Being a MOBA, League of Legends houses a multitude of micro-mechanics that enable you to have a safer laning phase. Consequently, Securing the last hit under the tower can become as simple as following a rhythm.
That being said, every player has heard the phrase “Just farm under tower” at least once in their ranked matches. While that might seem easier said than done, effective minion manipulation can let you achieve that quite easily.
The best way of farming under the tower is by remembering the HP values of the minions and manipulating the waves. For example, a melee minion can take two hits from the tower before you need to auto it, whereas the caster minion can only take one.
Needless to say, such methods require you to act only when the time is opportune, and that might not even come due to the enemy laner being relentless in his/her assault of abilities.
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Farming Effectly Under Tower: Core Strategies
League of Legends can be extremely dynamic in the way it makes you approach certain situations. However, some core laning concepts do not change no matter what. Having said that, here is how you can effectively farm under tower in LoL:
1. Initiate a Laning Freeze
Freezing the wave is a common term in League that enables you to push your laning opponent in making riskier decisions. The basic premise is simple, you hold the wave just outside the boundary of your tower so that the opponent has to step up every time he/she wants to farm.
Unfortunately, holding a freeze is easier said than done since your allied minions usually die faster than the enemy minions. Aside from that, an aggressive enemy laner with an insane amount of waveclear can break a freeze whenever he/she wants, so it can be useless in certain cases.
How to Create and Hold a Freeze?
Before getting started, you should get yourself familiar with the basic spawn rates of the minions. For example, a minion wave spawns at 1:05 minutes into the game. Consequently, its Canon Minion intensity increases at the 15-minute mark and any further additions are related to enemy inhibitors.
Since a minion wave spawns at an interval of 30 seconds, you can begin hitting the wave slow enough that it takes at least 30 seconds for the wave to completely die off. This can prove to be hard since the wave will be getting hit by the enemy wave as well.
Therefore, your allied minion wave should always be smaller than the enemy in order to initiate a freeze. A healthy ratio is having one or two caster minions more in the enemy wave. Moreover, you will need to hit the minions at the last possible second unless the situation calls otherwise.
2. Knowing When to Push a Wave
Since you’ve gotten yourself, familiar with the concept of freezing, it’s time to look at the counter strategies that need to be implemented to make the most out of that freeze. This is because no wave freeze lasts for the entire game as any external help can disrupt the wave.
Therefore, the pushing strategy comes into play here. Let’s say you’ve managed to freeze your wave for long enough that the enemy laner decides to roam around the map. You see the enemy jungler being on the other side of the map as well, and it’s too late to respond to that point of pressure.
The next best strategy to go for is breaking your freeze in order to transition into a push. Since there is no one to respond, you will be able to crash the wave under the tower while possibly getting a kill’s worth of tower plate gold.
How To Push a Wave Fast?
The simplest approach to killing a wave fast is by targeting the caster minions first. They’re squishy but deal a considerable amount of damage to the wave. Therefore, killing them off will let your wave overpower the enemy’s, thereby creating a form of ‘Push’.
If no one is there to answer it, you can then proceed on killing the melee minions in order for your stacked allied wave to move forward.
What is a Slow Push and How to Implement It?
A slow push, as the name might suggest – allows you to place a delayed push that gets progressively faster if there’s no one to stop it. For example, you could theoretically have the push start from your inhibitor or base and have it crash a massively stacked wave on the enemies’ tower.
While the slow push is mostly implemented in the later portions of the game, there is no absolute restriction on it. Simply implement a slow push a minute or so before an objective in order to have the enemy team make a decision.
This variant of the wave pushing mechanic can also be implemented directly from a wave freeze. Simply kill all the caster minions – just enough to have your wave overpower the enemy wave instead of mutual wave elimination, and you’re good to go!
Also read: Best Waveclear Mid Laners
3. Focus on Your Opponents’ Priorities
You can farm pretty safely under or outside your tower if you start tracking the habits of your enemies. While this might take some time to get used to, there are certain set-in-stone habits that you could expect from your enemy laner (considering they’re good).
Getting The Wave Pushed In
You will be looking to crash your wave under the enemy tower whenever you want to recall in order to lose the least amount of minions. Naturally, your opponent will be looking to do the same. Therefore, bumping on the wave of aggression can be beneficial, since you’re essentially denying the possibility of them getting a cheater recall.
Laners tend to stay as long as possible in a lane. Therefore, a recall usually means that they’re either low on HP and Mana – or they’re looking to do something on the map. Consequently, they could also be trying to complete their items.
Thus, denying them the possibility of a free recall not only puts them in a perilous situation but also makes them force a decision. League of Legends is a game about pressure – the more pressure you apply, the more chances of winning you get in exchange.
Roaming Timers
Every lane is situated near an important objective. For example, the top lane has the Rift Scuttler/ Baron Nashor pit, whereas the bottom lane is situated near the drakes. Being the central point of the map, the mid lane has to keep track of both of these instead of just one.
Your opponent will be aiming to gain ‘priority’ in the lane for such timers in order to snag a free objective. Your jungler won’t be able to do much if he has to face two enemies, either disrupting his jungle camps or taking objectives around the map while you’re trying to catch waves under your tower.
Thus, you will need to get the better of your laner by getting out of your tower before such timings. If you’re unable to do that solo, consider calling your jungler in for a gank. Even if you won’t get a kill, you will still be able to push the wave to the enemy tower, thereby getting a free prio lane.
Also read: How to be a Good Support in League of Legends
Final Thoughts
Getting thrashed by a counter pick doesn’t mean that you’re lacking mechanics are to be blamed. Rather, it’s more about the theoretical portion of the game that enables a laner to impact the game in a beneficial manner.
That being said, effective wave manipulation is all you need in order to survive the opponent’s relentless attacks under the tower. Since you won’t be aiming to kill him/her in the lane in most cases, the mentioned methods can allow you to gain a significant lead anyways.
Have you ever gained precedence over your opponent while farming under the tower in LoL? What are your thoughts on the latest changes to the Summoner’s rift? We love hearing your feedback, so hit us with it in the comment section below!
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