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PSA: If you're behind, STOP trying to fight your laner.

Aboylova92·5/26/2015, 2:23:46 PM·68 votes·5,923 views

It really isn't a difficult premiss, but I see it WAY too often. In my most recent ranked game I had this Riven begging to play top, so I obliged because I'm a nice guy. He does what all Riven's try to do, and do some early cheese, but gives up first blood. Looked top and it was a close fight so I didn't think too much of it. However he get's back to lane and not a minute later dies again. This proceeds for a total of 10 times in lane. Didn't matter she was 3 levels behind the Irelia, just kept on trying.

If not for me peeling the hell our of our carries, who were somewhat competent, with Voli, that game was a loss without a doubt. What's worse is not only is she feeding, she's also trash talking her laner. As much as I hate toxic/trash talking individuals, at least back it up if you're going to act that way. Playing safe and farming up is something I learned when I got out of bronze, if you're Gold, I'd expect at least something as basic as that, and not going 3-13.

TLDR: If you're behind, stop trying to fight and putting your team at an even bigger disadvantage when you inevitably die.

71 Comments

BluePolarizer5/26/2015, 3:31:50 PM30 votes

There are some 1 trick ponies in gold who try the exact same cheese strat every single game. If it works, they snowball and win hard. If it fails, they keep trying because their brain only works that way, and feed hard.

gafratt5/26/2015, 3:50:13 PM11 votes

The moral of this story: don't play Riven

Clown Apocalypse5/26/2015, 4:18:08 PM11 votes

Yes. So much this. Also invest in some defense, you already lost the damage war. Its all about mitigating damages and survival till you can find a way to be useful again.

SaintCrazy5/26/2015, 5:46:20 PM7 votes

"Okay, I can totally kill them, I've killed plenty of folks before, I'm going in" "Man that was bullshit, I KNOW I can kill them, I'm going in" "Man THAT was bullshit too, I know I can kill them, I'm going in"

etc etc. It's not like the enemy's stats matter or anything, nah. Just press some buttons and they die, right?

Dataless5/26/2015, 6:31:53 PM4 votes

Did you ever actually try to help the Riven before it was too late? Or did you just write her off and abandon her to get zoned away from CS and grow ever-increasingly frustrated and feeling powerless?

Lich My Ashe5/27/2015, 3:32:39 PM3 votes

Darius Singed health is so low guys! I can get him I know it!

Phoenix Kotori 5/26/2015, 6:34:13 PM3 votes

TLDR: If you're behind, stop trying to fight and putting your team at an even bigger disadvantage when you inevitably die.

Eh, you can still fight but you have to wait for opportunity a misplay (ie they accidentally eat a tower shot) or you hit a certain power spike in the match up.

As there is a clear difference between that and trying to fight the second you get back to lane when you die.

Silents4295/26/2015, 5:07:50 PM3 votes

This is a lot more complex then them fighting, I mean yeah dummies fight when they shouldn't but if you have any desire to get at least 1 cs from a wave it is easy to get killed trying to farm at all. Even under tower.

When I am Garen or Volibear I always get first blood, and dominate my lane, and I don't let the enemy farm and have killed them without them fighting. Can't just say they always fight, minion wave stops saving your ass after you gain some levels.

WutsKraken5/27/2015, 4:42:56 AM2 votes

Depends on who you're against

If you're vs someone like Riven Fiora Darius who can quickly snowball a lane even with a slight advantage. Yeah good luck NOT fighting them because they will force the trade and win it

theragingnerd5/26/2015, 8:08:29 PM2 votes

unless your jax just 1v3 with a tf botrk and randuins this is a personal experience

Jalkan5/26/2015, 11:09:52 PM2 votes

Riven players, man.

Scramrail5/27/2015, 2:12:22 PM2 votes

I fed an Irelia once as Riven because I literally couldn't go anywhere near the minion wave without her chunking me for 1/3 my hp. She had complete lane control and froze the wave constantly so all I could try to do was leech xp, but even that ended up getting me killed because by the time the wave got to my tower and I could finally try to farm OH LOL THERE GOES THE REST OF MY HP INSTANTLY GG RITO. I think I ended up dying 5 times to her in laning phase and having next to no farm. I literally could do nothing. Roam? Id end up feeding other lanes because I was so far behind. Farm jungle? Hardly a worthwhile trade off and my jungler would likely pitch a fit.

