Chronicles of the Black Company by Glen Cook

I checked this out during finals week. I got hooked on reading during any school-related downtime: between classes, on the train, on buses, and such. Just as finals week started, I needed new books. That sounds ominous, like I was going to be reading books instead of studying. I did that too, but as it happens, I'd already completed the important exam on the morning of the day I'm talking about. I just had one more exam. Like I said in one of my earlier posts, this was actually the day that Ray Bradbury died, but I didn't know about that yet. I had actually considered checking out a Ray Bradbury book for a completely unrelated reason (something had reminded me about The Martian Chronicles and how I think I judged it unfairly back when I read it). The only reason I didn't was that I didn't know which one to choose. I moved on to William Gibson, but again, I didn't know which one to choose. Then I saw The Space Merchants, which I'd seen rated very highly. I already liked Frederik Pohl anyway, so I grabbed that one and kept looking for more.

Last summer, I took a class focused on teaching writing, primarily to high school students. I have no plans to become a high school teacher, but shut up. I had like ten reasons, and nine of them were related to financial aid. But shut up. The class ended up being very interesting. Anyway, at some point, people were chatting about books either before or after the class, I forget which. There was a guy next to me who was apparently into fantasy genre books. We talked a bit, and I forget exactly what books we discussed, but I mentioned that I read science fiction, but that I hadn't read what would be considered "fantasy" in a long time, then asked what he would recommend I should read. He mentioned Glen Cook's Black Company series. I saw this, looked at how long it was (it's three novels bound together in one book) and thought that I'd be annoyed if I tried this and didn't like it (I almost always finish fiction if I start reading it—a book has to be incredibly bad for me to drop it and return it to the library unfinished, in fact, I can't remember the last time it happened). I almost left it there, but I thought about why I'd picked it up in the first place and tried to remember why the hell I'd asked that dude for a book recommendation. I couldn't remember, but I decided that something at the time must have convinced me he had decent taste. So that's how I ended up reading this.

The title on the the cover is "Chronicles of the Black Company" and I guess another publisher titles the same set of three books "Annals of the Black Company." Whatever. There are more books in the series and I'll probably read them, so I guess that says something for the quality of the writing. The individual books are, to avoid confusion, The Black Company, Shadows Linger, and The White Rose.

This is definitely an unusual take on the whole fantasy genre thing and it definitely works. By now, I suppose that these books could be considered fairly old, but they're much more recent than most of the fantasy novels I've read, excepting a shit-ton of Dragonlance books. I don't know what to compare it to, but until I started this paragraph, it didn't even occur to me to compare the Black Company novels to anything, so—whatever?

My main qualm is that I think I can imagine the books being better, which is weird to even claim as a qualm in the first place. So I'd better try to be more specific. The books almost immediately take a sort of ostensible construction, a persona. The story is meant to be gritty. It's narrated by a member of a band of mercenaries and he acts as annalist for them. So the books from the reader's perspective are following the exploits of this mercenary group, and the narrator is also supposed to, as one of his jobs, be following the exploits of the same mercenary group. It should be a good fit. Instead, from the first book onward, the narrative gradually becomes more and more about the narrator himself, and less about the Black Company as an entity. This does make is a bit charming when he notes members of the company complaining that he puts himself in his annals too much, but it really is a flaw that marks the whole work. It also leads to the infamous (or at least I think it's infamous) diminishing returns sequelization problem. The Black Company is better than Shadows Linger, which is better than The White Rose. Unfortunate, because the third one, by virtue of some of the events that take place, seems like it should be the most climactic. Also, the narrator (the character that gets too much focus) is one of the least interesting major characters in the books.

Despite all that, I still want to read the rest of the series. In fact, despite all that, I'd still say that these are very good books, perhaps even great ones.

League of Legends

For almost a year, I've been playing League of Legends. I don't play it every single day, but I do end up playing at least one game on most days. Since I've never brought League of Legends up on this blog, I figured it deserved a post, and that now is as good a time as any. I recently acquired my twentieth champion, and had a ton of IP saved up, but I don't know what to do next. Also, when the screen cracked on my computer and I was stuck with a crappy monitor, I was only playing co-op games and accumulating IP. Now I'm on a slightly better monitor, so I've actually been playing competitive games again, and in some ways, I'm better at the game than I've ever been, although I've also lost some of my skill in a few areas.

This post isn't going to make any sense to you if you've never played League of Legends. So skip it or whatever. I could make a post describing the game or whatever. Maybe some day I will. For now, I'm going to cover my general builds for all of my champions. This would give you an advantage if you were to go up against me in the game, but I'm not so good that this knowledge would even be worth pursuing: lots of other people are way better at League of Legends than I am.

I'll try to go over the champions in the order that I acquired them, although I can't remember the exact order.

Dr. Mundo
The champion I bought most recently is also the one I have the least experience with. I play Mundo as a junlger, with Flash and Smite as my summoner spells. I use my generic "AD Tank" rune page, which is just armor penetration marks, flat armor seals, per-level MR glyps, and movement speed quintessences. I haven't played Mundo enough to care about giving him his own mastery page, so I've mainly just used my Amumu page, which is not ideal. My item build is based off the "Pwndo" concept. I start with Cloth Armor and health potions for jungling, then get boots and Wriggle's Lantern. After that, I rush at least one Warmog's Armor and sometimes two, while upgrading to Boots of Swiftness (I might test Mercury Treads and Ninja Tabi). I also build Force of Nature and Atma's Impaler. If the game is long, I replace Wriggle's Lantern with a third Warmog's Armor. I start jungling with Burning Agony. Mundo can be a very aggressive jungler. I start out killing a wraith camp and then either steal the enemy red buff or just take my own. Mundo is pretty strong even at low levels, so stealing enemy buffs is a real possibility. I prioritize Burning Agony and Masochism over Infected Cleaver.

This build has the potential to be one of the most absurd tanks in the game. Even with whole teams focusing me, I can survive. It does take some time to get going and I might experiment with other builds. We'll see. The only real flaw to the build seems to be that it can get ambushed and taken down midgame, especially if I'm too aggressive. The items are quite expensive and the unfinished components don't do a lot by themselves.

