Why NO ONE Plays: Olaf | League of Legends

Olaf has had a very rocky history throughout League, occasionally being very popular but most of the time rendered a niche pick enjoyed by few players, which is strange if you think about it, considering his universally applicable ultimate. So for today's episode of Why NO ONE Plays, we'll be discussing Olaf: The Berserker, and find out why that's the case.
Why NO ONE Plays Playlist: bit.ly/30DIeJF
Why EVERYONE Plays Playlist: bit.ly/2PzboTF
Check out my Genshin Impact channel! bit.ly/3HQN9ud
Check out my Smash Bros channel! bit.ly/3rlFD3Z
Support me on Patreon! bit.ly/3iy5pvu
Donate to the channel! bit.ly/36TpIQP
~Editor (Waitngo)~
KZbin: / waitngo
Twitter : / waitngo1
~Contact Links~
Facebook: bit.ly/3lGV9Vg
Twitter: bit.ly/3kv7CZU
Discord: bit.ly/33M2iev
Twitch: bit.ly/2XNes31
Candle.gg: bit.ly/3ndfU9r
Non business email: [e-mail]
Business email: [e-mail]
Graphics provided by: / tofugraphics
#Olaf #LoL #leagueoflegends

[@lillyie]

i find it funny that the fandom wiki lists olaf as a diver despite having zero engage tools apart from that minor speed boost for 1 second after pressing ult

[@2pa42_ersennicholaas]

i think its because his ult give him access to easily dive the backline. I said easy nit quick because while he is immune, he still walks not dashing like renekton for example. So enemy can still react

[@TherealNiqqa]

try playing low mobility champs team against him and you will see why he's classified as "Diver"

[@williammell845]

​@TherealNiqqa tough to find one of those in this day and age. A team full of low mobility Champs will probably struggle nearly as bad against the regular meta champs.

[@kano101435]

also ghost exists

[@Noctaura]

hello? CC immunity?

[@CarloCarlitobanitoUguccioni]

"A second rate juggernog forced to play like a diver." You summed up him perfectly at the end. One of your best champion review.

[@yeetusyourmeetus]

bro said "juggernog"

[@Insanityltself]

Olaf is one of the few ''statcheck'' champions that actually falls off really hard and is very unforgiving to play. Plus if you can't space your Q's correctly in a fight you'll lose out on so much damage. He's actually deceptively hard to play sometimes.

[@lillyie]

other stat checky champions have a situationally defensive tool to help them survive being at the middle of the enemy team. tryndamere has ult, trundle has the AD reduction from Q and stealing armor and MR with ult, jax has counter strike, yi has alpha strike what does olaf have? nothing apart from that missing health shield from his W, but most of the time you use it at the start of the fight to get that attack speed buff. he has zero mobility or cc, you bring nothing but damage

[@Insanityltself]

@@lillyie Yeah i completely agree. It makes Olaf so unforgiving to play esepcially when he falls behind.

[@charlychokoneko-chama2768]

You don't loose just dmg by not landing Q

[@charlychokoneko-chama2768]

​@@lillyiewowowowow you NEVER use the Z so early, even before the rework that's a beginner mistake. Not only for the shield but because it is a reset auto so you make it work with the E. It is equivalent to Kled from baiting people to fight you low hp (it work on less in late fights yeah i agree but Olaf is supposed to be strong late early and mid game)

[@lunaw2174]

@@charlychokoneko-chama2768 yes you do, the armor shred is a massive buff to your dps, the base damage is really high, the slow lets you actually hit an enemy. One Q can easily be worth 4+ auto attacks of damage

[@ideiasmarginais9534]

Why would i play a champion that can't jump through walls in 2024?

[@Polevolter]

Because he’s the manliest top laner in the game.

[@legitplayin6977]

@@PolevolterGragas ?

[@Polevolter]

@@legitplayin6977I’ve been told that running away isn’t manly so no he doesn’t count. Phase Rush Gragas🤢

[@TherealNiqqa]

because he's Olaf

[@Muuony]

​@@Polevoltervarsus is 3 guys tho

[@Nartanek]

One of my favorite memory of playing with an olaf. He was fighting the entire enemy team mid and was super low on hp, i was kayle and arrived just in time to ult him, since he get stronger at low health he proceeded to decimate the crap out of them. I mean it's similar to trynd but also so much worse... i didn't envy those guys.

[@Al-tanin]

With the right setup and the right team against, i'd say olaf is worse. At least you can CC tryndamere, there's no stopping an Olaf that wants to kill you. Late tryndamere has more DPS and can live more or less the same amount of time (since now olaf should have been outscaled by now), but olaf is imho scarier in fights. If you have a skilled olaf that built Crit against you, i'd argue even late game olaf is scarier lol

[@RadishHead7]

@@Al-tanin super squishy though.

[@itsallinthepast2944]

@@Al-tanin that olaf gonna be dead before touch your hair

[@YaMumFlat420]

i remember the enemy shit-talking me that i suck with olaf. i told them i was gonna 1v5 them in mid.1min late i got a 1v5 penta on mid

[@jimjimmy8900]

​@@Al-taninanyone playing critlaf is getting vaporized half a second into the teamfight unless enemy team has 3 people afk, just play yi

[@Pyrrha_Nikos]

A thing that also screws Olaf a lot is that Riot and the player base can't decide if he should be a top laner or a jungler. As a top laner, he's an insane lane bully that can 0 counterplay chase you all lane if he hits 1 q and can almost never be ganked due to how easy it is for him to 1v2. As a jungler, he's a powerfarming machine that can full clear at Karthus speed and invade you to murder you on your camps. But he's been swapping between both roles since forever, and never had a clear "this is my role" like other champs that dipped into different roles

[@thomasb5307]

Riot is ok with champs being viable in two roles. His main role arguably went from jungle to top, for many reasons, and I don't see a reason for Riot to force him back to a place where he is outdated. A lot of those outdated statcheckers like Voli, Shyv AD, Warwick, moved top aswell since S11. It has a lot to do with the state of the game in general, can't be forcing a role they don't fit in anymore without risking making them broken in the role their kit naturally favors.

