In Conquest, at a casual, ranked, or competitive level, rotations are key to winning the game. Rotations are not the same every game, as every game is different and requires rotational techniques. So, how do you know when to rotate and how do you rotate effectively?

The first key to rotating is warding. You see the mid laner goes back towards the red buff, but when he's done, you don't know if he's going to back to base, if he's going to go do mid harpies, or if he wants to gank the duo lane. With that said, good ward coverage can help to spot out where the mid laner is going. Warding around the mid harpies is a safe and easy way to catch rotations, and warding around the boars at the duo lane and the solo lane can catch rotations to both sides.

So you want to ward and spot out the rotation, along with calling Enemy Missing (VFF) to let your team be aware your lane matchup is missing or ganking. Now what?

Athena is one of the best Gods at rotating thanks to her ultimate "Defender of Olympus"

There are two effective responses to enemy rotations. Respone one is to try and keep up with your matchup, follow him around the map and don't let your team fight a man down. This is the safest strategy, and it allows for your team to group up and teamfight, which can swing the fight in your favor if you can counter the rotation. On the contrary, you can force a rotation if you push your matchup under tower, and fight a man up or force your lane matchup to follow you and be late to the fight.

Your other option is to split up the map and push. Let's say you are in solo lane, and your matchup teleports into a ward to help a teamfight while your teleport is down. You can try and make the trip across the map, or you can push. Your goal if you choose to stay and push should be to get the tower, and if you can't take the tower, you can walk in and take the enemy jungle camps, while still pushing your wave. Your team will be fighting a man down, but it is better to take what you can and push up, getting an advantage on your opponent, rather than rotating late and getting nothing as the fight washes out.

Just look at the Allegiance versus Luminosity game. When a teamfight breaks out, ALG makes a hard commit to the Gold Fury, forcing the fight and requiring Matthew "Mattypocket" Paquette to teleport. You'll see that while ALG take the Gold Fury, Evan "Snoopy" Jones decides to stay home, push the wave, and take Matty's blue buff.

Team Allegiance versus Luminosity

So, now that you can counter rotations, when should you actually rotate?

When you are in any lane, getting the lane pressure is key. You don't want to leave while a full wave of minions gets pushed underneath your tower. With that said, you may miss some experience to make a rotation, which is fine as long as you get what you rotate for. Going back to the solo lane, one of the most common rotations is when there's a teamfight at the gold fury. One solo laner will usually outclear, and then use his teleport relic to get across the map and make an impact in the fight quickly. If you see a fight at the gold fury, and you have a ward to teleport to while your opponent is under tower, you can force the rotation by teleporting in, causing your opponent to be late or the other team to fight down a man.

If you notice rotations are a lacking part of your game, some Gods are far superior at it than others. Gods like Apollo, Athena, Janus, and Thor have "global" ultimates, or ults that can take them around the map very quickly. If you are having trouble rotating, these Gods can make it quick and easy to rotate to fights and objectives.

Now that you understand when and how to rotate, make sure this knowledge translates into your play. Effective rotating can be crucial to victory, and now that you can do it, you can win more of your games while being more effective. Thanks for reading, see you again soon.