Udyr
I've had decent results with Udyr. I jungle with him, using Flash and Smite. Actually, all of my junglers use Flash and Smite. Anyway, Udyr uses my "AD Jungle" rune page, which is just like the "AD Tank" rune page I mentioned for Mundo except that I use HP quintessences for better survivability in the jungle. Udyr is also still using Amumu's mastery page. I should probably devise a separate mastery page for him. Using Phoenix Stance, Udyr is one of the fastest junglers. I start with Boots of Speed and health potions, then race through all the camps on my side of the jungle. I always build Heart of Gold first, then I start working on upgrading my boots to Berserker's Greaves and building Wit's End. I build Zeal and Phage, then work on completing Trinity Force and building Force of Nature. I upgrade the Heart of Gold into Randuin's Omen. I rarely ever actually complete all five of those items, so the final item is left as situational. The game has been prolonged for a reason, so I try to figure out what item will break the enemy team. While the laning phase is going, I get one point in Turtle Stance for jungle sustainability and get Bear Stance at level 4, since it's my main ganking tool. I only bring Phoenix Stance, the source of Udyr's fast jungling, up to three points. Then I put a point in Tiger Stance and max Bear Stance, followed by Tiger Stance and Turtle Stance.

This is not perfect. I definitely still need to make some refinements. Udyr is a very powerful jungler. He has no gap-closer and all of his attacks are melee-range, but most team compositions can work with that. I should work on the masteries. Runes are probably fine. The big weakness here is midgame. Heart of Gold is best built early, but it doesn't do a whole lot until it's built into Randuin's Omen. Wit's End is a huge damage boost, but it's an expensive item and delays building the other items. Trinity Force is amazing and the components aren't bad, but if I build all three components in succession before working on Randuin's Omen or Force of Nature, I'm prioritizing offense, and that only works if the team has a good tank to back me up. Once I have all five of the items I go for, Udyr incredible, running into teamfights as though invincible and ripping the enemy to shreds. And early on, even without items to make him potent, Udyr's ganks with Bear Stance can be pretty deadly and he's a hard champion to kill (Bear Stance has a speed boost, Turtle Stance has a shield, and I can Flash away in emergencies). If I get stopped, it's pretty much always in midgame. I need to change the item build somehow, but the crucial weakness seems to be with Wit's End and Trinity Force, and those two items are simply too good to give up. They're the reason that Udyr is so deadly later on.

Zilean
I bought Zilean because has bombs. That's pretty much it. I play him as a support champion that also blows things up. Of course, I still don't have a lot of experience with Zilean, so I've mainly just been using my stuff for Anivia. He has Anivia's summoner spells, Clarity and Teleport. He has Anivia's rune page, my "Magic Penetration" page, which has magic penetration marks and quintessences, per-level health seals, and per-level ability power glyphs. He has Anivia's mastery page. Setting lots of bombs takes lots of mana. I start with Time Bomb, then get Rewind, then Time Warp, and then I prioritize Chronoshift > Time Bomb > Rewind > Time Warp. Items? Let's see, I go with Doran's Ring, Boots of Speed, Catalyst the Protector, and Kage's Lucky Pick, not necessarily in that order. Once those are complete, I build Rod of Ages, then Ionian Boots of Lucidity and Morello's Evil Tome, then Rabadon's Deathcap. If the game lasts long enough, I build a Void Staff and replace my Doran's Ring with a Zhonya's Hourglass, but I don't even recall that actually happening.

I rarely play Zilean, I guess mainly because he doesn't have a healing ability and if I'm going to support, I usually go with someone that can function as a healer. But he is very fun and useful in teamfights. Cooldown reduction lets him almost constantly move around at extreme speed, and it's amusing to watch enemies run away, escape past their turret, and die safely out of reach because a Time Bomb finished them off. I've generally done well as Zilean, but simply haven't played him enough.

Tryndamere
Honestly, I got Tryndamere because I wanted to see what he was like. Tryndamere is easy to play and can, in the right circumstances, slaughter enemy teams. His ultimate gives him a brief period of invincibility, and that attracts, well, idiots. I was pretty sure that Tryndamere was an exceedingly simple champion to play, but I wanted to see for myself. Also, I'd never played a manaless champion before and I wanted another attack damage melee champion. But mainly, I just had to see what the infamous Tryndamere was like. Since doing that, I almost never play him, but I'm confident that I could if I wanted to. He really is easy to play. I play Tryndamere as a solo top laner with Cleanse and Teleport. I use my "AD Tank" rune page, even though Tryndamere isn't really a tank. Even though I never play Tryndamere, I gave him his own mastery page, which I'll probably have to delete later to make room for more mastery pages on champions that I actually play. I mainly gave him his own mastery page because of Cleanse. My other attack damage champions don't use that summoner spell, so I didn't have a mastery page that accounted for it. I start with Spinning Slash for harassment and escaping, then I prioritize Undying Rage > Bloodlust > Mocking Shout > Spinning Slash. Sometimes I start with Boots of Speed and health potions and sometimes I start with Vampiric Scepter. I rush Wriggle's Lantern, then build Berserker's Greaves, Zeal, Infinity Edge, Bloodthirster, upgrade Zeal to Phantom Dancer, and get Quicksilver Sash, all in a pretty variable order. Quicksilver Sash isn't a priority until the game is strictly down to teamfights and even then is only a priority if the enemy team composition requires it. Once I have those items, I sell Wriggle's Lantern and get a second Phantom Dancer. I've also tried a second Bloodthirster, but I prefer a second Phantom Dancer.

I can buy all those expensive items because Tryndamere tends to get kills and is also an excellent farmer. It's kind of hard to screw Tryndamere up. I see some possible areas for improvement with my setup, but I'm not particularly interested in working on Tryndamere right now. Maybe later.

Fiddlesticks
Theoretically, when I go into solo queue for normal games, I would have the jungle 20% of the time. If I had a random role every time and all teams followed the basic format of solo top, solo mid, support bot, carry bot, and jungle. Of course, that's not how it really works. I end up taking the jungle more than 20% of the time, often because no one else seems willing to do it. Perhaps I shouldn't blame them: jungling is trickier than laning. I bought Fiddlesticks because I wanted a second jungler. At the time, I only had Amumu. I'd never jungled with anyone else. Amumu is a strong jungler with good ganks and he's an awesome late-game tank, but he's not good in every team composition. I gave Fiddlesticks a try. And now I've just about abandoned him. In addition to the combination of Flash and Smite, I play Fiddlesticks with Amumu's rune page, "AP Jungle." Just like the "AD Jungle" page I noted for Udyr, but with magic penetration marks. I use my Karthus mastery page, which is optimized for my Karthus, but a lot of my champions end up using it. I start with Drain for getting the blue buff, then take Dark Wind followed by Terrify. I prioritize Crowstorm > Drain > Dark Wind > Terrify. Fiddlesticks can easily clear the jungle camps with only a Doran's Ring. I start Catalyst the Protector and buy Boots of Speed, then get another Doran's Ring in there somewhere, work on Rod of Ages, build Hextech Revolver, complete Rod of Ages, upgrade boots to Sorcerer's Shoes, and proceed with Rabadon's Deathcap, Will of the Ancients, and sell a Doran's Ring to make room for Zhonya's Hourglass.The other Doran's Ring would probably be replaced by Rylai's Crystal Scepter, but I don't recall actually having gotten that far before a game ended.

