Three mechanics in Set 3.5 that are easy to miss

Set 3.5 has a lot of cool interactions that aren’t always obvious on the first glance. In this guide I will introduce three different mechanics that you can use in your games either as a counterplay or something to try out for fun!

While Cybernetic has been struggling in late game against other meta comps, Ekko remains a hidden gem. He has a very unique ability that stops the entire board and deals magic damage to 5/7 targets depending on his star level. His targeting is also very unique because he is aiming for the enemy with the highest attack speed. To make sure that Ekko doesn’t just snipe the enemy carry right away, he also applies an attack speed debuff, that usually reduces the chance of Ekko hitting the same unit again.

This is why you will sometimes see Ekko get stuck on a target and other times he will spread out his damage. You can use this targeting to your advantage, if you see that the enemy has a Quicksilver or CC immunity on his carry. An attack speed debuff is considered a form of crowd control and is therefore blocked by items like Quicksilver. This in return will now cause Ekko to continuously attack the highest attack speed unit over and over again, because it stays at the top of his priority list. If you ever struggle with units like Xerath, try adding Ekko with some AP items and he will become much easier to deal with!

This is more of a meme comp, but it’s still an interesting interaction to showcase. Whenever a Blademaster attacks, he has a chance to proc one or two additional attacks. However, in reality these bonus attacks simply mean that they receive a massive Attack Speed multiplier until they finish their bonus attacks.

If you give Jhin a Blademaster Emblem then you can use this interaction to your advantage. Jhin will convert 1% bonus Attack Speed into 0.8 AD. A Jhin 1 Star with a Blademaster proc will gain almost 200 AD for his next attack. If it lines up with his 4th shot then he can effectively take out most units. You can try running 6 or even 9 Blademaster, but keep in mind that this will only increase the amount of times he will gain the bonus AD, the Attack Speed buff is the same for 3 Blademaster.

Xerath can also use this interaction, because his ult is based around his Attack Speed. His meteors don’t actually count as attacks, which means he is unable to proc the Blademaster effect, while he is channeling his ability. However, the reverse is also true! If he procs the effect with the last attack before he starts his channel, the Blademaster proc doesn’t get consumed and he will maintain the Attack Speed buff for the entire duration. This is more or less the same interaction as with Robotic Arm in Set 9 in combination with Aatrox or Bel’Veth.

Something that is rather strange about Infiltrators in Set 3.5 is that they don’t behave like Assassins from other Sets. For some reason they are capable of attacking a unit in the enemy frontline before jumping to the backline. There are a few ways to use this to your advantage.

For starters if you have an Augment like Blistering Strikes, then you can put your Infiltrators in the first row and proc the burn effect on more units in the enemy frontline. Since units gain 10 mana with every attack, this will also make all of them start with bonus 10 mana and therefore cast their ability faster into the fight.

There are some rare cases where this can also have some implications if the Infiltrators start with full mana. For example if you have Fizz with items like Infinity Force and Protector’s Vow it is possible to have him start with either full mana or close to full mana. If he starts with full mana then he will cast his ability at the start of the fight to the closest enemy that he can path towards, which is usually a frontliner.