Fluent League of Legends: Your Ticket To Master was created under Riot
Games’ “Legal Jibber Jabber” policy using assets owned by Riot Games. Riot
Games does not endorse or sponsor this project.
Copyright © 2023
All rights reserved.
To contact the author, please email laststand2231@gmail.com
First Edition: June 2023
About the Author
Mahmoud Emam is a multiple season Master-Grandmaster top-lane player at
both servers EUW/EUNE that started playing League of Legends in August 2018.
He took the game very seriously early on and managed to reach diamond IV on
the EUNE server by the end of season 9, Then reached grandmaster on the EUNE
server in season 10, Then he decided to switch to the EUW server on season 11
where he managed to peak 450LP Masters at a very tough season where the pro
players from all over the world were playing in EUW in preparation for the
annual world championship which was held then in Iceland, and stayed masters
for the 3 months he played in season 12. He is also an undergraduate chemical
engineer and an aspiring self-taught data scientist.
In his spare time, he enjoys spending time with his family and friends, solving
coding puzzles on websites like codewars, playing League of Legends with his
friends, working out, and many more!
LoLPros Profile: https://lolpros.gg/player/emam (Peak is higher than registered
on the site)
Twitter: @MisterE666
Discord: emam1 (Previously Emam#7228)
BRIEF CONTENTS
Introduction
PART I: BASICS
Chapter 1: Getting Started
Chapter 2: Your First Game
PART II: HOLDING YOUR HAND
Chapter 3: Laning Phase
Chapter 4: Mid-Late Game
PART III: A DEEPER DIVE
Chapter 5: Advanced Wave Management
Chapter 6: Advanced Laning Phase
Chapter 7: Completing the Mastery: Simple but Not Applied Properly.
PART IV: TOPICS OF SPECIAL INTEREST
Chapter 8: The Community and the Addiction of LoL.
Appendix A: Acronyms used in League of Legends
Appendix B: Answers to Test Yourself Questions
CONTENTS
Introduction ................................................................................................................................................................1
Who Is This Book For? ..............................................................................................................................................2
What Can You Expect to Learn?...............................................................................................................................3
CHAPTER 1: GETTING STARTED .........................................................................................................................................5
MOBA Games and League of Legends ..................................................................................................................5
Available Game Modes.............................................................................................................................................6
Champions in League of Legends ..........................................................................................................................8
Stats ............................................................................................................................................................................ 10
Crowd Control Effects ............................................................................................................................................. 14
Summoner Spells..................................................................................................................................................... 18
Runes.......................................................................................................................................................................... 18
Minions and jungle monsters................................................................................................................................ 21
Currencies and Skins .............................................................................................................................................. 29
CHAPTER 2: YOUR FIRST GAME ...................................................................................................................................... 31
Blind Pick and Draft Pick ...................................................................................................................................... 31
Roles ........................................................................................................................................................................... 32
Leashing Your Jungler............................................................................................................................................. 34
Gold Gold Gold! ...................................................................................................................................................... 35
Farming and Last Hitting ....................................................................................................................................... 36
Which Ability Should I Max? Which Items Should I Buy? ............................................................................. 37
Vision and Bushes ................................................................................................................................................... 39
Trading ...................................................................................................................................................................... 41
Introduction to Roaming and Ganking ............................................................................................................... 42
Pings ........................................................................................................................................................................... 43
Importance of Objectives ....................................................................................................................................... 44
Game Settings........................................................................................................................................................... 45
Ranked System......................................................................................................................................................... 47
Sometimes You Lose Games! ................................................................................................................................. 48
Summary ................................................................................................................................................................... 49
CHAPTER 3: LANING PHASE ........................................................................................................................................... 50
Lane Priority ............................................................................................................................................................. 50
The Level 2 Powerspike .......................................................................................................................................... 51
Learning How To Trade ......................................................................................................................................... 53
Utilizing Bushes....................................................................................................................................................... 55
Introduction to Wave Management ...................................................................................................................... 56
Warding and Avoiding Ganks ............................................................................................................................... 59
How to play against stealth junglers.................................................................................................................... 61
Landing Your Ability 101: Understanding the Enemy's Dodge Pattern ........................................................ 62
Should I Help My Jungler on That Scuttle Crab?.............................................................................................. 64
Playing Support Properly ....................................................................................................................................... 65
The best way to learn a champion. ....................................................................................................................... 66
Counterpicking ........................................................................................................................................................ 67
Playing From Behind............................................................................................................................................... 68
My Ally Is Flaming Me! .......................................................................................................................................... 70
Summary ................................................................................................................................................................... 71
CHAPTER 4: MID-LATE GAME ......................................................................................................................................... 72
Team Formation After Laning Phase .................................................................................................................... 72
Splitpushing and Snowballing ............................................................................................................................. 73
Overlooked Calls in Gold/Plat .............................................................................................................................. 75
Don’t Recall! ............................................................................................................................................................. 77
Take Towers or Kill Baron?.................................................................................................................................... 77
Trading Objectives .................................................................................................................................................. 78
Giving Objectives .................................................................................................................................................... 79
Playing Around Vision ........................................................................................................................................... 79
Split Push or Group? ............................................................................................................................................... 82
Using Your Flash Correctly .................................................................................................................................... 84
Don’t play only in mid lane ................................................................................................................................... 85
Responding To Enemy’s Plays .............................................................................................................................. 86
Common Mistake .................................................................................................................................................... 88
Understanding What Your Champion Does Best. ............................................................................................. 89
Teamfighting ............................................................................................................................................................. 91
Summary ................................................................................................................................................................... 92
CHAPTER 5: ADVANCED WAVE MANAGEMENT ................................................................................................................. 93
Identifying Your Champion................................................................................................................................... 93
Estimating Wave Position....................................................................................................................................... 94
Wave Bouncing ......................................................................................................................................................... 98
Freezing ................................................................................................................................................................... 100
Efficient Freezing ................................................................................................................................................... 102
Wave Pulling ........................................................................................................................................................... 104
The Recall Freeze ................................................................................................................................................... 105
Slow Pushing .......................................................................................................................................................... 108
Fast Pushing ............................................................................................................................................................ 110
The Cheater Recall................................................................................................................................................. 110
The Suicidal Wave Crash...................................................................................................................................... 112
Proxying ................................................................................................................................................................... 114
General Wave Tips ................................................................................................................................................ 116
Jungler’s Wave Management Guide ................................................................................................................... 116
Underused technique ............................................................................................................................................ 124
Summary ................................................................................................................................................................. 124
CHAPTER 6: ADVANCED LANING PHASE ........................................................................................................................ 125
Sorry Jungler, I can't leash! .................................................................................................................................. 125
The Level 1 Wave Trick......................................................................................................................................... 126
Small Leash or Big Leash?.................................................................................................................................... 128
The CSing Mind Game ......................................................................................................................................... 131
Abusing Item Spike Difference .......................................................................................................................... 133
Melee vs Ranged Matchup (Top Lane) .............................................................................................................. 133
Teleport vs Ignite ................................................................................................................................................... 135
Weak side or Strong side? .................................................................................................................................... 136
The Effect of Both Junglers’ Pathing on Your Early Wave Management. .................................................... 137
Dealing with Vertical Jungling ........................................................................................................................... 143
The Tower Plating Trap ........................................................................................................................................ 145
Very Specific Top Lane Scenario......................................................................................................................... 147
Common Top Lane Scenario (Junglers Need This)......................................................................................... 148
Summary ................................................................................................................................................................. 150
CHAPTER 7: COMPLETING THE MASTERY: SIMPLE BUT NOT APPLIED PROPERLY. ............................................................ 152
Dodging Games ..................................................................................................................................................... 152
Shotcalling .............................................................................................................................................................. 153
The Problem with Taking Early Inhibitor ........................................................................................................ 153
Understanding your enemy's body language ................................................................................................... 154
Anticipating junglers’ gameplan from champion select ................................................................................ 155
Shadowing .............................................................................................................................................................. 156
The Problem with High Plat/Low Diamond Elo .............................................................................................. 158
Being an OTP (One Trick Pony) ......................................................................................................................... 159
Replays .................................................................................................................................................................... 160
CHAPTER 8: THE COMMUNITY AND THE ADDICTION OF LOL ........................................................................................... 162
Addiction & Toxicity............................................................................................................................................. 162
Tilt & Dunning Kruger ......................................................................................................................................... 163
Playing The Game According to Your Goals .................................................................................................... 166
Appendix A: League Acronyms ......................................................................................................... 168
Appendix B: Answers to Test Yourself Questions ................................................................ 171
Introduction
Every gamer has a story about how they started their gaming journey.
I began playing video games at the young age of 5, influenced by my
brothers. I still have vivid memories of experiencing strong emotions,
from crying to laughing, both as a child and as I grew up while playing
video games. There was even a point in my life when I skipped classes
to play video games, which, I must clarify, is not a recommended
practice. Video games are a passion and playing them is not necessarily
a bad habit unless it turns into an addiction.
I'll always remember the confusion I felt when I started playing League
of Legends. As a highly competitive person and gamer, I approached
the game seriously and sought to absorb every piece of information
available online to improve myself. It was a daunting process, but after
approximately 8 months of playing my first MOBA (LoL), I managed
to reach diamond. However, I still recall the days when I was in silver
or gold, constantly questioning myself after watching guide videos and
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not seeing significant improvement. Was it my champion holding me
back? Were my runes or items the issue? Was the outcome of a game
my fault or my team's fault? Was my playstyle optimal? Was I simply
getting carried? Did I find it impossible to beat certain champions
because they counter mine? Was it my fault if my team died while I
was farming the minion wave? These innocent questions and many
more echoed in my mind.
As someone who quickly absorbed information within a short period
of time and continued playing for years, I know exactly how the
average silver, gold, and even platinum and diamond players feel, In
this book, I will attempt to answer the questions running through your
mind, providing practical knowledge to help you climb the ladder as
quickly as possible.
Who Is This Book For?
The purpose of this book is to assist readers in quickly grasping the
fundamental concepts of League of Legends that are applicable in
every Summoner's Rift game. It is suitable for individuals who have no
knowledge of League of Legends or MOBA games, as well as for
master-level players. The objective of this book is to teach the game's
key concepts from the perspective of a high elo player, enabling
readers to understand how such a player would think and approach
various situations. By doing so, it expands the horizons of average
players and aids in the development of beneficial habits from an early
stage. This, in turn, allows them to watch professional games and
streams, comprehending the rationale behind certain decisions without
the need to ask the streamer for explanations.
Upon completing this book, readers should have a solid understanding
of why a player selects one decision over another, enhancing their
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enjoyment of watching professional games, even if they do not intend
to achieve a high rank themselves. It also serves as a valuable reference
tool, enabling readers to quickly review specific concepts they may
struggle with, such as Wave Management. Instead of watching a
twenty-minute YouTube video that doesn’t even cover everything, they
can easily read the wave management section of the book while in
champion select or queuing for a game.
What Can You Expect to Learn?
You will efficiently learn and adopt good habits as I provide you with a
solid foundation in general concepts that do not undergo massive
changes over the seasons. After working your way through Fluent
League of Legends, you can rest assured that the only thing you need
to focus on is playing your champion(s) efficiently and staying up to
date with the best runes and items for your champion(s), while gaining
experience through gameplay.
This book is suitable for all roles, but it holds particular value for laners
as it was written by a top laner. It is also beneficial for junglers who
want to understand the game from a laner's perspective, which is what
differentiates between a good jungler and a mediocre one. However, it
is useful for every role in the game as it covers concepts applicable to
all roles. Although it does not delve into concepts that heavily vary
from season to season, such as detailed jungle pathing, items, and
runes, it provides a solid understanding of considerations when
building items and selecting runes regardless of the season, as well as
how to track the enemy jungler.
The first part of this book focuses on teaching you how to play the
game, understanding the different modes, and grasping the basics. It
covers fundamental aspects such as the importance of gold, farming,
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last hitting, ability maxing, map awareness, vision, and more. This part
serves as an advanced tutorial and serves as an introduction to the
second part.
In Part II, you will acquire the necessary information to become
proficient enough to carry your teammates to victory. Most of the
information provided in Part II is applicable to players up to the
platinum rank, so if applied correctly, it should enable you to hold
your ground in at least Platinum. You will learn how and when to
trade, how to snowball, how to play from behind, how, and when to
ward, how to track and avoid enemy jungler's ganks (or in the case of
being a jungler, when to gank), and you will gain an understanding of
wave management and how to navigate the mid-late game.
Part III delves into the deep details of what you've learned in Part II.
You will gain a profound understanding of waves and wave
management, apply advanced laning phase concepts, and be exposed
to information and strategies that are often ambiguous and not fully
understood or applied even by diamond players. This part proves
useful even for diamond and master players.
Part IV presents the author's perspective on the community, mindset,
and addiction related to the game. It emphasizes why one should not
let a visual ranked border on a screen determine their happiness or
negatively impact their life. This part contains the author's thoughts on
how to approach the game based on the goals you wish to achieve
within it.
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PART I
1
CHAPTER 1: GETTING STARTED
In this chapter, you’ll learn what League of Legends is, and you’ll have
very basic understanding on what’s inside the game.
MOBA Games and League of Legends
MOBA stands for Multiplayer Online Battle Arena. MOBA games are a
sub-genre of real-time strategy games. In MOBA games, players
control a single character with unique abilities and battle against other
players’ characters in a team-based environment. The goal is to destroy
the opposing team’s base while defending your own. MOBA games are
5
typically played in matches that last between 15-60 minutes and are
popular among competitive gamers.
League of Legends (LoL) is a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA)
game developed and published by Riot Games. In League of Legends,
players assume the role of a “champion” with unique abilities and
battle against a team of other players’ champions. The goal is to
destroy the opposing team’s “Nexus” a structure located at the heart of
their base.
League of Legends has become one of the most popular online games
in the world since its release in 2009. It has a large and active player
base and is known for its competitive gameplay and community.
Available Game Modes
League of legends has several game modes for players to choose from:
Summoner’s Rift: the primary map for competitive play in
League of Legends. It is a magical battlefield where two teams of
five players each compete against each other to destroy the
enemy nexus. The map has three lanes: top, mid, and bot. Each
lane has its own set of turrets that must be destroyed before
players can reach the enemy base. The jungle area between lanes
contains neutral monsters that can be killed for gold and
experience. We will cover this game mode thoroughly in this
textbook.
ARAM: it stands for “All Random All Mid” and is a game mode
in League of Legends where two teams of five players battle on a
single lane map called Howling Abyss. The objective of the game
is to destroy the opposing team’s Nexus. The game includes an
all-random draft type, which means that each player gets a
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random champion to play with. ARAM games are meant to be a
fun, casual alternative to the more competitive ranked play. This
game mode is especially good for beginners who want to learn
what abilities different champions in the game have.
Featured Game Modes: fun game modes that are mechanically
separate game modes in League of Legends made available
seasonably Each of the modes have unique challenges and twists
to the permanent game modes Some of the featured game modes
that have been repeated include Ultra Rapid Fire (URF) which is
a game mode where all champions are able to use their abilities
and spells very frequently and without costs. and One For All, a
game mode where a team of players play the exact same
champion.
Figure 1 Summoner's rift map in bird's view
7
Figure 2 Aram's map in bird's view
Champions in League of Legends
Champions are the player-controlled characters in League of Legends.
Each champion possesses unique abilities and attributes. There are
currently 163 champions available in League of Legends as I write this,
and they are increasing every season.
Typically, every champion in League of Legends has an assigned class,
this class represents a defined set of patterns in player's behavior,
responses, and reactions to environment The classes are as follows:
Assassin
Assassins are mostly mobile champions whose main priority is to
eliminate key targets. Typically, these targets are the enemy AD Carry
or mid lane carry (don’t worry we will explain these roles in detail in
the beginning of chapter 2). By eliminating sources of high damage
8
output, the assassin’s team can easily overpower the enemy team in 5
versus 4 scenarios. Assassins specialize in infiltrating the enemy.
Fighter
Fighters (also known as Bruisers) are a diverse group of shortranged combatants who excel at both dealing and surviving damage.
With easy access to heavy, continuous damage (DPS -damage per
second-) and a host of innate defenses, fighters thrive in extended
fights as they seek out enemies to take down. Their limited range puts
them at constant risk of being kited.
Mage
Mages are champions who typically possess great reach, abilitybased area of effect damage and crowd control, and who use all these
strengths in tandem with each other to trap and destroy enemies from
a distance. They are often considered the primary source of magic
damage on a team. Mages are also known for their ability to control the
battlefield by casting spells that can slow, stun, or otherwise disable
their opponents.
Marksman
Marksmen are ranged champions whose power almost exclusively
revolves around their basic attacks: using their reach to land massive
continuous damage from a distance. They can take down even the
toughest of opponents when positioned behind the safety of their
team, and excel at securing map objectives such as Dragon, Baron
Nashor and turrets. Marksmen characters are consistent damage
dealers whose ranged basic attacks provide most of their damage.
Support
Supports are champions who focus on aiding their allies and
disabling their enemies. They are typically paired with an Attack
Damage Carry (ADC) or Marksman champion in the bottom lane to
help them survive the early game and scale into the late game.
9
Supports are often responsible for keeping their allies alive through
healing and shielding abilities, as well as providing crowd control to
disable enemies and set up kills for their team.
