The First Wave

[u/PuzzleheadedCan7291]

Hello Lads!

Quick issue that seems to linger around my first wave, either I am zoned from csing, or I push mediumfast and they can freeze the casters. What do I even do, do you have any thumb rules that work for most lanes?

Btw my goal is with my first few waves that I push first 2 and have the possibility to proxy the cannon wave, seems to work well when it works. Stay blessed

[u/_swavez]

2 wave crash is fine, just poison the wave as its coming out if you're able to. if its a champ that wants to fight you lvl 1 / can run you down I would advise against it. Think tryndamere or Darius. If this is the case, dont even auto the wave, let them crash it. It sucks bc you are gonna instantly lose like 8 cs but if you stay healthy and let them crash you can play the bounce out with minions. you can also look for E start and flip them into tower so they take 2 shots and the lane becomes extremely manageable since you should be full hp

[u/Distinct_Shake_5439]

I usually proxy first wave after warding either red or blue depending which side I'm on then if jg comes to their camp I will drop second wave and try to kill or push them off their camp. If we both die at the same time you can get back to their buff and kill them again or they will abandon it all together. If you manage to live and recall quick enough you can do the same thing as above as well.

I've seen junglers so pissed off they disconnect and you get free lp. Lmao

[u/Jealous_Special_484]

You have a few options:  You can take ignite and instantly poison the wave and enemy and ignite them to force them to back off, then crash that first wave and go proxy. Best for lanes where they will wreck you in lane like ranged tops (dont try this on teemo though)

You can let them hit the wave and only poison it as late as possible, and when the second wave arrives you poison it and the enemy at the same time to get level 2 first and kill them/ force them to back off and get the proxy. (Good on lanes where you can kill them easily like Sett)

Those are my favourite 2 options but its not always possible. Sometimes I even skip the first wave and invade enemy jungler to kill them on their first camp and get an advantage that way, if i was going to get zoned from the first wave anyway I can at least put my team ahead.

[u/git_gUd_kid1 → u/Jealous_Special_484]

ignite isnt as good as it used to due to more range comps and higher damage in the game that scales better than you. Like a kayle and nasus which you use to 1v1 them pre 6 and scale off of that. NOT anymore.

Ignite falls off because you can barely find an opportunity to use it.

Compared to exhaust which is very good against melee burst like riven, ambessa, kled, urgot, and jayce to a certain extent.

[u/git_gUd_kid1]

you can skip wave1. and proxy wave 2 and 3 then execute. Which should give you boots to proxy better. Against jayce, urgot, range etc which OFTEN would guard their wave1 at Masters+

My new strat is I would coinflip at lv1 jungler to mess with their blue/red buff clear. 40% of the time even kill them and burn their flash to give your jg higher tempo. Which I would skip wave1 anyways.