With the release of OB52, Hi-Rez finally explained what flank kills were.
That, and Zhin was released.
Initially, the player base assumed flank kills were simply coming in from behind, but it was never clarified and remained vague.
However, Hi-Rez confirmed that flank kills are include the requirement of landing the killing blow on the enemy.
This makes sense, the damage champions chip away at the enemy's health and the flanks finish them. Now that Hi-Rez has clarified the definition of a flank kill which in turn defines a flanker, we can essentially go through the "best" flankers as the definition suggests.
Taken from the official patch notes:
Basically, this means that for flank champions, mobility is ranked above burst.
While all flank champions were nerfed from the credit bonus reduction to 130% for a killing blow, 130% is still enough to change the game if, like a good flank, you get enough kills. Because of this, going for high mobility to finish off enemies is key. With this said, the utility items for a flanker would generally be Nimble, or if they have many mobility skills, Chronos.
For Zhin, who has a bunch of mobility skills (all of them except his Counter), building Morale Boost would be a good idea since his ultimate is not only a great finisher but also a good dash. Zhin actually has one of the slowest base movement speeds in the games, but that's made up for by his many mobility skills. If you find yourself constantly needing to use his skills, building Chronos is alright, but otherwise, with his Spite Legendary card and Morale Boost, his ultimate charge rate and damage is insane. Building Nimble for Zhin is probably a big no-no since it's so slow for a flanker it's beyond repair-- just build his skills.
For the "weakest" flank, Buck probably fits the bill. As a flank, by definition, his pursuing skills are limited. Flanknessa could probably do a better job than him at flanking. Heck, even Flanknando could flank better.
On the official description of his Heroic Leap, it says he jumps an incredible distance and deals 350 damage on landing on an enemy. The distance isn't very incredible (it's good for escaping though) and landing on enemy is pretty hard. You also can't really do anything while jumping around in mid-air. His net is supposed to stop enemies from escaping, but if it wasn't so easily countered it would be do a better job. So many champions have a card for countering slows and crowd control, and even if some champions don't, they can just buy Resilience in the item shop. His ultimate also can't pursue an enemy, it's only good for team fights were no one is running away since it doesn't give him a movement boost.
On the other hand, Buck is really fun and easy to pick up (and he's cheap). Wow, that sounded kind of wrong. I didn't mean it like that. Anyways, Buck is only 4000 gold and pretty easy to learn, and a good start to flank champions.
And that's how you play as the "best" flank by definition: the janitor. Yup, at the end of the day, flanks are the janitors who clean up and finish off enemies who were wounded by the damages.
Anyways, just remember mobility over burst for flankers.
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