Tank
Tanks are champions who are designed to soak up damage and
protect their allies. They are typically played in the top lane or jungle
position and are responsible for initiating fights and absorbing damage
from the enemy team. Tanks are often equipped with crowd control
abilities that allow them to disrupt the enemy team and set up kills for
their allies. A tank is basically a meatshield for his team.
Stats
In League of Legends, stats refer to the various attributes that a
champion has that determine their effectiveness in combat. These stats
include things like health, mana, attack damage, ability power, armor,
magic resistance, and movement speed. Each champion has different
base stats and gains additional stats as they level up and purchase
items. We will discuss them in detail.
Attack damage (AD)
a stat that determines how much physical damage a champion’s
basic attacks and abilities that deal physical damage will deal.
Ability power (AP)
Ability power (AP) is a stat that determines how much magical
damage a champion’s abilities will deal.
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Armor
Armor is a stat that reduces the amount of physical damage a
champion takes from basic attacks and abilities that deal physical
damage.
Magic Resistance (MR)
Magic resistance (MR) is a stat that reduces the amount of magical
damage a champion takes from abilities that deal magic damage.
Health
Health (HP) is a stat that determines how much damage a
champion can take before they die. When a champion’s health
reaches zero, they die and are removed from the game for a short
period of time before respawning at their team’s base.
Mana
Mana is a stat that is the resource of many champions necessary to
cast most of their abilities. If a champion does not have enough
mana to cast a certain spell, they are “OOM” (out of mana). Mana
can be restored via mana regeneration and some abilities, items,
runes. Mana is represented in-game by the blue bar within the
HUD, indicating the champion’s current mana and maximum
mana.
Health regeneration (Health regen or HP5)
Health regeneration (also known as HP5) is a stat that determines
the amount of health a champion regenerates over a five-second
period. This happens in half-second intervals.
Mana regeneration (Mana regen or MP5)
Health regeneration (also known as MP5) is a stat that determines
the amount of mana a champion regenerates over a five-second
period. This happens in half-second intervals.
11
Armor Penetration
From its name, it’s a stat that determines how much of the enemy’s
armor you’ll penetrate, it’s a champion stat that dictates how much
of the target’s armor will be ignored when the user deals physical
damage. Armor penetration ignores a percentage of the target’s
Armor.
Lethality
Lethality is a stat that grants you a flat amount of
armor penetration on your attacks rather than a
percentage.
Magic Penetration
Like armor penetration, it’s a champion stat that
dictates how much of the target’s magic resistance will
be ignored when the user deals magical damage. It
ignores a percentage of the target’s magic resistance.
Attack Speed
attack speed determines how frequently a champion auto attacks. It
doesn’t affect the how fast you cast your abilities except in the case
of two champions (Yasuo and Yone) It is by default capped at 2.5
attacks per second.
Critical Strike
A critical strike is when an attack deals 175% of its typical damage.
The most common form of critical strike occurs on basic attacks,
which cannot critically strike structures. Champions can increase
their chances to critically strike and the damage they deal with
critical strikes using items and abilities.
This stat shows how often your auto attacks (or abilities in some
cases) will deal a critical strike on the enemy, better known as (crit).
Ability Haste
12
Ability haste is a stat that reduces ability/spell cooldown, meaning
the more ability haste you have, the more frequent you will be able
to cast your abilities.
Life steal
Life steal is an offensive stat which grants healing equal to a
percentage of the damage dealt by basic attacks. It applies to
abilities that trigger on-hit effects. Life steal is an effective way to
sustain in fights and stay healthy during extended engagements.
Omnivamp
Omnivamp is a healing stat that lets your champion heal when
dealing damage in League of Legends. The type of damage doesn’t
matter, and it could be due to basic attacks, ability power, or true
damage.
True damage is one of three types of basic damage in
league of legends (physical, magical, true) it ignores
incoming damage reduction (armor and magic resistance)
and the only way to counter it is by building more health.
Movement speed
The speed of your champion. In physics, speed is the distance
travelled divided by time.
And it’s no different in League of Legends.
Tenacity
13
Tenacity is a stat that reduces the duration of all incoming crowd
control status effects except airborne, drowsy, nearsight, stasis, and
suppression. The duration cannot be reduced below 0. Tenacity is
one of the most important qualities in League of Legends as it
allows players to stay in a fight and keep going even when things
are against them.
BASE STATS are the initial stats that each champion starts with at level 1 and
increase per level. (The stats of a champion without buying any items or being
affected by any runes)
TEST YOURSELF 1.1
From your understanding of the different classes of champions, and the stats that are in the
game. Can you predict the dominating (highest) stats of each class of champions?
Answers to all Test yourself questions are available at the end of the textbook (Appendix B)
Crowd Control Effects
Stun
A stun is a type of crowd control effect that will prevent a unit from
moving, declaring attacks, or casting their special ability for the
duration.
Root (Snare)
14
A root is a type of crowd control that immobilizes a champion for a
short duration of time. It prevents them from moving but still allows
them to use abilities and attack.
Airborne (Knockup)
Airborne is a type of crowd control that immobilizes a champion for
a short duration of time and makes them unable to move, attack,
cast abilities or use item actives.
Slow
Slow is a type of crowd control that reduces the movement speed of
a champion for a short duration of time. It can be applied by specific
abilities or items.
Grounded
Grounded is a type of crowd control that prevents a champion from
using movement abilities such as dashes and blinks. It can be
applied by specific abilities.
Silence
Silence is a type of crowd control that prevents a champion from using
abilities such as spells and summoner spells. It can be applied by
specific abilities.
Supression
Suppression is a type of crowd control that prevents a champion
from using abilities and summoner spells for a short duration of
time, it affects both the caster and the opponent, and it cannot be
removed by cleanse, but can be removed by specific items or
negated by a spellshield.
Drowsy/Sleep
Drowsy and sleep are two effects that occur together. Drowsy slows
the movement speed of the enemy champion, and then they are put
15
to sleep. While asleep, the enemy champion is unable to move or
cast any ability. However, the sleep effect is removed when the
enemy champion takes any damage. Therefore, it’s best not to
attack an enemy champion while they’re asleep if you want the
effect to last longer.
Fear
Fear is a type of crowd control that causes a champion to run away
from the source of fear for a short duration of time.
Taunt
Taunt is a type of crowd control that forces a champion to attack the
source of taunt for a short duration of time.
Charm
Charm is a type of crowd control that causes a champion to walk
towards the source of charm for a short duration of time.
Items
items are purchasable equipment that provide champions with various
stats and effects to help them during the game. There are many
different types of items that can be purchased throughout the game,
such as offensive items that increase damage output, defensive items
that increase survivability, and utility items that provide additional
effects such as vision or crowd control reduction.
There are three types of items (Season 13): Starter items, basic items,
and legendary items.
Starter items
16
starter items are items that can be purchased at the beginning of the
game with a limited amount of gold. These items are designed to
provide champions with early game stats and effects that can help
them survive and farm more effectively. Some examples include
Doran’s Blade, Doran’s Ring, and Doran’s Shield. These items can’t be
built into bigger more useful items, they just stay unchanged as they
are until you sell them later in the game.
Basic items
Basic items are usually cheap items that can be built into epic items,
which can be built later into legendary items. Some examples include
Long Sword, Amplifiying Tome
Epic items
They are usually items with components that are still components of
other items. They are the mid-tier components of Legendary and
Mythic items that are built out of basic items. Epic items serve their
role as valuable building blocks, offering incremental stats and effects
that smooth your progression toward bigger purchases. Build your
epic items wisely because they can affect your laning phase majorly
(don’t worry about that for now) Some examples include Serrated Dirk
and Vampiric Scepter
Legendary items
Legendary items are high-end items that can not be built into
anything else, they do not have a mythic passive.
Mythic items
17
Mythic items are like legendary items, but you can only build one
mythic item and they have a mythic passive which adds additional
stats to center your playstyle around it.
Items’ stats change almost every patch and items may be reworked or removed.
Learning how to build is not hard and there are many resources to help you build
the generally optimal build for your champion such as op.gg But I will be giving
you an idea on situations where you might have to change your build
accordingly.
Summoner Spells
Summoner spells are abilities that players can use for their champions.
They are chosen in Champion Select before the start of the game. Each
player is allowed two summoner spells chosen from a list. Summoner
spells can be used in-game to aid a player’s champion in various ways,
as each spell has a unique effect. Some summoner spells increase in
effectiveness relative to your champion’s level, but some provide the
same effect at champion level 1 as they do at champion level 18.
You can see the explanation of all summoner’s spells in the league
client by choosing “spells” under the tab “Collection”.
Runes
18
Runes are enhancements that the summoner provides for their
champion before a match begins, each rune page contains runes from
two paths: one primary and one secondary.
Runes are divided into five paths:
Figure 3 Rune paths, Source: leagueoflegends.fandom.com
Precision: For sustaining damage
Domination: for burst damage
Sorcery: for abilities and resource manipulation
Inspiration: for creativity and rule bending
19
Resolve: for durability, tankiness and crowd control
This is normally what a selected rune page looks like in champion
select:
Figure 4 Finished rune page
The last part of a Rune Tree (bottom right in the image above) is stat
adjustments which increases general stats to improve gameplay.
You don’t have to worry about what every every keystone rune does
for now, you will mostly be picking the optimal known runes to your
champion based on the meta or adjusting your runes according to your
enemy team.
There are also default rune pages, but they are not optimal, you
should always search for the best runes for the champion you’re
playing in the current meta and edit your runes accordingly.
20
Minions and jungle monsters
Minions are small creatures that spawn from your base and run down
the lanes towards the enemy base. They attack anything they come
across and are controlled by the computer. They are important because
they help you push down the enemy’s defenses and ultimately destroy
their base. Also known as ‘creeps’
There are four types of minions in League of Legends: melee, caster,
siege(cannon), and super minions. The first two types will spawn every
wave, three each. Siege(cannon) minions spawn every third wave and
deal more damage than melee and caster minions. Super minions are
stronger than siege minions and spawn when an inhibitor turret is
destroyed.
A melee minion is tankier (harder to kill) than a caster minion, but a
caster minion deals more damage.
Minions are the main source of gold and experience.
Figure 5 Melee minions
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Figure 6 Caster minions
Figure 7 Cannon minions
Figure 8 Super minion
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Figure 9 Cannon minion wave clashing ingame.
Jungle Monsters are creatures that live in the jungle between the lanes
in League of Legends. Players can kill these monsters to earn gold and
experience points. They are the main source of gold and experience for
junglers.
Jungler is a role in the game, roles will be discussed in detail
in chapter 2.
This is a map of where jungle monsters are located:
Figure 10 Jungle monsters in LoL, source: leagueoflegends.fandom.com
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Red brambleback and blue sentinel are jungle monsters that give
special buffs to their killer.
Killing red brambleback gives you The Crest of Cinders, mostly
known as (red buff), which empowers the basic attacks of their holder,
making them slow non-turret units for 3 seconds and burn the target
for True Damage. It also makes you gain bonus health regeneration
when out of combat.
Klling blue sentinel gives you The Crest of Insight, mostly known as
(blue buff), which increases your ability haste and Mana/Energy
regeneration.
When a buff holder is killed by an enemy champion, their buff is transferred to
their killer.
Epic Monsters are powerful monsters who are hard to kill, granting
strong team-wide buffs and/or high experience/gold rewards. The Epic
Monsters in League of Legends include Drakes, Baron, and Rift Herald
The dragon respawns after 5 minutes from the start of the game, each
dragon has a different element involved with it, and there are six
elements (ocean – cloud – fire(infernal) – mountain – hextech –
chemtech)
After a certain period or after enough dragons have been slain, the
environment of the entire map changes based on what dragon takes
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over the map. After you kill 4 dragons, you gain a dragon soul based
on whatever dragon takes over the map.
The elder dragon is a special kind of dragon that spawns after one of
the teams kill 4 dragons.
here are the kinds of dragons (drakes) in the game in detail:
Infernal drake:
Figure 11 Infernal Drake
Buff: Infernal Might - Increases AP and AD.
Infernal Dragon Soul: Every 3 seconds, your next attack or damaging
ability creates a small AoE explosion.
Mountain drake:
Figure 12 Mountain Drake
Buff: Mountainous Vigor - Increases Armor and Magic Resist.
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Mountain Dragon Soul: After not taking damage for 5 seconds, you
gain a shield that lasts indefinitely. The shield's power increases with
your AD, AP, and bonus health.
Chemtech drake:
Figure 13 Chemtech Drake
Buff: Chemtech Blight – Increases Tenacity and Heal-Shield power
Chemtech Dragon Soul: While below 50% health, gain increased
damage and damage reduction.
Ocean Drake:
Figure 14 Ocean Drake
Buff: Oceanic Will - restores missing health every 5 seconds.
Ocean Dragon Soul: Dealing damage triggers a strong health and
mana regen for 3 seconds.
Hextech drake:
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Figure 15 Hextech Drake
Buff: Hextech Prowess – Gives ability haste and attack speed
Hextech Dragon Soul: Dealing damage to an enemy with basic attacks
or ability damage causes them to be struck by electricity, dealing bonus
true damage and slowing them.
The elder dragon:
Figure 16 The elder dragon
Buff: Aspect of the Dragon – Damaging enemies inflicts them with a
burn that deals true damage over 2.25 seconds and damaging an
enemy below 20% of their maximum health with execuete them.
The elder buff is especially strong because of its execuete, it is advised to avoid
fair fights, or sometimes all fights with your enemy team when they have this
buff. It is a game changer.
Rift Herald:
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Figure 17 Rift Herald in its pit
The Rift Herald is a neutral monster in Summoner’s Rift. It is in the
same pit as Baron Nashor. Slaying the Rift Herald drops the Eye of the
Herald at the entrance of the pit, which grants Empowered Recall and
the ability to summon the Rift Herald to push a lane. The Eye of the
Herald can be picked up by one member of the slayer’s team and
despawns 20 seconds after it drops.
Baron Nashor:
Baron Nashor is the strongest monster in Summoner’s Rift that spawns
in the river after 20 minutes and becomes stronger as the game
progresses. Killing Baron Nashor provides your team with a strong
buff called Hand of Baron which grants empowered recall and boosts
ally minions’ damage and range which helps you take the enemy base
faster.
Figure 18 Baron Nashor in its pit
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When you kill Baron Nashor, all team members will gain a significant
gold and experience boost, but only alive members will get the buff.
Note that baron nashor hits champions positioned behind it much harder,
and it gives a damage reduction debuff to its target.
Currencies and Skins
League of Legends has four main currencies:
Blue Essence (BE) is one of the primary currencies used to unlock
League of Legends content. It can be obtained by leveling up,
completing some missions, opening Champion Capsules awarded by
leveling up, or by disenchanting champion shards.
Riot points (RP) is the premium currency in League of Legends
content, mostly ranging from cosmetics to other functions outside of
direct gameplay. RP can be bought through the official League of
Legends website.
Orange Essence is a currency that can be used to unlock skins and
other cosmetic items. It can be obtained from skin shards or other
loot. Orange Essence is a crafting material which can be used to craft
cosmetic Shards into cosmetic Permanents, which includes champion
skins, ward skins, summoner icons, and emotes.
Mythic Essence is a currency that you can use to unlock Prestige
edition and other mythic skins. You can earn points from all the exact
same sources as Prestige Points, including loot boxes, battle passes,
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and missions. Mythic Essence is granted every 50 levels starting at 150
through the leveling system.
Skins are simply cosmetics items that change the appearance of your
champion, they do not affect the stats or performance of your
champion in any way, they just make your champion or ward look
fancy. There are several tiers of champion skins (Epic – Legendary –
Ultimate – Mythic – Legacy)
Summary
In this chapter, you have learned about the game itself, including the
various classes of champions, jungle monsters, stats, items, and runes.
You now have an idea of what to expect when you begin playing your
first game.
In the next chapter, you will learn how to actually play the game and
gain a basic understanding of the gameplay. Additionally, you will
develop good habits right from the start.
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2
CHAPTER 2: YOUR FIRST GAME
In this chapter you will learn the basics to get you started in the game,
you’ll learn the importance of gold and experience, you will also learn
the role of every player in a summoner’s rift game.
Blind Pick and Dra� Pick
Summoner’s rift has two modes Blind pick, and draft pick.
In blind pick you are unable to manually select your role, and you
are unable to see the enemy champion’s picks, hence called blind pick.
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In draft pick you select your role before you get into the champion
selection, you are allowed to ban one champion from the game, and
you’re required to have at least 20 champions to be able to play this
mode. Draft pick is the competitive mode and is exactly what you
would see when playing ranked games.
Roles
There are five roles available, top jungle middle bottom (ad carry) and
support.
Top:
Top laners are typically fighters or tanks and are responsible for
both providing support to their damage dealers and doing damage
themselves, placing them in a unique position. Ideally, the top laner
would be a tanky or semi-tanky (fighter) champion with at least one
crowd control (cc) ability, such as a stun, root, or other immobilizing
effects. The Top Laner needs to have high survivability, high damage
or engages.
Top lane is the farthest lane away from the most vital objective
“Dragon” making it the “lone wolf” role in the game and is my favorite
role.
