Corki - The True Hybrid Champion
I have had several requests to write a Corki guide so I think I shall share with the community what I believe to be one of the best ways to play him. I am not going to go into very much detail about alternate builds with him though I will briefly mention a few.
This guide is intended for moderate/advanced players but I am going to mention some things that will seem trivial and obvious to many. I will go into detail about some of these obvious caveats because I constantly see people, even good players, play him incorrectly, or make what I believe to be dire mistakes. Moreover, throughout the guide I have these random caveats that I wanted to make special mention outside of the section, there are labeled as Notes: So anything I put here not in tha main section I wanted to highlight additional attention to.
As the title states, this guide will attempt to turn Corki into a true hybrid dps. Using runes to augment his ability power to make him viable early game, and items to keep him up to par late game. Mobility, map control, lane control, and ganking are just some of Corki's specialties and of course loud noises and flashy explosions all over the enemy team.
By the way, this guide is really really long, so sorry for that, I might try to cut down, but that is a warning so if you don't like reading long guides, just stop now
And thanks to whoever DT777 stole this formatting from <3
Spells
Phosphorous Bomb
This is one of your main sources of dps, especially early game. Does decent aoe damage and blinds the enemies unfortunate enough to be caught in its radius. Also reveals stealthed units for a short period of time
Notes:
Do not underestimate how much blind helps your team out in team fights, make sure you try to hit this on heros that blind affect as well. Its better to hit 3 people instead of 4 if you can hit that Master Yi, or Tyrndamere. Also, do not forget that his reveals stealthed units, which can really disrupt a lot of players, mainly because they forget that Corki has this ability. Try to anticipate when the Evelyn or Shaco will try to gank and attempt to reveal them, do not be afraid to 'waste' it doing this because one good shot could likely get them killed with teammates around
Valkyrie
An all around great escape/chase mechanism. Lets you move over terrain to both get that kill, or to dodge a close gank, a great ability.
Notes:
Remember, this does a huge amount of damage and scales with ability power very well. When farming, do not be afraid to use this to help kill rune creeps. Additionally I will talk about how to use this offensivly in a later section
Gatling Gun
Corki's "Fire and Forget" ability. Allows Corki to just unload damage on anything in front of him, also lowering their armor with every shot.
Notes:
An alright move, although its full potential is unleashed late game, especially with a Black Cleaver. Make sure you are always using this to help your team kill big creeps like the dragon, rune creeps, or Baron. Also, remember to save this for the right moments, if you are just going to nuke a team then run away, you will probably waste half of this abilities duration as you are running away, only use it when you know you can stand your ground and unload its full duration on the enemy
Missile Barrage
Ok this is it, this is more than half of what makes Corki. His other moves are great and tend to work well with each other, but once you put this with them, Corki really becomes unleashed. You shoot targeted exploding missiles which explode for aoe damage, AND if that wasn't enough, every 4th missile is the Big One…
Notes:
I will probably be talking a lot about Corki's ult in various sections of this guide but I will put a few basic notes here. Before you go into big team fights, or before you start using them on creeps, check to see how many you have. I cannot stress this enough, it is so important for Corki to have the right amount of missiles for a given occasion. Also if you are really hardcore about it, before you engage in big team fights, you can shoot off 3 missiles and save the Big One for when you engage.
Hextech Rounds
Corki's passive, which deals 10% of his attack damage as pure damage which is not reduced by armor. Eh, so so, for a passive, probably a bit under par with some of the other good ones but still good because Throughout the game, Corki's physical attack will be decent added dps.
Pre-Game
Runes
Ability Power
Magic Penetration
Mana Regen
If you want a fun build you can also work with Armor penetration runes with some mana regen and mana runes. Possibly getting the Black Cleaver primary after a little survivability.
Mastery
This is quite debatable as utility works very well for Corki, but I like to every bit of damage that I can so I usually go 21/0/9. Like I said before if you want to go utility heavy it is fine, as long as you get Archaic Knowledge from offense you will be good to go.
