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vagrantblvrd · 5 years

Note

It's me ya girl coming in to say ♥️ and kindly to request anything jeremwood with blacksmith or blood mage Jeremy shenanigans?

You! Also, omg, I am in love with his prompt, okay?

So let’s do a ~fantasy setting (Minecraft Sky Factory-ish in this case???) in which Ryan is the blacksmith of this (usually) quiet little village.

Picturesque and all that. The fields yield plentiful crops and they’re careful about hunting so the deer and other game animals are healthy and also plentiful.

Plentiful everything, they always have enough food to last the winters and suchlike. No bandits or thieves to speak of, but on the rare occasion a band movies through their area they’re dealt with.

Also, there’s the Blood Mage temple at the heart of the woods nearby, so that could be a reason there are no brigands to speak of? Just a thought.

(…Or maybe that was just a story parents told their kids to keep them from bothering the mages and their apprentices with their curious spying and endless questions and curiosity. Because those from the temple who went to trade for food and other goods in the village were polite and well-mannered and all that.)

Ryan’s the village blacksmith who just showed up one day a while back. Ragged little traveler looking like he’d been through some hard times and the villagers took him in.

There was some unease among them, worries they were inviting trouble into their quiet little village because he was just…odd.

Had this fever the village doctor couldn’t diagnose and when they brought the hedge witch who lived by the lake in to take a look at him she was Concerned. (Not Alarmed, though, so that was probably fine?)

Ryan mumbled a strange language in his fevered sleep and so on, had an odd mark on his shoulder, all these Mysterious things to him and no indication where he’d come from or what he was running from. (Clear he’d been on the road for some time, haggard and thin and threadbare clothing and the like.)

When the fever passed and he was on the mend he only got odder.

Formal speech patterns that pointed to someone with schooling, perhaps one of the universities in the capital? And smart as hell, went around fixing up broken bits of things around the village to repay their kindness in looking after a vagabond like him, and so very polite.

Just you know, this little bit of amnesia about his origins?

Couldn’t tell anyone where he came from or why he was traveling. Didn’t even know his name, so he’d taken on Ryan from this lovely couple who found him on the banks of a river years and years ago.

Started so long ago and no one he’d seen about it could offer a plausible explanation so he wandered. (Looking for something but not sure what, and he was such a sweet young man the villagers didn’t want to upset him, so…yes.)

Winter was coming on and the mountain passes would be treacherous to travel on foot, so they set him up in the old smithy.

No official blacksmith, just a few who knew enough to repair broken tools and weapons and suchlike. Anything else and they’d go to the nearest village with a proper blacksmith. (There were stories told round fires and wood stoves the position was haunted, or cursed, silly little things the villagers made up to entertain themselves on the long winter nights and no serious to any of it. A way to joke about the way no one came to stay in the position for long.)

And Ryan, he seemed oddly pleased about it, went about setting things to rights there. Got the place up and running again after a while, gave some vague explanation about staying with a blacksmith some time ago in his travels and picking a few things up from her.

But he’d turn out the loveliest farm tools, new swords and knives and axes and such.

When spring came around and the passes were suitable for traveling Ryan was surprised he didn’t feel that itch, that pull to keep moving. The villagers were used to his unique sort of oddness and it was nice having a blacksmith around so he stayed.

No one noticed at first when the crops and whatnot started to yield less and less food, when the game surrounding them started to become sparse. Grew sick and died, failed to have young. The cattle and sheep and whatever else faced the same problems but it all came on so slow they didn’t realize. Just thought it was a bad season, bad year.

Rare enough for them, but it happened every so often. They had enough food stored they’d get through the winter – slight concern when those grew harsher over time. Summers hotter and so on.

Rumblings from the blood mages who came to the village to trade and barter that something odd was happening, but they waved it off as nothing to worry about.

Bandits and thieves appeared more and more – dealt with by the villagers themselves or simply mysteriously gone soon after they were noticed.

Wolves and other predators grew bolder, went after livestock. Startled villagers by creeping into town at night looking for food – never went so far as to attack them, ran when they were seen, but it was something to be Concerned about.

The hedge witch dies of some odd illness after uttering a vague word of caution to the villagers, and the children take sick. (Strange illness that leaves them pale and sickly, and it spreads.)

Ryan’s worried, concerned, but he doesn’t know why he feels he should do something about it. (He’s just a blacksmith without a past, what can he do?)

And then!

One of the apprentices from the Blood Mage temple comes into the village near the start of fall and approaches him with a request from his master.

A dagger and a small vial of blood meant to be added in the forging process.“Um…”

The apprentice is on the shorter side of things, wry little smile because he knows their reputation even if the villagers are friendly with the temple.

He’s someone Ryan remembers seeing around during harvest celebrations and other such things the village holds over the year. Young and bright and this energy that draws Ryan to him, but he’s shy, Ryan is. Bashful, and the most he’s ever done is get caught staring.

And Jeremy, alright, because of course it’s Jeremy, laughs and tells him it’s not for any nefarious purpose – heavens no. That the blood is his own, freely given and whatever else nonsense – and gives Ryan a little pouch of coins. Gold and silver with a few coppers. More than enough to pay for the dagger, and he insists Ryan take it because such his prices are too low for someone with such skill.

Ryan flustered because no, no -

And if goes back and forth for a bit before one of the villagers interrupts with a broken hoe and Ryan clears his throat and tells Jeremy he’ll have the dagger ready for him in a few days.

Jeremy gives him this little smile and leaves, tipping an imaginary hat to the villager on his way out and Ryan totally doesn’t stare after him, no. Totally does not look back at the villager who’s still there giving him this knowing little grin and gentle teasing and Ryan totally does not blush. (The forge is going and it’s hot, that’s all.)

Ryan fixes the villager’s hoe in exchange for a freshly baked pie to be delivered later that day, and then sets about the matter of forging the dagger Jeremy wanted.

Doesn’t really think about the way the vial still feels warm after sitting untouched for hours, because the blood mages and their magic, wouldn’t want the blood to go bad or whatever it does, or why there’s this little…tingle in his fingers when he picks it up to examine it. (This flash of almost-memory he shakes off as his mind playing tricks on him.)

He spends the rest of the week forging the dagger – scraps the first one just before he was about to add the contents of the vial because it didn’t feel right. (And this is one of Ryan’s little secrets he doesn’t tell the villagers. They may accept his eccentricities, but even that seems odd to him. The way he can just tell if something he’s forging is unsuitable somehow. Unseen flaw or something else that hits him as wrong.)

When he’s done it’s this lovely little thing, and something’s clearly been done to Jeremy’s blood because there’s something to the dagger that Ryan can sense. The same…tingling in his fingers, although it’s quieter now, or maybe he just grew used to it while forging Jeremy’s dagger, who can say.

Jeremy’s set to come back to collect the dagger the next day, but before he can there’s an attack on the village.

Big band of – they’re not bandits, no. Too inhuman for that, something wild and dangerous to them – and the villagers somehow manage to fend them off.

Lose several of their own, homes and businesses burned to the ground, including Ryan’s own smithy.

He loses in sword in the attack at one point, ambushed in his own home and the only other weapon close enough to grab was Jeremy’s dagger he just finished working on.

That tingling flares up when he touches it, blood from a cut running down his wrist to stain the leather around the handle and down onto the blade itself, and it’s like he gains a second wind when it happens. Stamina to down the bandits (such a small word for them)and drag himself out of the burning smithy where the villagers find him after the attack.

There are too many wounded – some on the cusp of death – and the villagers send a runner to the Blood Mage temple, desperate sort of hope they can do something the doctor can’t.

The Blood Mages save those they can, give the ones who can’t a peaceful death and then there’s Ryan.

Badly wounded and can’t be woken, Jeremy’s dagger clenched tight in his hand and oh, the mages think when they’re brought before him. Oh.

Jeremy’s master calls for him, pulls him away from the bedside of a wounded farmer and his worried family – the man will be fine, but he’s so quiet and still and children are terrified – and over to where Ryan is.

Jeremy stops dead when he sees Ryan because no, but then his master points out the dagger, and does he see it?

It takes him a moment – he’s an apprentice, still, no matter how much potential the mages say they see in him – and

“Oh,” Jeremy says, eyes wide. “Oh.”

Something strange, unnatural to Ryan all this time, but he’s always been kind and polite and never gave the villagers reason for Alarm.

“Do you think…?”

Jeremy’s master hums, cryptic bastard that he is, and spreads his hands helplessly.

“Who can say?”

Jeremy sighs because now is not the time, honestly.

But.

Gently he takes the dagger out of Ryan’s hand, something no one else has been able to do. Reaches over and uncurls Ryan’s fingers, eases it from his grip and examines it.

Where before it was a lovely bit of steel, polished until it shone, now it’s -

“That’s strange,” one of the villagers says, coming up to check on Ryan out of concern. Eyes the dagger curiously. “I saw it the other day, it’s different now.”

Deep, rich black with specks of red that glint oddly when the light hits it. The leather bound around the handle a red so dark it’s almost black and warm to the touch. (Pulse to it Jeremy’s not sure he’s imagining.)

“Yes,” Jeremy’s master says, thoughtful not to it. “I’d rather think so.”

The villager gives them a strange look, and once they tell her Ryan will be fine, that he’ll wake soon, goes off to check on the other wounded.

The Blood Mages go off to have a Talk about what they’ve discovered concerning Ryan while Jeremy sits with him until he’s called away to get some rest.

In the morning Ryan wakes up knowing something is Different, but not sure what?

Realizes he’s in the village…lodge or inn and memories of the night before come back, a jumbled mess, and he gets up and goes to get news of what happened.

The wounded and dead and buildings razed to the ground, including his smithy.

While he’s poking through the ashes feeling lost and something like anger in the back of his mind – for the people who took him in, gave him a home – he hears someone clearing their voice behind him.

Turns to see Jeremy standing there in his apprentice robes looking tired and pale and this rueful smile.

Because, because, the mages at the temple would like to speak to him, when he’s seen to things in the village. Might know what the attack was about, why the crops have been failing and game scarce.

Why misfortune has fallen on the village and please, when you can.

Ryan – something in him wants to say no, wants to stay with the villagers and help them rebuild, but he knows he can’t. (That little itch, pull to keep moving is restless again and stronger than ever.)

He tells Jeremy he’ll be there once they’ve buried their dead, and Jeremy leaves him to it.

(The villagers knows something has Changed, for them, for Ryan.

Can’t say what, but they’re not surprised when he slips away into the woods headed for the temple. Know things will never be the same, that he’ll leave soon and while they’re sad about it – they genuinely care for him – they knew it would happen one day.

They set about putting together food and supplies for his journey when he returns from the temple. Small parting gifts and so on.)

And when he goes to the temple, the mages tell him about this Thing that’s spread across the land. A plague or curse or simple dark magics at work and how they’ve been preparing to counteract it best they can. (A small temple in a remote village, one part of a whole.)

Their champion in a young apprentice with so much potential and strong magic woven into a vial of his own blood meant to be forged into a dagger for a ceremony he’s to perform.“Oh,” Ryan says, looking at Jeremy who is uncomfortable with the attention from the mages, thinks he shouldn’t have been chosen as their champion or whatever they’re calling him. That there are stronger mages there who would do far better. “Oh.”

Perhaps that explains the tingling sensation when he forged the dagger? The strength he felt when he took it up to defend himself?

“I wonder,” Jeremy’s master says, hiding a smile behind his hands. “Stranger things have happened.”

Ryan gives the man a look, and gets a laugh in return.

Jeremy brings out a folded bit of cloth, and unwraps it to reveal the dagger Ryan forged.

