Vainglory Forums

Just know, I do not remotely care what character you are playing, what build you are going for, or even what tier you are in. BUILD CONTRAPTION. I know that scout traps don't seem important but trust me they are. (AND IF YOUR LANER IS PLAYING SAW DO NOT QUESTION PING HIM FOR DYING WHEN YOU HAVE NOT TRAPPED THE ENEMY JUNGLE. Yes he should be careful about overextension BUT YOU ARE ALSO AT FAULT IF YOU ARE NOT GOING TO GRANT HIM VISION.) Knowing where your enemy is can help you win games and understanding how to react to enemy placement also helps greatly. Nothing is more satisfying than seeing the entire jungle and knowing that should an enemy try to pull something on you, you'll know before they even have the chance. You don't have to build contraption right away but you should have it by mid game If you want to give yourself an advantage over your enemies. I have won games without it and lost games with it but I have never found it pointless. After all, knowing is half the battle.

This sounds a little more like a rant from a bad experience more than anything. I used to have a similar view, and would rush contraption. When I play lane I can't stand when my roam doesn't provide vision. However, now I disagree with you about the item in most situations. I think the general message here is relevant "provide vision", but the argument about contraption I disagree with. One of the main reasons for this was recently watching some of the best roamers in the world at the championships, and I recall contraption being built maybe twice. Generally they simply bought scout traps and flares.

A little math since I'm a numbers guy. For the cost of contraption you can buy 42 scout traps or 84 flares. If you were to split that between the two that's 21 scout traps and 42 flares. You shouldn't be using that many during the course of a match, so save money. Plus until you build contraption you only have flare gun so you still have to waste money on scout traps so it ends up costing more.

The next thing is to learn to scout traps for more than just knowing where the opponents are. You say "Nothing is more satisfying than seeing the entire jungle", you need traps in strategic/important locations, but what many fail to realize is scout traps show you where they are if they are near by, but if you can't see them, it also shows you where they are not. There was a great example of this in one of the NA Summer Championship matches where TSM found the enemy Taka trying to recall in the corner. They did this, not by having a scour trap there, but by realizing that when he disappeared none of the scout traps had picked him up, so they knew where he was based on knowing where he wasn't.

I'd also say that overextension is simply lack of patience. I disagree that the roam is partially at fault. If you don't have vision don't overextend and take responsibility. Be patient play safe. Many people play like they get bonus points for quicker matches. Egos probably feel better if you beat a team before the Kraken spawns, but never the less a win is a win. So if you don't have what you need then play safe until you do, or until your team rotates up into the lane.

Everyone has a job. A roam's job is much more than babysitting the lane. I personally find it amusing when a lane wants to rage ping the roam and/or the jungle because they died while the roam and jungle are in the back camps. There isn't a warp item. There are many situations when people what to blame other people for their poor play. Hell I've been raged pinged as a jungle by both the lane and the roam when they both died in the lane, meanwhile I'm fighting for my life against the enemy jungle. Apparently I'm suddenly supposed to call a time out with them just to go assist in the lane. Anyways I could go on and on about accepting responsibility, but I digress.

Vision is imperative contraption isn't.

I've been playing ever since they released the Tier 3 joule skin. (Not sure what update, but it was in the ancient days when capturing a gold mine meant he became your pet.)

I've roamed probably 85% of my matches (not counting battle royale or private) to know what to do, what my roles are and all that stuff.

I've played matches where my friends berate me for not buying a contraption. I've also been berated for buying one, cause all my friends and guild members are *******s. Those that want to roam never buy vision, and those that CAN roam don't want to. (I love my life).

I typically buy a mix of scouts & flares, up to about 10:00 - 15:00 minutes, based on how good the enemy team is. (The stupider they are, the less they'll check for scouts. Meaning they are less likely to get stepped on, and they'll last pretty long. Better teams will remove them, and you'll waste gold replacing them).

Once I hit late game, I stop scouting & switch completely to flares. (NOT THE FLARE GUN)

Some think it is risky to have only 5 flares in your pocket, but good roamers know when to face-check and/or flare.

