"Vision is important, but not if it takes a full ability slot" Ashe:

"Just about everyone in League has that one mechanic that they absolutely cannot stand." Listing them all, I absolutely expected Vars to finish it up with Yone.

I definitely feel like traps have gotten better and more balanced with time. Shacos boxes imo are the only traps that still feel overwhelming sometimes because they can’t be countered at all by melee champs. But other than that I think they serve their purpose pretty well without being too stupid.

As a cait main Placing a trap between you and a Garen and then dancing around it in circles as he tries to hit you is the greatest thing ever

I like how Viego has three of the five hated elements at the beginning but they're all an arguably mediocre version of each of them

Traps are an interesting mechanic with clear strengths and weaknesses. They provide area control but can be circumvented with Oracle Lens and a bit of time But the thing is, some feel fair to play around and some don't, imo Jhin's traps, for example, slow you and will damage you upon explosion but there is more than enough time to get out And on the other side, there are Shaco's traps which cannot be cleared without being activated if you're a melee champion

Keep the traps, but remove Yone pls.

The special thing about Caitlyn's traps is, that an experienced player can nuke an enemy, by placing these traps under enemies in a teamfight. Byt giving the root, it not only procs your headshot mechanic, but it also gives you time to get in place or escape, that's why Caitlyn's traps need to be visible and have a small hitbox, because the YST can be argued to be the strongest in the game

To me, Jhin’s traps are an essential part of his kit, and I wouldn’t trade them out for anything. Most people make the mistake that the traps should actually hit and deal damage, when actually, their true power is the utility they provide. The threat of dealing damage to ward enemies off, the slow that gives the peel needed for your team to retreat, these uses of his traps makes Jhin so interesting to play, as you choreograph and influence how the fight will go before it even starts. As opposed to other champs that have kits to revolve around their attack speed. If Jhin isn’t perfectly designed I don’t know what is.

"Traps don't feel rewarding to use" Wait what? Vars put some time into Teemo or Shaco and you'll feel the reward.

I think that shaco is the worst ofender in how bad traps are: Damage, hard cc, AoE and for some reason cannot be taken down with oracle ir you are melee, so there is pretty much nothing healthy about them. Teemo gets damage, some cc with the slow and AoE, but at least it can be removed with oracle so even ir they can be annoying there is actual counter play to it. The rest of traps are actually fine as they are Nidalee can only hit one person at a time so its fine Cait gets hard cc with her traps and can deal a lot of damage if she is in range, but she dosent get traps that are invisible, so you can just not step on them (unless they are on a bush) so they are not that bad Jhin may get all of what Teemo gets, but he dosent get the damage inmediatly, and there is almost always more than enough time to just walk out of the trap area, so they are pretty healthy

Traps are an implementation of a variegated and anticonventional playstyle with its own kind of skill expression. In instances where they are properly balanced they're not shown to be overly oppressive, so no: totally against removal of traps from the game. We've already had a full two years of boring, mechanically samey champions with no interesting quirks at all except Rell, let's at least keep the weird quirky ones we already have intact.

Also Teemo shrooms would be more tilting if there weren't so many different builds he can go, not all are Nuke shroom builds so for him it's more about the build plus the ability rather then just the shrooms themselves

"Vision is important, but not so much that you need to dedicate an ability slot for it." Meanwhile Kalistas W: "OH, really?"

I'd say Cait's traps are the most interactive, ironically. You can see them, enemy can see them, and it is a bigger threat than most of the others. As an adc, anything that helps keep distance and any form of hard cc is gold.

As a shaco main I have to disagree with the first point, you can definitely influence people's movement and get them to run into traps.

I like the trap mechanic, it's really nice and it's a classic. I don't think they need to be buffed to be like a Anivia ult or a Gragas barrel. If they try to make Traps like that they are missing the whole point, why make it a trap and not make it a control ability anyway? The whole point of control mages is to control, the whole point of a trap is to be a trap.

If adding more traps would remove Irelia, Yone, Viego and other Burstassasins with sustained damage, cc, sustain and 2-3 longer dashes, so be it.

You can remove them with a 0 dollar trinket or a 75 dollar totem.

As insanely frustrating as most of the traps are, none are so overtuned that they feel broken or overwhelming. There are definitely bigger problems then teemo shrooms even tho it still hurts my feelings 🥲

"Remotely detonated traps" imagine the cancer if there was a techies like character in League

"Sitting entities that are to be stepped on" You described me pretty well.