“What - “ Ryan starts to ask because it’s changed somehow, and stops. Because he can feel something from the dagger – magic? Something.

The mages tell Ryan that they’d intended to sent Jeremy on a quest, meet up with other Blood Mages, wizards. A Sorcerer or two and some warriors meant to stop the plague or curse or dark magics spreading across the land, but perhaps he’d care to join him?

Something is odd about Ryan, strange. And while he enjoyed his time in this quiet little village, he can’t see himself staying there while that itch, that pull, won’t be still. (When there’s evil at work, and something these Blood Mages think he could do to stop it, even if they don’t come out and say it themselves.)

So.

He agrees to go with Jeremy, some part of him nervous about it all because what can he, a blacksmith with no past do to help?

But they’re looking at him like they think he could, and while Jeremy’s careful not to make him feel pressured into it, he clearly seems to think Ryan’s an important part of this.

He wants to say goodbye to the villagers, thank them for the kindness and generosity they’ve shown him before he leaves.

Jeremy goes with him - what better time to start their journey than now? - and they’re both surprised to find the villagers waiting for them.

Food and supplies for both of them both and a pack animal to carry it all.

It’s an emotional farewell. Jeremy stands off to the side looking on with this little smile on his face the same way Ryan had when Jeremy made his goodbyes at the temple.

The two of them set off on their quest, a little awkward because crushes? But they get to know one another over time.

Little stories and Jeremy’s terrible jokes. Bits and pieces of themselves they share. Stopping at creeks and lakes and ponds for water or camp for the night. (A quick dip in the water to clean off and trying not to glance over and still catching glimpses of one another from the corner of their eyes because of course they do, the hot blushes that follow and all that awkwardness. The pining.)

Jeremy finds out Ryan doesn’t know his own past and just goes hmm, feeling a bit guilty about the blood mages’ suspicions about Ryan concerning the whole dagger transformation bit, but there’s no proof and why bring it up unless they know for sure???

They run into the “bandits” again and again, save one another’s lives and have Those Moments where one of them tackles the other out of the way of a sword or arrow or whatever and end up with their faces inches apart and all too aware of it? (Because yes.)

As they get closer to their destination the scope of what they’re up against hits them – devastation Ryan’s quiet little village was just beginning to experience hitting them in the face as the come across ravaged villages and dead forests.

Disease and famine and people driven mad, desperate.

Get captured by “bandits” at one point and rescued by this small group of people not unlike them, a warrior wearing a bearskin cloak and an archer in green with a scarf around his face. A mage of some sort in red robes with gold trim, and an assassin with sharp knives and a wicked grin.

And once they’ve been rescued and introduced properly realize they’re all headed the same way and decide to travel together.

“Looks like you idiot could use the help.”

Travel on a bit more, Jeremy not jealous at the way Ryan and Meg hit it off right away, heavens no. (Michael and the others are totally not laughing at Jeremy and his non-jealousy, no.)

Meanwhile Meg is commissioning Ryan for new weapons once this whole mess is over – she’s seen some of his work, things he’d sold to travelers passing through the village or taken to a few festivals in the past but she never managed to make it out to the village herself – and Ryan super into doing something simple, normal again after all the shit they’ve been through so far.

They get to a town and Jeremy gets drunk, Michael and Gavin keeping an eye on him while Lindsay dares him to great acts of stupidity. Ryan and Meg caught up in conversation as he sketches up ideas for those daggers she wants.

And later, everyone gone up to bed Ryan goes outside to have a moment of quiet and stumbles on Jeremy sitting out behind the inn they’re staying at hoping the cool air will help clear his head. (Or maybe he’s just moping.)

Jeremy’s humming this little song, something he does sometimes when he’s not thinking of anything. Barely remembered tune from his childhood before his master took a ragged little orphan into their care.

There’s a conversation, Ryan trying to tease Jeremy and Jeremy’s ~jealousy (it’s not, really, though, because Ryan’s not his and anyway, anyway, he’s just a dumb apprentice and all this) flares up and he does something stupid.

Can’t not, with the little smile on Ryan’s face and fondness in his voice and Jeremy -

He kisses Ryan. Drunk and stupid and maybe his only/last chance – Ryan and Meg do get along so well, and he’s just Jeremy -

(And also the whole mission he’s on?)

And Ryan is just.

Shocked, and doesn’t react and Jeremy thinks ah and of course and babbles an apology before running away while Ryan stands there confused and bewildered and a little hurt because clearly it was the alcohol and Jeremy’s made a mistake because he could never like Ryan like that. (Because I love me my cliches.)

Neither of them bring it up the next morning, both of them quiet and subdued.

The others know something happened but not what, and with Jeremy more snappish than usual due to his hangover and Ryan being Ryan, they choose not to ask about it.

Keep on traveling and meet up with another group headed their way – a thief (“Oh, that’s such an unpleasant word for what I do?” and a pair of former soldiers and a wizard – and their band grows yet again with the addition of Trevor, Alfredo, Fiona, and Matt.)

Eventually they all get to their Destination and there’s a lot of fighting.

Army of the unread and other horrible creatures and they get separated in the fighting.

Somehow Jeremy and Ryan find each other again just as the main baddie is about to win, Ryan finding Jeremy as he’s performing his ceremony and realizes that oh, okay, so he kind of neglected to tell Ryan there’s a 99.9% chance it would kill Jeremy? But that’s fine, really.

Ryan tries to stop it but it’s too late, Jeremy’s kind of dying?

And Ryan, he’s like “Oh you bastard,” because he finally realizes he can’t hide the fact he loves this little idiot even if Jeremy doesn’t love him like that (it’s fine, really!) - and grabs for the dagger.

Goes for the blade because maybe his blood will help? (He’s remembered things on their quest, here and there. Flashes and glimpses and knows Something Is Up with him, remembers the night the village was attached and the way the dagger reacted, changed, so maybe more of his blood is the key?)

And there’s this flash of light and concussive boom – time stops and it’s Ryan and Jeremy in this endless void.

“Uh…”

They look around, confused and bewildered – they get that a lot – and then Jeremy looks at Ryan.

“Huh,” he says. “They were right.”

Ryan has no idea what that’s supposed to mean, and then he realizes he’s kind of glowing.

OR maybe it’s not glowing so much as Something, and he’s pretty sure he didn’t do that before.

And then!

Little flare of light off to the side, like a whole in the voice and two figures step through. (A portal?)

“You know,” one of them says. “For someone who said they didn’t like the mortal world, you’re been down here for a while.”

It’s Geoff, some kind of Old God, and Jack.

And Ryan staring at both of them because Geoff is talking to him and now Jeremy is kind of freaking out and this is really, really confusing?

But it turns out Ryan is also an Old God who went down to the mortal world – curiosity or to prove to Geoff and Jack that humans are terrible, awful, no good creatures and got into trouble along the way.

The head baddie who realized what he was and managed to capture him, bind his powers and steal some of it for himself along the way.

Didn’t really plan accordingly because Ryan managed to escape, some horribly risky method that landed him with amnesia and all that to cause him to wander (mostly) aimlessly until he came to that village.

The baddie recovering all that time, rebuilding his powers and army and searching for Ryan and unable to find him because whatever Ryan did to escape masked him from being discovered. (Double-edged sword because even Geoff and Jack and the rest of the Old Gods couldn’t find him?)

Anyway, Ryan’s absence among the god made it easier for the baddie to succeed in his plans to take over the world and all that. (Because plot.)

But hey, since Jeremy and his Blood Mages set things in motion to stop said baddie, maybe Ryan would like to help that along?

He’s not a Dark God, the way some believes say, just. Kind of dabbles in the stuff, the way the others dabble in other things not their specialties but you know how humans are, the way they ascribe things to the Old Gods.

So.

Geoff and Jack go over to Ryan, do something and suddenly Ryan remembers everything.

(How much of an ass he was before his little adventures in the mortal world, how dismissive he was of humans and their struggles. Saw only the bad to them, but his time down there taught him otherwise and so on.)

“There you are,” Geoff says, crooked smile and relief at having his friend back. Glances to where Jeremy is. “You gonna do something about that?”Ryan looks over at Jeremy who won’t look him in the eyes, in in fact on his knees because Gods? Kind of a good idea to show them the proper respect and Ryan has this moment of loss because that’s never what he wanted.

Still.

No time for that because this little pocket dimension won’t last, and time can’t hold still forever.

So.

He goes to Jeremy and pulls him to his feet, tells him they need to finish the ceremony and go back, leaving Geoff and Jack behind.

Pop back into the mortal world where Ryan takes Jeremy’s dagger and finishes the ceremony, sound like the world is cracking in two and wave of light that spreads over the battlefield and the entire land as Ryan takes his powers back, uses them the way they’re meant to be used.

Destroys the baddie and is army in the process, because righteous wrath, and fulfill their quest.

(It won’t fix everything, or even happen right away, but the land will heal over time and so on.)

Jeremy looks at Ryan, resplendent once again, and can’t seem to put voice to the words clawing at his throat The ache in his chest because surely this is the end of things for them, Ryan returning to his rightful place and all.

Ryan smiles at him, bittersweet because he still has work to do to set things to right, all these duties, and goes over to him.

Kisses him – no alcohol to blame this time, but it’s worse because it’s a goodbye, and vanishes in a swirl of light.

The others rush to where Jeremy is because what the hell just happened and Jeremy tells them it’s over, they win. Great, huh?

But he sounds hollow, looks wrecked and Ryan is nowhere to be seen so…yes.

Assume Ryan died in the battle or whatever happened here and Jeremy doesn’t know how to tell them that’s not really what happened – he’d sound like a lunatic – any anyway. So much is going on he never gets the chance to explain.

Meetings and celebrations and all that, and Jeremy slipping away in the midst of them because he’s lost Ryan.

Michael and the others catch up to him on the road, no stomach for those who took part in the battle and spend the aftermath celebrating and bragging about their victories.

Travel together until they part ways as they go back to their respective homes. Jeremy travels that last bit alone, their pack animal killed in a bandit attack long ago, and when he gets to the village is welcomed back with open arms.He doesn’t know how to tell them Ryan’s a damn god, but somehow they’re not surprised Ryan didn’t come back with him.

Just shrug and say Ryan’s always been odd, something off about him and leave it at that.

Their reactions are strange and off-putting, so Jeremy pushes on to his temple where his master is waiting and tells him he and the other mages were right. That there was something to Ryan, but he wasn’t what they thought, was something more.

The mages are startled at what he tells them, because when was the last time anyone spoke to a god, let alone three of them? (Although Jeremy didn’t really speak to them so much as be in their presence, but whatever.)

He goes back to his studies – still an apprentice, still learning – but everything seems.

Nothing and everything’s changed and he feels restless, unable to settle his mind.

So his master sends him off to deliver some items to another temple a fair distance away. Thinks it will help, and Jeremy doesn’t have a reason not to. (Maybe being away from the temple and the village Ryan loved so much will help him come to terms with things?)

He delivers the items and takes a different route back to his temple, goes the roundabout way because this trip has helped and he’d like it to last a bit longer still.

Jeremy ends up staying at an inn in a small town somewhere, realizes belatedly it’s where they stopped that one night where he got stupid drunk and kissed Ryan. (Kissed a god, his mind points out, and it’s hilarious because he’s drunk again, isn’t he, and everything’s hilarious.)

Finds himself sitting out back again, humming some stupid little song he barely remembers -

“Why is it,” a familiar voice says out of nowhere. “Why is it that whenever I find you like this you’re humming that song?”

