Thursday 18 July 2013
Gameplay Positioning based on Minion Line
The line of minions that spawn will create all sorts of variations in lane. Sometimes they will be in a small group, other times in a line. Manipulation of the minion line is caused by many factors. Champion disruption, by taking damage from the minions or actually hitting them will cause the minions to move. In addition the strength of the minion waves, the amount of towers cleared will also manipulate the minion line. Because of this you’ll need to adjust your positioning throughout gameplay. 
The best way to think of Minions in lane is:
They provide protection from most skill shot-based spells. This means that an enemy champion’s spell is not able to pass over the minion, therefore you are safer standing behind the minion line than in front of it. Most players assume that they should stand behind the minion line when they play every champion in the game. This is simply not the case. Versus an Ashe, Lux sure – you will want to protect yourself against a volley, auto attack combo. Standing behind the minion line makes sense. However, that may not be the case versus an MF or an Annie. If the champion that you are versing in lane does not have one of these skill shots, it allows you to play much more aggressive in lane, using angles and distance from your minion line to get auto attacks on your opponent without generating aggro from the minions.
They cause damage to you if you attack them or the enemy champion in a XXX range.
You’ll notice throughout 1200 – 1800 elo that many players will harass consistently in lane. While this has its advantages, it also has its disadvantages. Harass is good, but only if you are not taking unnecessary aggro from the minions. If you are taking as much damage from the minions as you are dealing to your opponent, then what's the point?
More than likely, as you retreat to stop the aggro from the minions, you’ll also be targeted by the enemy champion. This is why in higher elo play, in very early lane (1:55-15:00 minute on the game clock) you will often see less harass in lane. Of course there are some champions that are exceptions and there are ways to harass your enemy champion without aggroing the minions (which is the best way to harass!). We will cover how you do that later in this guide.
Look for holes or gaps in the minion line that are about to be created.
When a gap is created and you react, your reaction time will be slower than a player who has anticipated the gap about to be created (when an allied or enemy minion is about to die), and then leverages that gap in the line to use a skill shot. This might seem difficult at first (you're trying to last hit, but now you are simultaneously anticipating gaps in the minion line to use skill shots).
An example of this might be an instantaneous volley from Ashe or a Mystic Shot from Ezreal as soon as the gap is created. If the enemy champion did not react fast enough, you’ll be able to get off some significant harass. Once you master this, make sure that you can consistently do it in lane versus your opponent. When you versus an enemy who falls victim to this type of harass, you’ll easily win your lane by using the same mechanic over and over against them.
You can’t Deny in LoL, but you can counter hit – which is more difficult and just as important
Deny was a concept in Dota where you could actually last hit your own minions, preventing gold and experience from the enemy champion(s). In LoL, this is not possible, however a new mechanic presented itself – counter hitting. While seemingly difficult, you will need to focus on the health of not only your own minions in lane (so you can effectively last hit), but also the health of allied minions.
When you notice that an allied minion is very low and the enemy champion is about to last hit it, you will want to concurrently hit the enemy champion. The enemy champion cannot hit you and the creep at the same time. During the automation when they are going to attack the minion, they will also take harassment from you. This mechanic may not be effective on all champion match-ups in lane, but is almost always effective in a ranged AD versus ranged AD scenario and is often the case in AP versus AP and can be used in a ranged versus melee set-up lane matchup. Other scenarios might cause too much minion aggro for this to be effective, but it is an important mechanic to master. Practice it over and over until you can consistently counter hit. The best champion to practice this on is Tristana, just based on her animation and range.
