[0:02] When a person hears the word wave, they
[0:04] might think of waves of the ocean.
[0:07] Or maybe a hand wave.
[0:10] Perhaps they'll imagine sound waves.
[0:13] The average League of Legends player
[0:14] probably thinks about gold,
[0:17] EXP,
[0:19] or pain.
[0:21] If you have no knowledge of wave
[0:22] management, you might have been in
[0:24] scenarios like being frozen on by a
[0:25] Darius while playing Nasus close to your
[0:27] own front wave, losing EXP and gold with
[0:29] no help in sight before you started
[0:30] contemplating why on earth are you
[0:32] playing in top lane?
[0:34] I'll ask another question. Have you ever
[0:35] been tower dived and ever questioned
[0:37] why? If your answers are yes, then let's
[0:40] talk about wave management.
[0:44] We will discuss these topics with a main
[0:46] focus on wave management in top lane,
[0:48] but we'll occasionally dip into the
[0:50] general laning stuff. There's a lot of
[0:52] what if scenarios when it comes to
[0:54] laning and wave management, so I can't
[0:56] cover everything, but I'll obviously try
[0:58] to cover as much as possible. And we're
[1:00] going to start with this very obvious
[1:02] but useful concept. With no intervention
[1:04] from champions, the minion waves in
[1:06] Summoner's Rift at start are mirrored.
[1:08] They meet smack bang in the middle along
[1:10] the dotted line on the mini map. Why do
[1:12] we start with this concept? Well, when
[1:14] you play in Summoner's Rift, you
[1:16] obviously aren't going to have vision of
[1:17] the entire map, but by looking at your
[1:19] own minion waves, you can try and
[1:21] visualize where the enemy waves are
[1:23] going to be. So, in this specific
[1:25] scenario, by looking at my second wave,
[1:28] I know the enemy second wave will reach
[1:29] the fights before mine does, which leads
[1:32] to the first topic, wave positions.
[1:35] The position of the waves fighting can
[1:36] dictate which wave will push. In this
[1:39] case, we have no champions hitting the
[1:41] wave and the same amount and type of
[1:43] minions, but because the wave is
[1:45] positioned to red side, they will get
[1:47] their wave reinforcements first, which
[1:49] constitutes to a push. In real
[1:51] Summoner's Rift games, you won't always
[1:53] have the same amount of minions clashing
[1:55] due to champions pushing and CSing, but
[1:57] you get the idea. If the waves are
[1:59] positioned by the enemy tower, the enemy
[2:01] wave will get their reinforcements
[2:02] faster and the enemy tower might also be
[2:05] in range, which means your wave dies
[2:07] faster, resulting in a fast push. If the
[2:09] waves aren't as close to the enemy
[2:11] tower, then you'll just get a slow push.
[2:14] What ultimately matters is knowing that
[2:16] the wave will push to you. With no
[2:18] interference, the wave will eventually
[2:20] crash, which means it hits the tower. It
[2:22] will then proceed to bounce, which means
[2:24] it will push the upper wave because of
[2:25] reinforcements, blah blah blah blah
[2:27] blah. This cycle of crashing and
[2:29] bouncing will continue given no
[2:31] interference. There's also a difference
[2:33] between a good and a bad crash. A good
[2:36] crash is when the wave is stacked, which
[2:38] means it has a lot of minions, and it
[2:40] focuses the tower before the enemy wave
[2:42] arrives. A bad crash, on the other hand,
[2:44] has the wave not reach the tower and the
[2:46] enemy wave intercepts it in time. So,
[2:49] why is this bad? Well, the crashing wave
[2:51] will focus the enemy wave, and if you
[2:53] aren't in range, you won't be able to
[2:55] last hit the minions. If you stay and
[2:57] try to push the wave afterwards, you'll
[2:58] be susceptible to ganks. Whereas if you
[3:01] recall, you will lose the EXP. Not
[3:04] exactly a cash money move.
