The fact you have decided to start vod reviewing is great. It's not always fun to watch yourself make mistakes (I find it pretty cringe when i review myself) but I'm impressed you have managed to get to Diamond in one set. I have been a masters/GM in previous sets and am currently trying to get to masters like yourself. So since automata is getting nerfed pretty hard I'll mention a few tips for general gameplay. STAGE 1 This stage is pretty RNG based but minor optimizations can really set yourself up for success. In general 2 star front line is more important than backline. As the added HP and base stats both add their damage but also buy your backline more time to do their damage. while a 2 star backline with no frontline will just die. 1-3 if you are holding a pair you should play it as it allows you to sell other non pairs to pickup units if you don't get the gold. So play Zyra pair on board and look to buy the Maddie to hold with the Steb as a enforcer bruiser with trundle is a decent mix of front and back. In this case I would usually sell Amumu as watchers aren't usually an exciting opener. 1-4 again same idea is play the pairs Zyra and Steb so we can maybe sell the non pair in this case Irelia. 2-1 Augment Automata spat as you identified in the vod isn't a great opener with no setup however it isn't the worst (I am also guilty of picking the clear path of a spat/augment without the good setup). However I think the worst mistake was not identifying the goal of taking automata spat early. The real strength is the powerful midgame of 4 automata and then looking to use that strength to get to a fast 8 or 9 board to find a Malzahar and get 6 in. This can still be a kog reroll at 7 but definitely not Nocturne reroll. In terms of what you should of picked I also think prismatic ticket is a mistake as you have no clear setup for a reroll comp. Usually if you have no clear direction you pick something generic that works with the idea of leveling in this case level up and expect the unexpected are the best. Making econ is king. Gold gives you options we aren't wining as you said. So selling and making econ is best especially as these units don't connect to our comp at all and as we are lose streaking holding pairs matters less than making econ. If we were win streaking or had a decent board holding pairs that make sense would sometimes be better than econ. You talk a lot about holding pairs but tbh we would never streak even if we hit the 2 stars as we are down a prismatic augment essentially and scouting earlier we saw a blitz 2 and there would be others with prismatic combat or more impactful augments that stop us streaking. A stronger board could save hp but hp for loss streak and econ in stage 2 is probably worth. 2-5 we can even think about making 30 by selling steb and playing Darius for 30 gold. 2-7 krugs selling Remi is correct too much gold to hold for the possibility of 2 star we are going to cut later anyways. level at 3-1 is fine doesnt cost us econ and possibility of saving hp. We could wait to slam items at augment but if we are slamming items we have to think about item carries. we should always (aside from some comps/situations like urgot trist reroll) look to slam 1 complete set of items for a carry and 1 set of complete frontline tank items then leftovers depends. In this case your Rageblade and static while good for Kogmaw means we are left with 2 swords which can't be made into frontline items. I would much prefer a rage blade, Giant slayer, shojin, belt open for tank items. 3-2 Augment This choice is just because we believe we are rerolling for nocturne. This does nothing for kogmaw and blitz. While I believe this augment is super strong usually you need at least 3-4 units you are rerolling for at 1-2 cost for this to matter. grab bag and rerolling Mace's will is probably the choice here. lose streaking until 3-5 is probably our only choice in this spot 3-5 rerolling here to spike is fine however items being spread is bad. items benefit from more items. Since this set we get removers don't stress too much about non ideal items stack on a unit kog with static isn't even bad and Sterags Nocture is fine. 4-1 items you did the best with what you have but (while this is a told you so with hindsight) if we slamed what I suggested earlier we could have a Warmogs, spark and a glove open which can lead to steadfast. which gives us our 3 item Kog, shojin, ragebald, GS and 3 item Blitz warmogs, spark, maybe steadfast but item economy we would feel much better. then we could look for second carry items with the guard breaker for whoever. 4-2 tbh to bail us out could of taken duo queue for Malzahar sometimes taking the risky bail out option can work and if it doesn't well we are going bot 4 anyways. but combat or item is fine After this yeah not much we can do gg if you didnt know already items have a pool you start with 2 of each item during pve all items get +1 and you get random items. This means if you have 3 belts you are less likely to get a belt from next pve though you still can. Carousel items don't count to this pool. Based on this game alone here are some tips to maybe improve on. First look at my items and think a bit more about item economy. Focusing on 3 item carries and 3 item tanks Stage 1 and 2 optimizing both econ and units to hold. Understanding the high end cap of the board I am looking to play and understanding what makes that comp strong. Anyways enough rambling hope some of it was useful good luck with your climb and we all get stuck so keep trying!
