AD's State of the Game - Ft. Chaox of TSM

Whether its just due to player preference, or in-game tweaks and balances, the meta-game is constantly changing in League of Legends. You remember when everyone was playing Urgot? How about when people were running Soraka / Karthus. or the roaming Alistar? Today we're gonna be discussing the top tier meta-game that's going on in bottom lane. Is one AD considered the best while some are considered the worst? We'll find out.

The Key Players: With the recent change by Riot to somewhat balance all the ranged ADs, it seems like more or less, all of them are viable. However, just like it was before, some heroes are just better cut out for the job than others. Chaox takes the time to discuss some of the reasoning behind this.

xcyteZ: So what AD's are more or less viable in the current state of the game?

Chaox: Heroes like Sivir, Graves, Vayne, Corki, Cait are definitely more viable in solo que but Kog'Maw and Ezreal also have their place in competitive matches.

xcyteZ: Why are AD's such as Ezreal, Urgot, or Tristana less popular? Is it because they are just flat out worse than the others? Or is it because they have a much smaller niche in which they were effective? 

Chaox: I don't feel like they're necessarily worse than the more popular ADs. Like you mentioned, those heroes are definitely more team comp oriented. Ezreal fits well into a poke comp while Urgot is a good pick against a heavily AD stacked team due to Frozen Heart.

xcyteZ: If you had to pick, would you say there's currently an AD that's just flat out better than the rest right now?

Chaox: Yea most definitely. Graves is all around the best AD right now. He's got a good laning phase, good single target and AoE damage for team fights.

Twitch, The Plague Rat: No love for you? Apparently not. I'm sure in solo que he is viable...to a certain extent. But against the likes of a top-tier AD player coupled with a strong AD. There's just no way that Twitch would ever stand a chance in the laning phase. Why? Well it's quite obvious once you take a couple minutes to think about it but I'll quickly explain the biggest reason why.

• His Burst: Twitch's burst potential is great. However, unlike most of the champions, he takes so much longer to do it. In order for twitch to really punish you, he'll have to attack you, then slow you, then attack you a few more times, then expunge. This is like a 4-5 second process. If you get stunned or silenced during this you're pretty much screwed. Not to mention even if you do get the whole combo off, you've just used close to half your mana.

In no way shape of form can Twitch effectively trade vs. any of the top-tier AD's because their DPS is just far greater. Sadly, if it wasn't for his weak laning phase, I could most definitely see more teams using Twitch as their AD carry as his skill set outside of lane is rather strong in a 5v5 scenario.

The Reality: Ever since high level League of Legends has turned the bottom lane into a duel of Support + AD vs. Support + AD, it's really just been the same few heroes that have been on a revolving door. Even though teams like "Rock Solid" aka: "Dignitas" have experimented with some interesting support picks, heroes like Janna, Taric, Sona, and Soraka have been the only ones to truly withstand the test of time. Likewise, it seems like the AD picks are pretty much being cycled through in accordance with the in-game tweaks and balances that Riot implements. Have the players just run out of creative steam? Or have we just found the best of the best? Hopefully it's not the latter.

COME BACK TOMORROW FOR A FIRST IMPRESSION ANALYSIS OF VIKTOR

Viktor, The Machine Herald 1st Impressions

Hey guys I feel kinda dumb for posting the sneak preview only a couple hours before the champion spotlight came out but...a sneak preview is a sneak preview right? :P Anyways, now that the hero is actually out I'm gonna talk about how he actually plays out in a game. Watching the spotlight and reading the article should give you a pretty decent feel for the champion. Is this hero a 6300 Dump? Or is he the up and coming flavor of the month?

Background: So it's 4AM, and was doing some 1v1's against a few friends. I click on the store to see how I can spend my Riot points. Sure enough I notice Viktor in the store. Being as tired as I was, I just bought him without even watching the Summoner Spotlight like a boss. Let me warn you that this 1st impressions will be done in a very blunt and unprofessional manner.

With that being said, wow what a terrible investment. If hero purchases came with receipts, I'd return the shit out of this guy.

Skill Coverage: 

• Power Transfer: Viktor blasts an enemy unit for magic damage, returning 40% of the damage dealt before reduction as a shield for 3 seconds.