Jeremy startles, almost falls off the barrel he’s sitting on at the sound of Ryan’s voice, turns to see him standing a few feet away.

“Ryan?” Jeremy asks, certain he’s dreaming, must have fallen asleep behind the inn.

Ryan sighs, rueful smile on his face and this concern in his eyes as he moves closer.

“Not the way I pictured this going,” Ryan murmurs.

Jeremy is so, so confused, and realizes Ryan’s wearing his old clothes. Blacksmith on a Quest and all, not the attire of an Old God at all, and -

“I had some business to see to,” Ryan says, and he looks nervous. “Things to set to right, all that.”

Jeremy’s not really listening anymore, but Ryan’s still talking.

Something about his duties as an Old God and all these favors he called in, strings he pulled and so on. (Precautions taken, because he didn’t want to do the whole potential end of the world thing again.)

“What?”

Because Jeremy has no idea what’s going on, alright. No damn clue as to what Ryan’s on about, and Ryan.

He sighs, same rueful smile but all this fondness to it as he tells Jeremy he’s grown rather fond of the mortal world, and one mortal in particular.

“Oh, Meg?” Jeremy asks, because he’s still a bit drunk and a lot stupid and this place holds a lot of memories for him, okay.

Ryan -

“What? No. Jeremy, you - “

Jeremy’s last brain cell finally decides enough is enough and he’s like -

“Wait, are you talking about me?”

Ryan stares at this very dumb, very adorable mortal and sighs.

“Geoff was right,” he mutters, which is annoying because now he has to tell Geoff he was right and he’ll be insufferable about for ages. “But yes, Jeremy. I’m talking about you.”

And then there’s a kiss, and Jeremy realizing that Ryan like-likes him and anyway, anyway.

Ryan tells him later he’s chosen to spend more time in the mortal world, to better understand odd little humans and their ways. (It’s allowed, you know. We’ve done it before.)

And they go back to the quiet little village where Ryan takes up his job as the blacksmith again and Jeremy resumes his studies.

No one comments on the way Jeremy spends a lot of his spare time in the village, or the way Ryan expands his home off the smithy. (The impossible things he does in the forge, or the way the village’s crops and livestock are even more plentiful than before.)

No bandits or thieves to be seen, unless you count the time Trevor and his merry little band come by to visit before being settling down in the village. (Quaint place, nice and quiet and all that.)

Or the other time when Michael and his do the same, because the village is a bit leery about future bandit attacks and it’s a comfort having them around.

(Meg with a twinkle in her eye as she comes to collect the daggers she commissioned all that time ago and the looks he and Ryan share, and how adorable the two of them are.)

Everyone knows something is Odd about Ryan, but he’s so very Ryan it never occurs to them to ask if he’s an Old God. (Why would it?)

They don’t say a damn thing when another odd little couple show up some time down the road, buy the old farm at the edge of the village and start up a little chicken farm.

Think it’s hilarious when Ryan bickers with Geoff and Jack, or Jeremy and the Lads have a little too much to drink at the tavern and really, they’re all odd, aren’t they?

#jeremwood #mavinseg #jackeoff #ragehappy #demoncowedgar #prompt fills #technically not a fic #vagrant fic #this got away from me a bit???#but yes #blacksmith au

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thebrreview-blog · 7 years

Text

2.2 BR Review

Hello Folks, I am the Phantasm known as p35SiGSrsA/iNSIDEoUT on the NA servers. In Ranked I am a Roam main, but in Vainglory, I am a Battle Royale main. I've played more or less nothing but BR since last spring season when it came out, I'd have to guess I've played a Thousands of games of it. So today I intent to teach you how to play Battle Royale. Note there are a lot of play styles to the game and this is just one, but I think you may enjoy it. I also think it's a great place to start from before spreading out into some of the more aggressive builds. This guide will be kind of long, but hey, I'm going to tell you EVERYTHING I can manage to get written down before this bad boy needs to be submitted.

So, what's it all about, you might be wondering? Can I get a TL:DR? Yep. Builds, positioning, and TIMING.

Builds: Defenses are what makes you scale into the late game. As simple as that. Hypercarries still exist and will ruin your day, but the game is very poke oriented, there's tons of little skirmishes and small tower pokes when the minions are in range to tank. Going full Red no defenses no boots SAW may be amazing early (and may be one of the only champs that can successfully pull that off to a win), but eventually the enemy team will build Atlas, Build armor and then just dive on you and make you explode, 9 times out of 10 leaving your team in a 2v3 over and over before you have enough pushing power to end the game. No defense champs explode like a air filled paper bag. KRUMPF!

Positioning: This applies as much to your orientation in the lane as the fact you need to DIE TO SHOP and ACE MINIONS ARE AMAZING IN BR. BR is like any sport where you want to PIN YOUR OPPONENT DEEP. You don't want to give them the ball in position to score. You want to push them as far to their side of the map as you can before you die. It takes something like 20 seconds in tier 2 boots to run from one spawn to the other. Note in BR when you resurrect you get a speed boost that will last you (running straight there) near exactly to your own outermost turret. It's quite a good distance.

Lets say you ace the enemy team. You take 2 turrets, and one of your teammates is like, look, we're only down 1 turret lets go defend. This may be a very wrong move. Your opponent has just bought, and with enough pushing power the enemy can kill your 4 remaining turrets and end the game. If you had kept pushing and died deep oftentimes they won't have the time to cross the map and end the game. Likewise, then it's YOUR TEAMS TURN TO BUY and you can come back and utterly smash them with all your shiny new items. It's a common mistake winning teams make feeling overconfident in their ability to defend with their current items after an enemy “mega” purchase, AKA hitting a ton of power spikes.

Timing: In a MOBA timing is everything, and Battle Royale takes that to a whole new level. The easiest path to higher BR ELO is LEARNING THE DEATH TIMERS AND KEEPING THEM ALL IN YOUR HEAD. Seriously. Until you have them down by heart, keep checking that leaderboard. Also remember YOU HAVE TO DIE TO SHOP. Maybe don't solo push that turret when you suddenly realize the Taka is up in 7 seconds and GETS A SPEED BOOST FROM RESPAWNING and THEN AGAIN FROM HIS BOX. Get outta there unless you need to shop! Maybe your teammates are still dead for a few seconds and you don't want to give up that ACE? Maybe push the turret a little so the Taka feels the need to take you out/knows you're still there and killable, retreat up lane, then juke him out and head back into his base, causing your death to occur after a teammate is alive and positioning him as far from your defenses as possible. Sure, his respawning teammates might take you out as well, but the worst thing you could have done besides giving them ACE minions is die under or nearly under your own turret, allowing him to kill oncoming waves while his teammates bring their wave in from the back. WASTE HIS TIME. The 2 “Best” places to die are at positions 1 and 2, respectively. IN THE ENEMY BASE! NOT YOUR OWN! 1 When you cannot get past their inner defenses and 2 when you can. Note you don't have to make it all the way to 2, just make it as far as you can. In higher MMR Deaths occur here all the time. Also don't feel the need to run to 2 and just stand there, you can make them chase you back and fourth. BUT ALSO DONT WAIT TOO LONG. An even more advanced timing would be to die in time to come up so as to adequately defend your 2 innermost turrets with your teammates. It may be a losing 1v1 for you with the other 2 champs pushing up lane to start the siege ASAP. Perhaps you shouldn't screw around all day and just go home. They may even know of these tactics and just ignore you, especially if they don't think you can end the game before them. In this case you have an even more crucial decision to make:

There comes a point in BR where it's “too late to shop”. Just running up lane to get a shop in with 45 second death timers will lose you the game. If you die now they'll have won by the time you're alive. You may need to get back out of their base and engage them from behind.

ELO? MMR? I'm lost.

Lets make a quick glossary.

ELO = Effective Ladder/Level Organization. A tabulation system of points based on wins losses used to determine who you're matched with.

MMR = A secret stat, usually something to determine weather the game thinks you should be higher or lower placed in the ladder based on averages? that also determines who you're matched with.

WP: Weapon Power

CP: Crystal Power

Proc: "Proc" and "proccing" is used to describe whenever a random gaming item activates, or a random gaming event occurs. Particularly common for massively multiplayer online games, procs are random events where special armor or weapons provide the user with temporary extra powers, or whenever the opposing monster suddenly becomes more powerful in some way. From https://www.lifewire.com/what-is-proc-2483498

Meta: What the most powerful things are you can do based on the latest patch's tweaks. Not entirely known, develops over the patch.

Zerg: n video games, rushing is a battle tactic similar to the blitzkrieg or the human wave attack tactics in real-world ground warfare, in which speed and surprise are used to overwhelm an enemy's ability to wage war, usually before the enemy is able to achieve an effective buildup of sizable defensive and/or expansionist capabilities.

Also known as a zerg or zerg rush, the term originated in the StarCraft strategy game to describe a strategy that was effective with the Zerg race. An Easter egg of a simulated zerg rush is activated in a browser if "zerg rush" is typed into a Google search. [1][2][3][4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rush_(video_gaming)

Moving on from those earlier core mechanics, I'd state like casual matches I'm rather sure the game mode has it's own hidden number ladder system, and like Ranked when you don't play I'm rather sure your ELO/MMR decay. I took the entire Winter offseason to mostly play WoT and Minecraft and I am near assuredly not in the same ELO as before I took a break (Maybe SEMC can confirm have no idea if they have or haven't before). Edit from the future: I feel like I lost about 300 games worth the ELO/MMR. I -think- I know where I am in the system. As such, I'm also not sure I've ever seen the Top Meta/Gameplay or what it looks like, but I can tell you I've gotten to a place where everyone seemed to have a very good idea how the game is played (almost annoyingly so in the case of some champs, we'll get to that in a minute, -cough-), which was good enough for me!

The game, like standard mode, can be seen in terms of Early, Middle, Late and Late Late game. These 4 stages can be seen in terms of WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU GET ACED AND THE ENTIRE ENEMY TEAM SURVIVES. These stages can be rather fluid depending on the team's pushing power (Looking at you Baron, he absolutely destroys objectives, so does SAW) and Farm. You can fight if you want, and you probably should quite a bit as that's the entire point of the game, but what really separates higher MMR from lower is farm, just like in the Regular mode. For instance the other day the enemy team allowed my Lyra to basically free farm unharassed to 90 CS at around 4 minutes (note CS scores are double what they are in Standard, and the gold is doubled to to 80 per small and 160 per big), and 120 at around 5:30 when I took my first shop while they the enemy were not farming as efficiently. At this point I had 11 THOUSAND gold, purchased ALL 6 ITEMS and while I was focused in the first team fight and killed (partly from my own overconfidence and mispositioning thank you), after that I just infused, came back and Triple killed the enemy team while they were distracted with our two tanks like a 10,000 degree knife though whatever. At that point I had enough damage to break all of their remaining turrets (I believe they had 4 still) with BOTH of my surviving teammates (I think one had a Stormcrown as well) and shatter the vain around the 7 Minute mark. If that sounds ridiculous to you that's because it is, and I'll tell you why in a second. Lets get to the breakdown.

Early game: This is from the start to about 4 minutes. At the VERY start Death Timers are VERY low. Aces can be hard to get because people pop back up in around 4 seconds. In this time frame people that have died will be finishing their first 1-2 items, usually at least 1 core damage item and farming with A LOT of harass and poking between teams usually. An ACE at this stage of the game, depending on your respawn timers, how many people they have alive and their relative pushing power will lead from anywhere to no/negligible turret damage to losing the first 2 outers in a single ACE. In very rare cases where they have say, CP Baron, WP SAW and a Captain Character that rushed Stormcrown they will have enough Minions, Momentum and Power to Push down the last outer turret, costing 3 Turrets for a Single ACE. That's a very good team indeed!

