WAVE MANAGEMENT
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Farming
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CSing is the process of killing minions for gold.
The gold is often underestimated. Casters (Ranged minions) grant 14 gold, Melees grant 21 gold, and Sieges (Cannons) will grant 60 gold early game. If you're unable to get a minion in a wave, you want to prioritize in such Siege (Cannon) > Melee > Caster (Ranged) to maximize your gold input.
Throughout the early game (until 15:00 minutes) the average possible Gold in a single wave is 125. That's a lot, and if you can achieve this, it will put you ahead of even pro players with kills factored into their gold per minute.
Your goal, a realistic one, should be a minimum of 70 minions at 10 minutes for those who run Ignite, and for those who run Teleport, you're likely to get an extra wave or so, so you should have at least 80 CS at 10. You may be like, "I will never hit that!" Focus. You can make it happen if you pay enough attention. Proper wave management is the key to this, backing at appropriate times to not miss any CS. Ideally you want to back when you crash a big wave, which you can create by slow pushing, which is detailed in this section.
Continue to CS throughout the game. Whenever you are not actively creating pressure, farm jungle camps. There's no reason to stop, consider it an "investment" of time and effort for you to absolutely dominate in team fights. Players who focus on CSing well over kills, especially in the early game will score more multikills and carry games easier.
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General
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Think of the minions as having a sort of "Equilibrium" until they are affected by champions. They'll indefinitely fight each other, push minimally, etc.
Now you can break the equilibrium by damaging the enemy wave and give the lane "Momentum". The more damage you do, the more the wave pushes (as it has more "Momentum"). Even if you do the slightest damage, say just one auto attack, it will cause the wave to push, however at a slower rate. Similarly, if the wave is pushing to you, you have to match that "Momentum" to stop it from pushing. Momentum is measured in the amount of minions and type. Melee minions are tankier, ranged minions do more damage, and cannons are a mix of both.
There are several ways to exploit minion waves in your game that will put you at the top. Often times, your enemy won't even know what is happening! They'll simply just find themselves falling behind you. Keep on reading to learn about ways to exploit minions.
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Cheater Recalling
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What it is: Cheater recalling refers to a tactic used at the beginning of the game. You will slow push the first two waves, crash the third, back, and come back to lane with an item advantage.
Advantages:
- You can back and get a Long Sword or Ruby Crystal, improving future trades you take when you get back to lane.
- You come back to a wave slow pushing into you. If the wave is small enough, you can freeze it. This wave state is especially favorable regardless freeze or slow push since you can pressure the enemy, forcing them to make a decision to lose CS or die to you.
- You evade the peak gank timer from enemies that start their Bot-side Buff.
- You return to lane full health.
Disadvantages:
- You need to be able to shove the 3rd wave or the enemy can Freeze.
- It is very easy to overpush the first 2 waves. This will cause your play to fail.
- Experienced enemies will prevent this from happening by thinning the wave (see below). Into ranged matchups, you often cannot pull this off due to their ability to hit the wave from a safe distance. This results in the enemy freezing, putting you in a bad spot.
- The enemy may have a Level advantage on you when you return to lane.
- If the wave crashes at your tower and your opponent backs when you return to lane, they will have a back with more gold.
How to do it: When the first wave arrives, you will want to establish a minion advantage. Do not overpush or this will fail! Continue then to Slow Push the 2nd wave and when the third wave arrives, shove it, and then BACK!
When to do it: Whenever you have priority (you have more lane control than your enemy), do it!
What this means to Sett: Sett is an excellent champion for this because of his early power. His ability to zone enemies from wave allows him to build the minion advantage up effortlessly. Story told, you can pull this off. Pulling this off makes the laning phase much easier for you and scarier for the opponent. This strategy nearly always guarantees a lead safely. Early ganks are something Sett is super scared of and evading that is extremely important to him! TL;DR win lane within the first 3 minutes of game.
How do I stop this from happening to me?: You're pretty strong early, and even into ranged matchups, you will have enough sustain to contest the wave. You can thin the wave out by attacking it and then Freeze the wave. If the wave crashes, however, and the enemy attempts to back, you should try to interrupt their recall. If they end up recalling, you should Slow Push the wave back so their item advantage is pretty useless since they can't fight you in a big wave (see the Slow Pushing chapter).
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Fast Pushing, Shoving
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What it is: Pretty much what it sounds like, it's pushing the wave at a fast rate. Doing this allows you to create a large amount of pressure in a short period of time and get damage on turrets.
Advantages:
- Creates pressure fast. Enemies that refuse to respond will lose CS.
- You can get damage on turrets and gold from killing turrets or minions.
- Allows you to back.
Disadvantages:
- This is a temporary wave state and undoes itself quickly. Enemy turrets quickly clear the minion wave which will be small and if you back and return leads the wave to be at your turret.
How to do it: Slaughter the minions as quickly as possible. Here are tips: 1) Focus the caster minions; they are squishier, and deal more damage. 2) Buy a Tiamat 3) Use W and E if it is safe to do so since they are AOE abilities. 4) Stun the minions, especially Casters, with your E, or take aggro from them.
