User blog:YourPrivateNightmare/A comprehensive guide on how to ARAM (Part 2)

Hello community, YPN is back with the promised part 2 of my ARAM guide. In this part I'm going to explain several champions in detail and what they can or can't do on this map, as well as the right team compositions and what to do with them. "But YPN, you can't pick a champion on ARAM, you just get a random one!"

Shut the hell up, disembodied dumbass. Of course you can't pick a champion, but you got them rerolls, and sometimes it's good to actually use them, while sometimes it's best not to (because the champ you got is underrated and really strong on the map). So let's get started:

=Champion Select=

As soon as you get there you do the following things:
 * Look at your own champion and think about if you can handle him or not
 * Look at your teammates champions
 * If questionable, ask your teammates how they are going to build their champions (in case they got or  for example)
 * Reroll, in order to maybe get an AP/AD/Tank, to make your team balanced. Do NOT reroll if you got, for example, and are the only ranged/AD champion in your team.

Example: As our team lacked AP dmg I told our to go AP. We won the game.

=Team composition=

Generally your team benefits most from range, as poking, pushing, and DPS/burst damage are the best qualities on this map. However you still need some sort of a tank, because if the enemy team has a lot of cc, squishies can be shut down easily and even the best ranged aggressive team won't be able to win their late game if they are constantly being locked down and violated. My personal best set up would be: 1 Tank/Offtank-Bruiser, 2 ranged ADCs with different benefits, 2 AP champions, one with good damage and range, and one with utility. There are many other viable team set ups, of course. The actual key to winning here is to decide, who sohuld go tanky, and who should go damage. Even a full melee team might achieve something late game if they know how to build.

Strong Champions
As with all maps, there are some champions, which have an advantage over others, due to their kits. I will try to list the most noticable and their benefits here. If you have a champion to add, write it in the comments and I migth include him/her. So here are the masters of ARAM:

Usual AP mid laners
They usually make the difference between team, because they not only got damage output, but also utility. Please note, that there are so many AP mid laners which excel at this map, that I cannot mention them all, so I picked those with very individual potential.


 * He is probably one of the best champions on ARAM. Why? Because his passive is like a constant heal for teh whole team, his  completely denies the enemy team from engaging, without taking heavy damage in the mere attempt, his  are over long time one of the best pokes, because they don't need to be aimed and have insane range, his  serves defensive purposes, synergizing with his general anti-engage concept, and finally his ultimate, which enhances his abilities and makes every enemy attack a fatal mistake. Also he pushes like a boss.


 * It would be enough to say: RANGE + HEALS = OP, but I'm going to elaborate further. is undeniably the strongest skillshot harass, because it can kill almost any enemy in 3 hits (at max range of course), squishies even in 2. She also has her  which is a medium self- and ally-heal, as well as a pushing tool, due to the Attack speed buff.  can maintain bushcontrol, or be used to punish enemies for taking health relics (with a Javelin to their face, dealing sick damage deu to the magic resist debuff)


 * Not much to say, good cc with, good poke with , and that ultimate witch low cooldown, which can technically be used for high damage harassing the whole enemy team.

I have achieved so far 3 Triple kills just by bouncing crows.
 * Just an amazing champion on this map, Amazing single target lockdown with, amazing sustain with , amazing multi-target poke with , and an overkill ultimate in case you quickly need to wipe out the whole enemy team.


 * While her early and mid damage might not be comparable to other AP champions, she has amazing utiliy, and can protect the other carries with great efficiency. and  are insanely viable on this map.


 * Built on AP he is almost undefeatable lategame. He got his safe poke with and his sustain with . Can be built AD alternatively for pushing towers in no time.


 * I won't even explain why this bitch is so heavily op that even on a map where assasin can't do that much, she stills rapes everything without shame...Also countering her with Oracle's only works limited because you can't go abck to get a new one.

Usual AD carries
They are mostly all the same, but some shine through their kits. They push you to victory.


 * In my opinion, the best ADC on this map. He can scout bushes effectively with to save his teammates from giving away First Blood by headlessly facechecking the bush. His passive  combined with  gives him a good burst poke. The fact why he is so useful here is his ultimate . Why? Because not only a good Rat can kill off the entire enemy team with clever positioning and his ult on, and mostly because it allows him to outrange turrets with autohits. This essentially means taht you can kill shorten the enemy turrets healthbar whenever you got your ultimate without the tower being able to target you. Just tell your tank to protect you and get free damage on the tower whenever you please...oh, and you will also damage the enemy team in the process if they dare to get in the way.


