League of Legends is one of the very few times in life where it is okay to be a bully. I don’t mean trash talking in /all chat or flaming your team, but being a lane bully. In case you haven’t heard the term before, a ‘lane bully’ punishes their opponent each time they approach the creep wave to last hit or simply prevents them from approaching the creep wave in the first place. This typically results in the opponent playing safe and missing CS or getting forced to trade health for CS which will cause them to be more susceptible to ganks and have to back more often also leading to them missing CS.

I was first introduced to the lane bully when I began to play Renekton in the top lane. His dreaded E, AA, W, Tiamat/Hydra, Q, AA, E combo (or some variation) would wreak havoc on my opponents. I really enjoyed the feeling of having such a lopsided trade with a single combo. I enjoyed the feeling so much that I began looking for ways I could be a lane bully on other champions who don’t always have such a devastating ability combo. To be honest, I initially wasn’t that successful. Then all of a sudden everything clicked.

The Renekton combo that first introduced me to the lane bully.

It all clicked when I decided to step out of my comfort zone in the top lane. I ended up playing a game in the mid lane as Lux after seeing a pro player use some devastating Q, E, E, R all in combos during a stream. It seemed similar enough to the Renekton combo that I decided to give it a shot. I loved it! With Lux, my all-in combo wasn’t available until level 6, so I found myself using my Q, E, and AA simply to chunk the opponent when they were out of position or near creeps. Then at level 6, I would perform my all-in on a 60 - 70% health opponent to finish them off. That’s when I realized that in the top lane it’s not all about the all-in combo because you typically don’t play champions in the top lane like Lux, Ahri, Talon, etc. that can 100 to 0 someone with a devastating all-in. You just need to use your abilities or threat of abilities to keep the enemy from last hitting. This means the partial combo poke is just as important, especially if you could combine it with your own last hitting.

The final portion of Lux's all in that somehow taught me to be a better lane bully in the top lane.

I went back to the top lane and pulled out one of my standard picks, Maokai, who I had so far unsuccessfully been trying to play as a lane bully. I focused on these three things to become a better lane bully (in addition to the usual last hitting and global map awareness):

• I watched at my opponents’ approach patterns when going for last hits, including how they responded to me walking towards them when they approached. This let me time my Q to hit them as they approached which poked them out while I took little to no damage.
• I used my abilities to both last hit minions and hit my opponent's champion. This allowed me to actually take advantage of my presence as a lane bully by simultaneously building up my CS.
• I attempted trades involving the Maokai version of an all-in only if my minion wave was larger and I was able to root them near it. This let me win trades with the help of added damage from my minions.

I now play all my champions in the above manner and have truly become a lane bully regardless of what champion I currently play. It probably helps that I tend to only play champions where the above tips are possible, which are those with abilities that can hit multiple targets, have some form of CC, and have sustain. I either poke the opponent enough to keep them off the minion wave or simply out trade them every time they make the mistake of approaching to CS while my abilities are off cooldown.

My current top lane main that I now play as a lane bully.

Having been playing the lane bully for a while now, I have found that you do need to control your inner lane bully to get the most out of it. Many of my opponents will simply back once they are out of potions and are chunked to low health. This can get frustrating since they typically will come back with a defensive item and full health making it harder to accomplish the goal of a lane bully. That’s when tempering your aggression in lane can work wonders. Like faking your approach as if you are going to trade or poke, but only last hit. This will keep the enemy around longer even at health ranges between 50 – 70% at which point a quick gank call can secure the kill. Executing ganks also becomes easier because a lane bully's aggression isn't necessarily an indication of gank support being nearby, which can catch your opponent off guard when a Jungler does come flying out of the river to assist you.

Hopefully I’m not the only person in League of Legends that enjoys being a lane bully. If you have any champions you think I should use as a lane bully, please leave them in the comment section below.

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