When is it safe to tower dive?

Hallbuster·May 30, 2017·1 votes·1,547 views

I think I know why I'm dying a lot :/.

8 Comments

RalanrMay 30, 20171 votes

It never is. It's always a risk.

Jo0oMay 30, 20171 votes

In my humble silver opinion: It's all about risk/reward, and unless you're operating with very low risk, the reward potential isn't there.

Know for certain that you can take several tower shots on whoever is taking aggro, and that you can kill the divee with considerable speed. Otherwise, just push your wave and let them back. Bad dives are a great way to throw.

Case in point: The other day I was playing supp Bard, and we got ganked and my ADC died. Gank successful! But no, they decided to dive me. I'm at full health, summs up, and they don't have minions under turret. So with the potential reward of killing an isolated support player, they dove me. I flashed their engage, ulted two of them, Q'd them out of my ult to stun them under turret, and hit them with some autos. Managed to get a double kill and escape with a sliver of health.

Better players than I will dive more aggressively, but personally, I'm not looking to dive unless its "free".

HallbusterMay 30, 20171 votes

So only dive when you know there's 0 risk involved?

Jo0oMay 30, 20171 votes

I mean, start there.

Any dive is going to have SOME risk, but you gotta understand what the risk is before you make your move. If you're a tanky enough to take 5-6 shots AND know that you'll kill them quickly, then sure, dive. If you're both squishies and you only have a moderate edge in a fair duel, you sure as hell shouldn't pick a fight under their tower.

Forcing your opponent to retreat under tower is in itself a small victory. You're robbing them of farm and possibly xp, and reducing their range of influence on the game. Failing a dive not only gives up a kill or kills, but also abandons your advantageous position.

Understanding good dive math is an acquired skill. Seeing as how you and I are bronze and silver, we should certainly be erring on the side of caution until we've nurtured that skill.

HallbusterMay 30, 20171 votes

Very good explanation, so it's calculation mostly.

Jo0oMay 30, 20171 votes

Well, any engagement is a calculation. Dives are just engagements with an extra factor.

Example: In my experience, Darius becomes roughly tanky enough to take a couple turret shots for free by the time he's level 6+. So, I know that if my opponent is missing a chunk of health and I'm nearly full, I can probably do a 3-hit combo under their turret, ult them, and escape. If they have flash up, or some sort of defensive ability like Fizz's troll pole or Kayle's ult, I'm probably not going to try it. Similarly, if the enemy jungler has been MIA for a while, then I don't want to get the dive kill and subsequently die to the jungler. But if I spotted their jungler at bot lane and the enemy is a standard top-lane bruiser, diving is going to be relatively safe and will net me not only a kill but also great top lane pressure.

koalllaMay 30, 20171 votes

Tower diving is all about having control, you first need to push your minion wave into the enemies tower then walk up to your enemy to nearly point blank range before you start actually damaging them. Be aware of how many turret shots you have taken and make sure you have an escape plan. Also make sure you account for any possible escape plan that the enemy may have.

Zane ZephyrMay 30, 20171 votes

Also make sure you know where enemies are for a counterdive, make sure you check your resources to ensure you have enough to do it, layer your CC as efficiently as you can, and also keep track of enemy items/cooldowns (have you or any of your team mates seen you use that zhonyas in the last 90 seconds? does that ahri still have her ult up?)