Solo lane has now become quite popular within conquest mode, but when you first start out in it, it can be quite overwhelming. Never fear my friends, I am here to help! This guide should help ease those nerves when transitioning into the solo lane.

What is the deal with solo lane anyway?
Okay, so solo lane is for that one person that no one wants to lane with (I joke!), so that the other person who would make up the meta 2-1-2 transforms the meta to 2-1-1 or 1-1-2 and uses their newly found free time to kill the creeps in the jungle, therefore gaining their experience that way. The Jungler is then set with the task of providing their team with buffs and ganks (which requires good communication within the whole team) but I will explain all about the Jungler in a future blog. The solo laners job is pretty much to just hold their lane, pushing is an added bonus.

God Selection
When it comes to solo laning it is best to choose someone you are comfortable with, someone who you are confident in playing. Good communication in the God selection lobby is a good idea, try and organize lanes before locking in gods, this will help A LOT! There is nothing worse than getting into a game and having to solo with a God you are learning or to assume that you are going into a certain lane to only find out, once in game, that the rest of your team have other plans for you. That being said solo lane is mainly for the tanks/bruisers but you can play whoever you want there, but someone like Arachne solo is not really a good idea.

Differentiating Duel Lane To Solo
So now that you're in which lane do you go? How can you tell which lane is the solo lane before enemy encounters? Well that is easy! Just simply look at you mini map and look for the 'short lane' almost always that is where the solo laner will go. How can you tell which is the solo lane? When you look at your mini map you will notice on either the left or the right that the front towers of you and your enemy are actually closer than the towers in the other lane. This makes it easier for you to keep an eye on your enemy and quicker for you to get back to your tower in case of emergency.

How To Play Solo Lane
So minions have spawned and everyone is in their lanes, but how do you take on this lane? Firstly it is a good idea to weigh up your opponent(s) Are they Ranged or Melee? Magical or Physical? High attack/low defense or low attack/high defense? Is there 1 or 2 of them? Once you have figured out which God(s) you are up against that is when it is time to make your decision on game play.

Knowing the Gods' abilities are a great advantage, that allows you to know exactly how to tackle the lane e.g. Sobek is your opponent and you are hiding under your tower from being pushed, you know Sobek has the ability 'Charge Prey' which can throw you back and make you vulnerable if it hits you, so you stand underneath the tower enough so you are out of his reach. Aggressiveness in solo lane is not much required as much as confidence and strategy. You Just need to farm off minions and poke the enemy not fight them, only engage in fights if:

1. Your opponent over extends
2. Your Jungler is coming into gank
3. There is an opening

2v1
So your enemy team has the meta of 2-1-2 and you are required to solo lane against a duel lane, what should you do? How do you play now? Game play is pretty much the same, you want to farmminionsand poke your enemies, not engage in fights. This lane does require a bit more passive play as it is a lot easier to die early game.

This normally can leave you pushed to your tower, if possible tryto killminions out of tower, this way you still get experience and gold, but don't do it if you will be putting yourself in danger. If a minion gets killed by your tower you still gain experience

It Is Better To Be Safe Than Sorry
Being in the solo lane leaves you extremely vulnerable to ganks from their Jungler, especially if you are pushing the lane, but you do not know when the Jungler will strike, and it could cost you your life. In solo lane wards will be your best friend! But they do require a decent amount of map awareness (I plan to write a future blog on this subject too). Wards allow you to see the enemy when they are near them (not through walls though). This allows you to still push the lane and not be completely blind and vulnerable to the enemy team. Solo laners will also find it beneficial to buy teleports, these allow you to get back to your tower with the press of a button, the teleport is a consumable and is only a single use item, so you will have to buy more.

Warding items include:
Eye Of Providence - This is an active item, NOT a consumable, it allows you to place a ward every 90 seconds and has a standing time of 1 minute, per item level, or until killed.
Sentry Ward - This is a consumable, each one is a single use item so you will have to buy more. It has a standing time of 90 seconds or until killed.
Ward - This is a consumable, each one is a single use item so you will have to buy more. It has a standing time of 3 minutes or until killed.

When warding, position is everything! There is no point in putting a ward somewhere it does not benefit you. the picture below shows the positions that i find to be best when I play solo lane.

Communication
To be a good team you must have good communication with each other, calling MIAs is so beneficial! It can minimize the enemies kills and keeps the rest of your team informed on the enemies that they cannot see, it also prevents your team from getting mad at you. If you see an enemy going toward another lane it is best to always call it, even if the enemy is not in your lane, these are the most important commands you can use in game as well as calling your returns to base, which allows your team mates to know that your lane is now undefended and that you no longer have visual of the enemy god(s) from your lane.

It is also a good idea to let your team mates know when the enemy has returned to your lane, so that they no longer have to be cautious about a roaming enemy, I will list all of these voice demands below.

MIAs:
VF1 = Enemy missing left
VF2 = Enemy missing middle
VF3 = Enemy missing right

Enemies Incoming
VI1 = Enemies incoming left
VI2 = Enemies incoming middle
VI3 = Enemies incoming right

Enemies Returned
VT1 = Enemies have returned left
VT2 = Enemies have returned middle
VT3 = Enemies have returned right

Self Retreats
VSTB = I'm returning to base
VVB = Be right back
VSR = Falling back

Last And Foremost
Have fun! This is a game after all, a death in game has a re-spawn unlike real life. Don't beat yourself up or abuse others for making mistakes, we learn from them and that is how we better ourselves as players, being a toxic player is only going to create more toxicity among the team.

If you have any suggestions for further blogs you would like me to cover, drop me a message on either my Twitter or Facebook (both are linked to my profile), or leave a comment below.