[@Pyrrha_Nikos]

@@thomasb5307 I never said that Riot weren't ok with flex picks, but they have stated multiple times that they will always try to balance the champion in a way that suits what they consider to be their main role. So, for example, if Lee Sin or Graves are too problematic in mid or top, Riot will try to change them in a way that makes them less good in lanes, but not affect their jungling. Olaf is, for now, being balanced around top lane, but historically he was always bouncing between both roles. But the difference is that when Olaf top was good, Olaf jg was nowhere to be seen. He wasn't a flex pick. When he was a jungler, he was only a jungler. And same for top lane. That's what I mean when I say that he never had a role where he was always viable, rather than he kept being kicked out of one role and into another one back and forth

[@nergigante.]

Think Olaf will ever get a rework?.

[@kevingriffith6011]

@@nergigante. I wouldn't even know what to do with Olaf if given the task, to be honest. He's the most generic, first google image search result viking berserker archetype with a very bare-bones, early league kit that despite all that will still have fans. The elephant in the room is Tryndamere, someone who is across the board a more interesting take on the berserker archetype than Olaf is (and that's not saying much because Trynd isn't a super interesting take on the concept either)... Not only do you have to retain Olaf's identity as a berserker from Freljord, but you ALSO have to keep him distinct from the OTHER berserker from Freljord.

[@nergigante.]

@@kevingriffith6011 true well said.

[@tbone9474]

I kind of feel like Vars starts stretching the definition of "no-one plays".

[@lillyie]

yea this should've been a "what happened to olaf?" episode rather than a why no one plays

[@ic_3300]

I feel this series is more a examination of champion’s attributes at this point, sooo

[@rookie4582]

It’s mostly the name of the series now if I’m not mistaken.

[@tbone9474]

I agree​@ic_3300 , I feel its more of "champ is meta as long as these conditions are met"

[@Ratty524]

people really don't play olaf anymore, tho.

[@thorveim1174]

Olaf is basically a statcheck if he gets to and stays in melee, which he has very few tools to achieve. A fed olaf will devour an entire team while laughing at attempts to CC him to death that would doom any other champ, but he's also VERY easy to just poke to death

[@libertybelllocks7476]

No different than sett tbh.

[@tacitozetticci9308]

@@libertybelllocks7476 "very easy to poke to death" is a bit different when you have garen's passive

[@libertybelllocks7476]

@@tacitozetticci9308 Im a sett OTP, you will get poked out. Garens passive is much better than Setts cuz setts has been nerfed to oblivion early.

[@grimmreaper6354]

i actually think the "try and run through everything at your target" style would have fit him better as a character

[@mimimalloc]

IME I had the most success playing Olaf as a target swapping pressure threat. You start a fight poking and shredding the frontliners daring the damage to answer you and once they step out of position you beeline and break their formation over your knees. The key is in knowing the right timing because you ideally want to be low at worst when you reach your target, not dead. I play a lot of Singed and it's funny how similar they feel when playing this way despite having radically different kits. In both cases you're trying to instill and exploit chaos and panic by running fast.

[@Delimon007]

Because he's bad. He's a melee champion that has to run at your face which has been bad since "League of mobility" started over a decade ago. Damn I'm old.

[@Armorion]

Never thought I'd see olaf in a "Why no one plays" because I still see him and play him myself fairly often

[@TherealNiqqa]

i know right? vars is really starving for some contents 💀

[@100organicfreshmemes5]

I actually can't remember the last time I saw an Olaf, personally.

[@Armorion]

@@100organicfreshmemes5 to be fair, I'm Bronze

[@legitphantom5921]

Personally I never see Olaf. I’ve seen non stop trundle (fuck trundle)

[@DiogenesWasRight90]

Biggest pet peeve with olaf is when the team decides you're a goner and bails with full health while you hang on to your last shred of health for like a whole other 10 seconds. Always back your olaf.

[@StrangeTheEditor]

I think that the only way we could really define Olaf is as an Anti-Anti-Carry. His best matchups as far as I've seen are vs champs like Vi, Poppy, Shaco, Malzahar, Teemo and Fiddlesticks. These are champions who want to use CC to outplay the enemy and then escape, but take away their CC and Olaf can stat check them easily. Still, he's super unreliable as he's basically great a counter-pick for counter-picks.

[@AYSplayer]

If frozen mallet comes back into the game, he'll be more playable.

[@DiogenesWasRight90]

Try zekes.