I tried to make Fiddlesticks work and I will definitely be taking another look. My problem with him wasn't so much with the items or with his skill kit. Fiddlesticks is simply too slow in the jungle. Thanks to Drain, he can wander around the jungle healthier than most. After he has Crowstorm, his ganks are some of the most potent in the game. But Fiddlesticks takes forever to clear camps. Unlike Amumu, Dr. Mundo, and especially Udyr, Fiddlesticks tends to fall behind the laning champions in experience and gold. To compensate, Fiddlesticks needs to make some early ganks and he needs those ganks to succeed. If they do succeed, Fiddlesticks can go on to buy his items, use his ult to devastate enemies with ganks, secure gold for the team by killing the dragon, and generally be a nuisance in teamfights. But if the early ganks fail, Fiddlesticks is left lagging behind everyone else.

Sivir
So I like champions that are awesome farmers. It's a bit weird. One would think that killing minions would be the boring part of the game or something. Sivir is one of the best farmers in the game. She's probably my favorite AD carry, although I realize she's not the strongest. I run Ghost and Teleport, perfect for escaping ganks and for setting up surprise pushes on exposed turrets. My "Armor Penetration" rune page consists of armor penetration marks and quintessences, per-level health seals, and per-level cooldown reduction glyphs. I figure that I'm not going to be buying coodown reduction items on an AD carry, so a little bit from the runes is nice. Sivir gets her "Sivir and friends" mastery page, but technically it was originally my Tristana mastery page, and it hasn't changed much. It emphasizes offense, with leftover points in defense for some survivability. I start with Boomerang Blade, then take Ricochet and Spell Shield, I bring Boomerang Blade up to three points, and after that I keep it about one point ahead of Ricochet, prioritizing On the Hunt and saving Spell Shield for last. I usually start with a Doran's Blade, then get Berserker's Greaves, then Vampiric Scepter. Most games, I try to go right into Bloodthirster, although I sometimes get Zeal before completing it. Once I have Bloodthirster and Zeal, I get Infinity Edge. From there, I build two Phantom Dancers. If the game is long and Sivir has lots of gold, which she should, I sell Doran's Blade for a second Bloodthirster and sell Berserker's Greaves for a third Phantom Dancer. Yes, I'm serious.

As much as I like Sivir, I'm always a bit apprehensive about playing her in a game. She is sort of capricious about performing well and can require a lot of support from allies. But if she gets farmed, she's amazing. I think she's the best base defender in the game and one of the best pushers too. Once midgame is shifting to late, leave a turret where Sivir can get to it with her ult, and it's gone. I've had several games with pathetic kill/death ratios, but where I might have saved my team through backdoor pushes. In my best Sivir game so far, I had only one other competent person on my team. We lost several teamfights and were down by something like 20 kills. The enemy team took Baron multiple times and destroyed all of our buildings except our nexus. But my Sivir kept getting stronger and killing all the minions swamping our base pushed her over the edge. Each time the enemy team invaded, even if they killed the rest of my team, I drove them off, scoring a double kill or triple kill, one time getting a quadra kill. When they finally overcommited and we aced them, I ran up and pushed through their nexus, winning the game. I still haven't played most of the AD carries, but Sivir has a special place for me.

Nasus
I only had one attack damage melee champion at the time and I wanted to try another, but I also didn't have a lot of IP. Nasus had a lot of appeal for me because he's a strong farmer, which, again, I like for some reason, and because he has something that stacks without a cap, like Sion and Veigar. I really like Nasus, but still don't play him enough. I play Nasus as a solo top, of course, with Ghost and Teleport. He uses my "AD Tank" rune page and my "Singed and friends" mastery page. Originally, it was just Singed's mastery page, but now I use it for a few other champions. It's heavy on defense, but goes deep enough into utility to max the movement speed mastery and invests on point in offense for an improved Ghost. I start with Siphoning Strike, then get Wither, and after that prioritize Fury of the Sands > Siphoning Strike > Spirit Fire > Wither. There's pretty much no reason not to take that skill progression. Maybe in some situations, additional ranks in Wither would need to be taken before more ranks in Spirit Fire, but probably not. My starting items are a Regrowth Pendant and a potion, either health or mana depending on the nature of my opponent in lane and the enemy jungler. I get Boots of Speed and build Philosopher's Stone, then work on Sheen and Frozen Heart, sometimes building Glacial Shroud early and sometimes saving it for after Sheen. Generally before I finish Frozen Heart, I upgrade my boots to Mercury Treads. Once Frozen Heart is complete, I build the other components of Trinity Force and Shurelya's Reverie. Shurelya's Reverie is key both for its active and for its cooldown reduction. With it, Frozen Heart, and my masteries, I max cooldown reduction. Once Shurelya's Reverie is done, if I haven't already, I start building Force of Nature, then complete both it and Force of Nature. That's pretty much my full build and Nasus is almost always powerful enough to win the game once it's finished. The last item slot is situational, often Quicksilver Sash or, if I'm feeling particularly vicious, Bloodthirster. If they're stacking armor to counter me, it's Last Whisper. Nasus is pretty straightforward: land as many last hits with Siphoning Strike as possible, while using Wither, then Spirit Fire and Siphoning Strike on enemy champions that get in my way, either killing them or making them leave so that I can keep farming.

I'm perfectly happy with my setup for Nasus. Max cooldown reduction is too good to pass up, and the build is fast, tanky, and hits hard enough to kill everything. The only reason I don't play this more often is that Nasus requires the right team composition. If the enemy team has a lot of crowd control, that can shut him down. And Nasus needs his own team to have crowd control, since all he gets is a targeted slow. But if the enemy team lacks CC or if my team has enough CC to make up for Nasus, watch out. Thanks to lifesteal from his passive and regeneration from his ult, Nasus is very hard to kill and can decimate multiple opponents singlehandedly. Nasus is sort of high risk, high reward. I've found Singed to be my more reliable solo top. Nasus is the sort of champion that I love the idea of, but don't really get around to actually using very much.