i think stage 1 holds are actually really important, holding pairs of frontliners are generally a lot better than backliner but ofc you want a mix of both if possible. Focusing on holding pairs of stuff generally helps you have a opener rather than not and playing ur strongest board is def better than losing streaking but not saying in all cases you should be playing strongest boards. The holds this game are good tho in stage 1, but one thing i like to practice is putting units on my board im always less likely to sell, for example zyra pair wants to be on the board on 1-3 and that way you have a chance to sell lux / irelia not saying these two units in this spot should be sold but let says u had some random units in rather than lux / irelia, if they do drop gold / useless units u can't really use then u can't really make econ bc ur never gonna sell zyra
Also you had garen but chose to play ambessa over garen which I think is incorrect. Garen would give you watcher and more hp on frontline giving kog more time to ramp
eu master here I olny watched 1st stage but your issues are you don't need to have the strongest board on 1st stage if you didn't prelvl 4 comite to the eco, don't hold useless pairs if you can make more interest, most off the times is even good to sell 2star champ that you hited if it's not in your final compe, just lose streak and take good outs on carussel. don't waste rerolls on augs even if you decided what Aug you will take roll the other. learn with augs are good because prism automata kinda suck if you don't have good spot
I'm the same rank as you, so take all this with a grain of salt - but I have recently been playing a lot of Automata, and there's a lot of stuff here you could clean up. First Augment pick is a little off, but you can definitely force Automata and make it work. Level Up or Unexpected is probably the play here. Automata is fine tho, and once you pick it - it increases the chances of other people not going Automata. Need to make econ on 2-1. Could talk about this in more depth, but basically we don't have 4 Auto so we should just lose streak for econ to get to lvl 7 ASAP. 2-3 is same deal - need to make 20 econ here. I would sell Steb to get the second Nocturne, then sell Camille and Trundle to make 20. We are not win streaking here, an Automata Steb isn't going to help us much, and preserving HP is less important because we're going to be strong the second half of Stage 3 once we hit 7. Grabbing Rod on Carousel is key - Rageblade is an absolute must if we hit automata emblem and are going Kog. Good job there. Selling Remi at Krugs is good - once again we want to hit max econ and get to 7. 3-1 - It's fine to slam Rageblade here because we've committed to Kog line, but we're only one fight away from augment, where we could potentially get a rod to create Archangels for Kog - which is ideal. Rageblade + Archangels should the top 2 prioritized items in this comp. Board is weak might as well take one more loss and potentially setup perfect items for Kog. Augment 3-2 is a massive blunder, probably the biggest one in the game - in multiple spots. Starry night is terrible. We are not picking Automata emblem to play Nocturne. Because of what we talked about in 3-1, Grab Bag is really solid here. Starry night would make sense if we had Artifacts and were playing Nocturne. QS do not have a spot in this build at this point. You can flex them in early if you're looking for tempo, but we've already forgone tempo, so we need to just get to 7 and get Kog and tanks on the board. This is where you seem to shift into more QS instead of Kog plus tanks, which really feels like the nail in the coffin for this game. We have Kog items built, we have Auto emblem - we are going Kog. Kog does not work well with QS - the way Kog works is he ramps up damage from Rageblade and Archangels, so we want to prioritize a strong frontline to drag fights out. Our board should look something like Kog, Blitz, Amumu, then dominators and watchers to strengthen frontline. Emblem on one of the watchers. That's how this comp works. Thick boys in the frontline holding it down while Kog ramps up damage. Noct should be on bench until we hit Malz. We only need him for auto trait. SELLING GAREN - omg this one is rough. He is the only 4-cost we want and we sell him twice!!!!!!!! This is a blunder - Ambessa is not the play because once again, Kog and QS don't really work together because they are a weak frontline. Starry Night mistake comes back to haunt you - Akali 3 and Noct 3 don't do much for this comp and hinder us from hitting Kog 3. Cash get's torched. Biggest mistake here summed up - we want thick frontline for Kog, not a mixture of QS and Auto builds. tactics.tools/player/na/DustyNun/5956 Went on a tear with this comp if you filter my games by kog you can see the comp you're looking for. Also a couple Nocturne games there if you wanna see what those look like.