[@sephirothslayer1152]

I love champs like Olaf. Drain tanks are so fun for the adrenaline. I’m also a fan of mass summoners but that’s got no bearing here

[@jotasso21]

playing drain tanks gives me an adrenaline rush, being able to be absurdely tanky by beating the shit out of 'em is satisfactory

[@austinbrusenhan4068]

I miss old aatrox 😢

[@mcvv719]

you should try playing broodmother/meepo in dota 2 for mass summoning heroes

[@cloudynguyen6527]

@@mcvv719 Good, good. Don't suggest him Nature Prophet 🤫

[@redrosewick]

​@@mcvv719doesn't Meepo die when a clone dies? I don't think that's something you recommend to random people 😂

[@AcediaRex]

The way I’ve learned to play Olaf is to avoid teamfighting entirely unless you’re extremely far ahead. Instead, you use him as a split pusher. The way Undertow interacts with Tiamat items gives him absurd wave-clear very early on, there’s very few champions who can beat him in a 1v1, his passive lifesteal means he can out sustain most enemies, and it’s very difficult for the enemy team to collapse on him because of his high 1v2 potential and how easy it is for him to run away with Ragnarok and Ghost. It’s ironic that the two champions who are supposed to be THE all-in divers of League, Olaf and Tryndamere, are at their best when they’re using hit and run tactics. I just don’t think charging headlong into the entire enemy team when you’re not a tank will ever be a balanced and viable playstyle. It’s like they’re trying to do the work of both tanks and assassins but without the necessary tools that make either of those classes work.

[@roblxreviews2324]

Olaf is a diver, Tryndamere is a skirmisher. Tryndamere can't dive backline through everyone's CC like Olaf can because he WILL get CCed and oneshot, and forced to use ulti when not in position. Olaf can easily in most cases. However, Olaf is really good in the 1v1s and 1v2s, but Tryndamere more often than not is better. Even if Tryndamere knows he isn't going to win a skirmish, he can easily disengage and come back when the fight is on his terms, Olaf can't fight on his own terms when he's already committed to all-inning.

[@fostinator69]

The worst part of playing Olaf is getting the kill on the adc or mid but getting obliterated when your team just leaves. Then they flame you. “Olaf is so dumb he just runs in”

[@Vecderg]

the xin a-posing at 9:05

[@davidabdielgaliciadelacruz3778]

As an Olaf main I agree, It's easy to win the lane if the enemy doesn't copunterpick you, and unless you stomped the enemy toplaner, you relay a lot in your team to win the game

[@1OnlyOneOnlyOne1]

I find the whole aiming the axe in order to pick it back up a little counter intuitive. Additionally, enemies can force you away from the axe so now you either get kited infinitely and die or pick up the axe but die. Maybe make it so that if you hit the axe it stay inside the enemy, then Olaf hits the enemy with his other weapon and takes the axe out of the enemy reducing his CD on Q.

[@Marchew1200]

Interesting idea

[@DiogenesWasRight90]

​@Marchew1200 only if they animate it so he alternates which axe he is sticking into and pulling out of you between his left hand and right hand.

[@1OnlyOneOnlyOne1]

@@DiogenesWasRight90 lol nice

[@borrit9273]

Last season i reached D3 playing olaf jungle only. Now i can't win a game in emerald. Olaf's core items were nerfed hard: - Steraks gives tenacity now which is a useless stat. - Shojin no longer gives movespeed based on missing health Stridebreaker no longer gives ability haste, and the active no longer damages or has its cd reduced by haste. Ever since his ult got reworked, any mage and kaisa can just press zhonyas and wait out the 2.5 seconds where i cant reset the durstion. His clear speed is garbage compared to what it used to be, especially with the moster health update and not having any %health damage. I love the champion so much, reached over 1m mastery across accounts, but i am really struggling to have fun. I hope riot will do something about him, such as make his R 3 seconds or allow him to walk through player-made walls (yes I'm talking to you j4 players)

[@sultandels3xxxo]

this season looks awful for Olaf. Hexplate straight into Jak’Sho fits him a bit, but the rest of the items doesn’t really feels comfortable when playing the champ

[@spooneater9001]

I would say the problem is that Olaf has abilities that make him more of an early game champ but whose playstyle revolves around mid-late game

[@dashansel3896]

I was searching for this video a week ago and was so bummed it didn’t exist, hell yes!!

[@gergelyritter4412]

I remember a time. A few years ago there was a match between G2 and some other team. The meta back then allowed for stuff like Karma top and Lulu mid or switched. So they picked like 2-3 enchanters and then Olaf. I dont remember what happened anymore, but it was so funny to me, that Olaf needed 2-3 enchanters to be viable. If I remember correctly, that season Olaf was picked relatively often compared to nowadays. It was often critisized by the casters, if there were no enchanters on the team.

[@AshBlossomWorshiper]

I've always said that one change I'd like to see is: If he casts his ult and his q is out, he leaps to it.

[@CloudH2O]

That’s the most retarded thing I’ve ever read I play Olaf he doesn’t need any dash or leaps. If they do add anything similar to this it should be on his e so he jumps to a person with a medium to small range and then strikes them with thunder.

[@kyzoc.4785]

that'd be crazy good. But maybe that would take out the fun of being a berserker, which is running literally to someone. Perhaps a great movement boost in the direction of his axe? Then hitting it or not becomes less of a problem, makes him a straightforward tank in his direction.

[@MadIIMike]

I don't think Olaf is good or bad, he just doesn't fit the mindset of the people you will play with in soloQ. A lot of games, you will see the toplaner being mostly independant from the team as far as most bruiser/melee toplaners go or use their mobility to take advantage of whatever the team is up to. Olaf however, works best when he can use allies as a force multiplicator. His ultimate negates the enemies ability to cc him, but that's just half of what you need as a melee champ. If a Team plays around Olaf (and he doesnt run it down), he can delete their squishies quite easily. The issue is, that Olaf is somewhat vulnerable in lane, especially against agressive ganks (he used to be primarily a Jungler iirc, but got pushed out for lacking CC/Gapcloser) and soloQ teams won't play around a 1-4 toplaner. Also.... a lot of newer champs are just not fun to play against with a "fair" champion. Prime example being things like Yone.