When to do it: If you need to back, or quickly create pressure before an objective or imminent fight along your game plan. If your Jungler is pathing towards the Top Scuttle at around 3:00, push the lane so you can assist your jungler if there is a skirmish at the Scuttle when it spawns at 3:15.
What this means to Sett: Sett can push the wave with above mediocre speed due to Pit Grit(Passive)'s fast auto attacks allowing you to get a lot of damage onto the wave. With Tiamat, you can push twice as fast, and Tiamat shoving is one of the most important mechanics when playing Sett. When you're not against a late game champion, you should Tiamat shove to funnel gold into yourself and when the wave is crashed, you should look to invade the enemy jungle if it is safe to do so. Against late game champions, you should instead freeze.
How do I stop this from happening to me?: You can thin the wave out to freeze it. If the wave is about to crash, you can also tank minion damage if it is safe to do so, which freezes the lane as well.
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Slow Pushing
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What it is: Pushing the wave at a slow rate. Doing this allows you to rack up a large minion wave of 2 or 3 waves.
Advantages:
- The enemy will have a hard time contesting you. If they try to trade, they will take a large amount of damage from minion aggro.
- You rack up an Experience lead and will be ahead in levels while leaving the enemy behind till their clear your wave.
- Crashing a slow push gives you a LOT of flexibility. You can roam, invade, get deep vision, back with time to spare, or even dive the enemy. Pulling off a successful dive ends the lane for them if they do not have Teleport, or forces them to use it if they do.
Disadvantages:
- After crossing the center of your lane, you need to shove the wave. If you do not, the enemy could freeze it. This puts you in an awkward spot.
- Making a bad trade or dying will really hurt you.
- You have no control over the wave state besides pushing it further. You are forced to stay in lane and lose cs or push the wave further.
- Enemy junglers, especially experienced ones, hunt for players slow pushing to exploit the disadvantage above.
How to do it: You can slow push by (1) Establishing a small minion advantage and (2) Keeping that minion advantage. In simpler terms, you can do this by getting a slighlty larger wave of minions on your side and then last hitting.
When to do it: When you are looking to invade, back, dive, or simply rack up a minion advantage to stay healthy in lane.
What this means to Sett: Sett's not excellent at pushing without Tiamat, but his presence is generally strong enough to begin a slow push. In many difficult matchups, Sett can slow push to make sure he doesn't die and secure himself a good trade. Furthermore, in easier matchups, you can slow push then dive the enemy to completely and utterly end the lane for them as they will lose out of several CS waves. However, you will also notice that you may die in a 1v2 situation when you're slow pushing, since it's a high risk high reward play.
How do I stop this from happening to me?: This depends on who has the lead in the matchup. (Enemy Leading): First off, BACK OFF. You are in a tough spot and so you should look to just let the wave crash to your tower. Do not get greedy as it will be unlikely for you to get a good trade. (Even Matchup): First off, BACK OFF. You are in a tough spot, however, you can look to THIN the wave out (make it smaller but not too small) and then establish a Freeze as it nears your side of the map. (You're Leading): You have a few options. You can do any of the above but then you can also straight up contest the enemy in their wave. Getting a good trade will be fatal for the enemy. If you score a kill, establish a Freeze and quickly back to make them lose a lot of CS.
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Freezing
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What it is: Keeping the minion wave in a certain spot, generally close to one's turret. This could also happen in the center of the lane with equal number of minions (e.g. when minions first collide), however I will not discuss that beyond what was said right here.
Advantages:
- Keeps you safe from ganks.
- Makes your enemy vulnerable to ganks and all-ins that you have the power to initiate.
- Enemy can only poke you or go for short trades. Matchups that want to all-in you will not be able to, protecting you from aggressive champions such as Renekton or Darius, who will only be able to land little damage.
- You can leave the lane as it is if your enemy does and you will not lose CS, and will come back to the same Freeze.
- Beyond the minion wave, you are less likely to make mistakes.
Disadvantages:
- You're stuck in the lane as long as your enemy is. It's a war of attrition.
- It's hard to do. One incorrect move will end the Freeze.
- The enemy can harass you and push the wave in. This may even lead to a dive. Ranged enemies such as Quinn are prime examples who you do not want to Freeze against.
How to do it: Manage the enemy's slow push by thinning the wave out. This means minimizing their minion advantage- HOWEVER! You must keep a 3 ranged minion advantage on THEIR side in order to successfully freeze. For example, if your wave has 5 minions, the enemies needs to have 5 of those same minions, plus 3 ranged minions (casters).
When to do it: When you are against a late game champion where harassing the enemy champion would be beneficial to you for, when the enemy backs to cause them to lose cs, and to stay safe from enemy ganks or enemy engages, especially if they do not have a form of harass.