[3:07] If the enemy champion is there, they
[3:09] might also freeze, but more on that
[3:11] soon. To avoid bad crashes, play with
[3:13] your level advantages if you have them
[3:15] to ensure you have priority over the
[3:17] wave. Look at your own waves to see when
[3:19] the enemy waves come to know when to
[3:21] push. In this scenario, I delayed the
[3:23] push to ensure my wave doesn't reach the
[3:25] tower and I can get the third wave in as
[3:28] well. Don't forget to walk your wave to
[3:30] the tower, otherwise the enemy might
[3:31] hold it and allow their wave to
[3:33] intercept. If you do find yourself in a
[3:35] bad crash, you can either try to push
[3:37] the wave in, stay in range of EXP and
[3:40] wait for the bounce, or just play for
[3:41] the 2v1 because you're better. I'm not.
[3:46] You can also just call your jungler for
[3:47] a counter gank if they're top side and
[3:49] you know you're getting ganked. In the
[3:51] worst case scenario where their jungler
[3:52] has path top and yours hasn't, you will
[3:55] need to take the loss and recall. You
[3:57] will lose a bit of EXP inevitably, but
[4:00] the wave will bounce back and push to
[4:01] you.
[4:02] Now, if you manage to get a good crash
[4:04] in, you have a couple of options to go
[4:06] with. The first is just recalling. If
[4:09] your lane opponent doesn't have good
[4:11] wave clear, you can go for recall. By
[4:13] the time you come back to lane, the wave
[4:14] will have bounced but not reach your
[4:16] tower. At this point, you can try and
[4:18] kill your enemy laner with your new
[4:19] items and ideally a jungle gank if they
[4:21] don't have TP. This will force their TP
[4:24] though if they have it, so you'll be
[4:25] less likely to kill them as they would
[4:27] have healed and have new items like you.
[4:30] Outside of good crashes, a general
[4:31] recall timer is recalling on cannon
[4:34] waves as these are harder to clear early
[4:36] for opponents, which means you can catch
[4:37] the wave by the time you come back if
[4:39] they've tried to crash it. Recalling
[4:41] after kills is also a very important
[4:44] option. For example, when the wave is in
[4:46] the center but pushing to you, you can
[4:48] recall it to catch it when or before it
[4:50] crashes into your tower. Be aware that
[4:52] you might need to chip down the wave if
[4:54] it's too big before you back. Two three
[4:56] minions more than your wave is generally
[4:58] enough. If your wave is close to
[5:00] crashing, then it's often worth pushing
[5:02] it for the bounce after, especially if
[5:04] they don't have TP as they will lose EXP
[5:06] from the minions dying to tower. Avoid
[5:08] greeting for multiple tower plates
[5:10] though if your laner is up a few seconds
[5:12] before you've crashed, even more so if
[5:14] they have TP. They can stop your back
[5:16] and maybe even set up a tower dive if
[5:18] you don't have TP. If there's crystal
[5:20] builder, you can just hit it once and
[5:21] recall.
[5:22] In other cases, you might need to take a
[5:24] loss like when the enemy jungler is
[5:26] ganking soon or your wave is pushing
[5:28] from your tower and they have TP. You
[5:30] will be in up soon. If you stick around
[5:32] and try to crash the wave, you will
[5:33] usually be punished. In this specific
[5:36] clip though, Garen doesn't have TP, the
[5:38] enemy jungler is bot, the next wave is
[5:41] not cannon, and his death timer is not
[5:43] short. So, I choose to crash the wave.
[5:47] Death timers, junglers, cannon waves,
[5:49] TP, and even boots can influence the
[5:51] correct choice.
[5:53] Keep these factors in mind though
[5:54] whenever you decide to crash or recall
[5:56] and try to recognize wave states.
[5:58] Experience is your best mentor here.
[6:01] Another option after a good crash is
[6:04] proxying.