[@baptistecochennec5956]

Olaf is one of the most I dependant champ in the game??? And he is a lane bully and a 1v2 machine?? And he definitely doesn't feel fair to face lmao

[@kyzoc.4785]

@@baptistecochennec5956 He might be a hard counter to specific match ups, but that doesn't take out the problems he faces. Not getting CCed doesn't matter if you're slow and get completely blown out before you even touch an adc.

[@roipipi5898]

@@baptistecochennec5956he really isn’t a lane bully bahaha lane bully is something like rumble, riven, akshan, Quinn really not Olaf man

[@charlychokoneko-chama2768]

​@@baptistecochennec5956he was a lane bully before rework but now his early stats has been reduce so actully he start to be scary at level 6 and with some AD. If you face Sion okay yes you don't worry to much (but actually Sion early tanking is stupid) but i assure you Olaf need first back or 6 to really starting responding against average top laner. Like Kled he need FUCKING AD

[@KillingTheMeta]

100% agreed. A good team comp with olaf can be nightmate fuel, ran a sup zillean game once with a olaf top and by the late game I could physically feel the fear in the enemy team when I would e the olaf as he charged in, good times.

[@danielwoody6582]

I gotta say, one of the saddest things is playing support and seeing Olaf run at your fed carry knowing there is nothing you can do about it

[@DnDandVideoGames]

Olaf, a champ that makes everyone forget the word bruiser

[@Krinj]

Goredrinker being removed was also a big nerf to Olaf, sadly

[@czairkolmoslink5952]

Feel like Dashes are not the problem or hard CC. It's like Volibear right now. Change the ult so it removes CC but makes soft removal not as good. Then, push more into his other abilities. Kind of like Volibear's R, which impacts the rest of his kit. Mainly, the speed on his Q. I feel like Dashs don't need to be all reworked or new champs. Just a good workaround that helps them. For example, make it like poppy, where it makes it harder for champs to dash away from him or a speed increase.

[@kingol4801]

Just give him Tryndamere ultimate on top of his current one. Trick? Give him Pyke-like scaling. The more damage he builds, the LESS his super-mode lasts.

[@czairkolmoslink5952]

I think these are bad idea @@kingol4801. You have to take him for what he is a juggernaut tank/bodyguard. I'm only saying the poppy part because before the rework he had anti dash built into his kit. I feel like the Ult was a mistake and the disabling turrents isn't healthy or good for the game for just a gimmick. I rather change it so we can buff his Q speed.

[@czairkolmoslink5952]

Yeah, no, @kingol4801 Tryndamere Ult and Pyke are different classes compared to Volibear, as Volibear has always been more of a tank juggernaut. We need to think about what is ok for a Juggernaut to have. Why anti dash is fine, E wouldn't use this hard CC unless someone dashes. Also, the R at the moment is too much of a gimmick, making him more of a diver. He needs a build-up Ult like he needs full stacks of his passive to activate. This would make him feel more like the Volibear from Silence for the Damned. Which is a perfect story of Volibear.

[@megaraptor007]

I play olaf a lot. And I completely agree with your assessment. He is extremely feast or famine and even if you get ahead, it's sometimes extremely difficult to move that lead to other parts of the game state. I've had many games where I shut down my lane but since they are an engage tank or something akin, they still can do their job while I struggle to deal with them or the back Line. Ironically if I build in a way that would focus down backline (critlaf or life steal olaf) I am sometimes unable to handle my lane appropriately.

[@kevinlobos5519]

"Malphite is the ultimate counter to any auto attack physical damage based champion" Rammus: Ok.

[@pendyalaabhishek8866]

Malphite is a worst pick into olaf, and malphite is a trash champion in general in my opinion as a olaf main. Olaf is just broken if you just know how to play him.

[@noodlesandeggs1512]

I’m not sure on how to fix Olaf. Your point is that he had to stay weak since his Ult is too good at invalidating squishy targets and because of that and his lack of trades against Tanks, he is stuck playing as a diver even through he’s a juggernaut. If he was designed to be a berserker like Kled, Briar, Warwick, and Tryndamere, then I would say he needs to have a get-in tool. Or maybe when he activates his ult, his Q can apply a mark that can be consumed by hitting his E on the marked target for more damage. This works because most tanks would be at the frontline anyways. Champion design is not my strong suit and I’m more interested in the visual design but it’s an interesting topic.

[@kingol4801]

He needs Tryndamere ultimate slapped on top of his own. Olaf’s ultimate is simply too limited. The trick? Give him Pyke-like scaling as well. So, the MORE offensive items new Olaf builds, the LESS his ultimate lasts. If Olaf tries to go Tryndamere way and go full glass cannon…. He has 2 second ultimate duration. If Olaf tries to go full tank? His ultimate lasts 30 seconds, but all of his build is wasted (what is the purpose of immortality if you are already tanky, and what is the purpose of being unstoppable if you have no CC or damage).

[@WindLizard]

This is super fair. It'd be cool if they gave him a tool that brought out his scariness as a berserker more. Because his abilities are just stat buffs or extra damage, swapping one of those out for a flavorful shoulder bash or other sort of gap closer to dash/stun would add a lot of depth to his character. I can see how the extra mobility would be terrifying during Ragnarok though, so it's definitely tough to give somebody like Olaf more tools and depth while keeping the unstoppable sort of identity.