Ryze
Ryze looked fun. He's dirt cheap and has this unique "mana carry" thing going on. He's also the champion that forced me to start working with smartcasting. Unfortunately Ryze has been nerfed too much. When I did play him, I went with Ignite and Teleport, my "Spell Vamp" rune page (magic penetration marks, per-level health seals, per-level AP glyphs, and spell vamp quintessences), and my Karthus mastery page. That rune and mastery setup gives 9% spell vamp, which boosts that spell vamp from Ryze's ult. With Ryze, I laned pretty much anywhere. Most games, I'd start with Rune Prison, then level up Overload, then Spell Flux and prioritize Desperate Power > Overload > Rune Prison > Spell Flux. For items, I started with Sapphire Crystal, a mana potion, and a health potion. I built Tear of the Goddess as soon as possible, because stacking that thing takes forever, despite Ryze's passive. Once I had Tear, I got Boots of Speed and Catalyst the Protector. Then I rushed Rod of Ages, built Glacial Shroud, upgraded boots to Sorcerer's Shoes, built Frozen Heart, built Banshee's veil, and finished Archangel's Staff. For the sixth item slot, I bought Rabadon's Deathcap, although I might have started trying Lich Bane if I'd kept playing Ryze. I had some really good games with him, but was kind of inconsistent. Once he gets going, he generally decimates the enemy team and doesn't stop until the game is over.

Like I said, Ryze was nerfed. Actually, he was nerfed multiple times after I bought him. Maybe because I bought him. Who knows? He lost the bonus mana from his ult and the damage from mana ratio on his Overload was nerfed at least twice. He's still viable, but I sort of lost interest after the repeated nerfs.

Sion
I freaking love Sion. He won my last game for me. And by that, I mean that my team was losing and gradually falling behind, but I stepped in and ate the enemy team. All of them. I went 13/0/11 and definitely saved the team from losing that one. Sion is easily one of my favorite champions. I play him AD, because AP Sion is for girly men. My summoner spells, runes, and masteries are exactly like the ones I do for Nasus. I never really know which ability to take first, because sometimes I want to start stacking Enrage early and sometimes I need the extra defense provided by Death's Caress. Once I have a point in each, I prioritize Cannibalism > Enrage > Death's Caress > Cryptic Gaze. Enrage is the star of the show, though. I accumulate as many minion kills as I can. If my lane opponent can't stop me early, I win. AD Sion is the strongest late game champion. I start out with Vampiric Scepter to cancel out the self-inflicted damage from Enrage, then I almost always grab Boots of Speed and rush Wriggle's Lantern. The free ward from Wriggle's Lantern and Ghost both help keep me protected from ganks by the enemy jungler. That's why last game, even though the enemy team had a dangerous jungler, I never died once. I got beaten up, but was able to escape and Teleport back up to my turret. I build Zeal, then upgrade boots to Mercury Treads. I build Phage, then Warmog's Armor. At this point, I usually have to take some time off farming to help my team, but Sion's awesome ult and the tankiness provided by Death's Caress are usually enough to let me jump in and score some kills. If the enemy team doesn't dominate us there, it's over for them. I finish Warmog's Armor, upgrade Zeal to Phantom Dancer and Phage to Frozen Mallet, then build Atma's Impaler. I completed all of those items last game, ending up with something like 5,400 HP and 300 attack damage. In really long games, I sell Wriggle's Lantern for something else, which is situationally dependent on the enemy team and, to a lesser extent, on my own team.

Sion gets bonus HP from everything he kills while Enrage is toggled on. I leave it toggled on all the time, sometimes even from level 1. The bonus HP has no cap, so Sion keeps getting tankier as the game progresses. Everyone else can complete their builds and have nothing to do that makes them stronger. All they can really do is periodically sell boots, buy and quaff one of each elixer for a bit of a boost, and buy boots again. Other than that, once everyone has all the most expensive items they want, there's no room for growth. Well, that's not true if you're Veigar (increasing AP through Baleful Strike), Nasus (increasing bonus damage on Siphoning Strike), or Sion (increasing HP through Enrage). Better still, Atma's Impaler gives AD for all that HP. So Sion becomes the ultimate tank and the ultimate damage-dealer (and he has a stun and a shield). I've tried to craft my build to make Sion even more of a killing machine. But not every game is as awesome as my last one. AD Sion is a bit vulnerable early on. But I think I've been getting better with him. My second best solo top. Singed is still more reliable. I want the Lumberjack Sion skin.

Morgana
This is a champion that I took a lot of time to get used to. I got really into playing as Morgana for a while, but after I left competitive play when my screen broke, I abandoned her and have hardly played her since. Like Ryze, she's suffered some nerfs. Also like Ryze, I went with Ignite and Teleport, my "Spell Vamp" rune page, and my Karthus mastery page. I never saw anyone else do it, but that setup gave Morgana 19% spell vamp to start out, which made her very sustainable. I prioritized Soul Shackles and Tormented Soil, with Dark Binding and Black Shield getting different investment patterns almost every game. My extra spell vamp, nearly double what most people start out with on Morgana, and my emphasis on Tormented Soil and farming let me ignore Doran's Ring and rush Rod of Ages, sometimes before even getting boots. Along with Rod of Ages, I built Sorcerer's Shoes, then worked on Rabadon's Deathcap and Will of the Ancients. Then it was on to Rylai's Crystal Scepter and Zhonya's Hourglass if the game ran long enough, which is exactly what one of my old Karthus item builds looked like.

I mostly went solo mid with Morgana, which is where she belongs if she's going to farm. Morgana is difficult to harass unless the enemy jungler is particularly aggressive and helps out. She's versatile, but I did find myself unable to pick up kills in some games. I didn't intentionally abandon Morgana, but since I almost always went mid with her, I didn't give her the attention she needed to excel. Karthus is my mid. I was probably trying to play Morgana too much like Karthus anyway. I don't know. I might revisit her.


Evelynn
What a waste of IP. Anyway, I tried multiple builds, but Evelynn really does suck. I bought her because I wanted to try a stealth-based champion, but she's just not viable. I'm going to avoid touching her until she gets a buff, which is going to happen any day now. Anyway, same summoner spells, rune page, and mastery page as Morgana. I guess I started with Ravage, then got Hate Spike, and dumped some points into Shadow Walk to get a decent duration before returning to the damage spells. I rushed Sheen and Boots of Mobility, then Rod of Ages and Hextech Revolver. I upgraded Sheen to Lich Bane and Revolver to Will of the Ancients, then built Rabadon's Deathcap and never managed to get a sixth item because Evelynn sucks. If she does manage to complete those items, she's a good assassin with stealth, a speed boost, and a spammable damage spell to finish opponents, but by that point in the game, everyone else is powerful too. I also tried going hybrid and jungling with her, but I don't care for hybrid builds.

