People knew Xerath was good. She is essentially Annie with a 1300 range ult. Yeah...pretty sure that did not come out of the blue. Maokai has existed longer, and while the new masteries certainly made him more viable jungling, people almost never played him before. Pantheon is not as good as other options for the same lanes he can run. Wukong had a VEEEEERRY weak laning phase, and still does, as opposed to safer, more consistent tops like SKARNAH or Udyr and such who possess sustain. Warwick solo top is not amazing. He is sustainable, but doesn't have as much utility as other tops outside of his ult. Tryndamere is okay in counter lanes against non-sustain tops, but just isn't as good in lane as other champs like Akali, who have better sustain and better harass.People are so dumb they need to see a tournament to realize a hero is good.
Xerath : Chauster picked him two times and went like 10/0 > Went from worst AP mid ever to best AP mid ever
Jungle Maokai : Same?
I will tell you some secrets : Ashe is a completely viable carry / Tryndamere top is really good and beat a lot of solotops / Pantheon is good as an AD Caster (See Talon for example) as both mid and solotop / Wukong was already a decent pick BEFORE the boosts / Warwick is an amazing solotop / ...
Open your mind. Pretty much EVERY hero in the game is viable at high-ELO play, some heroes just need a favorable team comp to show their potential while some are just good in every team comp.
Karthus do not need nerfs btw, Reginald is just a top level Karthus playing at his best right now. If we were to follow this logic, Vayne, Riven, Kennen, Yorick, Ezreal, Alistar, Soraka, Sona, Ryze, Leblanc, ... would need a nerf ?
EDIT : Hoping that this match will prove Vlad is viable with a good team comp, don't think it will happen though
Bruiser is definitely the stronger way to build. It actually lets you initiate team fights by diving onto their squishy - otherwise, you just get bursted down in a matter of seconds. Building Atmog's as opposed to Ghostblade/I-Edge/Phantom Dancer or something lets you deal tons of damage and zone like crazy, as opposed to waiting for someone else to try to initiate and then praying that you don't get focused.
-Maybe for a day people thought Xerath was bad, but I know that even I could tell that anyone with a 1300 range ult and poke and stun could not possibly be bad-Most of the people thought Xerath was useless, even some High ELO players thought he was not viable at all, but you could see a lot of threads talking about how bad Xerath was.
-Jungle Maokai is already old, and has already been seen, even if competitive play, however, most people don't realize his CC is insane, his ult is really good in teamfights and his tankiness makes him a pretty powerful Tank/jungler, like Rammus. Now, I'm pretty sure Leona could be a could jungler if she was better at clearing, maybe with new masteries.
-What would you define as "other options" ? Because there are not much pure AD Casters/Assassin, I can only think of Talon right now, which offers different options (not better or worse), people underestimate Pantheon burst and presence, he is very good in mid lane and snowballs easily. Not to say a well placed ulti is like insta Ace during a teamfight, he also have hard CC and ranged harass.
-Nasus early phase is even weaker, Wukong may not have sustain, but he deals a LOT of damage and can get out easily with his clone, so he can trade blows evenly, and even win. And well, comparing Wukong to Udyr is like comparing Vladimir to Annie : They share the same lane, but not the same role.
-If Suppression + AS to your whole team + ability to see low health people and chase them easily to clean after a teamfight while being able to tank is not enough for you, I don't know what you classify as utility.
-Well, of course a MELEE SQUISHY champion can't win a fight against an ASSASSIN which also has ranged harass + stealth. It's like telling me Vladimir isn't doing good against Fiddlesticks in lane. The role of an assasin is to burst down squishies then disappear. However, Tryndamere does well against tanky sustain champs like Udyr, because he can reduce incoming damage, does WAY more damage and can regain his life quick without auto attacking, not to say his Ult offers him 5s to fight.
AS/on hit (aka Teemo style) jungle, AP mid, or tanky DPS solo top.
-Warwick just doesn't do that much in a teamfight without his ult, from what I have seen. I don't know Warwick much, but and ult-less Warwick is not nearly as good as many other top laners.
Without a doubt he is a dick to lane against, but being good in lane does not make you a good champCDR Q spamming WW is decent enough at top lane IMO. He is like the melee version of Vladimir
-So you admit that you were wrong in your point regarding Xerath-People with a brain saw that Xerath was good.
-There are not a lot of spells that offer a 1s root (at lvl.1) + a gap closer, so yeah, it's insane as a jungler, because it offers great ganks without using Flash or anything.
-Of course you can avoid the big red circle of doom. Better run back right at those enemies chasing you. Why everyone is saying Pantheon's ult suck assuming the guy playing it is a complete dumbass ?
-Suppression is not enough ? What about melting all those squishies while being unkillable with all your defense/sustain (in reality, you're not invincible, but by the time you drop dead, the enemy team is aced), being able to give 40% AS to your team, giving vision on fleeing enemies ?
-You underestimate Wukong early damage.
-I would like to hear who told you that Trynd isn't sustained himself, because it is completely wrong. He is cooldown based, so he can spam as much as he wants, he has free heal, free kite and free damage reduction, I mean, everything in that kit is made for you to reduce incoming damage while you farm. Unless you're trying to trade blows with someone that is obviously countering you in 1v1 at your current level, in which case you just farm until you're able to take him 1v1.
-No, Annie isn't better in lane than Vlad. you can't be better against EVERYONE, therefore, this statement is wrong. Vladimir counters Morgana for example, while Annie doesn't.
Could someone link me to a good 3 v 3 guide?
It's astounding how opposed you are to reading what I actually write. Without a full fury bar, Tryn does absolute shit damage. This is a simple fact. I understand that he can crit to do lots of damage early, but in order to heal himself, he essentially gimps his damage like crazy until he builds up rage. I am not saying Tryn is bad, just that he is not as good in lane as other sustain champs imo. Now if oyu have a problem wioth that statement, please make a logical argument as to how it is incorrect and provide legitimate support outside of a tier list rating. K thxEDIT: I just wanna establish that masterful still has a problem with shouting his mouth off about anything and everything in spite of knowing nothing, I'm not just picking on him it's really just every post he makes is like this. You say Trynd does dick for damage but Elementz has Trynd in tier 1 for solo queue specifically because of the damage he deals early game. Having played, played against, and played with Trynd I can vouch for this.
It's astounding how opposed you are to reading what I actually write. Without a full fury bar, Tryn does absolute shit damage. This is a simple fact. I understand that he can crit to do lots of damage early, but in order to heal himself, he essentially gimps his damage like crazy until he builds up rage. I am not saying Tryn is bad, just that he is not as good in lane as other sustain champs imo. Now if oyu have a problem wioth that statement, please make a logical argument as to how it is incorrect and provide legitimate support outside of a tier list rating. K thx