How to Play into a Bad Matchup in

League of Legends

By now you probably know the sinking feeling of when your early champion pick
gets countered and you find yourself in an unfavorable lane. In this
article, Picklepants will teach you techniques and tricks for making sure you can
not only survive a bad matchup, but also come out even or ahead.

Bad matchups are inevitable, defeat doesn’t have to be

Life isn’t fair and neither is League of Legends. You will often find yourself in
difficult situations where you’re countered, outranged or generally in a bad
matchup. Learning how to come out ahead, or at least even, will allow you to still
be relevant after the laning phase.
Coming out ahead in the lane does not necessarily mean winning lane. It often
means going even or not falling behind. How you define coming out ahead varies,
but in a tough matchup, going even and staying even with the enemy could be
considered coming out ahead. This is because you’re losing lane graciously and
not feeding the enemy.

Stats provided by Matchup.gg

For example, traditionally, the Rumble against Camille matchup goes into the favor of Camille
during the laning phase. It can be quite difficult for the Rumble to lane against her.
If the Rumble adapts his playstyle and gameplay through the suggestions we make
in this guide, he can prevent himself from dying and mitigate giving Camille the
advantage in lane.
This means that he would be coming out ahead or even in lane, rather than totally
losing the lane. The goal is to go even or win. If you cannot win, you should try to
cut your losses and lose graciously.
Pre Game Preparations

Thanks pick and ban phase, you can see who the enemy has picked ahead of time.
Knowing who the enemy has picked will allow you to adjust your playstyle before
the game has even begun.

For example, if you know that you’re playing against a champion that pokes a lot
in the early game, or somebody who has ridiculous damage, you can pick Runes
and Summoner Spells that can counteract the enemy.
Runes

You should always take your core Rune tree when playing your favorite champion,
but you can always switch up your secondary Runes when you’re in a tough
matchup. There are a plethora of different secondary Runes that you can take, but
you should take the ones that are best suited to you.
If you’re in a “bad matchup,” you would benefit from taking Resolve for your
secondary Rune tree. This is because this Rune tree provides you with sustain and
defensive stats that will help you survive the laning phase.

There are plenty of different Rune combinations that you can take, most notably
Bone Plating and Chrysalis which are quite popular in the current meta. Here’s a
brief rundown of each line of the Resolve tree which you can use:
 In line 1, the only real choice of Rune is Bone Plating. This is because it is the
only Rune that gives us protection which is the ultimate goal of this Rune selection.
In line 2, it’s possible to take each Rune but if you need early game protection, it’s
better to go Chrysalis or Second Wind (you can take whichever one you want- but
Chrysalis is currently stronger.) In the 3rd and final Rune line, it’s recommended
to take Overgrowth as it gives you max health bonuses.
As you can see, there is a range of Rune’s you can take. You need to remember
what the objective is for this Rune tree. It’s for protection and survivability. This
means that you should take Runes that will aid you in accomplishing your goal. To
summarize, take the Runes that will help you survive the lane.
If you want to find out more about Runes and what combinations you can take,
here are some useful websites:
 LoLKing Rune Calculator
 Probuilds
 League of Graphs
Summoner Spells

Solo laners

As a solo laner, you may want to take Ignite and win lane, but unfortunately, when
you’re in a tough matchup, this may not be possible. If the enemy can kill you, and
you cannot kill them, then there’s no real point in taking Ignite!
Instead, you can take Summoner Spells that would benefit your team like Teleport.
More so in the Mid lane than the Top,- you can take Heal, Exhaust, Ghost, and
Barrier too. Generally, as a Top laner, you want to stay clear of offensive
Summoner Spells and instead take Teleport to help your team.
Bot lane

Since the changes to Ignite, it has been a much better choice for Supports for a
while now and it would be beneficial if you can continue to take it. However, if
you are against a heavy assassin or full AD team, it would be a good idea to take
Exhaust. With the recent rise of Soraka and heavily utility Supports, it can
sometimes be “worth” taking Heal on ADC and Barrier on Support. If the ADC is
on the same page with the Support, then this can work well.
The main reason to take variations of Runes and Summoner Spells is to survive
the laning phase and to protect yourself against the enemy. League of Legends is
super-snowbally and it’s important to get the best start possible. Taking the best
Runes and Summoner Spells is different for each champion, so try to take the
combo that you need. Your main goal when taking them is for protection and the
ability to not fall behind in lane.
Starting Items

Whether you’re in the Top lane or the Bottom lane, practically all champions can
choose one of the other starting items in game. Picking the best starting item for
your lane has many benefits, and choosing the right one will allow you to have an
easier time during the laning phase.
One way of choosing the more-appropriate starting item is by seeing who the
enemy laner is and what characteristics or traits they have. If they are ranged and
you’re a melee champion, it would be beneficial if you can take Doran’s Shield
instead of Doran’s Blade. There is a variety of different starting items that you can
take and each one has its pros and cons. Choosing the right starting item for your
champion and lane is highly situational – here are some examples of what you can
take:

Stats provided by League of Graphs

In the Top lane, you are a kid in a candy store with many possible starting options. You can take
practically any starting item in the Top lane as long as your champion benefits from it. If you’re
playing against a fighter as a tank, you may need to go Doran’s Shield or Corrupting potion to
survive the laning phase. This is because you will be out-traded no matter what you do in lane and
choosing one of those two items will give you a helping hand to survive.
Unfortunately for Mid laners, you do not have the greatest choice in starting items.
This is because picking a different item may result in you falling behind in lane
completely and actually making yourself useless. You should probably stick to
your usual starting item on Mid, but you can potentially back early for another
Doran’s Ring or some more sustain on your second back. If you’re playing a
ranged AD champion in Mid however, you can follow Top lane’s advice.
As the Support, you may be playing a champion that can benefit from taking
Spellthief’s and while it is often good to take, you shouldn’t take it every game.
When you use your Spellthief’s, you will be putting yourself in a position where
the enemy can trade with you. If the enemy can trade back with you, you will be
unable to come out ahead of trades as you will lose HP.

For
example, if you’re playing Janna into Zyra, Zyra will out damage you and poke
you down if you try to use your W or auto attack her. This means she will get
more stacks, more gold, and deal more damage than you will be able to in one
trade. So, taking Spellthief’s may not be worth taking in this matchup, and Ancient
Coin may be a better fit.
Like the Support, the ADC should also adapt their play style and item choice. If
the ADC is laning against an ADC and Support that likes to poke, fight often or
are just a nuisance in lane, then taking Doran’s Shield instead of Doran’s Blade
would be better for them. This is because Doran’s Shield gives some health, gives
sustain and is overall, a very good item to protect yourself against the enemy. This
will allow you to survive for longer in the laning phase as you will get
regeneration which means that you can farm for longer without fear of death.
Itemization from the get-go is important. If you’re in a tough matchup, adapting
your item choice will allow you to survive for longer and allow you to get as much
farm as possible. You may not want to adapt your starting item, which is fine, but
be aware that you may be putting yourself at a disadvantage. The goal of your item
choice early (in a bad matchup) is to survive and farm.
Wave Management

Wave management in a bad matchup consists of playing it safe and not

overextending. Your goal is to keep the wave in a position where you will a) not
be denied farm and b) still be a threat to the enemy. Like all matchups, you want
to be able to farm as much CS as possible and get as much gold as you can, so you
should try to keep the wave in a good spot in order for you to achieve this. In the
side lanes, you may feel like pushing the wave and trying to fight the enemy.
However, in a tough matchup, you will be unable to do this. If the enemy counters
you, you need to keep the wave towards your tower but outside of tower range.
This is a good place to keep the wave as you will not be overextending and letting
the enemy attack you.
Wave management is slightly different for the Mid lane because it’s a shorter lane
which makes waves hit quicker which (among other things,) can make wave
management slightly harder. In the Mid lane, you can try to keep the wave on your
side rather than the enemies side. Doing so will not only give yourself the chance
to farm more but also deny the enemy some all-in potential.
 Some quick tips

High-level wave management is very difficult to understand so here’s some low-

level tips to help you out when you’re in a hard matchup:
 In the solo lanes, to hit level 2 first you need to get 7 minions. This consists of the
first minion wave (6) followed by 1 melee minion on the second wave (7). In the
duo lane (bot lane), it is 9 minions, which is the first minion wave (6) with the
next 3 melee minions on the second wave (9). It is important to note that you need
to kill the melee minions as you will not get level 2 if you kill the ranged minions.
If you can hit level 2 before or at the same time as the enemy, you can prevent
yourself from being denied farm and the enemy engaging on you.
 Avoid backing (when possible) if there is a Cannon minion in lane. You want to
try to take this minion, and get the gold from it. If you miss out on the gold and the
experience, you will see yourself falling behind in lane and you will be at a
disadvantage.
 This is especially true against enemies who take it. You want to avoid falling
behind in levels and one way of doing that is by being in range of the minion even
if you’re not going to get it.
 If the enemy is constantly pushing against you, you should try to protect your
tower for as long as possible. It’s good if you can keep the wave just outside the
tower to prevent the enemy from: diving you, taking your tower and denying you
farm.
 To set this up, you need shave the enemy wave so they have no more than 3
enemy ranged minions pushing against you. Then you will need to tank the minion
wave and drop minion aggro by running into the bush when your minions get to
lane. Ideally, you will be able to farm safely just outside your tower.

Take these things with you and use them to your advantage in future games. If you
ever find yourself in a tough matchup, be prepared to improvise, adapt and
overcome!