Amumu
I think I initially bought him because I'd been hoarding IP, although not nearly so much as I do now, and I played some fun co-op games with these people that wanted to do an all yordle team. When I first started playing League of Legends, I took a look at the champions and was thinking to myself, "Where are all my necromancers? I want a badass necromancer." Other than the skull-faced Karthus, the game still doesn't have anything meeting that description, but I remember considering some of the undead-looking characters that weren't actually mages. Amumu was one (Sion was another). Once I had Amumu, I decided it would be a good time to learn how to jungle. Amumu was my first jungler and is still probably my best, although I might surpass him with Udyr or Mundo. Like all my junglers, for Amumu I use Flash and Smite. Amumu gets my "AP Jungler" rune page, which is magic penetration marks, flat armor seals, per-level magic resistance glyphs, and health quintessences. Amumu has a highly defensive mastery distribution, with enough in utility to extend his buff duration. Since he's a jungler, I start with Despair (melts high-health jungle monsters). Next, I take Tantrum, then I take it again (I think that's the fastest way to clear camps as Amumu). I take Bandage Toss for ganks once I've cleared my side of the jungle, then I start looking for kills. As I level, I prioritize Curse of the Sad Mummy > Tantrum > Despair > Bandage Toss. I build Amumu as a full tank, starting with Cloth Armor and health potions for jungle sustainability. If I can get an early kill or two, on returning to base I immediately take Boots of Speed and Philosopher's Stone. My next item is Heart of Gold. Amumu is slow and, in my role as a tank, I don't accumulate as much gold as some champions. I also need gold to help ward the map, so the extra income from Philosopher's Stone and Heart of Gold really helps. Once I have those, I upgrade my boots to Mercury Treads. Depending on how often I expect to have blue buff, I time my completion of Shurelya's Reverie and Randuin's Omen. If the game is going really well, I start on Warmog's Armor early, but usually I go for Aegis of the Legion next, so that my team can benefit from the aura. If I really want to go on the offensive, I build Rylai's Crystal Scepter (slowing tears). If I want go for a more supporting role on behalf of my team, I build Frozen Heart. Guardian Angel is another option, although it usually doesn't come to that. I've also tried other items like Sunfire Cape and Abyssal Scepter, as well as some situational items like Thornmail.

Amumu is a good jungler, but he is vulnerable to counterjungling. Amumu's biggest weakness is his early game. The longer the game goes, the more the enemy team is in trouble. As long as my allies are halfway decent, Amumu's skill kit is usually enough to pick up kills and generally wreak havoc. One of my better champions. The only reason I don't play him more is that I am still a bit deficient on junglers, especially considering that I get stuck with the role more often than I should.

Kayle
I didn't buy Kayle. I found her among my champions one day. It came as a total surprise. I later learned that Kayle and her Judgement skin were a reward to players that participated in Season One. I played her for a while, but couldn't find a build I really liked. She's gotten some minor buffs, which she definitely needed. Anyway, I'm not revealing my super secret Kayle build that's a work in progress yet. It requires more testing.

Kassadin
I don't recall whether I bought Kassadin before I got Kayle, but whatever. I've had him for a long time. I only got him for Riftwalk. Riftwalk is awesome. I barely play him, not because I don't like him, but because his success is rather tied to the enemy team composition. Kassadin is sort of awkward. His best damage spell is only accessible after a certain number of spells have been cast near him. He has a spell that only barely helps him. His passive is only useful against some opponents. He's a mage, but he's melee. He's melee, but his basic attacks are garbage. He's an assassin, but his only assassin-like ability is his ult. Kassadin truly excels as a magekiller. He has a silence, a gap closer, can use his Force Pulse more often if the opponent is using lots of abilities (which mages generally do), and his passive gives him some protection against magic. I go with Ignite (assassin) and Teleport (Kassadin benefits from being able to get to where the action is quickly) as summoner spells. Kassadin uses my "Magic Penetration" rune page, which was the first rune page I ever built: magic penetration marks, per-level health seals, per-level AP glyphs, and magic penetration quintessences. I also gave Kassadin his own mastery page (primarily offensive, with some utility), probably just because I've had him for so long and his abilities didn't fit as well with other champions. I take Null Sphere at level 1 (to harass enemy champions and sometimes to last-hit), then I get Force Pulse and Nether Blade. Once I have all three, I prioritize Riftwalk > Force Pulse > Null Sphere > Nether Blade. I start with a Sapphire Crystal and potions, then build Boots of Speed and Catalyst the Protector. Kassadin really only needs three items: Rod of Ages, Sorcerer's Shoes, and Rabadon's Deathcap. Everything after those is just bonus. Kassadin is a crappy farmer, so if I'm not scoring lots of kills, I might not get much more than those anyway (Rod of Ages and Rabadon's Deathcap are both pretty expensive). Some items I might grab are Zhonya's Hourglass, Abyssal Scepter, Rylai's Crystal Scepter, Lich Bane, and Deathfire Grasp.

Even though I said that bit about being a magekiller, Kassadin is actually quite versatile, especially late into the game. His burst damage is huge and he is one of the best both at catching an escaping enemy to secure a kill and escaping from ganks, all thanks to Riftwalk. In teamfights, I can throw a Null Sphere to silence the enemy initiator, then sneak around and Riftwalk to the enemy mage or carry, Force Pulse their whole team, Ignite someone, Riftwalk to safety, run over and Force Pulse again, then Riftwalk to catch whomever is running away. Kassadin is pretty cool. He's definitely my best assassin, but I don't seem to play assassins very much.

Anivia
If I remember correctly, I bought Anivia right after they reduced her IP cost. That might have been after I already had Kayle, but whatever. Anivia is Articuno. Anivia is also the manawhorephoenix. She needs lots and lots of mana. If possible, I play her solo mid so that she can farm. For summoner spells, I use Clarity (manawhorephoenix) and Teleport (for getting back to the lane quickly). I use my "Magic Penetration" rune page and Anivia's own special mastery page with lots of utility and a bit of offense for magic penetration and cooldown reduction. I start with Flash Frost because it has a long range and deters enemy champions from getting in my face while I farm. Then I take Frostbite for the Flash Frost/Frostbite combo. It requires a bit of finesse, but not a lot. Once Flash Frost is right on top of an enemy champion, I tap "Q" again to detonate it, giving even the slow Anivia time to fly over and hit the opponent with Frostbite for extra damage. I take one point in Crystallize after I have both of my offensive skills, but I usually don't end up actually using it until later. From there my skill allocation is a bit weird, other than always taking Glacial Storm when it's available (ults are available at levels 6, 11, and 16). I generally prioritize Frostbite, but sometimes let Flash Frost keep pace with it. If mana is becoming a problem, I can even throw an extra point or two into Crystallize early, keeping the mana cost on Flash Frost lower. My item build for Anivia hasn't changed much over time. First, Sapphire Crystal and potions, rush Tear of the Goddess, get Boots of Speed, rush Rod of Ages, build Rabadon's Deathcap, upgrade boots to Sorcerer's Shoes, build Zhonya's Hourglass, complete Archangel's Staff. The last item slot usually ends up being a Void Staff or a Guardian Angel, although some day I'll make it a second Archangel's Staff for the lulz.

