Countless times I’ve caught myself saying “I’ve never lost as lane Krul” or “I’m undefeated as lane Krul.” It was a fun joke, because the only times I’ve gotten to actually do it were in friendly settings or while smurfing, making it easy to execute. This past week I played lane Krul on every one of my accounts. I’m here to give you the gory details.

The rest of this article must be taken with a grain of salt. I’m drastically biased to the power of Krul. He’s been my boy for months and months, and people tend to trust my opinion on Krul. My experiment in the lane is the end result of practice, study, and meta shifts. No more Skaarf, Koshka finally in her place, Vox being built WP, and Joule lane is SUPER prevalent right now. In the land of the melees, the undead warrior is king.

the games

The first time I tried lane Krul in PoA I was shaking in the champion select screen. I had marked “LANE” as my role of preference, but I needed my allies to lock in before I hovered on Krul. I also needed them to not select Krul, as that would defeat the purpose. Taka locked in. Adagio support (marked as “ROAM”) also locked in. Game time. I was so bad. Luckily, the other team was worse. I was an easy gank target, and a jumping Joule, along with a Taka, doesn’t give Krul enough time to maneuver to not get locked up and bled out. I found a bit of success, especially for a PoA match trying something strange. Here’s the end result:

So now I knew it was possible! Nothing could stop me now!

In my next game I experienced a scenario that intelligent people in the community had been alluding to: all melee team compositions. Krul, Glaive, Joule versus Ardan, Krul, Joule. I knew this would be a good game, because only Joule could hurt me from outside my auto attack range. I made sure to focus Krul in every fight, and I rushed double Blazing Salvo, so my attack speed was high enough to get stacks on him, and never let him be a factor. The enemy Glaive built damage, while Joule went for Shatterglass into double Piercing Shard, and Krul built tank and Clockwork. I had one of the most dominating performances I can remember as Krul. I had money, I had items, I had 100% kill participation; all the pieces necessary to make my opponents miserable.

In the last example game I’ll show you I got in with another Taka. I’ve found that he’s an excellent counter-part to lane Krul, as he becomes a global beacon that the enemy team must focus. When Taka pops out, slicing into someone, players feel naturally compelled to squash him like a bug. However, they use every form of crowd control and damage they can attacking my Taka, leaving me to build stacks and cripple carries. I’m pretty sure I’ve lost to Dixy in the past, but not this time. Ringo didn’t have the tools necessary to beat me in lane. In the first four waves of creeps I only missed two creep kills, so after I bought double Blazing Salvo and boots, I got back to lane and soloed him. It’s very scary to have your laner lose 1v1. If you ever want to win some mental warfare on the enemy team, just solo their laner.

So I haven’t talked about builds or shown any screenshots of post-game builds. I know, it’s like torture. I will cover that in next year’s article “Lane Krul – Builds and Builds”. I look forward to seeing you next year!

My Build

I’ve started every game thus far with Book of Eulogies. If you’re not buying that item in the lane I seriously feel you’re doing it wrong. I would try to get to at least 1400 gold before backing or running to the jungle shop. It’s a bit strange not focusing on beating your opponent in lane, but you should really focus on your health as a resource, judging your opponent’s damage output, and last-hitting as best you can. You took a risk picking lane Krul. Don’t let your team down by mucking it up by not farming!

I push for that amount of gold early on to buy two Blazing Salvos. A level five or six Krul can kill assassinate a solo lane hero with one combo if they can get eight stacks of Weakness on them. If I can sneak boots into that same purchase then I’m usually set to end someone. If you get a kill, or put the enemy laner dangerously low, PUSH! I can’t emphasize this enough. The lane has been frozen on your side all game because literally everyone pushes better than Krul does. If the enemy laner is gone, shove lane into turret, and venture down into the jungle. You can 1v2 their junglers, but your allies are in there somewhere. If the laner is back then either one enemy jungler is holding lane and you have a 3v1 about to go down, or no one on the enemy team is getting money for the creeps sacrificing themselves into the turret. Press your advantage. If you catch someone facecheck a bush it’s game over.

Now you have an odd build of tier 1 boots, Book of Eulogies, and two Blazing Salvos, but you just killed everyone on their team twice. What’s next? Shiversteel. With high attack speed you need to keep them in range of you. Shiversteel isn’t a cost-efficient item for Krul, mostly because of how he heals, but its power is undeniable. Once Shiversteel is done look at finishing Breaking Point, and then tier 2 boots. After that either a big ticket tier 3 defensive item (Aegis and Metal Jacket are the only two I’ve been buying) or finish Bonesaw, depending on what the game state is.

You hit your stride between levels five and eight. It’s downhill to level 11, but then you’re indestructible and pumping out damage faster than any hero in the game.

I’ll try to get some clips put together for lane Krul, but I wanted to plant the seed of doubt into lane Joule’s mind. There’s another laner lurking in the Fold, lurking in the shadows. If you have 300 Krul games go give this a shot. Otherwise, don’t question when someone selects Krul and hovers “LANE” as their role of preference. You might just be pleasantly surprised.