Middle Game: This lasts roughly from 4-7 or 8 Minutes. In this time there may or may not be ACEs, people who have not died will near absolutely have to (yes I have had a handful of 0 death games and if memory serves one time the enemy team was so outclassed none of us died at all! I've had it done to me too :frownieface:). One tactic of veteran players will be to farm to around 5-7 thousand gold before basically suiciding on purpose to go pick up a very large power spike and moreso the necessary defenses that keep their character from getting 1 shot by champs that have bought several times. If you've ever played Bots and seen them not buying items and how easy they are to kill, you know, WHERE YOU DON'T WANT TO GO. DO NOT BECOME AN EASY BOT BECAUSE YOU DIDN'T BUY. In decent MMR it's usually hard for one team or the other to reliably end the game in this timeframe. In Higher MMR (at least about the top of where I've been) this stage of the game often ends when one team has outsieged the other and essentially takes down one of their 2 inner turrets, resulting in their deaths but gaining them access to Death Point 2, as labeled on the map the “best” place to die in the game. This essentially ensuring WHATEVER happens, if they score another ACE or simply continue the Siege after a purchase they will end the game, while simultaneously screwing around with the enemy team long enough behind the vain Crystal to ensure they can siege on perhaps even no objective unopposed, even the outer most turret. Note that because of the Out of Combat Regen in BR the enemy team at this point is essentially forced to kill you, because if they don't you all can stand around, regen up and then simply take the last turret and win the game Shattering the Vain.

That all said, a typical Middle Game usually sees one if not both sides lose at least their 2 outer most turrets and often one of the teams will manage to take the final lane turret.

Late Game: At this point, people are around the 4-5 completed item mark and this period lasts roughly from 8-10 minutes. It becomes very, VERY possible in this time frame to 4 turret, that is, you get 4 turrets when you ACE the enemy, sometimes even before they respawn. Games very often end in this time frame if they have not already. Many “all in” fights occour in this stage where the winning team will absolutely end the game because Death Timers are so high and there's so much pushing potential on the table. Also note Turrets in BR have no shield, so they become EXTREMELY easy to kill without any minions around. So easy it's almost laughable how fast they'll fall.

Late Late Game: I could call this 10 minutes+, but I'm fairly assured I'd be more accurate to call this the 6 Item mark. Once one or both teams have 6 items a piece, barring they haven't all built potato (3 full tanks with 0 damage comes to mind, I've seen it) it becomes possible to 5 turret and Vain. I believe this is actually how the game is balanced so as once you have 6 items if you ACE with everyone alive, it's essentially over, maybe even with time to spare, as long as you don't let them die piecemeal and spread the timers out forever running you around the back of your base. And even then it might be done if they have something like Triple War Treads. Between damage and the death timers, even a single death on one side can lead to the enemy winning the game with overwhelming pressure in the 2v3. I've had many, MANY games in the higher MMRs where I'm sitting there at the Victory/Loss screen, one team was beating on the Vain of the other, got it to 10 HP and they all died and the other team managed to cross the entire map, kill all 5 turrets and end the game before they could be stopped. There are failed Zergs here and in Late Game, though they seem more prevalent in higher ELO and in Late Late game. Again remember there comes a point, sometimes based more on the players and the team comps, where it is TOO LATE TO SHOP. THIS IS DEFINITELY ABSOLUTELY A POINT WHEN YOU NEED TO BE VERY, EXTREMELY CAREFUL ABOUT HOW YOU DIE, WHERE YOU DIE, AND WHY YOU DIE, EVEN IF IT'S TO FINISH YOUR 6TH ITEM BECAUSE YOU'VE BEEN HOLDING THE BASE WHILE YOUR TEAM SHOPS, IT MAY BE TOO LATE! IN FACT WE CROSSED THAT POINT A WHILE AGO IN THE LATE GAME POTENTIALLY. And yes, I've totally cost my team the game shopping way to late. More than once. Thank you.

So, all of that aside, lets get into the builds. I'll be ranking the characters by number, but please feel free to take this loosely. Skye in the current META (read: Crystal heavy with no true weapon path) will be low, but a very talented Skye player is going to mess your day up regardless. Also, please keep in mind I think the game is actually very balanced at the moment. The only 2 exceptions are Skye and Kestrel, whose weapon paths I feel are vastly insuperior to their crystal paths, and even then there's bigger if not much bigger, depending on whose playing them, dogs in the yard. Even then they're still TOTALLY viable, I just had to get out a microscope to pick this all apart and they seem awful small.

As per why I build like this, I think perhaps because I take my beginnings from a humble Roam Main I prefer to build tanky. I play kind of what I like to call a “wildcard” in BR. You can attack, you can defend, you can assassinate, you can push objectives, etc. ALL of my builds focus on being a jack of all trades, with 2 slots of damage, 2 slots for defenses, 1 slots for boots, and 1 slot for a 3rd damage item or an item we REALLY need, usually a contraption for a sneaky Flicker/Kestrel/Taka/Krul, or an Atlas for someone really uhm... lets call them annoying.

I also typically build 1 of 2 kinds of defenses. Full Metal Jacket and Aegis on regular champs and Crucible/Heal on characters that benefit from the HP. I'll be referring to them as “standard” and “HP” respectively to keep things brief. Also, if they're going FULL RED or FULL BLUE, I'll build FMJ and FMJ/Atlas and Aegis and Aegis/Fountain. KEEP AN EYE ON THOSE BUILDS. YOU DON'T WANT TO BE STARING AT THE DEATH SCREEN GOING WOW I BUILT AEGIS INTO FULL RED AND DIDN'T NEED THE REFLEX BLOCK, DUH! In extreme cases that last utility slot will also be another AEGIS/FOUNTAIN or a FMJ/ATLAS, whichever one I don't have yet. Keep in mind I also mainly play SoloQ, in fact an overwhelming number of my games are SoloQ, so things may change in an organized team.

Lastly, I'm not the worlds biggest fan of Breaking Point, ESPECIALLY NOT FIRST, at least not in BR. There's a statistic somewhere about how for a long time Sorrowblade first Krul had a higher win % than Breaking Point first Krul, even though near all the Pros would build BP first. I feel like a dichotomy like this applies to almost all characters in BR. I have a ton of lower ELO games where I'll go crystal, both the Vox and Blackfeather will start BP, and we'll lose the game before we even get to our second full offensive item. Their damage output is just dismal and it gets us just wrecked. I also noticed in Higher ELO a lot less people build BP first, there's a lot more Sorrowblades and a decent amount of Serpent's Masks. It has to do with how much poke there is (tons) and that it's not always a team fight in my opinion, so the BP just generates that many fewer stacks. I didn't forget, I'm just not a HUGE fan. That said the ONLY character in my guide that starts BP happens to be my undisputed #1. How about them apples?

A second note about Breaking Point and Myth: If your getting blown up, dying to Taka in 2 seconds and just obliterated, DONT BUILD STACKING DAMAGE. Build DEFENSE or BUILD FLAT DAMAGE. I see these Ringos that go Sorrowblade first (good) Breaking Point second (Ok) and EXPLODE to a Taka over and over (bad). He got 3 shots off before he died, just saying, a second Sorrow Blade would have been more useful. You should likely build defense in this situation, being dead the entire game with 10 grand worth the Blue/Red goodies helps no one.

On to the Characters and the Builds. EVERY CHARACTER USES LEVEL SKIPPING. I never put a point in anything at 5, and when 6 hits I take the Ult and a 4th point in whatever is the more useful skill. You may see me referring to people's Ultimates as the C button.

God Tier – These 6 are basically interchangeable as to their number depending on who's playing them and the game your in. Saw outside of what I'd consider high meta and certain builds is closer to #10. I'll explain in a minute. All said, a team with 3/6 of these characters is nearly impossible to defeat when the players are BR monsters. In the highest Meta I've seen, these characters basically break the game.

1. Rona. Holy Freaking Guacamole! In my opinion by far and away the best lower ELO Hero, and still really strong up top. She's the most viable champion across all of the ELO ranges in BR I've seen. It's all about 3 man team fights and assassinations in BR, and everyone is couped up in the lane, and she excels at both of these thanks to her exceptional kit. This is where Rona absolutely dominates. I start the game Heavy steel, tier 1 standard defenses and boots. Her build order for me is Breaking Point, Serpent's Mask and standard defenses mixed in to taste, usually picking up tier 2 standards as we reach mid game and finishing them keep from getting absolutely wasted by Hypercarries and finishing War Treads last, unless we need to run from something. I usually start 3 points in B and 1 point in A. Some folks prefer to start mask and then get the BP, do what you will I just prefer the BP. I then take the 4th point in B, taking points in her Ult when available. I max either her A or B depending on what we're up against and take 3 points in her Ultimate. The fewer stuns/shoves/dashes/escapes they have the more likely I am to max her A. I'll explain in a second.

Early game Rona is a semi all-in Monster. Positioning is key, but the typical trade/combo is to Pop your B on someone, take 3 swings, use it's 2nd activation and then walk away. Late game she's typically all about Red Mist when she transitions into a FREAKING TORNADO OF DEATH using her A mechanic to build Fury and C to DISH OUT THE PAIN. It's really fun. I'm excited just talking about it. However, some teams have enough CC (looking at you Lance and Cath) that they'll just toss you away/stun you whenever you try to get the spin off on their team. In this case I find myself maxing B over C and sometimes not even spinning. If it looks like it's going to be rough from the very start I'll start SB over BP, and then go mask.

For Crystal you have 2 options, starting Aftershock or something else. Her early game Aftershock gameplay goes something like A onto them, hit them with AS, wait for the cooldown, Use your B for another AS proc, hit them with that and wait for the CD and then get a third proc off of the second activation of her B. It's actually pretty Ok, the enemy just kind of seems to be stunned sometimes that it really does that much damage.

The Spin to Win build more or less Mirrors her weapon build. Shatterglass, Eve and then Myth if you're not filling that last slot with something utility. Alternately, I've seen some troll builds that just go triple+ SG and use her A's delayed rupture damage to explode people. It's actually pretty OP if you can get it rolling. If she lands on you you're in the pain.

2. SAW. Everyone's favorite madman. Crystal and Weapon feel like polar opposites, and he gets this top spot because of the Crystal side. Weapon SAW starts Ok and goes flat like a sad tire. Crystal starts pretty good and gets AMAZING. Shatterglass Clockwork Myth is my usual go to with Chargers, I'm just not as good at dank shank SAW and feel kind of like it's a little underwhelming compared to the crazy late game power of a max crystal SAW. I max his B and C, putting points into his B first.

As for his Weapon path... I've literally stopped building it. Do what you will, maybe a SB BP and a TT. He can get a BP stacked and get lucky. They all just jump on you, you stab and leave the fight or you explode to their damage before you can do anything. Either way late game you're dead weight. I'm not saying it's Impossible. I'm saying SAW would have position 31 if his Crystal Path wasn't so viable.

The real problem with SAW that has him at #2 is at the High Meta, he's played Penta-Blue, 5 crystal items and where weapon SAW explodes because of his sad range and lack of ability damage, Penta-Blue SAW has hyper carry damage, mad range (seriously have you seen how far SAW runs for a shank?) with all the benefit of being a tank. The Penta Builds usually go something like SG → Eve → Myth → AC → SG or SG/Myth → Clockwork/Eve → Clockwork/Eve → SG/Myth → SG. That last glass may also be an Aftershock, or if your dank shank inclined you may start Aftershock. Honestly I think a SG does around as much damage as an Aftershock until leter game, and even then only if they build HP. With an Eve and all the damage output he gets in exchange for being immobile, he heals so much Ozo cries himself to sleep nightly in a weeping fit of jealousy. He's like a Krul with a Broken Myth and 9 shatter glasses pounding on your team all game gaining a million stacks before he just smites you for a trillion damage to the end of the Universe.