Common toplane champions: Garen, Darius, Nasus and Camille
Mid:
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In League of Legends, Mid Laners are champions that are played in
the middle lane of the map. Mid lane priority is an important factor on
the map as it influences what the Jungler can do and how much under
threat the side lanes are.
Good mid laners should always keep an eye on the map as they are
located at the center of the map and can be attacked from both sides.
Champions played in the mid lane are mostly assassins or mages.
Common midlane champions: Zed, Yasuo, Syndra and Annie
Bot:
Bot Lane is a duo lane where an attack damage carry (ADC) and their
support play. The ADC (Bot role) is responsible for dealing the team’s
damage and keep scaling into the late game, but they are squishy
(fragile and easy to kill) so they are protected by their support,
communication is the key to winning in this lane as it consists of two
players.
Common attack damage carries (bot laners): Caitlyn, Jinx, Tristana
and Miss Fortune
Support:
Support is the second role in the bottom lane, they are responsible
for protecting their attack damage, setting up kills and providing
vision for the entire team, Suppport role is misunderstood and
underrated in lower ranks, but is easily one of the strongest and most
influential roles in higher ranks. Supports can be tanks, enchanters
(buffers that heal and shield) and sometimes even mages.
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Common support champions: Lulu, Janna, Thresh and Blitzcrank
Jungle:
The jungler is a role that roams between lanes, secures neutral
objectives, and assists their Top, Mid, and Bottom lanes The Jungler
earns gold and levels up through experience via the jungle monsters
located in between the lanes, better known as “the jungle”. The Jungler
needs to be able to clear jungle camps without too much difficulty and
ambush other champions in lane.
Common jungle champions: Kha’Zix, Master Yi, Shyvana and
Evelynn
Fill:
Choosing fill gives you a random role from the five roles above.
Leashing Your Jungler
Now you have started your first game, you’re playing in the top lane,
you bought your starter items, and you were waiting peacefully for the
minions to reach your lane, but suddenly your jungler is spamming
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these sounds and signs at you and asking for assistance! What is going
on?
Your jungler is asking for help, known as a “leash”. Every jungler starts
their game by killing either the blue buff or the red buff, which spawn
after 1:30 mins from the start of the game. At that time the minions
haven’t clashed in a side lane (top or bot) yet, so it’s customary to use
that time by helping your jungler kill his buff.
Figure 19 A toplaner leashing his jungler.
Gold Gold Gold!
Gold is the source of items, and items are the source of stats. And stats
make you stronger, which means that collecting as much gold as you
can in the game must be your highest priority to win this game, along
with champion experience. This is a very important habit to build early
on, gold and experience are your highest priority, not necessarily
killing your enemy champion.
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Farming and Last Hitting
As a laner, your main source of gold is the minions in your lane, and as
a jungler, jungle monsters are your main source of gold. Killing these
minions or monsters is farming, which should be done efficiently.
In order to gain gold from killing a minion in League of Legends, you
have to land the killing blow on that minion, best known as “last
hitting” last hitting is one of the most crucial skills to have in this game,
you MUST be good at last hitting if you want to climb in ranked, so it
is best to understand how to last hit properly and what to consider
from the get go.
You should consider your damage on the minion, your attack speed,
the speed of the projectile and its damage if you’re hitting an ability or
you’re a ranged champion, and you should be looking at the minion
bullets the are firing at the minion that you desire to last hit. Sounds
overwhelming right? Not really, you will develop this over time and
this skill will be natural to you, you will be doing all of this
subconsciously with enough training, but since you are a beginner that
is looking to climb the ladder as fast as possible, I’m telling you what
to consider, programming your brain to think the right way.
Last hitting under tower is harder than regular last hitting because
these towers hit hard! But there are general rules of last hitting under
tower that will make your life easier.
-
To last hit a full hp melee minion that is being hit under tower,
you should land your auto attack after that melee minion gets hit
by “2” tower shots
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-
To last hit a full hp caster minion that is being hit under tower,
you should land an auto attack before it gets hit by the first
tower shot, then land your killing blow after that tower shot. It is
done this way because a caster minion dies after two tower
shots.
-
To last a full hp cannon minion that is being under tower, you
should land an auto attack after it gets hit by “X” tower shots,
there is a number, but I don’t want you to know it because it
would be distracting to count, this one comes with feel and
practice.
Note that these under tower rules apply when you do not have enough attack
damage, if you have enough attack damage (by buying items) you can simply
kill a caster minion after it gets hit by one tower shot. It’s advised to watch a
youtube video on how to last hit under tower or practice last hitting in general
in a practice tool to get visually used to it and develop the muscle memory.
Which Ability Should I Max? Which Items
Should I Buy?
Depending on the champion you are playing, there is likely an optimal
order in which to max your abilities. This order is determined by the
best players who specialize in that particular champion, so you don't
have to spend too much time thinking about it. All you need to do is
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search online or use a reputable website like op.gg to find out how the
top players on your champion max their abilities.
The same principle applies to items. In general, it's important to
understand that different classes of champions prioritize certain stats
over others. For example, tanks typically require magic resist, armor,
and health to effectively fulfill their role of soaking up damage for their
team. However, there is still an optimal item build that you can look
up and replicate for your champion.
It’s true that blindly copying builds and maxing abilities may not
always be the best strategy in League of Legends. There will be
situations that you have to build according to your situation, for an
example if your entire enemy team’s damage type is attack damage, and
the advised build has a heavy magic resist item in it, it would make no
sense to build that item, but as a beginner it’s often advised to copy the
best builds while reading and understanding the stats of these items to
get used to the items in the game so you can make your own wise
choices.
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TEST YOURSELF 2.1
Which boot from the given below would you buy if your enemy team has cc heavy
champions?
Vision and Bushes
Good vision in high-level league of legends is crucial. It helps everyone
on your team see where your enemies are, planning their game
correctly. Bushes are blind spots in which you can’t see your enemy
unless you have placed a ward there (yellow trinket or control ward),
there are a couple of smart spots for you to ward that you will be
introduced to in chapter 3.
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Figure 20 a bush.
You can ward by using the yellow trinket or buying the control ward
that costs 75 gold, you should be always buying a control ward when
you have spare gold. Develop that habit.
Here are the different kinds of trinkets in League of Legends:
Figure 21 Stealth Ward
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Figure 22 Oracle lens
Figure 23 Farsight Alteration
Laners usually start with stealth wards to ward bushes and see
incoming enemies, junglers start with oracle lens to clear enemy’s
vision. Farsight alteration can be useful when you want to see your
enemies safely from a distance.
Trading
Trading is the act of dealing damage to your lane opponent in order to
create an advantage.
Knowing when to trade is an important skill to have, but simply, it’s
advised to attack your opponent when they are busy trying to last hit
your minions, or if their major abilities on cooldown, but there are also
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a lot more other factors to consider while trading which will be
covered in chapter 3 and 6, like where the enemy jungler is, the nature
of your champions, level difference and wave position.
When a ranged champion deals damage to their short-ranged
enemies to create an advantage is called “poking” or “harrassing”.
Introduction to Roaming and Ganking
Figure 24 Vi ganking a Wukong
Roaming refers to when a laner leaves his lane to help his teammates.
Ganking is when a jungler joins a lane to try and kill the enemy
laner(s). Generally, laners should roam when they have their minions
under the enemy tower, utilizing that free time until the next minion
wave arrives. And junglers should gank when enemy laners are close
to ally tower, so they are unable to run to safety.
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Pings
Pings are visual alerts that are used for communication between
teammates. These pings can be used anywhere on the map and there
are many options of pings in League of Legends that you should be
using. Learning to ping and communicate is one of the most important
things in League of Legends, you will have to communicate your needs
and give calls to your teammates if you want to win, I personally think
that I would be a better player if I used pings better, and I have been
playing for years. Don’t let your teammates make avoidable mistakes;
ping your teammates to help them see what you see.
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Figure 25 Pings
Importance of Objectives
In League of Legends, objectives such as turrets, dragons, and Baron
Nashor is crucial for winning the game. These objectives provide
significant advantages to the team that controls them by giving them
more gold and a better chance of defeating their opponents. The
importance of objectives lies in the fact that the gold or stats is given to
the entire team, dragons and dragon soul are no joke. You should
always be looking at the timer of dragon spawn and see if your team
can secure it.
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Game Settings
Like any other video game, optimizing your settings to your comfort
will make you perform better, I’ll be spotting light on some settings
that you should be looking at. The image below shows you the option
menu that you have to click in-game to access your game settings.
Figure 26 Getting into game settings
Figure 27 Game settings
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Video Settings:
Select your graphics according to your PC’s capabilities, and tick
“Color blind mode” even if you’re not color-blind because it makes
some abilities visually clearer.
Interface:
You can change the scales of different things, I like to keep my
minimap big and my HUD small, but you can do whatever is most
comfortable for you. It is advised to check “Show spell costs” and
“Show time stamps.”
Hotkeys:
Quickcasting all your abilities is generally the best, it makes you cast
your abilities faster and makes you able to react faster to your enemies,
the only downside to it is that you don’t see the range indicator of your
ability which can be a problem for new players or even for veterans in
some situations, but you can check “Replace quickcast with indicator”
to see the indicator while casting your abilities on quick cast.
Normal casting shows you the range indicator, but you have to left
click after pressing your ability, which can be overall slower.
For camera control, it’s advised to keep your camera unlocked and
center your champion using “space” -by default-. However, you can
lock/unlock your camera by pressing “Y”.
You can see your allies by pressing F keys (F1 to 5), and this is a very
good habit to develop, professional players like Faker press their F
keys to gain information about their teammates almost every second.
A very important option that you should set up is “Target champions
only” this option can be very useful when you’re killing your enemy
under the tower, and can save you from misclicking an enemy minion
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when you meant to attack your enemy champion, its default hotkey is
“`”
At the bottom you can check ‘Bind auto attack move to your left click’.
Attack move setting allows you to cast the move and attack using the
same command, which makes it easier for you to kite your enemy
champions instead of having to click twice (once at your target and
once to move), this setting is especially useful for ADCs.
Game:
It’s best to disable auto attack, and optimize your mouse speed to your
comfort, you can also check ‘Treat Target Champions only as a toggle’
if you like that.
Ranked System
The ranked system in League of Legends is used to match teams of
players of a similar skill level to play with and against each other. The
current League system comprises nine tiers, each tier has four
divisions, with four being the lowest in that tier and one being the
highest (Diamond I is higher than Diamond IV). You progress through
each division and tier by earning League Points (LP) for games that
your team wins, but you also lose LP by every game you lose. The
exact number of points is determined by your Matchmaking Rating
(MMR), which is a number in Riot Game’s system that is not available
for normal players to see. In Solo/Duo you can queue with one friend
within one tier of your rank, but these restrictions start a little loose at
lower ranks and get tighter the higher you go. Starting from Master
you are no longer allowed to duo.
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Figure 28 Ranks in League of Legends, source: leagueoflegends.fandom.com
In the “Ranked Flex” game mode, you can join with an entire team of
your friends, not only one player. But this ranked mode is not taken
seriously sadly, and it is regarded as a for fun ranked game mode.
It’s not very odd to see a silver player in a platinum game, It could be that the silver
player has the same MMR of platinum players so they get matched with platinum
players. It might be a high-ranked player that created their new account, better
known as “Smurfing”
Sometimes You Lose Games!
Learning to play League of Legends on a high level is not an easy task.
Throughout your journey, you will inevitably make numerous
mistakes and may face frustration from your teammates, receiving an
abundance of pings and possibly encountering unpleasant remarks. It
is crucial to maintain your composure and understand that losing is an
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integral part of the learning process, just as it is in any aspect of life.
Remember to stay focused and avoid becoming tilted, as maintaining a
positive mindset will contribute to your growth as a player.
Summary
In this chapter you’ve learned the fundamentals of the gameplay, you
now understand items, runes, the importance of resources “gold” and
the importance of communication, you also optimized your game
settings to your best comfort. In the next chapters we will be talking
about everything you need to know to reach ranks as high as Master in
detail. This is where the fun begins.
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PART II
3
CHAPTER 3: LANING PHASE
In this chapter you will learn how to lane properly. This chapter is an
introduction to laning, and wave management. You’ll learn the hard
concepts in both Chapters 6 and 7. You need to learn how to win your
lane to be able to climb and carry your games.
Lane Priority
Lane priority (also known as “prio”) is having control of a lane and
being able to push enemy minions to enemy tower. When a champion
has prio over another champion they’re able to roam faster than their
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enemy due to the fact that the enemy will mostly be farming minions
under tower.
Junglers love to play around laners that have prio because they are able
to move around and help them.
The Level 2 Powerspike
The level 2 powerspike is one of the factors that can provide a
significant advantage in the early game and potentially contribute to
winning the entire game. However, many players in silver, gold, and
platinum do not utilize it properly.
In the top lane and mid lane, you reach level 2 after killing a full
minion wave and one melee minion, while in the bot lane (two players
sharing minion exp), it requires a full minion wave and three melee
minions. It is crucial to prepare yourself for a trade and position
accordingly when you are about to reach level 2. Similarly, if you
notice your opponent is about to hit level 2, especially if they have an
engaging ability like Camille's E or Leona's E, you should position
yourself defensively.
Unfortunately, most low rank players fail to recognize its importance,
neglect to prepare for it, and miss out on exploiting it. If your
champion possesses strong engaging abilities and can deal significant
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damage to a level one enemy, prioritize killing the minions quickly,
reach level 2, and initiate an attack.
Here's an example illustrating good and bad positioning of a Camille
about to hit level 2.
Figure 29 Using the level 2 powerspike (Good)
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Figure 30 The common mistake of not using level 2 (bad)
The same concept applies to level 6 too. Watch your experience bar and
use your level 6.
Learning How To Trade
To get the most out of trading, you should trade when your enemies
are busy or vulnerable.
The most obvious case would be to attack your enemy when they are
last hitting a minion, as their movement is impaired and won’t be able
to trade that damage back as shown in the image:
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Figure 31 Preparing to trade while enemy is last hitting.
This means you should not only look at the minions you want to last
hit, but also the minions that your enemy wants to last hit. Your enemy
will be trying to do the same thing to you, so you should try to bait
their abilities when you’re trying to last hit by walking back and forth.
Another situation you want to trade in when your enemy’s abilities
are on cooldown, it makes no sense not to try to trade back with a
Renekton for an example, when he burnt his entire combo on you,
always keep an eye on their cooldowns and have a feel for it.
For an example, Kayle has an ultimate cooldown of 160 seconds, and
Camille has an ultimate cooldown of 140 seconds, this means if there
was a fight between them and both used their ultimate ability, the next
time Camille’s ultimate is up there will be a 20 second window for her
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to kill that Kayle without worrying about her ultimate. You should be
thinking this way for every major ability, Akali’s W for example.
One more thing is that you should be trading with your enemy if you
have a minion advantage, meaning the number of your minions is
much higher than the number of your enemy’s minions (because of a
slow push for example) which would make it hard for your enemy to
trade back because all your minions would attack them.
It is also generally risky for them to trade back when you are stacking
your minions, because if they die in this position, they’ll lose so much
gold and experience.
Figure 32 Fizz using his minion advantage against Orianna.
Utilizing Bushes
Utilizing bushes is especially useful for top and bottom lanes, you
should always go into a bush if you can after you trade with your
enemy as it resets minion aggro, getting into a bush can be very useful
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for melee champions playing against ranged champions as well, as
they have to get in your range to attack you or place a ward, and the
latter makes them vulnerable to ganks. Bushes are very abusable, and
you should learn how to play around them.
Another benefit of bushes is the ability to freeze the wave without
losing much health. This can be achieved by repeatedly entering and
exiting the bush. The concept of freezing the wave will be explained in
the next section.
Introduction to Wave Management
There are three wave famous manipulation techniques that you can
apply:
Freezing:
Freezing is when you manipulate the minions so that it always stays at
the exact same place pushing toward you, this can be done by only last
hitting a minion at the end of its life (don’t damage the minions)
The whole point of freezing is to keep the number of enemy minions
higher than yours, so your minions can die faster, which denies gold
and experience from your enemy laner. Generally, applying this
technique can be good when you want to zone your enemy if you are
stronger, or if you’re trying to make your enemy laner vulnerable to
ganks, by forcing them to break your freeze.
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Figure 33 A frozen wave in the mid lane
Slow Pushing:
Slow pushing, from its name is slowly killing the enemy minions, this
allows you to stack waves of minions. Applying this technique is good
when you’re trying to tower dive your enemy laner, or simply if you’re
planning to recall. As it would take them time to clear that wave so you
can recall and come back to the lane without worrying about losing
exp-gold, you can also apply this technique when you’re trying to
avoid fights with your enemy, because the stacked minion wave would
deal serious amount of damage to your enemy if they decided to fight
you.
You should slow push if you’re trying to roam as well, because your
enemy laner wouldn’t be able to follow as he will be dealing with a
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stacked wave under his tower.
Figure 34 Stacked wave as a result of a slow push.
Hard push(shove):
From its name, hard pushing refers to killing minions as quickly as
possible. It is generally advisable to hard push or shove the wave after
you have eliminated your enemy laner. This way, they will lose
experience and gold before they respawn. Additionally, hard pushing
is recommended when you want to take tower plates or the tower itself
while your enemy is missing. If you intend to recall, you should
always hard shove the wave. A well-timed recall involves a
combination of slow pushing and hard shoving. In the early levels, this
is referred to as a "Cheater Recall," but we will delve into wave
management in detail in Chapter 6. This section serves as a brief
introduction.
