@lordforte

Lord Forte

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have u done any art latly

Hello,
No, nothing really for general publishing. I try to practice writing to specific goals or challenges, but I've not been taken with a compelling idea in a while.

hey lordforte... to your knowledge what non-tank midlane/toplane champions counter tanks, ty for your answer....

Hello,
Uhh, off the top of my head:
Midlane: Cassiopeia, Anivia, Brand(?), Ryze, Viktor, Gangplank, Vel'koz(?), Yasuo, Vladimir
Toplane: Darius, Yasuo, Gangplank, Jax, Fiora(!), Olaf, Vladimir(?)
Those come to mind as possessing the necessary DPS/kite options to consistently tear down tanks. Other picks can do it if they 'get ahead', but kind of fall off in mid-late game. The ? marks are ones that 'should', but may not, as I don't actively recall how they're doing these days.
Fiora is notably the best kind of anti-tank pick in top lane you can do, though keep in mind she's very fragile to use.
Hope that helps~

Hey! Have you seen the new patch? what is your opinion on Syndra ... Is she going to maximise e second or still w?

Hello,
Yup, been playing on it. Very pleased with the changes so far; it brought back Syndra's original playstyle in the mid/late game, while enhancing it. The R nerf was no where near as painful as I imagined, but I've felt it occasionally in the early game.
I suspect Syndra will still max W second, as that is her optimal 'DPS path'. However, E second max playstyle is now no longer overbearingly punished for NOT going W, so there will be situations its good to pick in. To sum up a lot of potential conversation: DPS vs sniper safety, so W or E respectively.
In fact, compared to it's past self, the E route is slightly buffed (the +0.1 AP ratio and -2s CD) but ratios care about items, not levels, so ...

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Hi, First of all I'm spanish so sorry about my english. I have been playing LoL for 3 months. I have played all the roles and I main mid, with Orianna actually. I just want to know if I should "save money" to buy Syndra, I think I'm really skilled, but I wanna know if she is "interesting" to play.

TSMJaqen’s Profile PhotoJaqen H'ghar
Hello! Your English is good from what I see.
Since you've played Orianna, you'll be familiar with half of what Syndra does. They both like to control the area around them; Orianna works with her ball, Syndra works with Dark Spheres. They become quite different after that, though.
Syndra's area control builds into her tempo -- she builds up Dark Spheres, peaks at power, then crashes down as the Dark Spheres die. If you manage her tempo correctly, you can effectively use her Burst ultimate to kill a target. Managing this tempo is a main part of playing her, and her area control is very important in setting that up.
Unlike Orianna, Syndra is very fragile, and is a demanding champion to use. She only has one safety feature--her stun combo--and if that fails, she literally only has damage left, and not a lot of health or defenses. As a consequence, Syndra is quite punishing to play. She demands a good awareness of her strengths and weaknesses, and playing her successfully or not shows itself very quickly.
If you're looking for someone that's more damage oriented than Orianna, and has a steeper learning curve to how she works, you may like how Syndra operates.
I would say I find her quite interestingly to play, but I'm a little biased with the thousands of games I have on her ...

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Liked by: Jaqen H'ghar

Hey Forte, I was wondering what some good habits are to form and bad habits to avoid when playing Syndra, if I'm still fairly new to her. Thanks!

Hello there,
Hmm, good and bad habits.
1. Position in a safe, but useful area constantly.
You want to be in a position where you can maximize her damage, reach, and safety. You will constantly have to re-evaluate this, as this is an ever moving place. Mastery of this principle is make-or-break for a lot of Syndra players. Force the enemy to spend a lot of resources catching you, so that even if you do die, your team can punish them in return.
2. Mana management is critical.
Syndra has a lot of hidden mana costs in her kit. Her full 6 sphere rotation is around 400? mana, depending on your 2nd max skill. If you do not have that mana available, you cannot do her high damage ultimate - period. Always be conscious of why you're spending mana, and how much mana you have left. If you can't successfully do a full power combo, in most situations, it's time to leave.
3. Patience for the right moment.
Syndra works on her own time table, with her own conditions and concerns. If you can force a fight, it's because you synchronized the force attempt with her time table. If you hamfist a situation, you're going to be out of position, vulnerable, and probably dead in a few seconds. She has a rhythm to how she works, play with that, and force enemies to deal with her.
4. Never be afraid.
Risk is intrinsic to Syndra's kit. She is among the most fragile glass cannons in the game, so you need to have confidence in what you're doing. This is different from being reckless or pointlessly risky. It's knowing 'if I stun them, I can do X/Y/Z, with results A/B/C'. If you throw out spells without a concern on what the consequences will be, you're never going to have the confidence to follow them up. Syndra's opportunities are measured in split seconds, after minutes of preparation. Have the confidence to follow them up, or know why you're not (e.g, it's too dangerous, wait for the next window).
5. Timing is crucial.
Syndra works on her own time table, measured in the life timers of her spheres. She's stronger the more there are, weaker when there isn't. Know these life timers and your windows of power around them, because you can force when she's powerful, and be safe when she's not.
I think that covers the overall family of ideas. Bad habits are pretty much the opposite of what I say. Awful positioning, always out of mana, never having a plan for a combo execution, never following up what her own power can do, etcetra.
Syndra is a well oiled machine when put on her proper pace, so if she's feeling clunky or difficult, there's probably a bad habit in there somewhere.

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I've always been the intuitive kind of player and but I've never gotten higher than low to average diamond, but you're motivating me to take a more strategic approach with your explanations and thought to playing Syndra. What do you think is the better way to play?

