How To Manipulate Waves | The Ultimate League of Legends Guide

League of Legends has no shortage of small and big in-game mechanics that separate the good players from the bad ones. Whether it’s the deepest pits of Iron or the highest peaks of Challenger, every laner must be able to understand how the waves of Minions operate in order to have a good time laning.

Simply put, you can’t do much if you don’t win your lane, and while every matchup doesn’t have to go in your favor, there is a very solid strategy that can help you become a nightmare for your opponents.

So, in order to help you learn and climb, we’ve concocted this ultimate wave management guide that will not only teach you how to manipulate the wave but will also help you see those small windows of opportunities where you can one-up your opponent both in and out of laning phase!

Also check out: How to ping shop items in LoL

Wave States in LoL – Understanding the Basics

In League of Legends, the term “wave state” refers to the pattern of Minions (AI-controlled units) that are attacking the enemy’s towers. There are several common wave states in the game, including:

• Even wave: This is when the number of Minions on each player’s side of the lane is equal, and they are continuously pushing toward each other, eliminating each other equally.
• Sided wave: This occurs when one team has more Minions than the other, either due to an earlier fight or a player’s ability to last hit Minions effectively. The side with more Minions will typically push their advantage and attempt to destroy enemy towers.
• Caught wave: This is when a player cuts in between a wave of enemy Minions, eliminating them without the ally Minion wave reaching there.
• Split wave: This is when a player or team divides/trims a wave of Minions, causing them to build up into different kinds of pushes, making it more difficult for the enemy team to respond and defend their towers.
• Freeze wave: This is when a player freezes a wave of Minions in a specific spot, preventing them from advancing and creating a safe zone for themselves or their allies.

Each wave state can create different opportunities and challenges for a player, and understanding wave management is a key aspect of League of Legends’ strategy.

Spawning Minions – The Basics

MOBAs work on the concept of Minions spawning from each end of the map to assist the relevant teams in taking objectives.

In League of Legends, there is a small wait time before anything happens on the map. This period helps champions reach their relevant positions, and formulate a game plan.

You can expect the Minions to spawn from both sides of the map at the 1:05 mark on your timer.

Once the first wave has spawned, additional waves will spawn after every 30 seconds.

Kinds of Minion Waves

In League of Legends, there are around three main kinds of Minion waves. There is one exception, but more on that later.

Here’s what these three waves bring to the table:

Standard Wave

The Standard Wave contains the following Minions:

Siege Wave

The Siege Wave contains the following Minions:

Super Wave

The Super Wave contains the following Minions:

Enhanced Super Wave

This wave only occurs when all three of enemy or ally inhibitors are down. The Enhanced Super Wave comprises of the following Minions:

Wave Orders According To Time

This section will talk about how the mentioned Minion waves spawn. Despite feeling random, there’s a certain order to the kind of wave the Nexus will spawn.

As mentioned previously, there will be a 30 second delay between each wave, and this will remain the standard throughout the game.

The following tables best describe what you will be meeting in different stages of the game:

Configuration 1: Pre 20 Minutes Spawn Order

In the first portion of the game, there will be two standard waves followed by a siege wave. Once the Siege Wave has passed, the order will be reset.

Configuration 2: Post 20 Minutes Spawn Order

In the latter portion of the game, there will be a single standard wave followed by a siege wave. Once the Siege Wave has passed, the order will be reset.

Configuration 3: Inhibitor Down Spawn Order

Once an enemy inhibitor has been destroyed, a Super Minion wave will spawn every 30 seconds, until the Inhibitor is restored.

In the scenario were all three enemy inhibitors are down, the Nexus will start spawning Enhanced Super Waves between the same intervals.

Minion Types – Everything To Know

League of Legends features four unique kinds of Minions that are capable of performing their own duties while having a distinct set of stats to back them up.

These Minions get upgraded every 90 seconds – gaining a plethora of bonus stats.

Here is how each Minion performs depending on its base statistics:

Melee Minion

Each Melee Minion gains a health boost per upgrade till the fifth upgrade. After that, they experience an armor and attack damage boost per upgrade till the 25th upgrade.

Then, the upgrades stop!

