Hey everyone and welcome.
Today we'll be going over replays submitted by those of you who went and tried this week's
assignment of punishing the enemy's last hits.
In this video, we'll be covering what people did well, along with the common mistakes you
guys made, and how to overcome them.
Alright, let's get started.
Our first replay comes from Platinum elo with Kai'Sa Lux against Draven Sona.
Draven Sona are definitely lane bullies due to their high early game damage.
Kai'Sa's missions for this lane is to play defensive at her caster minions while looking
for opportunities to take quick burst trades if Lux can isolate one of the enemy's with
her Q into E combo.
You start the game giving a leash to Lee Sin at his Red.
While leashing for your jungler you want to be paying attention to both side lanes to
see where the enemy jungler is starting.
For example, if the enemy gangplank shows early, it indicates that the Draven and Sona
are giving Rek'Sai a leash at his blue.
In this case, Top lane doesn't show early and neither does bot lane.
This means we don't know where the jungler is starting.
For this reason, I think taking this path and moving through this tri brush is a mistake
and a bad habit to have.
Draven and Sona will crush you level 1 if you face check this brush and they're in there
to cheese you.
When the enemy top laner doesn't show early to indicate that the bot lane is leashing
for their jungler, then you need to be aware of how you can be cheesed in this brush.
There are two main ways to avoid this.
The first, is to simply take the path below past Krugs.
The second, is to ward the tri brush before you move to leash your jungler at your Red.
Fortunately, you weren't punished for this, but I can definitely see you immediately losing
lane due to this exploitable area in your gameplay.
As you enter lane, there are two things we need to consider.
First, our jungler immediately pathed towards top side.
This means we won't be getting jungle help for awhile.
It's even worse that we don't know where the enemy jungler started.
At the same time, Draven and Sona have a lot of potential to bully us.
We want to concede the early push and play more defensive, at least until we know where
the enemy jungler is or our jungler is on this side of the map.
You do a good job only last hitting and playing at your caster minions, but Draven and Sona
are playing very strange as they aren't capitalizing on your defensive play and trying to push
to secure a minion advantage for themselves.
Draven and Sona then go aggressive on your Lux, with Sona using her Q ability.
You react properly, using an auto and Q ability on Sona, since her Q is on cooldown and Draven
isn't in range to trade back with you all while standing in your caster minions.
Then after last hitting a few minions we can see that the lane is actually pushing towards
the enemy, as we have 2 more caster minions, despite us doing our best to play defensive.
Essentially, what happened was both you and the enemy conceded the early push, but the
fact that both your Q ability is AOE and damages the minions when trading along with Lux's
E ability, has caused it to push towards them.
This is unexpected and it's important that we change our strategy during this moment.
With our minion advantage we want to play for the level 2 spike.
This is because, if we continue to play defensive the enemy can let it slowly push to them while
thinning the wave, and set up a freeze on you.
If we secure level 2 before them and a large minion lead during this key moment, we can
zone Draven and Sona from the wave, which allows us to continue to build up an even
bigger wave.
We can then crash the large wave into the tower, rebounding it back towards us, and
allowing us to play closer to our tower in a safer position later on.
Now I know you're probably thinking, but what about if the jungler ganks me while I'm pushing?
This requires champion specific knowledge, but the enemy jungler is Rek'Sai.
She can't really gank before level 3 as she won't have access to her tunnels.
For example, if Rek'Sai did Blue into Gromp into Scuttle, which is a popular route, then
she'd still be level 2 as it takes 4 camps to hit level 3, and she's only killed 3.
To simplify it, here's a good rule to follow, if the enemy jungler needs level 3 to gank,
then they can't gank you until around the 3 minute mark.
So because the minions are already pushing towards the enemy, combined with our new found
knowledge of the weaknesses of level 3 junglers, we know we need to be focusing on damaging
this next minion wave to secure level 2 first.
However, the enemy isn't doing enough damage to our minions to contest our level 2.
So you do good a job not over-damaging the minion wave and only throwing in a few additional
auto-attacks to hit level 2 before them.
The reason why we don't want to over damage the minions when we already have the minion
lead needed to secure level 2 is that we can end up over pushing the wave, which puts the
enemy closer to the tower and in a safer position.
This would prevent us from capitalizing on our level 2 advantage as much as we'd like
to.
Now, a timing all ADCs should have memorized, is the third melee minion on the second wave
will give you level 2.
So when this minion dies, you'll spike level 2 on the enemy.
Meanwhile, the enemy still has to kill 2 melee minions to hit level 2.
You do a good job positioning aggressively with your level 2 spike, switching to punishing
Draven when he moves to last hit a melee minion - great stuff.
Now this is an absolutely crucial moment when the next minion wave arrives.
