Taking a look at Poke strategies in League of Legends

Well, Hello there. Freely here again with some insight into Poke. This, my dear friends, will be a very long read

Overview:

What is a Poke Comp?

In its very nature is Poking. In League, this refers to taking out chunks of HP off of your opponent from a long distance. Most often using two or three champions with exceptional poking abilities.

The team composition based around Poking has some key features and gameplay alterations. In its core are champions able to siege and disengage. Around it, is the ability to force laning phase to end sooner, control buffs (blue in particular) and kite.

How does one Siege?

Sieging is the act of forcing your enemies into an uncomfortable situation and wearing them down. Usually this is around a turret/ lane, however you can siege at some objectives as well.

For one to Siege, the enemy must have two things. Firstly you can't siege into a place where the enemy can leave. You have to put them into a Lose-Lose situation. Sort of like saying "Stay and get poked, Leave and lose your Inhibitor". Another key factor is the lack of engaging forced upon them.

You would benefit greatly from outsustaining any back-poke trough Zeke's or WotA on some champions.

What is this, Disengage thing you are talking about. They are low HP why not fight?

In very few situations the poke comp would gain more from engaging or letting them get engaged upon. You are in a very favorable position when you siege and losing that position is bad for you. If you bring an entire team to low HP, they cannot afford to blue-pill or engage properly, so you can start forcing bigger and bigger things as they will always wear out faster than you.

If they do Engage however you need to disengage. Some champions are good at disengages and some items as well. Having many Shureliya's is favorable and so is a Randuin's.

But what if they do engage properly? Help me Kite.

When they do engage, the entirety of the team should be semi-spread out whilst still heading in the same direction. Follow your trail with skill shots and keep running. Avoid that full-on engage and when they start retreating POKE harder. Simple, no? Ashe 101.

Is that all? But i can't poke my own lane.

The main goal in the laning phase is to control Blue buff and take the outer turrets down. Ever seen an AD carry come to your precious mid after dominating their lane. Well, that has to happen. Win any lane and start pressuring another one. Sooner or later both teams will be down there and the sieging can begin.

But poking early is harder. You need to supply your main pokers with Blue and provide a safe environment for them to do their business. Going to town with a Janna ult on cool down is not favorable.

 

Champions:

So I can get Rammus and start poking now, right?

You need to build your TEAM COMP around this strategy if this wasn't obvious enough. Some champions fit the role better than others and some excel, incredibly so. Some champions fitting this role are:

Top Laners:

1. Nidalee (AP) - The best Poker. Her Q shredding and her E sustaining, paired up with some disengage and kite trough her R make her a beast at this.

2. Ahri - While laning Can be tough or easy depending on the match-up she is one of the few Tops who handle the role well. Her Disengage and Kite are REALLY good and her poke is up there too.

3. Dr. Mundo - With a high amount of favorable matchups, Nice disengage and very good poke his a very good candidate for this role.

4. Urgot - With Decent poke and the ever-threatening ultimate he can sort-of fill this role. He can dominate his lane easily however and can do heavy long-range damage if itemized towards it.

Jungle:

1. Trundle - Definitely odd. He is good at the early jungle and has a lot of favorable matchups in the jungle. Can secure buffs at ease but what's really impressive is how he sets his teammates up to the poke with the pillar and how he can disengage with it.

2. Maokai - The best at this. Huge disengage, Buff control and Poke with saplings (as their base damage is nothing to laugh about). His R is devastating.

3. Dr.Mundo - Once again Great poke and disengage. Huge meat-wall not to harm the squishies in the back. Fast jungler can help end Laning phase early as well.

4. Cho'Gath - Really fast and dominant jungle. He is like Trundle in that he sets his team up to poke but is lacking in the disengaging department. Definitely not top tier.

AP Mid:

1. Kog'Maw (AP) - The absolute best. So devastating it's unreal. His W and R poke at HUGE range with HUGE damage and his E is an amazing disengage.

2. Twisted Fate - A little bellow Kog in that he has higher cooldowns, however less blue dependency. His Q still shreds and Red card kites very well.

3. Ziggs - His small cooldowns are what make him a great pick. His W also forces players to either position less carefully and bare witness to other poke or go into slowing damaging mines. Also his E allows him to get away safely. He can kite very well too.

4. Gragas - His Q poke is surreal. He can run away with E, sustain with W and disengage (god mode) with R. Nothing more you could want.

5. Ahri - Her Kiting and Disengage are just far too superb. Definitely subpar compared to other choices but still a pretty god damn good one, coupled with the good lane she has.

6. Janna (AP) - Her Ult man Her ult. Her tornados can poke very well too and her W does some heavy damage.

7. Lulu (AP) - with her E->Q combo you can reach unimaginable range. Paired up with Speed-up, Shield and her ult She is almost perfect for this position.

AD Carry Bot:

1. Caitlyn - The best one for this. Her high range allow her to tear with auto-attacks and still be safe. Her Q does very well in this position. Her W forces people to lose the same way as Ziggs' and her E disengages. Her R is also good poke.

2. Ashe - Her W is very good poke, but where she shines is her kite. Leave the poking to your solos and keep them safe if enemies engage.

3. Ezreal - One of the very few situations in which he is better than Corki. Take note of this as you can hear it only once from me: In this situation Trinity over IE is better *cringe*

4. Corki - A tad bit bellow Ezreal, still no reason not to have Cait or Ashe. Only other available pick for an AD.

Support:

1. Janna - Her ult.

2. Lulu - Her W and ult. No real reason to pick her over Janna if she is up however.

3. Lux - Whoooot? Lux? She can actually disengage pretty well and save her teammates reasonably well as well. Her laning however is questionable.

Example:

CLG ran Nidalee, Kog'maw (AP), Maokai, Caitlyn and Janna when they fought 4not at GGChronicle's Tournament. They forced their lane over early and kept sieging at mid (eventually rotating bot) and disengaging every time Amumu wanted to catch them trough their various abilities.

 

Conclusion:

Well this was long and I believe I did mention a lot of common sense, however i hope you still enjoyed it. It might not be fun to watch but it's a viable and to me at least very interesting strategy.

If you have any questions, PM me at Reddit : Fr33ly.

Regards, Freely.