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Figure 35 Recalling after a hard push.
Warding and Avoiding Ganks
Here are a couple of spots to ward you should consider to avoid ganks,
dives:
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Figure 36 Warding spots
You should pay attention to the starting path of the enemy jungler
(whether they started top or bottom) by observing which lane leashed
for them (arrived late to their lane). However, be cautious as
sometimes in higher levels of play, the enemy team may fake leash. If
the enemy jungler started top, it is likely they are pathing towards the
bottom side of the map, and vice versa. Nevertheless, be aware that
they may be engaging in vertical jungling, which involves taking one
side of the map and then invading your jungle on the same side. To
stay alert to such tactics, consider placing a ward near your buff at the
beginning of the game. Ivern and Kindred are junglers that love to play
vertically.
As for mid laners, it is advisable to stay close to the side where your
allied jungler is located and avoid the side where the enemy jungler is.
It’s important not to waste your ward when you see the entire game on the
map already, for example if you’re playing bot lane and you see your enemy
jungler top lane, don’t ward for at least 30 seconds if you intend to ward to
avoid a gank. Always think about the purpose of your ward before placing
it.
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This approach allows you more time to react to potential ganks and
makes it easier to avoid them.
How to play against stealth junglers
Stealth junglers like Evelynn, and sometimes Twitch (rarely played)
can be a problem especially for lower elo players. As a laner, there are
two main rules that I like to follow when playing against these
champions:
-
The 75 gold you spend on the control ward are very much worth
it against these junglers.
-
Don’t engage in an all in fight with your enemy laner unless you
are sure that jungler is not in your lane (spot them on the map).
Stealth junglers like Evelynn can exploit various opportunities to
enter your lane undetected.
Some junglers have a very specific way to gank, for example. When a
Rengar ganks a side lane before level 6, he will enter the lane and wait
in the second or third bush then jump on his enemies. Which means
you should keep this bush warded (and its equivalent in bot lane) if
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you’re scared of a Rengar before 6.
Figure 37 Middle top lane bush that you need to ward against Rengar
After 6 he’s basically another stealth jungler and you should follow
the two rules specified.
Mid laners should hug the side opposite to where Rengar is, as
explained in the previous section, to avoid being caught off guard by
his jump.
Landing Your Ability 101: Understanding
the Enemy's Dodge Pattern
Almost every player in this game has a dodge pattern, to hit your
abilities successfully you need to observe and understand their pattern
and adapt to it. This can be especially useful for champions like Thresh
or Blitzcrank, as successfully landing their hook ability can completely
change the outcome of the lane or even the game.
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For example, Ahri here has dodged to the right.
Figure 38 Testing the pattern
The next time, thresh should aim his hook slightly to the right
predicting her movement.
Figure 39 Applying the understanding of the pattern
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This can apply when you’re dodging too, you should understand the
pattern of your enemy’s abilities. Best players know this, and they play
around it, you will find them changing their dodge pattern every now
and then. But I believe that dodging or hitting your abilities below
Diamond is not about reflexes, it’s about understanding the pattern.
Should I Help My Jungler with That Scuttle
Crab?
Many players tilt over the scuttle crab. It's very common for a laner to
get flamed by their jungler, especially in lower elos where they are
reluctant to give anything. The question of whether you should help
your jungler with the scuttle crab or any camp doesn't have one
definitive answer. You should help your jungler if you have lane
priority, but you shouldn't sacrifice your own game to assist them,
particularly in lower elos.
It is not your fault if you choose not to leave your lane because you're
farming a large wave. Let them flame you as much as they want.
However, it's best to prepare yourself and manipulate your wave in a
way that gives you priority (if possible) over your enemy laner when
the scuttle crab respawns. Detailed explanations of this strategy will be
covered in the next chapters.
Learn to communicate, if you are not going to move from your lane
and help them, let them know that by using your pings.
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Playing Support Properly
Support players in low elo complain about how non-impactful their
role is, while high elo players complain about how overpowered
support is. Something must be not correct, right?
Support players in lower ranks have this idea that they are slaves to
their ADCs, they just follow whatever their ADC wants, which is
especially not the best case when your ADC has no idea what he’s
doing. You should manipulate the wave the correct way if you have
better wave management understanding than your ADC, you should
roam to mid lane and help your jungler when you have prio, you can
even roam to top lane when your lane is hopeless. Don’t just stick to
your AD carry. One more thing that lower elo supports never do is that
they don’t help their ADC last hit under tower, there are minions that
your ADC will not be able to last hit without your help, for an
example: A caster minion is going to get hit by the tower, it has 20%
hp, your ADC’s basic attack deals 15% of this hp. Your ADC is going to
miss this caster minion unless you help them last hit it by attacking this
minion to lower its health enough for your ADC’s damage.
Note that there will be cases where you shouldn’t leave your ADC ever,
especially if your ADC is the win condition of the game and is reasonably
ahead of the enemy, when you leave the lane (especially if you haven’t
pushed the wave), you’re putting your ADC under the risk of getting
tower dove. And possibly throwing his lead.
Support role is one of the most impactful – if not the most impactful –
role in higher elos, this is often because supports are literally
everywhere, their map presence can be huge, here are your roaming
windows as a support:
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• Your ADC pushed the wave to the enemy’s tower and is now
recalling, you can choose to either recall with them or roam
and make a play with your jungler or midlaner.
• If your ADC is a safe champion that can hold his ground
(such as Ezreal) and you trust your ADC enough to know he
won’t die in a 2v1 situation in the bot lane, you can choose to
roam and often let your Ezreal farm solo. However, make
sure you don’t fall too far behind in terms of experience.
• If Top Lane is your win condition, and if you see no hope of
winning the game except by feeding your top laner, you can
always roam top. It’s not uncommon to see high elo supports
playing champions like Janna, Bard, Pyke, and many others
roaming to the top lane from time to time. It can be extremely
frustrating for a top laner to die to a support, even more so
than dying to a jungler. Just be mindful not to take too much
exp from your toplaner.
The best way to learn a champion.
Many players have a mistaken understanding that they can master a
champion by simply picking it up and randomly spamming it in their
games. This belief is only partially correct. While spamming the
champion will give you experience in different situations, it will not
necessarily help you understand the hidden combos or specific ways to
deal with certain matchups.
The ideal way to learn a champion is to seek out a player who
exclusively plays that champion (OTP) in high elo. For most
champions, you will find that a high elo player has created a
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spreadsheet that teaches you how to handle every matchup in that
lane. It's highly recommended to take a look at these.
You should always search for videos of skilled players, preferably
OTPs, who are playing your chosen champion. When you're not
comfortable with a particular matchup, a helpful strategy is to search
on YouTube for videos titled "X vs Y." You will find numerous videos
featuring high elo players from different regions playing that specific
matchup. Take note of what you've learned from these videos and
apply it in your own games. At this point, spamming that champion
becomes beneficial because you have gained a basic understanding of
your champion's limits from observing better players. Thus, you will
be playing to gain experience and strive to reach the level of these
skilled players.
Counterpicking
Being counterpicked is not the end of the world. It's true that dealing
with a champion specifically designed to beat yours can be
challenging. However, in most cases, you can still come out on top if
you play correctly. Personally, I have never struggled against counter
picks in lower ranks because they often make mistakes that you can
exploit.
It's also worth mentioning that many people who counter pick your
champion have no clue what they are doing or why their champion
counters yours. Some individuals simply visit websites like
champion.gg, blindly pick the recommended counter, and have no real
understanding of the matchup.
Interestingly, for one-trick ponies (OTPs), the counter pick is often the
one they have the most experience dealing with. On the other hand, the
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person playing the counter pick typically has the least experience
facing the champion they counter.
Can you win against a counter pick? Most of the times, yes. Learn how
to play this specific matchup, sometimes it won’t be even that bad of a
counter, but you may have mentally blocked yourself from trying to
learn this matchup because you classified it as an impossible
counterpick. You would be surprised how high of a winrate I have
playing against Darius players on Camille. This matchup is hard but
it’s still very skill expressive. Just learn the matchup and train on that
specific matchup.
Playing From Behind
It doesn't matter what happened – whether you made a mistake, got
trolled, or got camped – the result is the same: your enemy laner now
has the lead, and you find yourself behind. So, what should you do in
this situation?
The best approach when playing from behind is to avoid 1v1
engagements with your enemy laner. However, there may be windows
of opportunity where you can secure a kill, particularly if they don't
have their summoner spells or key cooldowns available.
Keeping the wave on your side of the lane is one of the smartest moves
you can make when playing from behind. Pushing the wave might
allow you to roam, but it also gives your opponent the chance to freeze
the wave and deny you farm and experience throughout the lane.
In some cases, especially in longer lanes like top and bot, your
opponent may choose to freeze the wave when you're behind. Breaking
this freeze becomes nearly impossible without risking death. In such
situations, you have a few options: you can roam and help other lanes,
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which will force your opponent to break the freeze, or you can ping
your jungler to assist you in breaking the freeze. Another trick I like to
use is to stand within your wave, forcing them to hit you with their
AoE abilities when they trade (for example, Mordekaiser's Q).
You should try as much as possible to avoid trades with your enemy
laner because when you’re behind, you’re under the threat of being
tower dove either 1v1 or 2v1 with your enemy’s jungler. So, you need
to stay healthy.
Figure 40 Baiting mordekaiser to break the freeze (assuming he does not have his ultimate ability)
If your enemy laner destroyed your outer turret, you can also freeze
under tier two tower (inner turret) to regain some of the lost experience
and gold, possibly make your enemy overextend under your tier two
turret. But make sure to communicate with your team that your enemy
laner is on the loose if they are not contesting your freeze. There is
nothing worse than seeing a fed toplaner tower diving your bot lane.
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TEST YOURSELF 3.1
You died two times to the irelia, she has vampiric spectre and she’s two levels ahead,
you’re basically destroyed. What would you do here?
My Ally Is Flaming Me!
In League of Legends, flaming is an inevitable part of the game. To
become a better player, learn from better players and apply their
strategies. Pro players and high-ranked players are not any different
from you intellectually or creatively. Focus on your own game and
ignore others’ mistakes. Blaming others for their mistakes is pointless.
It makes no sense to blame your jungler for missing his smite, they’re a
human that couldn’t press a button on time, or your laner for having a
bad game. Learn to control your emotions for long-term rewards.
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Summary
In this chapter you’ve learned and understood what you should be
doing and considering in the laning phase, you’ve been exposed to
different famous situations that many players do not know how to
exactly deal with. This chapter can be all what a plat player knows
about laning phase. But there’s much more to it in the advanced laning
phase chapter (6). In the next chapter you will learn more about how to
manage the mid-late game, the phase that follows laning phase.
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4
CHAPTER 4: MID-LATE GAME
The early game is the most concentrated part where players strive to
gain knowledge. While it is undoubtedly a critical aspect of the game
and advantageous to come out ahead of the opposing team, it is in the
mid-to-late game phase where your entire team may face consequences
for any missteps. Therefore, it is imperative to have a thorough
understanding of mid-to-late game tactics.
Team Formation After Laning Phase
Many low elo players have no clue what they should do after the
laning phase ends and tier 1 towers fall, the optimal formation would
be:
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-Adc and support in the midlane, controlling both objectives (dragon
and baron)
-Teleport player pushes (or catches the waves of) the lane opposite to
the objective that’s about to spawn (mostly top laners)
- Non-teleport player pushes (or catches the waves of) the lane that is
on the same side of the objective that’s about to spawn.
- Jungler plays around vision, and hovers around his strong teammates
This is called the 1-3-1.
Many low elo players especially ADCs make the mistake of pushing
side lane on their own after they take the first tower, this puts them at a
very vulnerable position and makes them under the threat of being
killed by an enemy assassin or flanked by members of enemy team,
possibly throwing their lead.
Splitpushing and Snowballing
Splitpushing is a strategy in LoL where one player focuses on pushing
a lane while the rest of the team pressures other areas of the map. The
goal is to force the enemy team to split up and defend multiple
objectives at once, making it easier for your team to win team fights or
take other objectives. The split pusher is typically a champion who can
push lanes quickly and take down turrets, such as Tryndamere and
Fiora.
Split pushing can be strong especially when you’re playing the 1-3-1
formation, if you’re split pushing and you’re much stronger than your
opponent, then they will need to send at least two players to stop you,
making the game easier for your teammates as a 4v3 which allows
them to take turrets, or even take objectives.
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For example, Fiora here forced 3 of the enemy team members to stop
her, which would give the blue team space on the map and kill the
isolated Karthus on top lane, and even would allow them to take baron
if they have enough DPS on baron.
Figure 42 Fiora splitpushing
Snowballing is the usage of your advantage from your early game to
gain a larger and larger advantage throughout the game.
In order to be able to carry a game, especially if you’re the only one fed,
you need to not miss any free exp or gold, it is not always worth to
group up with your team who has already lost their early game, by
doing that you are sharing exp, gold and losing minions or your lane,
or losing tempo overall.
Here are a couple of things you should consider to keep your lead
and extend it throughout the game:
-
Control vision: Vision control is crucial in the mid-late game.
Keep the enemy jungle warded to spot rotations and deny their
vision around objectives to make it easier for your team to secure
them.
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-
Manage your waves: Proper wave management is essential in
the mid-late game. Make sure you're not leaving waves of
minions to crash into your turrets while you're off fighting
elsewhere. Push out waves before grouping with your team to
make it harder for the enemy team to engage on you.
-
Group up: Stick with your team and apply pressure as a unit.
Look for opportunities to catch out enemies who are out of
position and force team fights when you have an advantage.
-
Build the right items: Make sure you're building items that suit
your champion and the situation. If you're ahead, consider
building more aggressive items to extend your lead, but don't
forget to build defensive items if necessary to stay alive in team
fights. It is pointless how many items or how fed you are if you
are going to get Mordekaiser ulted out of the fight, or Malzahar
ulted and you don’t have Quicksilver Sash for an example.
Ultimately, you should always be thinking about what you can do to
win the game, rather than solely focusing on fixing your KDA score or
carrying the game by yourself. There will be matches where you will
be carried, and it's important to embrace these games. Remember, you
will still gain LP and make progress towards your goals.
Overlooked Calls in Gold/Plat
From my experience in coaching players in these two ranks, or
smurfing there myself sometimes. They miss a lot of game changer
calls. Especially baron nashor calls.
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Some players, especially in gold, have the misconception that taking
Baron Nashor is only possible if you have aced the enemy team.
However, this is not correct. After twenty minutes into the game,
whenever you win a fight or kill someone, you should immediately
consider whether you can attempt Baron or not. Take into account the
following factors:
-
How many members of the enemy team are dead.
What kind of DPS (damage per second) you have
Who is dead? Is it the jungler?
If your top laner is split pushing bottom lane, and you find your
enemy support, top laner and jungler killing them, what exactly is
stopping you from spam pinging nashor and abusing that pressure
your top laner applied on bot lane? Absolutely nothing. Especially if
you have champions that can take baron quickly like Kai’Sa, Vayne,
Kog’Maw and Master Yi.
If you opened their middle lane inhibitor, and you find their
strongest champion busy clearing bottom lane wave without teleport
for example, sometimes you can start baron nashor and turn on them
to avoid the steal and win the 5 versus 4
Remember that to win in mid-late game, all you need to do is play the
map game, use vision, and play around your enemies’ mistakes
(mispositioning, greeding etc) you don’t need to force plays especially
if your entire team is ahead, just play around objectives and organized
teamfights. They will want to contest these objectives, and you will
have a chance to kill them. And if they don’t, you’re getting more and
more ahead.
For example, only God knows why red team isn’t running to baron
immediately with 3 of the blue team being dead:
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Figure 43 Gold overlooked baron call
Don’t Recall!
It should be obvious that you should not recall to base after winning a
fight, always look to gain as much gold and experience as possible
while denying it from your enemy team, for example if you have won
a big fight at drake and aced your enemy team, don’t just recall and
reset, the entire map is yours for a couple of seconds, take enemy
jungle camps, push waves so they lose exp and gold, take a tower.
Only when your opponents have re-spawned should you consider
retreating. Do not waste your opportunity to gain the upper hand!
Take Towers or Kill Baron?
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Players in low elo often have differing opinions after successfully
eliminating several members of the enemy team. Some players may
prioritize taking down towers, while others may lean towards going
for Baron Nashor. So, what is the correct call?
There are so many factors that go into this, the best way is to take what
wastes less time and is easier to agree on, Baron is always worth more
than one or two towers. Once you get Baron, you will easily be able to
take these towers if your team is ahead anyways.
Just don’t fall for these mistakes:
-
Scenario 1: You greed for a tower, and then you try to take baron
when your enemies are respawning soon, you get wiped, you
lose baron and your lead. Just do only baron.
-
Scenario 2: You decide you are not going to take baron, you take
inner and inhibitor tower, and then you greed for nexus towers.
Your enemy respawns, you get wiped. And then they take baron.
Shotcall your teammates to avoid these mistakes, one ping can save
your entire game.
