When should I roam as a mid laner?

Partybringer·Jul 19, 2017·11 votes·10,676 views

So i just got and am loving him (suck with his ult though) played against a and beat him in lane, but he went botlane and got a double kill a couple times. Pinged he was going botlane but was kinda scared to go into river and our jungle wasn't warded so I didn't want to deal with and killing me from the bushes. Not really sure when i should roam to help another lane since i pretty much started playing mid Are the times I roam different for immobile and mobile mid laners? Edit: so where is a good place to put a down in the mid lane? outside of the side bushes

21 Comments

ZerenzaJul 19, 20175 votes

Mages like Xerath, Lux, Syndra(maybe not as much) but basically immobile mages, don't roam much. You only roam as a mage if you poked the enemy out of lane, to do this, especially against assassins, simply AA them and hit them with your easiest to land skill shot continually, but only when they try to CS, this way they miss CS, can't push the lane back, and risk dying, all at the same time. So for Xerath, zed walks up to his minion wave to farm, press W the big circle hits him, if it's possible to land your E, do it, then your Q. Then he should be about 75%, if you can't hit E, then simply repeat step 1. If you did do it then now he has only two options, Back and miss CS then roam(punish him hard if he does this.) or stay and try and get the CS. In both cases, he loses something from it, so if he chooses option 1, first push his wave under tower, if your high enough health, roam before he does so he can't do anything at all, if it isn't possible for you to roam, simply back and ping. If he chooses option 2, roam before he does, this way he's way to low to go and roam with you, and if he backs or roams he loses way to much.

Basically it's all about how you play your lane, when i play assassins myself i always hate a good Syndra, Lux or Xerath, because i basically can't do a damned thing if they play the lane right.

Last tip, ward in places where you can see a lot of things all at once, mostly a control ward, this way you don't have to be as scared as usual and make sure to ping your allies to do the same, and most of all, the second you see your enemy laner back, ping it this way they know he's backing and can hopefully be ready for a gank bot lane.

Votable JesterJul 19, 20173 votes

Pretty good tips. Just a couple things I want to adjust.

1: When harassing in lane, generally just use Q and autos when you can. If you get the chance and land an E on them go up for an auto and then Q. This will proc Thunderlord's and give you a ton of mana back if you have your passive up (which is super valuable for pushing them out of lane). The only time I really use W in the laning phase is during a gank or if the enemy is really low (and may die to a follow up Q/auto).

2: Post 6 if your enemy laner roams and you can follow a safe distance back, you can often turn the tides of the gank with a few ult shots and clean up if necessary with a flash W Q. Just be careful that your laner is far enough away that you can get away if they decide to run at you instead of your allies.

Now some specifically ult-related tips.

When ulting, you want to adjust how you aim between each shot, don't follow the same patter for all of them. I typically try to predict their movements forward for the first 1 or 2 and then shoot directly on top of them (many opponents expect you to shoot ahead at that point and are thus surprised when you shoot right where they're standing). Basically think of it as a mind game more than a matter of aiming.

If you have teammates chasing an enemy on the otherhand, and they can kill said enemy without you actually landing any ult shots, shoot all of them just ahead of the fleeing enemy. They'll have to either tank the shots (and likely die to them) or juke back a bit, helping your team to catch up.

ZerenzaJul 19, 20171 votes

Thank you :) I'm bronze and don't play xerath much(not to mention i have SOOOO much trouble landing his Q) so your adjustments are very useful to me and hopefully to this guy to.

Votable JesterJul 19, 20171 votes

Xerath is my main (not one-trick though), so I like giving tips on playing him. :)

It's also nice to hear people interested in playing him rather than just accusing his players of scripting.

As for landing his Q, it's a bit tough to describe what I do. I suppose the way I'd describe it is kind of similar to the ult shots. Basically I try to predict where they think I will shoot it. So I try to predict when they will double back or even just try to sprint faster forward (like with Ahri Q). Because of this, it's a little wild. I hit pretty darn often, but when I miss, it's sometimes pretty far off (they juke back when I think they'll sprint for example).

Against other immobile mages like Annie for instance, you can generally just aim straight on them and it'll hit. Just always be careful to not get in range of their cc or even flash -> cc if they can 100->0 you. Actually, specifically against Annie I prefer to play Lux because 1: Tibbers alone can't block her snare (unlike Xerath stun) and 2: Lux doesn't self-slow, which can make it easier for Annie to catch you.

Oh one last tip (unless you ask for more). I almost always run scaling CDR runes. 10% if I'm grabbing item 3165 and item 3157 or item 3102 and 20% if just . You should almost never be building all three because that will fairly severely reduce your damage.