Hello there,
Well, hm. I'm going to paint with a big brush, so bear with me.
The absolute mastery of warfare is the utilization of all resources, techniques, and methods with the knowledge and wisdom needed for a final victory. Those who fall into second place with this are the ones specialized in only a few masteries of some of the tools. This distinction can be difficult to discern, as it's often a difference as small as 0.01%.
The difference between LCS capable Challengers and Masters players, in other words.
Thus, I would not say either way is the better way to play. The objective is the destruction of the enemy Nexus. All other details are merely methods to obtaining this, each offering different terms and conditions at any given second.
Tremendous mechanical skill can be destroyed by strategy if one is not also fighting the enemy on that front. I learned this lesson intimately during my Halo and CoD years. At my age then, I was fully confident in demolishing anyone I ran into with mechanical skill, and I usually did. I almost always lost games, however, because I wasn't fighting the war--just the battles.
The enemy can give you all the worthless battles they can if it means they win the war.
In this light, intuition can give you your unique skill and perception, but you will need to learn to engage the strategy to truly maximize your capabilities. What kills to go for, then what towers to take. What threats to intimidate the enemy, or when to feign weakness. How to capitalize on advantage, when both ahead and behind. So on, so forth.
Look to all your own skills, knowledge, and methods for fighting. Try to find the strengths and weaknesses, because both are always there, and see how it can be applied. It can be strange to do, and even ethereally difficult with how such intangible roads are, but that's the fun of the challenge.

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Liked by: Ellie

Hey Forte! Could you give us an overview about Syndra's most-combo to push out an entire wave?

Hello,
Hmm. This mostly depends on her abilities ranks and AP, really.
E->W+Q can punt an entire wave ontop of itself, letting you clear the whole thing in 1 rotation.
E->Q can kill the entire wave (minus the cannon) if you're very ahead in AP for that given time period.
Q+W is a safe way of clearing half, if not most of the wave, if the minions haven't moved much since they met one another. Not using E here means you can keep it defensively if an enemy is going to trade or gank.
W by itself can hit most, if not the whole wave, if you aim dead center. You can think Q or E the different parts as you need to finish it off.
Generally speaking, after the first 5~ minutes of gameplay, Syndra can clear an entire minion wave with one rotation of her abilities. Ranks and AP dictate if you need a third ability to do so, as two are usually enough if you're ahead.

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hey overlord, i usually take q at lvl 1 then w at lvl 2,when do you recommend taking w lvl 2 as compared to e lvl 2?

Hello,
The thought process is usually: I don't need the stun, and I can use the slow to get more auto attack damage out, and if barring the second, I'd just use W's enhanced base damage.
Against LeBlanc, for instance, you need Q+E to trade with her, or she wins with her W.
Against Kassadin, W level 1 or 2 is fairly powerful because he has no mobility and no strong early trading tools. After his Q shield drops, slowing and autoing him is devastating to his lane pressure.
Against Fizz, it's 50/50. You can auto abuse him early but a clever Fizz can be dangerous with his troll pole jump.
The sum total of this decision is how you want to play out levels 1-3. At level 4, all the different starts synchronize to Rank 2 Q, Rank 1 W, Rank 1 E. Or, should, at least.
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Hey Forte! What are your thoughts on W start on Syndra?

Hello,
It is the most useful in situations where the Q+E stun combo isn't needed at level 2, and you aren't going to be using Rank 2 Q damage at level 3. In those same situations, you can capitalize on the added damage and slow to perhaps utilize Syndra's ranged auto attacks.
So, a good deal of Melee picks into her would be susceptible. Most have gap closers and the like, though, so auto attacking can be very risky to outright too dangerous. It's often to the point I simply find the Q+E stun combo more valuable to keep, even if it has a 10-15% lower amount of damage potential, it's much safer.
Worth experimenting on, I just very rarely find match ups I'm ever comfortable doing it in to capitalize on its advantages.
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What are your thoughts on Syndra vs Kennen lane?

ElenaLeccardi’s Profile PhotoEllie
Hello,
Quite manageable, if annoying. It's classically only a problem because of Abyssal Scepter, but that's having trouble versus the item more than Kennen himself.
You have to respect his ridiculous chain lightning auto combo, which lets him win any auto attack trade by default. It can make pre-level 5 stressful, but afterwards it comes down to his itemization. Syndra's E can completely ruin his initiations, even when he flashes in onto her, if your timings are spot on.
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Any particular reason why I should build Tear if Ahri builds MR?

Hello,
It's the Tear->Void Staff route I do to accelerate the counter to MR. You can usually start dealing with the MR user at around 10-12 minutes with Void+Sorcerers as your first completed item. Tear is for mana sustain in the interim, and then turns into Archangel's useful stat stick later on.
If you do Morello -> X item (Abyssal, Void, etcetra), you'll be delayed personal kill power until around 20 minutes. If this isn't a concern (e.g, you're just farming lane or getting helper ganks constantly), then standard build is fine.
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Hi Forte! What should I build against Ahri? Yesterday i played a ranked game against her and i got tear, then codex>morello, voidstaff and completed archangel. Is it better to rush morello or abyssal? Sorry for the TL;DR and ty x)

ElenaLeccardi’s Profile PhotoEllie
Hello,
Reactive builds being what it is, your options would look like this:
Ahri doesn't build MR:
Morello's->Abyssal (If shutting her out is desired)->Void Staff->Normal AP (Deathcap, etcetra).
Ahri builds MR:
Tear->Void->Morello's->Archangel's->Abyssal (if MR desired)->Deathcap->Whatever situational is needed (Rylai for HP, Zhonya stasis, etcetra).
Popular theory at the moment is just do 'Morellonomicon into Void Staff'. If no MR is built, it's standard carry and works fine. If they build MR, you're going to have difficulty solo killing until minute 20 (when Morello and Void are both finished). If you go Morello+Abyssal, you're more durable, but may or may not find you don't have much more for kill power if they also built MR.
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on the rylai's question,i played against a syndra mid which built rylais second,her ult slowed me for ages and i felt that its quite viable

Hello,
It would be about a 2-2.5 second, 40% slow, against a target that should die within the first 1 second. Useful if her ultimate will be interrupted/countered (heals, etcetra), but it's a niche situation I wouldn't really consider as a main selling point. You're still going to be thinking about the (+100AP)+(400HP+(Q heavy slow) for item slot purposes.
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hello overlord,is your guide on mobafire updated? and also what are your thoughts on jensen's syndra build against envy?

