Hey everyone. A while back, we did a video on how TSM Bjergsen set up a gank by controlling
the wave to bounce it back towards himself in three waves.
Even without a gank, techniques like these are useful in bot lane too, especially when
you're against an all-in support like Thresh, Blitz, Leona, and Alistar.
So in today's video, we're going to show how I use the three wave plan as Lucian Soraka
to completely shut down a Miss Fortune Leona in Platinum ELO.
Of course, some of you may have missed our last video covering this strategy and may
be wondering what it is.
We'll get to it real soon. But first, let's break down the match-up and put together a
game plan.
Lucian and Soraka have the advantage in poke and sustain thanks to Soraka's range and healing.
On the other hand, Miss Fortune and Leona have a ton of kill pressure if they can land
an all-in since Soraka is fragile.
So our opening game plan will look like this:
Mission 1: Abuse their level 1
We have strong poke and range advantages from level 1, whereas Leona has to be in melee
range to do anything useful.
The more we can leverage this advantage early on by landing poke, the less threatening their
all-ins will become, since they'll be too low to win the fight.
Mission 2: Slow push the first wave
Slow pushing from the first wave will facilitate us looking for damage level 1.
We'll also beat them to level 2 outside of their tower, which is crucial to executing
Mission 1.
And, if we don't crash the wave before they hit 2, at least we'll have a fat wave to keep
us safe until.. Mission 3: Crash the third wave
This is the three wave plan. We'll build a slow push from the first wave, crash it to
their tower, and bounce it back towards us.
This allows us to push and pressure while they're level 1, and then cover our butts
by getting pushed in by the time they can all-in at level 2.
Alright, let's get into it.
My jungler starts the game at our top side jungle, so I have a leash advantage.
Consider our missions to abuse their level 1 and start the lane slow pushing. How should
I use my leash advantage to carry my gameplan out?
*wait 4 seconds*
Based on our subscriber reviews in the past, we know that players tend to start pushing
early in lane when they have a leash advantage.
But, even though I want to slow push from level 1, I don't want to over push.
Instead, I walk to their tri to try to poke and delay them as they walk to lane. If I
can land poke and slow them down, it'll create the same effect as being in lane early and
pushing, except I'll also have landed damage.
Well, they ended up walking around and avoiding us at tri bush.
We missed out on a chance to damage them, but this is just as good, since it'll make
them more likely to miss the melee minion XP, facilitating Mission 1.
Once I realize they're walking around, I arrive to lane just in time to pick up the melee
last hits.
Meanwhile, Miss Fortune arrives late and misses EXP from the melee minions.
I already have the experience advantage and Soraka landed a Q on the minions, so I'm last
hitting instead of fighting for the push.
As MF goes for an auto on my ranged line, I see Leona is split so I go for an isolated
trade to proc my press the attack.
To be honest, this wasn't the best trade since my W was still on cooldown.
But, we have a sustain advantage with Soraka and I want to play to Mission 1 by dealing
as much damage as possible before the enemy hits 2, so that their all-in pressure is reduced.
And just to defend myself, the biggest reason this trade went so badly is because of this
MVP melee minion that I totally wasn't looking at in game.
Freaking minions.
After the trade, I back off behind my minions to secure last hits on the second wave, being
sure to slow push to Mission 2.
As this second wave starts, now's a good time to talk about setting up Lucian's infamous
Level 2 Power Spike.
Most players walk up *after* they hit level 2; but if we walk up late like this, the enemy
is more likely to back off properly.
By walking up gradually while we're still level 1 and placing ourselves right outside
our engage range, we'll have a better chance of landing damage.
Also, make sure not to lose track of minions. For starters, we already have the minion advantage
thanks to our slow push, so I don't need to auto to rush to level 2. I can just last hit
as I get in position to punish.
In this case, the wave got messed up in a way that it'll take 2 melees and 2 ranged
minions to level up, instead of just 3 melees.
So, I gradually walk up after each minion, finally reaching the front of the wave as
the 2nd ranged minion dies.
By advancing as this last minion dies, I'm now in range to fight on my level 2, even
though the MF is staying back without farming.
Before I go in, let's clear something up: if the enemy support was a ranged champion
like Lulu or Thresh, should I go for this trade here?
wait 3 seconds
To be clear, no, I wouldn't. Why?
Remember what we talked about isolated trading in last week's video.
If I went in against two ranged champions that are grouped the way this Leona and MF
are, I would be giving them a free isolated trade since my Soraka is back behind me.