Summoner Abilities
Teleport:
I tend to focus on ability power and magic penetration runes, but even if you do have a lot of mana regen runes, you will run out of mana constantly. Teleport not only allows you to help out your team, but it allows you to regen your health and mana and farm for a maximum amount of time.
Flash:
Why get another blink when you already have one??? I know some of you might think this is a bit odd, so I am going to rant here a little. This move is essential in my opinion. It does many things.
First of all, it discourages others from ganking you. This is more important than you think. Honestly, who in their right mind is actually going to try to gank a Corki that has Valkyrie and Flash? Even if they try, they will probably fail, and lose out on xp/farming time, which is fine. And unless they are good, they might die as well.
Second, as you all know, a lot of people are using flash, so if you do not have this, they might be able to keep up with you even if you Valk. Away, this will ensure that you will almost never die unless it is on your terms. Corki is an excellent farmer and ganker, so you want to try to be alive for as long as you can.
Other moves good on Corki
Ghost:
Flash's little brother, not quite as good but it is on a longer cooldown, I can understand if you want this for all you Ghost lovers.
Exhaust:
Ultra aggressive eh? Yes I like this style of play, but Corki isn't going to have trouble chasing people down, and he has the dps to finish people, he needs to stay alive, aka flash.
Fortify:
Because, damn, its fortify.
Anything else really isn't good on Corki unless someone on your team really wants you to have Clairvoyance in which case you should say, no I am too important to have that spell, I'm Corki!!
In-Game
Ability Progression
1. Valkyrie
2. Phosphorous Bomb
3. Phosphorous Bomb
4. Gateling Gun
5. Phosphorous Bomb
6. Missile Barrage
Max Phosphorous Bomb, then Valkyrie, then Gateling Gun
Yes start off with Valkyrie, you never know when they might gank you, or your team might do dragon first, or you get unexpectedly owned at level 1. This + flash with ensure your survival.
Starting Items
Regrowth Pendant
Item Build:
1. Regrowth Pendant -> Philosopher's Stone
2. Boots of Swiftness
3. Phage
4. Sheen
5. Trinity Force
6. Black Cleaver
7. Warmog's or your favorite survivability item here (GA works as well)
8. Depends on the team makeup (yours and theirs)
Philosopher's stone gives some good mana and health regen, and having 1 gold per 10 item is never a bad decision. Since you shouldn't be dieing very much you don’t need that much early game health besides phage. Your survivability lies in your mobility from Boots+Trinity Force, and your Valk+Flash combo. Personally I just love the Black Cleaver because it synergizes so well with Gateling Gun, each shot counts as a physical attack which will proc the armor reduction on all those in front of you, which is ridiculous in a team fight. After this, you really do need survivability because Corki will get focused in team fights and can be downed fast. After the Black Cleaver, you should be constantly buying elixirs of Brilliance for some added ability power and cooldown reduction.
If the game lasts until 8, which it rarely will, if you are caster heavy, go Abyssal Scepter. If they don't have a lot of tanks or armor, get an infinity edge to pwn with your Gatling Gun and armor reduction. If you like to see big explosions and stuff, get a Zhonya's Ring.
Notes:
Mobility is the name of the game. If you can outrun all of the team, and you can stay at range, you can constantly unload all of your abilities at the enemy, maximizing your ability to dps. If you go all ability power, or all attack damage, you will find yourself either dead or running a lot of the time because they will focus you down as a top priority. They will still want you dead with this build, and they may and will overstep their bounds to get you, this is when you and your team make them pay. With insane movement speed, Valkyrie, and Flash, they will be chasing you until the very end of their life, in which you will fly away with more gold and xp in your pocket.
Early Game
Try your hardest to solo middle, and ask your team to help you get lizard buff if there is no one else to get it. This will help you dominate anyone mid. Unless you are extremely confident do not try to get first blood. You should focus on last hitting every creep and harassing. At level 2-3 you should start using Phosphorous Bomb to hurt them and the back creep wave. When position permits, get a shot or two in on them, but make sure position permits, what I mean by this is do not get the attention of too many enemy creeps as their damage will add up. But, getting first blood or killing them isn't super important, what is more important is that you survive, and last hit the hell out of those creeps to farm. Ideally you don't want to go back to base until you can afford to get boots, philosopher's stone, and 1 health and 1 mana potion.
