League of Legends is a strategy game made for teams to develop different and unique strategies to claim victory over their opponents on Summoner’s Rift. A lot of the variability has seemingly been forced by way of patches to make certain things viable that normally shouldn’t be. Mid lane marksmen are one of those things, and Riot hasn’t changed their minds on it. With the release of Akshan, the first marksman made specifically for mid lane, Riot has doubled down on the idea and we should be happy with that! At least, I’m sure marksman players are when they are filled into the mid lane [as rare as that may be]! So, it’s important to add some marksmen to your repertoire in the mid lane to adapt to the draft as needed and increase that win rate!
What Marksmen are Good in Mid Lane?
While not all marksmen can just be dumped in the mid lane to fend for themselves, some are more than happy there. Generally, the marksmen that don’t want anything to do with it are ones that need the assistance of the Support for safety and therefore work much better in a duo lane. These are champions like Ashe, Jhin, Miss Fortune, Twitch, Senna, and many more! So, what makes marksmen capable of taking the role of mid laner? The most consistent answer is a marksman with early kill threat and an escape ability! Having just one of these is fine but having both makes the world of a difference! Champions that fit this mold include: Corki, Akshan, Tristana, Graves, Lucian, Ezreal, and Vayne. Although some are more viable in the mid lane than others, they all have seen their place in the mid lane in competition, and likely will continue to.
Why are Marksmen Good in Mid Lane?
These champions are ranged and therefore have decent agency over the mid lane and its priority. This is essential for assisting other lanes or the junglers whenever there are skirmishes! Part of the reason for that priority is their waveclear. Most of these champions can clear the wave quickly. This means they can shove the wave in and roam around the map to apply some pressure. Additionally, one of the added benefits of mid lane marksman is that it allows for more options in the team’s draft. If the team can have an AD mid lane, but the matchup isn’t ideal for an assassin, then a marksman is a good choice. Furthermore, if the team drafts an ability-powered bot laner, there’s even more reason to draft that mid lane marksman. Finally, since marksmen tend to have late game power spikes, having the solo lane experience allows them to scale up to that late game power spike much sooner in the game. For example, in a duo lane, it takes 13 waves to reach level 6. Compare this to a solo lane, where it only takes 8 waves and one additional minion! That is at least two minutes faster to reach level 6!
What Makes Mid Ideal Over Top?
Mid lane is the central lane and therefore gives the champion easier access to any place on the map. Especially for scaling champions [like marksmen], this is essential for being a part of the action and getting that snowball rolling to that late game power spike! An added benefit to the mid lane is that it is not required for you to take Teleport. While Teleport is still a great Summoner Spell to take, mid lane marksmen will likely want the ability to take any Summoner Spell that is specific to their matchup like Cleanse for heavy crowd-control, Exhaust for assassins, Barrier, Heal, etc. Since marksmen are ideal champions to gank because of their weaker early game, staying in the mid lane also means the lane is much shorter and easier to escape from ganks! As a result, this also means that farming to accelerate towards that late game power spike is much easier and safer to do so without overextending.
When to Pick Mid Lane Marksmen?
As previously mentioned, mid lane marksmen are exceptional options for creating drafting flexibility. When your team has a lot of ability-powered champions drafted, having a marksman in the mid lane is a good way to balance it out. Since all attack damage mid laners aside from marksman are assassins, if a team already has an ability powered assassin, or the enemy team is good against assassins, picking a marksman mid lane is a good workaround. Finally, the most underrated reason to pick a marksman mid is for more consistent and sustained damage output! The number of times teams draft compositions of teams with high amounts of burst into a bulky team with sustain is terrifying! Having a damage-per-second oriented champion to beat the sustain of the enemies is crucial to winning fights in those games!
What are Good Matchups for Mid Lane Marksmen?
The best matchups to pick a marksman in mid are against mages with low kill potential, and Champions reliant on hitting level 6 to get lane priority. First, mages with low kill potential include champions like, Orianna, Azir, Ryze, Malzahar, Kassadin, Syndra, and Ahri. These champions highly favor last hitting minions to scale than trading or attempting to all-in marksman. The added benefit to playing against these champions is they don’t have the easiest setup or follow up for ganks! This means that marksmen are free to last hit minions, gain priority over the wave with their better trading, and use that priority to assist the jungler with early pressure over Scuttle Crab, invade for vision, roam to side lanes, or even just recall for free! Since all the best marksmen for the mid lane have an escaping ability, the single ability or combo of abilities to set up a gank or follow up on a gank can be easily dodged or even ignored. With such strength over the enemy laner in these matchups, the marksman should be able to absorb a lot of jungle pressure that can just be shrugged off. This is very important for alleviating pressure from the other lanes and can win you the early game without even realizing it! The other good matchup is against champions that rely on reaching level 6 to have a chance at getting priority over the lane. This includes Akali, Fizz, Anivia, Diana, and Sylas. These champions are either melee and need to reach level 6 to have enough kill pressure to establish priority or have little wave clear and poke to have control over the wave to establish priority. As such, these matchups start off in the marksman’s favor, but swing in the opponent’s favor at level 6. Although level 6 comes quite early in the mid lane, it gives the marksman plenty of time to establish a lead and start making plays around the map! Just be careful and keep track of when they will hit level 6!