Sometimes theres really nothing you can do and end up feeding your lane opponent because youre not super-Korean level player.

Joe Dredd5/26/2015, 8:13:47 PM1 votes

I hate stupid fucking posts like these

bvcderrttyyhjjjk5/27/2015, 4:39:04 PM1 votes

SO many people do this even Golds and Plats. And it is SO bad for the entire team! Please don't do it, you'll only look like a feeding idiot. Doing bad in your lane? Stay safe and farm, and wait for teamfights to start. If you just chill and do that you can win so many games after losing the lane.

AFK Push5/27/2015, 4:57:36 PM1 votes

Yep, sounds like the average Riven player.

Kuroi865/27/2015, 9:58:15 PM1 votes

Gotta love when a fotm Riven gets wrecked lol.

But seriously, item 3047 item 3071 can go a LONG way when you're behind in lane.

Chespin20135/27/2015, 11:10:59 PM1 votes

thank you for posting this i had a fiora top lane vs a pantheon and she kept dying over and over again and i tried to tell her panth has high early game damage and to build some defensive and start with cloth armor never once build any armor throughout the entire game and pantheon was basically allowed to roam and stomp the rest of the lanes please people if u know u cant win via trades build some defensive items it helps u survive in lane and to cs and get caught up to be useful for ur team

MmaqTt7b0K5/28/2015, 1:11:32 AM1 votes

There are many factors which go into winning a fight when behind a kill... but there definitely is comeback potential... What are their items? If they got some early boots and a flask and health potions, but you went for full combat stats that means you would probably win a 1v1 or 2v2 (with junglers involved), or maybe they were 30 gold short from getting a dorans ring or longsword, meaning that if you managed to buy a lot of combat stats when you went back you'd be roughly on same terms with your opponent...

just checking their ad/ap and understanding their powerspikes, while also taking into consideration their summoner spells/abilities increases your chance of winning a 1v1 when behind...

if fizz burnt his ult, ignite, and flash, you could all in him in the very near future, etc.

TMIT5/28/2015, 4:42:43 PM1 votes

It's nice to say, but good players can really screw you in lane if you die early. It can easily become a situation where you're zoned out of CS because getting near the wave = engage (and your opponent freezes too, so you can't farm under turret). I've been on both sides of this. I had someone die to me early as Garen, so I just sat slightly outside turret wave (I could afford to tank minions to keep lane there) and if they tried to even CS I'd just kill or nearly kill, so they couldn't. It's hard for players to wait patiently hiding to sponge XP while they fall behind 40-50 CS. I've had it done to me too.

And if you do just hide from CS or roam, then everyone on the team gets angry because you're so far behind/let enemy farm anyway. I agree it's still better than dying constantly (which denies you gold AND levels), but letting someone CS uncontested is hard too. Maybe your jungler can bail you, but with some champs a good player can manipulate the lane freely while you're dead and then zone you. The guy I zoned out as Garen was screwed; because I had lane frozen just outside my own turret, I was functionally ungankable while able to zone him constantly.

It's hard to shift to a mindset of "I've lost lane so best I can do now is mitigate the damage and hope the other lanes win", and easy to fool yourself into believing you can still win your lane. I've gotten better at it over time but coming back from 1-2 early deaths against a decent lane opponent is really brutal, especially because in most cases, they're ahead because they outplayed you in the first place so now you have to be even better than you were when you already lost to just break even.

I usually just try to protect turret and get into teamfight if I'm losing lane. It's a terrible feeling but it is what it is.

Aeolian Melodies5/28/2015, 10:23:10 PM1 votes

PSA: sometimes it's the enemy whose ahead that wants to fight you, not the other way around. Depending on the match up you can't always disengage from him/her. Let's not mention getting straight up diven when the jungler shows up.