Why Gank?
Ganking can shift the balance of an
entire match. Ganking allows a team to set the pace. With a successful gank,
you place the ganked champion at a major disadvantage in both gold and
experience. Successfully ganking a jungler sets them behind on experience, and
also steals their jungle buffs. It also temporarily frees up the enemy jungle
until the jungler respawns, or if the enemy team decides to roam their jungle
in attempt to avenge their fallen comrade.
Successfully ganking a person in lane allows the lane to be easily pushed.
A gank can quickly turn a lane from 2v2 to 3v1, which often means a destroyed
turret. At the very least, it forces the lane onto the defensive, allowing the
team to zone the remaining laner away from the minion front, depriving them of
experience and gold.
One of the biggest benefits of a successful gank is the psychological
effect it provides. Active and frequent ganking can instill fear, frustration,
and resignation in your opponents. Watching you or your team getting killed
left and right can be one of the most demoralizing things in a single match.
Successfully ganking a specific person multiple times can also spark a feud
within the enemy team, since people are quick to blame others, and lose faith
due to a "feeder".
When to Gank
Blindly charging into a gank can easily lead to a failed or counter-gank.
Ganking requires timing and positioning. A ganker needs to consider a large
variety of factors, including but not limited to: everyone's health, mana,
cooldowns, levels, champion, items, position, how pushed the lane is if in
lane, where enemy champions are on the battlefield, map control, and the status
of the entire match.
Tower diving someone at level 3 is almost guaranteed to get you killed as
well, while that is far less likely at level 12. Going in for a gank when the
enemy built up a massive minion wave can quickly turn a successful gank into a
disaster. Jumping the gun before your ally has their ultimate off cooldown can
make the difference between zero kills and a double kill. Even if you're three
levels higher than your enemy, if they have 3000g in items more than you,
don't be surprised if you end up being the one running for your life. Good
timing and judgment is key to a successful gank.
When ganking a lane, you often need to wait for the enemy champions to step
near the river, or onto your own side of the river. This allows a gank to have
more space for the kill. Of course, you don't want to always wait for this
situation. Sometimes the best ganks are aggressive ganks, such as tower diving,
as it usually means that your lane is pushed up to the enemy tower. With a
successful tower dive at the enemy tower, it usually means that you will be
able to destroy the tower after the gank is completed, or at least force the
enemy team to quickly defend it. However, tower dives tend to be the riskiest since the tower will be involved.
When ganking a jungle, it is usually a better idea to wait until the
jungler sustains the most damage possible from the neutrals they are fighting.
This gives you a larger advantage, which provides a higher chance of securing a
kill. When leaving a lane to gank someone in the jungle, try and make it as
secretive as possible. Heading toward the jungle by passing through enemy
vision allows the enemy jungler to see you approaching, as well as their allies.
This can let the jungler either run away, or get you counter-ganked by the
enemy laning champions following behind you.
Another great time to gank is when enemy champions are mobilizing to either
regroup or reinforce another area of the map. Mobilization attempts can be
predicted based on the status of the map, and the urgency of their actons. An
example would be a strong push in top lane which would need to be reinforced in
order to prevent the loss of a tower. If the push is quick, the enemy will try
and reach the top lane faster, usually leading them to take the quickest route
they believe is safe. This urgency often leads enemies to overlook the safety
of the route they choose, which allows you and your team to intercept them and
gank them.
Avoiding Ganks
Remember, the enemy wants to gank you as much as you want to gank them, so
you should always be aware of any potential ganks coming your way. If you ever
see an enemy champion missing from the minimap, they may be on the hunt. If you are in lane and push yourself out to the river or beyond, you
paint yourself a target. If you're a jungler and you see enemy champions from a
nearby lane suddenly go missing, they may be after you. If you are low on
health, you look juicy. If you're terribly outnumbered, a tower may not be
enough to save you.
Keep an eye on the minimap. It is the most valuable tool, along with wards, when it comes to
avoiding ganks. Keep an eye on where your opponents are, when they go missing,
and the status of the battlefield. Be careful of large enemy minion waves,
because it provides your opponents with better ganking opportunities. Keep an
eye on where enemies place their wards, and check for wards when you can so the
enemy has a harder time seeing where you're headed. Don't stay at a tower when
you're very outnumbered just because it is being pushed. Losing the
tower is better than dying along with it. Do not defend against strong pushes
when your tower is at low health because it can be taken down quickly, leaving you defenseless after. Do not
take predictable paths that cross potentially dangerous areas when going from
one place to another. WATCH OUT FOR THE BRUSH! You never know what's in it.
More than likely, you'll find Garen.
No comments:
Post a Comment