“We fight for those who cannot”
Welcome to Wild Rift Tips and Tricks Series Part II. If you haven’t check out part I of this series, you can find it over here. In this guide, I will go through the top 10 advanced tips for veterans to help you climb the ranks and be a top-tier player.
Without further ado, let us get started!
Tip #1: Map knowledge and awareness
The first pro tip is to improve your map knowledge and awareness. At this point, veterans like you should be very familiar with the terrain, jungle camps, and the Fog Of War. To take your gameplay to the next level, pay extra attention to the spawn timings of the camps.
1. Gomp / Murk Wolf / Crimpson Raptor / Krug
Spawn time: 20 seconds into the game Respawn interval: 90 seconds
2. Rift Scuttler
Spawn time: 85 seconds into the game Respawn interval: 160 seconds
3. Elemental Drakes
Spawn time: 4 minutes into the game Respawn interval: 240 seconds / 4 minutes
4. Elder Dragon
Spawn time: 16 minutes into the game Criteria: All four elemental dragons are slain
5. Rift Herald
Spawn time: 4 minutes into the game Despawn time: 9 minutes into the game (despawn can be delayed up to 30 seconds if the Rift Herald is engaged in combat at the point of despawning)
6. Baron Nashor
Spawn time: 10 minutes into the game Respawn interval: 210 seconds
Professional players can utilize this to plan an efficient clearing route while having the option to invade the enemy’s jungle to steal the camps, putting the opponent in an unfavorable position to gank and make plays.
Moving on, map awareness is crucial. Knowing where to position yourself during team fights can make the difference between life and death. Furthermore, being aware of your teammates’ and opponents’ locations on the map can help you decide whether you want to counter-gank or split push.
Side note: It took me a while to get used to constantly monitoring the map so I understand the struggle. Make it a conscious effort and you will get use to it!
Tip #2: Flashing over walls
As you would have already known, flash is a summoner spell that allows you to teleport a short distance. Building on to the first tip, this mechanic can help you push the limits of the map and terrain. With enough practice, you can flash over big walls that can be difficult to pull off. (The trick is to have your end position across half the wall that you want to flash across) Mastering this spell allows you to cover more ground to either close up on an opponent or make a timely escape.
Side note: This tip also works for blink abilities like Ezreal’s Arcane shift. Trust me, pulling off an insane flash definitely feels great 🙂
Tip #3: Game Knowledge
Game knowledge here refers to an individual champion’s abilities, combos, synergies, and counters. In League of Legends: Wild Rift, there is a counter for each unique champion. (For example, Malphite’s Unstoppable Force can be combo-ed with Yasuo’s Last Breath while Katarina is countered by champions who have crowd control abilities.) Do check out this in-depth list of Wild Rift Counters.
Being able to figure out the team synergy that the opponent is trying to draft during the pre-match process can make or break the game. You should always try to pick a champion that complements your team while countering what your opponent is trying to do as it puts you in a headstart even before the game begins. (This is why veterans like you should be skilled in at least 3 champions per role)
Tip #4: Gold and Experience Management
Gold and experience are the two currencies in the game. Gold can be earned over time, last hitting minions, clearing jungle camps, or killing enemies. More gold means more items, more damage, and more wins. However, it is often overlooked how the majority of the gold comes from minions. Therefore it is important to determine where to farm safely and when to do so.
Why do I have more kills but less gold?
There is a general misconception that killing gives you more gold. Let us go through some basics of the Wild Rift economy. First Blood gives you 500 gold. Every champion has a kill bounty, this increases upon consecutive kills. Similarly, this kill bounty decreases with each consecutive deaths.
This means that you will get lesser gold each time you kill the same enemy but when you get shut down, you grant your enemy a huge amount of gold. Let’s say you leave your lane to gank mid and gave two waves to your enemy, he will get at least 420 gold from minions alone and if he takes down the turret, that’s another 400 gold in the bag for your opponent. This is a whopping 820 gold that you just gave away freely.
If during the gank you managed to kill one enemy, you get a mere 400 gold while your opponent back in your lane still has 420 gold more than you. You will only break even if you get at least a double kill. Therefore, minions > kills.
On the other hand, experience is gained when you kill minions. This grants you increased base stats and access to more abilities. Top-tier players monitor their experience bar very closely to help them make decisions. (For example, hitting level 2 before your enemy grants you a window of opportunity to attack. Similarly, initiating a fight at level 4 may seem foolish but leveling up midway through the fight gives you access to the ultimate that can destroy the enemy.)