Takedown Bonus

The Mele Minion is the meatshield of the wave that offer the following bonuses on takedown:

Special Prowess

The Melee Minion is present in every wave. It often leads the charge and carries the following set of buffs/nerfs:

• The Turret auto attacks can only take 45% of it’s maximum health bar per shot. This is pre-mitigation damage, meaning all of this is before any application of modifiers (will make more sense in the buffs section).
• Melee Minions spawned in the mid lane will yield 1 Gold less than the Melee Minions in other lanes until the 14-minute mark.
• These Minions deal 50% less damage to structures.

Statistics

With that said, here are the official stats for Melee Minions based on Summoner’s Rift environment:

Caster Minion

Each Caster Minion gains an AD and health boost per upgrade till the fifth upgrade. After that, they experience a slight change in their scaling till the 25th upgrade.

Then, the upgrades stop!

Takedown Bonus

The Caster Minion is the most easy-to-kill Minion that offer the following bonuses on takedown:

Special Prowess

The Caster Minion is also present in every wave. It often deals damage from the back and carries the following set of buffs/nerfs:

• The Turret auto attacks can take 70% of it’s maximum health bar per shot as pre-mitigation damage.
• Caster Minions spawned in the mid lane will yield 1 Gold less than the Caster Minions in other lanes until the 14 minute mark.
• These Minions deal 50% less damage to structures.

Statistics

With that said, here are the official stats for Ranged Minions based on Summoner’s Rift environment:

Siege Minion

Each Siege Minion gains a health boost per upgrade till the fifth upgrade. After that, they experience a slight change in their health scaling.

Unlike the Melee and Caster Minions, this bonus increases indefinitely!

Takedown Bonus

The Siege Minion is one of the stronger Minions that offer the following bonuses on takedown:

Special Prowess

The Siege/Cannon Minion is the strong point of a Siege Wave and carries the following set of buffs/nerfs:

• The Turret auto attacks can take the following amounts of this Minion’s maximum health as pre-mitigation damage:
  • Outer Towers: 14%
  • Inner Towers: 11%
  • Inhibitor / Nexus Towers: 8%
• These Minions deal 25% less damage to turrets, whereas their structure damage is decreased by 50%.
• The Minions at the middle lane gain a 30% attack speed boost on towers.
• Similar to Melee and Caster Minions, the Siege Minions also offer 1 less gold in the midlane till the 14 minute mark.

Statistics

With that said, here are the official stats for Siege Minions based on Summoner’s Rift environment:

Super Minion

Super Minions gain a boost in their Attack Damage, Health, and Health regen based on the level of the wave.

These Minions only spawn in a lane where the enemy’s Inhibitor is taken down, and can push their way through any kind of Minion.

In-fact, most weak champions don’t stand a chance against them in normal combat!

Takedown Bonus

The Super Minion is the strongest in-game Minion that offers the following bonuses on takedown:

Special Prowess

The Super Minion is capable of rendering most wave management strats useless and carries the following set of buffs/nerfs:

• The Turret auto attacks can take 7% of this Minion’s maximum health as pre-mitigation damage:
• These Minions deal 50% less damage to turrets, whereas their structure damage is decreased by 87.5%.
• Super Minions grant 35 Armor and Magic Resist to nearby Minions, thereby allowing a smooth siege.

Statistics

With that said, here are the official stats for Super Minions based on Summoner’s Rift environment:

Minion Behavior – A Comprehensive Analysis

We’ve understood how waves work in general. However, it won’t be wise to proceed to the advanced stuff before understanding how a Minion (a unit of the wave) generally tends to function.

First Minion Wave

Simply put, all waves follow similar behavior with the exception of the first wave that leaves the Nexus at the 1:05 mark.

These Minions will ignore everything unless heavily provoked. Once they’ve encountered enemy Minions, they’ll spread their attacks on the Melee part o the wave.

Such that, in almost every game, the first three Melee Minions of both sides die simultaneously.

Priority

Whenever a player attacks an enemy champion, the Minions in a certain radius will turn their aggro toward the player. This can, however, be reset by falling back, so that Minions change their priority to other enemy units.

