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Why Play Passive?

wazzupman·4/12/2017, 1:09:57 AM·1 votes·2,042 views

I play extremely aggressive when I play League. I play mainly top lane and support, so I see a common playstyle that goes in accordance to most of my opponents: passive. There are some with a mild case where they will only go in if you go in on them, others will only go in if they have two or three others backing them, but some just run the opposite direction if you approach them, sacrificing cs and xp. I've always wondered what makes this so enjoyable, if the majority of top lane mains play passively, then it must be fun. So I took it upon myself to play 10 games, all of which I played top and played passively, running away from danger opposed to actually fighting, to see if its fun. I fail to see it. . .its actually extremely boring. I always come out as a lesser level with less cs (much as my opponents do in games where I play aggressive), and I wanted to see what the huge craze is about. Maybe I'm just a weirdo and I do not find it entertaining to run away on sight of the enemy champion. I come home from daily stresses, responsibilities, and personal liabilities, to play League. I find it fun if my opponent plays with me, but to just come home to run away is not fun in the slightest. Can someone please explain to me why its so fun to play passive?

10 Comments

Handy Sandy 4/12/2017, 1:12:51 AM2 votes

It's not to have fun, it's to not die because you know the enemy can kill you so you refuse to fight and try to scale into the later levels. It's better to have less cs than the other person than to have them fed too.

If you go super aggressive with Velkoz since you're immobile you'll push the wave, get ganked, and die. If you play aggressive vs Pantheon Draven you'll just lose lane.

PlsCheckThisBush4/12/2017, 1:31:31 AM2 votes

The idea is to have an advantage over your opponent. Some champions (Draven, Riven, etc.) thrive off of being aggressive and enjoy snowballing a lead, however almost everyone has core builds and powerspikes. Imagine Blitzcrank/Jinx vs. Thresh/Ashe: Both Jinx and Ashe have 0 mobility in regards to "dashes" (like Lucian).

When is the lane most dangerous for Ashe? When Blitzcrank has his Q. Hence why you'll stand behind your own minions and do your best to avoid being hooked as it is (without summoner's up) a certain death.

Now look at Jinx's perspective. When is the lane most dangerous for Jinx? When Thresh has his Q. Same as above, hide behind minions.

What happens if Blitzcrank hooks a minion? The Thresh/Ashe duo lane will now IMMEDIATELY move forward knowing Blitzcrank doesn't have hook for another 20-16 (dependent on level and CDR) seconds. Without that crucial cooldown, their kill potential is absolutely diminished - especially if Thresh hasn't thrown his Q yet. The Ashe now has complete control over the lane and minions until Blitzcrank has his hook back up. If they try to trade without their spells, Thresh can easily hook one of them since they are past their minions and therefor have no safety net to dodge with. The Blitzcrank/Jinx will now stand under tower and lose valuable experience and gold, putting them further behind. This all started because Blitzcrank missed his Q, and this could all be avoided by simply NOT using the aforementioned spell. By having the threat of "what could come" is far more valuable than the 1/10 chance you nail the perfect mechanical wombo combo. It creates much more pressure, and also saves your mana - further extending how long you can stay in lane as well as increasing your pressure.

With a competent jungler, playing aggressive 100% of the time will almost certainly leave you dead and losing your tower. Look at it from Rek'Sai's (or any other jungler's) perspective: If Blitzcrank is going to pull me under tower and Jinx will follow up with damage, what is the likelyhood of survival? Slim to none. Now if Blitzcrank is in the middle of the lane throwing Q's left and right, what's the chance they can even kill you? Zero, without the assistance of the tower early game you'll almost guaranteed lose the 3v2 provided there weren't horrendous mistakes made.

This has gone on for MANY games for MANY years. If you played WoW, you'll certainly know the importance of saving cooldowns for important moments. A Rogue used Cloak of Shadows on his opener? Ok, he has nothing to stop magic now - dead Rogue. You can look all flashy and try to pull off the sickest combos you can think of, but in any competent player's mind all they need to do is counter what you've done. Same thing applies to League, albeit in much shorter cooldowns. There's a million examples I can give you for specific champion interactions, but in the long run it's your own knowledge of the game and cooldowns that will gain you the most benefit.

Asayake 5150glow4/12/2017, 1:17:06 AM1 votes

Because it's funner late game when you've tons of gold or at least aren't feeding.

Generally against lane bullies and if you're Gangplank or something you wanna play passive because you're only gonna die if you try trading, and it's better to get the farm.

But it's not fun. Unless you're a Nasus type of guy.

Colton1474/12/2017, 6:03:49 AM1 votes

When you're against me... The lane becomes Farmville.

I am incredibly passive and will not engage no matter what - even if my jungler ganks, I remain in the back, as I much prefer safety and not worry about feeding my opponent.

I tend to start becoming much more aggressive when the Laning phase is over. :)