Trading Objectives
Trading objectives is the concept of letting your opponent take an
objective, while you take the other. You should trade an objective like
baron for dragon or vice versa if you can’t contest the objective your
enemy team is taking because you’re weaker or your team doesn’t have
the tempo to group and contest as 5. You should always trade
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objectives if you can’t contest. It makes no sense to force contesting an
objective and then die for it.
There will be situations where you successfully eliminate the enemy
team, but your team is low on health or not grouped as five due to a
teamfight. In such cases, going for Baron when the dragon is available
and the enemy team is about to respawn would result in trading
objectives. Greedily going for the dragon after taking Baron would lead
to death in vain as your enemies are going to contest it. Remember,
maintaining tempo is crucial in League of Legends. It's important to
prioritize playing as five.
The reason for presenting different scenarios is to help you become
familiar with them so that you can make better decisions in similar
situations. This can help you communicate better with your
teammates and lead the game in the right direction.
Giving Objectives
This is a very simple concept, but it still goes over the heads of silverbronze players. If you can’t contest an objective (you’re 2v5, you’re
very behind, your ultimate abilities are down...etc) just give it. Don’t
fight for it. You can go for a steal if it’s necessary as a jungler,
sometimes it’s not even worth stealing an objective and die if you have
1k gold shutdown and it’s the first or second drake. It depends on the
state of the game. Use your pings and save your teammates!
Playing Around Vision
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The secret to winning mid-late game is to play around vision, always
play the number game and avoid the concept of “coin flipping”, the
concept is coin flipping is when you engage on your enemy and you
have no clue where their teammates are. Always keep your eyes on the
map and use your vision. Do not engage on your enemy laner in a side
lane then be surprised that your enemy twisted fate ulted and turned it
into a 2v1, or Nocturne used his ult on you. Do not force a 2v2 or a 1v1
unless you are very sure you won’t be outnumbered by someone that
hasn’t appeared on the map, or unless you’re sure you’ll kill your
enemy fast enough before anyone else interferes.
Oracle Lens (red trinket) is good if you want to play aggressively
around enemy vision, it allows you to control vision better and cheese
in the enemy jungle.
Farsight (Blue trinket) is the more defensive option, it allows you to get
vision without face checking if you are a squishy champion versus fed
assassins. It’s also a good choice to scout an objective that the enemy
team is playing around.
It's essential to prioritize risk management, especially leading up to the
spawn of an objective, as your decisions can significantly impact
whether your team secures or loses the objective. In higher-ranked
games, teammates may recognize your mistake and opt to give the
objective, whereas in lower-ranked games, they might engage in a fight
without your presence, resulting in a losing outcome. Instead of
blaming your teammates for their actions, it is more constructive to
focus on your own mistakes and use them as opportunities for growth.
Remember that everyone makes mistakes, and it is your responsibility
to learn from them and strive for improvement if you want to advance
in the rankings.
For example, this is a Diamond IV game:
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Figure 44 Unnecessary fight before drake
The blue team was in a good position to take the Infernal Drake with
Shen R in a 5v4 situation assuming Gnar would teleport, since the red
team's ADC was dead. However, Shen made the mistake of fighting
Gnar for no reason and ended up dying, which caused his entire team
to get wiped out in the drake fight. Even though some players might
think that it wasn't their problem, they could have still made a
difference in the outcome of the fight.
It is your responsibility if you had Teleport or Shen ult available and
you were in a good position to use it, but chose not to or didn’t see the
fight on the map. Avoid thinking of it as solely your team's fault by
saying "It's a 4v4 anyway and they lost, so it’s their fault." No, it's a
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missed opportunity for a 5v4 advantage due to your mistake.
Figure 45 Consequence of Shen's mistake. (Gnar teleports after this)
Split Push or Group?
"Should I split push or group with my team?" is a very famous one.
Many players complain that their teammates die when they are
splitting in a side lane, and when they group with their teammates,
fights do not happen.
The decision to either split push or group with your team in League of
Legends depends on the specific situation in the game. If your team
has strong wave clear and can defend objectives without you, splitting
can create pressure on the enemy team and give your team an
opportunity to take objectives elsewhere on the map. However,
grouping can be beneficial when contesting objectives or team fights,
especially if the enemy team is stronger or you are behind in gold and
experience. Ultimately, it's important to communicate with your team
and make a decision together based on the circumstances of the game.
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You can ask yourself a couple of questions before deciding whether
you want to split or group:
-
Is it a 0% chance you lose a team fight grouped with your team?
Yes-> Group.
-
Does their team have a hard engage champion like Malphite?
Yes -> Group if you can win the fight, or split, but in order to
split you have to communicate with your team to stay as far
away as possible from his engage until your wave arrives at the
enemy tower and enemy team sends someone to stop you.
-
Does their team have a champion with global ability like Twisted
Fate R or Nocturne R? Yes-> Group. (or split while your jungler
is shadowing you if you win 2 versus 2)
-
Are you playing a champion that is known for its worthlessness
in team fighting and excellence in splitpushing (Fiora)? Yes->
Split.
-
Are you going to lose the team fight anyways even if you are
grouped? Yes -> Split.
This can vary depending on how the game is going, but it provides
insight into how you should approach the situation in your game. If
the opposing team has a hard engage champion such as Malphite, and
you don't have teleport, they will likely try to force a 5 vs. 4 fight when
you are in the side lane, leaving your ADC -for example- vulnerable to
being eliminated. You cannot always rely on your teammates to wait
for your wave to reach the enemy tower, so it's advisable to
communicate your intentions through pings and chat, but even then, it
may not work in lower ranks.
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The ultimates of champions such as Twisted Fate or Nocturne can be
risky, as they can initiate fights or catch you off guard in the side lane.
Nocturne's ultimate can also prevent you from teleporting to a ward,
although there is only a one-second window for you to do so. Against
these champions, your best course of action is to push your wave,
group up with your team, and play intelligently with regards to vision
and flanking.
Using Your Flash Correctly
In the later stages of a game (30min+) making reckless use of your flash
could have grave consequences for your team's overall success. It is
crucial to be mindful of your death timer, which is now significantly
longer. In such a scenario, it is not advisable to engage in unnecessary
combat and waste your flash just for the sake of getting a kill. Instead,
you should weigh the potential benefits of killing your enemy and
determine whether it is worth using your flash for. If it is not worth, it
is better to hold on to your flash, and save it for the critical moments
when it could make a significant difference (Baron or elder fights).
Conversely, if you know that the enemy team won't gain any
advantage (objectives) from killing you, don't waste your flash to
escape. It is particularly critical to be cautious with your flash on
champions like Skarner or Renekton, who rely heavily on their flash.
Nonetheless, it's important to remember that all champions fight much
better with their flash up.
For example, if Baron in the late game is spawning in 30 seconds and
you got caught. Use everything to survive. If you die you basically lost
this Baron and potentially lost the game.
On the contrary, if your waves are pushed at the enemy’s tower and
the next big objective is about to spawn in 1.35minutes, and they won’t
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get any tower out of your death, it’s best to just die and save your flash
for that next big fight, especially if you don’t have a shut down bounty,
since most carry champions at this stage are already full build or near
full build.
Don’t play only in mid lane
It’s nonsense to keep pushing mid lane after you destroyed their
inhibitor unless you are going for an end game or a safe nexus turret
after you killed a significant number from your enemy team, the point
of super minions is to apply pressure on that lane so you can take more
towers on side lanes or take epic jungle monsters.
For example, this is a diamond game. For some reason the red team is
trying to push mid after they’ve opened the enemy’s inhibitor instead
of going for side lane towers. They managed to get one nexus turret,
but now Kai’Sa gets caught with Fizz R losing her Guardian Angel and
Shut down, this can be enough for your enemy team to get back to the
game when you are ahead.
Figure 46 Mistake of forcing mid when inhibitor is down.
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Responding To Enemy’s Plays
In League of Legends, you need to react quickly to your opponents'
moves. For instance, if you see the enemy jungler ganking the top lane,
you can take advantage of their absence and use the number advantage
by starting a fight at the dragon or bot lane. This principle applies to all
stages of the game - always gain something from your opponent's
actions. For instance, if the enemy team is going to take the dragon,
and you have no plans to contest it, focus on taking a tower, pushing a
wave or catch an out of position enemy instead of doing nothing. This
is a common mistake that occurs in lower ranks. Ping your teammates
and do something on the map!
For example, red team’s Hecarim decided to fight Ekko on bot lane,
blue team immediately responded to his play by attacking rift herald.
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Figure 47 The play
Figure 48 The response
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Common Mistake
A common mistake that people make is when they successfully win
their lane, destroy the tower (either bot or top), and even take the inner
tower with the help of the Herald or by themselves. They often
continue pushing for the inhibitor turret on the same side lane, without
considering the outer and inner turrets in other lanes. For example, if
you're playing top lane and manage to take down two towers, it's
advisable to switch lanes with your bot lane. Even if they refuse or
ping you to go back, it's better to ignore their call and move to their
lane. They’ll be frustrated and will eventually swap with you.
Remember, their frustration does not matter as long as you are making
the right decision. Overextending at the inhibitor turret will only throw
your lead, and inhibitor towers give much less gold than inner towers.
Figure 49 Tryndamere destroying inner tower
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Figure 50 Tryndamere's best move
Understanding What Your Champion Does
Best.
Many players are highly influenced by pings, but it is essential to
remember that you are the one controlling your champion. You should
have a comprehensive understanding of what your champion is
capable of and what it cannot do (assuming that you have thoroughly
studied your champion). For instance, if you are playing as Zoe and
your jungler is constantly pinging you to attack the dragon instead of
zoning the enemy champions or dealing damage to them, they likely
do not know what they are pinging. Similarly, if you are playing as
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Renekton without the flash and your jungler is spam pinging you to
engage on the enemy's ADC, who can quickly escape reacting to your
dash using their dash or Galeforce, they are not making a sound
decision. Your goal should be to attain a level of confidence in your
champion that allows you to determine which fights you are likely to
win and which ones you should avoid.
TEST YOURSELF 4.1
What is your main role is this game as Kayn?
Figure 51 Champion role test
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League of Legends is a game with endless possibilities and numerous scenarios to
consider. However, the textbook focuses on the most general and common
situations to help you develop critical thinking skills. It is important to note that
there will be unique and distinct situations that require you to make different
decisions. It is not possible to memorize or learn the game using a "if enemy does
X, then do Y" approach. The more experience you gain by playing the game, the
more comfortable you will become with making effective decisions in any
situation.
Teamfighting
After you understood what your champion does best, you should
teamfight according role in the teamfight, which changes from one
game to another. For example if you’re playing Cassiopeia, your role is
mostly to melt and kill the frontline, and If you’re playing something
like LeBlanc then your role is to kill the back line, but this might
change, if you have a fed carry you might want to peel this fed carry, it
really changes from one game to another but most importantly you
should know what your champion does best, and you can learn this
from watching different OTPs playing in higher ranked games.
You should pick the teamfights that are advantageous to your team, if
your team is especially good in 5v5 fights with champions like
Malphite, Yasuo, Diana or Fiddlesticks. You might want to play around
the teamfights, sometimes even if you are behind
You might want to fight in a choke area (narrow) if your team has good
AOE damage (abilities like fiddlesticks R) so it affects the entire team,
on the other hand if your team is not good in 5v5 fights, you might
want to take 2v2 fights in the side lane if you’re playing something like
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Fiora. You should play the game that is going to give you an
advantage, be in control of the game.
In teamfights, you should always prioritize the most squishy damage
dealer targets (mostly midlaners and adcarries), but this might change
from game to game, there might be a very fed Irelia (top laner) that
you might want to kill first.
Also keep in mind that not using your key abilities can be even a better
threat than using them.
For example, if you’re a fed camille playing against a fed Twitch for
example, the optimal play is to shut him down every fight, by saving
your E (hookshot) and ultimate ability for him. A good twitch player
(this mostly happens in masters+) won’t even appear in the fight unless
you waste your key abilities. And if he does, you just kill him with the
abilities that you have saved. Target prioritization is important in
teamfights.
Summary
Having completed this chapter, you have acquired knowledge
regarding strategies for the middle and late stages of the game.
Through real-game scenarios, you have gained insight that will
enhance your decision-making abilities during this phase. Concepts
such as split pushing, the significance of objectives, and the errors
commonly made by players of varying skill levels have been presented
to you. In the upcoming chapter, you will be exposed to a
comprehensive explanation of wave management. This chapter holds
equal importance for both laners and junglers. Skillful junglers possess
a deep understanding of wave management and strategize their ganks
based on the state of the waves.
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PART III
5
CHAPTER 5: ADVANCED WAVE
MANAGEMENT
Proper wave management is the most important skill to have as a
laner, you can not make it past diamond without mastering this skill,
proper wave understanding is also what differentiates between a good
jungler and an excellent one. In this chapter you will learn all the wave
manipulation tricks.
Identifying Your Champion
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First things first, you should pick your champion while keeping in
mind how good that champion is when it comes to wave manipulation.
The champions that control the wave best are champions with good
wave clear, meaning they have AOE abilities to damage several
minions at the same time, making it faster to push or trim your waves.
On the other hand, champions with bad wave clear are those that do
not have enough AOE to kill many minions at once. Some examples of
good wave clear champions include Yasuo, Yone, Renekton, Anivia,
and Sivir, while bad wave clear champions include Camille, Shen, and
Poppy.
Champions with better wave clear sometimes have multiple options
when managing the wave. There are infinite scenarios, and you will be
presented to many throughout this chapter.
Estimating Wave Position
You can estimate the position of your enemy’s minions by observing
the position of your own minions on the minimap. This information
will assist you in determining whether you should slow push or fast
push the wave.
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This is important because it helps you avoid what I refer to as "The
Deadly Position." You find yourself in the deadly position when you
have partially pushed your wave, but not quickly enough to crash it
into the enemy tower before your opponent returns from the base and
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freezes the wave near their tower.
Figure 52 First deadly position
Fiora finds herself in the deadly position in this scenario. If she were to
attempt to forcefully crash the wave into Aatrox's tower, she would
likely lose her life in the process. As a result, she is now forced to recall,
and Aatrox will begin freezing the wave, causing Fiora to miss out on
gold and experience.
The only way such a wave can be fixed is if Fiora’s jungler helped her
crash it. We are trying to avoid this situation when we can.
Another deadly position we’re trying to avoid as a melee champion is
when your enemy caster minions are under the enemy's tower, while
your allied minions are outside the tower's range. In this scenario, you
are unable to crash the wave without taking damage from the enemy
tower, while your opponent can freely deal damage to you in a safe
manner.
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Figure 53 Deadly position #2, however it is not that deadly because Kled is full hp, but he will still take free
damage.
It is crucial to remember that when you find yourself pushed this far in
your lane, you become vulnerable to ganks. Unless you are strong
enough to handle a 1v2 situation or you are certain that the enemy
jungler is not nearby, you should aim to minimize the time you spend
near the enemy tower. Alternatively, you can make it challenging for
the enemy by stacking waves.
Reducing the number of times you find yourself in this position will
greatly improve your laning phase. Effective wave manipulation
allows you to avoid these situations, leading to better in-game results
and higher ranks.
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Make sure you understand everything that will be taught in the next
sections, don’t just memorize them, understand the why behind the
concepts so you can manage your waves in any situation.
Wave Bouncing
Waves in league of legends always go back and forth, when you have
pushed a wave, this means the next wave will push into you and vice
versa.
Figure 54 Waves under tower, the cause of two second lateness of collision 1
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Figure 55 Collision 1
Figure 56 Aftermath of collision 2
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Why? In the previous images, the two seconds that the blue minions
come in contact with the red minions under tower caused the minion
colliding to not meet exactly in the middle of the lane (wave colliding
number one), but closer to the Blue team’s tower. This means when the
next minion waves spawn, the Blue minions will join the combat (wave
colliding number two) before the Red minions. Killing some of the red
minions immediately before the Red minions arrive. Which creates the
advantage that causes the push to occur.
Freezing
Figure 57 Waves frozen in Red team's side
As previously mentioned in Chapter 3, freezing refers to the strategy of
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maintaining the wave on your side of the lane and only last hitting
minions. This approach serves two main purposes: keeping your
enemy vulnerable to ganks and zoning your opponent's champion
away from your minions, particularly if you have a significant
advantage over them. On the other hand, freezing can also be
employed defensively when you are in a weaker position, lacking flash
or vision. It allows you to farm safely and makes it challenging for
your opponent to engage in an all-in fight or successfully gank you.
But this may come with a price:
1- Your enemy laner might give up the wave and try to roam or
play with his enemy jungler. You should ALWAYS ping that
your enemy is missing when you are freezing and your enemy
laner is not in the lane.
2- If you die while freezing a wave on your side, this means you
lost a massive amount of cs and exp, also the wave being on your
side makes it easier for your enemy to push the wave faster than
normal and take more tower platings when you’re dead.
Generally, make sure you don’t die when freezing a wave. It will hurt
you much more than a regular death.
Freezing a wave grants your opponent a minion advantage, which
could potentially give them an advantage in trades depending on the
circumstances. Keep this in mind when implementing a freeze.