Similarly, Minions tend to use the following order of priority whenever they encounter enemy units:

Range

Once a Minion has decided on a target, it will only re-calculate if there’s a new target in its range with a higher priority number.

This range is currently set at 500 units (circular). Therefore, the enemy units must be within 500 units of the Minion for it to make an action.

However, this detection range is doubled (1000) in a scenario where an allied champion gets attacked by an enemy champion.

There is a short windup timing behind the target switching. Therefore, a Minion will keep hitting its target for a small timeframe, even after finding a higher-priority target.

Similarly, whenever a Minion’s target ventures outside its intended range, the Minion will shift its target.

Statistical Behavior

Minions tend to deal 50% less damage to champion units. At the same time, they also gain increasing amounts of movement speed based on the minutes passed.

Here’s a table to showcase this behavior:

Minion Buffs

There are several factors that the wave state is dependent on. While there are elements that can straight up nullify any wave measures taken by you, the opposing elements also exist.

So, on that note, here’s everything you need to remember about Minion buffs. Try to commit as much in your head as possible!

Push Buff

The team that has the higher average level of champions will gain the Push Buff on its Minions. This essentially increases the wave’s damage against enemy Minions while making itself tankier.

Here are the formulas for these damage conversions:

Bonus damage = (5% + (5% × Turret advantage of the lane)) × Team level advantage

Damage reduction = 1 + (Turret advantage of the lane × Team level advantage)

Here, the Team level advantage refers to the difference between the floating point average player level in a team and the player average level of the other team (with the max cap being 3)

Similarly, the Turret advantage is the difference between the destroyed lane Turrets on a lane from the ally and enemy side (with the minimum being 0),

The Push Buff will only take effect after the 3:30 mark, and will be effective on the already-spawned Minions as well!

Hand of Baron Buff

This buff is a temporary one that’s activated right after slaying Baron Nashor. The team that slays the Baron Nashor will be able to grant the following bonuses to their ally Minions in a specific range:

Aside from the stats, the Siege Minions will always attack outside of turret range whenever they’re buffed by Hand of Baron. Similarly, the bonus AD and AP is determined during the Baron kill time, and won’t increase even if you increase your AD later!

Hullbreaker Buff  

This buff is obtained by purchasing and equipping an item called Hullbreaker from the shop.

The effects only unlock when there’s no allied champion near you in 1400 units. Here’s what it does to allied Siege and Super Minions:

• Bonus Armor: 30 – 225 (for Super Minions, depending on level) | 15 – 112.5 (for Canon/Siege Minions, depending on level)
• Bonus Magic Resist: 30 – 225 (for Super Minions, depending on level) | 15 – 112.5 (for Canon/Siege Minions, depending on level)
• Bonus Size: 10%
• Bonus Damage Against Structures: 200%

Wave Behavior

With the basics out of the way, it’s time to take a look at how the player’s actions affect a wave state.

In general, the following terminologies apply to Minions and wave management:

Pushing

Pushing is the act of attacking the enemy Minions while keeping your allied Minions alive. Which lets the allied wave advance forward.

You might also like: LoL Music & Soundtracks

Initiating a Push

By default, the waves crash with each other and eliminate themselves with no significant advantage on any side.

However, things start to change when an allied champion attacks a wave with spells and abilities. This causes the aggression from the ally side to increase, thereby setting the wave in a Push state.

However, this push can be answered by the enemy by initiating a similar push on the wave.

If both sides are equally eliminating the wave, then the stalemate will continue, but that doesn’t happen in a normal match.

What Happens When You Push A Wave?

Since your Minions start to win the war of aggression, the number of survivors from your wave starts to stack up with the leading wave, causing it to get bigger.

This starts a chain reaction that does not stop unless and until an enemy champion or tower answers it by eliminating the wave.

What Are The Types of Pushing?

This is where it starts to get a bit nerdy, so hang on tight!

You see, pushing is the simple act of progressing a Minion wave. However, the method of pushing, and the pace of pushing, can make all the difference when it comes to wave manipulation.

With that said, here are the different kinds of Pushing strategies commonly used in League of Legends:

1. Fast Pushing

Fast pushing is the process of killing the enemy Minions quickly, and efficiently, causing the wave to push forward toward the enemy’s structures.