I max B and C crystal and A and B weapon. Good luck denting this monstrocity, stay away, or hope for a...

3. Koshka. Shes great. Her early game power is just flat amazing. This kitty cat PROBABLY snowballs the game harder than anyone when played right, if not just as hard as a talented Rona. More amazing, while most people associate her with Crystal Power, I find her just as viable when shes played as a WEAPON ASSASSIN. Yeah, she does that too, making her super viable. I always try to diversify damage on a team (a Reim with triple Aegis into a Blueberry flavored team can be um...disturbing) and she takes it in stride with the best of them. For crystal, Double SG with standard defenses, Chargers and the 3rd slot for whatever you want. Shiv? Sure. Eve? Go for it. Clockwork? My favorite. Or get an Echo to really lock down the enemy Hyper Carry with double stuns. Or just more defense or a heal or whatever.

For weapon I start SB and then attempt for a TT, unless I need a Poison Shiv for the enemy team healing. A brief aside about PS, I think you need this against any team with native lifesteal/Eve/Serpents Mask. For a third item I might grab SM or Tyrants Monocle. A second brief aside, SB, TT, TM is basically the holy trinity, IMO, of BR weapon builds. You can turn ANY character into a decent weapon carry with these 3 items (except maybe a SAW, sorry buddy). And then Koshka dumps empowered attacks, stuns and her move speed bonus on top of it. Yikes. But seriously she feels just as successful weapon to me, you should give it a try. In fact she may scale into the late game better weapon. I max B and C. Meow.

4. Lyra. A decent Lyra is just ridiculous. Why? I told you earlier BR is very poke oriented, and I prefer flat damage in many cases to BP and actually even Myth, since early game stacks can be hard to come by and you can just pick one up later when it'll really make an impact. Well, a decent Lyra will BASICALLY NEGATE ALL POKE AND HER TEAM WILL ALWAYS ENGAGE AT FULL HP. If that sounds OP to you, that's because it kind of is. You really need to avoid your team getting poked low, or preferably at all against a Lyra. A decent opening for me usually consists of a Heavy Prism, 2 Oakhearts, a battery and a pair of potions. I like making room for potions one way or another, I prefer to start with 6 anytime I can. Lyra is so mana hungry early game you in fact may find yourself using them for the energy regen, and quite often at that. The core of any Crystal Lyra is more or less inarguably AC an a Myth. I build HP for defenses to buff her heal, usually finishing a Crucible first. What happens with the last slot and the boots is kind of interchangeable. War Treads give you more HP, and that 500 HP translates into another 60 Health Restored/second on her A, which means the battery finishes into an Eve or Clockwork. Halcyon Chargers means you can finish that last slot with whatever you want. I prefer a Shatterglass for more damage, or a Clockwork if I'm finding myself running low on mana/I want to have more heals. Some people prefer an Eve, it's all in good taste. Regardless, only use her Imperial Sigil (A) on the enemy when you have to in my opinion (or if you're going penta blue or something there's really no point in the heal aspect) because the heal is OP. Any team with a lot of poke and a Lyra has a formula for success, just let your team outpoke the enemy and heal off any damage they take in the process. Shes the conductor of a BR objective taking freight train.

Lyra also makes a fairly decent Weapon Carry. Her empowered attacks and lock on Mechanic allow you to zone for your teammates, essentially sit behind the front line and punish anything messing with your front liners (if you're lucky enough to have any). Sorrowblade, Tornado Trigger/BP/PS and a Monocle do her just fine, if they're building a lot of armor a bonesaw instead of the Monocle. JUST REMEMBER YOUR A WONT REALLY DAMAGE ENEMIES, so save it and heal your teammates!

I max A and B.

5. Adagio. Lyra light, but devastating when played well. He trades AOE heals and bright bulwark for a devastating when landed ultimate and an attack steroid, not bad. I feel like he's best crystal, but his weapon build is likewise quite potent.

Crystal I start him with an Alternating Current, then go either SG or BM depending on weather I'm just getting poke damage in or managing to really lock onto the enemy. I have a preference towards Shatterglass because it enhances his heals more than twice as much as a Myth would, and keeping your teammates healthy is a really strong advantage. Regardless, I finish whichever one I didn't build last with HP for defenses and either Chargers or War Treads.

Weapon he's a different beast. His ultimate basically just becomes an AoE stun, but his\fire + attack steroid gives some of the best early game damage money can buy. His range is fantastic, making him one of the best poke artists in the game. I usually do something like Sorrowblade, attack speed item and Monocle. I avoid Breaking Point because he's definitely a poke champion, usually opting for Tornado Trigger to lay down as much punishment as possible in the small windows he finds to tease the enemy back. Just abuse his range and in turn your enemies. HP for defenses will work and keep his B from becoming utterly useless, but standard defenses will work as well, simply turning you into a long range carry. Chargers for boots, his abilities are mana hungry.

I max B, A when weapon and C when crystal.

6. Lance. Lance can seem like the most vanilla of the characters in BR. He's a CC Bot and there's little to nothing you can do about that. Except make his A hurt as much as possible and maybe build some attack speed. I don't build Breaking Point on Lance normally because of how I play him. He's a poke champion that sets up kills for his teammates and generally just has tons of CC. It's hard to really pick a “best” build for Lance, but he does definitely have a standard, and that's Double Sorrowblades. In fact in the High Tier meta I think I saw him double Sorrowblade with a Clockwork about 50% of games. They say he doesn't benefit from attack speed that much/as much as other champs, but honestly to me his scaling seems just fine. In high tier meta this guy becomes a steel wall for his team, where people use the damage reduction on his B to faceblock mountains of damage and make it extremely hazardous for anyone to engage into his team. This basically leads to a Lance with a heal blocking damage with B, healing with BR's enhanced heal mechanics and the lifespring buff, tossing away any attempt to engage, and ensuring his team only engages after he's made a catch his team can delete and move swiftly into a 2v3.

Crystal is a different beast, it's pretty uncommon to see, but when someone comes at you with one that's played well, it can be a total game changer. Again there's a lot of ways to build a Crystal Lance, but the standard would probably be a Shatterglass, a Myth and a Clockwork or Aftershock. If you're going Aftershock I'd build it first, otherwise a Shatterglass into a Clockwork can be pretty devestating.

I always max A, B for more shield if you're adapt at using his damage reduction or landing tons of stuns, C for extra Aftershock procs and escapability.

Pretty Stronk Tier

7. Idris. The poke this guy dishes out at any stage of the game is rather staggering to anything except a full on tank. He also can flex which build path he's going. He's either a Crystal Ranged Carry or a Weapon Assassin, which is an amazing choice to be able to make in BR, like 2 characters in 1. I usually do not build him hybrid, I seem to find the most personal success with just going Red or Blue.

Going weapon I open with a Sorrowblade for the poke damage. After this it's REALLY up in the air depending on your play style. I personally like to poke with the Chakram A LOT, and then diving in with his A and your boots and ultimate when they're low an blowing them up. For this my personal favorite build is Sorrowblade and Double Monocles with War Treads or Halcyon Chargers (for the Cool Down Acceleration), usually War Treads and Standard Defenses. While the Chakram damage cannot crit, each Monocle DOES have another 50 weapon power on it, and when you do dive into melee the Crits are HUGE, great fior blowing up squishies, not THAT effective against huge tanks.

Crystal starts with a Shatterglass, then usually adds a Myth and an Eve with Standard defenses and War Treads. I max B and C.

8. Blackfeather. Like Idris, the name of the game is POKE. Noticing a trend here? In my opinion he's better crystal, then you just spam his B, get them low and blow them up with your Ult and A's execute. He opens with a Shatterglass, and from there his build path gets kind of up in the Air. A Clockwork can be deadly for the spam, an Eve is pretty standard fare, a Myth works. His final 3 item build is some Combination of single or double Shatterglass, Eve, Clockwork and Myth. I build standard defenses and War Treads for extra tanky.

Weapon the guy sees a Serpent Mask and a Breaking point as his standard starting 2 items. The third slot is really whatever you want, I think the best build is to put a Tornado Trigger in there. You dive on the enemy Squishy with your Ult, gain stacks of Heartthrob and Breaking Point, then execute. If the squishy panics, you run them down with the Rose Trail from his A and the second charge of your C. Likewise, standard defenses and War Treads in the final slots. I max B and C.

9. Ringo. The game's most standard ranged carry is pretty viable at the moment. He can build one of 3 ways, with the third being kind of cheeky. I feel he is most viable Crystal. For Crystal, I build AC, Myth and then a Shatterglass. Standard defenses and Chargers as your mana source.

Weapon has him doing a standard Sorrowblade into Breaking Point or Tornado Trigger. The third slot is for a Monocle if they're not building defenses, otherwise a Bone Saw.

The Third way of doing things is basically a Crystal Zerg. Shatterglass → Shatterglass/Myth and a Clockwork or an Echo, or just flat 3 Shatterglasses. The damage that comes out of his A this way is startlingly huge, and his fireballs melt face. The rest of his damage comes from the Crystal ratio he has on twirling Silver. Standard defenses for all. I max B and C.

10. Samuel. Sam has amazing range. Between that an the fact his Ult is sleeper OP, he's secured my 8th spot. Seriously sleep in BR and a team that picks the enemy off 1 by 1 will and does absolutely win games. It's kind of like Joule lazoring the entire enemy team. I build Shatterglass, Eve and Myth basically in any order I like. Alternatively you can do a Clockwork over the Eve. Chargers and Standard defenses.

He CAN weapon, but it makes his A and B completely useless. All your going to use your abilities for is the Sleep. Sorrowblade or Serpent's Mask, a Breaking Point and Monocle should do him just fine. Remember to buy a Poison Shiv any time they have sustain. Prepare to be underwhelmed. I max A and C.

11. Krul. This may be more of a person thing for me because I feel I'm actually a really talented Krul player, but he really does get work done in BR. I feel like his Crystal Path is by far more viable. AC → Myth and standard defenses. This should be more than enough damage until Mid/Late game. Run out of bush, apple slow, build stacks, save your A until you need it, don't chase them too far (read: suicidally far under turret) Smite them and then walk away. Late game he really does feel sometimes that he needs a Shatterglass to continue to do good damage. I build standard defenses and Chargers for CDA/Mana.

Weapon CAN be a bit more of a struggle, but overall he's still pretty Ok. In fact what has him as high as #9 is that he is so viable both weapon and crystal. Sorrowblade is my favorite starting item, some people may prefer to go attack speed first, do what works for you, seriously. Breaking Point is his likely second item, finish with whatever you need. I max B and C.

12. Reim. This guy is similarly very strong. He CAN go weapon, but Krul and him I feel are rather balanced as a pair at the moment, and Krul takes the higher spot because his weapon side is more viable.

I start him with an Eve, this is by far the most common opening on Reim, then build a Myth. Like Krul, this should hold you for a while so you can probably finish at least 1 of your tier 3 standard defenses before he finishes with a Shatterglass or whatever you need in this third slot. You can build Chargers or War Treads for Boots, but if you go Treads you MAY run out of mana, and then he's friend, so get a good feel for him and decide what you want to do.

