Regardless of how great your teammates or champions are, unless you're literal leagues above your opponents, you probably won't win many games (ranked or unranked) unless you have a solid concept of pressure. It's a prominent topic in professional games not only because it is one of the fundamental keys to success, but because seeing great use of it at play is not only entertaining but incredibly admirable. I'm sure across the community and elos you'll hear it described differently, but for me, I separate it into direct pressure and indirect pressure, and, by coming here today, you'll leave with the knowledge of just what these are and what makes them so crucial to modern-day League of Legends.

Alright, so let's talk pressure.

Direct Pressure

Direct pressure is the most commonly known and referred to form of pressure. This is the pressure most people will be talking about when they use pressure as a general term in your games. Simply put, this type of pressure is any type of influence exerted on the opponent either through direct contact with them or their structures.

This photo is a bit of an exaggeration, but a lane going 0/8/0 or just getting stomped in lane is going to put direct pressure on your team to perform

Examples of direct pressure include:

• Trading and contesting minions in lane
• Killing your lane opponent or winning a team fight
• Sieging and Split Pushing
• Crashing waves into the enemy towers

Mastery over direct pressure is what generally leads to snowballs and influxes of gold early, with most direct pressure attempts being made as a result of information gathered when comparing the indirect pressure of both teams at any given moment. Losing against snowball champs in lane and in general just losing team fights are pretty solid examples of direct pressure at its highest. You can generally circumvent most direct pressure by simply playing defensively and/or taking note of the indirect pressure on the map before making a move. High mechanics and micro can also directly affect your ability to. It should be noted though that having to play defensive in the first place is a type of indirect pressure.

But, moving on...

Indirect Pressure

Indirect pressure is, as I would define it, any sort of influence you have over an enemy player (or the team) without necessarily having to touch them specifically or their structures. This is primarily achieved by use of external factors and mechanics of the game that alter their sense of security and, as a result, the subsequent decisions they make to either preserve/reinforce it or weaken yours.

Stealth-based champions, like Twitch, exert huge amounts of indirect pressure whenever you cannot actively see them on the map

Examples of indirect pressure could be:

• Not seeing all 5 opponents on the minimap
• A lack of vision in an area making you less likely to go there
• The presence of global/semi-global ults on the enemy team
• The ticking time bomb that is playing against any infinite scaling champion or late game team compositions
• Having an advantageous lane matchup

On top of being a formidable split pusher (direct pressure), Nasus indirectly pressures teams to try to end the game before his infinite scalings kick in.

Indirect pressure can be huge because most if it requires minimal effort and can either force an opponent's hand or even make them lose confidence in themselves and their plays before they even have the chance to test it. Think about it- if your top laner tells you, the mid laner, that the enemy jungler was last seen headed mid, are you really going to all in that half-health enemy laner even though you might have a health advantage and a higher chance of winning in a one-on-one scenario?

Most counterplay to indirect pressure revolves around teamplay, such as constant communication, moving together to secure vision, coordinated drafting in champ select to secure advantageous matchups whenever possible (or just drafting less feast-or-famine picks when playing alone), and weighing the risk/reward before making moves without necessarily having the vision to back it up.

Conclusion

Keeping a diverse array of tips and tricks and knowing how to spot and effectively counteract, exert, and adapt to both types of pressures is one of the major differences between a high elo and low elo player. With time and experience you'll be able to see them like second nature, picking up on things you previously were unable to and become better able to understand not only your opponents, but the reason(s) why you do certain things and why they (do or do not) work out.

Which one do you find yourself depending on the most? I'm curious.

Best of luck on the rift.

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