Hello,
Yes, I generally keep it up to date with anything major. I don't hit it with every new idea/innovation I test, so it can lag behind compared to what is seen on the stream. I may also shy away from the more unconventional elements, as I'm not too certain how well something like 'yeah against triple AD build Archangel's+Frozen Heart' translates across the brackets.
His build sacrificed overall damage potential for more durability, which is ... the meta, basically. There is no reason to almost ever go full glass cannon. Not sure how it worked out for him, I don't generally watch tournament matches.
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what are your thoughts on morello>rylai for syndra?

Hello,
Not too much of a fan of it.
With Rylai's 2nd, you get +100AP, +400HP, +%slow on her Q. It functionally doesn't matter with her other three skills, so it's a 'is this investment worth an added slow on her Q' question. In that context, if you're landing Q's, the slow can help in team fights (making it easier for everyone to hit the target), and it can help in kiting. Though, with her W and E, I'd argue Luden's remains the best kite option. Rylai's fits better for 'having to take a hit'.
If you need HP and AP wrapped together, it can work, but I wonder if GLP ice belt would be more useful (and have mana).
If her W didn't have a massive slow attached to it, there'd be a much more compelling reason for Rylai's in her build, honestly.
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Hey Forte! Been watching your stream a lot more recently, I really like the atmosphere and your engagement with your viewers. Do you have a fixed streaming schedule? Thanks for the great work!!

Hello!
Thank you~
My fixed time is Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 12PM->6PM US PST.
I hope to see you around!
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Hey Forte! What are your thoughts on Syndra's lategame? How hard does she fall off, and how should Syndra players play her late game effectively?

Hello,
Hmm.
Her late game is not as great as it could be, though it is strong in very binary ways. She can take out most carries, but can just as easily be taken out. Her lack of natural synergy with defensive itemization means that, where most of her contemporaries can take one or two extra hits, she's still taking the same hits she always was.
This means, even though she could eat an ADC alive in Q+E+R(5-6 sphere ultimate), she'd die in two or three auto attacks. On the other hand, tanks, who would require several rotations of her abilities to even take a modest amount of damage, could kill her just as fast as those same ADCs.
There's two things working at here:
A mechanical problem. Her kit wasn't designed for a world where tanks are as strong as they are now. Tanks in her release era were CC bots and nothing more. She's done well despite it, though this fact stands out sharply whenever she has to confront even a neutrally farmed tank.
An itemization problem, in that defensive items do not generally like her. She can use Zhonya's as well as any AP who picks it up, and Abyssal has some situational usage. Rod of Ages, Rylai's, and Liandry's, however, do not really agree with her. Lacking any synergistic skills (e.g, Viktor's Q), whatever tanky stats she builds don't really go far. Hence, over reliance on Zhonya's (if built at all). Otherwise, one rotation duels to the death are the order of the day.
Thus, the late game Syndra player is concerned with sending out her damage and stuns, while avoiding being caught almost perfectly. Virtually every thing will kill you at this stage in the game, and you may have a one-time safety valve in a team fight with Zhonya's after her stun is used.
It isn't unreasonable to stick in the mid to back line, sending out stuns, and not getting close to use Q or W. Dodging pick off skill shots, like Luxanna or Morgana Q, is much more important. Yet, at the same time, you have to maintain presence and damage, and weave inside those split second windows you can do damage before having to leave.
Your allies are living meat walls meant to eat damage that goes to you, so use them as such.
Picking off an enemy carry, and if your team doesn't kill them, you killing them with her ultimate, is pretty solid
Conversely, her ultimate can be incredibly scary and just having it available can scare enemy carries away. This is especially useful for diving or out of position carries, like LeBlanc, who want to get close.
How well these goals are managed is how well you do late game Syndra, really.

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Hello there, I have been planning for a while to do a Syndra hud that is actually visible in game also and I wanted to know if you are interested in it (doesn't cost anything). Thank you

majesticvissa’s Profile PhotoVissa Liddell
Hello,
Sure, it sounds cool to look at :)
Thanks for offering~
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Hi Forte! I have "discovered" you thanks to an interview that I read on surrender At 20 and I've been watching your stream since that; I really want to than you because I learnt how to master very quickly Syndra and now she is my main! Keep going man! You're great

Ah! Wonderful! :)
I'm always glad to hear how my teachings help. If you have any particular questions that come to mind, don't worry about poking me about them.
Thank you for letting me know~
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Hey lordforte, I really love and appreciate the hard work you put into teaching us Syndra, and I was wondering if you knew other streamers who have the same passionate skills as you! Thank you

Hello,
Thank you :)
I cannot really name any other streamers off the top of my head (for Syndra or in general). I don't actively watch other streams, and as I do not Dynamo Queue in Ranked, I exist in a bubble compared to other high elo players.
Whatever you'd find off a Google search for 'high elo streamers' is about the same as what I'd know, really.
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Wasn't that hidden passive of Nidalee removed some time ago? I think it was.

Hello,
Yes, it was removed along with some other 'gameplay affecting hidden passives' (e.g, the Ninja debuff when multiple ninja were on the same team). Others, which have no gameplay impact (e.g, Zyra getting huge when Leona hits her with an ability) remain, however.
That it existed at all is indicative of the problem.
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What do you think of Taliyah? She feels like a mix of Anivia and Lissandra to me, being a lot worse at what both of those champions do and honestly way to weak damage considering she's supposed to be a control midlaner or am I wrong on that one?