Once Anivia has her ult, she is one of the best farmers. As I said, her abilities make her very, very mana-hungry. I try to always get blue buff if possible. Anivia can take it by herself once she has her ult, and very few champions, if any, benefit more from having a blue buff (even Ryze isn't as mana-hungry as Anivia and he should be getting max cooldown reduction from a combination of his masteries, Frozen Heart, and the passive bonus on Overload). Anivia has awesome burst damage and can slow enemies to a crawl, then block their escape with Crystallize. She does have some things going against her that make me hesitate to play her: she has some of the worst base statistics, like the lowest attack speed, lowest movement speed, lowest HP. Her wall isn't as impressive as it was before every new champion that came out started getting some ability that could get past it. Still, she is a decent mage and also happens to be a bird. I'd play her more, but Karthus is my mid.

Alistar
I don't remember exactly when they made Alistar and his Unchained skin free with the Youtube subscription thing, but I took advantage of that when it happened. I didn't use Alistar very much until later, though. At first, I found him rather clumsy and wasn't sure what to do with him. I looked at build guides and such, but wasn't satisfied with him. Now I've refined Alistar and can play him well as a tanky support. I used to use Teleport because I was pretending that he was Singed, but now, when I remember, I give Alistar Ghost and Clarity. He uses Singed's mastery page and my "AP Tank" rune page. I start with a Regrowth Pendant and a mana potion. I take Pulverize first, then Triumphant Roar, and after that I level all three of his main skills pretty evenly with, Headbutt staying behind the other two at first to keep its mana cost down. My first item on returning to base is always Boots of Speed. I get Philosopher's Stone and Heart of Gold. Alistar is a mostly decent farmer with Pulverize and his passive, but I usually want my carry to take as many last hits as possible, so I rush Philosopher's Stone and Heart of Gold in order to get some extra income for planting wards and building more items. Next, I go for Glacial Shroud, Boots of Mobility, and Aegis of the Legion. I try to get Shurelya's Reverie and Frozen Heart by the last phase of the game. As with Nasus, the combination of Shurelya's Reverie and Frozen Heart is enough that my mastery page gets me to maximum cooldown reduction. Of course, I build Heart of Gold into Randuin's Omen. If all of those items are done and the game still isn't over, it usually means I'm going to need to do some serious tanking for my team, so I generally save the last item slot for Guardian Angel.

I initially underestimated Alistar. In comparison to Singed, he's not as fast and can't bring victims to his team. He gets caught more easily by ganks and isn't as powerful as a farmer. But Singed places more emphasis on running around and causing mayhem. Alistar is better as a true tank. He can heal himself and his allies, He can Headbutt an offending opponent away from his vulnerable lane partner or Headbutt an exposed victim into his team for a kill. He can give his team an opportunity to break from an engagement or to throw damage on the other team using Pulverize. His ult gives him brief period in which he can withstand almost anything. Alistar plays well with others. Also, he is a minotaur. I've been playing Alistar more lately and I think I'm continuing to improve my support gameplay.

Sona
I definitely acquired Sona well before I started playing any competitive games, so she's been with me for quite a while. I laned with one in a co-op game while playing Singed and was impressed at how Sona could dart out at the enemy, blast them, then dart back behind me and heal me, gradually grinding our AI opponents down. Sona was the first champion I used to learn to play support. I've had some good games with her and some bad games with her. She allowed me to dominate the second competitive game I ever played. My first competitive game was as Singed. We ended up having a leaver and getting dominated, surrendering early. I decided to press on and, since I hadn't had luck with Singed, try my luck with Sona, who at the time was my weakest champion. Somehow, I ended up carrying the game decisively. I went 12/0/17 and snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. The people in the game were all, "OMG, best Sona I've ever seen." And I said, "Second time PVP." Yeah, I must have been playing against scrubs, but whatever. My Sona build could probably do with some updating. I haven't gotten around to it yet. I have modified my summoner spells over time, though. Right now, I tend to use Heal and Clairvoyance. The one I've probably used the most on Sona is Flash. I use the "Magic Penetration" rune page, although I will probably change this as well. Sona has her own utility-heavy mastery page. I even took the enhanced starting gold so that I could get more mana potions early, although now that mana potions are cheaper, that might be a bit of a waste. The Sona nerfs actually didn't affect my build because I have always prioritized Hymn of Valor. Once I have all three songs, I take points in Hymn of Valor first, then Aria of Perseverance, and max Song of Celerity last (of course Sona's ult is taken whenever available). I have usually started out with a Meki Pendant and mana potions, relying on the summoner spell Heal to help my lane partner if necessary before I gain a level. Once I have Aria, health potions wouldn't be much use anyway, because I can just spam Aria and use mana potions if I have to. Tear of the Goddess if my next item, followed by Boots of Speed. Up next are Mana Manipulator and Kage's Lucky Pick, in either order. I build Soul Shroud and upgrade boots to Mercury Treads. I've tried Spirit Visage and it seems good, but I guess I often forget to build it or something. I used to go for Deathfire Grasp, but lately I've been trying Morello's Evil Tome. If the game is long, I build Rabadon's Deathcap and complete Archangel's Staff. Although Sona isn't a huge damage source, it's pretty easy to fully stack Tear of the Goddess, unlike with Ryze. Aegis of the Legion is another item I sometimes take on Sona, if it makes sense for the team. Edit: Forgot about Spirit Visage, which I also usually forget to build most games, but it's good.

Sona is pretty easy to play. Just drift in, press "Q." Drift out, press "W." If the team is in danger, press "E" and run away. If the enemy team is clustered together, hit them with "R." That's about it. I'm not sure why sometimes I'm rather inconsistent with her. But lately, it hasn't been an issue and I've done fine. I'll probably move on to other supports, but Sona is still my best support for now.

