The laning phase is arguably the most important stage in a game of League of Legends as early advantages can often be snowballed into wins. Unlike late-game scenarios which don't feature in every match, the laning phase is always present, making it the most important to study and practice.
While each lane and every champion in League of Legends have their own nuances which can be utilized to generate advantages in lane, there are some general concepts that can be applied across the board, regardless of specifics. These tips are ideal for players who feel comfortable during the early stages of the game and want to push their laning skills to the next level.
7 Use Potions In Combat
Potions are mostly used to restore health after taking a bad trade or getting poked out. However, they can and should be also used during combat, especially when it looks like it will be a fight to the death.
As the classic Health Potion, for example, restores 120 HP over 15 seconds, it will be too late to save a player if it is only used just before death. This makes identifying a fight as potentially lethal particularly important, and then players must remember to use their potion on top of everything else required of them in combat.
6 Locate Enemy Waves
Knowing when and where the enemy wave will arrive is particularly important during the laning phase as it allows players to make decisions about where to hard push, freeze, set up a slow push, recall, or roam.
Thankfully, there is an easy way to know where the enemy wave is even though it is out of vision. Simple as it may sound, all players have to do is look at their own minion waves, which mirror the enemy ones. By panning the camera over fans can also see if the incoming wave has a cannon minion in it, which should factor into decision-making.
5 Bait Out Abilities
The laning phase is often a war of attrition and any advantage, no matter how small, is a win, especially when consistently repeated. Against champions with ranged abilities that have to hit directly, most players know to hide behind the minions, and that the second they step out a projectile will be on the way. What many players don't realize is that they can use this trading pattern to their advantage.
All fans have to do is simply walk out a little and immediately turn back and in that time the enemy will have already wasted an ability that won't hit. Skillshots are a lot easier to dodge when players know they are coming. Having baited out an ability or two, the enemy has wasted mana, and if players start a fight or even just trade they will be lacking key skills.
4 Hold Onto Strong Abilities For Pressure
In League, there are a handful of extremely strong basic abilities like Blitzcrank's hook, which are available right from the start of the lane. To compensate for their strength they will often have long cooldowns. When these abilities miss or are otherwise wasted, the champion often loses all pressure for the duration of the cooldown.
For this reason, sometimes it is better to hold onto abilities and leverage the pressure they provide to accrue advantages within the lane. This can involve denying the enemy CS as they are too scared to step up, and the concept can also be used defensively by holding onto escape abilities.
3 Level Up Abilities Mid-Flight
Every skill point that players put into an ability will increase its flat damage and often scaling damage too. However many abilities also cost more mana every time they are leveled up.
For such abilities, it is often possible to fire them off and level up the ability mid-flight, and as long as this is done before it hits the enemy, it will deal the increased damage despite costing less. This works better for projectile-based abilities and players should test this out on the specific champions they play.
2 Fake Roam
Roaming is a great tactic that most laners can deploy after pushing in their waves, or even better, after setting up a slow push. However, every roam comes with its own risks, as the enemy jungler could find players out or the gank might end in a failed tower dive.
There are also times when the other lanes just don't present inviting opportunities, in situations like this, players can simply fake roam while still applying pressure and forcing enemy laners to stay on the back foot. All gamers have to do is make sure they are set in the fog of war in a place the enemy doesn't have vision. This works better when the enemy has no control over the river.
1 Trick To Avoid Minion Damage
Being aware of the damage minions can deal in the early stages of the game is something all players should bear in mind. However, there is a trick to avoid drawing the aggro of minions altogether.
Normally when hitting an enemy in lane, the minions will turn and focus on the player instead of friendly minions. The ranged minions in particular can deal significant damage and will only stop after players have moved out of range. To prevent this, players can time their attacks on champions to be in perfect sync when the enemy minion attacks. This is a hard skill to master and is different for each champion with their own attack speed and animation, but when perfected it can punish the enemy hard, especially in ranged versus melee matchups.
League of Legends is available on PC and Mac.
