How to Apply Pressure in Mid Lane and Beyond

Introduction

I would like to start off by saying that I am by no means a professional player but I do have the knowledge and experience to understand how to correctly apply pressure in mid lane and throughout the map. Now, let's get started.

 What is Pressure?

Pressure is the effect you have over your lane. Pressure can be influenced by playstyle and champion choice.

1. Playstyle: Playing passive and focusing on farming puts a low amount of pressure in the lane whereas forcing (and winning) trades and being aggressive puts a larger amount of pressure.

2. Champion Choice: Champions that are passive by nature, such as Orianna, Morgana, and Mordekaiser, apply low pressure because of their weak early damage output and lack of mobility. Assassins, on the other hand, exert humonguous pressure once they hit level 6 due to their high burst and high mobility.

 

What do you Gain From Applying Pressure?

Being a threat in your lane will most likely draw jungler attention form the enemy team. In this case, this is a good thing. With proper ward coverage, you can bait the enemy jungler to waste his time in your lane and allow your teammates to play more aggressive in their lanes and allow your jungler to steal the opposing junglers buffs.

Successfully pressuring your lane by winning trades will allow you to zone your lane opponent. Doing this gives you control of your lane. With this control you can do what you want in your lane or you can take your advantage to the rest of the map.

Applying Pressure Globally

Imagine yourself in this situation:  You are winnning your lane but your teammates are starting to fall behind. What do you do to help them out and win the game? You apply pressure globally. This is generally done by roaming and finding kills in other lanes or taking objectives such as dragon or baron. Champions that are highly adept at roaming such as Ahri, Kha'Zix, Kassadin, Zed, Evelynn, and Twisted Fate are ideal for taking the lead you gained in mid and spreading it around the map.

Some Tips to Apply Global Pressure

If you want to pressure the map without actually leaving your lane, there is a way. What you want to do is push out your lane then stand in one of the areas marked in red below. Standing in these locations breaks the enemies line of sight on you and tricks them into thinking that you are roaming.

 

Pay attention to how bot and top lane react when you do this. If they don't react at all, it is caused by one of two things

1. You are standing on a ward. Try buying a pink ward and placing it in the location you want to stand in.

2. The opposing mid laner hasn't communicated that you are missing. If bot and top lane continue to play aggressively during this time, go and gank one of the lanes.

 

Conclusion

Learning to apply pressure correctly will improve you as a player and help you to win more games. Your teammates will thank you for the help and your friends will be impressed by your knowledge and control over the game. So get out there, and put this knowledge to use!

Footnote

Thank you for reading my second article. I hope both enjoyed reading and learned something from this article. If you have any comments, questions, or critiques, feel free to leave them in the comments section below and I will be sure to respond.