So I have been playing the beta quite amorously lately, preparing to give some decent feedback on all that I have tried out. I had used and seen used everything I wished to report to RIOT, and merely had to organize my thoughts (there are a lot, obviously) and think about how I wanted to post it here on the forums. I planned on doing so tomorrow, Saturday the 19th. But then a patch happened, allowing for more stuff to try out. I am never one to complain about new stuff, nor problems being addressed, but now I have to go replay champions; Dr. Mundo in particular seems to have had some work done, addressing most of my issues with him, if not all of them. That being said, rather than pretty much reevaluating everything I have done thus far, I intend now to do it in baby steps, maybe 10 champions at a time or something. For now I will give my opinions on the latest patch.

I would also like to note that the extended downtime will not be affecting this quick review. For more info on the, Penny has explained in detail the cause and the solution: (http://beta.leagueoflegends.com/boar...ad.php?t=12591). I got to play prior to the original downtime, and between the two as well (3rd shift worker, Hawaii time, so it is often my usual time of play anyway), so I have tried all NEW things within the patch THAT I CARE TO. I do not pay attention to numbers much, or calculate them. The only instance in which that is viable is the 5g/10 items. That also means that I do not care to take full advantage of the rune system, and I have just a basic setup for general games in order to be competitive.

Champions:

Corki -
As he is; Very strong pusher even in early game. His movement speed is very slow, making him susceptible to an early attack by enemy champions, but his Valkyrie spell more than makes up for by combining two moves (Singed; Tristana) into one. The Gatling Gun can be extremely brutal. At higher levels it tears through creep with one spell cast, and angled right can clear an entire wave in <4seconds, as well as doing moderate damage to any heroes dumb enough to stay in the line of fire. The armor reduction part of it is a nice addition. His Phosphorus Bomb has limited use, and I have not gone up against a Twitch of Evelyn in which I need to cast it for their purpose; however, it has many other uses as well: It can uncover Teemo's mushrooms (very, very useful and later on will kill the mushrooms in one blast); and it can also be cast upon grass in order to be prepared for possible ganks and/or getaways. His ultimate is a force to be reckoned with as well, although the catch is it takes time to build up missiles.

As he was; Not applicable; new champion

As he should be; Right now I would classify Corki as a top tier champion. While not necessarily OP so to speak, his ability to push so far so fast makes him a top priority target. This usually resolves in a lot of deaths, and I believe this is how it should be. As I said above, I do not pay attention much to numbers, so pay heed to that as you continue to read. The Phosphorous Bomb move is very good as it is, but I feel that less damage and more range would be a better idea for it. Between Missile Barrage and Gatling Gun, he has the whole AoE damage thing covered; the Phosphorous Bomb is, in my opinion, more of a flare to be wary of stealthed (sp?) units. Unless someone else crunches numbers and finds that there are scaling issues with them, Gatling Gun and Valkyrie should stay as is; I would say the same for his passive, Uranium Coated Shells, as well. Missile Barrage, has a few oddities. First I will say where it is weak: when champions hit six they have their ultimate, and tend to use it relatively close to that time. At 12 seconds per missile, the best part of Corki's ultimate takes 48 seconds to really take action (and it can still miss).I think maybe stocking him with 3 missiles from the roiginal spell purchase could make a difference in this regard. Now where it is way too strong: Corki can fire all seven of his missiles fast, and can quickly fire eight or nine of them (~2 sec CD, so six missiles fired is one more missile). I think if he were to fire a barrage, with a capacity of seven, that there should not be time to build another rocket. For this I suggest increasing the rocket reload to 15 seconds. Even then it will be strong, but since you have to aim it and sometimes get lucky I think it would be fine.

Suggestions to players; All the recommended items are great. I like to start out most characters with a 5g/10 item, and Corki is no exception. I have gone with the Philosopher's Stone and gotten great results from it. The gold accrued plus the regen make it well worth it; less trips back to base means more gold and more xp. The new Heart of Gold is not a bad option either for a first item. Boots should be a priority as well. After that, playing defensively to start out is not a bad option, then later changing out armor and defense for attack speed and attack power. Between your ability to creep so well, your strength against heroes, and the 5g/10 item you will make plenty of gold, so leave your options open. The Frozen Mallet is a good choice for getaways and chases alike. Also, pick your first spell by whom you are laning with/against. If laning alone against powerful champion(s), maybe go for Valyrie first for the getaway. Remember that Valkyrie is a flying move, so you can fly over trees to safety. If you already have flash, then Gatling Gun is good for laying pressure upon the enemy, and wiping out waves of creep quickly. Phosphorous Bomb can use only a single point until no other options are available. The range and the damage just do not make it worth pouring points into early on.



