Boards›Gameplay

When did proper farming and lane control in Bot Lane fall backseat to kills?

The Highest Noon·11/13/2019, 12:32:22 PM·4 votes·4,062 views

I'm just Gold so maybe I'm a dookie elo case, but

When did it become sub-optimal to properly farm/last hit minions and to keep from shoving the lane so your Jungler can assist with getting the pair of Duo Lane players ahead? As a Support, I NEVER touch minions (unless I'm building along the Relic line, of course) and am sure that I don't farm unless I'm in a situation where the ADC had to go back to altar and I'm safe to last hit in the lane. As ADC, I only shove the lane in when doing so benefits the team as a whole (such as when the enemy Duo Laners are both gone and I'm denying them waves). As Support, I usually end the game with little to no CS whatsoever and am far from least gold income. On the other hand, those I Support for are constantly hitting minions and pushing the lane to the enemy tower and wondering why we're losing to every gank; when I'm ADC my Support is doing everything in their power to get the minion waves shoved and force engages with the enemy Duo Laners. My Supports usually end the game with +50 CS and close to if not the least gold income (unless they're someone like Brand and are only in it for the kills).

Is it better to shove lanes now? Or is that just dookie elo strats from players who don't understand how they should be playing the lane?

38 Comments

Pika Fox11/28/2019, 11:50:13 PM3 votes

Answer: It depends. Your comp, enemy comp, your HP/MP, enemy HP/MP etc.

Pushing lane means the enemy has a harder time retaining CS and is forced to spend more of their time on minions than returning harass. However, this leaves you open to being collapsed. It also allows you to roam.

Freezing forces the enemy to come out to you, so if theyre capable of being all inned, it effectively zones them off of xp and gold.

So it changes drastically based on comp and current game factors.

Death by Glamour11/13/2019, 2:29:31 PM2 votes

Well it started with weaker towers and the 4/5 tower diving botlane, tower plates just cemented it.

Its not just botlane that struggles with this, toplane also has this problem with the jungler and midlaner roaming to a 3v1 and easy tower plates.

NTrumpWeTrust11/14/2019, 2:42:54 AM2 votes

The higher up you get, the more of a fiesta bot lane becomes

Ambitious Minnow11/14/2019, 1:21:57 PM2 votes

Im jg, but I don't get it either. I very rarely get a laner who stays farming near our tower even once their winning, and this is sad, because they are almost auto-win games in Gold and below. Killing minions to move up fast and take tower plate is ez, especially because most jg players have tiamat, and it's a difference of as many as five extra easy ganks when that desperate thirsty losing Yasuo keeps pushing back out to die again.

But players in the lane think geographically being closer to enemy towers makes that plate more likely? It does not.

Subdue11/18/2019, 1:26:06 PM2 votes

Proper lane management sometimes means pushing the lane and sometimes freezing it. As a jungler I absolutely hate it when I'm trying to take dragon or crab and bot lane is playing super passively at their tower for no reason. Lack of priority in bot lane is a huge handicap for a jungler trying to take objectives. On the other hand, when I ping for a gank and bot lane shoves the lane I find that frustrating as well. Good lane management means being able to tell when it's a good time to push and when it's a good time to freeze, to maximize objective control, minimize risk, deny the enemy farm, and if possible kill them. Laners who always pull or always freeze are not playing optimally.

Ashe mage AD11/13/2019, 2:19:39 PM2 votes

Dude, tower plates. Just set up vision and join in lol.

The thigh guy11/18/2019, 7:32:42 PM1 votes

When riot decided tower plates were a good thing.

A kill isn’t just 300 gold anymore.

It’s 300 gold + 2 denied minion waves + 320 gold from plates minimum + exp.

preternatural11/18/2019, 7:34:10 PM1 votes

when mages.

Skia Asteri11/18/2019, 7:45:32 PM1 votes

Turret plates made pushing better in more situations than before. And you are likely at a level where people cannot tell when they should do what, so the fall back to the option that is usually best in their experience / what they are use to.

And it is hard for people that mostly play ADC / Support to learn the finer points of lane decision making because a lot of the times the "best" choice altered by the actions of your lane partner.

Illabethe11/18/2019, 8:07:37 PM1 votes

Because kills = turret plate opportunities, and also equal a way to join a failing team faster. Slow studiest farm bot lane may perform well and get good KDA, but it means nothing when the rest of your team is 2/19 and your jungler is completely ignoring you.

Your best hope for a non jungle lead is level 1-3. After that, it's all about whether you feed or farm. You get those early game kills, you'll usually snowball. If you don't you may end up being an entire item behind and your team feeding 3 people 1-2 item leads.

Pandemic Punch11/18/2019, 2:17:17 PM1 votes

I think people have overlooked the minion changes for way too long now. The minion changes alone have made it more difficult for solo players to carry games with just good wave management.

You have the minion pushing mechanic still in the game and they also changed the AI a while back so that minions spread out their aggro as much as possible to prevent "inconsistencies" where 1 wave will randomly win harder than the other. Before these mechanics were added, you could use 3 minions or less to alter the lane where it shoves pretty fast back into the enemy tower. This forces the enemy to respect it or lose a tower while you get to roam or contest the tower.

I miss setting up waves near your tier 2 that snowball and push quickly toward the enemy towers. This was such a big deal for top laners that need to roam and get back to helping their useless team quickly.