Lesson 5 of 5 · 6 min
You Arrive From the Side
Top laners join fights last, from an angle nobody else has, usually with a decision to make on the way. What that is worth, and the game where the right answer is not to come at all.
// What you will be able to do
- Use the angle you arrive from instead of walking to your own front line
- Decide between the fight and the side lane by what is on the map, not by the ping
- Start the fight when nobody else on your team can, and know when that is your job
Everybody else on your team is already there. Your mid laner walked thirty seconds ago, the bot lane is standing in the pit, and you are coming from a side lane with a wave half-pushed behind you. This is not a failure of rotation, it is the shape of the role, and it hands you two things nobody else on your team has: an angle, and a choice.
| Walking to your team | Coming from the side | |
|---|---|---|
| They see you | The whole way in | When you are already on somebody |
| What you threaten | Their front line | Their carry |
| What it costs them | Nothing, they expected you | Turning around, which is the fight |
| When it is right | You are the tank and they need one | Almost every other time |
- 1
Drake pit: your team is here - Already positioned, already counted. Walking here makes you a second frontline.
- 2
Top lane: where you are coming from - Arriving from the side puts you behind their line while their cooldowns are pointed forward. Same champion, completely different fight.
You are arriving at a teamfight around the 
pit ten seconds after it starts. What is the best use of the fact that you are late?
// The rest of this lesson is Pro
You Arrive From the Side: the practical half
Everything above is the concept. Behind the gate: the situations where it applies, the mistake that costs the most, the interactive drills, and a field assignment measured against your own ranked games.