Hello,
Taliyah is a zone control mage with strong disruptor tendencies, so she's almost exclusively about controlling the battlefield. The Anivia and Lissandra comparisons are apt, but it's better to think of her as belonging in the same family as them, rather than a mixture.
Anivia is concerned with consistently locking down one part of the battlefield, for instance. Lissandra actively changes between a diver, lockdown unit, and defensive peel, but cannot really change 'on the fly'.
Taliyah is curious in that she's a mobile controller who punishes enemies that behave aggressively, position incorrectly on the map, or fall into her traps. Her E, R, and E+W/W+E ability rotations, respectively. She has more tools to more decisively influence action, but they are flexible in how they work.
Damage wise she's off the charts and needs to be nerfed, frankly. As of 6.13, a good Taliyah can steam roll a lot of matchups because of that damage (notably her Q and E+W combo). It's difficult to learn to do at first, but once you're familiar with it, it's another Aurelion Sol situation (e.g, where a main is disproportionately powerful on that champion).

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I've always been an Orianna main (well, actually Kata befor she was nerfed to death) and a huge fan of Syndra. I've always though their playstyle was very similar, would you agree with that? Where does Syndra's playstyle differ from Orianna's?

Hello,
Syndra and Orianna do sit in a similar 'control mage' camp (before Riot's reclassification of group types). They both look at area control and denial to exercise their power, and are especially punishing to those who disrespect the zones they influence. Many of the techniques one learns, the other can use, so they're interchangeable in that regard.
I was actually an Orianna main before Syndra came out and I jumped ship pretty much instantly.
They differ in that Orianna sacrifices 'applicable kill power' for more safety and higher zone/trap features. She's more combo reliant on her allies, somewhat slower, and can have difficulty outputting incredible damage if she isn't grotesquely fed. The benefit is, though, she's very consistent and is otherwise difficult to shut out (not only in her mechanics, but she herself is tough with her E ability).
Syndra is supremely selfish in how she operates and is substantially more fragile, but her damage is chart toppingly good if she even goes 'neutral' (no kills or deaths). She's also very capable of toppling of what is in front of her*, given that she has time to setup and get ready. The flipside is, she is one of the most fragile champions of the game and very /tactically/ slow, requiring a fair bit of time in any engagement to get an appreciable amount of power.
While the two of them share the same base skill set, the finer points of their execution dive off into opposite extremes.
* League of Tanks is a problem, admittedly.

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Hello Forte, I'm a huge Syndra fanatic, but she's been one of my least reliable picks for the past couple of seasons. Would you suggest playing her against AD assassins like Zed? There are more simple counters, so how would you compare their carrying capability and overall effectiveness? Thanks!

Hello,
This is a tough one because this is where my experience gap shows a little bit. I'm comfortable fighting AD assassins like Zed, Talon, and the like because I've fought them for years. It's ingrained into me how to deal with them and be a powerhouse later, where as many other Syndra players I've talked to absolutely despise the match ups.
I would say you can play her into them, but be understanding of the difficulties doing so. If you're against a Zed+Rek'sai combo, for instance, you will almost always be playing defensively. A Zed+Shyvana/Master Yi and so on, is much less scary because they typically don't gank unless you over extend all the time.
Choosing other, more reliable counters is a matter of preference if you're not playing in Competition, I think. If you don't want to deal with the difficulties of one match up or another, that's entirely your call to make. LeBlanc and Fizz can go toe-to-toe and be as devastating as Zed in a match, for instance, but they tend to bore me, personally.
This philosophy kind of stretches to every match up out there and will definitely be shaped by your desires and skill as a player.

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Serious build question here, did you ever try the Muramana/Archangel's build, and if so, how do you like it? Short explanation: Tear - Morello's, Muramana - stacked procs on all ult balls, Archangels for 200AP cause of all the mana, Deathcap and Void Staff for raw damage. One shot on ADC's guarantee

Hello,
The problem I ran into when I tested it was ... either I was obscenely fed enough it didn't matter what I built, or I never got to it. There's also some conceptual problems, as Muramana is technically not gold efficient for Syndra by almost 50% ... so it's wonky. The unique physical damage to her ultimate has very funny, niche potential when your team is 4-5 AP users for some reason, though.
I'd be hesitant to use it as there's a lot of very big risks you're betting won't be a problem.
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Liked by: Rowin de Lange

Hello LORD!! xD Can you give us some advice to play against Ekko? He can dodge Syndra's Q with his E and f*ck Syndra's ulti with Chronobreak (his ulti) i still traumatized :O

Yjsan’s Profile PhotoSanjy Andriamiseza
Hello,
He's a pain in largely how he builds. Pure AP Ekko, despite being slippery, can be exploded quite easily. Tank Ekko is ... Tank Ekko, he's ridiculously difficult to kill no matter who he's against.
In general, capitalize on Syndra's longer ranges and stay away from him, she can kite him quite well. If he uses his E to dodge her Q, he's lost his most dangerous ability, so you can punish him for the next 5-10 seconds with more harass he won't be able to answer. Keep an eye out on the sides of the lanes, as pretty much every Ekko is a fan of walking into Fog of War, then using their W to try and trap you.
Due to how his E works, be careful in using Syndra's E to counter it. During his rolling phase, you can counter him. If he stops and goes to auto attack, the 'blink' part of the dash overrides all CC completely, so you'll knock him back only to have him warp straight back into melee again. It's a delicate balancing act trying to catch him in the roll, and not the blink, so always be very careful when he's in a standard ranged carry's auto attack range (his effective dash/blink distance).
Otherwise, since he wave clears so much, you can keep him pushing onto your tower, so his jungler can't gank him and yours can. Dealing with him after that point is ... pretty much how he builds. Try to get a Void Staff second item if the only defense itemization he builds is Abyssal Scepter, though.

