Roscoe's Rapid Rudiments: Working the Fields

In this edition of Roscoe’s Rapid Rudiments we’ll be going over the fundamentals of laning in League of Legends. The main purpose of being in lane is to gather gold and experience through killing minions. Farming in any lane takes a lot of concentration, and can differ depending on what role you’re playing.

Last Hitting

One of the most important concepts in the game is last hitting, and is best described as waiting to the point that a minion’s health is so low (any and ALL minions) that a single attack would kill them. The advantage this gives is that you won’t push your lane too far and overextend, but I’ll talk about that later in the article.

Top

A top laner will be most successful if he or she can kill minions (otherwise known as farming or creep score or cs for short) while denying farm from their opponent. If one player can gain the upper hand in farm or poke, it may force the other player to return to base where they cannot farm or gain experience.

Jungle

If you’re a new player you shouldn’t try jungling too soon! Having a full rune and mastery page is extremely helpful, if not vital to being a successful jungler. However should you feel adventurous, the key to farming is killing all of your jungle camps, grabbing a couple cs after a gank, and trying to steal an opponent’s camps.

Mid

The goal of a mid laner is very similar to that of their top counterpart. Pick up every minion kill you can in an effort to gain the upper hand, and last hit and poke when the opportunity arises. Be careful not to overextend though if you’re doing well, it can be the downfall of any successful lane phase.

AD Carry

The job of the AD Carry is to get as many minion kills as possible and almost nothing else. While focusing on your own lane is important, never forget to check your map and anything your teammates are saying in case you’re in a position to get caught. If you see an opportunity, go for a few poke or a kill but for the most part focus on farming.

Support

Your job in lane is to set up your AD Carry for success. Use wards to gain visibility in the river and lane bushes, and poke the opponents. Unfortunately the AD Carry needs the farm more, so you should actually avoid taking any farm at all unless he or she is away from lane and you need to defend. It’s highly advisable that you build an item that grants you extra gold over time like the Philosopher’s Stone.

Pushing

Above is an image depicting the top lane in Summoner’s Rift. If you’re able to stay in the green zone, for the most part you’ll be safe from ganks and roaming lanes. If you push your lane to the yellow zone, you run a small risk of the opponents attacking you or a jungler ganking. This is even more so in the red zone. When an opponent is missing and you know where all others are, then pushing is a great way to punish them for being away. Keep in mind that these zones are general and ganks can come from anywhere, so be wary!

Freezing

When you really need to keep your lane from being pushed, freezing is a great tactic. Essentially it’s last hitting, but not even attacking a minion unless it is in danger of being killed by one of your own minions. This requires a lot of patience and timing, but done correctly can help you recover from a rough start or maintain a lead.

 

Farming under tower

When things don’t go as well as planned and you return to lane after a death or are just behind in farm, play it safe. Go out when you can and get a couple cs, but for the most part stay under tower (I mean literaly) and get the farm when it’s safe. This helps to avoid giving your opponent more kills and stops them from snowballing in power.

Check back in next time for your quick guide to etiquette on the 'rift!