Split push composition

Performing a split push

Usually, this forces the enemy to either send a teammate of their own to stop the push or attempt to take objectives while you are away. Oftentimes the split pusher has a way to quickly assist their team in case a team fight occurs 4 versus 5 in the form of a global ultimate or the summoner spell teleport. The champion that is split pushing must be strong enough to be on their own and not die during 1 versus 1 against another champion on the other team. Usually this means that the champion has such high defensive stats that the other champion simply cannot kill him. The champion also should consider having wards to watch for enemy ganks and have abilities to help escape.

Split pushing is an important part of sieging an enemy by forcing the enemy to deal with the split pusher and thinning their numbers. The pressure that is applied to two lanes pressures the enemy to react, especially if both the team and the split pusher(s) are getting successful attacks on turrets. This pressure can lead to enemy mistakes such as being caught out alone in the jungle or take risky fights that lead to victory.

Furthermore, split pushing allows the attacking team to “wait out” the wards that are in the center or in their own jungle. The enemy is forced to ward their own jungle to watch for aggressive enemy movements. After these wards run out of time the map is clear and objectives are safer to take due to the lack of vision.

Another form of split pushing is by just having strong wave clear (see above) and pushing the lane continuously into their turret. This also creates pressure on the enemy because missing creeps to a turret slowly builds up a lead. This also creates the 4 versus 4 scenarios and is considerably safer to do. This strategy can be used prior to the hard split push above so that your team can get the other lanes in sieging positions.

 

Champions that do well in Split push compositions:

Thresh

Thresh is pretty much the god of all supports in my opinion. His ability to disengage very well is a key component to split pushing. If the team opts to try and catch out the split push defender, then he can also easily initiate and catch out the members on the other team. This makes Thresh great for various types of split push strategies as he is very flexible. Thresh is probably one of the hardest supports to play at a high level and disengage means great Flay reaction timing; he is not the easiest champion to play.

Janna

While Thresh is great at disengaging, I find that a Janna is the best disengage support champion in the game. The ridiculously long ranged tornado, shield, and amazing AOE displacement ultimate is an gnarly kit for disengage. Like Thresh, Janna is also quite difficult to play at a high level.

Jax

Jax is a god at split pushing, catching, and team fighting. His ability to pretty much duel anybody if even (other than perhaps Nasus and Malphite), makes him absolutely amazing. In a split push composition. His innate tanky stats make him a very strong duelist and his AOE stun allows catching and decent team fighting. Furthermore, his jump has a relatively low cooldown that allows him to easily escape if the enemy team decides to bring a few champions to the split push lane.

Tryndamere

For the same reasons as Jax, Tryndamere is also a great champion to split push with. His self heal makes him very strong sustainer and his critical hit passive is amazing if he gets off a lot of auto attacks. His escape is slippery and his ultimate makes him a very strong foe when building full damage.

Aatrox

I have always felt like Aatrox and Tryndamere are very similar in how they play. Aatrox has an amazing escape; great sustain, teamfight potential, and can last a long time like Tryndamere. If he gets off a lot of auto attacks, Aatrox also can do a lot of damage and can duel quite well.

Zed

Zed is a mid lane champion who has been getting more popular as of late. Again, he has an elusive escape and top-tier dueling capabilities. After level 6, Zed can outplay and outduel most champions. Because in a 5 versus 5 scenario you are likely to get CC’d, getting the most output damage in the ultimate time frame is very hard. In a 1 versus 1 situation, he can get a ton of damage out without being CC’d by 4 other people. I consider Zed one of the top 1 versus 1 duelist in the game.

Shaco

Shaco plays a lot like Zed. He has a lot of outplay potential and amazing dueling capabilities. Contrary to many people’s beliefs, I place Shaco in the top 3 best duelists in the game.