Notes:
How to get first blood. Do not attempt this unless you are a more advanced Corki player or if you are very confident that you can own whoever is in the lane with you. Pay attention to their abilities. If they have flash, this isn't going to work without a modification.
Harass with positional shots, especially if you have the lizard buff. At level 2-3 start hitting them with bombs. If they get to around half health or less and you think you can kill them you have two options. The easy option is just Valk close to them and own if they will fall for that, but a lot of the time good players will obviously be aware of this, this is where it gets tricky. Remember how I said that Valk does a ton of damage when placed right? You can flash up to them, then Valk behind them, keep them in the path of the fire, then bomb, gateling gun and dps them down. If they have flash themselves, you are going to have to fake a fb attempt by going in on them with Valk. Them bombing them, this usually will make them flash away, then you can go to base, get boots and teleport back and repeat using the flash strat. Once again, do not die, farm, and if you aren't good at last hitting creeps, learn.
Early to Mid Game
When you hit 6-7 if you still cannot kill the person in your lane, this is when you start ganking. The whole point of you soloing is that you can hit 6 fast and get your ult. Pay attention to the other lanes and which people are easy to gank. If you see Malphite and you know he has flash and he is with singed and they both are at full health, you probably shouldn't go to their lane. Try to find heros that have some firepower, but not a lot of health, like annie, kassadin, cm, or some other support hero. The point is, they won't have the firepower you have with your ult.
Now you are constantly running out of mana, when you are past level 7 or so, ask someone to help you kill the golems, or you can just do it yourself. Sometimes I buy 2-3 health potions and 1 mana potion if I know I am going to go kill the golem so you can just regen your health while you are going to gank. Basically now you should be constantly missing. If you show up in a lane its only to blow the hell out of the creep for some easy gold. You want to keep the enemy team guessing as to where you will show up next, if they are good they will be a bit more defensive which is good for your other players that can't hold their lanes as well. If they make the mistake of pushing with only 2-3 of them, tell your team you are going in, do not be afraid to blow your load all over their faces and flash/Valk out of there.
Notes:
Do not make it obvious what lane you are going to go gank. Don't just go top or bot from middle, fake out the mid lane guy, start teleporting in front of him so that he will hit you out of it, then run back to your tower. He will report to his team that you are going back to base, or he might not even say anything at all, then instead of going to base you start heading in for the gank. Alternatively, since you have teleport, you can just go back to base and teleport to a lane where you are going to gank, if you do this FOR THE LOVE OF GOD teleport out of sight of the enemy heros.
Late Game:
Ok by now the enemy team gets it, they hate you, they want to kill you, and now Corki is starting to be a little less powerful alone. From now on, you should always have a brilliance potion, and a fort potion if you want and you should follow your team everywhere. Do not go alone because if you played Corki right, you will have a streak and the enemy team has already said in team chat to kill you on sight no matter what it takes. Always play the mobility game, run away, harass, shoot missiles, keep running, shoot bombs ect. Once a team fight happens don't use Valk. To go in anymore, just stay on the perimeter and bomb/gateling gun/missile barrage. If they come for you, Valk away and continue the onslaught. You guys should have dominated lane control by now (hopefully) which means you should be getting dragon every time it is up, as well as stealing their golem. Always ask your team if you can have golem, it works really well for you.. Now is the time to try to either bait baron, or just kill him. After that, make sure you are full on your brilliance/fort potions and go for the win.
Corki is never out of the fight!
