This is going to be the only LANING PHASE GUIDE FOR ALL ROLES IN LEAGUE OF LEGENDS you will ever need to get started or improve on your laning phase and start climbing through the ranks!

Do you want to learn everything necessary to get through the laning phase and stomp your opponent making yourself look like a smurf?

We will talk about the different kinds of champions, wave management, trading, positioning, proper recall timers and warding.

If you do not know what wave management is and trading, PAY VERY CLOSE ATTENTION to those 2 things because they are very important

Everything that will be talked about can be applied to every lane no matter if you play Top Lane, Mid Lane or Bot Lane with some small differences between the lanes which are the following:

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

1. DIFFERENT CHAMPION ROLES/CLASSES
2. WAVE MANAGEMENT
3. TRADING
4. POSITIONING
5. PROPER RECALL TIMERS
6. WARDING
7. CONCLUSION

1. Different Champion Roles/Classes

Everything that you need to know about the different champion roles in the game you can find here but here is something to get you quickly introduced:

 In League of Legends there are 7 champion classes and they are the following:

1.1 Controller (Enchanter, Catcher)
1.2 Mage (Burst, Battlemage, Artilery)
1.3 Tank (Vanguard, Warden), Specialist
1.4 Marksman (ADC)
1.5 Fighter (Juggernaut, Diver)
1.6 Specialist
1.7 Slayer (Assassin, Skirmisher)

1.1 Controllers (Catcher, Enchanter)

Controllers are there to protect their teammates and create opportunities for their teammates.

Basic Enchanters to understand the role are Soraka and Lulu – you will learn how to manage your mana pool, how and when to effectively use your important cooldowns (Crescendo, Wish or Whimsy) and when it’s safe to leave your lane partner to build vision.

Basic Catchers – A few examples are: Blitzcrank or Zyra. Those champions help you to understand how important landing skill shots is and how to apply pressure in lane by “using no CC as CC”

1.2 Mage (Burst,Battlemage, Artilery)

Mages are there to wither down their opponents using powerful spells.

Basic Burst Mages – Lux, Annie and Veigar. Those champions will teach you about mana management, damage foresight and importance of crowd control.

Basic Battlemages – the only battlemage I’d recommend to beginners is Malzahar. The class is pretty difficult to play properly, because you have to be constantly moving and trying to deal as much Area of Effect damage as possible without getting hit yourselves.

Basic Artilery mages – Xerath. Artilery mages thrive in poking down opponents making it easier for their teammates to finish them off. This is the best class to understand the mana management.

1.3 Tank (Vanguard, Warden), Specialist

Tanks are there to apply crowd control and soak up as much damage as possible for their teammates.

Basic Vanguards – Leona, Amumu, Rammus. Playing Vanguards teaches you about importance of saving up CC for priority targets, about durability and about peeling (taking focus away from an important teammate onto yourself).

Basic Wardens – Braum, Shen. Wardens’ main goal is to protect their teammates. Playing them teaches you about peeling and about durability.

1.4 Marksman (ADC)

Marksman (ADC) are there to deal as much damage as possible without getting hit themselves. The basic marksmen to understand the role are Ashe and Miss Fortune. Playing marksmen teaches you about importance of proper positioning, tracking big cooldowns (engage abilities on the enemy team) and itemization.

1.5 Fighter (Juggernaut, Diver)

Fighters are there to get behind the enemy lines and wreak havoc to take focus away from their teammates.

Basic Juggernauts – Darius, Garen and Sett. Those champions will help you understand durability, itemization and target priority in team fights.

Basic Divers – Jarvan IV, Olaf or Warwick. They teach you basically the same thing, but contrary to Juggernauts, they have a way of getting into the backline.

1.6 Specialist

Specialists as the name suggests, are very unique champions that specialize in certain things. Every specialist champion is very unique and each one of them can teach you new things, but it’s very hard to simplify those champions, so I’ll let you discover them for yourselves.

1.7 Slayer (Assassin, Skirmisher)

Slayers are champions capable of taking down enemy champions quickly, even in a 1v2, 1v3 scenario. They’re those huge damage dealers that require a lot of experience on them to play properly.

Basic Assassin I’d recommend to beginner players is Talon. Playing assassins teaches you about understanding damage foresight, roaming, vision control and flanking.

Basic Skirmishers – Jax and Master Yi. Skirmishers get strong with items, so it’s important to understand your level/item power spikes. Skirmishers are one of the best classes in the game in the late stages of the game.

2. Wave Management:

The waves spawn at the same time at 1:05 but reach Top and Bot at 1:38 while at mid at 1:28 because Mid lane is a shorter lane compared to the rest.

Wave management is one of the most, if not the most important things in League Of Legends. This can differentiate a good player vs the best. There are 3 parts to wave management and they are:

2.1 Fast Pushing

Fast pushing is when you are actively damaging the enemy wave to make it push towards the side of your opponent as quickly as possible. There are lots and different reasons as to why you would like to Fast Push the wave and here are some:

1.1 You want to get a recall to spend your gold and buy items.
1.2 You suspect the enemy jungler is looking to gank your lane.
1.3 You want to dive your opponent under the tower because they are low on HP.

Here is an example of how a Fast Push looks like:

2.2 Slow Pushing

Slow pushing is when you are killing the enemy minions right before they are about to die. This gets to create a very big wave over time which gives you some of the following benefits:

2.1 You keep yourself safe from getting ganked.
2.2 If the enemy laner attacks you, the minions will help you giving you an advantage.
2.3 You create a big wave to dive your opponent with your jungler.

