Tips for Playing a Defensive Bot Lane?

Qarekeo·5/2/2015, 5:40:21 AM·1 votes·1,880 views

This is an issue I feel has been creeping up for me for quite a while, but didn't exactly know how to handle.

Usually whenever I go bot lane, I play as a support (mostly ) and play extremely aggressively, constantly poking the enemy lane and usually pushing the lane to get gold from .

Problem is, no matter how we're doing, we're always pushing the lane, and I see things like us getting ganked and jumped on from the tower a lot. For me, playing defensively meant poking the enemy constantly and trying to keep them off our marksman, and it's exactly the same for me as playing offensive. It's really bad when the matchup isn't the best, since I start to run out of options.

Does anyone have tips on how to play in a way that doesn't push the lane or involve almost running out of mana from poking?

18 Comments

The Chin5/2/2015, 6:03:03 AM4 votes

whether the lane shoves or not is up to the ADC... unless you're attacking the minions, if you are pls stop immediately.

also it's not always bad to shove the lane, just ward the river because you'll probably get ganked but as long as you don't die to the ganks then you're doing great, by forcing the jungler bot you're relieving pressure from the other lanes... Just make sure you don't die.

anyways, if you want to play more passively just chill, heal the adc when he needs it, keep vision of the river. That's all you need to do.

However I recommend you play champs that are better at poking, it would fit your natural playstyle better. Lulu Zyra Sona all do a lot more damage than Soraka and they use less mana doing it.

DMouseslayer5/2/2015, 6:11:31 AM2 votes

Play Janna. Having them push then is a good thing because it makes flash + Monsoon plays pushing people into tower really easy. Also since her main harass is W, you won't push lanes. Your Q does minimal damage and you max it last so it also doesn't push lanes.

Or, play Leona. She's great in Jinx/Graves lanes because she can either lock down someone long enough for Jinx's traps to be placed behind them, or she can help Graves burst someone down really hard with her EWQ + passive damage. She doesn't push the lane because in most cases you won't be harassing, just all-inning when the oppurtunity presents itself. Leona also solves the whole "i'm too aggressive" problem because when you play Leona, everyone expects you to be aggressive.

Also, no matter what support you're playing, whether it be Soraka or Leona or Morgana or even weird ones like Azir or Akali, buy a freaking sightstone with the first 800 gold you get. There is ZERO reason to wait for level 9 and say "Oh trinkets will hold us" because if a mid laner or jungler don't see that sightstone, you will get ganked, and you will get ganked a lot. Seriously, unless you're under your tower 24/7, GET A SIGHTSTONE FIRST. I had an Azir say he didn't need one because he would get one at level 9 which meant we got ganked a lot and it sucked. So get a sightstone, with proper warding pushing up under their tower won't matter at all. Against junglers like Shaco/Rammus place wards at the entrance to dragon, because they will come in stealthed or super fast. Same with Rengar. Against Fiddlesticks you will need a ward over the wall in the brush on Redside and maybe even one just south of golems on blue side to prevent ult dives. Read warding guides and how different junglers gank to know where and when to ward. Like you won't need to ward super early or deep for a pre-6 warwick but a pink in the tri-bush can prevent an Evelynn gank for 100g, which is always nice.

Nucleophilic atk5/2/2015, 6:29:52 AM2 votes

I main ADC. Can I play with you lol?

Zmuecat5/2/2015, 7:24:54 AM2 votes

I won't comment on Bard or Kayle bot lane play because I don't play them frequently enough. As for the unicorn, I do the same thing and the ADC in most cases ends up pushing the lane hard (and if the enemy ADC is any good at farming under a tower it does me no real good to get him to a point where he's afraid to farm, but we're giving him a safe zone to do so). You have no real control over where the lane is unless you want it pushed in which case you can force it, but leaving it up to an ADC generally means you'll be sitting at their tower. Best thing you can do is ward the river, and every time your trinket ward goes down ping and ask for a ward there.

As for not running out of mana while poking, as Raka I have Mp5 Quints and Hp5 Seals for sustain, I've been starting with Crystalline Flask and generally one mana potion and the rest health, and I start and max Q first (Q->W->Q->E->Q->R unless the enemy lane an all in that has been landing hooks before level 3, then I get E at 3 to help mediate this). Leveling Q first gives Soraka a nice amount of damage especially if you can hit the center frequently, but even then hitting the enemy ADC with a Q and an auto is painful enough. I alternate auto attacks on the ADC and support to get pick pocket procs off both as often as possible while maintaining position to not be dove. Getting heal at level 2 gives you a the heal on Q, letting you sustain any poke your ADC gets, too much poke is offset by crystaline flask giving you both mana and health back, otherwise I have my runes set in place to regen and light trades without the use of potions. I try to time Qs for when the enemy ADC moves forward to last hit, generally hit about 2/3s of the time unless I'm trying to hit both targets and fail.

Depending on how the game is going I'll switch over to leveling W after 6, but for me at least, this set up works well. Even if I spam Q, I can generally last until level 4 at least before going OOM, if I'm timing it to the enemy ADCs last hits I don't run out of mana ever. Crystaline flask also lets me recover very easily from an all in on myself or my ADC after level 2 because it pretty much let's me reset my side of the lane in terms of health levels.

Hope this helps.

Declined5/2/2015, 3:10:46 PM2 votes

You got a misconception of how it all fit together.

You're playing as a poke lane, with squishy champions who lack the safety and burst potential should they decide to turn it around on you.

Don't get me wrong you can play like that but you need to be aware of your limits.

I wrote this a while back, it should explain everything you need to know and a hell o' va lot more. http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/tips-tricks/64VFYEZy

Kirstoth5/2/2015, 6:14:41 AM1 votes

Use autos to poke, save cooldowns for peel. Control the bush with wards/sweepers. Don't take minion aggro as that will push your wave harder (use the bush). That sums it for ranged supports.

Tankier supports with relic shield, try to last hit the minions instead of executing at half health, communicate with your adc on this.

...You can be aggressive AND defensive :D

Soraka has decent range with bananas, and she's not as mana intensive as she use to be.

Bard i'm not too sure about but he does decent damage with his autos thanks to meeps.

Kayle, I have no clue how to play her as support or how to zone with her while conserving mana.