League-of-legends – How to recover from a bad early game

league-of-legends

Due to difficulties in the early game, often I die a lot earlier and get little farm or kills. This often causes me to get underleveled.

It's a HUGE difference, and the best solution is to not get in that situation in the first place, but if it does happen, what are some tips to quickly recover from being underleveled? It feels like I am a nuisance to my team because I die easily to any opponent, I cannot kill opponents, and farming is very hard with tough opponents in the lane. I need to level up to help my friends, but I don't know HOW to do it fast!

Best Answer

The better option in this case is to avoid falling behind so far in the first place — being level 8 when others are level 15 is a huge gap! To that end, I'd suggest buying more defensive items early game (such as items that give HP, Armor, or MR). For example, as an AP champion, go for an early Rylai's Crystal Scepter instead of dying multiple times until you save up for Rabadon's Deathcap. For AD, I like to go for early Zeke's Herald on heroes that I'm bad with, because it:

  • adds HP, life steal & AS
  • allows you to support allies with an aura even if you're too weak to help directly
  • adds CDR, which is important if your main contribution is to blow your skills to snare or damage and then run away so you don't die

The above points still don't answer what to do if you are already way behind. Honestly, at this point, there is likely a skill difference that will prevent you from doing much anyway, but let's focus on what you can do.

Item choices

Don't blindly follow a guide build order if you're having trouble.

  • +HP: Confused about whether Armor or MR would be better? Too poor to afford both against a mixed-damage team? Adding HP is a general solution that boosts your survivability for those nasty burst attackers so that you have a chance to get away. Note that %HP damage is your natural enemy in this case - beware of Madred's, DFGs, etc.

  • Aura Items: You're a wimp, but your allies aren't (or else the game would be already ending). Help out with Zeke's for sustain, Frozen Heart to counter enemy ADCs, etc. — all while remaining a safe distance for quick getaways.

  • GP10: These items are best purchased early game. I don't suggest buying them when you are thinking of playing catch up (especially after laning phase is finished) unless you expect the game to take a long time.

  • CDR: On any hero with good support spells (e.g. Lux), Cooldown Reduction is vital for more chances to help out. For instance, Lux can kill runners or deny areas with her R more often, and Lulu can save allies from ignite or DoT spells with her E or R more.

Game Play

  • Never engage 1 vs. 1 when you're underleveled.
  • Try for assists - can you snare an enemy for your ally to finish off? Even if you just Exhaust him and run away, you can pick up a valuable assist for some free gold and experience.
  • Don't ignore neutral creeps. Level 8 heroes can easily kill wraiths & wolves for easy gold/xp if the creep wave is pushed out or guarded by the enemy champion.
  • Aggressively clear enemy creep waves when there are no champions around to stop you. This helps push your minions to assist in killing their towers, and you could distract an enemy to come over to chase you off (in which case, you should run, because you're weaker... but putting a stronger hero out of position is also good!).
  • Spam AoE and even ultimates to clear creep waves if there is little likelihood of a teamfight in the next minute (and you being within range to help).
  • Unlike enemy champions, neutral buff monsters (blue/red) don't switch target to weaker heroes. Help by casting shields on allies taking blue buff, dragon etc.; this saves their HP for fights while you can go back for a mana refill.