How To Dominate the Laning Phase

You've picked your role. You loaded into the game. You started running to your lane or to help your jungler with some leash. Now minions have spawned and the game is on. For the next couple of minutes, the game is going to be played around gold. We call it a laning phase and here are some important things you must think about to get the best of it.

First of all, you must try to understand the starting position of the enemy jungler. Warding the enemy jungle just in time to see them killing their first jungle monster is by far most efficient way to know where the jungler has started, however, it's not always the safest way to do it. You could get caught and awkwardly give out a first blood to the enemy team, or at least burn down your summoner spells. To avoid that risk and still get to know where the enemy jungler has started, you should take notice on to the arrival of the enemy players – laners that have arrived later than the other ones are most likely to have helped their jungler with the nearest jungle camp. If you know where the enemy jungler has started, you will be able to approximately understand how long you have until they will gank you and when you should start to play safer. By keeping track of the movement of your jungler, you will be able to gain a sense for the moving of the opponents' jungler too.

 
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The best way to get a bunch of gold is, of course, farming. However, you must do it very carefully and understand a position you are in at the lane. The way of farming changes a lot depending on your matchup and your play stile. If you don't feel comfortable fighting your opponent, you should never push your lane. This is where freezing the minion wave close to your turret is the optimal strategy. It keeps your opponent in a vulnerable position and allows you to farm safely. To freeze the minion wave, try to leave ranged minions up as much as you can so they don't push too hard. It's not a good idea to let your opponent push all the way to your turret because that will reset the wave and you will probably lose some farm, especially on low levels. On the other hand, if you feel like you have a matchup advantage early in the game, you need to do the opposite. Try to push to the enemy turrets at the early levels so you would deny their farm, which will translate to an advantage after the first shop. Remember that ranged minions deal more damage, but have less health, so try to kill them first. Ranged minions are, however, closer the enemy, so try not to take free damage from your opponent.

If you've decided to harass, hit your opponents when their minions are lower on health, and if you're more of an aggressive type who wants to harass most of the time, position at the end of the minion wave so you could damage your enemy every time he (or they) gets close. Most champions have skillshots that can be used to harass the enemy player, but even if you don't, auto-attacks can be just as effective. Don't stay in a minion zone too much as you could get creep-blocked and easily poked. If there is a large enemy minion wave arriving at your lane, try to kite them diagonally towards your turret instead of letting them walk straight to it. It will save you some time, and when your minions arrive you will be able to last hit much easier without your turret interfering.

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The side bushes pose a very interesting strategic objective. Controlling the side bush(es) allows you free harassment but also defends you from harassing. Warding the sides opens up a chance for your teammates to lane gank with the jungler and/or teleport gank from other lanes. Find value in pink wards; having one pink ward up somewhere important at the lane is the best thing you can do in a winning lane. A pink ward allows you to stay aggressive while it keeps the eye on the enemy jungler. It can also bring you an advantage when the enemy player tries to destroy your ward. Proper expectation of ganks leads to counter-ganks, so never ever forget to ward.

Always set some goals for the laning phase to work towards and play your personal strengths in the game. Remember to use your mechanics to understand the matchups and what you need to do to outplay the enemy champions.

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