Chryxis' Corner Vol 1: Winning your Lane

Hey guys, welcome to the first installment of Chryxis' Corner, the first of many articles in a new series I'm trying out with an emphasis on solo queue, tips and tricks, and advice from my experiences; all in a relaxed, friendly, and less-professional setting. This week I was inspired by the huge lottery jackpot, and it got me thinking about League and how it is similar to the lottery. Yes, I know it sounds crazy, but stay with me here!

League; a Numbers Game

Well, duh, Right? Of course League is a numbers game, but I wanted to take a further look into this thought. The lottery is all about chances, statistics, and luck of course. Solo queue is, too. A lot of people look at winning their lane like winning the lottery, the end all be all of the game, you won your lane, you win your game, GG, and all that nonsense. But in the greater overarching story of a ranked game, winning your lane is only a small, though impactful, piece of the prize. If you were to win the lottery, how would you spend your money? Likewise, great, you just won your lane, now what? You could have the most Creep score in the game, the most money in the world, but that means nothing if you don't put it to good use.

Being the Bigger Threat

If we were to look at a standard ranked game, in terms of importance, the general flow of the game would be postive slope. The later into the game you get, the more importance your decisions start to have. Especially with the start of Preseason 3, and the inclusion of newer items, (that in my opinion create more stagnant and passive play early on), being able to orchestrate plays and teamfights means the world in solo queue.

When I say you need to be the bigger threat, I mean it literally. Winning your lane isn't as simple as outfarming your opponent. The way I like to think of this is that an underfarmed Kat only needs one teamfight to instantly swing the game back in her favor. You have to be able to do more damage than your opponent, and create a bigger impact in teamfights. The mid laner that roams more and creates plays is more likely going to win the game.

What Lane Are You In?

Mid: Your main role is to push your lane and roam. With the newer jungle changes, certain mid champions aren't able to take wraith camps as easily as before, which definitely encourages more roaming. In solo queue there is no indication of gold other than score, even if you're behind, having more kills than the enemy instantly creates a more defensive atmosphere for them. As a mid laner, you can accomplish this easily.

Top: Being that top is the most isolated lane, assuming no lane swaps, your role is to farm as much as possible, deny farming opportunities of your opponent, and ask for/avoid ganks alike. In terms of being a bigger opponent, I like to think of the scenario of Irelia vs. Malphite. To accomplish his role in teamfights (provide CC, and shut down the AD), Malphite doesn't require as much farm as Irelia does to do her role (provide peel, or assassinate the AD), and in turn can have more of an impact in teamfights, more easily.

Bot: It's been easy to tell from my experiences that the lane with the more experienced support, the one that can make more plays and be a bigger threat, will win botlane. While the AD's role is simply to farm and get items, it is up to the support to coordinate ganks with the jungler, or make plays on his or her own. By this, I mean, you have a greater chance of winning early game and snowballing ahead with supports like Leona, Zyra, or Lulu. If you pick an extremely passive bot lane, (Ashe and Soraka, for example), you run the risk of losing the game before you can even impact it. You're solely relying on your solo lanes and jungler to win the early game and snowball into late.

Conclusion

You can interpret what I'm saying in this article however you'd like; be it: play the 'OP' champions, pick a strong early game team, or farm effectively.  But know that with great power comes great responsibility. Having more farm than your opponent is great, but if you can't make a solid transition into becoming that big lategame threat, your team will be met with failure.

Until Next Week,

Chryxis.