Hey! Nidalee main here. I wanted to say that the real strength of her traps come from the absolute ridiculous range you can place them in and the really low cooldown. The range, plus her long spear range, allow her to NEVER have to facecheck anything whatsoever and track junglers (mostly in their own jungle). I admit it's relatively difficult to get the best out of Nidalee traps, but I think people underestimate the power of control that comes with those traps. I actually think it's a great ability and FAR from underwhelming.

My opinion on traps are surprisingly not big, but there are hidden ways traps are used in game. Area denial and Damage, maybe for vision idk, but sappers that have these improvised for abilities have a bad reputation record of being annoying and mostly used for guerilla approach which in a map that provokes concealment is a viable way of combat.

Oh my god. Cait's trap has a *cupcake* in it.

TBH all traps are designed very well and fit into a characters kit/design... None of them are really useless or even bad.. Nidalee traps are one of the reasons she's an incredibly fast jungler and can even do her camps low levels. The resets with the rest on her 2 abilities (w and R) make it worth it. not to mention the range it has so it's basically a shorter blue ward for checking bushes/not face checking from far away. Jhins traps give him the extra burst he needs to 1 shot someone lower level if he catches them in it with his W. Caitlyn's trap gives her extra chase / run away potential.

What I feel like is missing is the indirect zone control it creates. Because being creative with traps and also using them defensively is half the battle, as offensive tools they are very inconsistent, but if they weren't they would be absurdly overtunned. Teemo can setup a defensive route, so chasing him or his team can be extremely dangerous, I think it's more about how they can feel extremely suffercating and they can actively deter you from interacting with the enemy.

not 20 seconds in and I'm already noticing the hidden joke in Viego being in all 3 of the first mentioned mechanics

I feel like your "negatives" are actually just highlighting different types of playstyles which I think is good for the game. As a teemo main I'd say traps are much more useful when you're losing. They get triggered a lot more as the opponents are advancing on you. Gives you time to scale up and get back.

Just let melee champs clear any trap when it is disabled (like Teemo R)

Short answer: No Long answer: I really disagree with your arguments Vars, I never felt like traps are weaker than other spells, they serve as they are intended to, the only trap I think is bad designed are the shaco boxes, but teemo, nidda and cait all have their own reason to exist. Caitlyn can use them to combo or siege, Jhin can use his traps as a safe way to slow down enemy ganks, teemo can play the mindgame when ahead, or use them as a defensive tool to discourage people from inavade your jg when behind, yes they can disable traps with oracle, but that's not a bad thing, if you put a trap in the enemy jg you will track the enemy jg, he doesn't need to activate it, him disabling it gives you vision and information. I also don't think that they being not interactive is a problem, of course the aren't good to combat, but as real life, they can be used for setup. Ori ball can control things in battle, but what it does the rest of the game? It gives you vision? It covers your escape route? I believe the problem is that we never had a character designed especific for traps, every charater just has then in the kit, but I really beleive that traps can be useful in the game.

Vars, is this Battle Network Transmission music I hear???? Your Music choice is always great. Great Video yet again. Keep it up.

Another well made video, I personally think traps are fine and balanced the way they are. May I ask, what music did you use of for the video?

There are a bunch of active effect "traps" that you can detonate remotely. (Gragas Barrel, Lux E, Ziggs Satchel Charge, etc.) The issue comes in that you can only have one instance of that ability active at anytime because the way to trigger them is through recasting the same ability. It comes down to button availability. The other issue is that all of these active effect traps are visible to the enemy making the standard response to instantly trigger them and rarely to set them up for zone control.

a good implementation of a trap abillity would be Templar Assassin's traps from DOTA, where they don't deal any damage, but instead need to be manually activated to slow a huge area, kind of like Nidalee, since the trap ins't good by itself, but offer great utility to the rest of the kit.

Don’t please… there is nothing more satisfying then seeing someone get to one tic by a shroom just to walk into another as they waste a redemption and a yummi trying to keep the kayle from dying right before drake only to see on the last tick… summon airy Comin in clutch with the cross map shut down.

"oh a new video!" "In 11 hours..."

