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Late game in general

heck this vayne·1/8/2015, 9:34:12 PM·1 votes·926 views

Hey guys,

I'm currently a silver Riven main that has been playing since early season 4. I need some fairly specific advice on late-game decision making. I think a handful of people have the same problem as I do, but I can't really find any good articles on this, so I'm asking you guys. I'd say that I'm a fairly decent laner. My friends are gold/platinum elo, and I'd say that when I queue with them and get put against higher elo players, I can still win or hold lane as normal a good percentage of the time. I asked for some advice in carrying solo queue games to one of them, and they said "Yeah, I can tell that you're not shit. You ward, you have map awareness, you know how to control the minion wave, and so on. But after a certain point, you just don't really know what to do and you start dying. I think if you learned how to play late game you could get to platinum these season if you really started trying."

So, here I am. I need some advice on abusing the advantage I get from laning phase. When other lanes are in trouble, I can easily roam (e.g., most mids in this elo don't really think about warding wraiths or behind the side brushes or the baron brush, so I just go around the back way and get a free kill).

In short, what should I do to:

have good decision making late game?
know when to tell my team to group?
know when to group/when to split? I think I analyze team comps well enough and I do this often, but I'd like your opinions on it. For the most part I split a lot as Riven and Vladimir
not die a lot late?

6 Comments

Sozan51/8/2015, 9:53:30 PM2 votes

Don't go solo without proper warding (or no vision on enemy team).

This is by far the most common mistake people make - and it can easily cost you a game.

Drunk Rummate1/8/2015, 9:54:15 PM2 votes

Hi, I main Riven top as well. I understand your late game pain with her. It's really hard to carry and teamfight if you're the only fed person on your team, especially with a squishy melee champ!

My best advice to you would be that you should learn how to teamfight successfully with Riven. I was watching my other friend play and noticed something he would do is to always go for the squishiest target no matter what (typically ADC/APC). This often led him into the middle of a huge cluster!@#$ of enemies and he got blown up from CC or just burst damage as everyone grouped to protect their carry.

There are several ways to approach a team fight with Riven, but you have to keep in mind that you're actually a very squishy target, especially while your shield is down. Here are my recommendations:

Fight on the edges of the fight. Riven is an amazing duelist, and she can hold her own in a 1v2 as well. Don't be afraid to engage their edge target even if he is tanky and let your other carries worry about the ADC/APC. If you run into the middle you'll get focused, but if you snag somebody on the edge then only 1 or 2 enemies should be in position to collapse, and if they do it will leave their teammates exposed.
Sit on top of your ADC. You think ADCs are scary? Now imagine fighting one with a Riven protecting it. It's impossible! Just peel for your ADC and you'll be amazed how easy fights are. Don't get impatient and jump in! Just CC and combo anyone that rushes at your AD. This tactic is especially useful if you're playing against assassins like Zed or Fizz.
Dip in and out of the fight. If the enemy doesn't have any point and click CC, and they rely on skillshots, you can abuse your mobility to hop into the fight, knock someone up, and immediately disengage afterwards. It's not a whole lot of damage, but it distracts the enemy team and gives your team time to make a move. It can also bait out high cooldown skills to give your team an advantage.

ChexMex1/9/2015, 1:09:32 AM2 votes

1have good decision making late game? 2know when to tell my team to group? 3know when to group/when to split? I think I analyze team comps well enough and I do this often, but I'd like your opinions on it. For the most part I split a lot as Riven and Vladimir 4not die a lot late?

This purely comes from experience, there is no way to train this but play the game over and over and analyze your mistakes and decisions.
You need to assess your team's strengths, since you claim you are good at analyzing team comps you should know whether your team can beat their team in a 5v5 in certain situations. Call out for the group if they are moving as 5 or you are a teamfight comp.
This ties in with 2.
Stop overextending without wards, don't mindlessly push to tier 2/3 over and over and die to them. Group if you find yourself caught by 4 enemies.

Your goal as Riven is to assassinate the enemy ADC, you only have 1 shot to do so. She does her combo and then sort of awkwardly stands around and waits.

AmazingChad1/13/2015, 9:01:17 AM1 votes

Good decision making is something you learn with experience. No one can teach you how to make better decisions because theres countless scenarios out there with different factors you need to consider for each. best way to learn is through playing more league.