Corki, The Screaming.... Yipsnake
Corki is probably my favorite hero, I tend to play him almost exclusively so I know a few of his finer points. My only worry upon releasing this guide is that players will develop ideas on how to counter me, and that sucks. This is not necessarily a "beginners guide" more of a intermediate players guide, and this is also my first guide. You have been warned.
Corki is in a frickin copter plane, so I decided to take the subtle hint, and play him as thus. Quick strike, with max damage, and + getaway ability. What makes Corki even more fun, is not only his easy ability to be a solid nuker, but he is also a great carry, he shines during harass, and can usually fill many roles during a standard 5x5. His excellent defense, maneuverability and sheer damage potential make him probably the most fun champion to master (Think of Corki as... Damage support)
Corki's major weakness is slows and stuns (Can't do them, can't fight them off), I tried finding items to unweaken that, but only Magic treads were relevant. It's inevitble. SLOWS AND STUNS WILL DEMOLISH YOU, and rightfully, you should stay away, or kill them fast (which you can do as well)
AP focussed Corkis are good, even played against a few, usually it's an even match, I just prefer not playing AP corki.
Please feel free to comment, I love hearing about different item combos and strats, and maybe you have a better idea.
Mastery Build:
I prefer utility, the extra mana + health regen, and eveyrthing else, will only help supplement you and increase your laning longevity. Other probably offense, but you don't need those extra small % stats to help you too much.
Runes:
I Use mostly Magic pen quints (tier 3 armor pen quint = 2 t3 AP marks, whereas 1 t3 MP quint = 3 t3 MP glyphs) Armor Pen marks, Magic Pen glyphs (never hurts, and when I play another champ, these suckers can come in real handy). I use attack spd seals, just because I haven't bother to investigate whats gonna be better (Ideas on this with math to supplement would be very much valued)
Summoner spells:
-ALWAYS have exhaust. ALWAYS. Put a mastery point into the upgrade, and just watch the magic happen. You need a slow, as corki has no slows or stuns, and this is it. Great for defense (kite champ into turret range when you have half to 1/4 life, and exhaust then blast away, easy feed at low levels.)
-I've been using flash since the last patch due to the increase in MC for corki, and I am now believing it to be a perfect fit. Offers way more mobility and saves my ass way more then any heals, plus great way to kite, and just BE ANNOYING.
-Fortify is a good one, but only for those team effort games (solo MM doesn't necessarily offer that environment, and usually is very GANK EVERYTHING friendly).
-Cleanse is a valid as well.
Summoner spells are great supplements, but really, you want the ones that effect you, corki, the most. Because if you even get 1 kill before level 5, you can start joshing the other team about how you're being fed.
Skills:
Passive: Hextech Shrapnel Shells: Basic attacks deal 10% additional true damage to minions, monsters, and champions. This just adds some extra pain.
-Phos Bomb (Q): Best Q attack skill EVER. Decent range, AoE, and detects invisible units, + MAKES ENEMIES MISS FOR 1 SEC after the fact. Great harass at early levels. Amazingly awesome. A good finisher when combined with flash or Valk.
-Valkerie (w): Less range then before, but good damage. Mostly I use it as an escape tool. Launch yourself over walls, trees, whatever. It makes whoevers chasing you look stupid, and wastes there time by awesome amounts. In 5x5 by the late rounds they will hate me so much all 5 champs will chase(Good players won't), and usually if they don't stun me I've wasted enough time for my allies to destroy a tower or just DO SOMETHING... ANYTHING... PLEASE.
-Gatling Gun (e): Not the greatest early skill, but after getting last whisper and ESPECIALLY Black Cleaver, Very VERY relevant. Turning around and solo killing a tank because he's stupid, alone, and doesn't understand BC + Last whisper + Gatling = He's frigggin squishy even with a million HP.
-Missile Barrage (r): (skill shot) You will notice how incomplete corki is till level 6. Missiles do AoE, very low mana cost, huge range, every 4th missile is a nuke with more range, more damage (And I am pretty sure a larger radius for AoE damage). Missiles will make you have some of the best range in the game, ultra laning, last hitting, mega harass, most annoying mosquito in the world.
