Leaving your lane and roaming to help your teammates is one of the most important decisions you will need to make. However, knowing when and where to roam can be the difference between a win and a loss. Believe it or not, League is in fact a team game, and having good communication and map awareness will have a huge impact on the outcome of the match.

Toplane

Roaming can start as early as level one, when it comes down to whether or not a jungle invade occurs. If your jungler decides they want to take the enemy's topside buff, as a toplaner or midlaner, you will want to be sure you can support them if someone shows up to contest. If you decide not to rotate up to your jungler, and they end up dying, it will have a much worse impact on you and your team.

If your jungler instead takes the botside buff, it's a good idea to keep vision on their topside buff before you path to your turret. If you spot the enemy jungler here, it could lead to and easy kill, especially if you communicate with your midlaner to rotate with you. If you do not get a kill here, knowing their jungler was topside is still extremely valuable information that can lead to an easy, early gank on the opposite side of the map.

As the game goes on, it's important to keep an eye on the condition of the Rift Herald and Rift Scuttler; walking down to check on them when your lane is pushed out feeds your team information. If you catch the enemy jungler taking Scuttler, you might be able to steal it or at least force them to Smite it. The same goes for the Rift Herald, since some junglers might try to solo it. It is especially important to check on your topside jungle when you're against Kindred, to prevent them from completing their hunts and gaining stacks.

If your jungler and/or midlaner gets into a fight in the topside river, be sure to rotate down to help secure kills. If you see midlane is in a position to gank for, you can push out your lane and rotate down as well. Whenever you decide to rotate, it is important to communicate this with a ping to ensure your teammate knows you are on your way. If your enemy laner is missing, and they pushed in the wave up to your turret, it is possible they're rotating to either Herald or midlane, and it is a good idea to look for an opportunity to follow them and at least get vision in the river.

When going Teleport, try to save this for ganking opportunities, especially towards the botlane. You can arrive just in time to counter a gank in lane, or to turn around a fight over Dragon. When you make the decision to Teleport in, make sure your teammates know so that they do not disengage before you arrive.

Midlane

The same idea applies here as it does toplane, when it comes to the topside jungle and river. However, as a midlaner, you also need to consider the botside jungle. You can push out your wave and rotate either top or bot when the opportunity arises for a gank. If your enemy laner disappears, keep in mind that they might be heading to gank your allies, and you should be ready to follow them and/or gain vision of where they disappeared to.

If Dragon is up, it is important to be ready to rotate down to assist your team, especially if your enemy laner is missing, as they could be heading there themselves. Whenever you decide to rotate, be sure to push out your lane at least to the point where it is not collapsing onto your turret. However, if you need to rotate immediately to save a teammate, then do not hesitate to do so. Rotating down to help secure the Rift Scuttler is also important, especially if the junglers are already fighting over it, since you can gain a kill here, which could lead to bigger objectives like Dragon. Ideally, you will want to push out your lane so that you can back and reset your health and purchase any available items within thirty seconds of Dragon spawning.

Botlane

With Dragons being botside, botlane is one of the most important areas of the map. You will want to push out your wave and lock down vision of the dragon pit when it is spawned or close to spawning. If your jungler decides to pull the dragon, and your lane is pushed out, it is a good idea to either rotate up to help them finish it off, or keep an eye on your enemy botlane in case they move up to get vision in the pit. If your lane is pushed up to your turret, make sure you have vision of the pit and look for an opportunity to rotate over if the enemy decides to pull.

It is possible for the enemy jungler to invade the botside jungle, especially if they have an early lead. In this case, you will want to keep an eye out so that you can rotate up to help your jungler. Even if you cannot secure any kills, it is still important to prevent your enemy from doing so. Jungle has a huge impact on the outcome of the game, and it should be one of your top priorities to assist them in any way you can.

As a support specifically, you usually have more opportunities to roam. It is a good idea to roam if your carry has decided to back, and you had just gotten back to lane, especially if you could help the midlane secure a kill or assist your jungler with Scuttler or Dragon. If there is not an opportunity to assist in a gank, then use this time to get deeper vision in the botside jungle and shutting down the enemy's vision around the river and Dragon. Again, you will want to push out your lane so that you can back and reset your health and purchase any available items within thirty seconds of Dragon spawning. Focusing the state of your lane around Dragons will help secure the win for your team, especially if it leads to getting kills.

When it comes to Rift Herald, the laning phase is still going on and it is usually harder to rotate in this direction without losing pressure in your lane. If the Rift Herald has been secured by the enemy team, and gets used in the midlane, it is a good idea to rotate up to help defeat it before it does too much damage. If it has not been used yet, it is a good idea to keep your lane pushed out in preparation.

Jungle

As a jungler, your entire role is pretty much the definition of roaming. You will want to frequently keep an eye on the state of everyone's lanes to make decisions on ganking and objectives. If your team has their lanes pushed out, you can usually sneak to an objective and solo it, rather than wait around for an opportunity to gank. In this situation, keep a careful eye on the position of the enemy laners, and place a Control Ward down beside you. When you go to do an objective or gank a lane, make sure you communicate to your team that you are doing so, so that they can rotate and assist you. It is not a good idea to start an objective if the two closest lanes are pushed into your ally's turret, since you do not have clear vision of the enemy laner.

After Laning Phase

Once turrets start to fall, more opportunities will arise to roam, especially as objectives get more and more important. If your turret falls, your enemy laner is more inclined to roam and get kills, so you will want to make sure you secure the enemy turret as quick as possible so it is easier to follow them. As both teams secure Dragons, you will want to focus on the fight leading up to the Dragon Soul. As mentioned above, be sure to reset your health and purchase any available items within thirty seconds or so before the objective spawns, so that you can go straight there and help. The same idea goes for Baron Nashor.

Besides the main objectives, you will want to rotate to help your team destroy enemy turrets and push out lanes. As the game goes on, it is more and more dangerous for someone to be in lane alone, as the enemy team can easily rotate and shut them down. If you are able to rotate to help a teammate and make the fight weigh in your favor, you should make an effort to do so. However, if your ally is caught out deep in the enemy territory and far away from your team, consider the risks before rotating, especially if you could instead use this chance to secure an objective or turret.

As you push further into the enemy's base, be sure to spread the pressure to more than one lane, as it will make it harder for them to counter. If they are also spreading the pressure, keep an eye out on any empty lanes, so that you do not lose turrets for no reason. Keeping your vision up deep in the enemy jungle will help feed your team valuable information to use for effective roams, so get in the habit of leaving wards behind after pushing and rotating.

In Conclusion

Effective roaming and communication are key in securing the win for your team. A simple rotation to an ally can turn around a fight and/or secure an objective. As turrets begin to fall, you will want to spread the pressure across the map to make ganks and objectives less risky. Leaving behind wards as you return from deep roams and pushing the base will lead to better opportunities to rotate on in the future. All in all, roaming helping your teammates any chance you get is the key to gaining the advantage and bringing home the win.