How to effectively play ranged champs?
I wanna get good at ranged champs like adcs and mages but i always have issues of finding myself in melee range and not knowing how to position. pls help
2 Comments
I'm no expert, but I do play a lot of ranged champs.
For ADC in general, start with only going for the front row and staying behind the minion wave. Flank if you can, and attack the opposing champs as they come in range. Doing this should give you a decent start while figuring out the intricacies of trading and hitting the back row of minions. If you're really nervous then follow a pattern of attack>move>attack>move>repeat; the goal, of course, is last hitting minions. Flank to the opposite side to keep your minions between yourself and any distance grab/stun champs like Blitzcrank. Your support will often open up little opportunities; if you're close enough, then commit a little, but don't chase. Don't worry about it if you're not close enough.
Mages often have extra little areas that make them close to a support role. But for positioning: Either flank your minions or stay behind the last line. Coming up only to last hit (or trade, if they go to last hit).
For kiting with mages: Don't chase them, let them chase you until they start to back off. If you can kill them in 2 hits, commit; BUT BE VIGILANT OF THE JUNGLE.
If you have a stun, build that second in most cases, depending on who you face. And don't spam it. That stun is there to accompany something else in your kit, so make sure it's used to 1) Pressure lane. 2) Assist your main damage dealing ability(ies). 3) Escape. Don't let your stun drain most of your MP, just use it sparingly at first. You'll learn when to better use it the more you play the role.
Find your bread and butter move(s) and experiment with how often you can use it(them) and not run out of MP. Ideally, you want to keep your MP above 50%... but that'll never happen. So don't panic and just focus on getting the last hit on minions. Trade when the opposing champ comes too close. Watch for ganks.
Make it look like you'll do something but don't engage every time. You want to waste the other person's MP while conserving yours. The safest engage is to go in big when the opponent has almost no MP and you have 75% or more MP (and they're close enough they can't escape too easily). BUT NEVER CHASE INTO TURRET. Once you find yourself extending to the point of chasing, give up and hold pressure. Bully the lane a little. Just watch for ganks.
Keep in mind, until your first big item (and half of the next) is built, if you and the opponent both play intelligently enough, you'll both empty your MP at about the same time. So save some for a gank.
When playing mid: Ward one bush and stay closer to that bush.
Support mage: Build either your shield or stun first in most cases.
All in all: playing mage is a lot about predicting where your opponent will be in the next second and aiming there or preparing for what they will do next. Sometimes you're right, sometimes you're wrong, it happens. Everyone is different, so even the professionals re-learn how each opponent moves per game.
Someone correct me if you think I'm wrong, I'm certainly nothing special when it comes to playing. These are just things that I think would help someone start off. The rest is learned through experience and/or personalized advice.
All I can really say is to stay behind your melees and to gauge the distance between enemy champions and you so you can safely attack/use abilities without getting bursted. Also if the enemy is out of range and starts coming up back off since they'll most likely try to trade/engage