Analysis of Gambit Gaming's poke and fight comp and Diamond's Jungle Kha'Zix: Part 2

If you missed part 1 of this series, you can find it here; we break down the different picks of the comp and possible alternatives

Pre Patch 4.9, Kha'Zix was considered as the best jungler in the game thanks to his damage, high mobility and his natural tankiness with his evolved ultimate. However patch 4.9 changed this with the nerfs to his Q damage and the removal of the damage reduction on his ult. Despite this, Gambit Gaming's Diamonprox has played him six times over the course of the split, notably twice in the last superweek of the LCS and in their tie breaker versus the Copenhagen Wolves to great effect (they won each of those matches). Over the course of a several part series, I will analyse this teamcomp and the current role of Kha'Zix within the jungle and other ways of playing him.

Part 2: The Gameplan

Now that we have established the team composition Gambit was running and alternative options you may yourself comsider, let us now examine what you should do with such a composition. As stated previously, this team has three main strengths on a macro level, poking, teamfighting and waveclear, but also two main weaknesses, generally weak initiate with a reliance on a select few spells and very vulnerable carries. 

To examine how Gambit uses this comp effectively, we are going to study two games Gambit played in the superweek, one against Millenium and the other against the Copenhagen Wolves, and the different aspects of this teamcomp.

Artificial vision or how to maintain vision despite a lack of wards

The two main weaknesses of this comp stated previously render vision control extremely important. However the prevalence of three to four sweppers in each team can make it difficult to maintain vision for extended periods of time. However this weakness is partially addressed through the concept of "artificial vision": out of the 5 champions Gambit have, 4 of them have a way of providing vision from a medium to long range. 

Gragas has his Q, Maokai has his E (effectively 35 sec wards), Kha'Zix has his W (once evolved, which is why the spikes evolution is increasingly attractive), kog'Maw has his R (very long range), Ziggs has his W and E, Thresh has his W (although it is not used that often as a vision tool due to his incredible utility in other scenarios). 

All of these tools enable easy scouting when trying to contest an objective or simply making sure there aren't any enemy champions waiting to ambush you. 

Sapling provides great utility

On the above picture, you can see Kubon dropping a sapling near the the entrance of the dragon pit. Gambit have no wards inside or near the pit, however they know Millenium isn't doing Baron as otherwise the sapling would most likely aggro the players just outside the pit. Although this concept is partially used by the Gambit lineup, I would really like to see more emphasis on scouting using these tools in future games as they enable way more neutral objective control then other other lineups.

Sieging

Gambit's comp has both good poke and waveclear making it ideal for sieging enemy turrets. 

In the following clip, you can find an example of what I consider a perfect siege by Gambit Gaming versus the Copenhagen Wolves. There are several aspects that I wish to cover here.

First there is the poke:

Poking to win

Here Diamond is constantly poking the CW lineup with his evolved void spikes (red arrow). Since they provide vision as well, they make all the other poke available (mainly Ziggs' bombs and Kog'Maw's ulti) easier to land. Through constant poking , Corki is brought to almost half health (blue arrow) and  Orianna to two thirds, which means any engage by the Wolves would be very risky.

Second there is the zone control offered by Ziggs and Gragas:

Zone control

The Copenhagen Wolves themselves have good waveclear (Orianna) and poke (Corki and Dr. Mundo). However they are unable to approach the minion wave or their adversaries enough in order to make us of it thanks to the zoning offered by Ziggs and Gragas (yellow arrows).

Ultimates are important

Finally any engage the Wolves might attempt  would be rapidly countered by the Gragas ultimate (red arrow) and Nami ultimate (blue arrow).

All of this leads to Kog'Maw safely attacking the turret and subsequently to Gambit obtaining a turret without any losses.

Teamfighting

Before a teamfight, this composition wants to preferably poke beforehand, however Gambit does not do this often (one of the things they possibly could improve upon). Despite this, they still manage to be formidable adversaries thanks to two things: high damage and zone control.

Here is a clip of a Baron fight versus Millenium:

Unfortunately Gambit lost the subsequent fight, however the beginning was very promising and showcases two important aspects of this comp: forcing teamfights and zone control.

