The more you know; Twisted Treeline.
For this release, I looked high and low for a high ranking competitive TT player. My thoughts behind today's release was to help people (like me) who don't play this mode but would like to learn more about it.
I was fortunate to be introduced to Katsuie, one of the highest ranking TT players on EUW. Our aim was to, firstly; teach, but secondly; help expand the knowledge about this mode and increase popularity. There is sort of a silent call for ranked ques and more competitive opportunities to be made available for this map and hopefully with enough recognition, our players may be able to achieve this!
Could you please tell us a little about yourself. Youāve been playing in a threeās team for quite some time now and even managed to reach Challenger. What drew you to this game mode? What do you feel are some noticeable differences between TT and SR?
Hey, I'm Katsuie. I'm the creator of a 3v3 Challenger team which has been hovering around the top 3 and been placed on Rank 1 for most of Season 3 on EUW. What mainly drew me to this game mode is that I wanted to have some change from the constant Solo Queue I played. After hitting Diamond I, I felt like playing anymore of it was pointless, and trying to go any further would be too time consuming. Not only that, but the atmosphere in Solo Queue tended to be very frustrating.
A friend of mine asked me once to play on his 3v3 team, and after playing on it for quite a few matches, I really started to enjoy it. It rewarded an aggressive playstyle way more than SR did.
The most noticeable differences compared to SR are the length- of the matches and the laning phases. They to tend to be a lot shorter, with matches rarely lasting longer than 30+ minutes, and laning phases quickly being over in the first few minutes.
So there are three different roles on the map. Which role do you play and how do you feel each individual role affects the game?
There are actually four different roles; Bruiser, AP Carry, Jungle and Support! The Support is a less common role, as it is part of the Support-Meta which doesn't seem to be too popular outside of EUW.
Regardless, I play as the Bruiser in my team. While each role carries a different playstyle to it, I personally feel that they all affect the game equally. If someone gets far ahead, they can usually dictate the pace of the game by themselves. Every role has the opportunity to carry. Whilst most of the damage will rely on the Bruiser and the AP Carry, Junglers and Supports will usually help them to that point by assisting the lanes. So in the end, not quite a lot of difference compared to SR in that aspect.
Could you give us a break down of champions you feel are viable vs unviable in this map type that are popular in Summoners Rift?
The main difference is that almost all of the AD Carries are unviable on TT with the rare exception of Vayne or maybe even Quinn sometimes. AD Carries rely on getting to late game in order to be a threat, whereas most TT games do not even enter late game.
Other than that, champions with high waveclear tend to be viable in TT. The map is a lot smaller, and with the jungle being so close to the lane, a high amount of waveclear can lead to a longer amount of time you are allowed to roam.
Additionally, most champions with a high burst potential do naturally good on TT as well, which means most of the popular AP's (Like Gragas, Ziggs and Syndra) do well on TT, sometimes even more so than they do on SR.
Since the map is so small, skirmishes break out more frequently than they do on Summoners Rift. How do you deal with the constant threat of a āgankā, especially since there are no wards available to purchase in this mode. How do you feel about the lack of vision control via no ward allowance?
In order to combat the lack of vision you have on TT, you have to be more aware as to where your opponents are. You have to be able to guess where the enemy currently is, and put more emphasis on communicating with your team mates about the whereabouts of the enemy. As it can take as less as 5 seconds from knowing where your enemy was to being ganked, you have to be always sure that you know your potential escape routes and that your team is backing you up before proceeding to far into enemy territory.
Are there any items on SR that you would like to see implemented into Twisted Treeline?
All of the items from SR are already implemented into TT, with a few exceptions like Rabadon's Deathcap and DFG being replaced with TT's own variant, which are usually stronger than its respective counterparts.
With summoner spells like Flash + Barrier/Ignite/Smite being the most popular spells used on Summoners Rift, is this the same for Twisted Treeline? Or are there other spells that get prioritized instead? If so, what are the benefits of taking these instead?
The most popular summoner spells on TT are Flash + Exhaust/Ignite/Smite, so basically Barrier is exchanged with Exhaust. Exhaust has an even bigger effect on TT, because being able to potentially shut someone down for a few seconds has as increased impact when there are less overall people.