Karthus
Karthus is, without a doubt, my favorite champion. He used to be my best. And when I was at the top of my game, he was my best. I'm still not quite back to optimum performance with him, but I'll get there. I could dedicate a whole post to the intricacies of Karthus. I play him solo mid and that's where he belongs. Karthus is one of the best farmers in the game, and he needs to utilize that. For summoner spells, I take Surge (and people who never actually did the math whine at me about it and think I'm a newb for taking Surge) and Teleport (mandatory on Karthus). My "Spell Vamp" rune page was originally built with Karthus in mind. Karthus's mastery page goes into offense for cooldown reduction, an improved Surge, and magic penetration, and mainly focuses on utility. The runes and masteries give me 9% spell vamp, which is helpful for sustainability. I start out with Lay Waste, then take Defile, then Lay Waste again, then Wall of Pain, Lay Waste again, Requiem, Wall of Pain, Defile, Lay Waste, Wall of Pain, Requiem, Defile, Lay Waste, Wall of Pain, Defile, Requiem, Wall of Pain, Defile. Yes, that is my exact skill progression. I rarely deviate from it, as it is the result of a lot of experience. My item build has changed significantly over time. I originally focused on Archangel's Staff, but found Rod of Ages to better for survivability. Eventually, I started using both items, even though it weakens my damage output for most of the game. It's something of a gambit. In a short game, rushing Rod of Ages on Karthus keeps me ahead of almost everyone else the vast majority of the time. But then everyone else catches up if the game is long enough. But without Rod of Ages, Archangel's Staff is more of a glass cannon tactic that ultimately fails against skilled opponents. Using both items in the same build means it takes longer to get significant AP, but that Karthus can stay ahead of the competition even in a long game. So I start with a Sapphire Crystal, a mana potion, and a health potion. When I get back to base, I build Tear of the Goddess. My next item is Boots of Speed. After that, I rush Rod of Ages, starting with Catalyst the Protector. I build Needlessly Large Rod and, if the flow of the game permits, build Rabadon's Deathcap right away. Usually I end up upgrading to Sorcerer's Shoes first. Hextech Revolver is next, usually upgraded quickly into Will of the Ancients. I can technically solo Baron Nashor with that setup alone (spell vamp on Lay Waste and I can attack from beyond the range of most of Baron Nashor's damage), but it takes a long time. Next, I get a Blasting Rod. I build Rylai's Crystal Scepter to fill my last item slot (this could be something else and maybe it should, but slowing Defile is good for helping my team get kills and Wall of Pain hit everyone). Thanks to the spammability of Lay Waste, Tear of the Goddess is fully stacked around the time I finish Will of the Ancients. Depending on how the game is going, Blasting Rod either goes immediately into Rylai's Crystal Scepter or is used to finish Archangel's Staff. This build is able to perform decently enough midgame and lets Karthus act as a true AP carry, throwing out a stream of damage through Lay Waste and Defile.

When I'm playing Karthus correctly, very few opponents can do much against me in the laning phase. I make a show of harassing my opponent, but the real goal is to force the opponent to back off or waste health potions instead of actually focusing on interfering with me. I play very passively, but try to take every single minion kill that I can. Sometimes, I've even taken all six of the first wave of minions at level 1, something I've never accomplished with any other champion. If my opponent is willing to push, I welcome it, using the turret as a shield and blowing up every minion that gets close enough to damage it. If my opponent refuses to push, I keep my distance and focus my aggression on farming even more. Once I have my ult, I can help with kills and assists in other lanes, while my opponent at mid is stuck losing a farming war against me. Karthus is a challenge to play. He's a slow, fragile mage with no escape abilities and no burst damage. A common gimmick I see is to build him as a glass cannon for his ult or as a suicide bomber with his passive. But a more rewarding build is to build him in a way that lets him hit hard, heal himself off his spells, and still have enough resilience to escape alive. He can hang around at the back of teamfights and throw up Wall of Pain in the middle of the enemy team, forcing some of them to pass through it unless they want to leave part of their team stranded. He can pick off fleeing foes that barely get away, thanks to Requiem. And if he does end up getting caught, Karthus can still rely on his passive to strike back at the enemy team, possibly picking up a kill or assist. The only problem is that lately, I've been unable to find good opportunities to land my ult and I've been having trouble getting ganked or getting finished off by a hostile Ignite early on. Karthus is one of the champions I've played the most, but I need to improve my Karthus game.

Karthus is also the champion that has me hoarding my IP. Last year, when I was starting out, I decided that I would buy Singed with my IP, then save the rest of my IP until I got 6300 for Karthus. He was in the most expensive bracket for IP and it seemed like it would take forever, but I wanted that lich and I didn't care about having any other champions. I bought him in September. Then in October, they reduced his IP price, cut it in half. Ever since, I haven't bought a single 6300 IP champion. Now I'm coming up on 50000 IP and 6300 doesn't seem like so much. But still, I don't know. Maybe I'll buy some of them. Still, I don't regret my Karthus purchase. He's my favorite champion and probably always will be.  He's hated for his ult, but there's so much more to him.

Edit: I like how I wrote this right before I gave up on my experimental build and went back to my old one. I guess we'll see. When I initially switched to AA/Shoes/RoA/Deathcap/WotA/Rylai's, it took some getting used to, but seemed to work better than my old item setup of RoA/Shoes/Deathcap/WotA/Hourglass/Rylai's. And then I was effectively on a hiatus. I didn't play Karthus for quite a while. I thought that I was just rusty and also getting bad teams, and while I'm sure that both of those contributed, I recently went back to my old build. I've lost most games with it so far, but I've generally gotten more kills and assists with fewer deaths. With the other build, I had to be very cautious in teamfights and hang back putting up walls and throwing a few Lay Wastes here and there. But with the build I've gone back to, I don't die as easily and can get closer to the action, doing more damage. And even when I do die, I usually take some of them with me. I'm still not as good with Karthus as I used to be and I definitely can't call him my main anymore, but I'm definitely going back to my old build. So now I rush Rod of Ages, stopping only to get Boots of Speed. Once I have it, I work on Rabadon's Deathcap and Sorcerer's Shoes. From there, the last three item slots are Will of the Ancients, Zhonya's Hourglass, and Rylai's Crystal Scepter. I usually build Will of the Ancients first, but it varies. Will of the Ancients is best of sustainability, Rylai's is the best for moving around the map without the rest of my team (preferably following a bruiser or tank to some key position) and for helping to secure kills, Hourglass is best for big teamfights if I can time the active on it properly. I'm still getting used to it again, but this is the build that gave me success with Karthus before, so I'm going back to it.