[@DiogenesWasRight90]

Maybe increase the range of his E a little. Twohanded overhead strike for true damage is a nasty engage especially when it scares a tank by chunking a quarter of his hp.

[@VelcorHF]

Olaf is a victim of the scope creep from new champs. He came from an era where having one mobility move was powerful a la Jax or Katarina. He's old, hasn't had a kit refresh but if his numbers are strong enough to make him meta, he's op as fk. The champions down the line started getting mobility, cc, aoe built into every kit. He's not bad, he's just an older idea of a balanced champion. Old Sion, Udyr, Kayle, Poppy, Morde, Jax and Nidalee were all champs with kits that were either OP with good stats or nerfed out of the mainstream. He needs a gameplay rework and a more clear idea to stay with the modern league champs, his concept is solid, he just lacks purpose.

[@stonkmaster9122]

Dude i was youtube searching suicide scrolled down and this video came up 💀

[@jotasso21]

which is surprisingly fitting 'cause Olaf tries to kill himself at the dangerous battles

[@droggellord]

the thing with olaf is just that people in my opinion don't understand that champions can be very simple and can be played on a good level by most players in no time while also having a very high skill ceiling. Best examples of champions that are easy to execute on a basic level are Master Yi, Sion and (even though he is mechanically more intensive) Olaf while there are champs like Nasus and Mordekaiser who literally are just statcheckers with little to no extreme skill ceiling mastery I mean everyone can be useful on Sion but that doesn't mean you can't turn into a literal demon if you practice him 4 years and mastered his Q mechanics perfectly Master Yi is the king of timing and Olaf can be ApM'ed to insanity, there are so many things to potentially consider like how to place your Qs and perfect autocancelling between spells and attacks on top of his low cooldowns and high attack speed. A random Olaf player with bad mechanics can 1v2 at level 6 -- an Olaf on the skill level of Adam can 1v4 at level 6

[@zzxxccvvkk5]

how would you fix him? Q 2 charges (2 axes), what if make W pure def, remove bonus atk speed, will take the damage at end of cast but if would be fatal dmg takes it over time. E add the atk speed, can act multiple times before strike to increase range and amount of atk speed bonus, R if aa target receives heal/shield not from the target, or olaf can no longer atk them increase duration

[@pendyalaabhishek8866]

Olaf is broken. He has highest wineate top emrald + . Only says people do not know him that well.

[@Wallebm]

Olaf and Tryndamere are kinda the tank/assasin version of each other, I enjoy playing them both a lot, but yes they don´t fit into league, especially trynda, he only works in top lane and there he barely is functional because he needs to attack to sustain, but if you´re in a bad matchup you´re screwed and you basically don´t play the game, and as for Olaf he has the opposite problem where tryna can get CCed easily but instead he just dies easily if he runs into an entire team which is the point of him, plus he is very immobile.

[@kingol4801]

I think they should give a new character both of their ultimate abilities. Undying + CC immune. Separately those abilities just don’t work too well

[@dissidius13]

they should rework olaf'd E into s gap closer and his ult morr like original Sion's ukt with the super lifesteal and attack speed. Trynda should get the combined Undying plus Ragnarok but loses his spin dash as compensation. make it a long range cleave instead that slows.

[@adamnagel7436]

If Trynda has a bad matchup he just proxies if he has any clue what he is doing.

[@Samuel-wl4fw]

Tryndarmere has the mobility to just never fight a bad matchup, rotating to other sources of income or objectives

[@donkylefernandez4680]

"You're a second-rate Juggernaut with a third rate dive"

[@HelsenbergFan]

as an olaf one trick, you either 1v5 or die instantly. no middle ground.

[@YuletideGlory]

I dont play Olaf but based on this video I'm thinking Olaf mains should commit to building move speed as a focus in their build, such as Boots of Swiftness, Phantom Dancer, etc. Olaf gets a good amount of free stats just from his abilities, the thing he seems to lack is sticking power.

[@lancesingcuenxo710]

As a Lillia player he terrifies me, especially given how he can just say "No," to my ult. But I respect him.

[@sirbobulous]

As a Morgana enjoyer I see him coming towards me in lane just sigh. Hope Zhonya's if off cooldown...

[@ptbro3334]

Such a terrible matchup for olaf. His only hope is that the lilia player is dumb enough to whiff out their ult before his ult and even then,lilia can q and run out of his range so it's almost hopeless

[@Artemis0567]

Its funny to me how universally hated trynd is despite almost always being weak. Almost every champ trynd faces is a skill matchup. Its the same as ppl saying Yi is cheap because he just runs at you at autos. Its always shit players. So many champs counter trynd. he is immune to death in his ult for 5 seconds but can still be CC'd and so many champs have dashes and more MS thanj trynd they can just run away... Champs now have so much MS that a YI with ult and ghost cant catch them... but people still complain. You may think its cheap, you just havent learned to play around it yet.

[@mac1462]

Olaf feels great in Aram where you have access to snowball 🙃

[@KingWing26]

I used to main Olaf in the jungle and top lane. He is now nothing more than a stat check champion that falls off harder than lee sin. So you have a bad late game and no mobility, against a pool of champions with tons of dashes, wall hops, etc. Brolaf was awesome to play in the past but unless he finds himself with some kind of item synergy that only he can abuse, there are so many other options that off better viability if that game doesnt end in 20-30min. They need to make him tankier and buff his base E damage, thats the only viable way of bringing him back with his current kit (crit olaf is nothing more than a cheese build).

[@jonathanabgrall6075]

Vid aged like milk, he's picked in the LCS and in every 3rd ranked game.