So on paper this skill sounds great right? Deals damage and I get a shield? Awesome. Nope! Turns out the range on this thing is pretty small, any half-decent player will be able to move back to avoid getting harassed with this. It's easily telegraphed in the sense that people will most definitely see it coming when Viktor is moving straight towards you past his creep set. "Hmm, I wonder what he wants to do?"

Not to mention the fact that even if it does land, it doesn't trade well against the other nukes that other AP's bring to the table. The reason being that the shield just comes up too late. Most of the time the damage is done to you before the spell bounces off your opponent to shield you. Pretty worthless.

• Gravity Field: Viktor conjures a gravitational imprisonment device in an area near him, slowing all enemies that pass above it. Whilst under its effect, enemies generate stacks every 0.5 seconds; at 3 stacks the target will be stunned for 1.5 seconds.

This is Viktor's only saving grace in my eyes, this stun, if placed correctly is really amazing. However, without augmenting it, the range on this spell is also very short making it difficult to cast safely in team fights and making it too easy to avoid in the laning phase.

• Death Ray: Viktor uses his robotic arm to fire a chaos beam that sweeps across the field in a chosen path, dealing magic damage to every enemy it hits.

The damage on this is pretty good, and even better when augmented. However it's not very user friendly. Think of the aiming mechanic on this skill to be like Rumble's ultimate. Also, like his other two spells, the range on it is fairly short so before you get used to it, you'll find yourself wanting to cast it slightly further than it can go. I can see how Riot wanted you to use this in succession with "Gravity Field" as a full combo. But in lane, its rather awkward to use the first few times.

• Chaos Storm: Viktor conjures a chaos storm at the target location, dealing magic damage and silencing enemies in the area for 0.5 seconds. As it churns, the storm deals magic damage every second to nearby enemies for 7 seconds. Activating this ability again while the singularity is active will redirect it. The storm moves faster the closer it is to Viktor.

So the idea behind this is really cool. It definitely fit's inside Riot's plan of making Viktor a more sustained damage mage as opposed to the generic burst style that's been popular. However, to really make this skill viable, I feel as though you are somewhat forced to augment his "Power Transfer" to get movement speed increases so that you can keep the cloud moving at a decent pace. Casting this at long range makes it fairly easy to walk out of until you get Rylai's Crystal Scepter.

• Evolving Technology (Passive): Viktor starts with an item that takes up one of his item slots, the Hex Core ,that provides him with stats and can be upgraded in the store to augment one of his abilities and improve its stats. The Hex Core can only be upgraded once, for 1200 gold, and cannot be sold back to the store.

At max level, this provides you with a different variety of stats. In terms of cost efficiency I'd say it's definitely worth investing 1200. However, it does take up a spot in your inventory only allowing you to purchase 5 items as opposed to 6. Also, it's only strong throughout the mid-game. It's clearly not stronger than a big AP item. To have the item last you, I'd say his Death Ray: Augment will definitely carry you the longest. The concept behind this is really cool but feels like Viktor really does need the augmented extras to his skill set. Without it he'd obviously be even weaker than what I see him as right now.

Wheres his Place in the Meta? Can he Jungle? Can he mid? Can he go top? At this moment in time Viktor is having a hard time finding his niche. In mid he will be out laned due his lack of sustain, poor trading capabilities, and lack of burst to really pose a threat against the high tier APs.

At top, he may have SOME success, but ultimately he'll have the same problems as a Viktor going mid just in a different form. Most heroes will be too tanky for him to burst down and his lack of sustain is once again going to be a problem. Top laners usually have gap closers and theres no way that Viktor can fight hand to hand against a majority of the champions you will see in top lane. He'll pretty much be forced to "Gravity Field" any time a champion gets on top of him.

As for the jungle, this is something I'm going to have to try...actually I'm gonna try it right after this post and give you guys some more insight. However, off the top of my head, it doesn't seem it it'd be that bad. His jungle clear time may be rather slow in comparison to the more pronounced junglers, but his skill set can definitely be dangerous when ganking.

UPDATE: Tried jungling, his shield doesn't prevent enough damage and you're just too weak. Also, like I predicted, his clear time is very slow. Only good for trolling lol.

Final Thoughts: At this current moment in time Viktor is most definitely, DEFINITELY, weaker than he is strong. His skills aren't bad in their own right, but they definitely need a little tweaking. If they increased the range on his spells by a bit, and increased the projectile speed of his shield (or made it instant), I could see him being rather good. To those who have their heart set on trying out the new hero, I'd recommend a tanky build like you would Rumble. Stick true to his sustain damage roots and play him in that style. 

