An ACTUALLY Good Wave Control Guide - Toplane 101

[00:00] hey guys roku here and we're back with

[00:02] top lane 101. in this video we're going

[00:05] to cover the most important aspect when

[00:06] it comes to top lane wave control as a

[00:09] top laner you must understand that the

[00:10] wave and the minions aren't just gold

[00:12] and experience they are also your most

[00:15] important tools when it comes to playing

[00:17] the lane and if used properly your most

[00:20] deadly weapon i've seen it happen

[00:21] countless times where a top laner with

[00:23] wave control knowledge absolutely

[00:25] demolishes one without regardless of the

[00:28] matchup or the state of the game that's

[00:29] happening around them wave control is

[00:32] important and it determines the

[00:33] difference between a bad top laner and a

[00:35] good top laner so what exactly is wave

[00:38] management wave control or wave

[00:40] manipulation is simply controlling the

[00:42] amount of damage that you do to the wave

[00:44] in order to change how fast it pushes

[00:47] how many minions there are in the wave

[00:48] and where exactly on the lane the minion

[00:50] wave is supposed to stand a lot of the

[00:52] time when it comes to developing top

[00:54] laners they watch these youtube videos

[00:56] and understand what the different wave

[00:58] control techniques are but they don't

[00:59] understand the thinking process behind

[01:02] deciding what to use when this leads to

[01:04] some very seriously just tragic moments

[01:07] where a player chooses the wrong

[01:09] technique at the wrong time and

[01:11] completely screws themselves over let's

[01:13] say you have ignite the enemy has

[01:15] teleport you get a kill and then you

[01:17] make the mistake of shoving lane they

[01:19] teleport back they freeze the lane you

[01:21] lose waves upon waves upon waves of cs

[01:24] and if you come back to lane boom the

[01:26] jungle is there to kill you because

[01:28] guess what the enemy top laner frozen in

[01:30] the best position for a jungle gank we

[01:32] like to blame the junglers and whatnot

[01:33] but this death would be your fault so

[01:36] let's just get right into it when two

[01:38] opposing minion waves crash in the

[01:40] middle of the lane they are in a neutral

[01:43] position where the minion wave is not

[01:45] going to push in either direction this

[01:46] is also called a freeze when you land

[01:49] that first auto attack onto any of the

[01:51] enemy minions you have started the push

[01:54] your minions will eventually push to the

[01:56] enemy turret the more you damage the

[01:58] minions the faster the push is going to

[02:00] be in order to slow down a push the

[02:03] enemy top laner has to attack your

[02:05] minions so if someone's trying to break

[02:07] a freeze and you want to keep the freeze

[02:09] in the position that you wanted you

[02:10] might want to start hitting his minions

[02:12] back and trying to copy the damage he's

[02:14] doing to your minions so you get this

[02:15] tug of war between top laners to decide

[02:17] who gets to control where the wave is

[02:19] going to be let's say that you killed an

[02:21] enemy minion and your wave is now at an

[02:24] advantage it doesn't take a genius to

[02:25] tell that this mini wave is gonna push

[02:27] towards the enemy turret but there's one

[02:29] more factor to consider how close are

[02:31] the minions to reinforcements if the

[02:33] minion advantage is zero meaning both

[02:36] waves are the same size but they've

[02:37] crashed closer to your own turret that

[02:39] means that they will eventually push

[02:41] towards the enemy turret why because

[02:43] your allied minion reinforcements are

[02:46] closer to the crash than the enemy

[02:48] minion reinforcements your

[02:49] reinforcements get there sooner they hit

[02:51] the minions more and you have a push

[02:53] going this is why in order for a minion

[02:55] wave to freeze closer to a turret it

[02:58] needs to have a certain number of

[02:59] minions advantage if you want the minion

[03:01] wave to freeze just outside your turret

[03:03] then you want the enemy minion wave to

[03:04] have three more minions than your minion

[03:06] wave the specific amount of meaning is

[03:08] required is shown in this diagram right

[03:11] here it is a universal rule that

[03:14] whenever a minion wave has a minion

[03:16] advantage of 4 or higher and that wave

[03:18] is going to push until it gets cleared

[03:20] by an enemy champion or a turret first

[03:22] thing you want to do when you look at a

[03:23] minion wave is count the minions

[03:25] determine which side has more minions

[03:28] how big the minion advantage is and then

[03:30] check back with this diagram to see

[03:32] which way the minion wave is going to

[03:33] push or whether it's not going to push

[03:35] anywhere ends just frozen eventually

[03:37] you'll memorize the diagram and you

[03:38] won't need to refer to it when you crash

[03:40] your wave into the enemy turret you are

[03:43] resetting the wave and causing it to

[03:45] push into you this is because while the

[03:48] turret is killing your minions the enemy

[03:51] minion wave is going to be stuck under

[03:53] the enemy turret which is much closer to

[03:56] the enemy minion reinforcements than

[03:58] your minion wave is so eventually the

[04:00] enemy minion wave will accumulate to

[04:02] such an advantage that it will

[04:04] inevitably just push towards you if

[04:06] you're really really fed you can create

[04:07] scenarios where you slow push a big wave

[04:09] on the enemy turret have a crash and

[04:11] then have it push into you and then you

[04:13] can either kill the enemy while they're

[04:14] trying to slow push this wave or even

[04:16] set up a freeze by killing the enemy

[04:19] minions until there is only an advantage

[04:20] of three left it is possible to freeze a

[04:23] wave with a minion advantage of four or

[04:25] more but this basically means that you

[04:28] have to tank the enemy minion wave and