This is generally done to punish your laner for taking a bad recall that will result in him/her taking a while to return to the lane.

How To Fast Push A Wave?

Use your abilities as much as possible, and target the Caster Minions first as they deal the most damage.

With them down, shift your focus on the Melee Minions while leaving the Canon / Super (if any) for the last.

While just spamming your abilities will do fine, this is still currently the most efficient method of taking down waves to fast push!

Use Cases:

Here are all the famous use cases that should warrant a Fast Push:

• When your laner goes for a roam without stacking a big wave, but you’re too weak or late for a follow-up. Just fast-push the wave under his tower to make him lose Minions!
• When your laner does not have Teleport, and you manage to kill him with the wave state either in-between or toward his tower.
• You’re at a disadvantage and want to take a reset. Call your Jungler to help you with the Fast Push, and leave the enemy laner fuming!

These are just a few examples! There can be hundreds if not thousands of use cases of Fast Push – based on the in-game situation.

Also check: How to Counter Scaling Champions in League Of Legends

2. Slow Pushing

Slow pushing is the opposite of fast pushing and involves deliberately taking a slower pace and killing enemy Minions at a slower rate.

This is generally done to either time a wave crash or to stack a wave with a new wave for a cheater recall (more on this later).

How To Slow Push A Wave?

There’s no specific formula for slow-pushing a wave. Just trim the enemy Minion quantity to be less than yours.

Depending on how slow you want to push it, you can leave as many or as less Minions as you want on the enemy side. A good number would be around 4 enemy Minions for 6 allied Minions.

Technically speaking, deleting the enemy Caster Minions and leaving it at that is the best way to create a slow push during the laning phase. However, all of this is pretty dynamic, and will depend a lot on your champion, so experiment to see what works best!

Use Cases:

Here are all the famous use cases that should warrant a Slow Push:

• You want to crash a wave big enough at the enemy tower such that you’re able to walk back to the lane without the enemy being able to crash its wave on your tower.

  This is usually done in the Mid Lane (due to the distance being short) and is known as a Cheater Recall in LoL terms.

• In the post-laning state of the game, where you build up a slow push in either of the side lanes that automatically builds up and crashes at the tower.

  Best used before an objective is up so that the enemy team HAS to answer it, or they risk losing a tower.

These are just the most common use cases. You can decide to get creative with it in your own way, but that requires a high level of game knowledge to pull off. Just experiment with it until you got the formula down.

3. Freezing

Freezing is when you kill just enough Minions for that wave and the upcoming waves to come to a halt at a specific spot.

Holding a Freeze for an indefinite amount of time is borderline impossible. It’s best used to set up a gank for ally Jungler, or to deny Minions.

How To Freeze A Wave?

There’s no specific formula for freezing a wave. Just trim the enemy Minion quantity to be a little more than yours, such that you’re able to last-hit the Minions without damaging the ratio.

One prerequisite though is that all the enemy Minions should be focused on one single Minion from your wave at a time, else the freeze would not hold up for long.

This mechanic is pretty dynamic, and its learning curve is more in-line with muscle memory mechanics like throwing a Nidalee spear, or executing a Yasuo airblade in time.

Use Cases:

Here are all the possible use cases that should warrant a Freeze:

• You want to make the opponent bleed Minions. Freeze the wave when he wants to recall, and hold it close to your tower to make him overextend.

  Ask for a gank, or solo kill him, depending on your situation.

• Think your champion is insanely stronger than the opponent? Freeze the wave near your tower, so you have all the spacing you need to catch up and beat the enemy to a pulp for trying to farm!
• Want a gank? Once again, freeze the wave near your tower to make it easier for the Jungler to help you out!

These are just the most common use cases. You won’t want to freeze a wave needlessly, because while it does make the enemy bleed Minions, it also pins your movement down to the same spot.

If you leave, the enemy wave will crash, and you’ll lose just as much. Fast Pushing it is also tough, since the wave is going to be bigger than yours.

Therefore, it’s only useful when you don’t need to be online on the map!

