Korean meta: Push/disengage compositions

The Korean OGN league’s domination of All Stars, while not unexpected, reminded the world that they were the top contenders in competitive League play. Cloud 9, who have already locked in first place in the NA LCS, have attributed much of their strategy to emulating the Korean League scene. Having won the extra seed in All Stars and repeatedly proven themselves against the greatest competition the globe has to offer, OGN is definitely the opponent everyone will be looking to beat. Analyzing the Korean style of play is necessary if NA and EU want to have any hope of taking Worlds.

 

Among their most devastating strategies, which has just begun to make its way into the two LCS leagues play during the Summer split, are push/disengage compositions. These are reminiscent of the more familiar poke compositions which seek to either poke down the enemy team and engage when they are low health or by taking global objectives after the enemy team has been forced back to base.

The push/disengage comps are focused on playing the map rather than the enemy team. Getting early advantages and taking as many towers as rapidly as possible, then sighting out the enemy jungle to continue pressuring the enemy lanes. The objective is to take the enemies structures while avoiding combat. They emphasize champions with the ability to rapidly and safely tear down structures. Long range AD champions, kiting abilities, and disengagement abilities are all vital to making this sort of composition work.

Perhaps the most frightening aspect of these compositions is the amount of coordination they require to successfully pull off. It is a true testament to a professional team's abilities if they can successfully employ this composition in the competitive scene. Tracking the enemy team's movements and efficiently maneuvering your own team to keep up constant lane pressure are key to forcing the enemy team into a defensive posture.

 

Why do these guys all look so cool?

 

When pulled off successfully, this strategy is impressive to behold. The pushing team will take early towers and methodically burn down turrets while shutting down engagement attempts by the enemy team, moving away when they commit a large number of champions to one lane and then moving in on the other side of the map to force the enemy team to waste time crossing their jungle to defend. It can be among the most frustrating strategies to play against as its emphasis is denying you the ability to interact with the enemy team and simply watch your own base slowly dissolve.

 

The Strategy

The beginnings of the strategy have become very common with the beginning of season 3 in NA and EU. Matching your bot lane against the enemy top or mid laner to deny them farm and rapidly take down their tower (perhaps diving for a kill or two) to give your team a global gold and experience advantage. Typically the next step is to rotate your bot lane to, well, bot lane, and attempt to take that turret as well to gain dragon control.

From here the push/disengage composition distinguishes itself from other strategies. Taking the early advantage from the turrets and the global control the enemy team has lost with their front line of turrets, a push/disengage comp will typically push in the lanes then move in groups to ward out paths in the enemy jungle between their lanes. Using this information, they can track enemy lane rotations and move their own team accordingly.

Depending upon the specifics of the composition, this may involve attempting to push against an enemy champion who either lacks range or have been the victim of the most resource denial. Keeping the enemy team from grouping up denies them their ability to create team engagements and forces them into disadvantageous lanes where the inequalities of the early game can be extended well into the mid game and compounded with advantages gained from obtaining global objectives.

Itemizations which provide extra damage to monsters isn’t uncommon. Buying a Spirit of The Elder Lizard on Jayce or Kha’Zix, even as a laner, allows them to rapidly sneak Barons and Dragons. Although the objective is turrets, gaining extra gold from Dragons (or denying it to the enemy) can tighten the screws.

Counterplay is tricky with these kinds of compositions as they tend to focus specifically on avoiding contact with the enemy team. Typically successful counterplay occurs in champion select and the early game.

Picking champions with extreme initiation like Ashe’s Enchanted Crystal Arrow or Jarvan’s Cataclysm and layered engagement sufficient to overcome the enemy’s disengage can provide a teamfight oriented team with the momentum they need to lock down the enemy team and force them into a battle.

The direction that the early game takes can also create a lot of momentum that carries into late game. Many push/disengage comp emphasize strength in the early game but a pick comp can get enough kills to control the lanes and prevent a push/disengage comp from taking early towers. Emphasizing this, or simply outplaying the enemy team and obtaining small advantages, can be used to ward into the enemy jungle and provide avenues for invasions and early warnings of lane rotations. Putting a push/disengage comp on the defensive denies it all of its strengths.

Many late game turnarounds seem to be caused by one of two events. Either the push/disengage making a massive mistake which allows the enemy to successfully engage upon them or the enemy team creating a teamfight by breaking a split push and then forcing an engagement on Baron. Simply, teamfights mean death for a push/disengage. It is very rare for a push/disengage to attempt a teamfight unless they have poked down an enemy team to the point where they can just clean up or they have gained a gold advantage pushing into the 15-20k territory.

This is the essence of the composition. Although it can take many forms and include a wide variety of champions, there are several that are favorite (although by no means all) picks along with brief explanations of their advantages.

 

The Champions 

Caitlyn

This should come as no surprise. Caitlyn’s early game dominance combined with her extreme auto attack range are the perfect combination for pushing compositions. Although other AD carries outscale her range with level, Caitlyn has the range early when it is most important. She can stack up a headshot and almost freely autoattack an enemy turret outside of her opponents range, then harass if they try to close.

