When to Trade in League of Legends | Day 17/30
There are a few ways to win your Lane early. Everybody knows about trading in Lane, but not everybody understands when you should do it, or how to do it. Today I will teach you some tips on trading in lane. This guide will be based on support and ADC, but mostly will be focused on the support role and setting up damage for your carry.
Level One
Level one trades are incredibly important. They will normally dictate the first few levels and the first few waves depending on how well or how poorly your level 1 trade goes. If you are a ranged champion such as Thresh or Morgana then you will have an easy time level 1. As soon as you get to lane you need to help push the wave and do damage to the enemy laners. Either by auto attacking or using your abilities. Usually you want to help push for level 2 and gain the creep advantage.
On Solo Lanes this will be 7 minions but for the duo in the bottom lane it is 9 minions which equals to the first wave and the next 3 minions.
If you have an area of effect ability you may wish to start that first to push the wave, alternatively if you have a stun or a hook you may want to try to hook one of the enemy champions- dealing damage to them early will prevent them from doing a level 2 all in. If you are playing against an early game champion such as blitzcrank who has a hook level 1 then you should go for an early engage and trade to damage them. This will prevent him from going in level 2 Q E Combo.
Level Two
Level 2 all in’s only work on a select few champions. Normally champions that have combo’s that can be performed, such as Alistar W+Q, Thresh Q + E and Blitzcrank Q + E. If your champion has a strong level 2 then it is best to go for a trade directly as soon as you hit 2. If your enemy hits 2 first, then you will have to back off and give pressure. If you hit 2 first however, you can go in for a trade if they ignore your presence.
Level Six
At level 6 all champions get their ultimate ability. Going for a trade with your ultimate is a great way of winning your lane and getting kills. You need to keep trading to the build-up of level 6 and then when you hit 6, all in the enemies.
Catching Out of Position (OOP)
One way of getting trades going is catching one of the members out of position. If you see that stupidly the enemy has walked to far forward, or are in a weird positioning error, then you should act on it. If you can, auto them and use your abilities- if you are playing a champions with CC, then you should try to CC them and follow up with more damage.
You need to abuse their miss-positioning and focus them hard.
Cooldowns
When the enemy has used one of their main abilities, such as Blitzcrank Q or Caitlyn Q then you can push up and go for a trade. They have used one of their main abilities and it will be on cool down throughout the fight. This will allow you to output more damage than them if your ADC follows up. You will also be able to play more offensively once their ability is down.
The Golden Rules of Trading
· Don’t go for trades if the enemy has more minions.
You will draw agro from the enemy minions, resulting in a huge chunk of missing health due to free harass by the enemy creeps.
· Don’t fight if you cannot see the enemy jungle.
Do not go in for a trade if you see the enemy jungler missing, presume he is there and it is going to be a 2v3. You can trade when you see the enemy jungler somewhere else on the map.
· Drop agro from minions if you’re targeted.
Did you know when you auto attack the enemy you draw agro from minions? You can drop the agro by running into the bush and if it is unwarded, then you will lose the agro. This is why you should stand near the bushes when going for auto based trades.
Please note that all trades in lane are very situational and there are many different factors that can make a trade good or bad, it is up to your judgement and ability to know when you should trade and how to improve your chances on gaining a lead through early level trades.
Hi there, I hope you enjoyed this guide. If you did, maybe you’d like to show your support by checking out my Twitch channel. I stream very frequently and if you have any questions about this guide or improving at League of Legends, please come by some time and ask me a question or two. Thank you for your support, and I hope to see you soon :) PS, I’m Diamond 1 if that helps.