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Hi, Forte! You mentioned to shoot you an ask if anyone's interested in your thoughts on Riot's sexist character designs, re: Nidalee. As a fan who has p strong views on the subject myself (and cries about the abundant foot fetishism in syndra content), I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Hello,
Yes, this is quite the divisive topic, especially in recent times. Let's see where to start ...
The very first thing I want to draw a line on is the difference between being 'attractive' and being 'sexualized'. I hold nothing wrong to creating attractive characters--arguably, I expect that to be the norm unless it's being broken for a desired effect. Where attractiveness becomes sexualization, however, is when vital components of a character are sacrificed to achieve enhanced sexual appeal for nothing more than just to make them sexual.
Nidalee sits in a super position of being terribly sexual and ordinarily attractive, so arguing for her is funny. She comes from a Jungle Dwelling Tribal trope of design, which can evoke scandalous ideas to many First World minds just in their own natural clothes. She's reasonably attractive, which isn't unsound, but sexualization gets pushed hard in her fetishistic choice of dialogue and alternate skins (Repeat references to being a 'cougar'* woman, fetish maid/bunny/halloween witch wear.) It's hard, then, to believe attractive design points exist reasonably because sexualization pollutes her character and our perception of her. I mean, is she a scary huntress or a waif snow bunny? She plays as one thing and behaves like another.
Syndra herself is a much more hard example of straight sexualization via the strange Evelynn-like bondage wear she has. The sovereign ruler of a nation is dressed like someone who came out of a redlight district? I can open google and find no sane example of anything like that in our world that isn't out of a porno. I could even argue being attractive isn't on Syndra's design priority list - she's presenting and carrying a completely different message, but elements of her design are sacrificed to give naked appeal.
Ultimately, the core problem I have is sexualization sacrifices good character design for frank sexual appeal and nothing more. It is not that it cannot exist outright because some designs (Evelynn, Elise?) deliberately invoke such things to be used, so the effect is 'empowering'. You expect a seductress to dress seductively, but you don't expect the King of a nation to walk into battle wearing nothing but chapless pants and a bulging cod piece. Yet, with the sexualization polluting women so terribly, it has become an expectation that women walk into battle wearing g-strings and bikini armor.
That is about as concisely as I can sum up my position. There are other ideas, like sexualized women teach young girls the wrong ideals to grow up to or how society expects a woman to look and behave, but we get into some very big, deep, and opinionated arguments then. Sexualization is one head of a many headed, diseased hydra that is causing us problems, and it is something I encourage people to research and take a stance on.
Not necessarily mine, but a stance nonetheless.
* Nidalee has a secret passive where she grants bonus Experience to champions lower level than her.

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Liked by: Cassius John annie moxy

Who do you think is the strongest champion in lol, lorewise?

Hello,
There's a distinction that needs to be made between 'mortals' and 'gods' in how power is distributed.
Aurelion Sol, despite being a celestial star dragon who can literally create immense fusion reactors in space, is still a mortal. The fundamental laws of the universe compel him, even if he can bend them.
The Kindred is literally Death given a persona. Fundamental laws do not compel them, but rather, their own set of laws regarding anything's relationship with death do. The further this is abstracted, the more power the Kindred will possess. To say "all things end" gives the Kindred ultimate power over everything. To say "a life ends in war" means the Kindred only has power when a life would meet its end in war.
The rule of abstraction is why you usually see gods behave in such strange, convoluted ways, often to the point of being inane. Abstraction gives them power, but if you specify exactly what they do, then that is what they do - nothing more.
In this respect, I could say Aurelion Sol is the strongest mortal champion currently, and something like the Kindred or Bard are the strongest 'God' champions. Without Targon compelling him, Aurelion could atomize Runeterra and end everything in the blink of an eye. There's nothing stopping him except Targon's control. What that means with these mysterious 'Aspects', like Pantheon, however, is undefined. They might be mortals with unique power, or gods.
Eventually, at that level of power, it becomes more 'what rules and personality traitis compel them' more than than 'what can they do?'. This is why human drama of the gods fascinates me (and probably ancient Rome/Greece as well). One set of limitations goes away for a newer, stranger one in its place.

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Hello, I know you must have been asked a lot during stream about this, but what are your thoughts about syndra after the update? Does she seem weaker to you during lanephase, is nex hex+athe still a go to build? thank you

Hello,
Oh boy, that's a loaded question that just fires me off.
So, right off the bat, the new build order is going to be something like 'Morello's/RoA->everything else'. I'm still working on the specifics, but my anti-AD build from my guide prior to 6.9 is essentially intact. The pure AP build is going to go down the lines of 'Morello->Tear->Void/Archangel's', but I'm fine tuning it.
As for Syndra herself ...
The itemization changes are largely good. Better, possibly, than they ever have been for her. I feel there are going to be meta problems still (defensive itemization is still OP compared to all others), but that's independent of her.
However, all of this is starting to expose the cracks in Syndra's kit. She's been non-meta compliant for at least 2 seasons now, and is increasingly left in a more binary position has time goes on. It is very easy to itemize and neuter her now more than ever, to the point picks that aren't even qualified to be 'hard counter' (e.g, Twisted Fate) functionally laugh her out of the game.
Further more, it becomes increasingly hard to be satisfied picking her when her singular role as a 'supreme damage dealer' does not exactly live to expectation. She has all the burst power in the world against non-itemized squishies, which she has always been great against. It's the other 90% of the roster that ignores her. It's not too much of a surprise, then, she has a pickrate almost as low as Yorick's.
I would say this update has made her more accessible (as dictated by Riot in their logic), but I do not think it will make her more playable. The W change alone I can argue for days for health-design reasons, but even as 'busted' as it is, her efficacy of affecting the game remains problematic at best, and not-pickable at worst.
And that's the hard reality I'm starting to have to live with.

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thoughts on AP hypercarries in league and specifically ryze and azir and cassio?

Hello,
Historically they've been huge problems in League of Legends because they're not constrained to 'just auto-attack' like AD hypercarries are.
Imagine a world where Xerath has all the AP ratio scalings necessary to liquidate even tanks from massive ranges - like the edge of visual sight. That's magnitudes beyond even what Kog'maw can do, and would be an utter nightmare to deal with. Assassins and Divers would have to be modified to give them the tools to cross such massive distances, which will have a secondary effect of crushing squishy Champions who are not hyper-carries.
(Hi Azir, howse it going)
A sort of fundamental death spiral begins, as you change one thing, others must be changed to match them.
I want to like the idea of an AP hypercarry because it is a fantasy the AP class in general does not have access to. Unfortunately, for how League is currently designed, it seems unlikely as every AP hypercarry to date has either been horrifically overpowered or useless even in their own niche. This is largely why, in spite of Syndra's character design being 'perfect' for a hypercarry, I'm relatively glad she isn't designed to be one. I'm not certain we're at that point yet.