-Please Do Not Post Yet-

Corki hasn't had enough time to settle into the metagame seeing as NOBODY CAN FREAKING PLAY and only a handful of the best players even got a chance with the new champions.

PLEASE DO NOT POST YET aside, it's way to early to be saying this.

Katarina -
As she is;Another great hero, inapt at both pushing and hero killing. Her banter towards the player is amusing, and is one of the few champions I turn off my music in order to listen to. Early game can be difficult if solo; if the enemy is ranged than whether you are solo or not can still provide some difficulty. This is the case with most non-tank melee however, so this is not really a major concern. She does not use mana nor health to execute her attacks, and relies on cooldowns alone. That is pretty awesome, though still confusing as to why she has a mana bar at all... Bouncing Blade is great for that champion who is at low health trying to run away, or for early game aggravation to keep the enemy alert and in fear. The damage scales well enough IMO, and can make for quick creeping late game. It does not hit the same target twice; that has been my experience, at least. I think that is a good thing, and should stay like that. Shunpo is an awesome chase spell, and good for getaways. The range is nice and the damage is really just a reason to upgrade it; one point can be enough. Killer Instincts is nice in both passive and active form. The ultimate, Voracity, is kind of hard to use without a) a retarded enemy, or b) a helpful partner with CC.

As she was; Not applicable, new champion.

As she should be; Really I think she is fine. I have had limited use with her (she is really sought after during champion selection), but have seen her played by both teams and she is both strong and weak; offensively and defensively. Maybe for Voracity there can be a slowing effect, or slightly larger range. Coupling that with the low damage it already seems to dish out would create more situations where she can really lay on the hurt. Overall she does her job, though; coming in for the final strike, or quick ambush. Great job on this character! Not really important, but her hair looks like two big floppy ears when viewing her from behind.

Suggestions to players; For that first 5g/10 item, I go with the new Heart of Gold. I do not need mana so I think that is best, also helps with survivability. Attack speed and life steal (Stark's Fervor is awesome). I played only a couple of games as her myself, so I do not have that much to say as to how to play her. Bouncing Blade is probably your best bet for a first spell, then either shunpo or Killer Instinct depending on the enemy team composition and possibly yours. The Frozen Mallet is a good choice again for those chaces, a quick shunpo and a whack pretty much mean they are your [insert expletive], as it happened many times to me.

Items:


Heart of Gold - Great 5g/10 item for the non-mana users and tanks.
Guinsoo's Rageblade - This baby can tear through units like butter. I cannot wait to try this with Twitch.
Madred’s Bloodrazor - The damage and attack speed make this a pretty cool item, but I am not very good with numbers, so I cannot comment on the passive.
Trinity Force - Another awesome item, great on assassin characters since their stealth is a spell (or shunpo) then a whack for extra damage. The chance to also allows it to replace the Frozen Mallet, possibly, late game. Depends on the proc rate.


Other/General:

The new look is awesome, thought there are still some graphical glitches of which I am sure you are aware. The winter map was cool, butI only saw it in order to run a practice game with Katarina against a bot. The matchmaking says it is random, but I have not seen it yet (though since servers have been down, maybe I was just unlucky). Adding new heroes was cool, but there were so many people wanting to play them. I would sit in a 2 minute queue just to have someone leave because they were not quick enough with their mouse. There should be like a 5 minute penalty for leaving during Champion Selection, since it was more often than not the same 2 or three people doing it. Great job overall, and thanks for the awesome support you all provide! I hope this brief feedback is useful to RIOT in the future, and if so look forward to more feedback from me within the next week or so (my procrastination providing).

Oh, I did forget to mention that in Corki's profile it says he is a "PET" type champion. I don't know if this was from the original idea or maybe an unintentional mistake; Katarina is also listed as stealth.