Item Build:
This can make or break Corki, you NEED to ABSOLUTELY know the weakness of the other team, and be able to accommodate that weakness as SOON AS POSSIBLE.
Corki is about offense, and damage, and running in and out of fights. Always look at damage, attack SPD, Arm Pen, AP, and magic pen first. If you don't like that, play as Ashe and be boring.
-First Item: Meki pendant(+2 HP potions) -> Philo stone
After the update, I thought chalice, but philo stone ends up being free after 35min, meki gives early mana regen for harass, and the health regen means I don't need to purchase something like Malady, and keeps you in lane longer. Corki has a good amount of health anyhow and isn't "uber squishy" damage taken to damage given ratio is usually 1:1, you can give as easy as you can get, so play smart.
After first... It's a toss up, Examine who your going against, and decide. sometimes I've gone lich bane 2nd and been successful, but AP Corki just isn't a "complete corki" to me.
-2nd Item is usually: Recurve bow -> Last whisper
Extra damage, lots of atk speed and armor pen, good tank buster, good anything buster really. Now the enemies know your name, because you will damage them fast and be an ultra pest.
-3rd Item
(Sheen is a nice cheapy to keep you even more relevant, before getting the bigger toys, but only do so if you know you are getting enough $ to finance it)
If you are getting good ganks, and the competition has some annoying tanks, then go BF -> Cleaver, Your attack speed means you hit the max of 5 stacks very quick, and with whisper, this is the ultra nuke build, they should fear you and rightfully slow.
I'll also go Wit's End if there is a very good magic user, WE is useful against most champs (Except mundo, trynd, etc.) but BC is priority.
-4th Item
Sometimes it's Starks, maybe Phantom Dancer sometimes Trinity Force, sometimes Nashors Tooth, maybe rageblade. Whatevers fiscally relevant. You've either won or lost at this point and just don't know it yet. Go with whats fiscally most relevant to your needs.
-(Boots) Think about these during the production of your other items, mercury treads are cool, I use Berserks sometimes, Boots of swiftness as well.
I think I've bought Infinity Edge once, and never again.
Strat:
Always think when encountering 5man gank squads, that they will stun you and kill you first. Do your damage fast, aggressive, and kill something, and then valk or flash outa there because they will ignore the tanks protecting you.
1-6: USE PHOS BOMB ALL THE TIME. Meki regens mana, so you need to make sure you're knockin creeps and champs with it. They need to know they HAVE to respect your damage. Not many people play Corki, so his abilities are underrated in a lot of minds. They just think "squishy". Say NO. Attack, constantly, keep moving, side to side in lane taking advantage of player position, make sivir earn her skill shots. Don't take unnecessary damage (sometimes unavoidable, you can die if you don't remain mobile and aware), you want to stay in the lane the whole time, defend your tower like its your mom. Concentrate on minions if you're backed to the tower (BOMBS ARE AoE!!!), make sure you are utilizing overaggressiveness on the enemies part, kite them into turret fire, cast exhaust, you are fed. Vlak or flash out of range of enemies, these give you major boosts of mobility, and in my opinion better then heals and whatever else.
6-12: You have missiles. You can now hold back champs from being able to come anywhere near you. Play smart, You use range, fight enemies on your terms, keep ryze away with the threat of rockets up his but, finish champs who are running away with a missile (Gotta love the range), demolish their turrets by missile hitting minions, and bombing them, make sure your creeps reach their tower and you are constantly putting pressure on the tower. Watch for ganks. Help teammates, yada yada.
12+: You're basically doing the same things as before just more effectively, but you are probably going to be the first and last champ targetted. Stay annoying, always keep the pressure up, DON'T GET STUNNED, UTILIZE VALK AND FLASH.
Your opponents should hate corki by now, they will have to play back against you. They won't want to deal with you again. You will take all the pressure off your allies and they can run around and do whatever they do, hopefully something useful. help them gank and chase down, of course. BUT YOUR OBJECTIVE IS TO WIN. IF YOU DIE, MAKE SURE YOU DIDN'T DIE NEEDLESSLY. Corki needs his tanks fed, he needs his allies doing well for him to reach his true potential.
