Should I always 'follow my lane'?

Father Stretch·Jul 28, 2017·7 votes·1,903 views

My main role is mid, and I one trick . I wouldn't say I'm good at the game, nor at this champion, but as far as my understandings the nature of are as follows:

--scales heavily on gold/Xp, more so than any other mid lane champ --lacks mobility --very weak early game --insane wave clear --decent mid/late game

These factors decided that my play style with viktor is farm heavy. If my opponents leaves the lane and starts roaming I would just ping mia several times then shove the lane as hard as i can, and go for the raptors. When the enemy returns, even if with a kill or two that he collected during the roam, I'm still ahead of him in gold and xp. I've had countless success with this kind of play style -- even if i'm 0/0/0 i'm still able give the enemy team more pressure than my teammate does past the 20 min mark.

However, often times, my team will be extremely tilted when they found that enemy ahri/lb/tf is roaming around killing people while all this Viktor does is shoving mid lane. I totally understands their rage, because apparently I'm making less map pressure than the opponent does. Even if I know exactly where the opponent is heading, most of the times I would just warn my team; because referring back to what i listed earlier, viktor isn't able to contribute as much early game in 2v2, 3v3 encounters comparing to high burst and mobility champs like and . I don't see why should i follow them, if I know they are designed to be stronger early game.

I often receive flame from my team when they lost an encounter because I'm not there. For example, Im laning with TF. After we hit 6, a 2v1 scenario occurred top lane, TF teleported as soon as he saw his top lane Darius being ganked. Then, our top/jg both died. They started raging at me for not coming, and that if i came we will be able to kill both Darius and TF. I told them i pinged several times, and most likely, I will be told "Don't just ping, follow your lane".

Why i chose not to press ghost and run top as fast as I can, win an outnumbered 3v2 fight for my team? Because I have three major concerns:

-- Im not sure if enemy jg is nearby --will it bring me more benefit, if i went top for an unsure kills rather than deep pushing the lane and make TF lose a wave or two? --Enemy team aren't idiots, they only fought the encounter because they recognize its a 2v2. If i came, it will turn into a 2v3 for them. will they still stay for an outnumbered fight?

All these are only my personal understandings of the game, I think that we should play to a champion's strength. However, as I climb higher on the ladder, the people I'm paling with are becoming better and more efficient; Im facing this dilemma of should I roam and making more presence on the map rather than keeping my current play style? If so, under what circumstances should I roam and coordinate with my team? A few advice from the more experienced players will be appreciated!

23 Comments

Sun Wu RyuumokuJul 28, 20173 votes

It depend, but :

keep push ur lane, when he roam
then follow him
don't follow him if he's an assassin (or jng is) when u have no vision on him

Just mute if ur mate are toxic

JavelinJoeJul 28, 20172 votes

Well, maybe one tricking a champion who you are not good with, with poor game knowledge, may be the bigger issue. I would recommend learning a few solid champions and get a general game knowledge first before you look to one-trick any champion. As per "follow you lane", It helps to do so, a lot sometimes. Also knowing when to shove and when to follow is important too. I am in no way a mid lane player, but generally I would say look to match the lane. Meaning if they roam and get 2 kills, then you should look to match that gold. Farming is not always the best solution though and you should look to roam somewhat as any champion (except maybe Karthus) when playing mid in general because kills are always worth the 2 - 3 waves of CS you may miss. Kills in other lanes not only puts you a kill ahead of your lane opponent, but it also contributes to the other lane's chance of success in beating their own opponents.

However, if you are behind, defiantly ward up and farm it out. If you are way ahead though, roaming is seen by many players as almost a requirement.

Michael702Jul 28, 20172 votes

Who says he's not good with him? You're talking out your ass.

JavelinJoeJul 28, 20171 votes

they said it themselves

Father StretchJul 28, 20171 votes

Although i don't consider myself the best player, but i've been playing league for over two years, I do not think I'm lacking game knowledge to a point that it makes me lose games. I think my general performance with Viktor is not so bad that i need to consider switching a main either.

JavelinJoeJul 28, 20171 votes

I never was suggesting you should switch mains. Was simply making a general suggestion to get to know the role better with different champions. It could maybe help you know when to roam and when not to based on how the enemy champion is doing. In other words, it helps to have an idea of what your enemy likely will look to do in each situation based on personal experience.