You can minimize the damage taken while tanking minions in
preparation for a freeze by repeatedly entering and exiting an
unwarded bush. When you enter the bush, the minions will stop
attacking you, and upon exiting, they will target you again. Repetition
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of this process confuses the minions, resulting in reduced damage
while they remain in roughly the same location
Figure 58 Bush utilization to freeze
Reminder: as previously mentioned in chapter 3, to freeze a wave, you
should focus on last-hitting enemy minions by landing the killing
blow. It is essential to avoid dealing excessive damage to the minions.
The purpose of freezing is to maintain a higher number of enemy
minions compared to your own, allowing them to push towards your
tower and eliminate your allied minions.
Efficient Freezing
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Almost every video guide will show you something like this image,
where they slice a lane to partitions. In this illustration, the red
partition indicates that to successfully freeze the wave, you need a
minimum advantage of three enemy minions over your own. The
yellow partition requires a two-minion advantage, while the green
partition necessitates only a one-minion advantage.
Figure 59 Zones of freezing
This is very very impractical. This is not how you should be freezing.
Surprising, isn’t it?
The image shows the absolute minimum number of minion advantage
you need to create a freeze. This is not what you should be looking for.
You should aim to freeze with a higher number of minions, freezing at
the absolute minimum number will almost always turn into a slow
push. Using any AOE ability on your enemy in such a situation will
break the freeze, and even engaging in trades will cause enemy
minions to target you, reducing the damage per second on your own
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minions. Consequently, the freeze will transition into a slow push due
to freezing at the minimum number available.
Moreover, freezing a wave with a greater number of minions will
cause the enemy laner to lose their minions at a faster rate compared to
maintaining a slow freeze. This scenario frequently arises when you
force your opponent to recall after a disadvantageous trade for them.
The only thing I want you to understand from the previous image is
that the further you go from your tower, the less minions you will need
to freeze, which introduces us to the concept of wave pulling.
Wave Pulling
Pulling a wave can help you freeze in positions where you normally
couldn’t or enables you to create a better freeze.
Figure 60 Pulling a wave from in front of the tower to create a better freeze
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TEST YOURSELF 5.1
Why does wave pulling work this way? Why is it that the further your pull enemy minions
from your tower the better the freeze is? You should be able to answer this question if you read
through “Wave bouncing” carefully.
The Recall Freeze
Figure 61 The recall freeze
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The recall freeze is when you choose to recall on a wave that is
naturally pushing towards your tower. By timing your recall correctly,
you can return to the lane just in time to catch most of the minions,
minimizing the loss of experience and gold for yourself. Meanwhile,
your opponent will suffer from their minions killing yours, resulting in
them losing out on gold and experience.
The recall freeze is a good strategy to use if:
1- You have just killed your enemy laner, you are low on
health, and the wave is pushing towards you. In this
scenario, it would be more worthwhile to freeze and recall
instead of pushing. This is because, depending on your
champion, you won’t have enough time to push the wave
and fully crash it into the enemy tower. By opting for a
freeze and recall, you ensure that your enemy loses out on
more resources during this time.
Figure 62 Scenario#1 of Recall Freezing
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2- Your enemy laner did not die, but they decided to recall
due to being low on health. However, you are also low on
health and unable to effectively lane against them when
they return with a full health bar, but you won’t be able to
crash the wave in time. In this situation, it would be
optimal to recall and freeze the wave upon your return. By
doing so, you can recover your health fully and minimize
the losses you would otherwise experience, allowing you
to re-engage in the lane with a better chance of success.
Generally, this technique is good when your enemy is not in the lane
and hard pushing is not the best option to make your enemy lose the
most exp and gold. It could be because of your champion not having
good wave clear, the wave is too big, or both.
There are a couple of things you should consider when you’re going
for the recall freeze:
-
How big are the waves? Sometimes the wave would naturally
crash into your tower when you’re walking to lane, and you
would end up losing more exp-gold than you expected. You
should always trim big waves, so they don’t crash into your
tower.
-
Are you getting mind gamed? In higher levels of play, your
enemy might hide in a bush, so you think they recalled, and then
when you recall yourself they will simply crash the wave into
your tower, causing you to lose exp and gold, while they lose
nothing.
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Slow Pushing
As mentioned in chapter 3, slow pushing is the act of killing minions
slowly, so they stack creating a big wave. It is crucial to have a plan in
mind when implementing both slow pushing and hard pushing
strategies.
Slow pushing is particularly effective when you are trying to dive your
enemy laner, if you’re ahead or your champions are known for their
aggression in tower diving, e.g., Renekton and Nidalee or Renekton
and Elise, you can often stack these waves in the early game and go for
a dive.
What makes tower diving good when your waves are stacked is the
fact that your enemy loses so much gold and experience, it is still even
worth if you die during the dive, as long as your enemy dies as well.
The gold and experience they lose from 2 or 3 stacked waves will give
you the upper hand in the early game.
Slow pushing is also beneficial when you need to recall to your base.
While your enemy laner spends time clearing the stacked waves, you
can safely recall and return to the lane with minimal minion loss.
Additionally, when you crash a stacked wave, it provides an
opportunity to invade with your jungler or look for a roam.
If you see that you and your jungler are able to dive your enemy on the
wave you are stacking, you should communicate your intention to
your jungler by pinging ahead of time, most junglers don’t play
around waves, so taking charge and shotcalling can ensure that your
team plays around your strategy. As the one with knowledge of the
situation, make your team play your game if you are confident in your
understanding of the circumstances
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Figure 63 Tower diving on a stacked wave
Slow pushing can also be utilized in the mid game to exert pressure on
the enemy team, particularly when split pushing. If you have lane
priority in both the side lane and mid lane during the mid game, it is
advantageous to push your waves when the mid lane wave is nearing
the enemy tower. This creates simultaneous pressure in two lanes,
preventing your opponent in the side lane from joining the fight as
they are occupied with clearing the wave. Meanwhile, you can freely
move around and be prepared in case your enemy decides to engage in
a fight in the mid lane in response to the pressure your teammates are
generating, or you can tower dive your enemy in the side lane safely
because the rest of the enemy team is in the mid lane.
Ultimately, slow pushing is just normal pushing, just with more
minion advantage.
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Fast Pushing
Fast pushing involves quickly eliminating your enemy minions, and it
should be done with a specific purpose in mind. You should engage in
fast pushing when you need to take immediate action. One common
mistake I observe among lower elo players is mindlessly fast pushing
every wave, which grants their enemy free farm. Instead, you should
hard shove the wave if you intend to dive right away, participate in an
ongoing fight in the river, or if you plan to roam or recall to base
immediately. However, the primary use of fast pushing is when your
enemy laner has left the lane, and you aim to swiftly crash the wave
into their tower to deny them minions. You can also use it to apply
pressure by harassing your enemy under their tower.
The Cheater Recall
The cheater recall is a technique applied in the first levels of the game
to gain an early advantage if you have priority over your laner. You
slow push the first two (or three) waves, then hard push the third (or
fourth) wave. This will allow you to crash a big wave into the enemy’s
tower early on, giving you a chance to recall and buy an item (long
sword for an example), and then you can trim the wave and freeze,
which gives you an advantage early game.
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Figure 64 Cheater Recall
If you are applying this technique, you should be absolutely focusing
on hard shoving the 3rd or 4th wave without worrying about losing
some of your health bar since you will be recalling anyways and you
will have your full health bar again. It’s okay to take some damage and
just focus on shoving the wave.
In top and bottom lane, the fourth wave crash allows you to help your
jungler on scuttle crab if they’re pathing to it (scuttle crab spawns at the
timer 3:30 in the current season of 2023)
It is not necessary to recall after you push the 3rd or 4th wave, you can
roam, invade, help your jungler on scuttle crab, or tower dive your
enemy laner if it’s possible. It is a versatile technique. In the end, it’s
just a slow push, so apply it with a plan in your head.
Recalling after 3rd or 4th wave crash in mid lane is not always
ideal since the lane is shorter than bottom or top lane. Cheater
recall is good only in top lane and bottom lane.
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The Suicidal Wave Crash
The Suicidal Wave Crash is a technique used to ensure that your
minion wave crashes under the enemy tower. This is achieved by
intentionally luring the wave towards the enemy tower and potentially
executing yourself if your health is low enough. While this technique is
not commonly used, it can be useful in certain situations. You may
encounter it occasionally in higher ranks.
This technique is applied when you realize that your minions will not
fully crash into the tower (By estimating the wave position as
mentioned earlier), you determine that they will collide just outside
the tower (the dangerous position mentioned earlier). To counter this,
you position your champion under the enemy's tower to delay the
enemy wave while your own wave crashes, it’s crucial to note that this
technique carries significant risk, so ensure you apply it only when you
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are certain no one is present to kill you or launch a long-range
projectile, such as Jayce's E-Q cannon combo.
Figure 65 Step 1: Realizing the wave is not going to crash.
Figure 66 Step 2: Tanking tower shots to drag enemy wave and force your wave to crash.
Usually, the Suicidal Wave Crash technique is used when you're
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unable to stay and clear another wave of minions. This can happen if
your health is low and your opponent is about to come to your lane,
freeze the wave, and pose a threat to kill you. (Deadly position)
This technique is not applicable in mid lane.
Proxying
Proxying in League of Legends refers to a strategy where a player
deliberately bypasses the standard lane phase and moves between the
enemy's turrets, farming minions and applying pressure to the
opposing team. Instead of engaging in direct combat with the enemy
laner, a proxy player aims to disrupt the enemy's wave management,
draw attention from the enemy team, and create map pressure. By
proxying, the player aims to gain an advantage by denying minions to
the enemy laner, drawing jungle attention, and potentially opening up
opportunities for their own team to secure objectives or make plays
elsewhere on the map. It is a high-risk, high-reward strategy that
requires careful decision-making and map awareness.
Singed is the most famous champion that uses this strategy.
Figure 67 Singed proxying
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If you chase an enemy champion that is proxying, every second you
waste on them (assuming you don’t kill them) is gold and experience
lost, because your enemy’s wave will be always crashing into your
tower since there are no allied minions to collide with your enemy’s
wave.
Proxying can also be used when you are sure that no one is around to
kill you, and you can kill your enemy laner in his wave due to the huge
difference in strength between you and your laner, for example Riven
in the next image is proxying the wave and abusing the fact that she is
lvl 6 and Rumble is lvl 5, and no one is around from Rumble’s team to
help Rumble anytime soon, so she is not even allowing Rumble to get
back to the lane and gain experience and gold from his minions under
tower.
Figure 68 Riven Proxying (Grandmaster game)
This is not applicable in mid lane.
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General Wave Tips
Here are general wave tips that you can keep in mind:
1- Do not fast push into a champion that heavily scales (Nasus or
Kayle) and give them free minion access, into these champions
you will be mostly looking to freeze to zone them off exp and
gold, or slow push in preparation for a dive with your jungler.
2- If you see that your enemy is going to freeze the wave on you,
and you will not be able to break that freeze safely, ping your
jungler in advance to help you break that freeze.
3- When your enemy is slow pushing the wave towards your
tower, always place a defensive ward and be prepared for a
potential tower dive, you can also ping your jungler to counter
the tower dive, although this is more common in higher ranks as
tower diving on stacked waves is less prevalent in lower ranks.
In the worst-case scenario, if you are about to get dove, it is often
better to leave the tower and lose the wave or give up plates.
You’re better off losing minions and platings and staying alive
instead of dying and losing minions and platings anyway.
Jungler’s Wave Management Guide
Understanding wave control for junglers is as important as it is for
laners. However, most junglers lack sufficient knowledge on how to
effectively play around waves. After reading through the previous
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sections, you should have solid knowledge of how wave management
works. As a jungler, you can leverage waves to your advantage using
the following key points:
-
Your laner’s wave is in a deadly position? Break the freeze.
Figure 69 Viego breaking the freeze for his ally Jax
-
Your ally is slow pushing the wave? Consider whether you can
dive your enemy when the wave crashes. Always keep in mind
that enemy jungler can react to the dive, and a failed attempt
could cost you the entire game.
-
Your enemy is slow pushing a wave? You should consider
whether it’s possible to gank your enemy when the wave is
closer to your ally tower. This can be dangerous as sometimes if
your enemy is fed or is a strong early game champion, they can
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just 1v2 using their big waves, it depends on what champions
you are playing and what champions your enemies are playing.
Your ally laner should be trying to trim the big waves in
preparation for your gank.
Figure 70 Potential for an upcoming tower dive for the Red jungler, and a potential for a gank for the Blue
Jungler.
-
Your ally is freezing a wave? You should be prepared to gank
your enemy laner when he contests the freeze.
After a successful gank, most junglers ruin the wave, they help their
laner push when they shouldn’t and they don’t help their laners push
when they should, here is what you should do after a successful gank:
-
If your allied wave is in a slow push position, help your laner
push it to make the enemy laner lose the wave and give your
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laner more time to recall or take plates. However, there is an
exception: if your allies have fast enough wave clear and your
assistance wouldn't make a difference, it's better to let them clear
the wave on their own without sharing the experience with
them.
-
The wave is frozen? Don't take any action; simply allow it to
remain frozen unless your ally laner instructs otherwise or if you
notice your laner pushing the wave and breaking the freeze. It's
possible that your ally laner intends to forcefully push the wave
in a frozen position to purchase a powerspike item. An exception
is that if you want to push to spawn rift herald to get tower
platings before they fall for example.
If your ally is not in lane and your enemy has hard pushed a wave, try
to hold this wave and prevent it from crashing into the tower if
possible. This will provide significant assistance to your laner.
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Supports should also prioritize doing this for their AD carries.
Figure 71 Support Nautilus holding(tanking) the wave for his adc.
If your ally is dead and your enemy has crashed a big, stacked wave
into the tower, you should walk to the lane and take that free gold and
experience, this on its own can put you so far ahead of your enemy
jungler for free.
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TEST YOURSELF 5.2
Just by looking at the mini map and the current wave state, explain what Malphite, Camille and
Viego should be thinking.
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TEST YOURSELF 5.3
Camille here in this platinum elo game made a wave management mistake that caused
her death. Can you spot it and explain why it was a huge mistake?
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TEST YOURSELF 5.4
Looking at both midlaners’ health bar and summoner spells, Yasuo here made a wave
management mistake that caused him to lose much gold and experience, the right play was
explained earlier, can you spot the mistake and illustrate the right play?
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Underused technique
An often-overlooked wave management concept, even in Masters+, is
delaying the killing of minions under the tower. For instance, if you
plan to last hit a melee minion that requires two tower shots and one
auto attack, you should refrain from delivering the killing blow
immediately after the second tower shot. Instead, wait for the third
tower shot and then kill the minion just moments before it is hit. By
doing so, you delay the death of your enemy wave, causing your
minions to clash closer to your tower. This results in the wave pushing
towards your opponent (refer to the previously explained wave
bouncing section to understand why).
Rekkless (professional player) explained this concept
amazingly in this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhEdNM-rYeY
Summary
In this chapter, you learned everything about wave management. It is
arguable that players can reach even low diamond without having
proper wave management, but the knowledge that was given to you
will put you so far ahead of so many players. You have been presented
to several techniques like wave pulling, recall freeze, cheater recall,
suicidal wave crash, and proxying. You understood how important
wave management is for junglers. In the next chapter you will learn
about the advanced techniques that you can implement in your laning
phase after you learned how to manage your waves well
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6
CHAPTER 6: ADVANCED LANING
PHASE
In this chapter, you’ll learn the small tricks that can put you ahead of
your enemy laners and make you a better laner.
Sorry Jungler, I can't leash!
In some matchups, you can lose your early lane dominance and
priority if you leash your jungler and the enemy laner does not. By
leashing, you essentially grant the enemy laner full lane priority. While
this may not matter significantly in certain matchups, it can heavily
impact your game in others.
For example, when playing as Camille against Irelia, Camille has the
potential to gain lane priority and zone Irelia off minions at level 1.
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Camille can take advantageous trades and even secure a kill at levels
one or two by utilizing Ignite if the enemy Irelia is being overly
aggressive. However, if Camille leashes for her jungler, Irelia will have
free access to minions, allowing her to stack her Q ability and become
significantly stronger than Camille at level one. In this situation, the
optimal play for Irelia would be to start a slow push in preparation for
a cheater recall or a strategic play in the river at levels 3 or 4.
Just leashing for your jungler in such a situation can completely alter
your early laning phase. Your jungler might feel frustrated if you don't
leash, particularly in lower elos. However, it's important to remember
that your allies are humans, and you can address this frustration by
simply typing in the chat, 'Sorry, I cannot leash because I need level 1
priority.' This simple communication can work wonders!
The Level 1 Wave Trick
The level one trick is a technique that involves dragging the minion
wave when your enemy is leashing their jungler and you are not. This
trick causes the wave to naturally slow push towards your tower and,
most importantly, results in your enemy losing out on one minion's
worth of experience. As a result, they will reach level two later than
usual, which can provide significant benefits.
To execute this trick, you need to walk further into the lane, briefly
tank the minions, and then retreat into the bush to reset minion aggro.
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This causes the enemy minions to focus on only one of your allied
minions, killing it faster than usual.
Figure 72 Drag&Go into a Bush
Figure 73 Minion death at 1:49
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Small Leash or Big Leash?
In some matchups in the bottom lane and the top lane, your enemies’
level 1 can be a lot stronger than yours, causing them to hide in a bush
in your pathing, waiting you to fight them in that bush, causing you to
lose more than half your health or even dying before you reach the
minions.
