Among the many different skills that you have to learn to play League of Legends effectively, landing and dodging skillshots can be one of the most difficult to get down. With 156 champions in the game, each with their own set of abilities, it can be hard to learn how to dodge each and every ability that you might have come at you in a typical game. However, when you break each skillshot down to its simplest elements, many of them are relatively similar and can thus be dodged in relatively similar ways. The point of this guide is to break down some of League’s skillshots into a handful of distinct categories so that you only need to remember a few key pieces of advice which will help you become a dodging expert. If you read through this article, you’ll hopefully be able to apply what you’ve learned in-game to avoid taking unnecessary damage, giving you the ability to win more frequently!
Five General Dodging Tips
Before we get into the specific advice as to how you can dodge the different types of skillshots that you’ll see in League, it is important to go over some general tips which form the foundations of dodging. Knowing these basics will make you able to dodge even the trickiest of skillshots with ease.
Tip 1: Rush Boots Against Skillshot-centric Lane Opponents
While dodging skillshots requires skill and anticipation from the player, there is also an in-game stat which makes it much easier to avoid being hit: movement speed. By having more movement speed, you’re able to simply sidestep skillshots if you’re able to react quickly enough. In turn, the easiest way to obtain movement speed is to buy boots. If you’re against a laner who is constantly barraging you with abilities, consider building an upgraded pair of boots before you might otherwise complete them. By doing this, you’ll make yourself much less susceptible to their main source of damage, ultimately giving you an advantage that will last throughout the game.
Tip 2: Move Often and With Purpose
At first, this advice might seem really obvious, as staying in place would make you an incredibly easy target for enemy skillshots. However, while moving often is a great way to make yourself hard-to-hit, moving too much without meaning makes you easier to hit in the long run. This is because the more ground you cover, the more places you make it possible for a skillshot to hit you. When you’re moving around, try to ensure that you’re being thoughtful about your positioning relative to your enemy and any minions.
Tip 3: Try to Be Unpredictable
In conjunction with the previous tip, make sure to not always sidestep skillshots in the same way. If you always move in the same direction when an enemy is getting into position to hit you with their abilities, they’ll ultimately just adjust their aim to hit you. Therefore, one of the best things you can do in the long run to dodge more abilities is to switch up the direction in which you are moving regularly.
Tip 4: Remember Your Abilities
When dodging enemy skillshots, it’s important to not just remember what abilities they have, but also what abilities you have. Any dash or blink that you would typically use to engage can also be used to dodge incoming skillshots. Beyond that, when dodging, you can also try to put yourself into a position where you can fire back with your own abilities. Just don’t forget that you can fight back along with avoiding damage.
Tip 5: If in Doubt, FLASH!
Last but not least, never forget that if your life depends on it, you can always use Flash to dodge an ability that would otherwise deal immense damage to and/or kill you. While Flash’s cooldown is quite long, using it and surviving is often better than holding it and letting the enemy snowball from getting a kill.
How to Dodge Specific Types of Skillshots
With those general tips in mind, let’s turn our attention to some more specific advice which will help you dodge the many different types of skillshots that exist in this game.
Dodging Linear Skillshots
Examples: Ezreal’s Q (Mystic Shot), Nidalee’s Q (Javelin Toss), Lee Sin’s Q (Sonic Wave)
Linear skillshots are incredibly common in League of Legends, and while they all do different things when they hit you, they generally move in the same way and are thus generally the same in terms of dodging them. The important thing to remember with linear skillshots is that they only ever move in one direction, and thus the only goal is to get yourself out of their path. While you can often weave yourself in and around minions in order to avoid being hit by these skillshots in lane, they are also relatively easy to dodge without hiding behind something. The key thing to remember is to step aside from their path rather than running away from them. Unless you have a dash or lots of movement speed, running away from these skillshots yet still remaining in their path will often just end up with you still getting hit. If you move to the side of their path, you save yourself some time and dodge the skillshot with ease.
Dodging Global-Range Linear Skillshots
Examples: Ashe’s R (Enchanted Crystal Arrow), Jinx’s R (Super Mega Death Rocket!)
In practice, these skillshots are incredibly similar to their short-ranged counterparts; they move in a straight line and do something to you upon contact. What makes them different in an important way is that they can travel across the entirety of the map, giving you plenty of time to dodge them while also giving them the potential to sneak up on you from off-screen. The key to dodging this type of skillshot is map awareness and anticipation. Watching your map for this ability and listening to any pings from your allies is the key to knowing that you’ll need to dodge at some point in the near future. Aside from that, these skillshots can be dodged in the same way as linear skillshots. Just remember to sidestep out of the ability’s path.