Viktor Sneak Peak via IGN

I realize this is actually my 2nd post today, but I came across a Viktor preview and I wanted to share it with you guys. From what I can tell he seems very Swain-esque AP caster in the sense that hes supposed to get into the fray of the team fight as opposed to standing from a distance and casting. Anyways I wish I could have embedded this video directly into this article but I don't think blogspot allows it. Check it out and let me know what you guys think. Thanks~


Viktor Sneak Peak @ IGN

You'll pretty much find these 2 guys talking about Viktor while Phreak is playing him. To be honest this video might actually be used in his Summoner Spotlight but who knows for sure.

YOU'RE A WIZARD AHRI !!

So I dunno if you guys have been watching any of the higher level streams but I'm sure you've noticed something. That something being, Ahri is either banned, or picked in almost all of them. Is Ahri getting the "new kid" love? Or is it something more substantial? Seems as though Dignitas have already been experimenting with her and her popularity is enormous on the European ladder. Why is she a fucking winner?

I'm Blue Buffed, check out DEEZ NUTS: Congratulations you've managed to play her decently enough that your jungle is willing to give you his blue buff. Now how will you capitalize? Here are a few very strong options you can take.

• I'M GOIN IN: Super aggressive play against your lane opponent. Make them get out of your lane or flat out kill them. Getting blue buff means you will be able to harass non-stop. You made a poor exchange? So be it. Spam some more spells and get your life back, then do it again. 

Playing super aggressively definitely has it's benefits, but it can hurt you if not done properly as well. You run the risk of missing a few creeps and against very bursty AP's, they do have the potential of turning around and shitting on you. When taking this route, make sure you're very aware of the enemy player's skill, as well as their hero's skill set. 

• I'M GOING IN...TO GANK: Ahri's ganking potential increases by a ton once you get blue. Her CDR will usually allow for 2 full set of spells from Ahri where if you didn't have blue, you would probably be able to only do 1, with the risk of going out of mana.

This is another bit of a risk/reward. But, if done correctly, the reward definitely outweighs the risk. Worst case scenario, you miss a few creeps in your mid lane.

• THEY SEE ME FARMING, THEY JELLY: While the creeps are still running to meet each other, line up your "Q" so they hit as many of the enemy minions as possible. This should bring the melee minions to about half, and the kill the ranged minions or bring them very close to death (Result varies depending on your personal rune setup). While you're waiting for your "Q" to come off cooldown, masterfully last hit the melee minions and shoot out another "Q" to finish off the ranged minions.

Farming in this manner is always good. It's safe and well...you're farming. There really isn't much else to it. Unlike the other two options listed above, there isn't much of a risk/reward thing going on. However, it ensures you are making good use of your buff.


Core Aspects that Make her Strong: Like any other hero in the game, Ahri has a certain set of skills that make her unique. What I want to talk about is how her skill set makes her better than most of the heroes in the game.

• Soul Eater (Passive): Ahri gains a charge of Soul Eater whenever one of her spells hits an enemy (max: three charges per spell). Upon reaching nine charges, Ahri's next spell has 35% Spell Vamp.

- Once Ahri gets Blue Buff, her sustain potential is almost limitless. If you are one of those people who like rushing Hextech Revolver, than it should be even more faceroll. This allows for stupidly aggressive play after level 6. If you fuck up, you can just ulti back to safety and spam spells till you are healthy again. (I don't recommend playing like an idiot but shit happens.)

• Charm (E): Ahri blows a kiss that damages and charms an enemy it encounters, causing them to walk harmlessly towards her.

- Are you serious? Unless you have Cleanse or QSS, consider getting hit with this death. On the opposite spectrum of things, if you land this on a worthwhile target, you just secured a tower, dragon, or baron. Charm is essentially a more spammable Blitzcrank grab. CON: It doesn't bring the hero to point blank range. PRO: You don't have to be playing Blitzcrank to do it. Seriously though, if you land this on the enemy AD or AP Carry, they're fucking toast. CY@ LATER!

• Spirit Rush (R): Ahri dashes forward and fires essence bolts, damaging three nearby champions. Spirit Rush can be cast up to three times before going on cooldown.

