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What am I doing wrong mid-game?

kirovdaruss·6/1/2015, 9:20:44 AM·1 votes·2,441 views

In my ranked play I almost always pick yasuo when I get mid. Even when the matchup is in the enemy mid's favor (for example Talon or Annie), I still pick yasuo because 9 times out of 10 I'm still able to win lane. I've become really good at winning lane playing yasuo. If I'm not ahead in kills, it's normally because the enemy mid is playing so safely they're way behind in farm so either way I end up with a gold advantage.

The issue is I never seem to be able to carry on yasuo. I don't know how to transfer my fed laning phase into wins. And my mid game and late game decision making are lacking. When the first tower is taken, a lot of the time I'm the most fed person on either team so I say in chat "Let's group for objectives while I'm ahead." Most times my teammates just continue laning. I don't know what I should do so I farm my lane and try to gank top and bot when I see a chance. If we get a kill, we push to tower and take it. Occasionally, my teammates will group mid with me and we try for the second tier turret mid or in another lane. This often results in teamfights. Eventually we lose a fight hard and we lose our advantage. At that point, I don't know what we should do. That's why I know my mid/late game is bad, because I never have a definitive idea of what our team should be doing at any particular moment. Where can I learn this and how do I improve my mid/late game?

I often feel like I'm in elo hell now. When I have those really good laning phases where I go 5/0 in lane, I feel like I have to carry my team but am unable to do so.

TL;DR I am VERY confident in my yasuo mid lane and in my mechanics on him and almost always win lane with him. But it ends up meaning nothing because I don't know what to do with my advantage and how to transfer that advantage to the rest of my team after laning phase ends. What should I be doing with my advantage in mid game? How do I keep it? And how do I improve my decision making and shot calling in mid/late game? Basically how do I convert my good laning phase on yasuo into wins?

11 Comments

Dewey Volkov6/1/2015, 10:02:29 AM2 votes

Hm... I'm only Silver 4 (just got promoted today, actually :D), but maybe I can offer some advice. I often play Malzahar mid, and win lane a lot, like you do with Yasuo. When I get my turret and my teammates are still laning, I will clear the wave at the center of midlane, and get my minions to push and put pressure on that 2nd tower. Then I'll see what objectives I can take; I'll go bot if they need help, or top if they do. If there's nothing, I'll essentially camp my teammate's lanes until we can properly group. I'll wander around, ward, see if I can catch their team off guard. And when that minion wave on midlane gets pushed back? I'll repeat the process; clear the wave and wander from lane to lane, keeping control of dragon and baron while doing so.

I help put pressure on all lanes by roaming. And when all three lanes have their first turret down, that's when I'll command my team to group up and push for mid's inhib. From there it's group pushing, with the occasional splitter going off to clear waves or try to take a 2nd turret in top or bot (usually the jungler or adc, from what I've noticed). If you can control the map with vision, and control dragon and baron, you'll win. Only split when necessary, and have constant pressure in the other lanes. Make sure your minions are always past the halfway mark in lane, that way the enemy team has to split up to clear those waves. Then you push for an inhib as a team. It's all about constant pressure, and using minions to split the enemy team. WHen they aren't all 5 together, they'll fail if the team compositions are equal.

Angry Monster6/1/2015, 10:14:50 AM2 votes

I often feel like I'm in elo hell now. When I have those really good laning phases where I go 5/0 in lane, I feel like I have to carry my team but am unable to do so.

You are not in ELO hell, You are where your supposed to be. The the fact you can not turn an advantage like your describing into a win is purely a issue with you and no one else.

You need to find someone that can spectate a few games and see what you are doing wrong.

Some things to think about though. When you do really well are you warding in the enemy jungle in the attempt to pick off or harass the jungler? Are you killing off the enemy and backing or doing something with your victory. Are you fighting with team members for the CS or letting them have the minions in the safe area cause you can go into riskier areas?

If you win your lane offer to switch with a outside lane to push you advantages. Mid lane is one of the safer lanes and offering the spot to a weaker lane (or just the ADC) will allow you to push down more global gold while giving your team mates a safe spot to farm. If you do not have 2 full items plus boots do not press beyond the teir 2 towers. Starve the enemy, and pick them off. Let the timer get beyond 20 minutes so death means something instead of forcing their base when they re-spawn quickly.

You can help your team with in other ways than ganking.