[04:30] drag it and although this works for dire

[04:32] circumstances in cases where health is

[04:34] vital you might just be shooting

[04:35] yourself on the foot here so it's better

[04:36] to just freeze with three to four

[04:37] minions than anything greater so now we

[04:40] know how to push a wave how to determine

[04:42] which way a wave is going to push what

[04:45] happens when you crash your wave into

[04:46] the enemy turret and how to freeze a

[04:48] wave now let's get into the more mental

[04:50] thought process parts of wave control

[04:52] i've split up the process of wave

[04:54] management into three different steps

[04:56] planning

[04:57] analysis and execution during the

[05:01] planning stage we must first have a goal

[05:03] for the lane what do we want to do and

[05:05] this goal changes from game to game if

[05:07] you're getting camped you want the wave

[05:08] to be closer to your turret so that

[05:10] you're under the safety of your own

[05:11] turret and you can't be easily murdered

[05:13] if you want to just dive the enemy and

[05:15] kill them with your own jungler then you

[05:17] want to accumulate a massive slow push

[05:19] and just set up this disgusting dive

[05:21] where the enemy top laner can't fight

[05:22] back if you want to starve your enemy of

[05:24] cs then you might want to set up a nasty

[05:27] freeze which is also going to set them

[05:28] in the perfect position to gank and

[05:30] they're going to set you up in a

[05:30] position where you can't be ganked but

[05:32] to decide all this you have to

[05:34] understand what you want to do with lane

[05:36] first so before going to a lane just

[05:38] have a game plan i have a good matchup

[05:40] here i'm going to try to get kills i'm

[05:42] going to go for slow pushes i'm going to

[05:43] go for roams whatever just have a plan

[05:45] for the lane our next step is analysis

[05:48] in this stage we must use the techniques

[05:50] and the knowledge discussed previously

[05:52] in order to tell where the wave is going

[05:55] or what it's doing is it pushing is it

[05:56] freezing just determine it first after

[05:59] this is done you must plan what you have

[06:01] to do to the wave in order to make it

[06:04] behave in a way that supports your plans

[06:06] our last step is execution we have our

[06:09] plan we've analyzed the situation we

[06:11] know what to do and then we go and do it

[06:13] let me lay out an example say we are

[06:15] fighting a weak early game champion who

[06:17] wants to sit back and farm the ideal

[06:19] course of action is to keep the wave

[06:22] closer to our turret and to starve them

[06:23] of gold and xp this can be done by

[06:26] freezing the wave the enemy top laner is

[06:28] slow pushing a massive wave into us the

[06:31] minion wave advantage is eight we know

[06:34] that we want the advantage to be three

[06:35] or four so that we can more comfortably

[06:38] freeze it so we go into the wave we trim

[06:39] it a bit and then we have it freeze just

[06:42] outside of our turret this is basically

[06:45] the entire thought process behind wave

[06:47] management and keep in mind that this is

[06:49] cyclical meaning that you have to go

[06:52] through this process over and over and

[06:55] over again some games you might have a

[06:57] good match up but you're getting camped

[06:58] by the junglers you have to change your

[07:00] plans dynamically flexibility is one of

[07:03] the key strengths of a league of legends

[07:05] player how about another example

[07:07] say we just kill our lane opponent and

[07:09] they don't have teleport we want the

[07:12] minion wave to push into us so that we

[07:14] can eventually kill them again in order

[07:17] to do this we have to push the minion

[07:19] wave to the enemy turret we can do so by

[07:22] killing the enemy minions as fast as

[07:24] possible and making sure that they auto

[07:27] attack the enemy turret and as another

[07:29] bonus because the enemy turret is

[07:31] killing our minions then the enemy

[07:32] champion isn't killing our minions this

[07:34] way we basically double our lead as not

[07:36] only do we get a kill but we also have a

[07:38] massive minion golden xp advantage how

[07:41] about another example let's say that we

[07:43] took a great trade against the enemy

[07:45] champion but now they're just under

[07:46] their turret just cssing even though

[07:48] they're low hp our goal here is to kill

[07:50] the enemy layer or force them to go back

[07:52] to base we do this by slow pushing a

[07:55] minion wave slow pushing is basically

[07:57] just hitting the minion wave slowly

[07:59] because when you kill the minions slowly

[08:00] you give more time for your allied

[08:02] minion reinforcements to arrive this

[08:04] builds a bigger minion wave that helps

[08:07] you more in dives so we slow push a big

[08:10] minion wave crashed under the enemy

[08:11] turret and the enemy top laner has two

[08:13] choices stand on a turret and risk

[08:15] getting dove and killed or go back to

[08:17] voice and lose all that cs it sounds

[08:20] intimidating i know but once you get

[08:22] into the groove of things you'll be

[08:23] making these decisions in seconds it

[08:26] will take you no time to just think

[08:27] through these it's just intimidating to

[08:29] just get started with it but it's

[08:31] similar to learning how to ride a bike

[08:33] it seems frightening but once you get

[08:34] the hang of it you can do it with no

[08:36] difficulty wave control isn't about just

[08:39] these big terms like freezing or shoving

[08:41] or chi recall it's more so about

[08:44] decision making you look at the game

[08:45] state you look at the minion wave and

[08:47] then you manipulate the minion wave so

[08:49] that it's in a position that's more

[08:50] beneficial to you and so this is wave

[08:53] control if you need an even more

[08:56] comprehensive guide on wave control

[08:58] click the video on the left

[09:00] if you need to improve your champion

[09:01] pool click the video on the right