Remember, we know that around the 3 minute mark is when their jungler will come online
and can gank us.
Simultaneously, we only have a 3 minion advantage.
That's not very big, and is actually the perfect number of minions for the enemy to set up
a freeze on you.
We need to hard shove this wave into the tower, this way we can either reset the wave or get
it to rebound back towards us, either way, allowing us to play closer to our tower and
less overextended.
Instead, you aren't damaging the minions nearly as much as you should be.
You need to be auto-attacking the minions non-stop trying to shove it into the tower.
Because you were only last hitting minions you can see the next wave arrives, and it's
still frozen in front of the enemy's tower and it's now past the 3 minute mark.
Additionally, if we look on the minimap, we can see Lee Sin is at the enemy's Raptors
and hasn't spotted Rek'Sai, meaning it's guaranteed that Rek'Sai is on this side of the map at
this moment.
We can see this continue throughout the laning phase, where you don't recognize how important
it is to shove this wave in, which inevitably results in Rek'Sai ganking and you dying.
Let's go back to learn a trick you should utilize in order to better understand how
fast you need to push.
In this moment, you're level 2, and then the next minion arrived, which set up a freeze
in front of the enemy's tower.
This is when I said you should be pushing.
The trick you should be using is paying attention to where your next minion wave is on the minimap.
For example, in this position, the next wave is at your inhibitor.
The enemy's next minion wave will always be in the same position as yours on the other
side of the map.
Meaning, that it's also at the enemy's inhibitor.
So as we let this play, focus on your next minion wave, as it gets closer and closer.
At this point, it's almost at your outer tower, which means the enemy's minion wave is also
almost at their tower too.
This is how we can recognize the urgency of this situation and how we need to get this
wave pushed in before the next wave arrives.
Instead, as our minion wave passes our outer tower, we can see the enemy's minion wave
arrive at theirs, and cement a freeze for another wave.
Our next replay comes from Bronze elo with Caitlyn Pyke against Lucian Lulu.
Lucian Lulu are strong lane bullies, and Caitlyn and Pyke don't exactly have synergy as Caitlyn
wants to stay at range and poke while Pyke wants to engage and all-in.
Caitlyn's missions should to be utilize her range, trade defensively at her caster minion
line, and play off Pyke's engage looking to land a Trap on an opponent that Pyke stuns
with his E ability.
You start the game not having to give your jungler a leash.
Simultaneously, we see Darius emerge from a lane brush early on, indicating that he
didn't give his jungler, Warwick, a leash top side.
So we now know that the enemy Warwick is starting Blue and getting a leash from the enemy bot
lane.
You used this to get an early push advantage.
Some of you are probably wondering, isn't this dangerous?
The jungler is starting Blue, the same side as us, can't he gank us early on if we push?
We're in the same situation as last game, where Warwick is a jungler that needs level
3 in order to gank.
So we know we can play aggressive on the first two waves, and then use our early level lead
to shove in the third wave to get it to rebound back to us at around the 3 minute mark to
put us in a safer position.
Another cool thing about the jungler starting on the same side of the map as us, is that
it means he's going to be transitioning towards the top side of the map.
Since warwick can't really gank at level 2, and is going to be clearing towards top side,
there's almost no chance of you getting ganked early on by him.
In this case, with more in-depth knowledge of how the enemy jungler works, we can realize
that getting an early push lead is the correct strategy.
As Lucian and Lulu walk into lane you land a really good harass timing.
Lucian is going for the melee minion and you have a Caitlyn headshot built up.
However, you make the mistake of going for the Lulu.
Damaging the ADC is almost preferable as it's more difficult for an ADC to play with low
health since they have to move up to last hit.
Compare that to a support, who can stand back and take time to heal up without losing anything.
Another thing you need to uynderstand is When you're an ADC with a melee support against
two ranged champions bot lane is you need to be hyper aware of when the enemy bot lane
is on the same horizontal plane relative to you.
Let me explain.
For example, In this position, Lulu and Lucian are standing on the same horizontal plane
relative to you.
This makes going for poke or trading with them difficult as they can work together to
focus auto-attacks and spells on you.
You're essentially 2v1.
This is a problem when you have a melee support as they can't contribute to trades like this.
However, in this position, you can see that Lulu and Lucian aren't on the same horizontal
plane.
This, combined with timing your harass with Lucian's last hits, lets you land poke without
the enemy being able to trade back.
This is exactly the kind of trading pattern you're looking to accomplish when facing two
ranged champions while having a melee support.
As the next wave comes in we can see we have a 3 minion advantage.
Again, like the last replay, we want to focus on damaging the minions and making sure to
cement that level 2 spike by killing the 3 melee minions on this wave.
Instead of focusing damage on the minions, you're looking to go for a trade.
Additionally, there are no low health minions that you're timing this harass off of.
