Step 1: Ward Deep in the Enemy Jungle
Most League of Legends players have the bad habit of placing wards in the two bushes near the mid lane and thinking that’s safe enough. In reality, it doesn’t provide you with any information about the enemy jungle path or gank attempts. It doesn’t even help reduce the chances of being attacked since there are too many gank paths that the enemy jungler can take.
Let go of that bad habit and find ways to ward deep in the enemy jungle, specifically by gaining vision at the enemy’s Bird Camp. This area is where every jungler will pass through, having vision here will allow you to see how many minions they’ve farmed and their movement direction, ensuring safety for both yourself and your teammates. Not getting surprised by a gank is a prerequisite for winning your lane.
Step 2: Clearly Define Winning Conditions in Lane
Typically in mid, there are three types of matchups: winning, losing, and even. The biggest factor determining this is champion matchup, and you need to understand this to come up with appropriate strategies.
In a winning matchup, meaning you have a champion with slightly better damage early on, you need to find ways to secure kills or at least trade advantages in lane. For example, in the matchup between Twisted Fate and Fizz, if you’re playing Fizz, your goal will be to dive straight into your opponent since you have overwhelming damage. The only thing that can stop this is a Gold Card, so use E – Playful/Trickster to dodge it and you’ll win the lane.
Conversely, in a losing matchup, you won’t have any way to kill your opponent, so your goal is to farm evenly, stay alive, and surpass your opponent in the later stages. In the matchup between Kassadin and Talon, if you’re playing Kassadin, there’s no way you’ll trade damage favorably in the early levels. At this point, you need to farm as safely as possible, avoid the enemy’s skills, and save up for Seeker’s Armguard. If you can play a losing matchup without losing, that’s already winning the lane.
Finally, we have an even matchup, there will be times when you find yourself in a situation where you can’t do anything to your opponent and they can’t do anything to you either. At this point, trying to kill each other is very difficult, so you need to create pressure on other lanes with your ganks. For instance, in the matchup between Syndra and Orianna, both have nearly equivalent wave clear speed, so who wins or loses will be determined by damage output and impact in team fights.
Step 3: Think About the Items Your Opponent Will Build and Find Ways to Counter Them
Returning to the Kassadin and Talon matchup, to help the player using Kassadin win, as mentioned earlier, what can the player using Talon do to dominate the lane? With a Mage facing a physical Assassin, their first item needs to be Seeker’s Armguard; if you let your opponent get it, winning the lane will become much harder.
Therefore, consistently apply pressure on your opponent, forcing them to give up minions to stay healthy. Still using the previous example, when Talon has enough gold (1100), you should recall immediately and buy the Duskblade of Draktharr. If you apply enough pressure and your opponent has fewer minion counts than you, they will have less than 1100 gold, and on their first recall, they won’t have Seeker’s Armguard. At that point, the opportunities for solo kills and winning the lane will be wide open for you, so don’t be too greedy and buy an extra Long Sword and miss your chance to win.