In a game of League of Legends, teamwork is the key to success in every game you’re likely to play. An enemy Zed with 10 kills at 10 minutes might be hard to shut down, but with correct teamplay, focus, and mentality, your problems can become all too easy. That’s why we’re going to break down one of the most important components of early team play through this guide, and that component is ganking. As much as solo queue players would like to spam “jg diff” when a game goes south, the player being ganked is just as important as the ganker when it comes to ensuring the best outcome. Let’s dive right in!

Learning to Get Ganked

The most important thing to remember about being ganked is that your Jungler will not, and should not, gank for you as soon as you ask for assistance. There are a number of factors that contribute to the execution of a gank, and focusing on these things to allow for the cleanest play is vital for any laner.

The first consideration in setting up a gank is ward control. The more you may read guides relating to League of Legends, the more you’ll understand the importance of warding in any context, and this is no exception. Vision control should be item number one on the checklist when you call for help, and it really isn’t as difficult as one might think! The ideal ward setup for a gank in bot lane might look something like this:

This dually prevents enemy vision in the river, allowing your Jungler to sneak up undetected, and also grants vision over the tri-brush so that the potential for a lethal enemy countergank is severely reduced. In an ideal world, of course, both of these areas would be covered by Control Wards at all times, but that becomes unrealistic as the red-sided team would be more likely to have control over the river and the blue-sided team is more likely to have control over the tri-brush.

This also clearly emphasises the importance of a Sweeping Lens even so early in the game as laning phase. Having control of these areas does not simply mean having a ward in the area, it also means ensuring that your enemy doesn’t have any wards of their own around either; when pushing out a wave, make sure you take a stroll towards enemy territory and sweep the area to ensure the greatest effectiveness.

Once your vision control has been set up, you should next consider the position of the minion wave in your lane. Freezing a lane closer to your own tower allows your Jungler the freedom to move in behind the enemy and make their play from behind, while pushing forward limits their options considerably. This being said, a great number of inexperienced players fail to appreciate the damage output of a minion wave, particularly early in the game, so let’s take a look at the numbers.

In the example of a Level 3 gank, very commonly seen thanks to the increased rate of Jungle XP, let’s consider the damage coming from a full wave of minions.

Melee minion damage = 12

Melee minion attack speed = 1.25

Caster minion damage = 25.5 (after one Upgrade)

Caster minion attack speed = 0.667

Minion damage (full wave) after 2 seconds = (12*3) + (12*3) + (25.5*3) = 148.5

Total damage dealt to a champion with 40 armor = ~50

Unaffected by armor, a full minion wave is outputting 148.5 damage over the course of 2 seconds. It’s rare that a Siege minion would be present in the lane for a Level 3 gank, but assuming that there is, an extra 82 damage can be added on to the total. Considering that armor is, indeed, a factor in the damage a champion will take, we can assume that the damage taken will be closer to a third of this, leaving with a total output of 50 damage.

While this number in isolation may seem insignificant, at a stage in the game where champions like Ashe will have approximately 750 health, with a Doran’s Blade in hand, this begins to stack up. Lengthy exchanges with a minion disadvantage in the early game should be avoided at all costs, so make sure you set up a gank with this in mind. Clear out the enemy minions as efficiently as possible right before your Jungler makes their move.

Once you’ve got the perfect setup, you’re ready to execute the gank. Your work doesn’t end here though! One of the most important elements of League of Legends, whether you’re planning a gank or orchestrating a teamfight, is to understand which trades are worth and which are not. Too many newer players will overextend for a greedy kill on an enemy after they’ve burned their flash trying to escape, only to end up dying themselves. This is a misplay, as you already generate value for your team by forcing the enemy to use a Summoner Spell.

Learning to Gank

When the gank is in your hands, and you’re forced to make the play as the Jungler, your work gets tougher as you try and find kills on unsuspecting enemy players. Relying on your teammates to set you up perfectly can sometimes be hard enough, but once it all comes together there are a few considerations of your own that you need to make before launching into a lane.

Your rotations as a Jungler will often differ based on where you’re needed across the game. If your bot lane has a really strong potential to engage before Level 6, you can follow an aggressive Red > Blue > Gromp path, so as to be situated well for a gank at Level 3. Before ganking, you should always look to secure yourself the Scuttle Crab for extra vision around the region, which will last until just before the first Drake spawns as well.

In terms of identifying the perfect time to gank, there are a few key indicators that you should focus on before committing to a play. Keeping tabs on the enemy players and their whereabouts on the Rift is vital to ensure you don’t get collapsed on before executing your grand plans; inversely, acting with the vision that you DO have is just as crucial. If you, as a Jungler, can see that the enemy Jungler has just walked past the top-side Scuttle Crab, this is the perfect indicator to tell your top laner to sit back and play safe for a little bit while you stroll on down to the bottom side of the map for a gank.

Now the art of the gank is a difficult one to master, but with the correct analysis of the game you’ll be able to set up some spicy plays for your team in the blink of an eye. When you’re coming in for your gank, you want to coordinate your advance with your allies and layer Crowd Control on to your enemy to keep them locked down for as long as possible. The same ideology applies here, in that forcing an enemy into using their Summoner Spells is a win in your book, as you’ve freed up some of the pressure your laner faces.

The techniques for getting into lane are as numerous as your imagination (and your team’s cooperation) will allow. If your allies can sweep through the lane bushes, you can force a lane gank undetected, or if your enemies are really keeping a firm grip on a river ward, you can find your way to the red side blast cone and launch yourself into a ganking position with little-to-no warning. Traditional ganks in running through the river are never to be overlooked, as attacking your enemy from two fronts is always sure to cause a headache for any opponent.

Following this guide you can gain a greater understanding of what to focus on, whether you’re the ganking or the ganked. A bit of communication mixed up with all this knowledge and you’re ready to climb the ladder to success, as well as pick up a few post-match honours from your teammates in the process. GLHF!