Turrets biting the dust. A pretty common sight with great implications due to the recent changes. Although they have received a significant health buff, there still remain certain matchups where the opposing Turret gets demolished relatively fast. This could either be the signal to start the grouping if you have the stronger early game or continue putting your lane opponent(s) even further behind. However, when are you supposed to do what?

Solo lanes

First off, there needs to be given some attention as to what the specific matchup is about. Every time you head to your lane, you should either be concerned with killing your opponent simply due to the nature of the matchup, or simply farm and be happy because you’re going to out scale him/her eventually.

If it ends up being a farm centered lane, then keeping pressure on the opponent even with the turret down is the best option. In any lane, with the right amount of wards placed, there is the possibility to push up close to the tier 2 Turret and this putting an immense amount of pressure not only on your lane counterpart, but forcing their Jungle to focus (even more) on your lane. The key to executing this strategy perfectly is warding the pivotal places where junglers or roaming laners are supposed to cross (most notable the pixel bushes).

This kind of playstyle is a huge risk huge reward type of play. When executed perfectly (spot on ward placement in order to avoid any kind of ganks as described above and the ability to out push your lane opponent), it can quite easily result in a one sided win since most people can’t handle a high amount of pressure for a long time when it stays unanswered, even if your team is getting some devastating blows in terms of giving up kills.

Image courtesy of Rareden

However, when you find yourself in a lane where the emphasis is more on killing your opponent rather than coming out on top in the farm game, there’s a whole new approach that you should take. Whenever you find yourself in a killing lane (e.g. Talon vs. Zed), the farming part of the game will always tend to fade away slightly, as more significant leads can be gained through annihilating your lane nemesis.

In the second scenario, a lot of killing will go back and forth (or a one sided showcase in case there were some unlucky events) due to the, as mentioned above, nature of the lane. In the case of the one sided showdown, an argument can be made for both laners roaming, being it either to use your advantage to get your other lanes ahead or simply dodge your current matchup because the gains outweigh the risks of staying in your lane. This line of play will sooner or later result in the end of your tier 1 turret in the game, which should make no difference in your current mind-set. Roaming will still be the best option available since Assassins simply don’t thrive in a stale and farm orientated lane.

Duolane

The aforementioned rules don’t apply to bot lane, as it is obvious that there is a huge difference in how solo laners play compared to duo lanes. Tearing down the enemy turret fast and then switch your duo up top might be a little too much for the average League of Legends player, although there is still a variety of tactics that can be utilized to make the best out of any situation.

Especially in the lower echelons of the ranked system, there’s a strange tendency to move mid when the turret went down, as if it is a signal that the laning phase is over, regardless of which side you’re on. This decision can be the right option in certain cases, but there are a several aspects that have to be taken into account.

First of all should be looked at which side of the lane was able to make the most out of the early game and which champions will have the biggest impact in the midgame. Whichever side hits an immense power spike and does not benefit from farming anymore as much as their counterpart should make the decision to group, regardless of the possible deficit you could be facing, as simply stalling out the game will only make the game slip away even further. An example here could be something that is frequently reoccurring nowadays: Blue Ezreal up against a Corki. As Ezreal will have to gather a much higher amount of resources to eventually be able to put out more damage and be able to provide more utility than Corki. Forcing Ezreal to group and thus having to share more resources, delaying his moment of glory.

Image courtesy of btauciub

A second big aspect of the decision is the ability to siege measured up against the ability to wave clear. Grouping is an event where you need to create an advantage by putting a gargantuan amount of pressure on structures and neutral objectives. League of Legends essentially comes down to pressure when you find yourself in a matchup with equally skilled players. When not able to convert your grouping into any kind of advantages while letting the opposing team gather a sizeable lead in terms of resources, there will be no question that an inevitable downfall will follow.

Thirdly, keeping the pressure up and continue pushing further into hostile territory could be the way to go. With eyes on the Nexus, continuously pushing the waves up to the turret should, pure logically speaking, be the best option. When opting for this kind of early game follow-up, a complete control over the dark zones of the map is needed, as well as support from either your jungler or toplaner ready to move in when danger is imminent. Moving forward that significantly leaves the duo very vulnerable to ganks, as it is only a short walk from mid to bot and tracking the opposing jungler is generally very tricky and rarely perfect. Nonetheless, nothing is impossible with the right amount of vision and map pressure!

But regardless of which option seems to be the best, make sure your team concurs.

Thank you for reading and best of luck on Summoner’s Rift!