League Basics: Top Wave Management

[00:02] When a person hears the word wave, they

[00:04] might think of waves of the ocean.

[00:07] Or maybe a hand wave.

[00:10] Perhaps they'll imagine sound waves.

[00:13] The average League of Legends player

[00:14] probably thinks about gold,

[00:17] EXP,

[00:19] or pain.

[00:21] If you have no knowledge of wave

[00:22] management, you might have been in

[00:24] scenarios like being frozen on by a

[00:25] Darius while playing Nasus close to your

[00:27] own front wave, losing EXP and gold with

[00:29] no help in sight before you started

[00:30] contemplating why on earth are you

[00:32] playing in top lane?

[00:34] I'll ask another question. Have you ever

[00:35] been tower dived and ever questioned

[00:37] why? If your answers are yes, then let's

[00:40] talk about wave management.

[00:44] We will discuss these topics with a main

[00:46] focus on wave management in top lane,

[00:48] but we'll occasionally dip into the

[00:50] general laning stuff. There's a lot of

[00:52] what if scenarios when it comes to

[00:54] laning and wave management, so I can't

[00:56] cover everything, but I'll obviously try

[00:58] to cover as much as possible. And we're

[01:00] going to start with this very obvious

[01:02] but useful concept. With no intervention

[01:04] from champions, the minion waves in

[01:06] Summoner's Rift at start are mirrored.

[01:08] They meet smack bang in the middle along

[01:10] the dotted line on the mini map. Why do

[01:12] we start with this concept? Well, when

[01:14] you play in Summoner's Rift, you

[01:16] obviously aren't going to have vision of

[01:17] the entire map, but by looking at your

[01:19] own minion waves, you can try and

[01:21] visualize where the enemy waves are

[01:23] going to be. So, in this specific

[01:25] scenario, by looking at my second wave,

[01:28] I know the enemy second wave will reach

[01:29] the fights before mine does, which leads

[01:32] to the first topic, wave positions.

[01:35] The position of the waves fighting can

[01:36] dictate which wave will push. In this

[01:39] case, we have no champions hitting the

[01:41] wave and the same amount and type of

[01:43] minions, but because the wave is

[01:45] positioned to red side, they will get

[01:47] their wave reinforcements first, which

[01:49] constitutes to a push. In real

[01:51] Summoner's Rift games, you won't always

[01:53] have the same amount of minions clashing

[01:55] due to champions pushing and CSing, but

[01:57] you get the idea. If the waves are

[01:59] positioned by the enemy tower, the enemy

[02:01] wave will get their reinforcements

[02:02] faster and the enemy tower might also be

[02:05] in range, which means your wave dies

[02:07] faster, resulting in a fast push. If the

[02:09] waves aren't as close to the enemy

[02:11] tower, then you'll just get a slow push.

[02:14] What ultimately matters is knowing that

[02:16] the wave will push to you. With no

[02:18] interference, the wave will eventually

[02:20] crash, which means it hits the tower. It

[02:22] will then proceed to bounce, which means

[02:24] it will push the upper wave because of

[02:25] reinforcements, blah blah blah blah

[02:27] blah. This cycle of crashing and

[02:29] bouncing will continue given no

[02:31] interference. There's also a difference

[02:33] between a good and a bad crash. A good

[02:36] crash is when the wave is stacked, which

[02:38] means it has a lot of minions, and it

[02:40] focuses the tower before the enemy wave

[02:42] arrives. A bad crash, on the other hand,

[02:44] has the wave not reach the tower and the

[02:46] enemy wave intercepts it in time. So,

[02:49] why is this bad? Well, the crashing wave

[02:51] will focus the enemy wave, and if you

[02:53] aren't in range, you won't be able to

[02:55] last hit the minions. If you stay and

[02:57] try to push the wave afterwards, you'll

[02:58] be susceptible to ganks. Whereas if you

[03:01] recall, you will lose the EXP. Not

[03:04] exactly a cash money move.