On the other hand, if my Soraka was positioned further up, parallel to where I'd be once
I go in, then I would go for the trade anyway since we'd be 2v2 with a level advantage.
However, in THIS case, Leona is a level 1 melee support, so I can dash in and kite up
and away from the Leona to keep it an isolated trade between me and Miss Fortune.
Hopefully you guys are starting to get an idea of how crucial isolated trades are in
bot lane.
Leona flash stuns me as MF gets too low so I Heal as soon as she flashes to counter her
ignite (although looking back I didn't have to heal here).
Now that I got the chunk I was looking for, we've accomplished Mission 1.
From here the game plan is simple: we're going to follow through with the three wave plan
by crashing the slow push I used to trade with, playing to Mission 3.
If they were healthier, I'd make it a point to focus only on hard pushing at this point,
to prevent them from freezing our wave.
Once we crash, I'll look to bounce the wave back to me for a freeze.
In doing so, I can use my HP advantage to zone, fish for kills, or force a recall, as
opposed to just shoving waves in and allowing them to farm under tower while they're low.
When the wave crashes, I have a chance to use my wave pressure by either damaging tower
or looking for more poke.
We've found that players often don't know what the best way to snowball an advantage
is. Which would you try to do?
*wait 3 seconds*
Well, my tower damage isn't too great right now as a level 2 ADC, so landing more poke
here is a higher value play. But, I also don't want to throw the game under their tower.
So I calmly walk up knowing Leona will go on me, and once she lands E I simply dash
backward to drag her away from tower to land even more damage.
From here, most players would scrap the rest of the gameplan to go for a dive since they're
so low. Honestly, it was hard to resist, but MF still has Heal.
And, it's times like this where following our game plan is most rewarding.
By abusing their weak level 1 and slow pushing in, we've set up an ideal scenario to end
this lane safely. Now all that's left is to finish carrying out our three wave plan.
The current wave is low HP and won't push back out, so I'm gonna look to start my freeze
on the next wave.
In between last hits, I'm walking in and out of their tower to try to bait MF heal or another
Leona E; but remember, I have no real intention to fight.
Finally, their wave is starting to push out again.
Now's our chance to close out. I use this trick to set the freeze: I walk close to the
(wardless) bush, draw all the minion aggro at once to group their minions up, and then
walk into the bush to cut vision and drop minion aggro.
This makes it so all their minions focus 1 of mine while my minions split aggro, creating
a hard freeze and crushing their hopes and dreams of farming.
I keep walking up between last hits to check if they're backing, which is honestly the
only thing they should do here.
But after a few seconds, I realize they have no intention of backing. These guys really
need Skill-Capped.
In times like this, some players might get caught up in enjoying their lead and forget
to think about the enemy's perspective. Don't be that player!
Their bot lane clearly can't stay, but they're staying anyway. Why?
Well, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to guess that they might be calling for a gank
here.
So, I adjust my positioning back a bit so that I'm not zoning past their ranged minions,
which would open me up to a gank.
If Soraka didn't just ward tri bush, now would be a great time to ward, before our wave gets
pushed too far in so that we'd have to walk past it to ward.
Eventually the gank shows up, but it's just a Shyvana and the enemy lane is still low,
so I know i can win this 3v2.
Let's roll the clip first.
Going back to the start, I don't bother backing off copmletely until the Shyvana starts walking
in; this way, if she gives up the gank anyway, I've wasted her time for as long as possible.
As Shyvana comes in from the flank, I know she'll be split from the MF/Leona.
Once again, remember isolated trading. MF and Leona didn't engage before Shyvana walked
in, so Shyv will be alone 1v2 against me and Soraka for a moment.
This is a good opportunity for an isolated trade, so I turn on the Shyvana and kite upward,
away from MF and Leona. If Soraka stayed and autoed her more than once, we probably end
up with a triple kill here.
But she bailed on me, so I ended up having to flash away. Soraka decides to flash in
after I flash out, so it's a bit sloppy but we manage to turn on the enemy bot lane and
pick up a kill on MF. From here, all there's left to do is crash
the wave and reset.
But, I get greedy when I'm smurfing, so I make my Soraka tank the tower for a final
kill on Leona before clearing the wave and backing.
By 6 minutes, we've managed to build a 43 to 4 CS difference over this Plat ELO MF.
Well, that about covers it.
We'll talk about all the other ways you can use this strategy in the go try it; there's
alot of them, so stay tuned.
Thanks for watching, and see you next time!