[6:05] Proxying is when you sit behind one of
[6:07] the enemy laner's towers and take the
[6:09] minions. It's something that should only
[6:11] really be done if you have inbuilt wave
[6:13] clear like Garen with his E spin or
[6:15] Sion's Q. Bot lane cinder items and tier
[6:18] my items like Ravenous Hydra and
[6:20] Stridebreaker also supplement this.
[6:23] You also need to be somewhat aware where
[6:24] the jungler and mid laner are so you
[6:26] don't get ganked and give them a kill.
[6:29] So, what are the benefits to proxying?
[6:31] Well, the enemy laner has to decide
[6:32] whether to last hit minions or stop you.
[6:35] If they try to hold the wave ahead of
[6:36] their tower but have no wave clear or
[6:38] sustain, they'll burn through their HP
[6:40] and mana and eventually they have to
[6:41] recall. Meanwhile, if they try to last
[6:44] hit by tower, the tower takes damage,
[6:46] which can give you plate gold if you're
[6:47] nearby.
[6:48] If they try to chase and fight you when
[6:50] they have minions at their tower, then
[6:52] they'll lose the gold and potentially
[6:54] the EXP if they are out of range. The
[6:56] final nail in the coffin is that they'll
[6:58] lose raw quest EXP if they go behind
[7:00] their tower at around this boundary. If
[7:03] you find yourself getting ganked, you
[7:05] can recall, leave, or execute. Executing
[7:08] is fine early on as the death timers are
[7:10] shorter. By the time you recall or
[7:12] revive, you can generally reach the wave
[7:14] before it crashes. The same scenario as
[7:16] recalling normally. A quick note that a
[7:19] general recall timer for proxying is
[7:21] after you clear cannon wave.
[7:23] Now, the general third option after a
[7:25] good crash is the most lethal. It's
[7:27] tower diving.
[7:29] Tower diving is when you kill your
[7:30] opponent under the tower. Having a
[7:32] jungler assist if they're pathing
[7:34] towards you helps a lot. Champions with
[7:37] large amounts of CC or champions that
[7:39] can reset the tower aggro are very good
[7:41] for tower diving. For example, Elise is
[7:43] very good at tower diving because her
[7:45] spider form E can reset the tower aggro.
[7:47] But also her human form stun does not
[7:49] deal damage, so even if you land it, you
[7:52] don't take tower aggro.
[7:54] Renekton and Nidalee are also a very
[7:55] good champion combo. Renekton lands his
[7:57] stun and Nidalee just throws the spear
[7:59] afterwards. Regardless, anyone can tower
[8:02] dive with enough damage. When you kill
[8:04] your opponent under tower with a wave,
[8:06] they lose the minion gold and EXP that
[8:08] their wave or the tower kills. This is
[8:11] huge for creating an advantage. Unless
[8:14] you have a bounty, killing each other is
[8:16] still a net plus as well.
[8:22] You can, of course, tower dive with a
[8:23] single wave, but stacked waves are
[8:25] better as they lose more EXP and gold.
[8:28] Now, whenever the wave bounces to you in
[8:30] all of these scenarios, you can follow
[8:32] through with something called freezing.
[8:35] Not this kind though, but this kind.
[8:39] Freezing is when you hold the enemy wave
[8:41] from crashing into your tower either by
[8:43] holding the wave or the enemy laner not
[8:45] clearing the previous wave in time.
[8:47] Freezing holds multiple benefits. You
[8:49] aren't in an exposed spot, so you are
[8:51] not easily gankable barring the closest
[8:53] brushes, while your opponent is exposed
[8:55] if they walk up. If you're a lot
[8:57] stronger than your lane opponent, you
[8:58] can also zone them from the wave. He's
[9:00] just standing there.
[9:02] Menacingly.
[9:04] Zoning is when you stand in front of the
[9:06] waves and stop your lane opponent from
[9:08] last hitting the minions and, if you
[9:10] can, stop them from getting in EXP
[9:12] range. EXP range for dying minions is
[9:14] 1,500 units, so roughly here. Creating a
[9:18] level difference between you and your
[9:19] opponent is one way of creating a lead
[9:21] in top lane. This is because the stats
[9:23] you get from leveling up are roughly
[9:25] equivalent to 600 gold. This can
[9:27] definitely give you the edge in fights.
