Probably one of the most miserable Normal matches I have played was Draft pick where I ended up playing solo top. Luckily I have Irelia, who even in Season 3 is still a solid solo top choice, but it had been forever since I had played her and I had never played her or anyone else solo top. So the last several days I have been honing my skills in Intermediate bot matches, where there is often a jungler and folks are generally happy to let you try out specific roles.

The good news is that I’ve gotten the basics down pretty quickly. Already had the right runes and masteries, which is a blessing, and I have read through several champion guides on LOLKING. It still feels weird to use my ulti to clear minion waves, but it definitely works when the situation is right and you need to clear quickly, such as helping out in another lane, and I have her basic gameplay mechanics well learned. That being said, I still haven’t tried to use Q (Bladesurge) to chase an enemy via enemy minions, likely because the situation isn’t as common in bot matches, and I need to remind myself to only take the first level of Q and put points into W and E, primarily because as you rank up Bladesurge on Q, the mana cost also goes up, and you want to be able to spam it if the situation calls for it.

I am still ending up a bit mana starved in the early game, so gotta figure out how I can help myself there, and I am pretty rotten at last hitting as a melee character (in comparison to playing ranged). But I think I am up for a few blind pick Normal matches to see how I hold up against real players. Wish me luck!!