This section is to remind the Corki player to be a guerilla warfare master. Hit and run, hit and run, once you smell the kill, you go in guns' a blasin'. When I say Corki is never out of the fight, I mean unless they are bee lining to kill you and your team is dead, you should always be on the lookout to continue to harass, even if they made you Valk. And flash away and you are at 30% health. When this happens, Corki becomes more of an observer of the fight, watching for opportunities to missile, or to run on the perimeter and bomb someone then continue running away, or to monitor where the low health enemy champions when to see if you could potentially cut them off and kill them. Don't take too many risks of course, but there WILL be opportunities to fire more missiles to help you team. And if they keep chasing you, there is a good chance they will be damaged by your Valkyrie flame wave, always be watching there health because you can just turn around, bomb them (which gives them the 35% miss chance of course) and just unload for the kill. A lot of people will be so suicidal to end your spree they won't realize their health has lowered so much in the course of chasing you that you will be able to just turn around and own them. A good Corki player is not only a mobile, aoe damagefest, but he is observant, I can't stress this enough.
Missile Control
I have seen a lot of players mess this up. Your missiles are your friends, chat with them, go out to movies with them, and be nice to them, don't abandon them. You should be constantly monitoring how many missiles you have. Don't go into a serious gank with only 1-3 missiles. You are going to need at least 4, preferably all 7. With that being said, do not be afraid to shoot a couple at some of the back creeps for some gold, or to harass. The worst thing in the world is to shoot 5 missiles harassing, then when the big team fight comes, you only have 2 missiles and you end up running away while your team bites the dust.
Summary
I truly believe that Corki is an underrated hero. It is true he was godly before the big nerf and now he isn't as good as before, but he is still a viable hero. The build and tactics I have described make Corki into a hit and run specialist with some serious boom sauce. The ability power and magic penetration runes keep him very strong early to mid game where he shines, and the item builds keep him alive and in the game until late game. This is a hybrid strategy that tries to make him strong all game. Pure ability power or pure attack damage I think really handicaps Corki at some stage in the game; I believe this is the optimal strategy to keep him strong and supportive all game. He pushes well, he farms well, he ganks well, he does tons of aoe damage, and he is a cute little guy who makes violent and flashy explosions, what is not to like? Remember to gank, try not to die (with flash) and to support your team. Mobility is key.
I have had several requests to write a Corki guide so I think I shall share with the community what I believe to be one of the best ways to play him. I am not going to go into very much detail about alternate builds with him though I will briefly mention a few.
This guide is intended for moderate/advanced players but I am going to mention some things that will seem trivial and obvious to many. I will go into detail about some of these obvious caveats because I constantly see people, even good players, play him incorrectly, or make what I believe to be dire mistakes. Moreover, throughout the guide I have these random caveats that I wanted to make special mention outside of the section, there are labeled as Notes: So anything I put here not in tha main section I wanted to highlight additional attention to.
As the title states, this guide will attempt to turn Corki into a true hybrid dps. Using runes to augment his ability power to make him viable early game, and items to keep him up to par late game. Mobility, map control, lane control, and ganking are just some of Corki's specialties and of course loud noises and flashy explosions all over the enemy team.
By the way, this guide is really really long, so sorry for that, I might try to cut down, but that is a warning so if you don't like reading long guides, just stop now
And thanks to whoever DT777 stole this formatting from <3
Spells
Phosphorous Bomb
This is one of your main sources of dps, especially early game. Does decent aoe damage and blinds the enemies unfortunate enough to be caught in its radius. Also reveals stealthed units for a short period of time
Notes:
Do not underestimate how much blind helps your team out in team fights, make sure you try to hit this on heros that blind affect as well. Its better to hit 3 people instead of 4 if you can hit that Master Yi, or Tyrndamere. Also, do not forget that his reveals stealthed units, which can really disrupt a lot of players, mainly because they forget that Corki has this ability. Try to anticipate when the Evelyn or Shaco will try to gank and attempt to reveal them, do not be afraid to 'waste' it doing this because one good shot could likely get them killed with teammates around
Valkyrie
An all around great escape/chase mechanism. Lets you move over terrain to both get that kill, or to dodge a close gank, a great ability.
