Yesterday’s post was about the importance of team coordination and the simple fact that playing a premade can save you a lot of headaches. Today, I wanted to cover something that’s easy to overlook in a game you’re dominating: pushing.
You probably know the story well. You drew a good lanemate and the gods that be have matched you against a scrubby Twitch. Within ten minutes your team has ten kills to the other team’s one and you have all the outer turrets pushed. You would keep ganking but your opponent has virtually disappeared off the map, appearing only to defend a tower. Before you know it you’re 35 minutes into what looked like a quick surrender, and you’re starting to get pushed back. A few of your teammates got greedy and lost some killing spree gold to enemy turrets. By 45 minutes, you’re staring a loss in the face and there’s little to be done. Communication has completely broken down and your team is dying in groups of two or three, leaving the towers sorely lacking defense. By 55 minutes it’s a blowout, and you’re stuck wondering how the game turned on you and blaming anyone with a name you can quickly type.
This is probably the most frustrating loss in the game, and it’s really a symptom that separates the good teams from the bad. Regardless of how well your early game went, you need to keep pushing, intelligently. The reason your team got ahead in the early game was smart play. You weren’t tower diving for kills. You weren’t lingering in lane with five MIAs. You were playing smart, and you need to continue to do so to win the game.
Most teams that suffer this sort of loss neglect the three lane dynamic. They’ll constantly push one lane while the others are driven to their own towers. Then, if the push fails, the other team turns to capitalize on the death timer. Pushing inner turrets takes planning. If you see two teammates about to cross river mid for inner turret, push bottom up. When the other team attempts to defend, they’ll likely defend with 2-3 against the smaller force. That’s when you collapse with your remaining three teammates and push that mid inner turret. If your opponent sends all 5 to defend that mid tower, have your teammates retreat while you continue to push bottom and take a chunk out of the turret. Remember, the only turrets that regenerate are at the Nexus, so any damage done is progress.
If you find the other team is trying to turtle, focusing on team wipes to stay in the game, get out into the woods. Get yourself some buffs and take dragon down. If your opponent is particularly cautious, don’t be afraid to take Baron. When you’re ready, push with 3-4 teammates in one lane while the others do the same in a separate lane. The pronged attack forces the weaker team to split up, increasing their disadvantage.
Whatever the case, don’t give up an early lead because you were greedy for kills. You got the lead by playing smart and, as your ELO rises, you can only hope to keep that lead by sustaining that intelligent playstyle.
