League of Legends: Going Mid

In this guide I hope to cover all the main points about going solo mid and help you become a better player. My favourite lane has always been middle, mostly because of early game control and the easy access to other lanes. This guide has been written with the idea of playing solo/duo ranked, however the concepts can be used for team ranked and normal mode. Also remember some of the points are personal preference and you should always keep an open mind.

Champions
I play Morgana, Cassiopeia, Karthus, Annie, Kennen and Brand in ranked. There are lots of choices when picking for mid and I recommend you practice as many as you can. In ranked, most of the time you’ll never get to play Morgana. She is very powerful and will be banned most of the time. If you can pick her, I highly recommend doing so. I wouldn’t be going into each champion’s play style as it would take too long, however if you are new to League of Legends I recommend trying out Annie or Morgana.

Most of the time picks come down to personal taste, flavour of the month (what people think are powerful/broken champions), what is banned, what your teammates are playing and what your enemies are playing. For example, if my team lack stuns/disables I will pick Annie. If my team lack damage, I will pick Cassiopeia or Karthus.

Also be aware of counter picks, as they are becoming more popular with premade teams. Counter picks are champions that have been picked for the specific purpose of countering you or your team setup, such as Teemo to Garen and Graves to Kassadin. In those circumstances your options are limited to adapting your build order and playing passively until you hit a point where you can take them on or request help from your jungler. Although most of the time champion picks are not the most important part of being a solo mid player, because how you play is more important to winning or losing the game.

Runes and Masteries
Here I will quickly cover runes and masteries, be aware some champions will differ because of their play style and abilities. For masteries I will normally use 21/0/9, because of the new masteries system we can gain more damage from the Offense tree.

Personally I think the new utility tree needs a buff before I go deeper into it, but getting Runic Affinity is important for the 20% buff duration. In tier 1 I get Improved Recall, Summoner’s Insight and Expanded Mind. Meditation or Swiftness is a personal choice, depending if you favour getting more mana regen or movement speed. I would say if you plan to go Doran’s Ring into Deathcap over Rod of Ages, go for Meditation. You can also go 21/9/0 if you need extra defence. You want to be getting extra magic resist, armor and the +30 health in that tree.

For runes you will be deciding if you want more damage or defence again.

This build I get Magic pen reds, Flat armour yellows, Flat magic resist blues and Flat health quintessences. This is good for champions like Morgana and Kennen who need to get within a team to use their abilities for maximum effect.

In this rune page I use Magic pen reds, Ability power per level yellows, Ability power per level blues and flat Ability power quintessences. This build is good on champions like Annie or Cassiopeia for more damage. I do recommend noting if you go this rune setup you have to make sure you do not get caught by the enemy as you’ll have no defence and die pretty quickly.

Farming and Items

One of the most important skills you can learn as a player regardless of what lane or champion you play is to last hit. Last hitting gets you gold, which gets you items and items win you the game. I may seem to be taking last hitting over the top, but getting items you need as fast as you can will give you the advantage you need to win. Avoid using your abilities to last hit and favour using them to harass your opponent.

Now you’re last hitting every creep you can, what you going to do with that gold. At the start of the game 99% of the time I will go boots and 3 health pots. The movement speed is very helpful for dodging skill shots early on and the pots for keeping me in the lane.

Ideally on my first recall I want to pick up two Doran’s rings and more pots, this will come down to last hits and if I was harassed/ganked in lane. My core items are Sorcerer's Shoes, 2 Doran’s rings and Deathcap for most champions. Everything after that is depended on what is going on in the match and what champion I am playing.

Be aware, with some champions I will get other items before finishing my core if the situation needs it. Example being if I’m playing morgana and need Hourglass early on or if I’m needing spell vamp and getting revolver after my two Doran’s rings. Pick your items how you need them, for instance if you need a slow get Rylai's or if you have another AP champion on your team get a Will of the Ancients for shared spell vamp. I only use Tears of Goddess for Karthus, Anivia and Ryze. If you however have to give blue to another champion, then Tears of Goddess is not a bad idea, but don’t rush for archangels until you’ve competed most of your items. I personally avoid defence items and use more defence positioning to compensate, however Zhonya's Hourglass is pretty amazing on all champions as it can used when everything is on cooldown and your being focused.