On top of that, we can see that Lulu and Lucian are standing on that same horizontal plane.
This is why this trade doesn't work out for you and you end up just taking damage from
Lulu's Q. However, right after we can see three things.
First, Lulu's Q is on cooldown as she just used on us.
Second, Lucian and Lulu aren't synced up on the horizontal plane.
Thirdly, Lucian is going for this last hit.
This was a missed opportunity to land an auto-attack on him.
You do a good job timing your Q on Lucian's next last hit, but you're still playing a
bit too scared given how far back Lulu is.
This results in you losing a CS from running back.
Afterwards, we can see you again playing really scared, but you're going to be spiking level
2 before them, the Lulu is also too far away from you to help Lucian trade with you, and
you out range Lucian.
The earlier mistake of trying to trade with the enemy when Lucian and Lulu were on the
same horizontal plane and not timing it on a last hit into then playing too defensive
and not damaging minions results in you not hitting your level 2 spike as early as you
should have.
This lets the enemy hit level 2 almost immediately after you, giving you no timing window to
work with.
You now only have a 1minion advantage, while being pushed up the lane, against Lucian Lulu
who become much stronger once they hit level 2.
This was a significant misplay and as you climb the ladder you will find opponents will
punish you for this.
Instead, Lucian loses his mind and E's into you and feeds you a free kill, which saves
you the lane.
If we look at this again, we can see that all Lucian had to do was damage Pyke while
kiting away from you since you aren't in range to damage him.
At the same time, he has Lulu shield to absorb any damage Pyke will do.
Lucian can hold his E ability to dodge Pyke's E ability while raining down auto-attacks
with Lulu on him.
Our next replay comes from Gold elo with Miss Fortune Lux against Tristana Leona.
Our mission will be to use our superior level 1 to secure a push advantage and get level
2 first.
We want to land as much damage as we can while Tristana and Leona are still level 1 as this
is when they're really weak.
However, once Leona gets level 2 she will have access to both her E and Q ability, which
sets up a really strong engage.
At the same time, Tristana will have both her E and W ability, which let her follow
up and do additional burst damage.
At that point, we want to be in a safer position, looking to land quick safe poke at a distance,
making sure to stay away from Leona's E range.
Unfortunately, as you give your jungler a leash, their bot lane shows early, indicating
that Lee Sin started Red and and that the enemy didn't have to leash for him.
This gives them the early push lead, which completely scraps our plan of utilizing our
stronger level 1.
We need to concede the push and not fight for level 2.
This isn't the end of the world, as this allows us to play at the safety of our tower, which
prevents Leona from being able to go aggressive at level 2.
Our gameplan is to now try and secure this freeze for as long as possible while using
our poke with Lux to wittle away at the enemy.
As the next wave comes in, you do miss an opportunity to punish Tristana for this last
hit.
Leona is only level 1 and is seperated from Tristana.
You could have landed a free auto-attack timed with her last hit.
Now, When it comes to securing a freeze we need to be hyper aware of when the enemy damages
minions.
For example, if we go back a moment, we can see Tristana begins auto-attacking this melee
minion.
This indicates to us that she wants to hard push this wave to reset the lane.
We need to match her damage to our minions with our own damage.
This process is called thinning the wave and is how we maintain a freeze.
I'm glad to see you recognize this and begin auto-attacking minions to fight back against
her attempt to break your freeze.
Unfortunately, you then take a poor trade, that's only salvaged by Lux landing a Q on
Tristana and the fact that the Leona is far away and unable to engage.
This is a really common mistake players make so listen closely.
You never want to trade with an opponent in the early game as your last minion dies when
they still have minions left.
This will cause the enemy minions to focus you, which is a ton of damage this early on
in the game.
Instead, you should have kited upwards, this would pull the minions in that direction while
your incoming waves eventually arrives.
This would prevent you from taking damage, while also preventing the minion wave from
crashing into your tower without you having to tank them.
On the next wave you do a good job playing from your caster minions and focusing on matching
Tristana's damage so you don't get shoved into your tower.
Lux then gets caught, and fortunately, you're able to win the fight.
However, that more had to do with Tristana misplaying.
When Leona engaged, Tristana made 2 key mistakes.
Firstly, she should have healed early and recognized that an all-in was about to occur
since Lux got cc'd and caught out.
Instead, she healed late after she got ignited, which applies Grievous Wounds and reduces
the heal by 40%.
The second mistake, is that she just had to flash forward and dodge Lux's Q.
This would allow her to do enough damage to kill Lux while using her W to disengage from
Miss Fortune.
Alright, that's going to do it for this video, don't worry if your replay wasn't featured
as there's always next time.
If you have any questions feel free to leave a comment below.
As always, good luck, and have fun, on summoner's rift.