- You know how most AP's in the game snowball? Well, take that snowball, and launch it out of a fucking bazooka. That is the range of Ahri's killing potential. Fantastic for aggression and gtfo'ing. This skill is just absolutely amazing. Easily one of the best (Non-Global) gap closers in the game.

• Rylai's Crystal Scepter (Item): "Hey! This isn't one of her skills!" No, but it might as well be. Around the time that you get this, Ahri will be able to spam her skills in rapid succession of each other. Add a blue buff in there and a slow, there's no getting away. Turn to fight? Good luck chasing when you're constantly getting slowed. By the way she can just Spirit Rush away if things get bad. Without any hard CC, Ahri becomes nearly unstoppable with this item. She is very durable due to the large amount of HP she gains from it as well. I highly recommend rushing this as her first big item.

Core Aspects that Make her Weak: None. Jk. Ahri is a phenomenally strong hero, but she most definitely has her weak points. 

• Pre level 6, shes very succeptible to ganks. Only having 1 level in charm, her ability to deter ganks outside of flash, are nearly non-existent. 
• Poor Usage of "Spirit Rush" will put you in a really bad spot. No way in, no way out. Without "Spirit Rush" you will generally be forced to play more conservatively just poking back and forth. Her ability to create opportunities diminish greatly.
• Hard CC flat out counters Ahri. Even though Rylai's provides her with a nice chunk of health to play around with, she can still be bursted down fairly easily. Theres no worse feeling than "Spirit Rushing" in once, only to get CC'd and not even be able to use the other 2 charges to get out. 
• Low early game burst potential. Untill Ahri gets her first big item, her damage in the laning phase is just a tad bit weaker than most AP's. To make up for this, you will have to take quantity over quality in terms of the harassment you are dealing to your opponent.

I'm not about to make a tier list since so many other people have already done it but, in this current state, Ahri is easily a Tier 1 AP. Will this last? As more and more people play with or against Ahri, people will undoubtedly learn to understand her and how to deal with her. Is she OP? I don't think so. I feel shes very balanced and very fun to play.

To close: DON'T CHARM ME BRO

I am the King AD. Bot Lane is my Kingdom. Part 2

I am King AD. Bot Lane is my Kingdom......


Hope everyone had a great Christmas, but fuck talking about the gifts you did or didn't get. Let's talk about playing a strong AD carry in the bot lane. Make win yo. So in the first part I discussed the general strategies that are necessary in order to prepare for AD bot. In this part I'll be talking about the actual laning phase and how to prioritize the things expected from an AD carry. 

Laning Phase: I hope that you guys read the first part because its crucial to being successful. You know that phrase, "Fail to plan, then plan to fail?" That shit is so true. So now you've picked an AD, setup your runes and your masteries. The first creep waves meet and now shit just got real. First things first, examine the composition you are laning against. Do they have a heal? How do they deal or prevent damage? What item did the opposing AD start out with? These are the first things you should be considering while last hitting.

Priorities:

1. Last Hitting
2. Maintaining Good Positioning (I will expand upon this)
3. Harass Opposing Lane

Last Hitting: is the absolute most important thing. You need to be able to last hit every single creep. The better you are at last hitting, the better AD you are. It doesn't matter if you've sent your opposing lane to heal if they're still gonna be 20 creeps ahead of you when you come back. I don't care if you have the most aggressive lane composition in the game. You need to last hit perfectly. If you can't do this, then don't even bother asking for bottom. FARM FARM FARM CAN'T STOP WON'T STOP!

Positioning: So now that I've officially smashed that idea into your head, let's talk about positioning. Don't be a clown and think you're zoning then get raped by their line of harass. Let your support do any sort of early zoning. Stay safe  behind your creeps for a majority of the laning phase. If you don't have vision of the river or gank paths, play even more conservatively because good jungles recognize the importance of bottom lane and will be sure to capitalize on poor positioning or lack of map awareness.

Harassing: This should be the lowest priority in your mind while laning. Not to be confused with the lowest action done in the bottom lane. If you watch top players playing AD bottom, you'll see lots of back and forth poking between the supports and the AD's. This doesn't mean they're prioritizing it higher, it just means the other 2 aspects of the lane are so embedded into their minds, they don't even need to consciously think about it in order to do it successfully. How do I harass correctly? Well this is easier said than done. It's a killer instinct you need to nurture. These windows appear and disappear in the blink of an eye. On the spot opportunities are the hardest to capitalize on. That will come with experience. The more obvious ones are:

• Poor Positioning
• Creep Dominance (You have a considerably larger amount of creeps than they do)
• Lower HP (If you've been harassing successfully, the opposing AD will be less likely to trade hits with you. Take this mental edge and keep pushing your advantage.)