Weapon Reim works surprisingly Ok. A Mix of Sorrowblade, Serpent Mask and attack speed is standard fair. Lets face it, in my opinion there is no “right” way to play weapon Reim, just don't do something silly like build 3 Tornado Triggers and try to tickle them to death. Weapon Reim works because of his passive Frostguard, weapon speed helps you spam the slow and then you just tar pit them to death since they can't get away. This is part of how he gets away with the Serpent Mask, they literally can't get away so you just sustain. I max A and C.

13. Flicker. This little guy might not be here for the reason you think. It's his WEAPON build that makes him so viable. I'm going to put him in the same tier as Reim and Krul because of his slow mechanic, and also while he has kind of sad crystal ratios, he has high base damages on those abilities, meaning you can get away with nothing but red items for damage and wreck faces. Basically he's a weapon Reim on steroids. His tar pit is amazing, and if that's not good enough he can get on top of you invisible, forcing the enemy to be endless ambushes or buy vision.

Weapon build is pretty standard. Sorrowblade, some sort of attack speed and a Monocle in the third slot if you don't need it for something else. HP for defenses and Chargers for boots.

Getting him online Crystal is a little harder, and I'm not ENTIRELY familiar with it since I always always always prefer to build him weapon, but it is possible. Personally I think the best Crystal build I've found for him starts with an Eve, then builds a Myth, then SG if permitted. Still HP for defenses, your choice of Chargers or Treads for for boots. I max A and B most of the time and when I remember, I honestly don't use his ult all that much.

14. Alpha. Lets face it reboot is pretty strong, and she can be quite a bit to handle. MOST people I see playing here do not echo her ultimate, all though there's a couple of people out there that smell like Alpha mains that do, and that's because they land every explosion. Yikes.

Crystal is -probably- her more viable build path because the Ult actually does damage then? You just have to land it which isn't that easy. Her typical finished build with 3 items is Aftershock, Shatterglass and Broken Myth. You can really build these in any order it's more playstyle dependant. Standard defenses and War Treads, since she uses no mana.

Weapon she's a different beast. She can be build to spam attack speed or just a regular weapon path, Personally I build a Sorrowblade, she can go Serpents Mask intead, then a Breaking Point and whatever you want for a third item. I actually prefer a Tornado Trigger for building BP stacks on her, I like the way it feels. I max B and C.

15. Baron. This guy is going to jump a spot over Gwen because he just pushes SO GOD DANG HARD. Seriously he's not the easiest character to play, but weapon and crystal his Porcupine Mortars DESRTOY BASES. I prefer him crystal more the longer range the enemy has and the more of a threat to him they might be. SAW, Samuel, or Adagio on the opposing team and I feel you want to go Crystal with him. If they're shorter range you can go Weapon, just stay out of melee range. Weapon he almost turns into a ranged burst assassin type game play, hopping into position and using the attack speed steroid to get his Breaking point off the ground, then laying on the pain with a mix of AOE basic attacks and porcupine morters. Salt to taste. But seriously learning to land his ult effectively is a very important skill, especially crystal it's what gives him and edge over other champions.

Crystal I build Shatterglass, Clockwork and then Myth. The Clockwork means more mana, more ults and more mortars, and that's basically all he needs. Standard defenses and Halcyon Chargers. WARNING. He will run out of Mana without chargers pretty fast, and he can still run out WITH. Careful with your spam.

Weapon is definitely, at least to me, the harder way to play Baron, however, it can be more rewarding. You kill things faster. Baron actually can do, to some success, a full attack speed build. Tornado Trigger, Breaking Point and either a Shiv or Bonesaw. This build may be more successful going Quad Red and dropping a Serpent Mask or Sorrowblade in at the end. Jump forward and attack the living heck out of whatever is silly enough to stand in front of you. It's really kind of a cheese snowball build.

Otherwise a standard build is Sorrowblade, Breaking Point and a Tornado Trigger or Monocle in the last slot, assuming you don't need a Bonesaw or get screwed buying the Contraption.

I max A and C.

16. Gwen. Having a reflex block that works after the fact for a B is pretty hilarious. Gwen is better Weapon in my Opinion, but you can get her rolling Crystal. Crystal Gwen feels LATE GAME though, she is REALLY not very good early. The damage output is just too low, you either start with Shatterglass and have to deal with her A's long cooldown, or start Clockwork and have to deal with having NO CP! However, playing Crystal Gwen into a SAW in the right ELO/situation can be very advantageous, it's also useful for keeping an Idris at bay in the fact the slow plus her range and having a turret to back her up can make her near impossible to engage into, and every time you try you get another face full of crystal-infused buckshot. Yikes. Personally I go Shatterglass → Clockwork → Myth with Chargers and standard defenses. Alternately you can just Build a SG and 4 Myths and the damage is pretty troll tier. Might be something you want to try in a Casual match first.

Weapon Gwen is a pretty potent sight. She wants to dance around the edge of the fight and gain stacks of BP like most weapon carries. Use her A to help with positioning your enemies for maximum effect. Pretty standard build, Sorrowblade → BP → Monocle or actually I believe I prefer a Tornado Trigger here as well. Practice that stutter stepping!

I max A and C.

17. Grumpjaw. This guy could be rated higher, but people are still learning to play him, A and while his Ultimate is very strong, you HAVE TO MAKE YOUR OPPONENT DAMAGE IMMUNE to swallow them, oftentimes resulting in teammates missing skill shots or preventing lethal damage from connecting. With a bit of teamwork and a high command of his skill shots he becomes terrifying. He's devastating in those stand and fight situations where he can get more than one rotation of his A and B off, pummeling the enemy with his very rewarding to land A and the potency of his attack steroid.

I prefer him weapon, in all honesty. Sorrowblade first, I'd DEFINITELY try to build a breaking point on him because his B has so much attack speed on it you can stack like crazy, and probably finish with a Monocle. You can build whatever you want for defenses, if you go HP try to keep your stacks of living armor up for maximum synergy. I've only run out of mana on him one in recollection, I've been building War Treads on him.

Crystal is kind of an unknown territory to me, haven't really solved the theorycraft on him yet, but Alternate Current, Myth, Aftershock seems to actually work really well. Otherwise I'd probably build a Shatterglass on him. The Aftershock negates his mana problems in my opinion, so you can build a war Tread, and the Aftershock adds to the potent punch the high damage ratios on his abilities offers.

Honestly wouldn't be shocked at a nerf as people get more familiar with him.

I've been maxing A and C, that could easily change to A and B. At the moment the 135% attack speed just seems like overkill. Yikes.

18. Joule. Joule's star is on the rise again. She may be rated a little low for my taste, but shes still in the Pretty Stronk territory. Honestly shes probably here because there's so much back and fourth in BR, you can't simply all-in her as her tournament Vainglory 8 play style has headed. You constantly walk back and fourth and in doing do expose her weak back side, resulting in an amount of damage being taken usually. Regardless, shes still strong. I don't groan when I draw her, that's for sure.

I prefer my Joule weapon, probably because I'm not very good with her ultimate and I find her weapon path very viable. There's a lot of ways to build her, while I'm not good with her laser, I don't have any problems with her B so my build maxes Thunderstrike essentially. Sorrowblade, Double Monocles, Standard Defenses and Chargers so she doesn't run out of mana. Easy.

Crystal is a different beast. Again I admit to not being good at it, but the standard build seems to be Shatterglass or Frostburn, Clockwork and finish with a Myth. If you start Myth and then get the Clockwork I think it balances out near 1 stack, the Glass is just for the early game power before you get Clockwork. Standard Defenses, Chargers for more CDR, Treads for HP.

I max A and B weapon, B and C Crystal.

19. Glaive. He's seen some quality of life changes since release and overall he still feels pretty darn good. Him and Lance seem a lot a like for some reason. I think because they typically build red and make mad assassinations/enemy member catches.

There are a lot of ways to build a Red Glaive. Honestly a lot of this depends on your play style. Honestly you can go crit, you can go lifesteal, you can go raw damage and poke with his B. I usually go with option 3. Sorrowblade is the opening item for sure, if I'm getting good poke damage in with my B, ie. The enemy team is overextending and I can get a lot of easy procs off, I'll flat consider going double Monocle for that bit of extra damage (since it's an automatic crit) and follow up damage (basically going super poke mode) but USUALLY my conscience get the better of me and I pick up that Tornado Trigger instead. I build him really vanilla, he's another character that relies rather heavily on positioning and catches to execute well. I mean they all do just Glaive's Afterburn can really leave him hanging out without an escape.

Crystal he's a lot like Catherine and all those builds work. I like to start Aftershock, after this you can actually also try a Myth into an Eve build. It will work, he will heal an amount, but it's JUUUUST enough that I feel like if they have or build a shiv against it, you're losing your advantage.

Standard Defenses, Chargers when Weapon, if you have a Clockwork Chargers or Treads.

I max A and B almost always, when you go crystal with the Myth Eve it can be interesting to max C instead of B for an extra tiny bit of healing.

The Roams. I main Roam so it's hard for me to rate these that accurately so I'm putting them at the bottom of the list. If you aren't used to Roam champions or playing them in an offensive role, this may be where they belong anyway. I have PHENOMENAL success on these champions. :)

20. Phinn. This guy is great. I actually prefer him weapon. Learning to use his abilities is really key. Sounds kind of silly? But his A is REALLY all about positioning. Also the fact you can't be disabled, only silenced, can be kind of “abused” as a really potent and enjoyable mechanic.

Weapon Phinn seriously just builds the same old thing, Sorrowblade, Tornado Trigger and Monocle with me, but remember you can get a bone saw to help a carry and Poison Shiv is a REALLY good item against healer champs, so it's more that characters play styles adapt to the situation? Man Shiv is good against some things. Maybe I should have done an item review and made SB TT TM a standard weapon build. AFTERTHOUGHTS. Weapon Phinn especially and just Phinn in general want T2 boots somewhat early? Basically you drag them in or just catch them, Stun them if you can, pull them back with your Polite Company, then boots and run someone down. I think there's few things more terrifying in BR than a weapon Phinn running you down with boots, but there definitely are. O.O He's slow so he really needs the boots, I find myself building War Treads over Journey boots.

Crystal he can be a bit harder to get rolling, but it's possible. I start with an Aftershock. Timing his abilities out so every time you use something you get the proc off of Aftershock is not easy and takes some practice, I'd start the rotation with my A anytime possible, also using Ult for damage and another proc can be something new to get used to. From here I USUALLY build a Shatterglass or a Clockwork. Clockwork for more Aftershock, Shatterglass for more I GO A, U GO SPLAT. I usually third item a Myth, it's just too good late game when you can REALLY wade in and win a game with a Massive Myth stacked A. It does TONS OF DAMAGE. Likewise Chargers or Treads for Boots.

I usually build HP for defenses, if he goes the Standard route he ends up uhm, the tankiest character in the game? I guess you could argue one way or another but his perk is amazing.

21. Ardan. This guy is actually a REALLY good going weapon. His passive is just good and he punches stuff good. Also, no mana. What else could you want?

Sorrowblade, Tornado Trigger and Monocle are pretty standard fare for me. Get on top of a squishy with your B, Slow them with your A and go to town stutter stepping. Can always throw down a gauntlet to really lock them up. With an enemy carry dead your teammates hopefully traded well in the 2v2 and you can go back and clean up. Easy.

He CAN be played Crystal, I'd go Alternating Current and Myth, if they're walking into your gauntlet a lot, MAYBE a Shatterglass, but usually an Aftershock. Honestly you can do any build order you want, but I wouldn't do the Myth first. Not a HUGE point to Frostburn unless you have a Current and want to become a slow bot on whoever your taking. Even then the slow won't really reach full lethality until you get a little more Crystal Power, but it will work and people will kill you with it.