Pulling

Pulling waves refers to dragging the enemy Minions towards you. By doing this, you delay their arrival at your tower, allowing you to set up a freeze, a situation where you can control the wave by keeping it close to your tower.

When you have a freeze, the enemy has to overextend to farm, which puts them in a vulnerable position.

How to Pull Waves?

To pull a wave, you need to attract the attention of the enemy Minions. You can do this by attacking an enemy champion near the wave or by positioning yourself in the path of the enemy Minions. Once you have the attention of the Minions, lead them away from their normal path.

If done correctly, you will be able to move the wave towards you, causing it to stack up. Once the wave is stacked, you can then thin it out by killing a few of the Minions. This will create a slow push that can be used to take down a tower.

When to Pull Waves?

Pulling waves is a technique that can be used at any stage of the game. However, it’s most effective during the early game when players are weaker and more vulnerable. Pulling waves during the early game can set up a freeze that can be used to deny the enemy laner farm and experience.

Later in the game, pulling waves can be used to create slow pushes that can be used to pressure objectives such as towers or inhibitors.

Pulling waves is also essential for slow pushing, a technique where you create a large Minion wave that can take down a tower while you focus on other objectives.

Slow pushing can force the enemy to make tough decisions, such as whether to defend their tower or leave it undefended to deal with another threat.

Farming

Farming is the simple behavior of last-hitting the enemy Minions to obtain additional bounty gold.

You will be Farming almost the entirety of the game until you reach the point where gold does not matter anymore.

Considering most League of Legends games don’t last any longer than 25 minutes, the chances of that happening is very unlikely.

Types of Farming

Believe it or not, there are specific set of methodologies when it comes to farming. The concept is quite abstract compared to something like Pushing, but it’s still there.

With that said, let’s take a look at what this section has to offer:

Free Farming

Free Farming, as the name suggests, is the act of dealing with the wave as you may without the presence of an enemy laner to confront you.

In such cases, you can just focus on farming as much as possible while finding those occasional roams (by implementing the stacking part of a cheater recall), and getting your team ahead.

Proxy Farming

This concept is pretty popular in the top lane. Tired of playing the lane? Just flip the board. In order to Proxy farm, you need to go behind the enemy tower and clear the Minion wave without the aid of your wave.

This will cause the allied waves to strike the tower directly, resulting in your opponent laner getting stuck dealing with the wave in order to not lose any Minions.

Issues With Proxy Farming

Proxying is a pretty common strategy in the higher elo, but it’s also that difficult to execute. For starters:

• The enemy Jungler can straight up kill you.
• You usually don’t have any forever-healing methods, so you will have to stop at one point.
• Reaching the wave between the towers itself is a big issue, since you need lane prio for that, and let’s say you’re doomed if the enemy Jungler discovers you loitering around.

When to Proxy Farm

Here are some general scenarios where proxying waves can be useful:

• When you have a strong waveclear and your opponent has weak early-game waveclear: If you have the ability to clear waves quickly and your opponent struggles to do so, you can push the wave behind their turret to deny them CS and experience. This can give you a significant advantage in the early game.
• When you are ahead and want to deny the enemy laner farm: If you have a lead and want to keep your opponent from getting any CS, you can proxy waves to keep the Minions away from their turret. This can force them to either overextend and risk being ganked, or miss out on valuable gold and experience.
• When you want to draw attention away from other parts of the map: If you are playing a split-pushing champion and want to draw the enemy team’s attention away from objectives like Dragon or Baron, you can proxy waves to force someone on the enemy team to come deal with you.

Recalling

In League of Legends, recalling is an essential part of the game as it allows you to restore your health and mana, buy items, and quickly return to your lane or objective.

 Aside from being essential, a good recall can also help you build advantages against your laner even if you’re going dead even.

What is the Best Time to Recall?

Here are some common scenarios in which you should recall:

Low Health or Mana

If you’re low on health or mana, it’s a good idea to recall to regenerate your resources. Staying in the lane with low health or mana can put you at risk of being killed by your opponent or ganked by the enemy Jungler.

However, it can also act as good bait if your Jungler is nearby. Now, execution is everything in such scenarios. The last thing you’d want is the enemy laner getting a double-kill. Therefore, it’s still better to recall, unless you’re absolutely confident in the play.