[9:29] Now, whenever you're freezing, you have
[9:31] to cut down the wave in order to hold
[9:32] its position without taking too much
[9:34] damage. A general rule of thumb is
[9:36] holding three caster minions at these
[9:38] positions once your wave is dead.
[9:40] Remember that you can reset minion aggro
[9:42] by entering unwarded brushes. This can
[9:45] definitely help in positioning the
[9:46] freeze.
[9:47] So, we just talked about all these
[9:49] scenarios that you can follow through
[9:50] with after a good crash, but in some
[9:53] scenarios, you'll just crash one wave
[9:55] with no cannon, so what can you do here?
[9:57] The first thing is fast pushing the wave
[9:59] and ensuring the crash. Outside of just
[10:01] waiting for the next wave, you can
[10:03] typically go for a deep jungle ward to
[10:05] get vision. If the enemy jungler is low
[10:07] and or your jungler is nearby, you could
[10:09] invade them. The other choice is going
[10:11] for the honey fruit plants which spawns
[10:13] at 6 to 6 and 1/2 minutes. These grant
[10:15] health and mana or fury, so you can take
[10:18] an aggressive trade before getting the
[10:19] fruit or just take it to deny from your
[10:21] enemy.
[10:22] So far, we've discussed tower diving,
[10:24] freezing, and proxying. But, with the
[10:26] nature of top lane, you're going to be
[10:28] on the other side at times. So, how do
[10:30] you respond to these scenarios? Let's
[10:32] start with proxies. In the average
[10:35] scenario, you'll be last hitting under
[10:37] tower, chasing champions you know you
[10:39] won't kill will lose you EXP and gold.
[10:41] But, if you have a combat summoner and
[10:43] or you know your damage, you can
[10:45] definitely give it a go. More so if your
[10:47] jungler is pathing towards you.
[10:49] If your champion can proxy though, you
[10:51] can hit them with one of these.
[10:56] Yep. You can just proxy all day proxy.
[10:59] Generally, the best choice if both
[11:01] junglers are pathing away from top side.
[11:03] You kind of just handshake on waves. As
[11:06] for tower diving, you have a couple of
[11:07] ways to deal with it. The first is just
[11:09] literally hand sitting them. Outplay
[11:12] them.
[11:15] An easy choice for some. Another choice
[11:18] would be to ward in good spots and
[11:19] tracking the enemy jungler. Warding
[11:21] Krugs and these bushes as well as just
[11:24] taking notes where the jungler is will
[11:25] stop you from getting ganked so far. If
[11:27] you know you're about to be tower dived,
[11:28] you can back off and lose minions, which
[11:30] is better than just dying generally. If
[11:33] you have TP, then you can just recall
[11:34] and TP back if you're low on HP. Don't
[11:37] do this if you're going to end up in a 1
[11:39] v 4 though.
[11:41] In the scenario where the jungler is
[11:42] also diving behind you and you're much
[11:44] stronger, you can hold the wave and stop
[11:46] it from crashing. Good junglers will
[11:48] stop your wave from intercepting, so
[11:49] this can be a good response. Meanwhile,
[11:52] during freezes, you have plenty of
[11:54] options to choose. So, let's blitz
[11:56] through them. The first is just soaking
[11:58] EXP. In some cases, you have to take the
[12:00] loss especially if you know your jungler
[12:02] isn't top and theirs is. If your jungler
[12:04] is top though, you can ask them to push
[12:06] the wave, ask them for a lane gank, or
[12:08] counter gank if you know the enemy
[12:10] jungler will gank you. If you're capable
[12:12] of ganking on a champion like Camille
[12:14] for example, you can roam mid or fake
[12:16] roam mid. Basically, just walk into
[12:18] river and stay out of vision. Players
[12:21] that don't call your bluff will break
[12:22] the freeze, so you can just walk back
[12:24] top. If you aren't a ganking champion
[12:26] though, that's fine. Staying out of
[12:28] vision for extended periods may make
[12:30] your enemy assume you're backing, so
[12:32] they might break the freeze anyways. You
[12:34] need to ensure that they have no vision
[12:35] of you though.
