If left to my own devices, I tend to stay in my lane. I like the lane. It feels like a safe place, even considering the 1 or more people there for the express purpose of killing me. I am aware that other members of my team are often involved in skirmishes over on the other side of the map. Sometimes I even think to myself, "things are looking rather rough over there, I should probably go and help". I think of an ideal route to take, and what combination of attacks would lead to the best ambush. I think and plan and consider all of the options available to me. And then I stay in my lane.
It feels like I'm watching the news. Teemo has just been cut down twice in a row by Xin Zhao. "Oh dear," I'll think, "someone should really go up there and help." There is no reason why that person should not be me, but I am noticing more and more that it never is. I think the core problem is probably being overly-cautious. I learned caution early on when playing LoL and it has served me well, but every now and then I play against someone much better than I am, and I will marvel at the ease with which they change lanes, yet always managing to avoid losing a tower. It's clear to me that the best thing for me to learn at this point is knowing when to leave my lane to assist my teammates or set up an ambush. The key looks to be understanding the flow of the game better, which I'm hoping will come with experience. What say you, chaps? Anyone have similar problems?
It's really funny to hear you say that, Adam, because I feel like a sitting duck in my lane. I feel like the only place in the map that I am not safe at all is when I'm even slightly overextended or pushing a tower. It is one of the reasons that I really like to solo my lane, especially 1v2 on an outer lane; it basically requires my opponents to overextend, setting up nice jungle ganks and allowing me to use the natural zoning of my turret. When I'm in my lane and I don't know where the enemies are, I tend to assume that they are all waiting in that bush right next to me and I play very carefully - just get my farm and stay safe thankyouverymuch. However, as soon as I knock down the enemy turret or my turret gets knocked down, I rarely go back to that lane. I am a player that does tend to roam around the map with regularity - which is a tendency I was happy to see reinforced by the Season One Championship.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, I think a solution to your problem might be wards. When you have pretty clear vision of most of the travel paths on the map, it feels much safer traversing the map.
The big problem is that when you're playing a traditional 2 1 2 lane setup and one lane is getting entirely dominated, there isn't really much that another lane can do about it in early game. If someone from the opposite outer lane takes the time to walk all the way across the map at base speed, they'll be a level behind before they get there. The easiest way to help is to propose a switch. Then you just recall and both switch into opposite lanes.
Also, it becomes easier to leave your lane in the early game to go help mid or mid to go help an outer lane if you understand who you are laning against (i.e. how fast they will clear minion waves), the timing of minion waves, and how long you have to get back to your lane before things get bad.
Caution is a powerful tool in LoL, and is something that most players take too long to learn, so it is great that you have that.
I believe we've been playing about the same amount of time, however I would hazard a guess that I have played a lot more solo queue games than you, as for the most part, until recently, I rarely played with friends. Limited communication with your team means that you learn how to be a lone wolf and be pretty good at it, and you also have less attachment to your lane and your lane partner.
Another great thing about being more mobile is that you learn that the outer lanes aren't really that important. Leaving a lane for a couple minutes and/or losing a turret isn't the end of the world - as long as you get a return for it. You need to pick up a kill, chase an enemy from their lane, push a tower, get a buff, get dragon - something, anything.
This was all a longwinded way to say that yes, understanding the flow of the game better is probably all you really need to know. For that, I'd recommend trying out jungling or playing a good laning character who is a strong ganker - so you can go gank mid. Varying my experience and trying out every champion I own and/or is available (around 57 at this point?) means that I'm not unbelievably wonderful with any one of them, but it also means that I have a wealth of experience and I generally understand every champion I play against and with.
Plus, playing someone who can either 1v1 a wandering champion and/or escape easily does wonders for your feeling of safety. To that end, ALWAYS TAKE FLASH.
Alright, that's my two (hundred) cents!
I understand your sentiment Adam. While I do not feel as attached to my lane as you, my unwillingness or inability to acknowledge when the game has moved into the ganking phase often keeps me in my lane after the time that others would have moved out of it. I know exactly where I stand with minions: they always behave the same way, and if I let my minions engage the enemy minions they never attack me. Enemy players - aside from actively wanting to kill me - are much tougher and more unpredictable. Also, my map awareness is sub-par, and one game where I was completely dominating the mid lane we ended up losing because the side lanes crumbled.
ReplyDeleteThere is hope! I also share some of Thom's sentiments regarding overextending. I played my first solo queue game last night (as Tristana) and was mid-laning against Twisted Fate (whom I managed to kill four times during the first half of the game). The trick was that the other team had a roaming Alistar, and I had to be careful not to get too close to the enemy turret lest an unexpected headbutt send my flying into it (luckily the Alistar wasn't very good at positioning). Long story short, even after I had taken down the turret I was more afraid of ganks after extending in the lane than I was of helping out the other lanes - and that is how I was able to enter the next phase of the game.
So...I guess be more afraid of people trying to kill you? Maybe my advice (if it can be called that) wasn't very good.
Good advice posted all around. I think it will probably be quite helpful for me to learn to be a better jungler as well. I'm assuming that the movement required for that role will help me. On a side note, I am finally pretty close to having a complete jungler rune page! I would have had it sooner but I keep spending IP on champions...
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