So my builds are (in no particular order): 20% CDR runes + item 3165 item 3020 item 3285 item 3151 item 3089 item 3135 10% CDR runes + + item 3102 / item 3157

The 20% CDR runes build gives immense damage (I can usually kill the enemy adc late-game with just my ult assuming typical shielding). This can allow you to stop baron attempts without putting yourself in significant danger.

The 10% CDR runes build gives noticeably less damage (the loss of 15 magic pen is massive on squishies), but the utility can more than make up for it. Banshee's is particularly helpful against teams that hope to pick off individuals. Zhonya's can be incredible against dive comps assuming you are the target. Oftentimes enemies will tunnel so hard on you that popping Zhonya's and letting your team clean up will win you the teamfight.

That's more than I planned on writing xD

If you want to, feel free to add me (this is my main account), and I can help you a little bit in a custom game sometime (not today though).

HawckeyJul 19, 20172 votes

Go when your ult is up, the tips above are retarded. Xerath, Lux, Ziggs are amazing at roaming because of their long range ults and siege power. The Zed will not be roaming if you're constantly clearing his wave the second it comes, but if they leave anyway just don't follow without vision

Starcraft243verJul 19, 20172 votes

The trick is to shove the lane so much he can't roam at all.

Still, if he went bot, you can still take the path of your jungle to join the bot tower safely and countergank. Or you can go top, since you know he isnt there.

Weasel KenseiJul 19, 20171 votes

Mages really shouldnt shove vs Zed unless the player is just total trash. It just gives him more lane to bean you with aa's after his ult before he changes places with his shadow cause you went under your turret. Zed farms just fine under turret, and this also opens you up to a gank if you move to up to keep the lane at his tower.

Starcraft243verJul 20, 20171 votes

I was talking about long range aoe mages. You can safely shove the wave quickly while staying not too far from your turret.

lilpokflufJul 19, 20171 votes

I've always thought it's best You shouldn't roam vs a zed as xerath. It's really risky unless you have clear vision of him since you basically invite him to kill you in the jungle if you follow him. I feel like you can punish him more by pushing in his lane and making him miss cs

PartybringerJul 19, 20171 votes

it's what i did that game

rachet00Jul 19, 20171 votes

The best times to roam as any mid laner is when your enemy cannot retaliate. So there a few times this can happen.

you push a large wave under the enemy tower and the enemy lacks wave clear.
you chunk the enemy lane and push in a wave
when you need to counter roam (zed roams bot you can follow or counter by going top side) Keep in mind when roaming you dont need to gank just apple pressure to the enemies and just use your pockets of vision well, dont fake a roam by standing in a warded bush. and always remember to look back mid while roaming so you know where the enemy is and where they aer probably going to go. hope this helps

AeszarckJul 19, 20171 votes

I'm about to get offline but I still want to help you, so this post is going to be quick.

Don't follow Zed as Xerath, it's too easy for him to 1v1 you outside of lane. The best time to roam is when you have a lane pushing to enemy tower, cannon minion wave is best wave to do this on. Mobile mids can roam better because they can escape and fight in close quarters better, generally. As an immobile mid you can still roam but having vision of the path you are taking or vision of the enemy team is important because you don't want to die on the path to the other lane, and you want your gank to mean something since you will lose out on some exp and gold because it takes you so long to roam since you probably don't have good movespeed as an immobile mid. Try to get a kill and if possible an objective, because if you don't then you'll probably be behind your laner. If you're doing a counterroam you'll both be in the same situation, but if one of you kills the other while roaming that person will have a lead. Zed would kill you while roaming so it's not a good idea to go in the same direction as him. Push your lane and farm, or gank top instead if you think you can pull something off.

NarvuntienJul 19, 20171 votes

Xerath isn't a champion that is good at roaming. If Zed goes roam turbo push the lane and try to take the tower before he returns. That is the price he plays for roaming from a losing lane.

The big issue is "our jungle wasn't warded". Well time to go fix that... item 2055

On more mobile midlanes right from the start of the game (especially when you are winning lane) you can start stepping away from the lane to ward, just keep the enemy midlaner on thier toes and worried you have gone roaming. But you are actually warding i preparation for when you will actually roam.

ReySolomonJul 19, 20171 votes

push the waves to the enemy turret make sure the enemy doesn't see where you go, there isn't a right time to roam you just do and make it successful.

AwesomeGuyDjJul 19, 20171 votes

Keep river bush warded.

It Hertz When IPJul 19, 20171 votes

With a item 2055 ? I dunno about you but every time I'm roaming through river and not actively fighting or going to a fight, I check the river bush for wards. His ward'll get cleared pretty damn quickly.