I love the subtle jab at Viego in the first 15 seconds lol

I think of them as stall mechanics. The idea of them is to stall the enemy, whether its shoving waves or approaching an objective. Even when revealed by oracles, they still need to be cleared. Also, they make defending towers much easier as there is now more risk in diving and can help manage multiple lanes as you dont have to be there for them to work

You using the ost from Megaman network transmission on the GameCube made me very happy

"vision is important but not if it takes up an ability slot" *Quinn sweating*

Completely unrelated to the vid but i was curious to know why u dont have a hardest champs vid and was hoping you could make one soon

Can i get some help please my league after a game will not start up I just lookng at the dark blue screen without play again or game stats coming up if you could help me id really appreciate it

A really neat trick with teemo schrooms that I rarely see people use, js to place them in late to farm creeps for you or slow down enemy advancement in case you lose a team fight

Could you imagine if Zigg’s satchel charges were actually able to stick around longer and detonated at any time? It’s be like your average FPS game with everyone throwing C4’s around

Even in team fights you can exert pressure with some of the traps. Toss down a couple mushrooms or boxes as the enemy engages and they can split their team as the back line tries to dodge them.

I think it's also important to look at how traps can be used reactively. If I'm getting chased, the slow and potential root that his E gives me are useful for running away

Yes, and remove shaco while you are at it. And just in general clones and invis pls

Hi Vars, I would like to point to a mechanic that I feel went undermentioned in your video. True, it's hard to go into the offensive when using traps (i would not agree with the phrasing: "hard to be proactive with...") the thing is, zone control does play an important role whenever your team gets to an objective first, as well as it being a primary tool to manipulate adversaries movements, especially when "kiting" or extending fights. It is true that traps can work as a win-more mechanic, but they also comprise a vital part of the psychological warfare / playstyle of most champs that possess them.

My two biggest issues with these traps are: 1 Shaco's box not being able to NOT be triggered by melee champs. 2 Teemo's slow lasting for 4 whole seconds. (And the kinda huge explosion radius, where a minion or teammate walks on one, and you're going straight back to your base)

I find that Teemo's mushrooms work well him in lane as an extra defences against ganks as well as helping him kite or chase enemies who step into them. It works well with his on-hit play style. Then they also do quite a but of damage with his ap build.

One thing I'm gonna say its far easier to use Shaco's traps when he is behind because the enemy is more likely to engage on you. AP Shaco is really good into dive comps for a reason. The "Pink Ward deals more damage when he is low health" meme also exists for a reason. In addition, the boxes are the very thing that allows Shaco to turn around against a stronger opponent. Even AD Shaco for that matter. This isn't something I see many people use, but unless the enemy team is very squishy (which don't happen very often), I max boxes second on AD Shaco to get not only the fear duration, but the high base damage people never expect from a Shaco that's not building AP. With that, I'm allowed to win almost any 1v1 against the likes of Fiora as long as I have a box ready and another off cooldown. This isn't as difficult to setup as it sounds. Scattering boxes along choke points, sometimes even the middle of a lane, get an opponent to chase you and into that box. If they bait the bite, without tenacity they get feared for as long as it takes for the second box, which you'll place down to arm. With 4 seconds of CC (a little less with tenacity, but still rarely less than 3) your opponent will eat your DPS and that of double boxes (which again, have a high base damage when maxed). Alternatively, making the opponent think the clon is the real Shaco and bait him into killing the clon will give free CC which you can place a box and reduce the enemy's time to react to it. It is very easy to just slam the hammer and claim traps are hit or miss, but if Shaco were to be reworked and the boxes went away with it, I'd drop the champion on the spot. The boxes are very, VERY rewarding. Maybe I have a different view on the matter because the champion has many tools to manipulate his opponent to do what you want them to, but even then, that just reinforces my point that, at least for Shaco, boxes aren't just a hit or miss mechanic that's just kinda there. They're a core component of his playstyle.

The missed opportunity to put a picture of sneaky the first time you said "lets talk about traps in league of legends" 😭

Now this might sound super toxic, but here's one random idea I had for an ultimate trap. Invis, long windup, super tiny hitbox teleport trap. If you step on it, you get stunned and the champion can recast to teleport right next to you. The champion would be a jungler designed entirely around placing traps and bursting enemies to corral them to the trap, then teleporting next to them to finish the job (and maybe finish off any other allies in the area).

I think Vars is underestimating the value and presure of traps because his trapper capabilities are worse than his others game-related capabilities. Two example : the presure of seeing one teamate activating a trap. You are on edge no matter if there are others traps. And the placement of traps, they don't need to be "optimised". They even work better if you place them "unoptimised"

One change I would like them to make for Shaco is making it so if you hit the boxes before they prime their invisibility, they don't go invis. It would make fighting Shaco as a support far less annoying since you really can't counter his boxes in any other way.