Piltover Peacmaker and Ace in The Hole give her a lot of tools to poke down enemies or execute them at extreme range if they let themselves get low. 90 Cailber Net is a huge disengage with added slow and she can cut off enemy chase with Yordle Snap Traps. Taking down many towers with these tools early will put her ahead and can allow an push/disengage comp to end the game well before she falls off late game.

Ezreal

Ezreal has seen a considerable amount of play in Korea, but very rarely as a duo laner. He has been showing up as a mid laner. Able to safely farm outside most AP’s ranges with his 1000 range Mystic Shot and with a built-in escape with Arcane Shift to avoid jungle ganks. Building him AD makes it extremely dangerous for the enemy to leave their tower exposed. Teaming up with the AD carry can ruin turrets between Rising Spell Force and Essence Flux.

Fiddlesticks

Fiddlesticks can be a nightmare for enemy teams attempting to engage. A good Dark Wind can silence an entire group of pursuing enemies to prevent catches and dashes while the devastating 3 second Terrify can either prevent a high speed pursuit or even reverse a chase. Dark Wind can even be chained off of minions to harass well beyond its actual range. The threat of Crow Storm combined with his CC make it impossible for teams to attempt to defend tower after taking poke.

Jayce

Second only to Twisted Fate, Jayce is among the top of the top picked champions in OGN. Accelerated Shock Blasts provide massive ranged bursts. Although Nidalee's spears are of comparable poking ability, they move slower and don’t provide the area of effect of the Shock Blast. Even more important, Shock Blast (along with Jayces other abilites) scale off of AD, allowing him to tear towers apart. Hypercharge gives Jayce huge burst against structures while posing with the enemy at tower.

Jayce is a master of controlling distance. making him fantastic at disengaging. Acceleration Gate, To the Skies, and the speed boost Jayce gets from Transform all allow him to create a huge speed advantage. If all else fails, Thundering Blow can toss the enemy away while he makes his escape (while doing percentile damage).

Nami

After a less than auspicious introduction into the League, Nami is now one of the top support picks in Korea. The abilities in her kit rival Zyra for anti-engagement and are unrivaled for kiting with an AD carry. Surging Tides puts the enemy at a constant speed disadvantage while Nami is in the fight. Aqua Prison, although mechanically difficult to hit, is one of the only support abilities that provide a multi-target stun. Tidecaller’s Blessing adds a huge amount of damage to auto attack harass and makes for some of the easiest kiting in the game. Tidal Wave rivals even Janna’s Monsoon for disengage, creating a huge area of effect CC that is especially effective if the enemy team is trying to pursue.

Shen

This pick should come as no surprise to players from any region as Shen is perhaps one of the most well known split pushers in the NA League scene. The reason for this is because it is stupidly easy for him to do it. Once Shen has a Sunfire Cape he can clear waves rapidly and push to turret.

Twisted Fate

Until only very recently Twisted Fate has been 100% pick/ban in OGN. Proficiency in this champion is all but considered a prerequisite for mid lane players. His global presence and utility are unmatched (which has been the focus of some approaching nerfs from Riot). Loaded Dice creates a snowball effect in the farming of a nation of players known for their last hitting precision. Ganks from his ultimate can create the early lane advantage that a poke/disengagement needs to get rolling.

Twisted Fate has strengths in both sieging and split pushing compositions. Once he has a Lich Bane, TF can melt turrets with his Pick a Card. Destiny, in addition to creating that vital snowball, can allow TF to transition from split pushing to a team fight engagement elsewhere, or allows him to escape picks when he is pushing down a turret solo. He is also a master of kiting with Gold Card, allowing him to stop dives and draw out engagements until the enemy team can get poked down.

Vladimir

A significantly more popular champion in OGN than NA. Vladimir is typically valued for Hemoplague which allows for some crazy wombo combo damage when paired with mid champions like Karthus. Thanks to a creative build formulated by Reapered and now frequently used by Shy, Vlad is also one of the most devastating split pushing top champions.

Once farmed up (typically after gaining an early advantage), a Vlad running flash/ghost can simply farm push in top lane, using the farm to give him max stacks of Tides of Blood to make him impossible to duel. If more than one champion arrives he can simply Sanguine Pool and Ghost away.

 

The Conclusion

It is going to take a considerable amount of organized play to defeat these compositions. Poor lane rotations or a bad early game can spell certain doom against such an aggressive and frustrating strategy. Although some teams such as KT Rolster B and CJ Entus Blaze employ these strategies more often than others, it is very likely that the teams who make it to Worlds will be using it against us. This is far from Korea’s only strength. Their farming skills are exemplary, their mechanics are impressive, and their team fighting is immaculate. the LCA leagues are not only going to have to bring their A game but also prepare to cope with strategies that are vastly different from those they encounter during their weekly matches.