[12:36] If your champion is capable of proxying,
[12:38] you can also proxy. They'll be forced to
[12:40] respond as you aren't losing minions
[12:42] anymore. Just be wary of the enemy
[12:44] jungler and a roaming mid laner.
[12:46] Ideally, you don't want to get into
[12:47] freezes to begin with. Time your hard
[12:50] pushes, aka when you rapidly clear the
[12:52] wave. Hard push when your wave is
[12:54] stacked and when the latest waves have
[12:55] met to ensure crashes. One last option
[12:58] for breaking freezes overlaps with our
[13:00] next topic, wave manipulation, which
[13:03] involves a bit of mind control.
[13:06] Essentially, if your enemy laner has AoE
[13:08] abilities like Darius' Q, you can bait
[13:11] them into using them to break the
[13:12] freeze. The other mind control ability
[13:15] involves single target abilities and
[13:17] autos. If you're in range of minions and
[13:20] the enemy laner uses one of these two
[13:21] things, they will draw minion aggro. So,
[13:24] if your minions start hitting them, they
[13:26] are no longer hitting the enemy wave.
[13:28] The enemy wave will then proceed to push
[13:30] into your side, which you can then
[13:31] freeze to farm in a safe spot. This
[13:34] trick can be used on the other side as
[13:36] well. When you auto a champion, you can
[13:39] draw minion aggro and pull the wave,
[13:41] which can allow you to access minions
[13:42] from a safe distance, specifically
[13:44] casters and cannon. Proceed to stack and
[13:47] push waves for level ups and or crash
[13:49] the wave. You can also induce pushes by
[13:52] holding the wave away from the center of
[13:54] the lane if you aren't afraid of the
[13:55] enemy laner. This can be done on the
[13:57] first wave to counter the mid EXP cheese
[13:59] strat. The enemy wave will focus one
[14:01] minion of your wave and they'll lose out
[14:03] on the EXP.
[14:05] If you find that you've missed time the
[14:06] push but the enemy laner isn't around,
[14:08] you can just block the enemy wave by
[14:10] walking past the tower to ensure the
[14:12] crash. Our last trick is quite niche,
[14:15] but I'm going to mention it anyways. In
[14:17] the rare scenario where you want your
[14:19] enemy laner to walk up further from the
[14:21] tower but not expose yourself to ganks,
[14:24] you can auto a melee minion before it
[14:26] hits your wave and drag it to the
[14:27] center. This will bring the wave closer
[14:29] to the center and your enemy laner if
[14:31] they walk up. This is niche for a reason
[14:34] though. It's much easier to do this on
[14:35] blue side. You do it when you're playing
[14:37] hyper aggressive champions but you can't
[14:39] tower dive. It's not something you
[14:40] should do on the first three waves
[14:42] either because cheater recalling is
[14:43] better. But more importantly, proxying
[14:46] is an even better option due to the
[14:47] Rogue Quest interaction. And just to
[14:49] reiterate, it's not something to really
[14:51] ponder. I've included this in case
[14:53] somebody asks.
