League of Legends Guide to Mid Lane! Hello guys, here is another guide but for mid lane that i promised. It will be a little long, but there is all the most important things Mid lane is one of the most important roles in the entire game of League of Legends and in order to play this lane effectively, you must know this role inside out. Mid lane has control over every other lane and has the best access to any action happening across the map. Last Hitting The goal should be to hit all of the minions that come into lane. If you are inexperienced at last hitting focus on playing champions with large area of effect moves that are easy to farm with. This will improve you creep score astronomically and make you one step closer to winning the game. Choosing a Champion It is best to choose a champion that you are familiar with and that plays against the enemy champion well. Counter picking is an essential tool that will give you an extreme advantage in lane. Although counter picking is important, a higher skilled player will out play you even if you picked a counter. This is a lot more difficult but it can still happen. Common mid picks and their counter 1. Ahri Ahri is countered by champions that are able to burst here down quickly before she has the ability to ult and kite. Notice how these champions have heavy CC to have the ability to burst her down quickly. Leblanc Very strong burst and silence. Viegar Strong burst and stun. Viegar's passive allows her to burst down any ap with ease. Annie The match up may be a little tougher but landing an ult stun should be able to shut Ahri down. Be sure to harass and kill. 2. Brand Brand is a strong mid but has lost some of his prowess. He fairs well vs most aps with the right build but can be easily countered. He relies on skill shots so the key to winning lane is to avoid being hit by these skill shots and win trades. Leblanc Leblanc can burst Brand relatively easily and her silence shuts down any counter attacks. If he cannot land his stun he cannot kill you. Ryze Ryze can lose to Brand but as the game progresses his advantage becomes bigger and bigger. After Ryze begins building magic resistance its gg vs Brand. 3. Cassiopeia Cassiopeia is a very strong mid pick and has very few counters. She has one of the strongest laning phases and the game and can be tough to beat. Leblanc Leblanc can beat Cassiopeia by harassing her often and zoning her. Be sure to land skill shots and deny her in lane. Sion Sion is good vs Cassiopeia because he can farm take some harass. Although he can shield damage Cassiopeia can burst through and create problems. Galio Galio is a great counter because he can farm in lane against mages and not die. This makes him a counter to Cassiopeia. 4. Karthus In order to win lane vs Karthus you must avoid his skill shots and attempt to deny him. Champions that fair well against him are those that can sustain and burst him down He is really squishy and assassins like Talon can kill him with ease. Morgana Her snare combined with her spell shield makes her effective at closing gaps and sustaining damage. If you are able to land snares she will easy win against Karthus. Talon Talon's silence makes him a pest to deal with in lane. Karthus has low base armor making it relatively easy to burst him down with Talon. 5. Kassadin Kassadin loses lane to ad bruiser type champions that can harass him out of lane a deny him the ability to roam and farm. Talon Talon can use q to harass when Kassadin tries to cs and makes Kassadin's passive useless. Pantheon Can poke with his spear shot and follow up on ganks with his ult. Tryndamere Trynd has a gap closer that can make it easy to close the gap and do damage. 6. Kennen Kennen is very strong and has very few counters. His counters are able to trade with him in lane a burst him down. Leblanc Leblanc's silence and strong burst makes her a great pick against Kennen. She is able to burst him out of lane and deny him farm. 7. Leblanc Champions that counter Leblanc are champions that can take large amounts of magic damage without dying. Leblanc is strong vs squishy champions and weak against those that can sustain damage. Sion If you time your shields right with sion, you will win lane vs Leblanc. She will not be able to burst you and if she try to harass, she will run out of mana and get denied. Galio Galio's skill set allows him to take high magic damage. Leblanc will have trouble harassing and will probably fall off late game while you become stronger. The trick is to farm and not die. 8. Mordekaiser Mordekaiser is a strong lane choice who has a passive that allows him to shield damage. This makes hit very hard to poke him. Champions that do well vs him are those that can take damage and burst through the shield. Ryze Ryze can beat up Morde when he gains levels and mana. If played Ryze vs Morde be sure to run mana runes to help you harass him without running out of mana. Galio He can take damage and farm well against Mordekaiser. 9. Ryze Ryze is a very powerful mage but he can be countered. Leblanc is able to melt Ryze at lower levels and cause him to be behind and useless late game. Cassiopeia If Cassiopeia lands skills shots she can easily win lane against Ryze. Trading in Lane: Trading is vital to the winning of you lane and the eventual winning of the game. You need to be able to do as much damage to the enemy as you can while taking the least amount of damage possible. Sounds like common sense because it is. It may be common sense but the execution of proper trading is the hard part. Attempt to land as many skill shots and abilities as you can and do it with this least possible danger. Roaming Roaming is very effective in stacking kills for you team and helping securing a victory. As mid lane it is your job to help overextended lanes as well as follow up on the enemy mid laner roaming. Tips on Roaming Always push out the lane before roaming. This is so that you do not lose gold and cs before leaving the lane. Also if the enemy mid is not in lane the minions will get killed by the tower and the enemy will lose experience and gold. League of Legends is just as much about denying the enemy as getting strong yourself. If the enemy mid is roaming take tower or follow up. Determining whether to follow up on an enemy gank from mid can be a tough decision to make. Follow the mid if you know where he is going and you can turn the fight on the enemy and counter the gank. If the enemy mid is already bottom lane for a gank, push mid because by the time you react the action will be over. By pushing the lane you deny the enemy mid experience and gold and punish him if the gank is unsuccessful. Buy and oracles if the map is infested with wards. Normally people think that oracles are only for support players, but this is not the truth. Being mid lane you have a lot more gold income than your support and you can buy oracles a lot earlier. If the ward is infested with wards you will deny the enemy map control and gain the ability to stack kills with stealthy ganks. Map Awareness Map awareness is one of the most important tools in the arsenal of a mid lane. If you see the enemy in your jungle react. React quickly. You can easy turn a 1v1 in to a 2v1 and sway the game in your favor. Take advantage of enemy deaths If you killed the bottom lane or the jungler set up for a dragon. Always take advantage of any kills you get on the enemy team. If someone is dead you can easily get a dragon or baron stacking gold and advantages for your team Don't over estimate yourself When you are powerful it is easy to get a big head and think you invincible. Be smart. Stupid mistakes can easily lose you games. Even if you are ahead do not engage in 4v5s when your team is down. Better safe than sorry is a great saying that should be followed when playing League. Stay out of the enemy jungle if you are alone Do not roam in the enemy jungle without your team. If you do you will die and people will rage at you. Pay attention to who is missing on the map and if 5 are missing then you should assume they are grouped or coming after you. Ward: Do not be the person that says that only supports are responsible for buying wards and blame every death you have on the support. If you watch tournaments you can see that every single lane buys wards. It is impossible for the support to cover you lane during the laning phase. Wards win games! Wards win games and if you do not buy them you can easily spiral into a feeding frenzy. Wards prevent ganks If you have your lane warded then it is extremely hard for the enemy jungler to gank you and even if he does your jungler has time to react and can counter gank. Wards also keep taps on your lane opponent and gives your team insight in if they are getting ganked from your lane. Where to ward? You should attempt to ward choke points in the river that allow your team to see if your lane is roaming. Also ward in places that the jungler is know to gank from. If their jungler keeps ganking you from the left, ward the left. Simple as pie.
