Originally Posted by
Clovermouth
I'm new to the game, any blitz/soraka tips?
Blitzcrank 101:
Bad blitzcranks will use their grab whenever it is up. Contrary to whatever is running through their heads, you put more pressure by keeping your grab up and advancing towards your target than by trying to land a hail mary hook from max range.
This is somewhat difficult to explain without giving a lot of background, so buckle up because it's time for a paragraph.
Basically, the best thing you can do as Blitz is land a hook on the right target. Under this assumption, you might conclude that every shot you don't take is a shot missed. However, this fact that the best thing you can do as Blitz is land a hook on the right target is a looming threat for your opponent. They must position themselves so that they won't get grabbed. However, if you miss your grab, your opponent has over 10 seconds to not worry about your hook being up, so they can position more aggressively, and your play making as blitz is reduced while your grav is down.
To describe this as a number, let's say 10 is landing a hook on the right target, and 0 is your hook is on cooldown and missed, with 5 being average lane pressure with grab up. If you always take a shot with your grab, you're basically alternating between 0 pressure, and 10 pressure. And since you'll likely miss most of your grabs without applying pressure, it's safe to say you will usually be applying 0 pressure most of the time in lane if you always use your hook when it is up. However, if you have hook up, the threat is there and applying a small amount of pressure on your opponent. Furthermore, as the enemy wave gets smaller, your pressure increases, and the closer you are to your turret, the higher the pressure increases, and the closer you are to your opponent, the higher your pressure increases. Because of this, you can have pressure fluxtuate between 2 and 8 without expending any resources.
This offers a greater return on average, plus sets up your opponent to be grabbed when you do take a shot at them. When the grabs are constant, the pressure is much easier to manage since it's predictable. However, when you walk up and posture for a grab, but don't always throw the grab out, whether because they were out of range or the shot was through too many other targets, you condition your opponent to second guess what you're doing. They'll be pressured from the posturing, but they'll still have the looming threat of grab up, so they're forced to play scared. Furthermore, they may think the next time you won't use your grab, which opens them up to being grabbed from bad positioning, or rushed down for a e hit, which will make them be under a LOT of pressure, since now even a flash might not save them from a follow up grab.
Basicaly, Blitz is not about mastering his grab, albeit it's important to learn, but about mastering applying pressure. If you can learn to apply pressure, you can afford to be average with your grab, because your opponent won't see your grab often enough to make a judgement on your skill, but still feel the pressure from it.