[14:55] Our final topic of this video is going
[14:57] to be on the first three waves. How you
[14:58] play the first three can influence the
[15:00] rest of your lane. Though, we are going
[15:02] to focus on some specific wave
[15:04] scenarios, so no talk on level up timers
[15:06] and such. The first thing is cheater
[15:09] recalling. If you have dominance over
[15:11] your lane opponent due to the match up
[15:13] or playing well, you can stack up a
[15:14] third wave crash. Typically, you last
[15:17] hit the second wave, then fast push and
[15:19] crash the third wave. This gives you
[15:21] time to recall and come back with an
[15:23] item advantage. You can then freeze the
[15:25] bounce and look for a kill with maybe a
[15:27] jungle gank if your jungler is pathing
[15:29] top. This is especially good against
[15:31] those without TP. I'm going to list this
[15:34] again just to make it a bit easier. Play
[15:36] for dominance and for level ups. Last
[15:39] hit the second wave, then hard push the
[15:41] third / cannon wave to ensure it crashes
[15:43] and so they can't tank it before the
[15:45] fourth wave arrives. Then you recall,
[15:47] buy an item, run back to lane, and try
[15:49] to freeze the wave. Cheater recalling
[15:51] allows you to full heal and get an item
[15:53] advantage over your opponent.
[15:55] The other scenario is proxying where you
[15:58] crash the second wave or third wave if
[16:00] you know the enemy jungler is pathing
[16:01] bot side. You need to make sure the
[16:03] enemy champion can't straight up murder
[16:04] you and you need wave clear of course.
[16:06] Proxying is the better option out of
[16:08] these two scenarios just because of the
[16:09] Rogue Quest interaction.
[16:11] It's not the only choice after a second
[16:14] wave crash though. If you're playing an
[16:16] aggressive early game champion and the
[16:17] enemy jungler is pathing bots, you can
[16:19] just let it bounce and force the enemy
[16:21] laner to walk up for farm before looking
[16:23] for a kill. There's also currently a
[16:26] cheese strategy where you can leech EXP
[16:28] from one minion mid, then run top for
[16:30] level two off the first wave. Don't
[16:32] forget, I've taught you how to counter
[16:34] this. Depending on the match ups you're
[16:36] playing, you won't always be able to
[16:37] execute these things. For example, level
[16:39] two proxying is pretty hard to do and
[16:42] sometimes you might just end up fist
[16:43] fighting level one. Just keep these
[16:45] things in mind in case you see a chance
[16:47] to do them.
[16:48] Now, let's talk about some notes on wave
[16:50] management before we finish up.
[16:53] Wave management is generally for the
[16:54] early game since most champions can wave
[16:56] clear easily later on. In a very
[16:58] specific case though in the mid to late
[17:00] game where you don't have TP up and an
[17:02] objective is coming up, you can kill all
[17:04] the minions except for the melees to
[17:06] slow push a wave. This creates a pushing
[17:08] wave and pressure someone has to answer
[17:10] while you 5 v 5 team fight or delay. On
[17:13] the topic of TP, TP aka teleport is
[17:15] essentially a crutch in the early game.
[17:18] If you find yourself getting chunked or
[17:19] die before they crash the wave, you can
[17:21] TP back and not lose as much. Another
[17:24] thing is that ranged top wave management
[17:26] also differs from melee wave management
[17:27] a fair amount and this guide has mainly
[17:30] focused on melee wave management. League
[17:33] is also a constantly evolving game. You
[17:35] tend to get changes for each season. For
[17:38] example, in season 15, we had cannon on
[17:40] fourth wave so you could not get the
[17:41] cheater recall off. But, in season 16,
[17:44] you have it on third wave, so you can
[17:46] cheater recall.
[17:47] To add on to the minion talk, you'll
[17:49] find the optimal way of fast pushing a
[17:51] wave is to target the caster minions
[17:53] first. They have less HP and they'll do
[17:55] more damage than melee minions. So, if
[17:57] you're in a rush, you follow through
[17:58] with this.
[18:00] For further reading or I should say
[18:01] watching, check out the godfather
[18:03] {slash} doctor of fundamentals, Alois.
[18:06] He has the best educational top lane
[18:08] content by far. It is no question to
[18:10] debate.
[18:11] Lastly, I want to say that this video is
[18:13] far from perfect. This video is based on
[18:16] my own knowledge as a top laner and from
[18:18] watching other people play. Regardless,
[18:20] I hope it helps you out.
[18:22] Thanks for watching and have a good one.
[18:24] See you later.