Dragon Control & Recalling: When's a good time to Dragon? When do I back to buy? If you're not even considering these questions in your mind, you're just oblivious. Raise your level of awareness. Yes, there are correct and incorrect times to buy and take down Dragon. Almost always you will see the team who's jungle or bottom lane are doing better than their opposing jungle or bottom will take the initiative to dragon and usually succeed in taking it. With that in mind lets talk about more specific scenarios.

Good Times to Dragon: 

• Enemy AP Recalls or Dies to Gank.
• Enemy AD Recalls or Dies to Gank.
• Enemy Support Recalls or Dies to Gank.
• Top Pushes Lane into Tower and quickly Teleports for Dragon.

In the scenarios where the enemy Recalls, you need to be extremely decisive. There is no time to sit around wondering about whether or not you should or could do it. If you don't go for it as soon as you realize they've recalled, it probably won't work. The enemy team will just get to the dragon fight while you are half-way into it with better items than your respective lane. By the way your jungle is tanking dragon and is already around half health. Can you guess how that's gonna turn out? Yeah, not well. Go immediately or don't go at all.

If your jungle ganks and kills the enemy mid or bottom lane, this is a great time to dragon. If you manage to fuck this up I have no words to describe what the fuck went wrong. Even if the gank forces summoners to be used and puts the opposing lane at low hp, this is still creates an advantageous position for your team in terms of initiating a dragon fight.

Finally if your top lane pushes their creep wave into the enemy tower and quickly TPs to a ward at dragon or something of that nature, that will be an easy 5v4 Dragon fight in your favor. However this is something that requires a bit of planning Make sure your mid and bottom lane are healthy and able to actually take down dragon with the threat of a 4v5 fight stirring in the midst. It would be pretty retarded if your top solo TPs while your AP is in base buying and you and your support are at half health.

Good Times to Recall:

• You've pushed a large creep wave into the enemy tower.
• You're at low health.
• You've just killed either the enemy AD or Support.
• The enemy AD has recalled, you should plan to do the same very shortly.

Mid-Game & End Game: This is where you truly shine. This phase of the game is what separates the men from the bitches. You've last hit like a boss, gotten a few kills, and have the first couple power items in your build. Time to shit on kids. However, before and after you shit on kids, you still want to farm as often as possible. Any time there is a lull in action where people are running around doing their own thing, you farm. Take Red buff every time its up and farm farm farm. Find parts of the game that you can farm, and do it safely.

So you're farming and a team fight starts forming. You get there and are moving back and forth with your team and the back and forth poking game starts. Then it happens. Someone just fucking dives it and its on. What do u do? Once again you should be picking your targets while keeping a priority system in mind. Check out the sweet flow chart.

So by the start of this flow chart, you can tell that staying alive and personal safety is the number one priority. If you're dead, you obviously can't do damage. Stay alive as long as possible while doing damage. If you follow this system, you should be a successful AD for the duration of the whole game. Constantly weaving in and out while being highly aware of your surroundings and your team mate's statuses is the definition of a top tier AD player.

This pretty much wraps up the in-depth AD article. I want to shift into a more visually appealing focus with my blogs. Hopefully soon I'll start video blogs where I can explain these theories while playing so you guys can get a better idea. Anyways thanks for reading. ez game yo.

I am the King AD. Bot Lane is my Kingdom. Part 1

I am King AD. Bot Lane is my Kingdom......


Today we'll be talking about the passive aggressive last hit battle that ensues in the bottom lane. You want to 3 Shot supports with 600-700 damage crits? Have the highest cs in the game? Single-handedly put your team on your back and make win? Be a king of bottom lane and you'll be able to accomplish all this and more.


Preface: Bottom Lane in my opinion is the hardest lane to play at the moment. To be a top level AD carry player, you are expected to have fantastic synergy with your support, last hit at 90-95% efficiency, coordinate ganks with your jungle, while creating dominance for easy dragon control. Not to mention once out of the laning phase, you pretty much need to be doing massive amounts of damage while maintaining flawless positioning. Sounds easy right? No problem. Also, this is a pretty lengthy topic so I'll be dividing this into 2 parts and will be bringing you the 2nd half tomorrow. Assuming my internet isn't disconnected.....