[@eon2330]

Give OLAF E a rework. Make it do more damage based on # of autos done during its cooldown to champions. Then have him mega nuke an adc, or the tank. Congrats. 1k base after 10 autos 2X ad true damage nuke.

[@OnzagaoftheEast]

Now that Stridebreaker has Tiamat built into it. There's no reason not to rush it. Gives Jungle Clear/Health/AS/MS/Slow.

[@BORDEV]

man your videos are too high quality for the views you get, you are one of my favoruite league creators keep up the good work

[@ConstantLiak]

Next: Why noone plays Yone.

[@danielsolyarikov7908]

Nice argument, unfortunately it's not the Universe Yone isn't played that much

[@AlphaI250]

@@danielsolyarikov7908 I think he was joking about the fact Olaf isnt fit for a "Why noone plays"

[@iratevagabond204]

Watching this after a devastating defeat to an Olaf top whom killed my top laner 11 times, and my jungler 8 times by 15 minutes (as well as taking two towers). There was nothing the other three of us could do (all squishies) to kill him after that. Our mid (lux) was going even with the enemy veigar. My ADC (Jhin) and I (Morgana) were ahead of the enemy bot lane, but not by a lot. We just hadn't died at all, while we'd killed them a half dozen times or so.

[@loganoakley5267]

Full crit. Lifesteal, attack speed, and full crit. Crit items give you move speed for the most part, you out damage everyone with your autos, and the built-in lifesteal plus the lifesteal you get from items makes him outheal everyone. Especially in low elo, where people don't space properly, you can run from person to person, and the enemy team isn't coordinated enough to full dump everything into you. If they do, your team cleans up after because they enemy team does use everything, leaving nothing up after to deal with your team.

[@chabbab6698]

Horrible idea. Squishy AF you explode before you can lifesteal lel

[@Aliens1337]

> Build glass canon Olaf. > Hit ult + ghost and run into the enemy team. > Gets 1 shotted before landing any attack cause you have less than 2k HP with crit build. > Gets 4x reported.

[@KenjiAsakura09]

@@Aliens1337 would probably get 9x

[@szymonn2560]

I reallly like Olaf lore - mann to angry to Die. Literally - as long as he fights he is immortal

[@kyzoc.4785]

cold as fuck

[@xrln3649]

I believe, that if all the champions were redesigned to suit the current one we would have a dota2 balance experience, where nothing is broken, because everything is broken

[@biggdogg33]

Why Olaf is bad in low elo is 2 reason. 1 - low elo is dominate by super ultimate. Amumu for example. 2 - attack moving is not used in low elo.

[@EruCoolGuy]

3 - why play olaf when you can outplay with warwick by committing W Q right click

[@Squggs]

Ignite is one of my favorite SSs because it let's you play around not fighting Warwick, and now Briar. On low health. They can actually die if you save your midgame uses for them.

[@pendyalaabhishek8866]

​@@EruCoolGuyOlaf only losses to war wik before he hit 6 but after 6 ww looses to Olaf, since Olaf can farm from far he can easily reach lvl 6 and get anti heal then it's over for ww.

[@rub3738]

9:04 that xin zhao tpose tho

[@TherealNiqqa]

Olaf is more like a counter pick right now, people use him to punish scalling/heavy cc/low mobility/non burst team comp, not really a good champ to main

[@lidlpotato2047]

I played the old Olaf a lot in the jungle and I really enjoyed it. But current Olaf just doesn't fulfill the same fantasy anymore for me and he feels a lot weaker too. They took away a lot of his early game power in both clear and damage, so his jungle pressure is definitely weaker. And ironically, even though he objectively scales better than he used to, he feels much worse late game because you can't get those ridiculous early game leads anymore. I also think his new ultimate is a lot worse for jungle Olaf since the champions that counter you already are now even stronger against you because you're so much more kitable. I think top lane Olaf still has a place in the game as a counterpick into specific matchups and teamcomps but jungle Olaf is absolutely boned. I can't imagine a scenario where Olaf would legitimately be the optimal pick. You need backline access? Go vi, wukong or nocturne. You need a juggernaut? Go volibear or udyr instead. You need somebody who can clear quickly and put pressure on the enemy jungler? Just pick graves or something. Sadly a dead champion in the jungle role imo. It's just shit having a kind of "balls to the wall all or nothing all in" ultimate button that is so unreliable.

[@lucasrezende7214]

The thing is, you can never pull those crazy plays on the razor's edge with Olaf anymore because there are too damn many executes in the game right now.

[@Kligor2]

I feel like a really cool idea would be incentivizing him attacking the biggest target on the enemy team. Hes searching for the biggest things to fight or die to, in lore, so when hes in game it should cater to that idea of his goal. Maybe doing bonus damage to enemies with more max HP than himself while dealing actually LESS to targets who are squishier? Idk just brainstorming

[@reculi]

do you have any idea how much that would suck

[@Kligor2]

​@@reculi Good thing Im a rando online who made it up in 10 seconds then and not a Riot dev :P Dont need to be rude about it

[@Cthyrpain]

Honestly, he has epic lore, epic gameplay, epic impact

[@braaxm_tv2752]

Im so glad no one knows how strong olaf is till they play against me, at least he wont get nerfed that way

[@jackadams4737]

Haven’t watched this yet but interested to see what you have to say about my main

[@johnlui887]

Olaf is super-strong unstoppable monster for single squishy target like ap carry, adc and support, and all non-fighter non-tanky build type champ, he could chase you under tower and finish you and escape, at this point he is very strong. But if you choose to group and not giving chances on soloing lane in mid-game / late-game, he is completely useless in front of group fire. He is too not tanky to finish off anyone before group fire kills him, and that made him useless. So he either solo kill god, or 0 dmg minions. Even the player good at mechanism of Olaf, quick dmg combo, consistent landing q, still a big variable from what the opponent team playstyle, do they group, do they coordinate well that make sure group fire on you when you try to crush them, that depends on them, hugely depends on your enemy team playstyle, you only have mid late game impact if they giving this window for you to skrimish down any weak target, otherwise, Olaf still very much useless after laning phase passed. It incredible that a champ depends so much on an outside factor of their playstyle, which made him kind of coin-flipping to play champ, it doesnt really matter on the player own skills and strategy, the other 50% or even 75 80% 90% of if Olaf shine out depends on how the emeny team awareness is, insane!