I wish there were more interesting types of traps. It would be cool if you could place a hidden taliyah E that triggers when stepped on and unexpectedly launches an enemy over a wall, for instance.

ive always wanted to see a champion with traps that interact with the terrain. like a stealth gate that activates when someone passes through it that acts like a karthus w between two walls

"Riot wants the focus to be on the champion itself, not the summon" Me: look at Heimerdinger spawning a turret and running away as it deals 2k damage on 2 seconds, and Yorick spawning a ghost that literally deals a champions equivalent of damage while he backs away. Pretty cool.

Whats this banger music at the end called?

"maybe if they could be detonated remotely" *techies want to know your location*

Teemo's mushrooms and Shaco's boxes should be active on cast. That is, the shrooms should still explode if they touch a valid target and the boxes should start shooting without the fear part if detecting an enemy before stealth kicks in.

I like how Viego is shown as an example for 3 of the 5 hated mechanics you gave us as examples.

Honestly, this is why I love playing Neeko. Her decoy can make the Shaco box activate as well as activate Caitlin traps. I haven't checked for Teemo or Jhin, but I'd assume it would work. Really entertaining ever since I took her as a support with predator and I can hard counter a Nunu encounter if he isn't being patient

Vars could you make a video on the new bounty system?

remote detonation would be pretty cool, kind of like Templar Assassin in DoTA but then i dont think League will introduce a new key binding just to detonate traps

aphelios' turret stays inactive until someone steps in its range. I remember that clip of tyler1 getting 1v1d by one of those back when he came out and was broken

Let's have a crossover with Dota 2's Teemo - Techies. League's trap mechanic gonna wrap the entire game, probably.

Honestly it is great for when as Teemo someone steps on a shroom you placed long ago and forgotten about and dies then you tell in all chat how you forgot about that shroom being there and watch them get salty over random chance

I think I like trap because they indirectly make your enemy team have less vision than your team because the enemy will invest in Oracle Lens than Stealth Ward or Farsight Alteration.

You said Jhin is the best designed champion in the game. Jhin has traps. Therefor, traps are good. :P

I remember a time when building rilai plus liandry on nidalee made her traps shred through tanks like butter, and teemo traps would just mean any affected champion had to return to base or die

Wow, Vars finally made a vid on Sneaky, great work!

In dota 2 there is a champ called techies who place down traps that do different things like one stuns and the other two do flat damage one being his q and the other his r but the other part of his ult is an aoe detonate on all traps

Traps should be explored more. I feel like they can be revolutionary in controlling terrain, just like how traps were used in war in the past.

Something to note with traps (At least the invisible ones): you can bluff their existence, even if the person isn't fed, typically a trap is going to do something, like slow, root, or reveal a champion and nobody wants to step on a trap, even an AD teemo's trap

Also. Maybe do a video on "proxy" skills ? Like heimerdinger, Aphelios, Syndra and Illaoi ?

Vars, I think you are missing a point here. Like a crucial one. Traps are present mostly on champions that are either immobile, or have limited mobility. Take Jhin, Caitlyn and Teemo. All of them have very little to escape a gank during laning phase. Two other champions are junglers, but even so, Nidalee's mobility is only good if she is jumping at an enemy, not away. That's where traps come in handy. I think Caitlyn is the worst of the bunch, but other two work just fine. What I'm trying to say is that traps are not only "win more" mechanic, or hit or miss ability. It is a crucial zone control tool for laning phase, that can allow them to do something, that other champions really can't. Take jhin's lotuses for example. They are extremely good at allowing Jhin to kite enemy bruisers. Traps are not just a boring floppy mechanic. I think they are cool and completely alter gameplay and your tactic.

I was waiting for you to make a video about traps !

I do believe there needs to be more ways to detect traps, an exaple I can think of is changing Umbral Glaive so it detects traps in its range instead of the traps having to detect you, cos by the time a Teemo shroom gives the enemy vision of you u already stepped in it

Teemo main (NA SwaggyMcFlabby) here and gotta say it is always sad when the enemy team has 4 sweepers and someone buys a pink ward before dragon rendering my setup practically useless. It happens in the vast majority of my Diamond games.

Something that could be cool is more powerful traps, but with an activation requirement. Kind of like Taliyah's mines. Perhaps with multiple effects depending on if it's met or not. A long range turret that only activates if you're in range of several of them, so it actually leads to significant damage. A trap that activates when a ward is placed nearby, destroying it. An anti-ward if you will. A trap that activates when a nearby ally is low health and heals them, but can be disabled by enemies stepping on it and taking damage.

