5 Beginner Mid Lane Tips
The mid lane is the epicentre of Summoner's Rift, and is usually where most of the action goes down. Playing mid lane makes you the superstar carry of the team, and gives you a ton of different ways to play. Here are 5 beginner tips to help you get started.
Flexibility In Draft
The mid lane is undoubtedly the most diverse role in League, considering most classes are viable:
- AP assassins (e.g. LeBlanc and Syndra) and AP control mages (e.g. Ziggs and Viktor)
- AD assassins (e.g. Zed and Qiyana) and AD carries (e.g. Tristana and Ezreal)
- Enchanters (e.g. Karma and Seraphine)
- Bruisers (e.g. Garen and Sett)
In draft, you have to be flexible and recognise what roles your team is lacking when it's your turn to pick. Being able to fill that gap with your pick can round out your team comp and give you a huge advantage.
Summoner Spells
Just like champion picks, you have a lot of viable summoner spells to choose from. Ignite is great if you're looking to get early kills in lane and start snowballing, whereas Teleport helps you catch minion waves and make split push plays in the late game.
Exhaust can completely shut down assassins, as it neutralises their all-in potential. Barrier and Heal are alternative defensive options; the movement speed from Heal can help you escape tricky situations, while Barrier is better against Ignite as it isn't affected by Grievous Wounds.
The best summoner spell will depend on the matchup, and this knowledge comes from time, practice and experience.
Pushing Waves
Unlike your top and bot laners, you have a lot of freedom to roam around the map in the mid lane. You can roam to either the top or bot lane to try and secure kills, or assist your jungler with invading the enemy jungle.
In order to make any of these plays, it's essential you push out your minion waves before you start roaming. This ensures you aren't missing precious experience/gold and forces your opponent to catch the wave, unless they want to fall behind. If they're still in lane, this gives you the numbers advantage in any fight that breaks out during your roam.
Early Game Wards
Playing mid means you're gonna be receiving a lot of attention from both junglers, and you need to prepare accordingly. For their first gank of the game, the enemy jungler will usually gank from the opposite side they started from. You can figure out what side they started on if the enemy bot lane leashes or if your jungler spots them out.
It's generally best to place your first ward once you've reached level 3, which is the typical timing window for a jungler to start ganking. You should also communicate with your jungler which side your opponent sets up vision on, as this will help your jungler identify whether they can effectively gank your lane.
Practice CSing
Last hitting minions is essential as it's your most consistent form of gold income. It can be tricky to last hit early on in the game when you don't have many items, though it does get easier later in the game when your damage output is high.
You can improve your last hitting skills in the practice tool, spending a couple minutes every day playing out the first few minutes of the laning phase. Only purchase your starter items (like a Doran's Ring or Tear of the Goddess) and pick different champions each time, making you more comfortable with different abilities, base AD stats, and attack ranges.
Playing mid is a chaotic yet powerful role that offers you a ton of choice. You have the power to single handedly carry games, but that comes at a price; you'll often be the first person the enemy is looking to kill.