Notes:
Remember, this does a huge amount of damage and scales with ability power very well. When farming, do not be afraid to use this to help kill rune creeps. Additionally I will talk about how to use this offensivly in a later section
Gatling Gun
Corki's "Fire and Forget" ability. Allows Corki to just unload damage on anything in front of him, also lowering their armor with every shot.
Notes:
An alright move, although its full potential is unleashed late game, especially with a Black Cleaver. Make sure you are always using this to help your team kill big creeps like the dragon, rune creeps, or Baron. Also, remember to save this for the right moments, if you are just going to nuke a team then run away, you will probably waste half of this abilities duration as you are running away, only use it when you know you can stand your ground and unload its full duration on the enemy
Missile Barrage
Ok this is it, this is more than half of what makes Corki. His other moves are great and tend to work well with each other, but once you put this with them, Corki really becomes unleashed. You shoot targeted exploding missiles which explode for aoe damage, AND if that wasn't enough, every 4th missile is the Big One…
Notes:
I will probably be talking a lot about Corki's ult in various sections of this guide but I will put a few basic notes here. Before you go into big team fights, or before you start using them on creeps, check to see how many you have. I cannot stress this enough, it is so important for Corki to have the right amount of missiles for a given occasion. Also if you are really hardcore about it, before you engage in big team fights, you can shoot off 3 missiles and save the Big One for when you engage.
Hextech Rounds
Corki's passive, which deals 10% of his attack damage as pure damage which is not reduced by armor. Eh, so so, for a passive, probably a bit under par with some of the other good ones but still good because Throughout the game, Corki's physical attack will be decent added dps.
Pre-Game
Runes
Ability Power
Magic Penetration
Mana Regen
If you want a fun build you can also work with Armor penetration runes with some mana regen and mana runes. Possibly getting the Black Cleaver primary after a little survivability.
Mastery
This is quite debatable as utility works very well for Corki, but I like to every bit of damage that I can so I usually go 21/0/9. Like I said before if you want to go utility heavy it is fine, as long as you get Archaic Knowledge from offense you will be good to go.
Summoner Abilities
Teleport:
I tend to focus on ability power and magic penetration runes, but even if you do have a lot of mana regen runes, you will run out of mana constantly. Teleport not only allows you to help out your team, but it allows you to regen your health and mana and farm for a maximum amount of time.
Flash:
Why get another blink when you already have one??? I know some of you might think this is a bit odd, so I am going to rant here a little. This move is essential in my opinion. It does many things.
First of all, it discourages others from ganking you. This is more important than you think. Honestly, who in their right mind is actually going to try to gank a Corki that has Valkyrie and Flash? Even if they try, they will probably fail, and lose out on xp/farming time, which is fine. And unless they are good, they might die as well.
Second, as you all know, a lot of people are using flash, so if you do not have this, they might be able to keep up with you even if you Valk. Away, this will ensure that you will almost never die unless it is on your terms. Corki is an excellent farmer and ganker, so you want to try to be alive for as long as you can.
Other moves good on Corki
Ghost:
Flash's little brother, not quite as good but it is on a longer cooldown, I can understand if you want this for all you Ghost lovers.
Exhaust:
Ultra aggressive eh? Yes I like this style of play, but Corki isn't going to have trouble chasing people down, and he has the dps to finish people, he needs to stay alive, aka flash.
Fortify:
Because, damn, its fortify.
Anything else really isn't good on Corki unless someone on your team really wants you to have Clairvoyance in which case you should say, no I am too important to have that spell, I'm Corki!!
In-Game
Ability Progression
1. Valkyrie
2. Phosphorous Bomb
3. Phosphorous Bomb
4. Gateling Gun
5. Phosphorous Bomb
6. Missile Barrage
Max Phosphorous Bomb, then Valkyrie, then Gateling Gun
Yes start off with Valkyrie, you never know when they might gank you, or your team might do dragon first, or you get unexpectedly owned at level 1. This + flash with ensure your survival.