Forcing the teamfights: this comp has relatively low initiation as it relies on a Gragas ultimate or Maokai W. If the carries are well protected, it is extremely hard to initiate properly. At the beginning of the clip, you will notice that Tristana is dead; this is because Gambit capitalized on a mistake to create a pick. They then head for Baron to either get a free Baron or force a teamfight. This means they do not need to engage themselves, but just need to wait. This concept is further explained down below.

Zone control: at the beginning of their Baron attemps, Gambit exercise extremely good zone control in order to prevent any attempt at a Baron steal.

The Maokai sapling and Ziggs' Satchel Charge (blue arrow) are here used to damage, dissuade and gain vision of Elise in case of a smite steal attempt. The Hexplosive minefield (red arrow) prevents repositioning behind the Baron pit for a better angle of attack.

When Yasuo tries to walk towards the entrance of the pit, three abilities are used to prevent him from approaching the pit: Ziggs' E, Kog'Maw's R and Gragas' Q (yellow arrow).

When Yasuo goes in the corridor leading to blue buff, Kog'Maw's E (brown arrow) is used to further prevent any attempt to approach the pit. 

Gambit then turn around and initiate the fight thanks to the Kog'Maw slow and although they manage to take out Yasuo, they die to Tristana when she comes back up. Despite the lost teamfight, this still shows how the composition can be used to control objectives (if Gambit had enough damage, a BotRK on Kog'Maw for instance, they perhaps could of taken Baron fast enough and won the following fight). 

Here is another clip where Gambit play their hand very well and manage to obtain a one for nothing trade, versus Millenium. 

 

First thing to note is that Millenium engaged the fight with Braum's ulti (blue arrow). However, well placed Es from both Ziggs and Kog'Maw (red arrows) prevent any follow up damage. This is very important as they have weak initiate, Millenium have done the job for them. 

Then, Kha'Zix manages to flank Millenium and apply the slow to three members (brown arrow). This permits Maokai to catch up, lock down and then kill Braum.

Finally, we have another clip, this time from the Gambit vs Copenhagen Wolves game.

   

 

First thing to note is of course that the Wolves are at numbers disadvantage (3v4) very quickly because of a bad initiate.

Second, Ziggs' E (blue arrow) is very well used here to prevent Dr. Mundo from escaping.

Finally, note the zoning ultimate used by Nami (blue arrow): it doesn't hit anyone, but prevents the two enemy carries, Corki and Orianna from helping Mundo escape or deal any sort of damage. Corki is also forced to Valkyrie away (red arrow). 

To conclude this segment, here are a few other illustrations of the strength and weaknesses of this comp:

Another example of zoning the enemy team from an objective: Gragas Q and Kog'Maw E prevent Millenium from contesting despite having a gold lead. This time, Gambit successfully picked up the dragon.

Here both Ziggs and Kog'Maw are left (mostly) untouched despite being isolated thanks to their E's (red arrows).

  

A high damage comp: NiQ very rarely uses his ultimate to push waves and prefers to keep it for teamfights.

   

Finally a short clip demonstrating the big weakness of this comp: vulnerable carries. 

Conclusion

Gambit Gaming seem to have found a teamcomp that works very well within the current meta, takes advantage of their strengths as a team and uses Kha'Zix in an unorthodox way. This has shown in their past few games where they have been very strong, however they still present some weaknesses. Notably their decision making is still left to be desired and their team synergy: to often can you see Gragas push enemies away from the Ziggs ultimate. They also tend to rely to much on errors made by their adversaries, which means they cannot win against top tier teams. Finally I still believe their early game is too weak and that their creep manipulation is lackluster. 

As for the teamcomp they used? It is in my opinion a very strong one; it possesses strong teamfighting potential, good siege and good poke. It can be countered however by strong pick comps and assassination to exploit the fragile carries. It also relies on pick or errors by the enemy team in order to initiate teamfights.

In the final part of this series, we will take a closer look at Diamond's Kha'Zix, the potential behind the champion in the jungle and the different options currently available to him.