Late-Game Advice for Mage Champions?

Eninjask123·Apr 23, 2017·2 votes·662 views

Hey all! As a mid-lane mage main (specifically Vel'Koz and Cassiopeia), I would personally say I'm really good in the laning phase, but I've noticed lately that I generally suck in team fights after the 30-minute mark. Specifically, I'm not good at gauging what my teammates are doing leading up to initiating, and when fights actually start I don't think I make the best decisions. I can't think of too many specific examples (partially because I haven't played much in the past month to have examples in the first place), so does anyone have any general advice for the role? Thanks!

4 Comments

doodlebob666Apr 23, 20175 votes

try to keep track of threats to you and try to figure out when you should fully commit to a fight, and only use your summoners defensively since, unless the payoff from an aggresive action is massive while still being safe.

For velkoz you should use your range, i used to main diana and he was a massive pain to deal with since i would need a rally good flank to get anywhere near him if he positioned properly, only use your ult when you can hit both their front line and backline, and don't waste it on a pick, because it can single handidly win you a fight if you get the full channel off on the enemy team

as for cassio stay behind your frontline for the fight but stay close enough so you can DPS, if you can only hit a tank thats fine since you do alot of damage to them anyway and your cooldowns on q and e are short enough that you won't need to worry about wasting them. use your w to zone off the enemy's from the fight if you can seperate their backline or hold down a mobile assasin/skirmisher then they should die if your team is competent. Also keep your ult for counter engages to allow your team time to reposition and force the enemy to either pull back after wasting cooldowns or continue a fight at a disadvantage

Knight SkyApr 23, 20171 votes

Listen to this comment, its 100% correct

DoodlzzzApr 23, 20171 votes

In temfights u should be looking to kill the enemy adc because by the time the 30 minute mark arrives, you will already be starting to fall off.

Viktor Von LazerApr 24, 20171 votes

The comment from Doodle is basically it. Cassiopeia is a high single target sustained damage dealer, which means as long as you're staying safe and hitting the closest target, killing them as fast as possible, you're doing your job. Don't try to overreach for the adc or enemy midlaner, that is NOT your job. It's the assassin's job or burst mage as a support (one of which your team has hopefully drafted) that are meant to be looking for those picks. DO however switch your attention to high priority targets if they misposition (most imporantly without mispositioning yourself by overreaching for a kill). If you've chunked the enemy ADC so low they need to recall or the enemy midlaners that's almost as good as killing them cause if you know they're gone you can force the fight before they can comeback. Because you're sustained damage rather than burst damage the longer you survive the more value you're adding (that goes for any member but even more so for cassio)

Velkoz is is all about getting a good ult off, at the right moment, basically what Doodle said, not much to add on it. I disagree with the "Don't use it for picks" comment. If you've caught out a high priority target (like a cassiopeia) and you can kill them to make a fight a 4v5 late into the game with 60 second respawn time and elder and baron on the table... you better kill them IF you can get the kill.