Once dominating the Korean rank leaderboard with multiple accounts in the top 10 Challenger, T1 Zeus is now humorously referred to by many fans as the “unmatched prodigy” as he shines in the LCK at the age of 17. Currently, since T1 Zeus has been officially competing, he no longer has time to climb Challenger with various accounts, yet his skills remain extremely impressive. Now, let’s explore some tips for playing in the top lane that have created the “monster” T1 Zeus:
Understand the Power of Runes
When laning, many players focus too much on the primary runes and forget that the power of secondary runes is equally vital. For example, when engaging in combat with the Bone Plating rune (Resolve tree), if you utilize it well, you can mitigate about 90-100 damage every 45 seconds (cooldown time). Although this number isn’t huge, it can significantly impact from the very first wave of minions.
On the other hand, you must also know what runes your opponent is using to counter them. For instance, if your opponent is also using Bone Plating, you should break it with a light hit, then focus on dealing damage after 2 seconds.
Creating Advantage through Minions
One of the fundamental tactics you can exploit with minions is to attack your opponent when they are trying to last-hit minions. Conversely, you can also pretend to prepare to last-hit minions and then use your skills to both attack the opponent and clear the minion wave.
When you have a large wave of minions pushing towards the enemy turret, if possible, try to trade health or even secure kills with the opponent. This creates a greater advantage than just trying to take a turret plate, as besides the gold, the enemy also loses a significant amount of experience from the minions. If you can’t secure a kill, you can still chip away at the opponent’s health to force them to retreat from the turret if they want to avoid being killed.
Calculate Experience for Leveling Up
One of the strengths that can overwhelm the opponent during a solo kill is the number of skills available. For example, when you only have one minion left before reaching level 3 or level 6, you can fully engage or simply “soften up” the opponent to gain an advantage in lane.
Maintain Distance
For champions with kiting playstyles like Gnar or Quinn, you always need to maintain a safe distance to retreat when necessary.
For short-range champions like Jax, Camille, Renekton,… T1 Zeus has a rather “annoying” habit in team fights of slightly retreating whenever he engages, in other words, “advance three steps back one step”. The purpose of this is to avoid being focused down by the enemy. At the same time, it “baits” the opponent to move slightly towards you, as whenever you engage and then slightly back off, the opponent often tends to use a skill or basic attack back at you, inadvertently putting them in a vulnerable position or closer to your team.
Counterattack
Usually, when an opponent initiates first, they have more advantages. However, if you can effectively exploit their weaknesses to counterattack, you can easily regain control of the situation. For instance, some champions like LeBlanc, Yone, Pyke,… are only strong when they engage; if they are countered when their skills are on cooldown, they become significantly less dangerous.
Ambushing
When falling behind, sometimes you should ambush the opponent from the bushes, engaging right when you see them use all their skills to clear minions. Or you can simply “hide in the bushes” to gain experience instead of rushing into a fight against an opponent who is significantly ahead.