After a Kill or Successful Trade

If you manage to get a kill or win a trade against your opponent, it’s a good time to recall to buy items and come back to the lane stronger. This can give you a significant advantage in the laning phase.

However, there’s no need to give up the current aggression just because you got a kill. There can be situations where pushing the wave might make more sense than simply leaving it as-is or there might be scenarios where you’re better off taking some objectives than recalling.

Always adopt a dynamic thought process, and be flexible when needed.

After Pushing the Wave:

If you push the wave into your opponent’s turret, it’s a good time to recall as the Minions will take some time to reset, and you won’t miss out on any farm or experience.

However, if you’re able to maintain your aggression and the enemy Jungler doesn’t seem to be anywhere close, consider staying as long as possible to deny farm to your enemy.

If he moves up, just poke him continuously – until he gives up, and recalls, giving you even more of an advantage.

To join a Team Fight or Contest an Objective:

If there’s a team fight or objective like Dragon or Baron being contested, it’s a good idea to recall to join your team and be as strong as possible for the fight.

You would want to be the best possible version of you in the teamfights, as one little mistake can tip off the entirety of the game in the enemy’s favor.

Unless you’re sneaking an objective, it’s always a good idea to recall beforehand, so you’re able to exchange blows for blows when the time comes for a teamfight.

When You’re at Low Health or Mana and Don’t Have a Safe Escape:

If you’re low on health or mana and don’t have a safe way to escape from a potential gank or enemy engage, it’s better to recall and heal up rather than risk dying.

Remember, this is only useful if you don’t have any other way of getting out of the situation. Recalling at bad timings can -at times-  make you lose a lot of farm, causing you to fall back compared to your opposing laner.

Zoning

Zoning is a strategy that involves positioning yourself in such a way as to control the flow of Minions in your lane. By doing so, you can prevent your opponent from getting last hits on Minions, which denies them gold and experience.

This can be especially effective in the early game, when players are most vulnerable and gold and experience are at a premium.

How To Zone Your Opponent

To successfully zone your opponent, you need to be aware of the range of your champion’s abilities and auto-attacks, as well as the range of your opponent’s champion.

By positioning yourself in a way that allows you to threaten your opponent with your abilities and auto-attacks, you can force them to stay back and miss last hits.

This can be done by standing in the path of your opponent’s Minions, or by hiding in the brush and waiting for them to overextend.

Tips and Tricks for Zoning

Use the Brush to Your Advantage: The brush can be a powerful tool in zoning your opponent. By standing in the brush and waiting for your opponent to come near, you can surprise them with a quick burst of damage and force them to retreat.

Minion Management:

Proper Minion management is crucial to successful zoning. By manipulating the wave of Minions, you can force your opponent to make difficult decisions and deny them last hits.

Threaten with Abilities:

Using your champion’s abilities to threaten your opponent can be a highly effective zoning technique. For example, if you are playing a champion with a long-range skillshot, you can position yourself in a way that allows you to threaten your opponent with the skillshot, forcing them to stay back and miss last hits.

Keep an Eye on Your Opponent’s Jungler:

Zoning can be risky, especially if your opponent’s Jungler is lurking nearby. Keep an eye on the minimap and be ready to retreat if you see the Jungler approaching.

Be Mindful of Your Own Positioning:

Zoning can be a delicate balancing act. If you overextend or position yourself too aggressively, you can leave yourself vulnerable to ganks or enemy abilities.

The Benefits of Zoning

Zoning your opponent can have a number of benefits, including:

• Denying Your Opponent Gold and Experience: By preventing your opponent from getting last hits on Minions, you can deny them gold and experience, putting you ahead in the early game.
• Creating Opportunities for Kills: By forcing your opponent to stay back and miss last hits, you can create opportunities for kills by engaging them when they are vulnerable.
• Dictating the Pace of the Game: Zoning can give you greater control over the pace of the game, allowing you to set the tone and dictate the flow of the match.

Aside from these, effective zoning can essentially help you understand the upper and lower limits of your champion’s capability!