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Hi. I see u are streaming factoria atm and i just wondering if it bothers u when people talk about league. would you rather they talked about factorio.

Hello,
For the time being, I'm not too bothered by it. I'll typically prioritize questions in relevancy to the game I am playing, but if it's quiet, then anything is usually fine. If it becomes too disruptive to the streaming venue, I'll re-assess.
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Hi, I've been watching you for a while and wanted to ask for ur advice on which champions would you recommend playing with a stable ping of 70...Is syndra an option? Are there any other that comes to our mind? thank u! & aslo... in the end is stormraider better than death/thund on syndra? ty again!

Hello,
Ping of 70 should fine for most anyone that isn't Lee Sin or Riven, namely. That's around the threshold you start running into problems actually doing animation frame level reactions. Flashing on reaction becomes more difficult/impossible for certain situations as well. 100ms onward is where definitive cut offs start happening, I believe.
Syndra can work comfortably there, I play at the 60-68ms range since the server move. All the other picks in midlane should be pretty good too, except maybe Azir and his Shurima shuffle techniques. Because those are so timing specific, you might run into some mechanical problems pulling them off. It's doable, in my experience, just temperamental sometimes.
Deathfire, Thunderlord's, and Stormraider's all serve useful purposes. I swap between the three quite actively, but I admit to a definitive leaning toward Stormraider's. Syndra's killing power problems is a symptom of a greater mage design problem, rather than something where it's 'need thunderlords always' type situation. She's as capable as she was before Season 6 in killing, and Stormraider's helps to make up for a critical weakness in her kit.
I should make a Stormraider's montage at some point ...

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How did you give your ask.fm account exposure?

Hello,
At the moment, it's solely through my twitch.tv/overlordforte streaming account for League of Legends. I'll be expanding it outwards for other avenues when I can, so that will be exciting when I get it set.

do u use adblock?

Hello,
Yes, I do. It's a very useful security feature for a world that is otherwise infected by dangerous 'legitimate' malware. Ads themselves aren't intrinsically bad, but the amount of browser hijacking and insertion they open up currently is unreasonable.

why did u make an ask.fm account?

Hello,
A central repository of questions, mainly. The more questions I receive here, the easier it will be for people to find my usual answers. Saves everyone the effort of digging through my reddit account or what will you. It's also quite easy to be notified by this service in particular, where as some others can sometimes forget to notify me for one reason or another.

whats your favourite asian instrumental musics?

Hello,
The shakuhachi I find particularly tasteful, as well as the shamisen and guqin.
Middle Eastern and Indian instruments can be hit or miss for me. I do like the particular energy they can invoke, though.

I used to play Syndra a lot but stopped playing her awhile ago. Do you think it's worth it to get back in to syndra? Like is she in a good enough spot right now for me to play her again?

Hello,
Well, reasonably speaking she's pretty -functional- right now. The preseason 6 changes and some critical bug fixes to her kit have definitely smoothed out a lot of rough spots. Some wonkiness remains, particularly in edge cases, but her stun won't miss every 6 in 10 attempts now.
Meta wise, I do think you will run into some troubles. Core critical issues in her kit remain as far as over all viability, so she shouldn't really be topping any charts. If you enjoy her as a pick, though, you can make her work.

So what will you be doing for Valentine's Day?

[squints at calendar]
It's on the 14th, so probably editorial work for my writing. Or more Forma grinding on Warframe.

I noticed that you often go for DFT instead of Thunderlord's. Doesn't TL give more burst though?

Hello,
Deathfire Touch is the team fight AoE mastery. Thunderlord's is the single target execution mastery.
That is, in contexts of being a team fighter, DFT reigns supreme (especially with %penetration from Ferocity). However, if your goals are to be focused on killing on specific person, Thunderlord's can be better for that. In pretty much any context, though, if you are in combat against someone for longer than 5-10 seconds, DFT can start out pacing Thunderlord's as well.
It really depends on the context and stage of the game, but those are the two respective functions of the masteries.
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Hi. Would liandrys work for syndra when facing a tanky enemy team or tanks?

Hello,
In theory, yes. Combat is drawn out long enough that Liandry's becomes the best DPS option available. I also run 18/12 with Deathfire, since that helps much better in that context than 12/18 does.
The problem is pretty much your overall damage spike is a bit slower. If you're fighting an assassin/fast midlaner, you might not be able to combo kill them 'easily'. It's a rough problem I'm still gathering actual game experience in. Theory is one thing, practice another.
In the end, Syndra doesn't have the built in tools to deal with tanks. It's a fundamental failure of her kit and Liandry's itself is just a band-aid solution. So, our hands are a bit tied on the matter.

Hi! I want to ask you two things: 1. What is your technique to learn csing with a champions? 2. I asked on the stream once about orianna, when you said she is safe but not that forgivable, is there any mid champion you consider forgivable for mispositioning or missing a spell? thanks man