 * Biggest base range in the game, excellent poke with, relic and bush control with and the possibility to kill off low health enemies whenever you please with.


 * Nice poke with and good turret damaging range with . Very strong late game too.

Usual Tanks and Bruisers

 * Innate sustain, awesome poke with, Turrets pushing to teh max with , and a free health pot and tanking steroid with.


 * Punish every too daring pusher with your, tanking everything with and awesome single target damage with , also a decent pusher.


 * Despite me, claiming that usual op-ness doesn't work on this map, the Dunkmaster is a ridiculously strong champ on this map, anyone who gets too close and in teamfights do your insane ultiamte dmg and  anyone who is stupid enough to fight.


 * Insane initiating potential early and late game with and . Probably one of the best champs to ahve if you the enemy can outrange you.

Usual Supports
Now it gets interesting. ARAM lets usual support champs build on AP damage while still providing their utility. Some supports can therefore unfold their huge damage potential which usually can't bee seen in other gamemodes.


 * AP Janna can deal huge amounts of damage, with and, as well as protect her allies. Her most important quality is probably her defensive abilities. She can shield even turrets with  or push away the enemy with . In fact, Janna can defend a turret 1 v 5 until her team respawns and is therfore a gift from heaven in close games.


 * Usually an underrated champ with little use. Here on ARAM however, he can unfold his potential. His is a dangerous poke which can drive enemies to insanity. His most noticeable spell here is his ultimate though. (somehow, the teamplate stuff doesn't work porperly on this ability, someone please fix this) revives a dying champion...with FULL health. Zilean is technically a living Fountain and a walking spawn. Ult the tank and let him suicide and come back heatl with an insane AP scaling (200%). Nothing more satisfying to see than the raging of the enemy after the  they finally managed to get low to render him useless, suddenly suicides and comes back with half health. Be careful however, only to use it on champs which shouldn't die at the moment. If you use it at your dying 15/0/5  she will come back, but you prevent her from getting better items to carry the game.


 * She's a walking health relic, amkes infinite poking possible witch the mana heal from and technically enables you to turret dive non-stop because you get heald anyways. Really annoying and will get focused sooner or later because she pisses the enemy off so much.


 * Poke with, sustain with and that ultimate cc . Can win games.


 * Sustain with and powerful initiating with  and . Squishy and mana-hungry however.


 * Unbeable self sustain with, technically limitless poking thanks to . Poking with and pushing with . Also the scariest ultimate . Dominates the teamfights and bush ambushs like no other.

Usual Assassins
I haven't had the possibilty to look into assassins much, but here are 3 I sort of noticed.


 * Nice damage and surprise effect, can easily get a Pentakill on this map.


 * Not only a strong assasin and bruiser, but also perfect for occasional backdoors to turn games around (Look who's at your Nexus and you can't backport.)


 * I won't even explain why this bitch is so heavily op that even on a map where AP assasin can't do that much, she stills rapes everything without shame...Also countering her with Oracle's only works limited because you can't go back to get a new one.

Not so strong champions
Of course ARAM doesn't only benefit certain champions. Some even have major disadvantages.


 * Built on AP he is still strong and has his passive sustain, but he can't build up his stacks properly except if he has full build. He isn't bad, but he can't unlock his full potential.


 * This map just defeats every purpose of playing Nasus. You can't farm properly with your and you don't have a gap closer, so you get poked to death if you try to approach. You can actually only build full tank and hope that your team does the damage.


 * Same as with the above. He can't farm his properly adn is therefore limited in his potential. has utility with  though and built on AP (as suggested by the recommended items) he can become sort of strong.


 * Is probably the most stupid champ on this map...Except from his ultimate he has no utility except for mabye that attacks peed buff with . If not built on tank he's basically useless, because he will die before he even gets to do damage. As soon as there is more than one target to focus, he becomes just a nuisance to the enemy.

Conclusion
To sum up, there are quite a lot of champions that can influence the game with their unique kits, but there are also some poor outsiders, which are quite useless in general. Looking at these tips can help you to see advantages when you got them and to know how to play in order to achieve the best possible results.

Next part will be about the right itemization and how to counterbuild effectively. The comment section is yours.

YPN awaaaaaaay...