Dodging Hook Skillshots
Examples: Blitzcrank’s Q (Rocket Grab), Thresh’s Q (Death Sentence), Nautilus’ Q (Dredge Line)
While these are, in reality, almost identical to linear skillshots, the difference in their effect makes them worth noting. While linear skillshots are typically one-and-done, dealing their damage, causing their effects, and then disappearing, hook skillshots displace your champion by pulling them towards the enemy. While it’s obviously important to sidestep them as you would any other linear skillshot, it is also relevant to remember that you don’t have to dodge a hook. If you’re a bulky champion who can punish the hooking enemy by intercepting the skillshot and getting a free-pass into the enemy team, you could consider intentionally getting hit. Beyond that, just remember that it’s always better to Flash before the hook hits you rather than after if you’re on a squishy champion who doesn’t want to get hooked.
Dodging Boomerang Skillshots
Examples: Gnar’s Q (Boomerang Throw), Ekko’s Q (Timewinder), Akshan’s K (Avengerang)
The last of the skillshots that are relatively similar to linear skillshots are boomerang skillshots. What makes boomerang skillshots special is that you have to consider them in two different ways: forwards and backwards. Furthermore, while these skillshots move in a straight line, they don’t necessarily move backwards in the same direction that they came from. This means that even after you’ve sidestepped them while they’re going out, they could still hit you while they’re heading back towards the enemy. In order to avoid taking damage from these boomeranging skillshots, you need to stay aware and not drop your guard. Sidestep it on its way out, sidestep it on its way in, and you should be just fine.
Dodging Beam Skillshots
Examples: Seraphine R (Encore), Sona R (Crescendo), Yuumi R (Final Chapter)
While beam skillshots typically travel in a straight line, what makes them unique from the above type of skillshots is their width. Where simply sidestepping the small hitbox of a linear skillshot is often enough to keep yourself safe, beam skillshots require considerably more effort to sidestep. In this regard, it is often better to consider your options quickly when you anticipate that you’ll be hit by a beam skillshot. If you’d be on the edge of its range, perhaps consider just quickly sidestepping. However, if you feel that you’ll be the primary target, it is almost necessary to dash or blink in order to avoid taking damage.
Dodging Cone Skillshots
Examples: Annie’s W (Incinerate), Akali’s Q (Five Point Strike), Darius’ E (Apprehend)
What makes cone-shaped skillshots interesting is that their hitboxes vary depending on their position relative to their caster. As a result, many cone skillshots peak in danger at a short range away from their caster. This means that while the best method of avoiding being hit by these skillshots is just keeping your distance from the enemy, your dodging options are also more interesting. In this case, since many of these skillshots have a short range, pivoting backwards can be a viable option. Beyond that, sidestepping works as effectively as it usually does.
Dodging Circular Area-of-Effect Skillshots
Examples: Brand’s W (Pillar of Flame), Vel’koz’s E (Tectonic Destruction), Xerath’s R (Rite of the Arcane)
What makes this last type of skillshot unique is that where other skillshots often visually appear as coming from their caster, circular AoE skillshots typically warn you by appearing as a circle on the ground. This indication gives you time to dodge, but it doesn’t necessarily make dodging easier. When you notice that you’re about to be hit by one of these skillshots, consider your location in the circle. If you’re in the center and not already on the move, you’ll often need to dash or blink in order to dodge such a well-aimed skillshot. However, supposing that you’re already moving, it’s important to not get startled by the incoming skillshot. If you get startled and interrupt your own movement to start moving in another direction, you’ll ultimately slow yourself down in the process. Instead, if you’re on the move when this skillshot appears, just keep moving. If you have enough movement speed, you’ll often be able to just move out of the dangerous area with relative ease.
Concluding Thoughts
From the above, it should be clear that while there are tons of different, unique skillshots carried by the various champions in League of Legends, they can generally be broken down into a handful of categories. With these categories in mind, we’ve gone over a handful of steps that you can take to ensure that you are always able to give yourself the best possible chance of dodging incoming damage. Therefore, if there is one key takeaway from this article, it is to not panic when presented with a skillshot that you might be unfamiliar with and to instead consider what you already know about how to dodge abilities. Rather than stressing about the specifics of what each ability will do when it hits you, instead consider how you’ve responded to other similar abilities in the past and use that experience (along with the advice from this guide) to avoid being hit in the first place. With the knowledge from this guide in mind, you’ll hopefully be able to minimize the damage you take throughout a game of League of Legends, making you able to win more fights and games in the process.