[@ignacioruhe427]

I love to play him in the jungle when the enemy carrys lack mobility and the enemy has too much cc.

[@oxycane851]

He’s really a niche pick. You can only play him against certain team comps like a morde top, zac jungle, Gallup mid and some tank support. You really just have to play him against heavy cc not too mobile comps

[@rence234]

Olaf is basically manual Briar

[@danilakalinin6261]

Good video, but as many ppl stated you should calm down on clickbait titles. Game has like 150 champs, less than 3% pickrate is not really dead character anymore.

[@multy7707]

What is the song used in the video, Mr.Vars? Love the deep dive!

[@MangaGamified]

It would just get worse in 2024 with the buff of Tenacity and prevalence of movement speed, bruiser with tank and Tenacity items does the same by reducing CC, while also living longer, and is more consistent, There might be outliers for olaf like the ADC just got perma slowed but that's very few and far in between.

[@azizkash286]

he died along with the healing nerfs some time ago

[@Deltastream7567]

Recently I just watched your 5 most overloaded vid, or something similar, and in it I learned Olaf is in your pool. Just an observation. I guess now I’m wondering how Olaf can be “balanced”, or made more consistent without him bulldozing the enemy team or himself getting bulldozed

[@gaminginsidecar9098]

finally a fresh video

[@oneofthe12sionmains70]

My take is that Olaf has maybe the worst combination of burst damage, survivability and sticking power in the entire cast of assassins+fighters+juggernauts. He makes up for it with top tier sustain, sustained damage and being CC immune, but that all relies on a champ with no dashes and his only sticking power being to slow you, pick up an axe and throw it again. If a single axe is dodged, he gets his ultimate kited out, then he gets CC’d and dies. It’s incredibly polarizing since all his strengths require him to constantly have somebody to auto, but he doesn’t have the tools to reliably do so unless he’s being pocketed by an enchanter, making him the most team reliant fighter in the game

[@baptistecochennec5956]

He has all the burst survivability and sticking power he need if you miss an axe it's completely your fault and you still have ghost and stride and ult which is a lot of the time sufficient

[@kyzoc.4785]

@@baptistecochennec5956 Oh yeah, and what do you do against a poke team with burst mages? Can Olaf get to a draven with a xerath support and a syndra mid? Before he even sees draven's ugly face he loses 60% of his HP.

[@bullettime1116]

@@kyzoc.4785 skill issue, just dodge

[@baptistecochennec5956]

@@kyzoc.4785 of course you can ghost them and run them down lmao

[@wade2589]

playing ad shyvana feels like playing olaf without ult and q doesn't slow and no lifesteal or shield

[@titanofyoutube4834]

Finally, a champ i play comes on this series. Id be really curious what you have to say about xin zhao as well

[@TechNinjaSigma]

OLAF!!! RAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!! ⚒️

[@charlychokoneko-chama2768]

I think they should add some kind of extra effect if you hit two axes on someone for a short within a short time like when you are running after an Ezreal. AND depending of that effect like a better slow or increase dmg, faster casting in should only proc if the axe make it to a certain distance (similar to Yuumi's Q) so it doesn't affect close range combat only if a range kite you. Actually maybe just some ms bonus if you hit twice at 500/600. It's also sad that you cannot build botrk effectively since you are a chips if you do so but the item fit so well on him. We will see what s14 is for him. I believe Olaf needs some comfort buff like 150 auto range, bonus ms somewhere other than R (maybe kick out R ms it isn't so reliable), faster cast, better shield idk something to get him more pleasant to play but not stats.

[@pendyalaabhishek8866]

Brotha olaf is broken , he can gap literally any top lane champ.

[@tinkerlin8235]

Old world champ: no infinite dashes, no percentage health dmg (botrk i guess?), no 90% dmg reduction on a basic ability, no cc on a sub 10 sec cooldown... Why would anyone play him?

[@omegasybers1110]

I think Olaf could lean more into his Front to back playsytle with the new season 14 items. Triforce or Eclipse into tank seems like a very potent way to make Olaf a threat to the frontline again as Tanks can't get rid of him and Carries can't burst him down efficiently

[@eon2330]

Nope. Olaf E is the make or break of olaf. Its ratio is too low for anti tank. What olaf needs is a stacking mechanic during R. So that his E does damage based on how fast it came off cooldown or based on how many champion autos occured during its cooldown. So he can womp someone for 750 + 1.5X ad true damage.

[@adamnagel7436]

Olaf just isnt that great at anything that really matters. There are champs with easier waveclear that kill targets faster and easier. And there are more durable champs that have actual CC. There are better split pushers. There really is no reason to pick the champ.