Preparation & Starting Buy: In terms of preparation, I'm talking about rune setups, and starting buys. When picking an AD carry, make sure to take into consideration a support hero that will synergize well with you. Also, make sure you're keeping the bigger picture in mind so your hero will fit nicely with the rest of your team.

Marks: 

Greater Mark of Desolation / Greater Mark of Strength

1.66 Armor Penetration / 0.95 Physical Damage

These give you the most bang for your buck in terms of damage output. Scratch that. These are the best marks for an AD period! How do you decide when to use ArP or Str? 

If a hero has an ability that gives bonus AD when used in conjunction with their auto-attack, its generally better to use AD runes.

EX: All of Riven's Abilities

EX: Corki's Passive

Heroes that have abilities that scale of AD but don't include an auto-attack are suited best for ArP runes.

EX: Graves's Buckshot (Q)

EX: Caitlyn's Piltover Peacemaker (Q)

Seals: 

Greater Seal of Resilience 

1.41 Armor

Having these in your rune setup will allow you to have phenomenal durability, great dueling capabilities while taking reduced damage from enemy minions while dueling, and increased chance of survival against ganks from their enemy jungle.

If your hero thrives off spamming abilities, my advice is to take "Meditation" in the utility tree. as opposed to putting 9 points into the defense tree.

Glyphs:

Greater Glyph of Warding

1.49 Magic Resistance

These are great in the early to mid-game phase where you are building your damage and can't afford to be distracted by building magic resistance items. Since AP solos are very strong in the early stages of the game, these will allow for better durability when forced into an early game skirmish. Also, all AD's are coupled with support heroes that scale off ability power. Granted their raw damage output is fairly weak, every little bit counts.

Starting Buys and Whys

In terms of starting buys, 3 viable options come to mind. 

• Cloth Armor + 5x Health Pots
• Boots + 3x Health Pots
• Doran's Blade

Cloth Armor + 5x Pots: This buy gives you the greatest lane sustain and durability. The only problem is that it gives you no damage. It will make last hitting more difficult, and early ganks by your jungle will not be as potent due to your lack of damage. This should only be purchased if at the start of the game you recognize that your lane is weaker than your opponents in the early game stages. Missing experience and minion kills in the early levels of the game will cause you to be at a HUGE deficit for the remainder of the laning phase.

Boots + 3x Pots: This is somewhat of a balanced buy that allows you to be mobile and gives you some opportunity to recover from early game harass. It doesn't have any serious weak points as it's lack of damage is made up for in part by your increased mobility. Also it helps you dodge skill shots such as Ezreal's and Caitlyn's Q abilities. This is probably the most generic and safe buy for the conservative player.

Doran's Blade: This is the buy that everyone wishes they can get. It gives you everything you could ever want in the early phases of the game as an AD. However, this buy is only allowed if you have a support that can heal you. AKA: anyone but Janna. If you don't have a good sustaining lane partner, the smallest mistakes could force you out of lane. This is obviously something you don't want happening.

Check in tomorrow for the continuation of this blog! I wish I could've fit it all into this 1 blog post but AD bottom is a very lengthy topic of discussion and I just want to give you guys every bit of detail necessary to make win.

How to make win in Mid Lane.

Since back when DotA was first conceived by IceFrog and his nerd compadres, being able to solo in the mid lane was a privilege and an honor. Now in the League of Legends world, it is home to the greatest AP Casters of our time. Even though in my opinion the outcome of the bottom lane is what truly shapes the outcome of the game, the mid lane has the most impact in the earlier stages of the game. Top lane is an island where the junglers stop by from time to time to say hello, while bottom lane is a constant back and forth where in very top level play, the 4 players alone won't be able to do much to really "own" their opposing lane partners. Mid on the other hand, has the potential of ganking either of these lanes, harass the enemy jungle, while also outplaying their opponent in a 1v1 scenario. With all this mind, we need to learn how to dominate our mid lane and give our team the edge while going into the mid-game.

Starting Buy: 99% of all AP's in today's meta-game will start with Boots and 3x Pots. This gives you the opportunity to be mobile in an aggressive or defensive manner while also being able to take some damage and be able to recover. NEVER start with Dorans Ring as it insures that you will lose your lane.

