Wave Management in LoL – The Ultimate Guide

Welcome to another League of Legends guide, this time we will not give you advice on which champion to choose for mid lane, or which items are best for support champions. Instead, today we will give you the best advice on something you should have learned a long time ago – it’s called wave management. 

Wave management is something that every successful League of Legends player needs to know in order to be on par with the best League of Legends players in the rankings. If you are an active League of Legends player then you certainly know the term “wave management” but you may not know what exactly it means to become successful in this skill. 

Keep reading, in this guide we will explain everything you need to know about “wave management”.

If you ask League of Legends players how they progress in their matches, most will think that it is enough to win games and win some kill. Well, don’t forget that League of Legends is first and foremost a team game and often pure luck can decide the winner, as well as the fact that there can always be stronger players who will be able to carry the whole game on their own.

Many players forget the basic rules of the League of Legends game, for example, the ADC champion should be the player who knows how to farm best and who will have the most minions killed throughout the game. 

Furthermore, there are rules that apply precisely to cleaning lanes from annoying minions. And this is a real skill that a League of Legends player who is considered successful must learn and apply in every game.

This skill is popularly called wave management. Yes, you are a manager and your job is to control your lane. Wave management gives you and your team a big advantage, if it is well made. 

Also, wave management can provide you with large amounts of gold in very little time, which in turn allows your champion to buy the necessary items as soon as possible and thus bring your potential and strength to a peak before enemy champions. We will now explain to you what is actually behind the term “wave management”.

Also Check Out: How Much Farm Should You Have in 10 Minutes in LoL?

What is Wave Management in League of Legends?

Let’s explain what exactly wave management is and why it’s a must to learn it if you want to improve your League of Legends skill. And of course, the steps on how to become the best wave manager on Summoner’s Rift.

We’ll start from the beginning – so wave management can most simply be described as a strategy by which a player controls the minions in his lane. Not to be confused, this is not the same as farming because farming is something basic and “mandatory” that every player does with already automated movements, from match to match. 

Remember that learning wave management is a long and demanding task, and that you will not become a professional if you just read this guide. You need to set aside enough time to practice for your new skill to come to the fore.

Why Is Wave Management Important In League of Legends?

To win the match, of course! Nah, we’re kidding, but we’re not far from the truth. Players who perfect wave management will have a much higher chance of successfully winning a match than players for whom wave management is a unfamiliar concept.

One of the benefits of wave management is that you prevent the enemy champion from killing your minions and thus clearing the lane and winning gold. Also, this allows yourself and your team a clear passage into the enemy jungle and the opportunity to kill Baron Nashor before the enemy team.

With a wave management strategy you can also make the minions control the lanes without your presence, that they themselves set out to demolish the turrets. Enemy players can easily ignore this because they will try to fight with your team, so they won’t even notice that your minions have embarked on a devastating campaign.

But, as with any strategy, it is important to create a plan first so that you can implement it. Each player individually decides when is the right time to implement this strategy, and this will depend on a variety of factors.

Now let’s say something about the four techniques we associate with wave management.

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Four Wave Management Techniques – Pushing, Freezing, Bouncing And Stacking

Pushing 

Pushing the lane is the simplest wave management technique. This means that in a very short time you need to kill all the enemy minions that are in your lane. That way your minions will have an open passage to get under the enemy turret and die there. However, you have to be careful not to miss the last hit on enemy minions, this is very important. 

With the last hit you win more gold, and that’s the whole point of pushing. Win as much gold as possible in the shortest time possible. And remember that your minions must reach the enemy turret, that is the goal of this technique.

Freezing 

Freezing the lane is the opposite of pushing the lane, but this is a slightly more complicated technique. All you have to do is keep the enemy minions in one place while killing them at the same time. 

You should also not forget the last hit, because in this way you clean the lane so that your minions can reach the enemy turret without any problems, which is the goal. You need to let your minions do most of the work in killing enemy minions, and you just need to practice last-hitting on them. 

The point is that minions do not die fast but slow, and your champion can help by standing in front of your minions so that enemy minions can shoot the champion and not the minions. Be careful when you do this because that’s how your champion loses health.

Bouncing

Bouncing technique is used in cases when there are more of your minions in your lane compared to enemy minions. With bouncing, the minion wave will go to the turret where they will be killed, and this will allow the minions to find themselves in the middle of the lane. 

Players use this technique when they want to balance the minion waves, because if the minions are in the middle of the lane again it is much easier to control them again.

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Stacking

And the last of these four techniques, stacking, refers to a combination of freezing and pushing. The player should let the minion wave be increased, this takes a little over a minute. No need to push the lane until the wave is numerically increased, once it increases it should be sent to the turret. 

A big wave can be achieved by first killing an enemy minion before embarking on a freezing technique. After that allied minions will die slower and thus automatically create a big wave. When the wave is big enough, it is sent to the turret. With that, you can dive the opponent, push the turret or recall without missing any minion.

Conclusion

Now you know the basics of wave management. You have learned what wave management is, what its purpose is and when it is used. By using these four techniques you can significantly improve your gaming skill and increase the chances of your team winning a match. 

If you are interested in what it looks like in practice, check out some of the famous League of Legends streamers who explained what wave management is during the match. 

These techniques are not difficult to learn, but to use them properly takes a lot of time and practice, so invest your effort and time in learning wave management properly to reach the very top of the League of Legends rankings. Good luck and have fun!