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Why Lane Swap? What about Dragon?? (LCS Inspired)

UndeZyrablee·3/11/2015, 7:50:25 PM·1 votes·1,394 views

Everyone as a new LoL player questioned why some heroes go in certain lanes. The reason behind 2 bot, at least as far as I was told, was dragon control. Is dragon so un-important now that you throw it away? I don't understand the swap. When asking people why they would duo top instead of bottom, a common answer I get is that they will get kills and shut down the top laner, which is often a strong melee snowball hero. While this is true, the same situation is put on your top laner, who is now 2v1 in the bottom lane. Theoretically they would balance each other out. Another answer I have heard some times is baron control. Well my retort to that is by the time its time to take baron, the team is already roaming anyway, and it takes so long to kill it, that you have to wipe the enemy team first. (unless they didn't ward it, or you are very far ahead) The dragon, on the other hand, is a constant ward battle, and only takes 1-3 people to take, depending on the time and champions. How are you supposed to win a dragon contest if your duo top lane dont both have tp? You end up 3v5 (your jungle bot and mid, vs their jungle bot and mid + tp top) Is 1-2 lost dragons worth the difference between a lost top and a lost bot on opposing teams?

Clearly I don't understand. Please, anyone, share your insight. There must be a reason if the pros are doing it so often.

2 Comments

Variks the Loyal3/11/2015, 8:36:02 PM2 votes

If the lane swap is successful, the swapping team's top laner will be ahead of the other top laner, because he went with the jungler and got shared experience and a bit of gold.

When you lane swap, you're giving up dragon not just to shut down your enemy top laner, but also to get your ADC ahead, which is really important if your ADC is a weaker laner. See last season, when Twitch was almost always in a lane swap, because his laning is really weak but his late game is extremely powerful.

Yes, you give up the first dragon, but dragon isn't snowbally like it used to be and you can get it back.

rth23/11/2015, 9:51:36 PM1 votes

There are a few different reasons to lane swap.

  • You want to shut down the top laner / put them behind your top laner. In the LCS this may include not just shutting down a champion, but literally trying to make that particular player less effective. This could be seen when teams would try to shut down CaliTrolz on T8 as he was seen as a big play maker for the team. This also does not explicitly put your top laner behind, as you may have been planning for a lane swap and picked a champion more suited to swapping lanes.

  • You are in a bad match-up. This goes for either top or bot. This is why you see "scouting wards", where teams will try and see what lanes players are going to. This way you can try and avoid a bad match up. It may be better for a top laner to get experience with the jungler rather than stay in a lane where they will be zoned. It may be better for your bot duo to play 2v1 instead of a 2v2 where they are at a big disadvantage.

  • You want to get the bonus gold from taking a fast turret. Remember, dragon no longer gives gold. To do dragon early almost always requires the top laner (very early dragons). This is a calculated move where LCS teams would rather get a gold advantage early and give up the dragon. Letting them apply pressure differently around the map.

This also assumes that you are initiating the swap. Remember, that if the opposing team swaps and you are not ready for it you may lose a bit of xp and gold if you want to swap back to regular lanes. The top laner can tp to lane, but generally the bot duo does not have teleport.

This is definitely not exhaustive or all the reasons, but these are a few of the more common reasons.

  • Shutting down players
  • Avoiding/forcing bad match ups
  • Fast extra gold / pressure from taking top a quick turret.