Hello,
Hmm, learning to CS. Well, two components: knowing champion animation/damage, and knowing minion HP and momentum.
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The first: By knowing how fast or slow your champion actually does their attack, you know the absolute delay between attack command -> damage being done. Karthus and Anivia, for instance, have some of the slowest animations in the game. Orianna and Zyra, by contrast, are extremely snappy and will do damage fast.
In understanding how much damage you do, both AA or ability wise, you know how many actions are required to kill a minion. For instance, to wave clear on Syndra with some AP, I need 2 or 3 actions (Q+W+E, or Q+E) to clear the wave. If I want to last hit auto attack, I only need 1 action, but I have to time it properly.
This varies wildly between build, mastery, and champion selection. Raw experience is the best method here, really.
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The second: Minion HP and momentum is the other vital component.
HP is an absolute that only slowly changes. If a minion has 500 HP, by knowing how much damage you do, you know how much is required to kill it. This is a bit of pure math to keep in mind, but it helps.
Two waves that meet each other are neutral in momentum, but the longer they interact, the more tempo one or the other builds. Faster tempo means minion HP depletes faster, so faster action is required. Caster minions, in particular, are important to watch because they will kill things the fastest.
You, the player, need to find the points in momentum you can get your CS. Watch your minions damage delegation, see who is taking the most damage. Count your minion attacks, guesstimate when the enemy will just be at the right point to auto attack. Your sense of timing and damage will now come into play,
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The net result is: by knowing how fast and how much damage you do, you then know how tough minions are, and where they have to be for you to get the CS. This is the core essence, circumstances and champion selection are the modifiers.
As to safe and forgivable midlane mages, I would probably say: Viktor, Annie, Morgana, Ziggs, and MAYBE Karthus. Annie and Morgana are suspect edge cases since missing with them is kind of punishing, but they have so much fallback it doesn't really matter.
mfw ask.fm's word limit is a real thing

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Hi. Could you talk a bit about flat MR vs. scaling HP gylphs? It's something I think about a lot, but haven't made the switch from MR to scaling HP yet. What are the pro's/cons, and when does the health become better?

Hello,
Well, several things. The first of which is rune slots, yellow versus blue.
Yellow runes are most useful for: Scaling HP, Scaling Armor, Scaling AP.
Blue runes are most useful for: Scaling CDR, Scaling AP, Flat MR.
Of the three yellows, scaling armor is only good against AD mid laners, and scaling AP is for those who prefer more damage. Scaling HP is universal against everyone and combos with resistance items a bit better.
Of the blue runes, scaling CDR is the most critical, followed by flat MR, then scaling AP. Most mages take CDR because that stat is harder to come by and it is quite valuable to have. Those with defensive utility, or a need to survive, often run flat MR in AP match ups. Scaling AP is for those who have no need for the first two choices, or simply want more direct damage.
On a single group comparison (e.g, 9x MR vs 9x Scaling HP), they all usually break even around levels 6-9. Specific item builds is what pushes each other ahead at that point, such as a RoA + Armor/MR build vs HP + Zhonya's, etcetra. Thus, I will refer to the general purposes of which runes you would go for.
If you want a single rune page, Scaling HP + CDR is extremely universal and most every midlaner (AD and AP) will benefit from it. Your upfront damage may or may not suffer a little, but you will be durable and not terribly reliant on CDR itemization.
If you want an offensive AD and AP page, you might run: Scaling HP/Armor + Scaling CDR/AP vs AD, and Scaling AP/HP + Scaling CDR/AP vs AP. Some people, like Syndra, benefit more from direct damage than explicitly defensive runes. Others, like Orianna, don't utilize damage early enough for it to be super compelling.
Thus we arrive at the decision tree for rune setup, really. What areas of defense do you reinforce, what areas of offense do you buff, what utility do you want to take. The fine details of this is champion and playstyle specific. All six of these choices are valid, but the context in which you play is what changes the answer.
I would, for instance, run Scaling HP and Flat MR on Orianna vs an AP match up, or scaling CDR in place of MR against ADs. She survives better, the CDR combos with items, and she'll come out of lanes quite comfortably. She doesn't spike early game enough for a rush of damage to matter, like LeBlanc.
Speaking of LeBlanc, I might run Scaling AP + Scaling AP/CDR, if I feel like I can shotgun the enemy midlaner. Or, if I got counter picked, I might do Scaling HP + Flat MR/Scaling CDR, and build something like RoA or Abyssal Scepter to survive. So, I have options depending on my immediate needs.
So on, so forth.

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Hi Overlord Forte! First, Thank you for you showing how to play Syndra, and, second, would you recommend other champions that resemble her play style/kit which can be picked in other lanes (top or maybe as a support or a second champion for midlane)!

Hello, glad you enjoy!
Similar to Syndra ... hmm. Orianna matches her control/zoning personality, she's good for Midlane. Fiora matches the fast tempo/counter play, she's a toplaner, though an AD melee. Support wise, you might some inkling of familiarity with Vel'koz in the entrapment/combo style.
Syndra herself combines several unique ideas into one platform, so a hard comparison is difficult to draw. I found it easy swapping between her and Orianna, though, they're probably the closest of any possibles. You might also find some familiarity between her, Viktor, and Azir.
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You say that syndra's issue is dealing with tanks, but what midlane champion can melt tanks in your opinion?

Hello,
Off the top of my head, AP's that can deal with tanks would be: Viktor, Azir, Cassiopeia, Brand, Vladimir, Karthus, Anivia, Orianna, Ryze.
These are all reliably capable, in one way or another, of killing tanks without expending their primary power on the battlefield. Chief among these, I'd probably say Azir, Cassiopeia, and Ryze are the best suited for pure DPS meltdown. The others are either respectable DPS, or exert so much capability that tanks have difficulty interfering with them.

Hi Forte, yesterday when you were facing ahri, you were calculating how many spheres you need to kill her...were you doing that out of the top of your head or you have a sheet prepared?

Hello,
Mostly off the top of my head, sometimes I use my spreadsheet. For any MR30-55 range, I know intuitively how many spheres and at what HP thresholds I need to be at. For MR 55-100, I kinda know where I'm angling, but I haven't practiced there a lot. Defensive skills throw me off completely and require a bit more guesstimating to work against.

You mentioned zed is Riot's gold child in the mid lane that always has to be there, and yet yp until preaseason he was struggeling a lot in the midlane. Anyways, do you thin there are other gold children in midlane or in other roles too? If yes which ones do you think?