HP for defenses and Chargers to max his passive.

As far as what skills to max this is basically personal preference. I usually max A or B and definitely C. The Cooldown on Gauntlet is killer and I enjoy that 10 second shave.

22. Catherine. The Stun Tank. Nuff Said. Kidding, Cath easily goes Crystal or Weapon until the Higher Tiers where nobody shoots her when her bubble is up and Crystal kind of just leaves you with that “oh that's where all my damage was coming from” taste in your mouth. I actually prefer my Cath weapon ANYWAY so there's that. Weapon is standard Sorrowblade, Tornado Trigger, Monocle, but there's some cheeky stuff you can do. Sorrowblade Mask and a Tornado Trigger CAN be hilarious, get Chargers and as soon as you get the needle start to push on the enemy team every time your shield is up. Most of the damage bounces and any target you can get your hands on heals you when you attack them. Something like an attack speed Ringo (or Vox hehe) will just pelt your shield down and start to lay on the burn. Be careful when taking a route like this, it will work, but there's a time and a place and the trade off can feel kind of negligible and it may fall off late game. Youll also run into and PROBABLY lose to, if you play enough, people going quad and penta red and just abusing her shield to abuse the heck out of you. If it snowballs, it may already be too late. Some teams just don't have the resources to deal with it.

Crystal is pretty up in the air. I like to start Aftershock, Myth feels lackluster, Shatterglass is Ok. Honestly if they're building standard defenses I feel like there's more damage on the Glass, but the Aftershock has CDA and mana on it. If they're not building defenses you'll probably tear them up anyway. Myth and Glass can finish her build, some people like a Clockwork second item, I play this occasionally myself, and it does in fact work. I'd finish a Clockwork second build with a Myth. You can also do something like Aftershock/Myth or Glass or Frostburn/ Alternating Current and that has some interesting effects. Just remember a lot of her damage comes from her bubble. If they don't shoot you or figure it out late game, it can be game changing and even lose you a fight when they stop blowing themselves up. Stay Vigilant!

HP for defenses, Chargers when she goes weapon, Chargers or Treads when you go Crystal and have a Clockwork.

Weapon I max A and B (when I remember), Crystal I max B and C. A note here, getting your points in A or B first is kind of a style choice. They DO feel quite a bit different, have to learn the timings or you'll be wondering in with either no shield or no stun when you look for a trade.

23. Fortress. In a word: SNOWBALL. His Winter skin is pretty hilariously fitting. He works Crystal or Weapon, and I'M ACTUALLY NOT SURE WHICH I PREFER. WOW. (do you see what I did there?)

Crystal he's hilarious. Start with both halves of an Aftershock, finish it ASAP, he needs 950 for it, farm to 2k gold maybe max?, die at an appropriate time and go buy. POKE. Just abuse his A. Jump on the enemy and start poking them down. You don't even need to bother with a B, just can walk away, but if they're going to stand there or they're distracted with CS and not bothering you why not wait and then drop a second Aftershock proc on them for laughs? If you can try to have a teammate near so your speed boost is on and you can run away. Finish a Crucible or tier 2 standards, buy a Myth after this, learn to use his ult (blow it after a fight starts for maximum chaos and R U HAEVING PROBLM?). Finish the Heal or start work on Tier 3s or War Treads or Chargers, finish a Shatterglass if you need more damage, maybe build another team utility item, maybe a Shiversteel, probably just finish a Shatterglass. I've seen people also build Eve third for hilarious situations when the pop the wolves and they start procing. Cross with attack speed Vox and give your enemies fits. Fun.

Weapon he's pretty standard, AND YOU CAN BASICALLY DO EXACTLY WHAT YOU DO CRYSTAL JUST WITH A SORROWBLADE. Yep, start with a Heavy steel and some defense, maybe farm to 3k and go die? Get more defenses and a Sorrowblade and just abuse his A. You can semi all-in him a bit more with weapon since he's less Aftershock reliant. Apply the B and just go ham. I finish with Tornado Trigger and Monocle usually, but I've been experimenting with Breaking Point and then Tornado Trigger and I like it quite a bit, I need to try it on Fort some more and see if I like it. I've had some hilarious success with the Breaking Point lately.

He can build Standard or HP defenses, I actually lean towards Standards because he feels kind of too squishy with HP. His A makes it easy to over extend and with his ult he wants to go even deeper usually. I usually build Chargers.

I max B and C usually, even weapon, I feel like the 4% life steal on his A just isn't worth it and the damage isn't totally necessary. HOWEVER, when you're doing the poke thing, if you feel like he's not doing enough damage (I run into these situations), max that A over your B. I max the B because of wolves dropping multiple procs of his bleed in a big fight with the ultimate. If you're not good with the ult, you may want to max A over B anyway.

Not too Hot, Not too Cold.

24. Taka. Again, don't get me wrong. This guy will wreck you. However, Taka is arguably NOT a late game champion. He falls off when people get defenses, and BR progresses to what's considered late game in a hurry. Also, unlike competitive play, there's no guarantee there will be anyone squishy on an enemy team, or even any true “carries”. Regardless, if you go glass cannon this guy will tear you to bits.

Takas a strange creature. You see TONS of Stormcrown on this guy in BR, and while I'm not usually a fan, it kind of just... works? I've done it and it feels pretty Ok? The more “standard” builds on this guy forego it for something like double Shatterglass and a Clockwork. Aftershocks work. He's very “this is how I like my coffee”. I build standard defenses and usually Chargers, but War Treads for HP occasionally.

Also, he WILL work weapon just fine. I think it might be one of the better ways to play him all told, but I'm not quite done testing with this dude and trying to make him work. Weapon I do something like Sorrowblade, Breaking Point and Monocle or Serpents Mask, Tornado Trigger, Monocle. I build Standard Defenses and Chargers or War Treads, usually Chargers.

I almost always max A and C, if I have double Shatterglass I may max B and C for the extra healing from his Fox Box.

25. Petal. Shes been the subject of some uhm... COUGHNERFS lately for those of you not keeping score at home. Shes Ok in her current state, I'd be curious to see her get half of the last round of nerfs handed back to her on the range/crystal side and see how that works out personally. She is probably still better crystal, I'd have to do some testing to actually see, which involves getting done with this guide and playing some more so... ONWARD.

Crystal I'd have to do some experimentation on this too, over the last 2 patches I feel like the strongest move on her was not building Alternating Current. I'd open Frostburn, get a Myth and then buy Shatterglass with chargers and just ABUSE THE LOVE OUT OF HER (actually my opponents). This chick was OPRESSIVE. She'd have the 1 position over Rona 2 patches ago with Rona and ThunderCrit Joule I outlined earlier as her 2 native counters.

I'm still building basically this but I've had to change up the build order a bit. With her Munion range Nerfs and crystal ratio nerfs the Frostburn has kind of lost it's early value. I'd start shatterglass and then get Myth or Frostburn, whichever you prefer for the situation before building the other. I don't really have an Alternating Current build at the moment, but I'm curious if it wouldn't synergize into a good deterrent against enemies jumping on you since you have to play in so close (actually withing the range of enemy abilites and attacks!) now. Get Munions on enemies, Ult for health or wait until the Myth stacks and then blow them all up. Chargers for mana and Standard Defenses

Her weapon side recently got buffed, and I'm Ok with this. Her weapon side should actually be pretty decent. Weapon she plays like any standard carry, only thing you have to be mindful of is if your minions are actually body blocking for you, or if they're so weak they're just a free 2 gold and a MANA drain on you, wheres you are just spamming them out constantly and thusly won't have mana for her B. There's a point in any game I feel where MAYBE you should just quit. Maybe drop them out before a big fight for an added nuisance. Also they still heal for 140 HP and do 300 damage when you manage to detonate them.

I'm not sure if shes not rated this low just because people want some revenge and have been gunning her up actually. The first round of nerfs didn't really do much but HOT DANG DID THE SECOND ROUND GET HER so there's that. I may need to move her up or down after some more play.

I build Chargers and Standard defenses

I max her A and C crystal, B and C weapon.

Hot and Cold.

26. Ozo. This guy would normally be picked in competitive draft when you have a healer on your team. I'm also PREETTYYY sure he's my lowest winrate champ. No lie, I'm not great at him, but I (and he) have been getting better! Unlike the carries we'll get to in a minute, I feel like he's still a work in progress and I'd have to check to confirm if his Arco Bounce is still bugged. Ozo CAN and WILL work, part of it's whats driving him, part of him is just getting a favorable match up and snowballing. In any MMR/ELO you'll have some people who tear you apart on certain champs, and some people that just can't play something, and if anything Ozo should almo.... hold on, Hot and Cold, done. :) He just feels like he works or doesn't. It's a really weird spot. If anything he took 25 not because of my own play of him, but because some people just DECIMATE on him and I can't rank him any lower because of it.

His rotation is something you just need to get used to. I like to play him semi all-in. Dive in, spam A as fast as possible and walk away, or then bounce and try to land the last, biggest shot on the squishiest/lowest enemy champion. It takes a while to get the hang of his bounce down, I usually just spam the playing field and then try to line up the last bounce for where I want to land. You can also use B to chase and escape a fight, bouncing to a teammate, etc. I feel like he's high skill cap, moderate reward. Then I run into these people that just tear me apart and I'm like... hats off to you, sir. You know how to play Ozo, tell me your secrets please. Seriously I need to just friend them and ask. Lets just get to the builds, if you play quite a bit you'll probably notice these things on your own? Edit: Koshka lite, there we go, lite enough to be at the bottom of the list :( Again, the healer thing... If you got both Adagio and Lyra with the Ozo in Ranked/ Vainglory 8 I bet he's near unkillable. I feel like he CAN snowball however, if this guy gets some kills and farms well, despite his kit and not being BR optimized (Perks! this will hopefully fix him), he CAN roll right over you and become pretty overbearing. Taka can do this too. AVALANCHE! Also, if you get both healers and the Ozo in BR and can coordinate that out... LOL. Yeah, it's not entirely a guaranteed win, but just wow. He can become basically unkillable. God is a Monkey King.

I prefer my Ozo Crystal and it's been an agreement among myself and some friends this is his better/ stronger build path for a while. That better that I've been doing with him lately is because I started going Double Shatterglass, or Shatterglass Myth as his first 2 items. After this I've been going with an Eve, I'm not really sure what the best build is however, it just feels too much like trying to put a square peg in a round hole and I've been doing BR for a year and still I can't get this dude to really roll. Maybe triple Shatterglass or 2 Glass and an Eve? These are probably things I'll be trying next.

Weapon, honestly whatever you can get rolling. He DOES have a lot of play styles in this regard. I believe the Dev stream/zekent had a build a while back where he started double blazing salvos and then build a Mask into a Breaking Point? Third item whatever you prefer with attack speed? I have had some success with this start/build in the lower ELOs, but higher up it becomes so poke oriented you can't catch someone out and really stick to them like I feel he really wants to.

If you have him figured out maybe let me know?

I build Standard Defenses and usually Chargers, will go War Treads for extra tanky sometimes. He CAN build HP for that extra heal punch, if that's your thing go for it, I actually prefer the extra tankiness of the standard defenses.

I max A and C.