ChompyWulfJul 28, 20172 votes

Well, if teammates are salty you didn't follow TFs ult, they clearly aren't thinking. At the same time, I hope TF didn't ult within sight of you where your W stun could prevent his teleport.

If you lane enemy roams, and you push lane up, are you just falling back to get raptors and not damaging turret? That's kinda dumb if so. If you push lane, put as much hurt on that abandoned tower as possible.

Fun info, one Vik Q cast on a minion lets you hit a tower with 3 empowered autos. With a Sheen or Lich Bane, you can hurt towers a LOT.

Finally, just because Viktor lacks an instant CC or hard burst early doesn't mean he can't be a terror in teamfights. Clever use of W, E, and R can put a lot of damage on a cluster of enemies in a hurry. You may not delete one guy fast, but if you chunk a couple and slow/stun them, it can be a much bigger impact. Don't be afraid to roam. Viktors zone control is pretty solid.

Father StretchJul 28, 20171 votes

I do roam sometimes, but only when the lanes are pushed and I'm at 80 health and mana above. I clear raptors instead of turret because I consider a mid lane mage's AA dmg on turret is neglect-able before 10 minute mark. I agree with you that Viktor can make some impact early game if executed correctly, However, fighting those encounters with better early game burst champs contains some risk, I just can't really determine if that it's worth to take that risk.

ChompyWulfJul 28, 20171 votes

ANY damage you can add to tower is worth it. I'm assuming you also never knew about his bonus Q damage applying each auto on a turret until timeout. Letting a lone minion wave push onto the enemy tower is not pressure.

Also, consider being way more proactive if enemy mid backs off and is gone from vision. Go to ward your river. If they see you are behind them and you tag them with an E, that alone can punish their roam and leave them seen, exposed, and forced to take the long way home to base while you farm minions mid.

Jinzo TorranceJul 28, 20171 votes

His Q bonus damage doesn't apply to structures

ChompyWulfJul 28, 20171 votes

I could have sworn the Q empowered autos do more than the normal ones, but it's been a while and I would often get Sheen and also be watching more for enemies than precisely how much damage each shot was doing. I will have to play a game with him soon.

AlienPrimateJul 28, 20171 votes

I actually hate it when people follow roams unless they can do it within about 5 seconds of the roam. Most of the time, following will just result in you dying too if the roam was successful. Stay mid and get some damage on the tower unless you catch it early enough to get there at roughly the same time. Just pinging a few times when you know where they are going should be enough. If your team still dies then it is their own fault for not responding to your pings.

Father StretchJul 28, 20171 votes

I also hate roams a lot, because it makes me lose a lot of xp and gold farm. even IF i get a kill from the roam, sometimes its still not worth it to lose a wave of minions for that, not to mention the greater possibility if i don't get the kill. From bronze to gold, almost always the teammates ignores my ping, it is frustrating.

Evil YasuoJul 28, 20171 votes

No, shove your lane first. Only follow if you can make something happen.

Father StretchJul 28, 20171 votes

My problem is I can't determine the possible outcome of follow, so most times i just don't.

9Wly9oMl02Jul 28, 20171 votes

No.

Jinzo TorranceJul 28, 20171 votes

Wait, no no no. If somebody pings you because a TF ulted in their lane and you didn't "follow" (and how could you follow him?), they're trash and you should /fullmute him. TF revolves around his ultimate and ganking a lane instantly while he's mid, there's no way for you to follow him other picking TP or just denying his ultimate by using yours on him (only really bad TF ult where they can be stopped though).

Viktor's is good in skirmishes where he also has allied CC to land his E detonation or Ultimate ticks, so it's not too bad in a 2v2 or 3v3 scenario if his teammates have some CC.

You should buy a control and put it either at the bush behind your Red or in the one in the middle of the river depending on which team you are on, so you have a more clear map should you ever follow a roam (won't facecheck in an ambush), also if you know that your roam would be too late to be meaningful and you feel safe from their jungler you should attack the enemy mid tower or try to roam in the other sidelane and push to their tower.