Champions in the top lane that do this against most matchups: Darius,
Sett, Jax, Olaf.
Botlane duos that do this against most matchups: Lucian-Senna,
Draven-Leona, Draven-Nautilus, and the list goes on.
In bot lane, it can be good to ward the camping tri bush before you
leash, they might hide in this bush mindlessly especially in lower elos,
and you can 3v2 them with the help of your jungler after he kills the
buff.
They can also camp in the 3rd bush of the lane as shown in Figures 74
and 75
To see the 3rd bush camp, you should walk early to the lane the very
second the game starts, and ward that bush if their champions are very
strong level one and can cheese you early like Draven-Nautilus, and
then when minions spawn, walk in the lane early beside your minions
to avoid your enemy’s hook ability.
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Figure 74 3rd bush camping
Or you can just hug the wall to be as far away from the bush against
non hook champions, you can also walk back and forth to try to dodge
an ability. Whatever you do just don’t face check that bush.
Figure 75 3rd bush camping v2
In the top lane, you can also place a ward. However, if you wish to
save your ward, it is advisable to give your jungler a small leash,
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ensuring that you don't miss out on experience from the first three
minions and then take the longer route to lane.
Figure 76 Darius camping in tribush
Figure 77 Green route to avoid darius after giving a small leash
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In very rare cases, your enemy will expect that you’ll go for the longer
route and they will camp in the top lane bush behind your outer tower,
but if you have reached this level of play, then you don’t even need my
advice, this occurs only in higher levels of play, and it mostly happens
because your enemy knows exactly who you are and has played
against you multiple times (Masters+).
Hiding in the bush early when you’re stronger than your enemies’
level one is a good strategy to use, especially in the bottom lane in
lower elos, they rarely see it.
The CSing Mind Game
In Chapter 3, you learned the importance of trading when your enemy
is occupied with last-hitting minions. However, your opponents are
aware of this strategy as well and may attempt to do the same to you.
As a result, there are times when you need to pretend that you’re going
for a last hit on a minion, then quickly step back or sidestep to dodge
their ability, before finally going back to secure the last hit. This
approach allows you to last hit minions without taking damage, puts
your enemy's ability on cooldown, reduces their mana, and provides
you with more space in the lane.
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Figure 77 Camille moving forward to Yone's Q range then instantly backwards to dodge it
Generally, there are three types of players when it comes to this mind
game:
1- The player that is going to throw his ability at you whenever you
are in range, you can deal with this player by getting in range
and then try to dodge their ability immediately (most low elo
players)
2- The player that focuses on harrassing you when you are going
for a last hit.
3- The skilled player, who understands the importance of harassing
when you're last-hitting, is aware of your attempt to bait their
abilities. They recognize the opportunity to damage both, the
minions and you simultaneously, pushing the wave to create
lane priority while dealing damage. Moreover, they understand
that they can target you with their abilities without affecting the
minion wave if they aim to freeze the lane. Laning against this
player can be enjoyable.
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Abusing Item Spike Difference
In lower ranks, many players assess their strength solely based on their
KDA; “If I'm 0/4, then I believe I can never win a fight against my
laner, and if I'm 4/0, then I assume I can easily win any 1v1 encounter,
regardless of the circumstances.” However, this is not always the case.
Certain champions possess item powerspikes that enable them to
defeat their opponents, even when they are behind in gold. In Season
13, Divine Sunderer stands out as one of the most significant
powerspikes. Nearly every champion has item spikes that allow you to
make plays that were previously unavailable. It is crucial to thoroughly
learn your champion and understand their item spikes to play around
them effectively.
Melee vs Ranged Matchup (Top Lane)
Playing as a melee champion against a ranged champion can be
frustrating. Ranged champions have the ability to harass melee
champions and punish them for each minion they try to last hit.
However, most ranged champions are squishy and vulnerable when
caught out of position.
In such cases, when you're playing as a melee champion against a
ranged champion and you can't control the lane, it's crucial to try to
keep the wave on your side. Focus on last hitting minions while being
mindful that it's not worth taking harass for just one minion, especially
in these matchups. Trading one auto attack from the enemy ranged
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champion to last hit two minions is generally acceptable (this is my
personal opinion).
In these matchups, it's important to heavily utilize the bushes. In most
instances, ranged champions aren't strong enough to engage you in
melee range if you're inside a bush. The problem with ranged
champions is their ability to kite and keep their distance. By
continually last hitting and utilizing bushes, they will struggle to
harass you unless they ward the bush. If they do ward the bush,
quickly inform your team through chat that the enemy top laner has no
ward and ask your jungler for a gank.
Figure 78 Ranged champion (Teemo) wasting their ward.
Once you gain a lead through assistance from your jungler or by
capitalizing on mistakes made by the enemy ranged top laner, you can
often slow push the wave and dive them with the help of your jungler.
In some cases, you may be able to do it on your own if you're playing
an aggressive bruiser like Irelia and have reached your item
powerspike. Even if you can't secure a kill on the enemy ranged top
laner after gaining a lead, it's still advantageous. Preventing a ranged
champion from obtaining a lead in the lane against you is beneficial,
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because picking ranged champions in the top lane usually means their
team composition is bad. They’re lacking a fighter or a tank top lane
due to their pick.
In lower elos, ranged top laners often have poor positioning and waste
their abilities. For example, a Teemo who wastes their Q ability to poke
or last hit minions becomes vulnerable. The difficulty of the Teemo
lane arises when they save their Q for when you attempt to engage
them, negating your damage, especially if you rely on auto attacks like
most top lane fighters.
To sustain against the poke of ranged champions, consider purchasing
Doran's Shield and selecting Second Wind in your rune choices. These
can help you sustain your health in lane.
Teleport vs Ignite
Taking Ignite can enable you to win fights that you would typically
lose, and it serves as an anti-healing tool to gain an advantage against
champions with healing abilities. It also has a shorter cooldown than
Teleport and can be used to establish lane dominance.
However, the downside of Ignite is that it attracts the attention of the
enemy jungler. If you don't have Teleport, each time you die, you won't
be able to teleport and catch the wave that has been pushed to your
tower. Consequently, every death sets you further behind compared to
having Teleport.
Teleport not only allows you to join fights on the opposite side of the
map but should also be viewed as an additional health and mana bar.
If you have Teleport while your enemy has Ignite, trading evenly in
lane is almost always advantageous for the Teleport player. You can
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recall, teleport back with a full health bar, and then control the wave by
freezing it.
Generally, ignite can be better than Teleport in Silver and Gold because
the games are less organized.
Weak side or Strong side?
"Strong side" and "weak side” refer to the primary side of the map
where the jungler focuses their attention. If you find yourself playing
on the "weak side" as a top laner, it indicates that the jungler is
dedicating a significant amount of time to the bottom side of the map.
This happens because a jungler can not be everywhere on the map at
the same time, a jungler naturally focuses around one side more than
the other. Your jungler may classify your side as weakside because you
don’t have gank setup (no cc), or you’re just a tank that won’t really be
able to hard carry the game even if you’re ahead, or because they want
to play around the objective on the opposite side of the map.
Playing on the weak side can be frustrating because you don't receive
much jungle attention, and it becomes even more challenging if your
enemy laner is on the strong side. This means you’re being constantly
ganked, tower dove, and denied CS, while your jungler may not
provide sufficient assistance. Unfortunately, there is no direct counter
to this situation. The best course of action when playing on the weak
side is to follow your jungler's plan, prioritize safety, give up CS if
necessary, and it's advisable to stay away from the tower if you’re
going to die under tower 2v1 as a result of a tower dive.
When you're on the weak side, every failed gank attempted by the
enemy jungler puts them at a disadvantage compared to your allied
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jungler. The pressure they are applying to you is equivalent to the
pressure your jungler is applying on the opposite side of the map. Your
main job in this situation is to prioritize survival and not give away any
unnecessary deaths.
There will be some games, especially in higher elos, where you are
weakside and your jungler plays around the opposite side of the map
and they get destroyed on the opposite side of the map. You just lose
these games, there’s nothing you can do. Just like mentioned in
Chapter 1, “Sometimes you lose games!” and sometimes these games
are not your fault, but it does not matter, losing these games will not
affect your ranked climbing as long as you keep playing.
In lower elos (below Diamond), there are often opportunities to turn
the table and secure victory, even if the early game didn't go well.
Players at this level tend to make numerous mistakes that you can
exploit to your advantage.
The Effect of Both Junglers’ Pathing on Your
Early Wave Management.
If your enemy arrives to lane late, it often indicates that they have been
leashing their jungler, and their jungler started their jungle pathing on
that side of the map. Let's consider the top lane as an example. If the
enemy jungler started at the top lane, it typically means they will be
pathing towards the bottom side to secure the scuttle crab and
potentially attempt a gank at level 3 or 4. This knowledge allows you to
push further in your lane without worrying about early ganks from the
enemy jungler. There are four common scenarios for the junglers'
pathing:
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1- Both junglers started on your side of the map:
Figure 79 Scenario 1
This means both junglers are pathing to the opposite side of the
map and your lane is going to be 1vs1 in the early levels, if you
can control the lane, then slowpushing into a cheater recall can
be good in this case if you are unable to kill your enemy. You’ll
also have more room to harrass your enemy under tower in early
levels in this case if you don’t intend to recall.
2- If your jungler started on your side of the map while the enemy
jungler started on the opposite side:
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Figure 80 Scenario 2
Your primary goal is to avoid the potential level 3-4 gank from
the enemy jungler. To accomplish this, you can execute a cheater
recall on the 3rd wave, ensuring that by the time the enemy
jungler attempts to gank you, you will already be back in base.
Afterwards, you can freeze the wave on your side of the lane,
making it even more difficult for the enemy jungler to
successfully gank you. This approach enhances your overall
safety and minimizes the risk of being caught off-guard by the
enemy team.
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3- If your jungler started on the opposite side of the map while
enemy jungler started on your side:
Figure 81 Scenario 3
You should be prepared to play aggressively. If you are unable
to establish lane control, consider trimming the wave and setting
up a freeze near your tower, this allows your jungler to gank and
apply pressure.
On the other hand, if you can apply lane control, a viable option
is to slow push first two waves and hard push the third, and
then set up the freeze near your tower, to allow your jungler to
gank and kill your enemy.
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If your enemy is a divable weak early game champion, you can
slow push first 3 waves and hard push the fourth and dive your
enemy with your jungler.
Furthermore, it is advisable to ping the opposite side of the map
during the level 3-4 timeframe to notify your teammates that a
gank is likely to occur. This is especially effective in lower elos
where players may not anticipate such moves. By providing this
information, you contribute to your team’s overall awareness
and potentially prevent unnecessary deaths.
4- If both junglers started on the opposite side of the map:
Figure 82 Scenario 4
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It’s important to prepare yourself to assist your jungler at the
scuttle crab but remember not to force it. Assess the situation
based on your early-game strength, wave control and midlaner’s
priority.
If you have a stronger early game and can control the wave,
consider slow pushing and then crashing the fourth wave into
the enemy tower. This creates pressure and provides an
opportunity for you to assist your jungler.
However, if you find yourself unable to control the wave and the
enemy has pushed it towards your time by the time the scuttle
crab spawns, it’s best to prioritize farming and staying in your
lane. Ping your jungler to let them know that you are unable to
assist. By focusing on farming, you minimize the risk of falling
behind and ensure that you maintain a strong pressure in your
lane.
Your enemy laner(s) may attempt a fake leash, intentionally
arriving to lane late to deceive you into thinking they have been
leashing for their jungler. However, this tactic does not happen
every game, especially in SoloQ.
Note: The scenarios presented above do not dictate what you
should do in every game. Each game is unique, and your
opponents may make critical mistakes that allow you to secure
kills even when you're being ganked or at a number
disadvantage. It is important to remember that every game is
different. However, the purpose of presenting these scenarios is
to encourage you to consider the pathing of both junglers when
playing during the early levels.
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Note: Some junglers, such as Shaco, Nunu, Xin Zhao, Twitch,
and Kindred, have the potential to perform a level 2 gank
immediately after taking their buff, typically the red buff. When
facing these junglers, particularly Nunu and Twitch, if they start
on your side of the map, it is advisable to give up lane priority
even if you can establish it. It is better to stay back and avoid
pushing in these situations. The same principle applies to
midlane.
Dealing with Vertical Jungling
Vertical jungling is a special case of the scenarios presented previously,
it’s the case where a jungler starts on your side of the map, then
invades the other jungler and stays on that side.
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Figure 83 Vertical Jungling
If your enemy is vertical jungling, you must avoid pushing at all costs.
If you push, there are only two scenarios, whether you get ganked and
you die, or you get zoned off cs to avoid that gank, and then you lose
exp and gold from minions.
You can detect vertical jungling if your enemy jungler has walked
through a ward and you spotted them in your jungle, and even if you
don’t spot your enemy jungler, if you look at your jungler and you find
them vertical jungling in the other side of the map, this, -most of the
times- means that your enemy jungler is also vertical jungling.
If your enemy laner comes from your jungle level 1, this is an obvious
sign that your enemy jungler has invaded your jungle and is probably
vertical jungling.
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Example: Xayah and Morgana here in Fig. 84 came from Red Jungle
Figure 84 Vertical Jungling Sign
Kindred and Ivern are champions known for favoring vertical jungling.
It is advisable to place a ward at your buff when facing these
champions.
When your enemy jungler is executing a vertical jungling strategy,
your own jungler will typically respond by vertical jungling on the
opposite side of the map. This means that the pressure exerted on you
is equal to the pressure exerted on the other side of the map.
The Tower Plating Trap
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The Tower Plating Trap is a situation where taking the tower plating
results in losing more value compared to not taking it. It is a common
mistake that many players make.
This situation arises when you manage to take the plate just before
your enemy arrives in the lane. As a result, when you recall to your
base, your enemy pushes the entire wave to your tower, causing you to
miss out on at least 105 gold worth of minions, in addition to the
experience. Tower plating only grants 175 gold and provides no
experience.
For instance, Irelia in Fig. 85 and 86 made the right decision to recall
and opted to take only one plate instead of two to avoid falling into the
Tower Plating Trap.
Figure 85 Irelia taking one plating instead of two.
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Figure 86 Irelia recalling after taking the plate.
The only situation where you’d take such a plate is that if you’re going
to hit a very important item powerspike and you need the 175 gold.
Very Specific Top Lane Scenario
There is a unique scenario that often occurs in the top lane during the
first two levels. Let's say you're playing an aggressive champion
without Teleport like Darius (Ghost/Flash) and you successfully secure
a first blood against your enemy who has Teleport. However, after the
fight, your health is low and your wave is pushing towards your
opponent.
Normally, the optimal play is to push the wave to the tower when your
enemy teleports, if possible. However, in this specific case, if you are
too low on health to safely push, it's better to accept the loss and recall,
allowing your opponent to freeze the wave. It may feel frustrating, and
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it might seem like the first blood cost you the experience advantage,
but making this decision is the correct play in such a situation. Avoid
being greedy for the push and dying, as that would truly result in
losing the lane due to the first blood.
You'd be surprised to see how many diamond+ players fall into the
trap of being greedy for the push in this situation and ultimately lose
the lane. While it may seem obvious that recalling is the correct
decision, especially if you've read through the chapter and understand
the
concept of a deadly position, keep this special scenario in mind.
Figure 87 Darius after landing first blood
Common Top Lane Scenario (Junglers Need
This)
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It's very common for your top laner to play champions that are
considerably weak in the early game, such as Kayle or Nasus. Taking
Kayle as an example, if Kayle's enemy top laner is skilled, they will
often slow push the wave and then hard push on the third or fourth
wave. This causes the wave to bounce back towards Kayle's enemy,
who can then freeze it forever at level 4. Anticipating this situation and
taking action to break the level 4 freeze can greatly benefit your top
laner. It significantly eases their gameplay and allows Kayle to safely
reach level 6.
Figure 88 Jax setting up the level 4 freeze (planning to cheater recall)
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Figure 89 Kha'Zix saving Kayle's game by not allowing Jax to trim the wave and freeze.
Summary
In this chapter, you have learned various techniques and concepts that
can enhance your understanding of the laning phase and contribute to
your overall improvement as a player. In the next chapter, you will be
provided with general advice, tips, and tricks to maximize your
success on the Summoner's Rift.
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Intentionally left blank.
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7
CHAPTER 7: COMPLETING THE
MASTERY: SIMPLE BUT NOT APPLIED
PROPERLY.
In this chapter, you'll learn about concepts that are supposedly basic
but, for some reason, are often overlooked or not utilized by the
majority of the player base.
Dodging Games
Sometimes, the best course of action to avoid losing a ranked game is
to refrain from playing it in the first place. Prioritizing dodging
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becomes crucial if you have a teammate who intends to troll or if you
think you’re going to be useless due to the enemy team composition.
Don't underestimate the value of dodging; it is not fun to play in a
game that you already know you are likely to lose.
Shotcalling
I’ve stressed this so much throughout this book, as simple as it may
sound, ping your teammates when you notice the right plays and use
danger pings when you observe them making mistakes or missing
something important. Although this might seem basic, I believe it was
one of my major weaknesses as a master-grandmaster player. I didn't
utilize pings to their fullest potential, and I missed numerous
opportunities to make plays or prevent unfavorable situations by not
communicating effectively. Do not undervalue the power of pinging
and make it a habit to use pings optimally.