Thanks so much for the detailed breakdown! Honestly, it doesn’t matter if we’re the same rank-your insight is super valuable. I feel like I can learn a lot from you because you clearly know how to pilot Automata well and explain it in a way that makes everything click. You’re absolutely right about a lot of the things I could clean up. It makes so much sense to sacrifice tempo early, make econ, and then spike at level 7. I think I was too focused on trying to preserve HP instead of just committing to the Kog line and preparing for that strong mid-to-late game. The Nocturne point is interesting too- Does Nocturne only work with ranged BIS items? I can see how that clashed with the overall Kogmaw comp. The thick frontline strategy for Kog, with tanks like Blitz and Amumu, makes so much more sense now that you’ve laid it out. Do you think Automata will still hold up after the incoming nerfs? I feel like Kogmaw will still be pretty solid, but I’m not sure how much play Nocturne will get, especially with Artifactory being gone. Curious to hear your thoughts on how the meta might shift
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11:14 you can make rage blade + shiv
The fact you have decided to start vod reviewing is great. It's not always fun to watch yourself make mistakes (I find it pretty cringe when i review myself) but I'm impressed you have managed to get to Diamond in one set. I have been a masters/GM in previous sets and am currently trying to get to masters like yourself. So since automata is getting nerfed pretty hard I'll mention a few tips for general gameplay.
STAGE 1
This stage is pretty RNG based but minor optimizations can really set yourself up for success. In general 2 star front line is more important than backline. As the added HP and base stats both add their damage but also buy your backline more time to do their damage. while a 2 star backline with no frontline will just die.
1-3
if you are holding a pair you should play it as it allows you to sell other non pairs to pickup units if you don't get the gold. So play Zyra pair on board and look to buy the Maddie to hold with the Steb as a enforcer bruiser with trundle is a decent mix of front and back. In this case I would usually sell Amumu as watchers aren't usually an exciting opener.
1-4
again same idea is play the pairs Zyra and Steb so we can maybe sell the non pair in this case Irelia.
2-1 Augment
Automata spat as you identified in the vod isn't a great opener with no setup however it isn't the worst (I am also guilty of picking the clear path of a spat/augment without the good setup). However I think the worst mistake was not identifying the goal of taking automata spat early. The real strength is the powerful midgame of 4 automata and then looking to use that strength to get to a fast 8 or 9 board to find a Malzahar and get 6 in. This can still be a kog reroll at 7 but definitely not Nocturne reroll.
In terms of what you should of picked I also think prismatic ticket is a mistake as you have no clear setup for a reroll comp. Usually if you have no clear direction you pick something generic that works with the idea of leveling in this case level up and expect the unexpected are the best.
Making econ is king. Gold gives you options we aren't wining as you said. So selling and making econ is best especially as these units don't connect to our comp at all and as we are lose streaking holding pairs matters less than making econ. If we were win streaking or had a decent board holding pairs that make sense would sometimes be better than econ. You talk a lot about holding pairs but tbh we would never streak even if we hit the 2 stars as we are down a prismatic augment essentially and scouting earlier we saw a blitz 2 and there would be others with prismatic combat or more impactful augments that stop us streaking. A stronger board could save hp but hp for loss streak and econ in stage 2 is probably worth.