I think a use for traps that people don't think about all that much is the ability to push a lane you aren't in. Jhin and Teemo have incredible roaming potential because they can have their traps catch minion waves making it impossible to take tower plates while they're gone making your lane opponents have to sit around and catch waves under tower while you do whatever you want.

The first part of the video where Viego was shown as having untargetability, stealth, and dashes got me.

Honestly, I gotta disagree with you on this one, i think that when you place down a trap especially in the enemies face they know that they have to go over it and their indecision can get get you somewhere while they are all not wanting to spring it, so while it might not be as interactive as some mechanics I think traps are a good addition and would like to see more traps added in the future. -Just not 200 years traps, I really don't want that.

Dota has an interesting Hero, which is all about traps. Techies. His Q is a trap that deals a chunk of damage instantly in an AOE and can not be detected or stacked. His W is a stasis trap that stuns enemies in a large radius. His Ult however is the most interesting. It is a trap that you can stack and most importantly: Does not detonate when you walk over it. You activate it instead. Meaning if the enemy team walks over it, you can activate it manulally to hit as many as possible. Not to mention: He can place a visible sign which grants nearby mines (About Flash-Range) Perfect stealth (Meaning you can not detect them). This grants another level of mindgames where you can also place the sign so people avoid a location, despite the fact that it is not filled with mines. THAT is how you do a Trap character. But adding traps onto another characters Kit either results in an underpowered champ or a trap that has no impact.

Original champion idea from me, Zsvatu, the envenomed shaman. W - feet snatcher Zsvatu places down a massive snap jaw trap, invincible but visible to enemies which lasts indefinitely. Enemies who step on it recive 100/200/300/400/500(+200% AP) physical damage and are rooted for 3/3.5/4/4.5/5 seconds. Zsvatu can place only one feet snatcher at a time. After triggering or placing in new location it turns into feet snatcher remains, casting feet snatcher on the remains refunds 25-75%(champion level) mana cost. Idea is. This trap is literaly meant to block paths. It is very powerful but its also very in the face. Its bigger than the river's pixel Bush so only place you can maybe hide it is tribush on side lanes.

Manual trap detonation could be achieved by changing the ability icon when hovering over a primed trap so instead of placing your exploding it. However that does mean no more trap stacking.

Imo the most broken "traps" are maokai's saplings. Especially when it was ap Mao support meta. You couldn't basically disarm it without getting to 0 HP and at the same time fast enough to get to the objective. And the fact that in the time you were disarming the sapling he could just throw another was just impossible to deal with.

I feel like they add a bit of mystery to the anime. Being shocked by the Haku reveal is a big part of Naruto.

Another important use of trap is during a siege, both defensive and offensive. On the defensive side, teemo traps make sure that enemies will most likely have to dive towers without minions and getting slowed or cc in the turret range is very unhealthy. Caitlyn traps however is more interesting when used offensively during a siege. People are now forced to walk through the field of traps to kill Caitlyn or she will kill the turret eventually with her long range shots.

I don't think that they should be removed. They make game more intresting and unique. Yes they might not be best things in the world but at the end of the day they make champions unique and in some cases can change a lot

Love the triple Viego at the beginning lol

Templar Assassin from Dota has the kind of traps that are discussed towards the end of the video: they can be detonated remotely and even teleported to, which synergizes nicely with the rest of her kit. In fact, I think LoL could carefully pilfer a few more concepts from Dota; after all, Yorick's circular wall already got taken from HOTS Nazeebo, and people got over it pretty quickly. Just my five cents ~O~

Whats the music?

idk doesnt maokai fit in the trap champs?

I love traps as a concept because unlike most kits they offer reward for macro planning and less so for micro play, which is rare in an ability, but the champ has to be weird for em to stick. I'll always stand by nidalee as the best traps. They serve her kit well as a jungling tool and as vision tool. Their DOT synergies with burn builds if you wanna shave some HP before encounters or are fighting a tanky team. They grant her vision and mobility, and their far cast range means you can toss one into a team fight as a suprise option for squishies who are a lil too comfortable in the back line. If I had my way, I'd give it some missing health damage to further push the burn synergy and to reward kills for trapping behind the enemy line before or after a fight

Would you consider Maokai's sapling toss a trap? It does have most of the properties of all the other traps I would say.

I like that in the first few seconds of the vid Viego is listed in all of the categories of what people hate

TFW your shroom get you a penta while being dead as Teemo.