Reading through the previous chapters, you must have understood
how important shotcalling is, if you can tower dive your enemy with
your jungler, and you don’t ping your jungler to execuete the dive,
that’s just a good play that has not been made, and an advantage that
was not taken.
It's often the simplest things that can hinder your progress, especially if
you are a Diamond player trying to reach Master.
The Problem with Taking Early Inhibitor
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Taking inhibitor tower early (before baron spawn) can cost you games,
super minions are strong, they overrun enemy waves and consistenly
push into your enemy’s base, this means your enemies don’t have to
leave their base to get resources, on the other hand, your team has to
consistently push further into enemy’s base to get these resources or
just give up the lane, so, for the next couple of minutes before inhibitor
respawning, your enemy will keep farming mid lane getting super
minion’s exp and gold while your team has lost a lane of gold and exp.
Taking inhibitor after minute 20 is good because it applies pressure on
enemy’s base allowing you to take Baron Nashor and then take more
towers and siege to win the game.
Understanding your enemy's body language
The best players not only consider the optimal actions for themselves
in each situation, but also contemplate the best possible moves their
enemies can make. For instance, let's say you have dominated your
enemy laner to the extent that they can no longer challenge you in a
one-on-one fight. However, if you suddenly observe them aggressively
approaching you, it's a clear indication that you're being ganked. Their
body language has shifted from a defensive stance to an offensive one.
Another example is that if you’re playing midlane and your enemy
midlaner is hovering around one bush heavily, it could mean that their
jungler is on that side of the map, or they’re baiting for someone.
That's why the best way to set up a gank and make your enemy
laner(s) come closer to your tower is by freezing the wave, because
when you’re freezing a wave, this is just natural champion body
language, it doesn’t necessarily give your enemy the vibe that he’s
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getting ganked right now. If you just leave your minions alone and
suddenly rush towards them, it's a clear sign that you have backup,
and they will likely retreat even if they can't see your jungler trying to
gank. Players tend to be very greedy when it comes to breaking a
freeze. You should always start moving to attack your enemy when
your jungler is close to your lane! Moving early will ruin your jungler’s
gank attempt due to your enemy reading your body language.
Another example is when you're facing a melee champion without
gap-closing abilities, and you notice them moving towards you
unexpectedly. This could be a signal that they are planning to use their
flash, and you should be ready to react accordingly. A well-known
instance of this is the infamous Gragas E flash combo where they cast
their E when you’re out of range, only to flash and surprise you.
Anticipating junglers’ gameplan from
champion select
Your game starts at champion select, and you can gain insight into
what to expect based on both team compositions. For instance, in the
image provided (Fig 90), the duo of Draven and Rell in the bot lane is
known for their aggressive playstyle, while Ezreal is a safer and more
defensive choice. This indicates that Kindred will likely focus on
supporting the aggressive bot lane as the stronger side. On the other
hand, Xin Zhao will face challenges in his game due to the nature of
Singed, who is difficult to gank. Xin Zhao will primarily capitalize on
the enemy team's mistakes and attempt to punish Singed if he makes
any mistakes. Additionally, Xin Zhao may focus on countering
potential dives in the bottom lane.
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While your analysis may not be entirely accurate and the game's
dynamics can change, it is essential to understand how the game might
unfold before it even begins.
Figure 90 Team Comp
TEST YOURSELF 7.1
Analyze this one:
Shadowing
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"shadowing" means the player hiding close to a specific lane, this is
done to provide protection, apply pressure, or be prepared to counter
gank if the enemy jungler tries to engage in that lane. It allows the
player to stay nearby, ready to help or respond to any potential risks or
advantages that may occur during the laning phase. In other words,
the player (mostly jungler or support) being “the shadow” of someone
else.
This strategy is particularly valuable when you have a powerful split
pusher in your team who may struggle in a 1v2 fight while splitting.
By shadowing that splitpusher and counter-ganking to turn it into a
2v2 fight, you can secure a double kill.
It is also highly effective during the laning phase. As a jungler,
sometimes all you need to do is wait for the enemy jungler to gank one
of your allies. By engaging in a 2v2 fight and securing kills on both
opponents, you can turn the situation in your team's favor. It's not
always necessary for you to initiate the gank yourself; capitalizing on
the enemy's aggression can be just as impactful.
Figure 91 Rek'Sai hiding in a bush, shadowing Zoe
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The Problem with High Plat/Low Diamond
Elo
Players in high platinum and low diamond ranks are generally
considered decent or okay-ish players. They usually possess solid
mechanical skills but tend to struggle in terms of macro play. When I
reached diamond 4 myself, I honestly had no idea what a cheater recall
was, and my wave management skills were extremely poor. The
primary factor that enables players to reach this level is their
mechanical proficiency.
However, aside from their macro deficiencies, these players are
notorious for throwing games due to reckless decision-making. For
instance, they may engage on their laner without any knowledge of the
enemy jungler's whereabouts. This is a consequence of their strong
mechanical abilities but limited macro understanding. Their
mechanical prowess allows them to recognize the kill potential, but
they overlook the potential presence of the enemy jungler.
This tendency also persists in the mid game, as they engage on any
opponent they encounter without having vision of the enemy team.
While such plays may occasionally work out, resulting in a pentakill or
securing objectives like Baron, on a broader scale, this approach
negatively impacts their overall win rate and keeps them trapped in
their current elo. It's important to remember that just because
something worked once doesn't mean it was a good play. Don’t
coinflip your games.
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Being an OTP (One Trick Pony)
Being an OTP (playing one champion) or limiting your champion pool
to two or three champions in one role is the fastest way to climb ranked
in this game.
Advantages of being an OTP:
1. Mastery and Expertise: By focusing solely on one champion, you
can develop a high level of mastery and expertise,
understanding the intricacies of the champion's mechanics,
matchups, and optimal strategies.
2. Consistency: Playing the same champion consistently allows you
to maintain a high level of performance. You become familiar
with the champion's limits, power spikes, and playstyle, leading
to more consistent results in your games.
3. Efficient Learning: Since you are primarily playing one
champion, you can allocate more time to understand the deeper
aspects of the champion, such as advanced combos, animation
cancels, and optimal build paths. This focused learning approach
can accelerate your improvement on that champion.
4. Psychological Advantage: OTPs often have a psychological
advantage over their opponents. Your opponents may
underestimate you or have limited knowledge of your
champion's capabilities, which can catch them off guard and
provide you with an advantage in lane or team fights.
Disadvantages of Being an OTP:
1. Limited Champion Pool: Playing only one champion may limit
your versatility in team compositions and strategies. If your
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champion is frequently banned or picked by the enemy team,
you may struggle to find suitable alternatives.
2. Vulnerability to Counters: OTPs are forced to pick their
champion even if it’s a bad matchup.
3. Team Composition Issues: Being an OTP means you may not
always be able to fit well into your team's composition. Your
preferred champion may not synergize well with certain team
strategies or lack the utility required for specific team
compositions.
4. Adaptability to Patch Changes: Frequent patches and balance
changes in League of Legends can significantly impact the
strength and viability of specific champions. As an OTP, you
may need to adapt to these changes quickly or risk falling
behind in terms of champion effectiveness.
Generally, being an OTP is advantageous in lower elos since many
opponents are just bad mechanically even when counter-picking you.
However, as you climb higher in elo, being an OTP becomes more
challenging. Fortunately, the current season has introduced a helpful
feature by Riot that allows for pick swapping. This means you aren't
always forced to first pick and face counters, making OTP play more
manageable.
Replays
Watching your replays is one of the most important things to improve
in this game, you will not be able to spot your mistakes while playing
in the game, especially if you are not playing on higher levels, and
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even if you are playing on higher levels, there will always be mistakes
that you will miss. Watching your replays gives you better
understanding of your playstyle, and it makes you understand why
you made certain decisions so you can fix your playstyle in the
upcoming games.
Summary
In the previous chapters, you have learned everything you need to
reach Diamond and Master in this game. In the next chapter, we will
be discussing another crucial aspect of the game: the mental aspect.
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PART IV
8
CHAPTER 8: THE COMMUNITY AND
THE ADDICTION OF LOL
Addiction & Toxicity
League of Legends can be highly addictive because of its competitive
nature, players strive to improve their skills and climb the ranks. The
desire to win and outperform opponents can create a fake sense of
accomplishment and drive players to keep coming back for more. This
game stands out as a prime example of a game that leverages the
power of dopamine to engage and captivate its players. Each victory,
kill, last hit, skin you unlock triggers a release of dopamine that
motivates the player to keep playing.
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People are addicted to this game; this is why this game has a toxic
community. Insults, negative behavior, and unsportsmanlike conduct
are all too common. This game is some people’s lives, this could be the
only thing they’re doing in life, so they project their insecurity and
insult you to feel good about themselves.
League of Legends matches often involve players with varying skill
levels, leading to imbalances and performance pressure. Players who
perceive their teammates as underperforming may express their
frustration through toxic behavior, blaming and belittling others rather
than offering constructive feedback or support. This creates a toxic
cycle that undermines teamwork and cooperation.
To climb up the ranks in this game, you must learn how to not take
insults or blame in league of legends personally, they don’t insult you
as a person, they’re just annoyed at the game state, so they blurt their
frustration at someone else. Be the mature one and don’t insult anyone.
I recommend watching the TED Talk by Frederik Imbo “How To Not
Take Things Personally.”
If you have a bad game, and you feel the urge in you to insult someone
or blame them, or even type in chat, you’re just tilted.
Tilt & Dunning Kruger
Tilt refers to a state of frustration, anger, or emotional distress that
affects gameplay. It can be triggered by a variety of factors, such as
personal mistakes, perceived injustices, or negative interactions with
teammates. Tilt often leads to a decline in performance and can result
in toxic behavior. As one player becomes tilted, it can escalate tensions
within the team and further contribute to a toxic atmosphere.
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When you’re tilted and you blame someone, you tilt them, creating an
endless cycle of negativity which causes you to lose your games.
Keeping your honor level higher than 3 will give you the victorious
skin award if you’re above gold, at least keep this as a motivation to
not get banned.
You’re not supposed to win every game, you will never perform every
game, you’ll feel bad about your performance especially if you’re
starting. I remember in season 8 when I started playing this game I
literally had 36% winrate on the most overpowered champion then
(Akali) I was the worst player ever and I had no clue what I was doing,
I was just bad. In season 9 I was already diamond 4, how? I kept
playing bad and kept learning over and over. You learn by playing and
limit testing, this is life, not only league of legends. This is the learning
curve; this is the Dunning Kruger Effect!
Figure 92 Dunning Kruger Effect
In the beginning of the learning process of anything in life, you’re bad
and you know you are bad (Bronze, Silver and Gold), it will be hard.
You don’t give up and you keep learning, you reach a higher rank
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(Plat-Low Diamond) and now you think you own the world, you think
you know everything but you actually know nothing (Ignorant), the
more you learn you discover more concepts that you didn’t even know
existed, you get humbled and you learn more (Cultured), and then you
reach the level of expertise.
If you’re not frustrated, you’re not learning. This is life.
Keep your honor level high, don’t be like our friend here, the author:
Figure 93 Author's honor level zero.
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Figure 94 Trollface
All jokes aside, sometimes you will lose your mind like I did. But if
you’re a good person, the number of times you lose your mind for this
game won’t be high. I remember exactly why I have this honor level on
that account, and it was over a year ago. I have never been
permanently banned from this game.
Playing The Game According to Your Goals
The question that many people overlook, why do you want to play this
game? Why do you want to climb to a higher rank, why do you want
this fancy visual border, what’s your goal exactly?
Here’s my two cents:
1- You’re playing the game for fun: This should be most of
the playerbase, you’re playing for fun, you’re not taking it
seriously, but you still like it as a hobby and are
enthusiastic enough to climb so you read this book. This is
completely healthy and fine.
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2- You’re playing to become a pro player, this game is no
longer a hobby to you anymore, it’s work, like any work,
it’s going to be stressful. In my opinion if you have
reached Master, then the level of dedication you’ve given
to this game is too high that you can no longer call it a
hobby.
In my opinion, if you’re not planning to become a pro player, or make
a living out of this game, it is completely not worth to reach high ranks
such as masters, you will literally gain nothing out of it, so play for fun
and stay healthy.
If this game affects your life in any way, if you feel you’re not doing
anything in life, and you’re giving it your whole time and at the same
time you’re not a pro player, you need to reconsider your choices. You
may be destroying your life. Be careful.
I’ve seen people in real life, in internet cafes literally destroy keyboards
and monitors over this game, please don’t be this person. It’s a game in
the end, yes, a unique addictive one, and to become good at it is
actually an achievement, but that doesn’t make it any more than a
game.
THE END
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Appendix A: League Acronyms
•
LoL = League of Legends
•
GG = Good Game
•
o
Generally said after or at the end of a game. Usually has
“WP” listed after it.
o
Sometimes used as a bad-mannered way to say “the game
is over” in 5 minutes.
EZ = Easy
o
•
Means “easy”. Sometimes paired with “pz” which means
“peasy.”
BM = Bad manner(ed)(ing)
o
Just generally being rude. Like saying “EZ”.
•
OMW = On my way
•
WP = Well Played
o
Typically said as a well-mannered way to say “good job”.
•
GJ = Good Job
•
JG = Jungle
o
The role of “jungle” or “jungler”.
•
ADC = AD Carry (Attack Damage Carry)
•
MIA = Missing in Action
•
o
An enemy is missing!
o
Some say “SS” for missing as well.
CS = Creep Score
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•
•
o
This is the score of how much you’ve gained, minion kill
wise.
o
AKA; “Farm”
o
Forfeit (Surrender). This comes from the command to type
to start a surrender vote (/ff).
FF
AA = Auto Attack
o
•
CC = Crowd Control
o
•
This is an item. It is a cleansing item that clears any crowd
control debuff.
TP = Teleport
o
•
An assessment of your skill put into a number, used to
determine what players you would be put up against. This
is not your elo ranking!
QSS = Quick Silver Sash
o
•
Typically said when you are out of mana and can’t cast an
ability to help.
MMR = Matchmaking Rating
o
•
Stuns, slows, snares, the likes.
OOM = Out of Mana
o
•
Auto-attack. Also known as basic attack. In Item
definitions, they are simply known as an “Attack” (capital
A)
The Teleport summoner spell.
BD = Back Door
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o
Back dooring is going through the base and sneaking into
the enemy base without pushing with a wave of minions
to get enemy nexus.
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Appendix B: Answers to Test
Yourself Questions
1.1 :
Assassins-Fighters-Marksmen have AD as their highest stat
Mages have AP as their highest stat.
Tanks have Armor or MR along with HP at their highest stats.
2.1: Mercury Treads is the best because of the tenacity it provides, it
can be the best option even if your team has AD champions. You have
to be able to move and not be locked in CC forever if you want to win.
3.1: In this case, it's best to leave the lane and try to make a play
somewhere else in the map, you can never break this freeze, and
looking at the 2 level difference, against a champion like Irelia, she
could probably 1v2 Camille and her jungler if the jungler is not fed.
This is a doomed lane. Camille should just roam and get back to the
lane if Irelia breaks the freeze.
4.1: Kayn's role in this game is to look for good flanks and try to kill the
squishy targets (Veigar mainly, and twisted fate), he should be
avoiding fights with Fiora
5.1: As stated in wave bouncing, the further you pull your wave from
your tower, the closer it is from the enemy tower, causing the collision
of minions to be closer to your enemy's tower. Meaning the enemy's
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minions will join the next wave collision faster, killing more of your
minions.
5.2: Viego sees that the blue wave is stacking up, meaning malphite
will be close to Camille's tower soon, this is a gank opportunity for
Viego and he should use oracle to make sure there are no wards.
Camille wants to take the wave to her tower, trim the wave if
possible and prepare to engage and start a fight with Viego when
Malphite is close to the tower
Malphite wants to stack the wave and hard push it to recall, but he
needs to place a ward because he'll be in a vulnerable position soon.
5.3: Camille pushed a wave that was pushing towards her, which kept
her closer to Malphite's tower, causing him to poke her more and more
with his Qs and eventually killing her,
The optimal play was to wait for the wave to be at her side of the map
and farm safely, she is not going to lose many minions' gold, and will
receive all the exp while waiting for the wave to naturally push
towards her.
5.4: Ryze is extremely low and Yasuo knows that, so Yasuo knows Ryze
is recalling. And Ryze has teleport up (this is level 2)
Yasuo is low as well, and the wave is pushing to Yasuo. The best thing
Yasuo could do was recall to regain his hp and then catch the wave
that's pushing towards him while Ryze loses minions. (Recall freeze)
Yasuo's mistake was pushing this wave, putting it at a freeze position
for the Ryze who has teleported and regained his health.
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7.1: Camille is playing against a ranged squishy champion (Varus,
LeBlanc or Miss Fortune), Camille has one of the best gank setups in
the game with her E and R, meaning after level 6, Camille's enemy is
basically a free kill for Viego.
Which makes Viego set camille as his strong side.
Rell has strong gank setup, which makes Master Yi consider Bot Lane
as his strongside.
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