Tristana
Technically, Tristana was the first champion that I acquired. Tristana and her Riot Girl skin are free through a Facebook subscription deal. I saw it when I started, but ignored it at first because I was playing Singed. Then the free champion rotation happened and Singed was locked. I couldn't play the only champion I'd ever played. So I did the Tristana offer. But I only played her for one game before using my IP to permanently unlock Singed, so that hardly counts. I played Tristana against bots occasionally, but I couldn't make her work. She seemed too fragile. I didn't really pick Tristana up again until I'd been playing competitively for a while and decided that it was about time to learn how to play AD carries. I already had one to practice with, so I started playing Tristana in earnest. I don't remember what I was doing wrong, but somehow, I picked it up and Tristana seemed easy to play. Like Sivir, Tristana is an excellent pusher, so for summoner spells I take Ignite (works well with Explosive Shot) and Teleport (she's a pusher). Tristana shares a rune page and a mastery page with Sivir. I take Explosive Shot first, and early on I take Explosive Shot whenever I can and Rocket Jump if Explosive Shot is already at its max for the level. I only start putting points into Rapid Fire after I have my ult, and then I level Rocket Jump and Rapid Fire evenly. I start with a Doran's Blade, then I go for Boots of Speed, a second Doran's Blade, and Berserker's Greaves. If I'm farming successfully, pretty soon I can get a B.F. Sword, and if not, I go for a Pickaxe. I build Infinity Edge, then Zeal. I build a Bloodthirster and upgrade Zeal to Phantom Dancer. If the game is really long, I sell my Doran's Blades for more Phantom Dancers.

Tristana is easier to play than Sivir. Explosive Shot's passive component makes Tristana an excellent farmer. She can Rocket Jump away from ganks or blast her attacker away with Buster Shot. She can also get easy kills by Rocket Jumping right behind an enemy champion, knocking the victim back into a turret with Buster Shot, and then hitting with both Explosive Shot and Ignite while firing basic attacks as the hapless enemy champion tries to escape. Later on, Tristana is also an excellent pusher with Rapid Fire. Whenever I'm going to play a carry, I consider whether I think my team would be able to support Sivir. If I doubt it, I go with Tristana instead.

Singed
The first champion I ever played. The first champion I bought with IP. When I was starting out, I didn't have any IP to get my own champions (actually, I might have had some: I forget whether the tutorial games, which I had completed a while before ever playing the actual game, gave IP). So I was stuck with the limited selection of free-to-play champions. There was a guy with his brain coming out his head, but so what? I'd already played as Ryze in that tutorial thingy and wasn't really into him. There was an ugly troll. And then there was this guy. The Mad Chemist. Well, I'm a chemistry major. So I gave him a try. At first, I had no idea what I was doing. The beginner bots dominated me. I won anyway, but only because there were other people on my team that knew what they were doing. I started slowly getting the hang of things and accumulating levels. Within a few weeks, I was beating the bots. Not just the advanced players that were on my team saving me and winning for me. I was good enough to beat the bots myself. I didn't want to spend IP on runes. I couldn't get the good ones yet anyway because my summoner level was too low. I wanted to save my IP for Karthus anyway, so I left runes alone. I started messing with masteries though. I remember trying different summoner spells and settling on Ghost and Fortify. I let the bots push, then used Fling and Fortify to kill them. Some of the things I started doing back then were probably quite inept, but others have stuck with me. I started always going to the top lane with Singed because Ashe and Taric were so easy to kill with the turret and Fling (back then, the only bots that ever went top were Ashe, Taric, Miss Fortune, and Soraka, and some combination of those two would always go top, while either Annie or Ryze was always mid and some pairing of Warwick, Cho'Gath, Trundle, Nunu, Shen, and Renekton was always bot; also back then Fortify was still a summoner spell that existed in the game). I still play Singed as a solo top.

My summoner spells for Singed are Ghost and Teleport. Singed is the namesake for one of my mastery pages, but as I've already gone over, Sion, Nasus, and Alistar share the mastery page with him. Singed was my impetus for buying movement speed quintessences, and my "AP Tank" rune page was originally named "Singed." I take Fling first. In many games, I don't even use it early on or I only use it to leash for a jungler. But I'd rather have it right away than not have it right away. But once I start gaining levels, I pump every (non-ult) point I can into Poison Trail, with the remainder going toward Mega Adhesive. My starting items are a Regrowth Pendant and a mana potion. Initially, I work on Boots of Speed and Catalyst the Protector. Depending on how the game is going, I prioritize between upgrading Boots of Speed to Boots of Swiftness, buying a Heart of Gold, and building Rod of Ages. Once all of those are done, I build my Regrowth Pendant into Force of Nature and begin building Rylai's Crystal Scepter and Randuin's Omen. That's my core build for Singed. He's the champion I've played the most (Karthus is still second) and I hardly ever deviate from that core. Even if the enemy team has a lot of physical damage and not a lot of magic damage, I usually just switch to prioritizing Randuin's Omen earlier and still build Force of Nature eventually. Singed is an amazing farmer and tends to accumulate assists every game, so I often have the gold to complete the core and start working on my final item. The sixth item is dependent on the situation, but some of my past choices have been Frozen Heart, Rabadon's Deathcap, Lich Bane, Aegis of the Legion, Guardian Angel, and Thornmail.

I build Singed with a few goals in mind. He has to be tanky enough to survive attacks from anyone. He has to be sustainable and capable of protecting a turret for a long time. He has to be able to farm reasonably well. He has to have enough damage output to pose a threat to enemy champions. Most importantly, he has to be fast. And I mean really, really fast. That's what the movement speed quintessences and Boots of Swiftness are for. The same goes with the masteries and the Force of Nature. Oh, and then there's Ghost. Singed, especially with his ult up, his Mega Adhesive, and Rylai's Crystal Scepter, can outrun almost everyone. That means he can chase an escaping opponent and fling that opponent back into a trail of poison, preferable with Singed's team or a turret right behind him to finish the opponent. It means that he can run through waves of minions and poison them to death, push a turret, and then laugh and run away when the enemy team tries a three-man gank to kill him. It's this speed that makes Singed my most reliable solo top. I don't get killed very often. When I do get killed, I know I've screwed up. Singed doesn't do the most damage and he's not a killing machine, but he is a tank that can spread poison all over the place and control the action in a fight. Also, 98% of League of Legends players chase Singed.

Science fiction is good

So yeah, I don't know how I managed to go such a long time on what was basically a hiatus from reading science fiction. My two most recent books have been Eternity by Greg Bear and The Space Merchants by Frederik Pohl and Cyril M. Kornbluth. Both were superb. I don't have a lot to say about the books except that they were both science fiction, both great reads, and were very different from each other stylistically. One can't really get bored of science fiction. There's too much variety for that.

The day I checked out The Space Merchants at the library was also the day that Ray Bradbury died. I didn't yet know about it and I was considering checking out one of his books, but I couldn't decide which one and I ended up getting The Space Merchants instead. I'll pick one of his books up later, I guess, to make up for that. Or something.