Generally if you warn them that a champion like LB is missing your Bot should realize that they should back off, ward their bushes and play safe for a bit, ping them literally the Danger (the red ! ) near them to make them understand that will die if they don't react.

EDIT: Also I saw you always go TLD and build Rylais.

-If you think you won't win lane, like against Orianna, use DFT.

-Rylais is not that good of an item anymore, only build him against a team of immobile champions, like Syndra, Darius, Mundo, Skarner, people you want to kite and have no dash to make your Rylais useless.

Father StretchJul 28, 20171 votes

the TF case is probably an extreme example. Others champs like Ahri and LB, although they can't teleport anywhere on the map like TF does, but still, they're more mobile than Viktor. I bring TlD all the time because its more reliable when i want to delete enemy adcs. I didn't pay much attention to Rylais nerf tho, but back in S6 it fits Viktor very well. But now that riot changed it i might consider other builds. Any suggestions on which item should i build instead of Rylais?

Jinzo TorranceJul 28, 20171 votes

I always upgrade item 3200 to item 3198 as a "first" item. After that I finish boots depending on the enemy team, either item 3111 or item 3158 (sometimes item 3020 if I also build a Morello)

After that it all depends for first real item: item 3165 if my opponent, or their team, has a lot of healings, and you only want to farm. item 3100 If my opponent is not a threat to me and I can for a lot of Q>AA in teamfights, if my opponent only wants to farm I also get this; item 3102 Against champion like Syndra or Kassadin; item 3157 Technically this should be your first item if you're playing against a really aggressive assassin (you should skip item 3196 ) but if you're against a not that aggressive assassin you should only get item 3191 and then go ;

Second item: item 3116 If you're up against a team of immobile champion, who want to do nothing but run at you (Darius, Mundo) or champion you don't want to get close to you (Syndra, Orianna, it also gives health to survive their burst); item 3135 Against a team very tank heavy team and you didn't go item 3165 > item 3020 ; item 3100 If you got a defensive as a first item and you can Q>AA often; item 3102 or item 3157 If one of your lanes (or jungle) fucked up big times

Other items are just the remaining one and item 3089

Tails9016Jul 28, 20171 votes

If I ping 6 times that fizz is gone, I expect that my team falls back to turret. Since you know, he snowballs off 2-3 kills.

I'm not gonna follow him, as he could be waiting in a bush trying to bait me

Dream HighJul 28, 20171 votes

If you play viktor they shoukd be under tower missing farm. If they decide ti raom they lose a few more waves and damage to the tower.

If you're ahead shove then follow. If behind do the above and catch up.

hi ìm grootJul 28, 20171 votes

In a heavy roam matchup like TF, you want to rush the hextech E upgrade and most likely bring TP. Unless bad things happen you want to have that item completed and be in lane by the time he hits 6, and then just try to outpush him. If he ults while you're still pushing him in, and the wave crashes into his tower you're faced with a judgement call that there's no right answer to, just gotta be experienced. One thing though, do NOT do raptors, plz plz plz do NOT do raptors lol. You can either continue to damage to turret, and I saw one guy say something about Q because he was confused by the fact the empowered auto animation goes off on turrets, but the damage does not. But you do want to be on that turret if you CANNOT follow. But to clarify, a situation where you cannot follow, does not simply mean you cant kill the enemy, if the fight they had during your laners roam was even remotely close, you should follow after having your wave be headed into their turret. If nothing else you want to be able to push the wave off the the turret and get the gold your team would otherwise have lost. A situation you CANNOT follow into, is if they got a decisive gank off from the roam on the lane, and the enemy is still healthy enough that if u show at turret they will dive you, in that situation stay mid and push more and more waves and get more damage on tower, mid lane tower is actually worth more than top and bottom not gold wise of course, im speaking strategically.

Keep in mind while viktor is not a roaming champion, higher level mid laners will be able to win the game around you with better macro if you arent playing the map, this includes being faster to respond to your junglers movements as well as your other laners.

TequilaZombieJul 28, 20171 votes

I have no meaningful input to give (besides that if you know that the enemy mid laner could possibly turn around and kill you, you should just keep farming and pinging). I just wanted to tell you that THIS is the kind of posts that this section should be all about.

Seriously, thank you for bringing some useful discussion to these boards!