Corki is probably my favorite hero, I tend to play him almost exclusively so I know a few of his finer points. My only worry upon releasing this guide is that players will develop ideas on how to counter me, and that sucks. This is not necessarily a "beginners guide" more of a intermediate players guide, and this is also my first guide. You have been warned.
Corki is in a frickin copter plane, so I decided to take the subtle hint, and play him as thus. Quick strike, with max damage, and + getaway ability. What makes Corki even more fun, is not only his easy ability to be a solid nuker, but he is also a great carry, he shines during harass, and can usually fill many roles during a standard 5x5. His excellent defense, maneuverability and sheer damage potential make him probably the most fun champion to master (Think of Corki as... Damage support)
Corki's major weakness is slows and stuns (Can't do them, can't fight them off), I tried finding items to unweaken that, but only Magic treads were relevant. It's inevitble. SLOWS AND STUNS WILL DEMOLISH YOU, and rightfully, you should stay away, or kill them fast (which you can do as well)
AP focussed Corkis are good, even played against a few, usually it's an even match, I just prefer not playing AP corki.
Please feel free to comment, I love hearing about different item combos and strats, and maybe you have a better idea.
Mastery Build:
I prefer utility, the extra mana + health regen, and eveyrthing else, will only help supplement you and increase your laning longevity. Other probably offense, but you don't need those extra small % stats to help you too much.
Runes:
I Use mostly Magic pen quints (tier 3 armor pen quint = 2 t3 AP marks, whereas 1 t3 MP quint = 3 t3 MP glyphs) Armor Pen marks, Magic Pen glyphs (never hurts, and when I play another champ, these suckers can come in real handy). I use attack spd seals, just because I haven't bother to investigate whats gonna be better (Ideas on this with math to supplement would be very much valued)
Summoner spells:
-ALWAYS have exhaust. ALWAYS. Put a mastery point into the upgrade, and just watch the magic happen. You need a slow, as corki has no slows or stuns, and this is it. Great for defense (kite champ into turret range when you have half to 1/4 life, and exhaust then blast away, easy feed at low levels.)
-I've been using flash since the last patch due to the increase in MC for corki, and I am now believing it to be a perfect fit. Offers way more mobility and saves my ass way more then any heals, plus great way to kite, and just BE ANNOYING.
-Fortify is a good one, but only for those team effort games (solo MM doesn't necessarily offer that environment, and usually is very GANK EVERYTHING friendly).
-Cleanse is a valid as well.
Summoner spells are great supplements, but really, you want the ones that effect you, corki, the most. Because if you even get 1 kill before level 5, you can start joshing the other team about how you're being fed.
Skills:
Passive: Hextech Shrapnel Shells: Basic attacks deal 10% additional true damage to minions, monsters, and champions. This just adds some extra pain.
-Phos Bomb (Q): Best Q attack skill EVER. Decent range, AoE, and detects invisible units, + MAKES ENEMIES MISS FOR 1 SEC after the fact. Great harass at early levels. Amazingly awesome. A good finisher when combined with flash or Valk.
-Valkerie (w): Less range then before, but good damage. Mostly I use it as an escape tool. Launch yourself over walls, trees, whatever. It makes whoevers chasing you look stupid, and wastes there time by awesome amounts. In 5x5 by the late rounds they will hate me so much all 5 champs will chase(Good players won't), and usually if they don't stun me I've wasted enough time for my allies to destroy a tower or just DO SOMETHING... ANYTHING... PLEASE.
-Gatling Gun (e): Not the greatest early skill, but after getting last whisper and ESPECIALLY Black Cleaver, Very VERY relevant. Turning around and solo killing a tank because he's stupid, alone, and doesn't understand BC + Last whisper + Gatling = He's frigggin squishy even with a million HP.
-Missile Barrage (r): (skill shot) You will notice how incomplete corki is till level 6. Missiles do AoE, very low mana cost, huge range, every 4th missile is a nuke with more range, more damage (And I am pretty sure a larger radius for AoE damage). Missiles will make you have some of the best range in the game, ultra laning, last hitting, mega harass, most annoying mosquito in the world.