Starting Items
Regrowth Pendant
Item Build:
1. Regrowth Pendant -> Philosopher's Stone
2. Boots of Swiftness
3. Phage
4. Sheen
5. Trinity Force
6. Black Cleaver
7. Warmog's or your favorite survivability item here (GA works as well)
8. Depends on the team makeup (yours and theirs)
Philosopher's stone gives some good mana and health regen, and having 1 gold per 10 item is never a bad decision. Since you shouldn't be dieing very much you don’t need that much early game health besides phage. Your survivability lies in your mobility from Boots+Trinity Force, and your Valk+Flash combo. Personally I just love the Black Cleaver because it synergizes so well with Gateling Gun, each shot counts as a physical attack which will proc the armor reduction on all those in front of you, which is ridiculous in a team fight. After this, you really do need survivability because Corki will get focused in team fights and can be downed fast. After the Black Cleaver, you should be constantly buying elixirs of Brilliance for some added ability power and cooldown reduction.
If the game lasts until 8, which it rarely will, if you are caster heavy, go Abyssal Scepter. If they don't have a lot of tanks or armor, get an infinity edge to pwn with your Gatling Gun and armor reduction. If you like to see big explosions and stuff, get a Zhonya's Ring.
Notes:
Mobility is the name of the game. If you can outrun all of the team, and you can stay at range, you can constantly unload all of your abilities at the enemy, maximizing your ability to dps. If you go all ability power, or all attack damage, you will find yourself either dead or running a lot of the time because they will focus you down as a top priority. They will still want you dead with this build, and they may and will overstep their bounds to get you, this is when you and your team make them pay. With insane movement speed, Valkyrie, and Flash, they will be chasing you until the very end of their life, in which you will fly away with more gold and xp in your pocket.
Early Game
Try your hardest to solo middle, and ask your team to help you get lizard buff if there is no one else to get it. This will help you dominate anyone mid. Unless you are extremely confident do not try to get first blood. You should focus on last hitting every creep and harassing. At level 2-3 you should start using Phosphorous Bomb to hurt them and the back creep wave. When position permits, get a shot or two in on them, but make sure position permits, what I mean by this is do not get the attention of too many enemy creeps as their damage will add up. But, getting first blood or killing them isn't super important, what is more important is that you survive, and last hit the hell out of those creeps to farm. Ideally you don't want to go back to base until you can afford to get boots, philosopher's stone, and 1 health and 1 mana potion.
Notes:
How to get first blood. Do not attempt this unless you are a more advanced Corki player or if you are very confident that you can own whoever is in the lane with you. Pay attention to their abilities. If they have flash, this isn't going to work without a modification.
Harass with positional shots, especially if you have the lizard buff. At level 2-3 start hitting them with bombs. If they get to around half health or less and you think you can kill them you have two options. The easy option is just Valk close to them and own if they will fall for that, but a lot of the time good players will obviously be aware of this, this is where it gets tricky. Remember how I said that Valk does a ton of damage when placed right? You can flash up to them, then Valk behind them, keep them in the path of the fire, then bomb, gateling gun and dps them down. If they have flash themselves, you are going to have to fake a fb attempt by going in on them with Valk. Them bombing them, this usually will make them flash away, then you can go to base, get boots and teleport back and repeat using the flash strat. Once again, do not die, farm, and if you aren't good at last hitting creeps, learn.
Early to Mid Game
When you hit 6-7 if you still cannot kill the person in your lane, this is when you start ganking. The whole point of you soloing is that you can hit 6 fast and get your ult. Pay attention to the other lanes and which people are easy to gank. If you see Malphite and you know he has flash and he is with singed and they both are at full health, you probably shouldn't go to their lane. Try to find heros that have some firepower, but not a lot of health, like annie, kassadin, cm, or some other support hero. The point is, they won't have the firepower you have with your ult.
Now you are constantly running out of mana, when you are past level 7 or so, ask someone to help you kill the golems, or you can just do it yourself. Sometimes I buy 2-3 health potions and 1 mana potion if I know I am going to go kill the golem so you can just regen your health while you are going to gank. Basically now you should be constantly missing. If you show up in a lane its only to blow the hell out of the creep for some easy gold. You want to keep the enemy team guessing as to where you will show up next, if they are good they will be a bit more defensive which is good for your other players that can't hold their lanes as well. If they make the mistake of pushing with only 2-3 of them, tell your team you are going in, do not be afraid to blow your load all over their faces and flash/Valk out of there.