Also, instead of the generic red (slow + true damage burn) & blue buff (cooldown reduction + mana regen), Twisted Treeline instead, boasts the Ghost Relic and two Alters. TT also has its own version of Baron Nasher in Vilemaw. What do these buffs do? Are there certain roles that benefit from certain buffs more than others (example; blue buff on mana using midlaners) or is it a case of control all buffs no matter who they land on?
The Ghost Relic is a small buff which spawns every 90 seconds and provides the champion to pick it up with a small amount of health and mana, while also providing a small speed boost. We usually focus on securing this buff to our AP Carry, as he will benefit the most from the health and mana.
The Altars give provide a passive +3 gold for each lasthit if you capture one of them, by capturing both you acquire a +10% AD and AP from your total amount. This buff is usually only noticable in the later stages of the game, so the Altars are more frequently contested at a later point.
The Vilemaw buff lends you increased HP and Mana regen, attackspeed and cooldown reduction. Just like the Baron buff, it is beneficial to everyone.
So as far as buff control goes, they are all global except for the Relic, which I mentioned we focus on giving it to the AP.
Do you feel like you prioritize buff control over fast tower push?
Not at all. Towers are the most important objective, and the amount of towers you have left standing can easily decide if you are about to lose a game or not. If there are only 1 or 2 towers standing, it can easily end in a finishing push past the 20 minute mark. Only in the rare case that we are not able to push towers, we decide to take the Altars or Vilemaw.
Are there many different ways to play the map? Could you break down your favourite strategy to secure a win?
There are mainly two different ways in which people play the map:
The Jungle-Meta and the Support-Meta.
The Jungle-Meta consists out of two solo lanes with an AD Bruiser an AP Carry, while someone is mainly in the jungle. This the most popular way people are playing this map, and I'd even go as far as to say that on some servers it is used exclusively.
In the Support-Meta, you have an AD Bruiser with a Support on top lane and an AP Carry on bot. The duo-lane focuses on pushing as hard as possible, so they are able to consistently roam. This way they can catch out people, steal the enemy jungle or provide additional security to their bot laner.
This is the playstyle we prefer, and even have somewhat popularized on our respective server.
Do you have any advice for anyone that would be interested in playing Twisted Treeline on a competitive level?
Before playing TT on a competitive level, one should get familiar with the most viable picks. There are a few tierlists for 3v3 which can be searched up, but we also have our own one at http://delta-series.com/index.php/l2p, even though it is slightly outdated.
Other than that, the most general advice I give is to constantly make sure the jungle is cleared, as it is easy to do so and will increase the overall amount farm for your team. I personally think this is something most teams seem to overlook. And to always prioritize towers over any other objective.
I also redirect people to a fancy guide I've written once for Cloth5, which can be found here:
http://cloth5.com/info-and-tips-to-reach-high-elo-in-3v3-from-the-euw-challenger-rank-1/
Where do you feel the pro league for TT sits? Are there many tournaments that youāve competed in and if so, could you please tell us more about your experience while there?
The pro scene for TT is currently on flat ice, as far as for EUW goes. I know of several tournaments being hosted on the NA servers, but we're lacking tournaments on EUW.
There was a while though where the popularity for a competitive 3v3 has risen, resulting in a few ESL tournaments and the so called "Delta-Series" which was a weekly prized tournament, but as less and less teams participated, they stopped occurring.
Me and my team have placed first in the first ESL TT tournament, which was also streamed and casted, but the popularity for those have died down as there were no prizes.
In the Delta-Series, we placed first 3 times in a row and third once. Sadly at that point, the interest for these died down as well, and once not enough teams showed up, the organizers decided to quit.
What would you like to see Riot do to assist in making this game mode more popular?
In all seriousness, all that Riot would have to do is to create a Solo Queue Ranked mode for 3v3, and it would at least triple the amount of people who played it. But it seems that Riot does not consider adding it, mostly in fear of "splitting up" the playerbase, as they'd like to capitalize on SR, AFAIK.
Alternatively, they could host a prized TT tournament themselves, so people would feel inclined to play TT competitively. I wish Riot would at least consider doing it once, basically just to test the waters and see if there is interest.
Are there any shout outs you would like to make?
Am I allowed to make a shout out to myself :P? We have a stream which we dedicate to TT, and frequently answer questions during our queues.
You may find Katsuie on facebook and check out the stream on twitch tv!
www.twitch.tv/Katsuie
www.facebook.com/KatsuieLoL
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