Anivia

Anivia brings a lot of utility to the team in team fights and can disengage with Crystallize. Anivia also brings a passive which makes diving a little bit harder, good damage, strong team fight potential and superior wave clear. Anivia has probably one of the best wave clears in the game (possibly outclassed by Azir) which can be very useful for turtling. As of patch 4.20, I think she is near unplayable at a competitive level, but as soon as she gets fixed she will be an excellent champion to play.

Orianna

I consider Orianna and Anivia to do pretty much the same thing in terms of zoning power, disengage, great team fight, and great wave clear. Like Anivia, she is versatile enough to be in most team compositions; including split push compositions.

 

Holding off Split push

In order to hold off against split push, your team composition requires a champion that can handle themselves (either has very high defensive stats or strong dueling capabilities). Sometimes having a champion with good wave clear can be used for defensive purposes only. For example, if you are a Malphite versus a Jax, the Jax can just run past you and whack at the turret. Without adequate wave clear or solid 1 versus 1 capabilities, Jax can go ahead and run past you and tank the damage you and the turret throw at him. Being able to get the split pusher off the turret or punishing them for face tanking the turret is key to alleviating pressure off.

The other method is just by forcing a 5 versus 4 situations in which the other laner must respond to. If your team can cleanly win a 5 versus 4 fight (losing no more than 2 champions), then you can do several strategies.

A) Send one person back to stop the split pusher
B) All push as a team faster than the single split pusher and win the game.
C) Send everybody to the split pusher and eliminate him. This means taking objectives after killing him and securing deep ward cover. This is more for establishing less loss and getting the necessary elements to get ahead (vision, dragons, and turrets) safer. This is also very useful if nobody on your team can handle the split pusher alone 1 versus 1.

The decision you make will be reflected in another article. Because there are so many objectives in the game, choosing which to take and which to trade can be very extensive.

Champions that do well against split push:

Morgana

Because most flexible team compositions will innately have some sort of disengage, Morgana’s black shield is absolutely fantastic for allowing initiators to bypass disengage. Furthermore, her dark binding has a long snare time that allows easy catches. Finally, when the team does initiate, Morgana brings good peel and good teamfight potential.

Leona

Leona is an amazing hard initiator whose ultimate is an AOE stun with very long range. Hard initiation is a key component to dealing with hard split push compositions and Leona is one of the best.

Vi

Like Leona, Vi also brings a great hard initiate. Alongside her Vault Breaker, her ultimate is essentially an auto-initiation. Because of her Vault Breaker, she can also come from various pathways that other junglers cannot, making warding against her very hard to do. She fits well in the Meta and can do a good chunk of damage as well.

Jarvan 4

Jarvan 4 is currently one of the up and coming Meta junglers in the game. His amazing gank potential and ultimate are also very good hard initiates that may make it hard for the enemy to disengage. If built full damage, he can kill enemy carries from 100% health. Like Vi, he fits very much into the current meta as well. He is especially very strong versus carries that lack escape such as Cassiopeia, Twitch, and Jinx.

Rammus

In my opinion, Rammus is one of the most obnoxious champions in the game. His power ball allows him to traverse the map very quickly. This means that he can catch champions out very easily to engage and he can also run to the split push lane quickly as well. His CC and innate tankyness make him very strong in helping the split push defender and also make him very strong in team fights. His ability to go fast and rush to the aid of the split push defender and his ability to team fight means he is one of the roughest champions to go against as a split push composition. If he is combined with somebody like Morgana, you'll have problems.

The Big Key

The biggest part about performing or defending against a split push composition is in teamwork. Communication against the split push defender and the team or the split pusher and the team requires amazing shot calling and coordination. I firmly believe the champions that are selected do not matter as much as team work. To defend and to perform requires sufficient teamwork in order to work because if one component fails to perform, then the whole system collapses and the game ends in defeat anyways.

Discussion?

Because I am not exactly a professional player or an extremely high ranked player my opinion and analysis may not always be “correct.” I want you to add any comments or criticisms in my analysis! It will make both me and you better players. Adding comments with proper argumentation (rationales) can lead to interesting and helpful discussion. If you have any disputes or need further explanation please leave a comment!