Early Game Posturing: Early game in the way I would describe it, would be the back and forth poking that happens at levels 1 through 6. This is the back and forth mind game that is played between two players that face-off in mid. Posing a confident position in the lane by faking aggression, moving forward and back while constantly moving side to side to avoid any aimed spells are key in establishing your early game play. Check if your opponent is scared of you, once you smell fear, in a mental sense, you've already won the lane.

Creating Lane Dominance: Lane dominance is not something that happens suddenly. It is built over the course of time by good decision making, coupled with personal skill, and well-rounded knowledge of your hero. There are many ways to create lane dominance aside from the obvious of having your jungle gank for you.

• Last Hitting like a God. It is important that for the first few creeps, you get into a rhythm where even if the world was ending, you would still be able to get the last hit on the minions in front of you. Why does this create dominance? It's because it allows you to purchase a strong buy such as 2x Doran's, Catalyst, etc. on your first trip back home as well as a ward and perhaps a couple pots. It's simple math, if you last hit better than your opponent, you will have better items. Better items = easier laning phase.

• Harassing & Landing Skill Shots. This is quite possibly the greatest tip you will ever hear in for any DotA type game. Are you ready? Here it is: Wait for the last hit. This is taking what is mentioned above and using it against your enemy. Every half-decent player from normal games to ranked to tournament level play will want to get the last hit on a minion. Plain and simple. However, when the enemy is going for a last hit, they will be standing still and will be forced to be within a certain area for a few milliseconds before they attack a minion. That is your opportunity to take. When the enemy goes to attack the minion, you throw your spell. Any skill-shot oriented ability's chance to hit your opponent goes up an incredible amount if you wait for this timing. Now you don't always have to use an ability, if you have a fairly large range on your right click, you just simply hit your opponent a few times while they are going for the last hit. It's the repeated usage of this tactic that will give you the edge in the laning phase. If you're lucky and your opponent is bad, you might just out right kill your opponent.

• Pushing your minions to their tower. This is also somewhat of a play on the first mentioned tip. This however, is a good yet, risky tactic. If you can't out-harass your opponent, you can always push the hell of the creep set and force him to last hit at his tower. While last hitting at the tower is certainly doable, the success rate of it drops and some creeps just won't ever see money popping up over their heads as they die. Only problem with this is that it will force you to play pushed up in the lane making you more susceptible to getting ganked by the enemy jungle. It's best to use this tactic sparingly when you have good information on the whereabouts of the enemy jungle.

Wrap-up and Polish: Now that you've gained the edge in the lane, how do you push that even further? When you feel like you have control over the lane and your opponent, you should be positioned by their range creeps constantly threatening them with the possibility of casting on them. Make it known that you are dangerous and should not be messed with. Move and up and down lane while last hitting to keep them out of experience range. This is called "zoning". 2 things happen if you are zoning successfully. Once again the creeps will be pushed to the enemy's tower making it difficult for him to get last hits if not impossible if you push your presence towards his tower. Another thing is after pushing the set to his tower, you disappear. Take the enemy wraiths, take a blue buff, go shop, gank a side lane or just stay out of sight until his next wave comes. Without the enemy having vision of you, this creates an uneasy feeling on the other 2 lanes and the jungle as well as your opponent mid. Since all these are very real possibilities, everyone on the enemy team will have to play more carefully.

EXTRA TIP: If you have planned to leave the lane in the near future, make sure you push the creep set to your enemy's tower before you do so. You should also push the lane if you find that your opponent has left the lane. This pressures the tower while also denying them of experience while they are gone. If you suspect your opponent has left to buy/heal. You should probably do the same as if you stay, their purchase will make them stronger than you are.

WORST CASE SCENARIO: You've done everything you can and you just can't win the lane. League of Legends is a bit of Rock Paper Scissors in the sense that some heroes just beat other heroes. The absolute best thing you can do while waiting for a gank, is to play safely. Last hit at your tower and do your best not to be in range of their abilities. If the match-up is that bad, you won't even be able to last hit a majority of the enemy minions. But it is important to remember: NO MATTER WHAT YOU CAN NOT DIE. If you die, even playing safe and creeping from a distance will no longer be an option. Dying in a 1v1 scenario is the absolute quickest way to lose your lane.