Tip #5: Animation cancel
Animation cancel (a.ka. orb walking) is when you attack a target but cancel or finish the animation early by using another skill that interrupts it. Every champion in Wild Rift has some form of animation cancel, an example is Riven in the Gif above.
If you can weave in one auto-attack or skill in between your combo, you are more likely to dish out more damage than your opponent. Mastery of animation cancel requires a lot of practice (I mean A LOT) and an in-depth understanding of your champions but once you are comfortable with it, I’m sure you will definitely emerge victorious in most of your 1v1 fights.
Tip #6: Minion management
Building on Tip #3, Minion Management (or Wave Management) can help you maximize the gold and experience you earn during the laning phase while giving you pockets of time to recall or gank other lanes.
In the lower tier, players tend to clear the entire wave, resulting in a huge enemy minion wave that crashes into your own turret. Let us go through the three basic wave management strategies.
1. Fast Push: Attack everything in sight and clear the wave as fast as possible.
Usage:
– Fast pushing the first two waves will let you reach level 2 faster than your opponent.
– When you want to recall to buy items or make a speedy gank.
– If you want to crash your minions into the enemy’s turret when they die or recall at a bad time.
2. Freeze Lane: Holding or delaying the enemy’s minions near your turret. You can achieve this by last hitting minions right before they die or by matching the damage that the enemy champion deal to your minions.
Usage:
– To farm safely since the enemy minion wave is closer to your turret, you are less likely to be ganked by the enemy jungler. (If your first turret is down, freezing the lane is the safest way to get back into the game.)
– If you are ahead in terms of gold or kill count, you can freeze the lane to maintain the lead and zone your opponent to widen the gap. (Zoning refers to keeping the enemy champion away from your minion wave by threatening to kill or dealing damage a.k.a poking if he comes near)
3. Slow Push: Slowly gathering and building up the minion wave. This is achieved by killing only the caster/ranged minions.
Usage:
– Once the minion wave has grown to a substantial size, it can take out a whole turret on its own.
– I would suggest that you start to slow push before you want to start a team fight at an alternate lane or taking objectives like Drakes and Baron Nashor.
Tip #7: Trust your own abilities
Wild Rift Tip #6: Have trust in yourself and commit to the decisions you make. It is often underrated how professional players waste no time and have a purpose for each action that they make in the game.
Therefore, do not hesitate when you are trading with an opponent or traveling to mid-lane to gank. Otherwise, you will be just walking back and forth, losing precious gold and experience. Once the fight started, go all out and don’t hold back, and if you die, so be it, move on. (Having said that, do pick your fights properly.)
Tip #8: Emotions and Communication
It is easy to blame your teammates when things go wrong (I’m pretty sure even the most experienced player can relate to this) but once in a while, take a step back and reevaluate the situation.
Are you performing well in your own lane?
The key difference between a low and high tier game is communication. Professional players warn each other when the jungler is missing or when their laning opponent has recalled to base. This will definitely help other teammates make decisions such as whether to initiate the elemental drake.
Side note: Learn to play when you are losing.
Being the first blood or losing your turret is not the end of the world. There will always be champions who seem unbeatable in the early game and those who get exponentially stronger as the game progresses.
What makes a high elo game so much more interesting is that players know how to play when they are losing and eventually turn the tables and win the game. Slow Push, is one of the few ways you can get back into the game if you are losing initially.
Tip #9: Settings
Ever wondered why the opponent jungler always manages to steal your dragon but you just can’t seem to smite it on time. This is probably due to the difference in the settings, the player who can press the skill first would have the advantage.
When it comes to the higher tiers, it’s these small details that add up and determine who is the better player. So before you enter your next game, definitely relook at how you can customize your settings for better gameplay. (I personally didn’t know that I could customize my ability layout until recently.)
Side note: Having your skills closer to your fingers helps but fat fingers does exist, so do play around with the settings.
Tip #10: Follow the Meta
The last Wild Rift Tip for veterans is to keep up to date with the meta (Most Effective Tactics Available). With each patch in the game, some champions are buffed while some are nerfed and new items introduced can drastically change the playstyle of certain champions.
A good Wild Rift player is always aware of these changes and how they can capitalize on champions who are substantially stronger or OP (Overpowered) at the moment to dominate your lane.
That’s it for the top 10 Advanced Wild Rift Tips for veterans. I hope you enjoyed this guide and all the best in your climb to Challenger. If you have any other pro tips not mentioned above, drop them in the comments below!
Do check out the beginner guide here if you haven’t already done so or any of our articles on travel, lifestyle, or fitness if you are interested.