HELP, I'VE FALLEN AND I DON'T SCALE

The fact these folks are here is no fault of their own. They're full damage nightmares in the Standard Game. They just have a hard time only doing 3 items or if you're stuck with the Contraption and then are restricted to 2, (God help me) so lets not hope you also need an Atlas and end up full on ROAM CELESTE. WOO. I've experimented with going 4 item on them and just building a Husk, I wasn't very good at it and need some practice, I play too Tanky/Agressively. I'M A TANK BABY, YEAH. Even at 3 items you can just FEEL the growl in the belly, the power not being unleashed by these characters having a team to support them and JUST RUINING YOUR DAY. Perks will Hopefully fix this. It's the Hypercarries. Also, all three of them basically have one of their paths Red/Blue closed entirely. However, if you played them Quad something in BR they'd probably do better. I just feel like they can't ENTIRELY pull the “all arounder”. They scale at 4 items and I can feel it, and that LITTLE edge in the current balance of the game (did I mention I think it's REALLY GOOD at the moment? Pls no break) is going to move them to the bottom of my list.

27. Vox. Don't get me wrong Vox is still strong, he's just a little hard to get rolling. If you go Crystal he has a hard time making it with his team to late game, so Weapon in BR is the build path of choice. He almost ALWAYS builds Breaking Point and double Monocle, aka the “Cancer Build” The idea is to use his mobility to build stacks, and there's nothing wrong with that, it's just all about execution. Honestly going quad red on this guy iand not trying to force the high defenses is probably better, I'm just not a very good at it. I either do the so called Cancer Build, or just a standard Sorrowblade, Tornado Trigger, Monocle. ANOTHER way to build him is to just go straight Attack Speed. Any Combination of Alternating Current, Shiv, Breaking Point, Tornado Trigger and Bonesaw basically (maybe saying Shiv, BP and Alternating Current work is a bit too far. I've seen this tried and fall on it's face. Crap I've done it. Avoid.) Apply resonance and go KAMEHAMEHA! (Literally this works, not a troll)

Crystal seems him with a standard Alternating Current, Myth and an Eve. Haven't seen much of this since Myth changed from 5 stacks to 9. Hrmm.

Standard Defenses and Treads or Chargers for shoes.

I max A and C pretty religiously.

28. Celeste. You can make a mean weapon Celeste. Maybe I've over spoken. Her kit makes her somewhat Ok Red. Lets face it though, this was never intended entirely. At least not at the moment. She has a stun and Vision and that's actually pretty good. But when you're red Celeste, you want to be Red... practically anything else.

I feel, personally, her strongest standard Crystal build is Shatterglass, Clockwork, Myth. Clockwork takes the cake over Myth because the spam is just oppressive. In fact you can actually get her feeling pretty Ok. Part of it is her ult though, it doesn't feel like it does enough damage to me compared to what happens when she goes Quad Blue and gets another Glass or an Eve. Well, she might have Eve over Clockwork in that situation but... It's her ult. Heliogenesis with and mostly only with Glass Clockwork start feels Ok to me. Also you can go Glass Eve Myth or MAYBE Glass/Myth Clockwork and Eve, but that's kind of risky. The other thing that happens is I devote more resources to defenses, and you can kind of feel the power curve where shes JUUUUUST behind where she wants to be a little. It's enough. And also it's enough that I feel you REALLY need to get that late game Myth. At the highest ELO I've gotten to you'll see Celeste go Myth first, Clockwork second, her team will get double Treads and she'll get Journey boots, and if you try to push they'll just RUN YOU DOWN, especially if you aren't used to having to all in her to prevent the situation from getting um... bad. She'll stick to you all day, get to 9 myth stacks and just blow your team up. So if you're headed to the top you have THAT to look forward to. Until then you'll have to suffer with the rest of us. Also, if there's an assassin and they don't build defense rushing the items they'll just explode because, yanno, Celeste and the defenses in her Kit. Shes a squishy.

Weapon, I think going attack speed is pretty fun, Sorrowblade, Breaking Point and Tornado Trigger sounds pretty good to me. You basically want to walk in, have them ignore you because HURR weapon Celeste and just drop in their face and abuse the fact people aren't used to what a Celeste's animations look like when shes built attack speed and hope they don't know they're getting shredded. It works, at least to a point. Pretty fun.

She basically needs Chargers weapon if you're using stars to check bushes, and you probably should be. Kind of disappointing she can't really go War Treads, but hey, that's life.

Standard Defenses on this chick, she needs them.

Skaarf. Same problem as Celeste. YOU CAN FEEL YOURSELF FALLING BEHIND AS YOU BUILD DEFENSES. Also same as her with his Ult. A lot of times it just doesn't feel like it does much or LITERALLY does not do much, way way less that what a Celeste Solar Storm does. Like why aren't they melting it's a Skaarf ult. I've practically stopped using it all together and I just fireball and goop on this guy.

The standard build is PROBABLY Glass, Eve, Myth, if you're fireball Jesus that Eve can easily become a Clockwork. He needs chargers. Just poke all day, and learn to goop and not set it on fire. Tarpit your enemies for your teammates to burn down. Especially useful when you're going...

Weapon. Not the WORST thing in the world. Fireballs... it honestly feels worthless to fireball an enemy and then weapon them down. I feel like you do more damage in the time it took to cast than it does when you don't have any CP. Tarpit enemies, Shoot them, use his ults inhale to slow fleeing enemies for your team. That's... about it. Sorrowblade, Breaking Point and Tornado Trigger or Monocle on this guy to maximize the tarpitting with his B. Does it work? Yeah. DO YOU WISH YOU WERE RINGO REGARDLESS OF RED OR BLUE? HIGH PROBABILITY.

How to fix? I think you could fix his weapon side a bit by maxing the goop toxic. If you attack them and have more than say 150 WP when they're in the goop, add bonus damage, maybe mixed damaged, maybe green POISON DAMAGE that's half weapon half crystal. Am I getting carried away? Yeah. We're done here.

Feel Like They're On Someone's Workbench.

We're not going to rate these 2. I don't know where they'll end up but I'm happy to file some grievances ;) Unlike Celeste and Skaarf, these two are meant to be highly viable in both paths.

-. Skye: Skye simply had what was her weapon pathing GUTTED. The damage in my opinion on her A, Forward Barrage, is negligible. It's literally like a joke. I built Sorrowblade, Serpent's Mask and Breaking Point on her and couldn't believe my eyes when the base damage was 320 and all that Weapon Power only added another 203 damage. I mean, shes just not the Skye of olde. So far the slow seems pretty negligible as well, not sure what to tell you. I guess the idea is to shoot them for the move speed boost and then (because of her short auto attack range) Forward Barrage them to put even more distance between yourself and them? I'm not sure. Regardless, when I came to my senses and dropped the Barrage guess work and just UNLOADED in some poor schmuck's chest with the same build they simply exploded. Guess they didn't build armor. Fun game. She's basically just a 5.5 range Carry that gets a move speed boost when you shoot someone, a re-position and a n ultimate that stuns if you land it and slows if not. Not bad, no lie, that's an Ok kit. I feel like the 5.5 range makes her a lot more tricky than before however. Not nearly as easy to play. A better ratio could do her just fine IMO.

Ok, with that off our chests, Crystal is JUST FINE. Therein lies the problem. With so many crystal-leaning or flat crystal-better champs on the fold today, I feel like it just damages your teams ability to diversify damage. That's actually (well, in part, we'll get to that), the main problem with all 3 of the Champs I'm dropping in this category. Ok, so, for the builds. Crystal starts with either a Myth, if they're lining up for you, a Frostburn, if they're slippery, or a Shatterglass if you're just grazing them and the fights are chippy and farm-oriented. The next question is, if you didn't start Myth, do you build Myth second or Eve? Honestly, personal preference. Myth will probably melt faces, but I run into these Skyes that think they're Ozo, constantly repositioning and using the heal from the Eve to just 1v3 and crazy stuff like that. Skye is High Skill Cap, High Reward, when played correctly. Final build is some combination of Frostburn, Shatterglass, Myth and Eve. I usually go Chargers, but with an Eve and being mana-conservative (try not to blow everything pushing on the waves, I've done this so many times, so dumb. Not just on Skye either. I never check and always build extra. I'm just not mana-minded. WHAAAA oh wow... I'm an idiot. I burned all my mana on Phinn's Lunch...again. Get someone else to do the pushing if you have to. Heck I might even give up a turret and hope my teammates get the clue. Shes worthless if you can't engage the actual enemy.), she can definitely swing Treads headed into that final fight of the game if you really need it, but I'll state again she WILL run out with only 1 battery. Far faster than I usually expect. You've been warned. Standard Defenses.

Weapon, I guess preference? Personally I kinda liked that build I mentioned earlier. Not even sure if she needs Chargers or not when you're not using her A. Haven't learned to play it yet usually someone knows her weapon side sucks so they'll go carry and just let me go Blue. I'll probably look at doing some more SB, SM, BP.

I max her A and C.

Unranked status: Her Red and Blue builds are miles apart. Literally flavor dependent.

-. Kestrel. Same as above. Her blue side feels dynamic and rewarding. Her red side, her stun is lackluster, and really hard to land without going stealth in their face. Which is impossible when you're taking damage. Hmmm. I'm not even sure if there's a problem with Red Kestrel. It may just be that going Blue is that good. Also, her typical play style in regular games is not very conducive with how BR works. In a regular game, I'd build Sorrowblade, Serpents Mask and a Breaking Point on Kestrel. Farm her to those 3 items and defenses, and then you either A. Unload on them with Glimmershot to build your initial stacks and then gun them down with Autos, or B. auto he heck out of them for Stacks and then blow them up with empowered Glimmershots. You build a team around her, protect her, team fight with her. Not EXACTLY conducive to BR. With that said, in Brawl mode if she could get instant stealth and perhaps even longer stealth time without going crystal in her perks, she'll PROBABLY be back.

With all that said, her typical Blue build is built around...Stealth. Shocker. She starts as a semi-mana hungry poke mage-ish. Early battery is good. She really comes online when you get Clockwork. She now has near permanent stealth. Near because she will eventually run out of mana. With Chargers this basically becomes limitless. For a third item I'm usually kind of up in the air. SOME people prefer Shatterglass for mega traps. No stacks required, stick your puddle outside their base at the broken first turret and BLOW UP whoever walks out and doesn't have decent defenses. WHOOMP. Personally I prefer a Myth, I'm not great with the traps and after I unload with glimmershots I go stealth to get 4 more and keep the stacks. IF you find yourself quagmired more often than not and wishing you had auto attacks, I usually build an Alternating Current in that situation. You CAN buy an aftershock and time out your arrows for all 4 procs, I feel like AC gives you more bang for your buck in the end. Too many people build Aegis over flat HP and the AS shots seem to just diffuse. Somewhat good against a tank, however.

Weapon, the typical player's build of choice is either Sorrowblade, Breaking Point and Monocle, or Double Sorrowblades and Breaking Point. Personally I like to spice it up and go Sorrowblade, Mask and finish with a Breaking Point. My playstyle of diving down their throats with no arrows left slamming them with Auto Attacks does well with the heal, but it IS situational. I might not build it if the enemy already has a Poison Shiv (or I think they'll buy one) and go with one of the other 2 builds.

Standard Defenses and usually Chargers. Shes actually kind of in the same boat as Skye. Red she needs the boots, Blue you can forego them but again, you've been warned, she will run dry endgame.

I max A and C, some people max A and B for the Mist Duration and depending on the build the stealth duration, I'm not going to tell you you're doing it wrong if you can land those puddle shots. In fact, I tip my hat to you, you've done well.

Unranked status: Her Red and Blue builds are miles apart. Literally flavor dependent.

That's it for now. Hope to see you in my games soon. :)

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