What this means to Sett: Sometimes enemy junglers love to camp your lane and make your lane hell. Meanwhile, your jungler won't do it because they think it's fun to troll. Jokes aside, you quite really are immune to ganks unless the enemy tries to dive you. This is a good mechanic, but not the best for Sett unless he is losing. Sett is all about getting a lead and expanding that lead. He's all about applying pressure which Freezing does not do. With a lead or when even, the only time you should Freeze is to all-in and score a kill or to set up a gank when an ally is coming. This should generally be done into late game matchups such as Kayle so you can effectively shut them down. Without a lead, you only want to do this to keep yourself safe and stop the bleeding. In this case, also max Haymaker(W) for additional sustain.
How do I stop this from happening to me?: Through one of the following 3 ways; 1) You can back and hope the enemy will stay. 2) You can shove the wave into the enemy turret and it will come slow pushing back your direction. 3) You can wait for the enemy to break the freeze by CS'ing - do not hit the minion wave yourself.
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Minion Behavior
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- Minion waves will naturally push AWAY from the side the wave is on, assuming equal magnitudes and levels.
- Minions level up and are stronger based on your team's average level. Whoever has a lower minion level will have waves naturally pushing into them. This helps the losing team if they choose to farm, and hurts them if they choose to fight.
- Crashing (fixing) a minion wave to the turret will cause the minion wave to reset near the center of the lane.
- Having a turret/level advantage causes your wave to naturally push.
- A melee minion takes 45% of its health per auto attack. Therefore, 2 turret hits and 1 auto attack will kill it.
- A caster minion takes 70% of its health per auto attack- so 1 turret hit and 2 auto attacks.
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Quiz
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Find below a quiz on what to do in different scenarios as well as conceptual questions.
What are the downsides of pushing?
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The further you push, the more vulnerable you are to ganks and roams, and the less vulnerable the enemy is. Also note that the further you push, the harder it is to score a kill, especially while you don't have a lead.
An objective is coming up in 15 seconds, specifically the Dragon, and you are Top with a neutral wave state. You do not have Teleport. What should you do?
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If you are ahead and your team is ahead, split push.
If you are ahead and your team is behind, rotate to Dragon.
If you are behind and your team is ahead, shove one wave and rotate to Dragon.
If you are behind and your team is behind, shove the wave and farm enemy jungle.
The idea is that you want to maximize pressure on the map. Answers will vary, but these are optimal.
The dragon is coming up in 15 seconds, and you are Top with a neutral wave state in the center of the lane. You have Teleport. What should you do?
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If you are ahead and your team is ahead, split push. Teleport only if your team is losing the fight and if it is obvious that your presence will make a considerable difference.
If you are ahead and your team is behind, shove the wave and Teleport to Dragon before a fight breaks out, specifically looking for a flank.
If you are behind and your team is ahead, shove the wave and Teleport to Dragon when a fight breaks out, either flanking, or peeling an important carry.
If you are behind and your team is behind, shove the wave and farm enemy jungle.
The idea is that you want to maximize pressure on the map. Answers will vary, but these are optimal.
You are ahead, and the enemy froze the wave and you can't harass since the enemy jungler is top side. What should you do?
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You can back and hope the enemy jungler backs, or you can just get the Scuttle Crab or Honeyfruit if it's safe to do so (e.g. the enemy jungler is not there). If you're VERY ahead you can go for a riskier play and try to invade the enemy jungle.
You are behind, and the enemy froze the wave near their turret. What should you do?
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Ask your jungler for help in shoving the wave. The wave will reset near the center of the lane.
If not, you can back or look to farm a nearby jungle camp.
You are behind and the enemy laner is constantly shoving the wave into your tower and harassing you - you are losing CS and cannot back. What should you do?
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Make sure you have Doran's Shield if you think that there's a chance of you getting a lead back on the enemy. If not, then don't worry about itemization, just focus on your Mythic.
The enemy is extremely exposed to a gank or roam. Ask for help.
If you cannot get help, try using The Show Stopper to dunk the enemy into your turret.
Your wave is pushed to the enemy turret and Deep Vision tells you that enemy jungler is coming top. What should you do?
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Safer option: Back.
OR, if your mid laner and/or jungler is available and nearby, spam ping the enemy jungler and collapse on them, getting a kill. Enemy top laner will have difficulty reacting. Avoid dueling the enemy jungler in their jungle.
You are low on health, while the opponent is not, and the wave is neutral, but your enemy is in lane. What should you do?
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If there's a honeyfruit, go collect that.
If not, try to harass as safely as possible while not taking any damage at all. Try to let the wave push into you so you can get the wave crashed and then the wave will naturally bounce back. This gives you the push advantage. If the enemy continues to shove when the wave begins to bounce back, ask for help as the enemy is extremely exposed.
Your enemy just went to Teleport to a fight in the Bot Side -- they cannot come back to lane for a while. What should you do?
Click to see answer!
Shove.
If you believed that, you're wrong. I guess I'm supposed to be telling you what to do, but eh.
Chances are their Jungler is also Bot. Regardless, you want to create a HUGE wave through slow pushing and crash that on the enemy tower. You will get at least a few plates if no interference and possibly even the turret while denying your enemy a ton of farm. This alone can win you a lane or make a lost lane skewed back towards your favor.
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