2-5 we can even think about making 30 by selling steb and playing Darius for 30 gold.
2-7 krugs selling Remi is correct too much gold to hold for the possibility of 2 star we are going to cut later anyways.
level at 3-1 is fine doesnt cost us econ and possibility of saving hp. We could wait to slam items at augment but if we are slamming items we have to think about item carries. we should always (aside from some comps/situations like urgot trist reroll) look to slam 1 complete set of items for a carry and 1 set of complete frontline tank items then leftovers depends. In this case your Rageblade and static while good for Kogmaw means we are left with 2 swords which can't be made into frontline items. I would much prefer a rage blade, Giant slayer, shojin, belt open for tank items.
3-2 Augment
This choice is just because we believe we are rerolling for nocturne. This does nothing for kogmaw and blitz. While I believe this augment is super strong usually you need at least 3-4 units you are rerolling for at 1-2 cost for this to matter. grab bag and rerolling Mace's will is probably the choice here.
lose streaking until 3-5 is probably our only choice in this spot
3-5
rerolling here to spike is fine however items being spread is bad. items benefit from more items. Since this set we get removers don't stress too much about non ideal items stack on a unit kog with static isn't even bad and Sterags Nocture is fine.
4-1 items you did the best with what you have but (while this is a told you so with hindsight) if we slamed what I suggested earlier we could have a Warmogs, spark and a glove open which can lead to steadfast. which gives us our 3 item Kog, shojin, ragebald, GS and 3 item Blitz warmogs, spark, maybe steadfast but item economy we would feel much better. then we could look for second carry items with the guard breaker for whoever.
4-2 tbh to bail us out could of taken duo queue for Malzahar sometimes taking the risky bail out option can work and if it doesn't well we are going bot 4 anyways. but combat or item is fine
After this yeah not much we can do gg
if you didnt know already items have a pool you start with 2 of each item during pve all items get +1 and you get random items. This means if you have 3 belts you are less likely to get a belt from next pve though you still can. Carousel items don't count to this pool.
Based on this game alone here are some tips to maybe improve on.
First look at my items and think a bit more about item economy. Focusing on 3 item carries and 3 item tanks
Stage 1 and 2 optimizing both econ and units to hold.
Understanding the high end cap of the board I am looking to play and understanding what makes that comp strong.
Anyways enough rambling hope some of it was useful good luck with your climb and we all get stuck so keep trying!
15:40, pretty sure putting shiv on tf over kog is troll
i think stage 1 holds are actually really important, holding pairs of frontliners are generally a lot better than backliner but ofc you want a mix of both if possible. Focusing on holding pairs of stuff generally helps you have a opener rather than not and playing ur strongest board is def better than losing streaking but not saying in all cases you should be playing strongest boards. The holds this game are good tho in stage 1, but one thing i like to practice is putting units on my board im always less likely to sell, for example zyra pair wants to be on the board on 1-3 and that way you have a chance to sell lux / irelia not saying these two units in this spot should be sold but let says u had some random units in rather than lux / irelia, if they do drop gold / useless units u can't really use then u can't really make econ bc ur never gonna sell zyra
Also you had garen but chose to play ambessa over garen which I think is incorrect. Garen would give you watcher and more hp on frontline giving kog more time to ramp
eu master here
I olny watched 1st stage but your issues are you don't need to have the strongest board on 1st stage if you didn't prelvl 4 comite to the eco, don't hold useless pairs if you can make more interest, most off the times is even good to sell 2star champ that you hited if it's not in your final compe, just lose streak and take good outs on carussel. don't waste rerolls on augs even if you decided what Aug you will take roll the other. learn with augs are good because prism automata kinda suck if you don't have good spot
Thanks for the tips, and I really appreciate the perspective from an EU Master player
Hextech gunblade is good on kog, probably should have stacked him
Oh u did put it on kog
I'm the same rank as you, so take all this with a grain of salt - but I have recently been playing a lot of Automata, and there's a lot of stuff here you could clean up.