Here is an example of how a Slow Push looks like:

2.3 Freezing

Freezing is when you keep the wave stationary. You achieve that by creating a 3 to 5 minions disadvantage from your side and maintaining the wave like that to keep it in the same place for an extended period of time. Some of the benefits that Freezing gives you are the following:

– Keeps you very safe from getting ganked.
– Very easy to set up ganks because the enemy laner is very far up on the lane.
– Gives very little room for your opponent to trade with you.

Here is an example of how a Freeze looks like:

Here is a video about EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT WAVE MANAGEMENT

3. TRADING

Now, trading directly ties to Wave Management which we talked about above!

Trading is when you and your opponent start interacting with each other dealing damage by using auto attacks or abilities. There is also harassing which means you or your opponent is dealing damage without you or him taking any.

When you start dealing damage directly to your opponent with an auto attack or a targeted you get to pull minion aggro towards you so that needs to be kept in mind. That will not happen if you use an AOE ability like Lux E for example.

Having a level advantage is very crucial in trading, especially during the first 3 levels. The reason for that is until we get to hit level 3 we do not have all of our 3 abilities up meaning the advantage if you are level 2 compared to your opponent being level 1 is HUGE.

The same goes for level 6. If you hit level 6 before your opponent, you get to have your ultimate ability up while they do not. So if any of those scenarios happen to you do not hesitate to fight with your opponent!

Keeping track of abilities and spell cooldowns is another big thing too! If your enemy laner has an ability or 2 on cooldown this is a HUMONGOUS advantage for you.

You should immediately be looking to fight with no hesitation! Not fighting when your opponent has cooldowns on is like being in a fight with someone and him being very tired and you giving him time to rest and recover. Ridiculous, isn’t it? EXACTLY!

Last but not least when trading is keeping track/being aware of where the enemy and ally jungler is. If you suspect the enemy jungler is close, avoid fighting. If your jungler is coming towards your lane or is close to it, make sure to communicate with pings that you want to fight. Then when he comes close, go in and score that kill!

Here is a video about EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT HOW TO TRADE PROPERLY

4. POSITIONING

Positioning depends on many factors like jungler/s position, ability cooldowns, level advantage, gank potential and more. You need to be very conscious of it but mostly being able to identify good vs bad positioning, especially in the moment (when playing) is through experience AKA playing a lot.

If you will be looking to make it as difficult as possible for your opponent to attack you, you would like to position to the opposite side from where he is. If he sits on the left side of the lane, you go to the right and vice versa.

Maybe you want to position on the opposite side from where he is to set a gank up making him or her stay closer to where your jungler is coming from

If you got abilities on cooldown or a level disadvantage then falling back a bit to avoid trades is going to be the go-to.

When you know you can win a trade you can have ”bad” positioning to bait your opponent into feeling comfortable walking up. Then once he bites the bait you go in and look for the trade/all-in.

5. PROPER RECALL TIMERS

Proper recall timers are revolving around the waves once again. Depending on the state of the wave that you have in your lane, your recall is either going to be a bad one or a good one. This has been covered extensively in my video about wave management but here is something regarding that:

A good recall timer would be for example when you get to push the wave and make it crash under the enemy’s tower. This is a good time to recall because the wave is bounce back towards your side (basically slow push) and you will come back to a lane slow pushing towards you, allowing you to get a freeze or catch the wave right on time, losing very little to no minions.

A bad recall timer would be for example when you recall and your wave is pushing towards the enemy laner. That is bad because more minions from the enemy wave die compared to yours, putting you be on a deficit.

!WARNING! Greeding for a tower plate that is worth 125G can be counter-intuitive and in the long run, lose you more gold and lose you opportunities that would be much more beneficial, giving you well over 125G!

6. WARDING

Now last but not least, warding. How do we know WHEN, WHY and WHERE to ward? Warding is giving you vision in areas of fog of war where you can not see if an enemy is going through there, if he is there or if there has been placed an enemy ward.

6.1 When to ward?

Usually, you would like to ward when you notice that you are getting yourself into a vulnerable position. That would be for example when you start pushing towards the side of the enemy team. You start getting further up into the lane, attracting attention wards you.

6.2 Why to ward?

Warding keeps you safe from getting surprised. Possibly getting collapsed on by multiple members but this is not just for safety. Warding and getting vision allows you to see where the enemy is going, so you can set a trap or make a play that is not expected, considering that the enemies don’t know that they went through is warded.

6.3 Where to ward?

Now here I will include what wards to place where. Regular wards because they are invisible should be placed in areas where your opponent will be relatively safe and can clear the ward. That would be for example river or their jungle where they have control of the area.

Control wards should be placed in areas that are under our team’s control meaning usually our jungle.

7. SUMMARY

In conclusion, the laning phase consists of multiple areas that need to be learnt and improved on over time. Requires a very good understanding of them to be able and utilize them to their fullest, giving you the best results possible and resulting in you achieving the rank or goal that you have always been dreaming of.

Whether it is knowing you will get level 6 first, having the better wave state, getting a proper recall timer or having very good vision that saves you from getting killed during a gank, this guide opens up your POV (point of view) and makes you see things in a different light.

Always remember that League Of Legends is a very complex game that requires time, patience, effort and time put into it. Save time not building up bad habits with guides like this one, is completely necessary and a big step forward for anyone trying to learn or get into the game.

Do not be intimidated and remember, everything at the start is difficult but taking it step by step, it becomes much easier over time! Put your mind into it and you will be able to achieve it!

Learn the pros and cons of the champion that you play and play against, learn about wave management with this guide and you will start seeing immediate results in your games. ( Best channel to learn the pros and cons of each champion HERE

If you need help with anything extra, do not hesitate to leave a comment below or come over at my Twitch channel where I stream live and ask me there