Item Build:
This can make or break Corki, you NEED to ABSOLUTELY know the weakness of the other team, and be able to accommodate that weakness as SOON AS POSSIBLE.
Corki is about offense, and damage, and running in and out of fights. Always look at damage, attack SPD, Arm Pen, AP, and magic pen first. If you don't like that, play as Ashe and be boring.
-First Item: Meki pendant(+2 HP potions) -> Philo stone
After the update, I thought chalice, but philo stone ends up being free after 35min, meki gives early mana regen for harass, and the health regen means I don't need to purchase something like Malady, and keeps you in lane longer. Corki has a good amount of health anyhow and isn't "uber squishy" damage taken to damage given ratio is usually 1:1, you can give as easy as you can get, so play smart.
After first... It's a toss up, Examine who your going against, and decide. sometimes I've gone lich bane 2nd and been successful, but AP Corki just isn't a "complete corki" to me.
-2nd Item is usually: Recurve bow -> Last whisper
Extra damage, lots of atk speed and armor pen, good tank buster, good anything buster really. Now the enemies know your name, because you will damage them fast and be an ultra pest.
-3rd Item
(Sheen is a nice cheapy to keep you even more relevant, before getting the bigger toys, but only do so if you know you are getting enough $ to finance it)
If you are getting good ganks, and the competition has some annoying tanks, then go BF -> Cleaver, Your attack speed means you hit the max of 5 stacks very quick, and with whisper, this is the ultra nuke build, they should fear you and rightfully slow.
I'll also go Wit's End if there is a very good magic user, WE is useful against most champs (Except mundo, trynd, etc.) but BC is priority.
-4th Item
Sometimes it's Starks, maybe Phantom Dancer sometimes Trinity Force, sometimes Nashors Tooth, maybe rageblade. Whatevers fiscally relevant. You've either won or lost at this point and just don't know it yet. Go with whats fiscally most relevant to your needs.
-(Boots) Think about these during the production of your other items, mercury treads are cool, I use Berserks sometimes, Boots of swiftness as well.
I think I've bought Infinity Edge once, and never again.
Strat:
Always think when encountering 5man gank squads, that they will stun you and kill you first. Do your damage fast, aggressive, and kill something, and then valk or flash outa there because they will ignore the tanks protecting you.
1-6: USE PHOS BOMB ALL THE TIME. Meki regens mana, so you need to make sure you're knockin creeps and champs with it. They need to know they HAVE to respect your damage. Not many people play Corki, so his abilities are underrated in a lot of minds. They just think "squishy". Say NO. Attack, constantly, keep moving, side to side in lane taking advantage of player position, make sivir earn her skill shots. Don't take unnecessary damage (sometimes unavoidable, you can die if you don't remain mobile and aware), you want to stay in the lane the whole time, defend your tower like its your mom. Concentrate on minions if you're backed to the tower (BOMBS ARE AoE!!!), make sure you are utilizing overaggressiveness on the enemies part, kite them into turret fire, cast exhaust, you are fed. Vlak or flash out of range of enemies, these give you major boosts of mobility, and in my opinion better then heals and whatever else.
6-12: You have missiles. You can now hold back champs from being able to come anywhere near you. Play smart, You use range, fight enemies on your terms, keep ryze away with the threat of rockets up his but, finish champs who are running away with a missile (Gotta love the range), demolish their turrets by missile hitting minions, and bombing them, make sure your creeps reach their tower and you are constantly putting pressure on the tower. Watch for ganks. Help teammates, yada yada.
12+: You're basically doing the same things as before just more effectively, but you are probably going to be the first and last champ targetted. Stay annoying, always keep the pressure up, DON'T GET STUNNED, UTILIZE VALK AND FLASH.
Your opponents should hate corki by now, they will have to play back against you. They won't want to deal with you again. You will take all the pressure off your allies and they can run around and do whatever they do, hopefully something useful. help them gank and chase down, of course. BUT YOUR OBJECTIVE IS TO WIN. IF YOU DIE, MAKE SURE YOU DIDN'T DIE NEEDLESSLY. Corki needs his tanks fed, he needs his allies doing well for him to reach his true potential.