Hello,
It's important to note the context of how I use the term 'golden child'. It is essentially a champion that is favorably buffed or altered to have it consistently remain a top, dominant pick in its given area of the game. Often, you will see unnecessary and small buffs appended to it in order to maintain this efficacy.
This sounds logical to help champions remain 'in top shape', but you can draw conclusions based on how frequently and reliably it happens to a specific champion.
Ahri, for instance, is one of the golden children of midlane. At no point in her career has she ever been a bad pick for more than a singular patch cycle. Nor was she nerfed in any satisfactory way when she was a dominant, meta-warping pick in the midlane. Though these days no one talks about her, she is still one of the best midlane picks available.
Zed is much the same, though his solo queue and unranked efficiency is not nearly so indicative. Many would indicate his original 1.0s ultimate 'no return to shadow' nerf broke him in half, the results I saw never indicated this. He consistently remained a terrifying pick in high ELO / competitive play where he was allowed through at pretty much all stages of his existence.
As another example, Lee Sin is a golden child of the jungle. In fact, he has always remained the de-facto standard by which the jungle is judged by. He has never not been one of the best in class picks there, and whenever he falls out, he receives compensatory changes to insure he goes back up there again.
Others become harder to judge as the years go on. Renekton was once a golden child of top lane, the 'Renekton Bar' to those who remember such a thing. He fell out over time and Riot stopped giving him special treatment, so he's a more regular pick these days. Janna, for many seasons was a golden child of support, though much like Renekton, she stopped receiving favorable attention.
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It's noteworthy I don't consider the term golden child in a negative light. It's simply another method of balancing with its own ups and downs. One might argue it's a symptom of power creep, though we get into some steep philosophy at that point.

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Hi Forte. I watch your stream sometimes but havent spoken. I'm Master tier Syndra main on EUW, so similar boat What I wanted to say is: your anti-AD build is not good. What actually goes wrong isn't that they kill you and you get put behind, but your build PUTS you behind as you lack dmg.

Hello,
Yes, I can see how that'd look, especially with a Tear+Doran's buy versus a Doran's+Blasting Wand buy. I'm of the mind that RoA is probably stronger with its less maintenance (no need to trigger finger Seraph's active), as well as the value of the passive health later on. I've been mulling over the swap and I've been testing it out in some situations.
So far, I've concluded in some AD lanes it is good, others not so much. Wherever Zhonya's is an imminent and must buy, RoA delays that approach significantly (3000 gold to Tear's 750g). There is also the more fringe case of immediate, heavy MR stack, which requires a Void Staff to answer. Again, 3000g deficit before even devoting an Amp Tome to Void.
In all normal situations, though, you can coast along RoA's components without much complaint it seems. I'm starting to suspect it will become necessary to simply give up early game versus ADs, as they all possess much more powerful defensive answers than APs do. By the time you answer their itemization they're well on their way to ignoring you, so it's a bit of a catch 22.

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hey! I was watching ur streams and you said at some point that there're several syn builds. The one with the wota is what you call the siege syndra... if it is not too much to ask can you please present the other types of build and if it is different the idilic runes that go with the builds? ty

Hello,
Well, let's see, off the top of my head:
Athene's/WotA/Void Staff/Sorc Boots/Zhonya's+Deathcap = the Siege+45% CDR build.
RoA/Seekers(or Zhonya's)/Void Staff/Sorc Boots/Deathcap+Rylai's or Luden's = One of two Anti-AD builds
Tear of the Goddess/Seekers (or Zhonya's)+Void Staff/Archangel's/Sorc Boots/Morello's+Luden's/Deathcap = Second of the two anti-AD builds
Morello's/Luden's/Void Staff/Sorc Boots/Deathcap/Zhonya's = The kite/map control runner build.
The fine details of each build is usually where each one's strength and weaknesses become apparent.
The siege build is relatively cheap and easy to build, so you're always making progress for the first four items plus your insane longevity.
The RoA build has more general durability and less overhead, but is much more rigid in it's build path.
The Tear build is flexible and you can itemize against the enemy specifically on literally your first item.
The Luden's build can 'technically' be an anti-AD build, but its main purpose is to kite and abuse speed over everything else.
Keep in mind you can be flexible with items unless it's Tear (750g) or RoA (3000g), which must always be bought first. Everything else you can move in faster or later, depending on how the match up goes.
Runes wise, there's really only two families of runes to take.
Versus AP: 9x magic pen, 9x (Scaling HP / Scaling AP), 6x Scaling CDR + 3x Scaling AP, 3x Flat AP Quints (or 2x Magic Pen + 1x Flat AP)
Versus AD: 9x Magic Pen, 9x (Scaling Armor / Scaling HP), 9x Scaling CDR, 3x Flat AP Quints (or 2x Magic Pen + 1x Flat AP)
If you want a one page wonder, Scaling HP is the easiest thing because it affects everyone. If you run two pages like I do, you can have one for AP and AD match ups specifically. Your Yellow runes will be changed to reflect each match up, while Blues are usually some form of CDR+AP. I run 9x CDR in AD match ups because CDR is hard to come back with that itemization. Reds basically always the same.
Purples can be changed depending on a specific trick. If you run 12/18 masteries, Precision mastery combos with Magic Pen Quints very nicely. This doubly helps Thunderlord's flat damage (as it scales poorly with AP), so you net out more damage than most expect. The downside is your early game farming (7 minutes under) is a little stiff, so you have to be more on point with it.
If you don't want to bother with that, the standard 3x Flat AP purples is always good and is especially universal for other mages. There's pretty much nothing else going on in her purple slots that I can think of, really.

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Hey! is it really worth taking scaling ap yellows on syndra instead of scaling health or armor?

Hello,
All three have their place.
I run Scaling AP Yellows for my general AP match up and damage dealer page. Scaling armor is for my anti-AD build, and scaling health is for a general durability/Liandry's build. If rune pages are a concern, though, you can make scaling HP a very universal, 'every mage and situation possible' page.
Syndra specifically I would train on scaling AP, simply as I find it the most useful of the pages when the aforementioned match ups aren't there.

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