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Questions Regarding Skillshots

Ethri·12/25/2014, 4:10:58 AM·1 votes·856 views

I've been playing for a fairly long time and I have some questions regarding dodging/ aiming skillshots, since I am awful at it. Hopefully there is someone who knows the details as I can't seem to figure it out myself.

What to do about people who walk up to you for skillshots? I usually try to kite around minions if they don't have any inherent advantages, but I tend to get hit and die (or lose a far greater portion of my health than I did to them) if I am in an auto attack/ spell animation. (Ex. Lulu (me) vs Morgana mid at level 3 or Lulu (me) vs Braum bottom at level 1)
When going to dodge a skillshot, how do you predict where the enemy is going to aim? I tend to try to dodge unpredictably for the first time, though after that you don't know if the person will keep up their same pattern or follow your pattern (making dodging a 50/50 chance).
As someone aiming and learning how to dodge skillshots, I notice some people are able to dodge short range Morgana snares while walking in narrow jungle paths by walking back and forth in rapid succession before dodging right when you cast the spell. How does this work?
Some people I see simply dodge skillshots no matter how I place them. I heard that the method to land skillshots on these people (such as Nami bubble) is to distract them. What is meant by distracting them? Is it simply holding onto your skill for a longer period of time? How does this effect their ability to dodge?

If anyone knows the answer to any of the questions, your feedback would be appreciated.

3 Comments

Jamaree12/25/2014, 4:19:19 AM1 votes

1: I stay behind minions. All that time they are walking up to you to land the skillshot, that is time for me to do damage to him. If you are melee, serpentine serpentine!!!

That is just it, every single person is different, some people throw in the general direction, others persuade you through positioning into it. Pretty much, there is a mind game on top of reaction for it.
Walking back and forth makes it harder for the person shooting, and when you are already walking in one direction, as long as it is going in the middle, you can just keep walking to the right.
What that means is firing a different skill to distract him then hitting him while dodging the first, or when they are focusing more so on CS, then you land it. There is another method that Doublelift explained and said he "frame traps" his opponent. It is a fighting game concept where he lures them into a position where they simply can't avoid. Like when you are bot and between the tower and the wall, firing off a skillshot in that space gives them barely any room to dodge and almost always guarantees hits.

Muxxik12/25/2014, 4:34:23 AM1 votes

{quoted}

What to do about people who walk up to you for skillshots? I usually try to kite around minions if they don't have any inherent advantages, but I tend to get hit and die (or lose a far greater portion of my health than I did to them) if I am in an auto attack/ spell animation. (Ex. Lulu (me) vs Morgana mid at level 3 or Lulu (me) vs Braum bottom at level 1)

In situations where players walk directly into your face to land a skillshot, you need to think about the dynamics of an all-in, because this is essentially what they're doing. There are a lot of variables that you have to account for other than the skillshot.

For instance in your example of Level 3 Morgana vs Level 3 Lulu Mid - if she walks into your minion wave to land a Q on you, you should already have nailed her with 3 autos. When she goes in to Q you, you can indefinitely ring-around-the-rosey with a minion. If she does somehow hit you with the Q, her Q W combo at level 3 won't outtrade your EQ under a minion wave when you're continually autoing. Her black shield won't shield the physical damage from minions or your autos.

When going to dodge a skillshot, how do you predict where the enemy is going to aim? I tend to try to dodge unpredictably for the first time, though after that you don't know if the person will keep up their same pattern or follow your pattern (making dodging a 50/50 chance).

The most important thing to understand is that you're never going to dodge every single skillshot. Sometime's people just shoot their skillshots in a way that is entirely unpredictable. What's important to understand is a couple of things:

Some people have tendancies you can pick up on early in lane. If you pick up on these, you can find ways to outplay them. For instance if you know Ahri is very trigger happy with her charm, walk in front of a minion and immediately behind it. She might charm the minion, and you've created a good opportunity to punish her. Sometimes it's more about baiting out the skillshot than dodging it.

Another trick you can do is when you know a skillshot is coming in (IE Xerath, or any other channeling skillshots/long spell animations) is you can walk for a long time in one direction. They will instictively lead you in that direction, then switch directions at the last second. So instead of swerving around randomly, you bait them into leading you and them step backward. This is the same trick used by people to escape ganks when fleeing to their turret and having to dodge a skillshot to survive.

As someone aiming and learning how to dodge skillshots, I notice some people are able to dodge short range Morgana snares while walking in narrow jungle paths by walking back and forth in rapid succession before dodging right when you cast the spell. How does this work?

It depends on how far away the skillshot is. If it's far away, you might have enough time to react if you have any idea where they will be shooting it and you see it's general direction. You can sike back and forth to make it difficult, and when you see it come off, dodge in the direction you need. That just comes down to reflexes. If the skillshot is close, it's going to be harder to dodge, and you'll really only have siking back and forth and a possible flash to escape the shot if you really need to.

Some people I see simply dodge skillshots no matter how I place them. I heard that the method to land skillshots on these people (such as Nami bubble) is to distract them. What is meant by distracting them? Is it simply holding onto your skill for a longer period of time? How does this effect their ability to dodge?

If you're laning against someone who just has really good reflexes or has noticed something about the way you place skillshots that maybe you haven't, you need to resort to creating situations that don't rely on randomly shooting your skillshot. For instance just shoot them when they go to CS, or when they go to dodge another skillshot from someone else, or any other situation where you know for certain where they are going to be moving.

If you need any extra help or have any other questions you're welcome to add me in game and we can chat or practice. I've spent a lot of my time in the pre-season helping low/mid elo players get ready for the ranked season, so hit me up if you like.

Ethri12/26/2014, 9:19:27 PM1 votes

I've been thinking about your responses quite a bit. I know the idea of frame trapping and trying to use it when possible. I can't seem to get the timing down on shooting skillshots when someone goes to cs, as I personally think it is the most obvious time for your opponent to assume you are going to try to shoot a skillshot.

When it comes to reactions though, I feel as though it is non-existent because if I haven't already dodged before the skillshot comes out, it means I'm going to be hit. I don't think I've ever successfully dodged a Morgana snare after it's come out.