this one. If we can get 10 guys to show up for a night of League of Legends then we know we’re doing something right.