Split Pushing

Split pushing is a strategy that can help players gain a significant advantage over their opponents in League of Legends. This approach involves pushing a single lane, while the rest of the team defends or pushes other lanes.

The goal is to force the enemy team to split up and respond to the threat, giving your team an opportunity to take objectives or engage in favorable team fights.

How to Split Push in LoL?

To successfully execute a split push strategy, players need to consider several factors. These include choosing the right champion, understanding the lane dynamics, knowing when to push and when to retreat, and effectively communicating with your team.

We will break down each of these elements in detail, providing you with the knowledge and skills necessary to successfully split push in League of Legends.

Choosing the Right Champion

The first step in executing a successful split push strategy is choosing the right champion.

 Not all champions are suited for split pushing, as they may lack the mobility, wave-clear, or dueling potential necessary to effectively push a lane. Champions that excel at split pushing include Fiora, Jax, Tryndamere, and Zed, among others.

When choosing a champion, you should consider their strengths and weaknesses, as well as their compatibility with your team composition.

Understanding Lane Dynamics

Once you have chosen your champion, the next step is to understand the dynamics of the lane you plan to push.

This involves knowing when and where to push, as well as when to back off and avoid getting ganked. In general, it’s best to push the lane when there are no enemy champions nearby and to retreat when you sense danger.

Additionally, it’s important to keep an eye on the minimap and communicate with your team to avoid getting caught off guard.

Knowing When to Push and When to Retreat

Split pushing requires a delicate balance between pushing and retreating. If you push too aggressively, you may get caught by the enemy team, leading to a lost objective or team fight.

If you retreat too often, you may not make progress in pushing the lane, giving the enemy team time to respond. To strike the right balance, it’s essential to read the game and respond to the enemy team’s movements.

When they are preoccupied with other objectives, you can push harder, and when they start to respond, you should back off and reposition.

Communicating with Your Team

Effective communication is critical in split pushing. You need to keep your team informed of your movements, so they can respond accordingly.

Additionally, you should be aware of your team’s movements and objectives, so you can adjust your push accordingly.

When you see an opportunity to take an objective or engage in a team fight, you should communicate with your team to coordinate your efforts.

Benefits of Split Pushing

Effective split pushing can result in the following for your team:

1. Pressuring Multiple Lanes

Split pushing is a great way to pressure multiple lanes and force your opponents to make tough decisions.

By splitting your team, you force the enemy team to split up as well, which can give you a significant advantage. If your opponents choose to defend one lane, you can push the other lanes and take objectives, such as turrets and inhibitors.

This pressure also forces your opponents to respond, which can lead to them making mistakes and giving you further advantages.

2. Map Control

Split pushing also gives you more control over the map. By pushing different lanes, you can create a situation where your opponents have to respond, which means that they will be more predictable in their movements.

This can help you to set up ambushes, take control of key objectives, and ultimately gain an advantage in team fights.

3. Outmaneuvering Your Opponents

Split pushing can also be used as a way to outmaneuver your opponents. By forcing them to respond to your pushes, you can create opportunities for your team to make plays.

 For example, if your opponents are defending one lane, you can use the opportunity to take Baron Nashor or Dragon, which can give you a significant advantage in team fights.

4. Creating Space for Your Team

Split pushing also creates space for your team to operate. By drawing your opponents away from your team, you create opportunities for your team to engage in team fights or take objectives.

This can be particularly useful when your team is behind, as it can give you the time and space you need to catch up.

5. Boosting Your Farm

Split pushing can also boost your farm, as you will be taking down turrets and Minions in multiple lanes.

This can give you a significant gold advantage, which can be used to purchase more items and gain a further advantage over your opponents.

6. Demoralizing Your Opponents

Finally, split pushing can be used to demoralize your opponents. By constantly applying pressure to multiple lanes, you can create a sense of panic and desperation in your opponents.

This can cause them to make mistakes, which can lead to you gaining further advantages and ultimately winning the game.

Also check: How to Apply Map Pressure in League of Legends?

Matchup-Based Wave Management in LoL

League of Legends is a game of strategy and tactics, and one of the key elements of success in the game is wave management. Understanding how to manipulate the waves of Minions that spawn in the game can give you a significant advantage over your opponents.