Notes:
Do not make it obvious what lane you are going to go gank. Don't just go top or bot from middle, fake out the mid lane guy, start teleporting in front of him so that he will hit you out of it, then run back to your tower. He will report to his team that you are going back to base, or he might not even say anything at all, then instead of going to base you start heading in for the gank. Alternatively, since you have teleport, you can just go back to base and teleport to a lane where you are going to gank, if you do this FOR THE LOVE OF GOD teleport out of sight of the enemy heros.
Late Game:
Ok by now the enemy team gets it, they hate you, they want to kill you, and now Corki is starting to be a little less powerful alone. From now on, you should always have a brilliance potion, and a fort potion if you want and you should follow your team everywhere. Do not go alone because if you played Corki right, you will have a streak and the enemy team has already said in team chat to kill you on sight no matter what it takes. Always play the mobility game, run away, harass, shoot missiles, keep running, shoot bombs ect. Once a team fight happens don't use Valk. To go in anymore, just stay on the perimeter and bomb/gateling gun/missile barrage. If they come for you, Valk away and continue the onslaught. You guys should have dominated lane control by now (hopefully) which means you should be getting dragon every time it is up, as well as stealing their golem. Always ask your team if you can have golem, it works really well for you.. Now is the time to try to either bait baron, or just kill him. After that, make sure you are full on your brilliance/fort potions and go for the win.
Corki is never out of the fight!
This section is to remind the Corki player to be a guerilla warfare master. Hit and run, hit and run, once you smell the kill, you go in guns' a blasin'. When I say Corki is never out of the fight, I mean unless they are bee lining to kill you and your team is dead, you should always be on the lookout to continue to harass, even if they made you Valk. And flash away and you are at 30% health. When this happens, Corki becomes more of an observer of the fight, watching for opportunities to missile, or to run on the perimeter and bomb someone then continue running away, or to monitor where the low health enemy champions when to see if you could potentially cut them off and kill them. Don't take too many risks of course, but there WILL be opportunities to fire more missiles to help you team. And if they keep chasing you, there is a good chance they will be damaged by your Valkyrie flame wave, always be watching there health because you can just turn around, bomb them (which gives them the 35% miss chance of course) and just unload for the kill. A lot of people will be so suicidal to end your spree they won't realize their health has lowered so much in the course of chasing you that you will be able to just turn around and own them. A good Corki player is not only a mobile, aoe damagefest, but he is observant, I can't stress this enough.
Missile Control
I have seen a lot of players mess this up. Your missiles are your friends, chat with them, go out to movies with them, and be nice to them, don't abandon them. You should be constantly monitoring how many missiles you have. Don't go into a serious gank with only 1-3 missiles. You are going to need at least 4, preferably all 7. With that being said, do not be afraid to shoot a couple at some of the back creeps for some gold, or to harass. The worst thing in the world is to shoot 5 missiles harassing, then when the big team fight comes, you only have 2 missiles and you end up running away while your team bites the dust.
Summary
I truly believe that Corki is an underrated hero. It is true he was godly before the big nerf and now he isn't as good as before, but he is still a viable hero. The build and tactics I have described make Corki into a hit and run specialist with some serious boom sauce. The ability power and magic penetration runes keep him very strong early to mid game where he shines, and the item builds keep him alive and in the game until late game. This is a hybrid strategy that tries to make him strong all game. Pure ability power or pure attack damage I think really handicaps Corki at some stage in the game; I believe this is the optimal strategy to keep him strong and supportive all game. He pushes well, he farms well, he ganks well, he does tons of aoe damage, and he is a cute little guy who makes violent and flashy explosions, what is not to like? Remember to gank, try not to die (with flash) and to support your team. Mobility is key.
