How do I play the late game?

Singed Inc·May 9, 2019·3 votes·2,773 views

Hi I wanted to ask if someone can point me to a video/article about what to do in mid to late game (when turrets are destroyed and there's a lot of roaming).

The problem is as a support,I don't really know if I should deep ward and risk dying and not being close to help my team or stay in fights and have zero vision around.

Also,it's hard to level up as a support in mid/late.

7 Comments

ChaosReynMay 9, 20194 votes

There's a few options I'll include some mid game tips, as the most important part of the late game is the mid game.

#If You're Ahead:

Stick close to your adc and just keep doing what you've been doing. That is, feeding the hell out of him. If that means big teamfights, go for it: you're ahead. Just don't do anything reckless, and you'll hold the advantage.
Don't worry too much about vision. You won't need it if you're shoving a lane with your team. They'll have to come to you, and you can set that vision after you counter their engage and murder them.
Place prominent deep wards whenever the enemies are dead or too low to stop you. Other than that, just stay with your adc/team.

#If You're Behind:

This may be a good time to try prioritizing quick roams and strong river vision. If your adc isn't having a good day, go gank mid with your jungler if you can, then spin that into a free mid tower or a 4 man bot gank. Your adc will likely hate you for this...but they can complain when they deal more damage than a caster minion to the enemy, you're helping the long game.
Under no circumstances should you be trying for deep wards. Instead, focus on defensive warding in and around the entrance to your lane and to your jungle quadrant. Keep an eye out for cheeky jungle flanks and collapse on them before they're ready, and you'll soon get back in the game.
Use the "double roam" strat failing all else - literally just follow your jungler everywhere, ganking, helping to clear camps faster (don't leech the exp!) and dropping obj wards if your path takes you near them. Eventually, they'll either set up a tent bot to get you to stop following them, or they'll essentially have funneled your efforts into becoming an unstoppable gank machine with an extra set of abilities (when you throw your whole kit with theirs).

#If You're Even:

just do your best to maintain strong vision of River/jungle entrances (either team's jungle entrances) and whatever main obj is closest to you, to help track the enemy jungler.
If the game is even, junglers are the most likely determining factor to W/L. Helping them by throwing a spell or two as you go about your business will help them loads. The vision/vision clearing will also help them loads.
Keep good positioning - if it looks like you're about to path to a dangerous area, just don't. Poor positioning loses more games than braindead teammates and Riot server crashes combined.
DO NOT HESITATE! If your team goes for the play, go for the play. worst case scenario, you all die. But the worst case is more possible if you don't commit than if you commit to something questionable.

Obviously, there are always exceptions to all of this stuff. For example, don't commit to a single teammate diving into 4 people...that's probably suicide. If you path an extra 40s to lane just to spam your jungler with shields, you're still wasting time.

These are just very general pointers, and by no means a pro guide. But there's one thing I forgot to cover...

#DO NOT FORGET TO CLOSE THE GAME!

By that, I mean that all of these pointers don't mean anything if you're not taking their base. If you jerk around too much, you're gonna lose your mental and probably throw.

Crispy0SnakeMay 9, 20191 votes

Depends what you're playing, generally you should look to place wards at objectives and clear wards with your jungler

Encourage your team to not all gather mid, which happens a lot. "Please don't all soak xp mid" even go to a sidelane alone and collect waves yourself. If your team gets caught as 4 playing aram... they deserve to lose tbh

Singed IncMay 9, 2019

I hear you,and I would do those if only they worked like that. I'm in low elo so no the jungler won't come clear wards with me and also if I play

soraka or say annie/sona support how will I farm waves all by myself without becoming a target? Not to mention these champions' wave clear is bad.

I don't mean to oppose you but I feel like these champions are better off doing something else than farming alone.

roughvanMay 9, 20191 votes

[{quoted}](name=Singed Inc,realm=EUNE,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=ax6X8F54,comment-id=00000000,timestamp=2019-05-09T14:09:21.131+0000)

I hear you,and I would do those if only they worked like that. I'm in low elo so no the jungler won't come clear wards with me and also if I play

soraka or say annie/sona support how will I farm waves all by myself without becoming a target? Not to mention these champions' wave clear is bad.

I don't mean to oppose you but I feel like these champions are better off doing something else than farming alone.

So pick champions that can waveclear and are useful though the game. Possible choices are zyra/vel'koz/lux if you play support and want to carry. If you pick soraka/annie/sona then you'll have to group because these champions require teamfights and rely on your team to carry you. I mean Zyra is similar to annie/sona with her ult but she can waveclear and even if you get kills on any of the champions i mentioned, you'll be able to deal damage/build some ap items if required.

MessyStuffMay 10, 20191 votes

Well another champion you didn't mention that's also good is Brand. He's all aoe damage so that's good for waveclear, fits the general champs he plays(mage supports) and has a lot of damage to carry. He also is good in teamfights.

Acekill3rMay 9, 20191 votes

Ping your allies to help you where you wanna ward/clear/control vision, they could be monkeys but often enough someone is going to follow you (probably the jungler), use skills to check bushes before going near them (if your champ allows you that), the riskier thing is faking going into a bush and dodge the possible engage but it requires a lot of game knowledge and decent reflexes.

Good luck! 🤞

i piss in jugsMay 9, 20191 votes

Good advice here.

Ideally your team will make it easy for you and you'd have backup close by if you got caught warding deep. But that's rarely the case.

Generally I don't wander too far from teammates. If they are focused on the top side of the map, then I'll be around up there, warding baron and sweeping. If a fight breaks out, I'll be nearby to assist.

If your team fights, help them, even if you don't agree with the call. It might work out anyway. But if you don't help, it's more likely they will fail and you cannot stop a push by yourself most likely.

Once laning phase is over you aren't glued to your ADC, roam and help your whole team.

The more you play, the more it starts to make sense. Look at your minimap, if players show top side and you are bot, you can recall and answer, or take stuff bot side. As you keep playing you get an instinct. You'll make decisions, maybe not totally understand why, but it will just feel right.

Make sure to track who is getting fed. As Tahm Kench I wouldn't try to duel a fed Zed, but if he's not ahead, I can usually take him.