However, wave management is not a one-size-fits-all strategy – it’s important to take the specific matchup into account in order to optimize your wave management for each game.

In this section, we’ll discuss the importance of matchup-based wave management, as well as some key strategies for dominant, weakside, and even matchups.

Understanding Matchups in League of Legends

Before we dive into specific strategies for wave management, it’s important to have a basic understanding of matchups. In League of Legends, a matchup refers to the specific combination of champions on each team, as well as their respective roles and positions on the map. The three main types of matchups are dominant, weakside, and even.

A dominant matchup is one in which one team’s champion has a significant advantage over the other team’s champion in terms of damage, mobility, or some other key attribute. In a weakside matchup, one team’s champion is at a disadvantage compared to the other team’s champion. An even matchup, as the name suggests, is one in which both champions are relatively evenly matched in terms of strengths and weaknesses.

Understanding the type of matchup you’re in is critical for effective wave management. In a dominant matchup, for example, you’ll want to be aggressive early in the game to take advantage of your champion’s strength and pressure the other team. In a weakside matchup, you’ll need to focus on defensive play and keeping the wave near your tower. In an even matchup, you’ll need to be adaptable and make strategic decisions based on the situation.

Dominant Matchups

In a dominant matchup, your goal should be to push the wave aggressively to pressure the other team and deny them as much gold and experience as possible. To do this, you’ll want to focus on last-hitting Minions and using your abilities to clear the wave quickly. Additionally, you’ll want to try to harass the other team’s champion as much as possible, either by landing skill shots or auto attacks, to force them to back off and give you more control over the wave.

Once you’ve established control of the wave, it’s important to maintain that advantage. This means keeping the wave near the other team’s tower so that they have to overextend to farm, making them vulnerable to ganks. However, be careful not to push too hard and leave yourself open to ganks from the other team. Remember that your goal is to control the wave, not necessarily to take the tower.

Weakside Matchups

In a weakside matchup, your goal is to survive and keep the wave near your tower. This can be challenging, as the other team will likely be pressuring you to try to take advantage of their advantage. However, with the right strategies, you can successfully manage the wave and deny the other team as much gold and experience as possible.

The key to successful wave management in a weakside matchup is to focus on last-hitting Minions and only using your abilities to clear the wave when necessary. You’ll also want to be mindful of the other team’s position on the map and avoid overextending. If you do find yourself pushed back to your tower, it’s important to maintain control of the wave by only killing Minions when necessary and allowing the tower to do as much damage as possible.

Even Matchups

In an even matchup, wave management is all about maintaining a neutral wave state. This means neither pushing nor pulling the wave too hard in either direction. If you push too hard, you risk leaving yourself vulnerable to ganks or losing control of the wave. If you pull too hard, you risk the other team taking advantage of your position and pressuring you.

To maintain a neutral wave state, focus on last-hitting Minions and only use your abilities to clear the wave when necessary. If the other team is trying to push the wave, use your abilities to match their wave clear and keep the wave near the center of the lane. If they are trying to freeze the wave near their tower, use your abilities to break the freeze and keep the wave moving.

One key strategy in an even matchup is to manipulate the wave to deny the other team vision and map control. By pushing the wave just enough to force the other team to overextend, you can create opportunities for your team to roam and make plays elsewhere on the map.

Conclusion

In conclusion, managing waves in League of Legends is an essential skill that can significantly impact your gameplay and success in the game. By understanding wave management techniques such as freezing, slow pushing, and fast pushing, you can gain an advantage over your opponents by denying them gold and experience, creating pressure on the map, and setting up opportunities for ganks and objectives.

It’s important to keep in mind that wave management is not a one-size-fits-all strategy and requires constant adaptation to the current game state. Therefore, staying aware of the mini-map, enemy positioning, and objective timers is crucial in making informed decisions on how to manipulate the waves.

By mastering wave management, you’ll be able to improve your lane control, increase your overall gold income, and ultimately, improve your chances of winning. So, put in the time and effort to practice and refine your wave management skills, and you’ll be on your way to becoming a better League of Legends player.

Also check out: How to lane against Singed