Ultra Rapid Fire mode is up on the North American servers again (Finally!). To prevent some readers from making critical mistakes picking, banning, and building their champions this article will provide some very helpful tips.
The 2015 URFitational Grand Finals
If you’ve never seen URF mode before, watch this helpful video.
The distinct difference in the game mode URF is the “Awesome Buff of Awesomely Awesome Buffing” Practically speaking, the buff grants tenacity, free secondary bar, crazy attack speed, reduced healing, and 80% cooldown. With these buffs in mind you build one thing in URF: Damage. With no mana or cooldowns, things like Morellonomicon have way less practical usage than Rabadon’s or Liandry’s.
The ABoAAB in its entirety. Image courtesy of leagueoflegends.wikia.com
It’s also really easy to permanently lock a champion down. For example, Kennen is a very good URF champion. Kennen’s passive is that he puts marks on champions when he hits them with abilities. When a champion gets three marks they get stunned. With Kennen’s spells being on one or two second cooldowns it becomes very easy to just mark up an enemy champion enough to stun them three times right in a row. At this point, the champion either will be dead or right on death’s doorstep.
Items like Rylai’s Crystal Scepter make it really easy to shut champions down. This is specifically true on champions with AoE spells. Gragas, Sejuani, Zyra, Lux, Morgana, Kennen and even champions like Malphite or Zac can really lock a champion in one spot with Rylai’s.
Item activations also have 80% cooldown. Items like Randuin’s Omen, Righteous Glory and Lockett of the Iron Solari have much more usability in URF. Also, if it comes down to it, champions can grow to higher levels in URF, so more oppertunities to benefit from the Valor passive on Catalyst the Protector exist.
Some of the more unfair champions in URF that I would suggest banning if you aren’t specifically going to play:
It’s easy to see why some of these champions are on this list. Warwick’s and Malphite’s ultimates are just unfair on those low cooldowns. Sona has unlimited healing for an ungodly amount of health. Lux, Morgana and Ziggs can zone way too much. It’s just impossible to kill Xin, Shaco, Wukong and Galio after ten minutes. Sejuani and Gragas just infinitely charge you and stun you until you die over and over.
Malzahar is a different case. While, with most mages you build raw AP and dominate fools, Malz has…well, he has a different strategy. Malzahar in URF doesn’t try to do any damage with his spells. You see, Malzahar spawns a Voidling after every fourth spell. This is good for URF since you can cast 75 spells every second. This influences the build because the Voidlings do AD. See, the plan with Malz is to cast a bunch of spells and let the Voildings destroy turrets and champions alike. When it comes to URF mode, the Voidlings are the true stars. If you happened to have watched that helpful video above, you can see the destructive power of AD Malzahar in URF.
Absolutely devastating. Image courtesy of https://www.etsy.com/listing/207498586/malzahar-voidling-plush
Another true turret destroyer in URF mode is Fizz. The Tidal Trickster’s W benefit’s greatly from URF mode. When activated, his basic attacks do an increased amount of magic damage. The increased cooldowns mean that a diligent Fizz player can keep this on the whole game. This also works very will with Lich Bane. Lich Bane, which is built from Sheen, gives a huge boost of damage to the first basic attack after a spell was cast. With his ability to give a huge amount of damage to them, and negate a huge amount of damage from them, Fizz is one to pick or ban and not leave open for free.
Supports also run rampant in URF. AP Alistar is a nightmare to deal with. With his immense passive Trample damage, healing potential, and that ultimate, which negates almost all damage, being on such a low cooldown. Yikes. Blitzcrank’s grab, pop up, silence combo is off cooldown almost as soon as it ends, so try to avoid getting grabbed.
Some of the greatest champions in URF history. Image coutresy of http://orig15.deviantart.net/a4c7/f/2013/160/3/8/league_of_legends___support_wallpaper2__by_hit3n_by_xmarquinhos-d68dk55.png
Hard engages are also extremely great in URF. Leona, Malphite, Zac, Gragas, Sejuani, Hecarim, Sion and Bard can destroy in URF. If you are even one step out of position you can get locked down by any of these champions. Even grouped up in a team fight atmosphere, these champions can isolate you and break you down.
I hope this guide helps you when playing the League Community’s favorite game mode. For more helpful videos on URF check out LoL Esports YouTube page and watch some games from URFs past. However, the best way to learn is to pick a champ you think will do well and hop onto the rift.
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