[03:07] If the enemy champion is there, they

[03:09] might also freeze, but more on that

[03:11] soon. To avoid bad crashes, play with

[03:13] your level advantages if you have them

[03:15] to ensure you have priority over the

[03:17] wave. Look at your own waves to see when

[03:19] the enemy waves come to know when to

[03:21] push. In this scenario, I delayed the

[03:23] push to ensure my wave doesn't reach the

[03:25] tower and I can get the third wave in as

[03:28] well. Don't forget to walk your wave to

[03:30] the tower, otherwise the enemy might

[03:31] hold it and allow their wave to

[03:33] intercept. If you do find yourself in a

[03:35] bad crash, you can either try to push

[03:37] the wave in, stay in range of EXP and

[03:40] wait for the bounce, or just play for

[03:41] the 2v1 because you're better. I'm not.

[03:46] You can also just call your jungler for

[03:47] a counter gank if they're top side and

[03:49] you know you're getting ganked. In the

[03:51] worst case scenario where their jungler

[03:52] has path top and yours hasn't, you will

[03:55] need to take the loss and recall. You

[03:57] will lose a bit of EXP inevitably, but

[04:00] the wave will bounce back and push to

[04:01] you.

[04:02] Now, if you manage to get a good crash

[04:04] in, you have a couple of options to go

[04:06] with. The first is just recalling. If

[04:09] your lane opponent doesn't have good

[04:11] wave clear, you can go for recall. By

[04:13] the time you come back to lane, the wave

[04:14] will have bounced but not reach your

[04:16] tower. At this point, you can try and

[04:18] kill your enemy laner with your new

[04:19] items and ideally a jungle gank if they

[04:21] don't have TP. This will force their TP

[04:24] though if they have it, so you'll be

[04:25] less likely to kill them as they would

[04:27] have healed and have new items like you.

[04:30] Outside of good crashes, a general

[04:31] recall timer is recalling on cannon

[04:34] waves as these are harder to clear early

[04:36] for opponents, which means you can catch

[04:37] the wave by the time you come back if

[04:39] they've tried to crash it. Recalling

[04:41] after kills is also a very important

[04:44] option. For example, when the wave is in

[04:46] the center but pushing to you, you can

[04:48] recall it to catch it when or before it

[04:50] crashes into your tower. Be aware that

[04:52] you might need to chip down the wave if

[04:54] it's too big before you back. Two three

[04:56] minions more than your wave is generally

[04:58] enough. If your wave is close to

[05:00] crashing, then it's often worth pushing

[05:02] it for the bounce after, especially if

[05:04] they don't have TP as they will lose EXP

[05:06] from the minions dying to tower. Avoid

[05:08] greeting for multiple tower plates

[05:10] though if your laner is up a few seconds

[05:12] before you've crashed, even more so if

[05:14] they have TP. They can stop your back

[05:16] and maybe even set up a tower dive if

[05:18] you don't have TP. If there's crystal

[05:20] builder, you can just hit it once and

[05:21] recall.

[05:22] In other cases, you might need to take a

[05:24] loss like when the enemy jungler is

[05:26] ganking soon or your wave is pushing

[05:28] from your tower and they have TP. You

[05:30] will be in up soon. If you stick around

[05:32] and try to crash the wave, you will

[05:33] usually be punished. In this specific

[05:36] clip though, Garen doesn't have TP, the

[05:38] enemy jungler is bot, the next wave is

[05:41] not cannon, and his death timer is not

[05:43] short. So, I choose to crash the wave.

[05:47] Death timers, junglers, cannon waves,

[05:49] TP, and even boots can influence the

[05:51] correct choice.

[05:53] Keep these factors in mind though

[05:54] whenever you decide to crash or recall

[05:56] and try to recognize wave states.

[05:58] Experience is your best mentor here.

[06:01] Another option after a good crash is

[06:04] proxying.

[06:05] Proxying is when you sit behind one of

[06:07] the enemy laner's towers and take the

[06:09] minions. It's something that should only

[06:11] really be done if you have inbuilt wave

[06:13] clear like Garen with his E spin or

[06:15] Sion's Q. Bot lane cinder items and tier

[06:18] my items like Ravenous Hydra and

[06:20] Stridebreaker also supplement this.

[06:23] You also need to be somewhat aware where

[06:24] the jungler and mid laner are so you

[06:26] don't get ganked and give them a kill.

[06:29] So, what are the benefits to proxying?

[06:31] Well, the enemy laner has to decide

[06:32] whether to last hit minions or stop you.