Talking about face-checking, in the event one does not have any flares, roamers should always face-check. Some reasons include:

1. Roamers are typically the tankiest guys late-game, so they can absorb all that damage
2. Most roamers can face-check with the help of an ability to mitigate/tank damage (Cath's bubble, Phinn's Stomp, etc.)
3. Roamers, unless they KS allot, don't have that high of a bounty. Killing a roamer isn't as rewarding as killing a carry

Contraption isn't useless, but it isn't high on my priority list at all, simply because as roamers, a lot of items are much more useful, especially ever since they separated stormguard banner from the contraption effect. For example. Clockwork is better than a contraption on phinn and cath in my opinion, and utterly useless if you are playing cooldown lyra.

I have to agree with BLG3RNT on the fact that a lot of players tend to face-check without the roamer's consent, much to their demise. Some have to understand that roamers can't be everywhere at the same time to save everyone. That said, once you reach late game, stick to your homies and don't try to go ham. it could cost you the game. (and time, and cellular data).

I do get your frustration though, I understand how you think vision is important, but honestly you should build a contraption if you are a carry, bro. Don't face-check if you aren't roaming. Also, if your roamers don't go up to scout the lane brushes, place some yourself. He can't always be up there for you. Especially if you are playing a push SAW comp, cause the team will always be split up.

Also, out of curiosity, how long have you been playing?

Btw, I forgot to mention that i take casual pretty seriously too. Last time i lost my connection during a ranked match, and so I got placed with all these double laners, last-hitting roamers and turret divers. (Did I mention I have my gaming life?) Try not to mess up your job as a roamer folks, or it can cause you to get downvotes.

Personally, I'm quite good at sniffing out unskilled roamers and I am quite ruthless at down-voting them. (Blame it on my perspective on roaming as the backbone of the team)

I played as a laner up the ranks, and honestly, whenever I die as a laner, I attribute the fault as my own. Even though your roamer is in charge of vision, nothing is stopping you from buying scout traps and flares for personal protection. You could place the mine there yourself, since you are hanging out mostly in the lane. Furthermore, if you are one of those laners who are weak early game and tend to over-extend, you should take more responsibility for your deaths. Yes, your roamer is supposed to protect you, but you dying to a gank is not his fault for not warding, but you putting yourself in that situation. If you were to hang by your turret and farm safely, you would not be ganked even if there was no vision.

The only exception to this, is if they gank you from your jungle. In that case, your roamer is at fault for not having a strong jungle presence.

P.S if you are a SAW player who ends up overextending in the lane and dying to a gank, it's your fault for not maintaining the lane equilibrium. Any competent team will punish a SAW early for dominating their laner, so you should be expecting ganks, even if your roamer didn't warn you.

Being able to see the whole jungle is an ideal state, but it is hardly possible as if the enemy team is decent, they can clear traps very easily. You can't be expecting your roamer to constantly ward their jungle since they can probably pop the mine once they see your roamer.

Also, contraption is such an overkill, a flare gun is sufficient

I will never build Contraption unless I want to.

contraption simply isn't an absolute necessity much of the time.
many factors go into whether or not i build a contraption.
first it goes by how dependent my teammates' heroes are on auto-targeting, eg; Skye doesn't NEED auto-target or lock-on, she can blind shoot forwardbarrage into bushes or lock-on a nearby enemy/minion to place her ult into bushes.
Ringo however is utterly useless without vision. He is incapable of using his abilities without marking targets for attack.

2nd it then goes by how much of an advantage enemies have with the aid of brush-cover.

after that it depends how fast the enemy heroes are in both movement stat and early game clear speed and how they are moving, you generally get an idea for this before you're anywhere near capable of buying contraption as long you bought and used flares for the first 5-10 minutes of the game.

As convenient as a contraption is, I think it's super gold inefficient. I do agree that they should be buying flares though. It really, really matters especially late game when you're standing around kraken or just doing anything late in the game. Scout traps later in the game seem to drop in utility, but flares really are important. However, I think it's much better to just keep buying flares (they're super cheap) and just get tankier.