Wednesday, 22 July 2015

Unorthodox Pick - Heimerdinger Mid

Heimerdinger is an unusual pick. He's never really fit into the meta and has a slightly unusual kit compared to other champions. His ult is only used to buff his other main skills, and his kit in lane revolves around his turrets on his Q which can give him an unresponsive playstyle sometimes. However, most people don't understand how his kit fully works, or how to deal with him in lane, so he can be a really strong pick in solo q. This champion can't be mentioned at all without giving credit to Heisendong, who has made it to Master tier in North America playing almost exclusively Heimerdinger, and is one of the best streamers to watch if you want to get better at him!





Why would I pick Heimerdinger Mid?

Heimerdinger is an extremely dominant laner thanks to his turrets and can really punish opponents with low wave clear or poor last hitting under the tower, and completely shuts down roam reliant champions such as Fizz, Kassadin and Katarina. He also has really amazing AP scaling on his W, especially when he uses it with an ult charge, meaning he can be useful in fights even when he hasn't had time to set up turrets before hand. Like a lot of AP Mids he also has a utility spell, in the form of his E, which is a rather hard to hit stun. All this make him a fantastic counterpick to both melee midlaners and roam reliant midlaners by removing their laning phase from them, and he is even fairly gank resilient despite being immobile if he has his ultimate up, as an empowered turret often gets you a double kill.


When do I avoid Heimerdinger?

Heimer is not great in comps that excel in running down the opponent. Despite his fairly good team-fight and good pick potential, he does not excel in running down the opponent in comps based on Sivir, or around Righteous Glory/Talisman Of Ascension. This is because Heimer really needs time to set up his turrets before fights, or put them down and he benefits heavily from fighting in the same area for a while as it allows his turrets to do more damage over time and that is a main core component of his kit. Therefore, avoid Heimer in run down comps. He also struggles against opponents with great ranged wave clear that can safely take down his turrets such as Ziggs or Xerath, as he can't force them into the tower and make them lose farm.



How do I use Heimerdinger Effectively?

Great Heimer players know how to use their ultimate to the best effect. When they get ganked or outnumbered they ult their turret and zhonyas to avoid lots of damage and force their opponent to back off. Ult the rockets and do crazy burst damage to a singular target. Ult E and stun a whole team (but this isn't very good if you're ahead, as the other ults simply do more damage and are more useful). Knowing the correct scenario to use each ult variant is what makes a great heimer player. A good Heimer will also set up turrets before a fight, and know how to juke skillshots when ganked so that the turrets can do the majority of the damage for him. Lastly, learning to lane well is really important for Heimer as he is a very strong laner played correctly.


Summary

Heimer can be a great situational pick to shut down enemy laners or in comps that enjoy setting up and securing objectives, as well as sieging really hard. He can be incredibly frustrating to play against (put up some turrets and spam taunt), and just this can break apart the morale of an enemy team in solo Q. He has very specific strengths and weaknesses, but good abuse of Heimer's strengths can help you carry most teams, in nearly any ELO.

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