It's a good location for item 3340 wards though.

CochoJul 19, 20171 votes

I find that I have issues roaming as an assassin when the immobile mage is going to make me lose several minion waves and some of my tower for choosing to roam. I'm not going to just randomly go bot if my wave isn't shoved and or while minions on my turret. You don't always have to roam, and in the situation you described, it sounds like you probably shouldn't have tried. Sometimes you should though, it just depends. I'm sure you'll get a feel for it the more you play. I often find myself thinking that I should or shouldn't have done it afterwards.

A simple mia ping in your lane isn't sufficient for a Zed that you know is going bot. Spam it in your lane, the route he is probably taking, and in bot lane so they can see it on their screen.

I like to place a item 2055 across from the enemy's red buff. Not the wall where the red is, but where he is looking at basically. I can always see when they go for their red, or from krugs to chickens. It isn't a bush that people typically check, so its a pretty good spot. When you spot them there, you can just play on the other side of your lane, so its very difficult to gank you. Its a risky ward, so you should go for it when you see them or the other side of the map.

Dream HighJul 19, 20171 votes

Don't with Xerath. It also depends on your elo, if your low elo stay in your lane farm, get exp, kill the other mid laner damage the tower and get the junglers attention. Forget roaming you don't need to ignore your bot lane complaining.

VigilenteJul 19, 20171 votes

Roam after the lane is pushed. Make sure the whole minion wave is under enemy tower in order to deny cs from enemy. Roam especially if laner just recalled because you do not want him to have time to push the wave to your tower cause you lose cs. If you are against lets say, a veigar,then you want to stay in lane most of the time to make sure he doesnt stack.

SB ArneemanJul 19, 20171 votes

How much you can roam is very dependant on both your champion and enemy champions. Artillery mages(Xerath, Vel'koz, etc) are generally bad at roaming. The enemies will be prepared to dodge skillshots when you appear, and they will be running away so projectiles effectively have shorter range. Immobile champions can also easily be collapsed on.

Champions with reliable CC are often good roamers since you can let your teammates do much of the damage. The lane needs to have some DPS to the enemy champion, though.

Champions with high mobility and damage, assassins, are good roamers. They can force kills easily and have enough damage to secure them. Roams are also a great way of snowballing on these champions.

Generally, you want to look for roams mostly when you can fight the enemy midlaner or 2v2 with the junglers. A vision advantage is also very good to have when roaming. Before you roam, push out a wave the moment it comes into the lane and move out of vision so the enemy doesn't see what side you roam to. If you have vision of them, you should usually follow the enemy mid if they are roaming.

Some factors that decide if you want to roam to a lane are how strong the enemy champions and allies are, how they are positioning and their health. Ganking an enemy that is far ahead of yours can be very risky since the fight easily can be turned around. With long range mages low health enemies are especially good to roam to since you can kill them from safe range even if they are not that aggressively positioned.

A very smart strategy is to wait in one of the small bushes in river to ambush the enemy midlaner(put a vision ward or sweep it). Either fake a roam or assassinate them when they return from a roam without full health and cooldowns down. You can freely hit all skillshots if they walk into you. Be careful though, they may collapes on you with their jungler!

When it comes to warding, the small bushes on the side of midlane are good places to put vision wards, and the end of the river walls are a good place to put normal wards. The long bush closest to mid is often a bad place to ward since it doesn't give much vision compared to other areas.

Weasel KenseiJul 19, 20171 votes

Best times to roam are:

When your lane is pushed up, but hitting the tower puts you at risk of being ganked.

When your opponent has backed, and you just cleared a wave and hitting the tower is a risk.

When your opponent bot lane is pushed up for a while, and you think you can go down there and gets some kills and relieve pressure.

When the enemy jg has been killed, and you can see all the enemy laners, this may be your opportunity to walk the river without getting caught.

If you see the enemy jg has been pushing with the enemy top for a while and your top needs some help. Since the enemy jg is in the lane you can roam up there without getting surprised. If your jg is around top, sometimes you can lay a trap for your mid opponent as they try to follow you.

The most important time to roam is when you are fed and you can go to another lane and blow up somebody. This will help put the snowball down the hill faster.

All that said, Xer isnt a very good roamer. Your best bet would be to walk part way down to bot/top and launch your ult from the jg to harass/kill someone staying in lane with low health. You can do some decent damage with Xer ult with a short time investment, and it will give you some practice.

Try to avoid roaming if your opponent has really strong waveclear. Champs like Anivia, Ziggs, and Brand can be very dangerous to leave in a lane alone for long as they can blow up waves quickly and hit your tower for 33%+ just because you walked down to bot lane fired off a rotation and then backed and walked back to lane.