[06:35] If they try to hold the wave ahead of

[06:36] their tower but have no wave clear or

[06:38] sustain, they'll burn through their HP

[06:40] and mana and eventually they have to

[06:41] recall. Meanwhile, if they try to last

[06:44] hit by tower, the tower takes damage,

[06:46] which can give you plate gold if you're

[06:47] nearby.

[06:48] If they try to chase and fight you when

[06:50] they have minions at their tower, then

[06:52] they'll lose the gold and potentially

[06:54] the EXP if they are out of range. The

[06:56] final nail in the coffin is that they'll

[06:58] lose raw quest EXP if they go behind

[07:00] their tower at around this boundary. If

[07:03] you find yourself getting ganked, you

[07:05] can recall, leave, or execute. Executing

[07:08] is fine early on as the death timers are

[07:10] shorter. By the time you recall or

[07:12] revive, you can generally reach the wave

[07:14] before it crashes. The same scenario as

[07:16] recalling normally. A quick note that a

[07:19] general recall timer for proxying is

[07:21] after you clear cannon wave.

[07:23] Now, the general third option after a

[07:25] good crash is the most lethal. It's

[07:27] tower diving.

[07:29] Tower diving is when you kill your

[07:30] opponent under the tower. Having a

[07:32] jungler assist if they're pathing

[07:34] towards you helps a lot. Champions with

[07:37] large amounts of CC or champions that

[07:39] can reset the tower aggro are very good

[07:41] for tower diving. For example, Elise is

[07:43] very good at tower diving because her

[07:45] spider form E can reset the tower aggro.

[07:47] But also her human form stun does not

[07:49] deal damage, so even if you land it, you

[07:52] don't take tower aggro.

[07:54] Renekton and Nidalee are also a very

[07:55] good champion combo. Renekton lands his

[07:57] stun and Nidalee just throws the spear

[07:59] afterwards. Regardless, anyone can tower

[08:02] dive with enough damage. When you kill

[08:04] your opponent under tower with a wave,

[08:06] they lose the minion gold and EXP that

[08:08] their wave or the tower kills. This is

[08:11] huge for creating an advantage. Unless

[08:14] you have a bounty, killing each other is

[08:16] still a net plus as well.

[08:22] You can, of course, tower dive with a

[08:23] single wave, but stacked waves are

[08:25] better as they lose more EXP and gold.

[08:28] Now, whenever the wave bounces to you in

[08:30] all of these scenarios, you can follow

[08:32] through with something called freezing.

[08:35] Not this kind though, but this kind.

[08:39] Freezing is when you hold the enemy wave

[08:41] from crashing into your tower either by

[08:43] holding the wave or the enemy laner not

[08:45] clearing the previous wave in time.

[08:47] Freezing holds multiple benefits. You

[08:49] aren't in an exposed spot, so you are

[08:51] not easily gankable barring the closest

[08:53] brushes, while your opponent is exposed

[08:55] if they walk up. If you're a lot

[08:57] stronger than your lane opponent, you

[08:58] can also zone them from the wave. He's

[09:00] just standing there.

[09:02] Menacingly.

[09:04] Zoning is when you stand in front of the

[09:06] waves and stop your lane opponent from

[09:08] last hitting the minions and, if you

[09:10] can, stop them from getting in EXP

[09:12] range. EXP range for dying minions is

[09:14] 1,500 units, so roughly here. Creating a

[09:18] level difference between you and your

[09:19] opponent is one way of creating a lead

[09:21] in top lane. This is because the stats

[09:23] you get from leveling up are roughly

[09:25] equivalent to 600 gold. This can

[09:27] definitely give you the edge in fights.

[09:29] Now, whenever you're freezing, you have

[09:31] to cut down the wave in order to hold

[09:32] its position without taking too much

[09:34] damage. A general rule of thumb is

[09:36] holding three caster minions at these

[09:38] positions once your wave is dead.

[09:40] Remember that you can reset minion aggro

[09:42] by entering unwarded brushes. This can

[09:45] definitely help in positioning the

[09:46] freeze.

[09:47] So, we just talked about all these

[09:49] scenarios that you can follow through

[09:50] with after a good crash, but in some

[09:53] scenarios, you'll just crash one wave

[09:55] with no cannon, so what can you do here?

[09:57] The first thing is fast pushing the wave

[09:59] 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.