What are Bad Matchups for Mid Lane Marksmen?
The worst mid lane matchups to pick a marksman into are against Champions with longer range and greater wave clear. These champions are generally referred to as Artillery Mages because they can essentially clear the wave from a screen away before you can even clear half of it! These Champions are Jayce, Lux, Vel’Koz, Xerath, Ziggs, and Zoe.
These champions have low cooldown abilities that can nearly one-shot the wave at all stages of the game, keeping marksman last hitting under tower where they will continually be harassed with abilities from a distance. Obviously, these lanes are not fun to play so they should be avoided! The next losing matchup for marksmen is against Champions with pre-level 6 prowess. Generally labelled as assassins, these Champions have quick gap-close and high burst damage to easily capitalize on poor positioning mid lane marksman.
While these lanes can be playable, it’s highly recommended to avoid unless aware of how the matchup is to be played out. Champions that fit this category are Talon, Qiyana, Yone, LeBlanc, Zed, and Yasuo. These Champions love to fight up-close and personal which is exactly where marksmen don’t want you to be!
The final matchup is against Champions with heavy lock-down and gank setup! These Champions have easy-to-hit crowd-controlling abilities that can set up for a gank or follow up on a gank making them virtually impossible to outplay or escape. These lanes are incredibly difficult when junglers are aware of how hard they can punish the marksman. It is very tricky to play out these lanes because even one moment of being out of position can lead to a death and a lost lane! Champions that fit into this category are Pantheon, Veigar, Lissandra, Galio, and Annie. These Champions have multiple crowd-controlling abilities, point-and-click crowd-control, or just crowd-control that can easily follow up on the junglers’. Pair that with decent damage output and mid lane marksman are wiped off the map with ease. In these lanes, the five minutes you are flashless, you are next to useless and shouldn’t expect to get any minions. Avoid these matchups at all costs!
How to Play the Early Game
As a marksman in the mid lane, the goal is to always keep control of the wave. As a byproduct of controlling the wave, you can force enemies to walk up, where you can initiate favorable trades, all-in them for a kill, or simply shove them under tower to roam and prevent their following! It’s relatively simple so long as the marksman keeps an eye on the enemies’ positions to make sure they do not get caught when pushing the lane in. Ideally, just last hit minions and use the time of priority to get vision or help the jungler when needed. Don’t feel the need to roam and make plays on the map because you’re not required to get ahead, you just don’t want to fall behind!
How to Play the Mid Game
The mid game goal for a mid-lane marksman is to keep gathering gold. Gold is essential to reaching the point in the game where a marksman has the most value and there is so much gold lost in the side lanes during the mid-game. Make sure to go to side lanes to catch waves only; don’t push them out. This will leave you vulnerable and cause you to spend too much time away from your teammates where a fight may break out. Since marksman are crucial to the success of the fight, they should minimize their time away from the team. As such, marksman should also look to prioritize the wave closer to where their teammates are. For example, if the Dragon is spawning soon, the marksman should be catching bot lane waves and shoving them out to the river where they can easily join the team before the Dragon spawns or as soon as a fight starts.
The top laner [with Teleport available] should be the one managing the side lane wave on the opposite side of the map. Aside from these rules, the last important thing is to optimize the item build as a marksman. After the core items are complete, the Marksman build significantly depends on the composition of the enemy team. If they have a lot of Armor, build Armor Penetration. If they have a lot of healing, build Executioner’s Calling. Once you establish the items you will need to start building to complete the build, it is easy to play out the rest of the game.
How to Play the Late Game
In the late game, marksmen are extraordinarily influential over the result of the game. Always play with teammates, only occasionally leaving to catch waves. If leaving to catch waves, it is imperative to communicate with teammates so they are aware of your absence and do whatever they can not to fight or get caught out while you are gone! This is easily what will lose you games if you fail to do this, so make sure you communicate! Lastly, team fights are the make-or-break moment for the marksman.
The true test of skill and prowess for a marksman is their ability to play out a team fight. The ideal plan is to simply play front-to-back and positioning aggressively when the opportunity arises to capitalize on enemy mistakes. Aside from that, before team fights, the marksman must identify the problematic abilities that could get them killed in a fight and determine their method of dealing with those abilities. Once that is done, position to deal as much damage as possible while avoiding those problematic abilities and your odds of winning the fight will increase dramatically!
Conclusion
Mid lane marksman are very potent options for players looking to carry their games. They are certainly not viable in every game and should only be picked when the situation is right. Make sure to identify when the time is right and play to your Champion’s strengths!
Who is the best assassin in League of Legends?
League Of Legends: The 10 Best Assassin Champions.
7 Akali — Fear The Assassin With No Master. ... .
6 Talon — Live And Die By The Blade. ... .
5 Shaco — How About A Magic Trick? ... .
4 Katarina — The Dance Of Blades. ... .
3 Kayn — This Will Be Quick, But Still Painful. ... .
2 Fizz — To The Briny Deep. ... .
1 Zed — Do Not Fear The Shrouded Path..
What is the role of the assassin in League of Legends?
Slayers [formerly "Assassins"] are fragile but agile damage-focused melee champions that look to swiftly take down their targets. Assassins specialize in infiltrating enemy lines with their unrivaled mobility to quickly dispatch high-priority targets.