March 07, 2018

Bran's S5 Ranked Conquest Qualifier Adventures (Games 1-3)

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Conquest  |  Ranked  |  iSux
With all the talk of Ranked play from Wayne and Marki, I knew I had to get my *** in gear. Marki even offered to queue ranked with me earlier in the week, but I was already in a full group =(

Here's the funny thing...you'd think, since I maintain the Conquest guide, that I'd be extremely comfortable with the mode and the various roles. But nope...I generally only play Conquest when I've got some friends with me (and they are okay playing it)...when Solo queuing, I usually just do Assault / Arena / Clash.

So I teamed up with Duotem last night and got through 3 ranked games. I'll break them down from my point of view below, and maybe Duo can offer some additional feedback. Going to keep it a bit simpler than my last blog series.



Qualifier #1: LOSS


Game stats are HERE.

Our team:
Enemy team:
I will tell you that I'm not all that comfortable with Sol...I've played her some (20 total games), and after reading recent guides by Dann and Astral, and watching DMBrandon's recent YouTube guide, it got me itching to play her. I was borderline going to choose Discordia, since I've played her a ton recently, but I like the idea of Sol's versatility, with better sustained damage output and good objective damage potential. Figured I'd give her a try.

Played it relatively safe in my early exchanges with Kukulkan. Both got some poke in. Tried to get mid-camps when possible. Felt like he wasn't all that good...his ult use seemed to be poorly timed and was able to avoid most of his poke attacks fairly easily.

Problem seemed to be the enemy Arachne, along with a fed Hachiman...and our Loki, who was already toxic in picks/bans. Kept screaming that he was getting ganked and needed help, but didn't lay down 1 ward and I often saw him pushing his lane pretty far up. I think we all muted him.

Got some good damage in overall...highest on my team (probably as expected), least amount of deaths, highest kills. Wasn't highest gold, so I definitely could have farmed better.

Although it was a loss, I didn't feel bad about my game, but maybe Duo can knock me down a few notches.

Built Mage's Blessing, Warlock's Staff, Shoes of the Magi, Bancroft's Talon, and Divine Ruin. Was moving into Chronos' Pendant after that, and if it went longer, would probably have started transitioning into basic attack focus with Demonic Grip.



Qualifier #2: WIN


Game stats are HERE.

Our team:
Enemy team:
Back to a god I'm generally very comfortable with...does being Athena mean I'm a masochist? I'm directly inviting people to attack me.

My ADC was solid, and we were able to be very aggressive overall...Iza was calling the shots when to attack, and her instincts were great. Fairly early, our Arachne was able to come for a gank, wiping out both enemy Duos.

Shortly thereafter, I was able to catch a low health, retreating Ganesha by dashing with an additional basic right at the border to his tower. Iza wasn't with me though...had fallen back, so I was alone with Hou Yi and at somewhat low health. Thought I might be able to make it out alive by ulting, but I activated it too close to the wall, giving Hou an easy double bounce...he got a last hit right before I ulted, resulting in a death I probably could have avoided if I just ran, waited for my Meditation Cloak to come back (came off CD as I was ulting), and just juked and dashed when it was up. Oh well.

Overall, our entire team stomped hard, and the enemy surrendered at 14 minutes.

Standard Support build: Guardian's Blessing (+ Chalice of Healing and Multi Potions), Gauntlet of Thebes, Travelers Shoes, and was working into Sovereignty.



Qualifier #3: LOSS


Game stats are HERE.

Our team:
Enemy team:
Okay, so this one is embarrassing for me to talk about, but hey, it's a learning experience, I guess.

So yeah...my comfort level in playing Conquest in various roles goes like this:
Support > ADC >> Mid >> Solo > Jungle

I figured I'd choose a god I'm comfortable with, at least. My start was pretty decent. Was comfortable with mostly uncontested jungle camp clears and general rotations. The second I bumped into Hun Batz at the mid-camps, I got intimidated. He was able to steal the camp out from under me, and that was probably the key point of the match...he proceeded to bully me, bully others, and get fed, while I started racking up deaths. Playing from behind, I also was having to try to farm as much as possible, and was slow in getting to engagements. When I'd commit to the fight (also trying to ult and save teammates and provide some control), I'd pretty quickly die. Definitely didn't help my team. You can tell how fed he was, as he was 11/0/7.

Our Duo lane also wasn't very good... Ullr was sort of man-handling our Duo, and he ended at 7/1/7. But mostly this one was on me.

I had Duo directing my build, and I can tell it's a great build for an experienced Jungler that can dictate a fight with Odin's early game strengths, but for me, I think it was too squishy. If I try that again, I'll need to consciously play more aggressively, or start the build with more defense.

Build was Assassin's Blessing (+ Mace and Multi Potions), Warrior Tabi, finish The Crusher, Masamune. From there I probably would have gotten BoV, Genji's, and finish with Shifter's or Void Shield.



After that Duo went to bed, and I felt I had it in me to play one more game...just a regular solo queue Conquest match. Yeah, I know what I said at the beginning, but you know what, it wasn't bad. We lost, but it was no fault of my own. My ADC was wayyyyy too reckless and unaware, and my other teammates also had awareness issues.

By awareness, I mostly mean that if it's obvious that we're outnumbered, unless we're ahead in levels and builds, then it's usually best not to fight. They didn't recognize that situation...ever.

I recognized that pretty early and rather than be a (very temporary) martyr, I'd back out...if I'd stayed, I wouldn't have been able to save them and I would have just died alongside.

Did good damage (13k, our highest was 18k), and tanked a solid amount. Ended up at 5/1/22 (kill participation in 27 total events, next closest on my team was Thanatos at 20, so I know I was where I was supposed to be in most cases.

Got to a full build of Gauntlet of Thebes, Travelers Shoes, Sovereignty, Void Stone, Hide of the Nemean Lion, and Spirit Robe.

I plan to start playing more Conquest, even if I have to solo queue. Need to get more comfortable with things before I play more Ranked.

Thanks again to Duotem for playing with me...if you're willing, Marki, I'll play with you too.