[@yj7670]

Finaly, someone standing out and tell the truth, and yet, aatrox still not nerf in s14

[@ross0101]

I have an olaf top in the enemy team every game 😭

[@remilia20xx78]

Haha Olaf, you are beating my ADC to death while I can't disable you at all and then you're coming for me next ~Me, a support with CC

[@jaroslavhorak1049]

Great video.

[@lecoutcritique8854]

As olaf main (humble E4 EUW) I kind of disagree with your conclusion. Olaf isn't a "stat checker" because their are a tons of counter play to him : mainly facing him with a phase rush champ, a dash champ, a champ with more sustain (WW) or even some more burst than him (renek botrk .. .guh). The reason he is'nt good in low elo is because Olaf's require knowledge of matchups, as well as skill to play (his Q IS tricky to play in the heat of the battle : not too far, not too close, and on the proper way... can often be a mess), plus transitionning to mid/late game without a sizeable lead is pretty difficult, but still doable. He's just a melee fighter. Even out of lane Olaf is way more vulnerable to CC one might think : slow are his bane because olaf can't afford to fight without ult (not far from malphite) but also can't take that many poke. He is a jack of many trades, good but not allmighty in all-ins, good but not overwhelming neutral game (decent sustain, decent poke, decent wave clear, nothing fancy here). Burstable, kiteable. But he team fight better than a splitpusher, and splitpush better than a full tank. He's not exceptionnal at either, but he can always find something to do almost no matter the game (provided not being stomped on every lane). He even have the R to grant him ONE clutch teamfight where he can clutch 3 to 4 kills and bring him back in the game with a slow start (around the 18 min mark).

[@patrickthestar132]

I have olaf in every 5 games played once, in emerald

[@werewolf74]

They could do a Diane and swap his W and R. his W ignores CC (i mean Mundo, Voli, Udyr all have this now anyways) and make his Lifesteal stronger and maybe give move speed so he doesnt fall off once engaged.

[@kasionzero2858]

what if olaf gets a kayle and taric that focuses on ulting him, if olaf builds dmg and when taric ults he charges in, and hopefully taric ult can catch the low hp olaf with full damage that is unstoppable

[@WhatLiesInTheDarknes]

Crazy I just started playing him again in both jungle and top and this video drops same week.

[@nonameimpotantlive9233]

Why i like olaf is simply i love hes Q and it only one of they way it works in game also as A Dane viking > all

[@galdorg4996]

just a point, olaf cana be debuffed during his ultimate I'm not talking slows or anything, i'm talking anti-healing, damage reduction (sona W, exhaust), AD reduction (Tryndamere W, Trundle Q), Armor or MR (Black cleaver and a shit ton of abilities, abyssal mask)

[@dwshredder4870]

Olaf neither has the Mobility of a Diver nor the Heavy Offensive stats of a Juggernaut . So If you build him tanky he deals literally zero damage & if build him AD he gets half lifed before even reaching the enemy.

[@yermil890]

in a nutshell, champs do things, those things they can do at around 70% at 50% they become viable, olaf does two things but both at 49% so hes kinda bad outside of edgecase matches and specific metas, he cant get buffed as even the slightest buffs will get him to 60% at both things which would make him broken, so hes kept below 50% at all times

[@kingol4801]

Olaf needs to be broken. That is the beauty of MOBA games - characters are allowed to be imbalanced, as opposed to fighting games

[@tadihotado3518]

Im calling bull on that “no one plays”

[@icecreamtruckog3667]

If you play Olaf as a tank he has all the time in the world to deal damage.

[@Stachelbeeerchen]

No dash or at least movement speed in his basic abilities? Yeah... Not really looking good for the big guy. Id suggest him to get movespeed towards his axes he leaves with his Q and gets rewarded with more speed running towards hit targets. They could also increase his e range and make Olaf leap to enemies like Illaoi does. Would "modernize" his kit without hurting his identity of being better in the enemies rows than with the rest of his team. And it would put another layer of skill expression on Olaf which he desperately needs because Olaf mains perform as good as people picking him up for the third time.

[@pendyalaabhishek8866]

All u gotta do is use approach velocity rune which gives enough movement speed. As a olaf main I can say Olaf is just broken and strong in all phases of game. Olaf has one of the highest winrate top lane above emrald.

[@Stachelbeeerchen]

@@pendyalaabhishek8866 I know about that rune but a champ should be working independently away from runes first. It is a failure in champion design that he has a clear direction: "being sandwiched between at least two champions" but having no reliable way of achieving that goal on his own without items or runes. Yes his Q slows and his R gives movespeed towards enemies when Cast but thats not enough to really keep up with modernized champs when your only ability for closing gaps is a long cooldown r.

[@pendyalaabhishek8866]

@@Stachelbeeerchenchamps won't work with out runes. Once Olaf gets stride breaker that is enough for Olaf. Ppl who build ravenous hydra and life steal on Olaf are building very bad. Olaf is just strong believe me he don't need dash or any thing else. You just need to know when you should use w and ult.

[@Stachelbeeerchen]

@@pendyalaabhishek8866 yeah sorry but when I see champs like Yone or Irelia I expect a bit of movement. Again I lay my emphasis on "MODERNIZATION" It doesn't need much really. I know all champs are balanced around items and runes but it should not be the exclusionary reason to give him nothing in his base-kit.

[@muratemreyurdalan2734]

Nobody plays olaf because nobody remembers that he exists. thats all there is to it.

[@Vinicius-Bigode]

Maybe it's my playstyle speaking louder but I view teamfighting as Olaf as a waste of time, for the same reasons said in the video. He's much consistent in the side lane winning almost every 1v1 or 2v1 in the game.