Ganks and Assisting the Team
I have avoided talking about Summoner spells until now for a reason. Most of the time as an AP mid, you should be using Flash and Ignite. These spells will keep you alive, get you kills and make you cookies. Although the last one is untrue, you shouldn’t be rolling with any other spells as a standard AP mid. Champions like Karthus are exceptions to these rules, but for the most part Flash/Ignite is the way to go.

While you’re in your lane farming and harassing your enemy, don’t forget about the other lanes. If you see the enemy top pushing hard against your team mate go up and try for a kill. Remember to avoid wards and have spells you need ready to secured that kill. Ganking and getting those early kills, normally win you the game. Try not to gank while the enemy mid is still in lane as they can push and kill your tower while you’re gone. Be in mind of playing safe as you can, until you see an opportunity. Being too aggressive is the number one way to die. Use your head and ask yourself questions like “Am I out of position?” or “My enemy has no pots, can I harass him out of the lane?”

Just remember about opportunities! They are not always kills, let’s look some examples. For instance if the enemy Jungler is spotted top, that means you can have a poke around his south jungle and steal neutral monsters. If the enemy mid goes to gank, call missing and push for the tower. This will then force someone to come mid or lose their tower.

Mid/Late Game
As the game starts to come around 20 minutes, you should be looking to end the game. If you’ve done really well they might just surrender. You need to know how to finish safely; taking big risks like baron are very dangerous, but if you have good placed wards and the damage to take him down. If you see the enemy coming (with your well placed wards) you should look to back off. Having a pink ward or oracles to check for enemy wards is important, as if the enemy can see baron’s health they can attempt to steal. Looking for opportunities is the name of late game, getting a good 5v1 kill or just doing better farming (i.e. dragon, stealing buffs, pushing lanes).

Team fights are normally started by one or both teams looking at getting a big advantage, normally that being dragon or baron. In this situation you need to lock out their big damage threats and look after yours. If you’re that carry (i.e. Cassiopeia) stay back behind the tanks and try doing as much damage as you can without being in danger. Look to use your key abilities like stuns and disables on either big damage dealers, champions that are out of position or anyone on low health trying to run away. Just remember your own positioning during the team fight so you don’t accidently put yourself in danger (pressing spacebar will centre the camera on your champion).

If you win a big battle, look to push mid lane to get the inhibitor. Also take buffs, dragon, baron and farm as you see fit. If you are playing champions like Kennen, using Zhonya's Hourglass you can dive the enemy under there turret. Just remember to warn your allies if you’re planning to do anything dangerous that requires your team’s participation.
To end the game you’ll want to kill as many champions as you can and kill the nexus. It’s near on impossible to kill the enemy’s nexus while they still have all champions up and nexus towers intact. The best way to go about this is to get baron and force them to fight you for a side inhibitor, if they lose all 3 inhibitors it is very hard to stop the incoming amount of creeps that will be pushing against them. Just remember at 40+ minutes respawns are very long and if your team is caught out you can lose from a counter push after they ace you. Just be patience as you are ahead and allow they under pressure to make a mistake.

Playing from behind is near on impossible in solo queue if your enemies play correctly. The only thing you can do in this situation is play more defence and look for opportunities where the enemies are out of position. Try to drag the game out and keep farming and pushing your lanes back. The best you can hope for is a good fight where the enemies have to wait 50 seconds to respawns allowing you to push back, get baron or destroy an inhibitor.

Summary
Today we have looked at picking champions, runes, masteries, farming, picking items, summoner’s spells, ganking, looking for opportunities, team fights and ending the game. This is a lot to take in and you should reread parts of this guide as you need it. Hopefully you will take these concepts and tips into your games. The biggest advice I can give you is to practice, practice 50+ games on the same champion in normal queue. Learn their strengths, weaknesses and what champions you enjoy playing. If you have any questions at all, please message me.