First Augment pick is a little off, but you can definitely force Automata and make it work. Level Up or Unexpected is probably the play here. Automata is fine tho, and once you pick it - it increases the chances of other people not going Automata.
Need to make econ on 2-1. Could talk about this in more depth, but basically we don't have 4 Auto so we should just lose streak for econ to get to lvl 7 ASAP.
2-3 is same deal - need to make 20 econ here. I would sell Steb to get the second Nocturne, then sell Camille and Trundle to make 20. We are not win streaking here, an Automata Steb isn't going to help us much, and preserving HP is less important because we're going to be strong the second half of Stage 3 once we hit 7.
Grabbing Rod on Carousel is key - Rageblade is an absolute must if we hit automata emblem and are going Kog. Good job there.
Selling Remi at Krugs is good - once again we want to hit max econ and get to 7.
3-1 - It's fine to slam Rageblade here because we've committed to Kog line, but we're only one fight away from augment, where we could potentially get a rod to create Archangels for Kog - which is ideal. Rageblade + Archangels should the top 2 prioritized items in this comp. Board is weak might as well take one more loss and potentially setup perfect items for Kog.
Augment 3-2 is a massive blunder, probably the biggest one in the game - in multiple spots. Starry night is terrible. We are not picking Automata emblem to play Nocturne. Because of what we talked about in 3-1, Grab Bag is really solid here. Starry night would make sense if we had Artifacts and were playing Nocturne.
QS do not have a spot in this build at this point. You can flex them in early if you're looking for tempo, but we've already forgone tempo, so we need to just get to 7 and get Kog and tanks on the board.
This is where you seem to shift into more QS instead of Kog plus tanks, which really feels like the nail in the coffin for this game. We have Kog items built, we have Auto emblem - we are going Kog. Kog does not work well with QS - the way Kog works is he ramps up damage from Rageblade and Archangels, so we want to prioritize a strong frontline to drag fights out.
Our board should look something like Kog, Blitz, Amumu, then dominators and watchers to strengthen frontline. Emblem on one of the watchers. That's how this comp works. Thick boys in the frontline holding it down while Kog ramps up damage. Noct should be on bench until we hit Malz. We only need him for auto trait.
SELLING GAREN - omg this one is rough. He is the only 4-cost we want and we sell him twice!!!!!!!! This is a blunder - Ambessa is not the play because once again, Kog and QS don't really work together because they are a weak frontline.
Starry Night mistake comes back to haunt you - Akali 3 and Noct 3 don't do much for this comp and hinder us from hitting Kog 3. Cash get's torched.
Biggest mistake here summed up - we want thick frontline for Kog, not a mixture of QS and Auto builds.
tactics.tools/player/na/DustyNun/5956
Went on a tear with this comp if you filter my games by kog you can see the comp you're looking for. Also a couple Nocturne games there if you wanna see what those look like.
Thanks so much for the detailed breakdown! Honestly, it doesn’t matter if we’re the same rank-your insight is super valuable. I feel like I can learn a lot from you because you clearly know how to pilot Automata well and explain it in a way that makes everything click.
You’re absolutely right about a lot of the things I could clean up. It makes so much sense to sacrifice tempo early, make econ, and then spike at level 7. I think I was too focused on trying to preserve HP instead of just committing to the Kog line and preparing for that strong mid-to-late game.
The Nocturne point is interesting too- Does Nocturne only work with ranged BIS items? I can see how that clashed with the overall Kogmaw comp. The thick frontline strategy for Kog, with tanks like Blitz and Amumu, makes so much more sense now that you’ve laid it out.
Do you think Automata will still hold up after the incoming nerfs? I feel like Kogmaw will still be pretty solid, but I’m not sure how much play Nocturne will get, especially with Artifactory being gone. Curious to hear your thoughts on how the meta might shift