LEAGUE OF LEGENDS

Bottom Lane Meta Guide

Welcome to the League of Legends Bottom Lane Meta Guide. Here,

I will be analyzing and teaching you how to make the most effective
use of bottom lane during the laning phase.

In this guide, you will learn about the basics such as what bottom
lane is, what it means to play the bottom lane, to more advanced
tactics like wave management, zone, zoning line, and important
spacing relationships that will put you in an advantageous position
over your opponent.

Remember, League of Legends is a constantly evolving game.

There are a number of patches that will always update the game,
which in turn will morph and alter the way the game is played. This
guide is to be followed with an open mind. Nothing is ever black
and white, so know how to apply the rules, and when to break them.

LEAGUE OF LEGENDS

Bottom Lane Meta Guide

CHAPTERS
01 - Introduction
0 What is Bottom Lane?
02 - Basics of the Bottom Lane
04 What is an ADC? What is a Support?
05 What is farming?
06 What is a zoning line?
07 What is trading?
03 - Deeper Dive into Bottom Lane
09 What is passivity and aggression?
10 What are matchups?
11 What is vision control?
04 - Credits
13 Concluding Remarks
14 Colophon

LEAGUE OF LEGENDS

Bottom Lane Meta Guide

01 INTRODUCTION
02 BASICS OF THE BOTTOM LANE
03 DEEPER DIVE INTO BOTTOM LANE
04 CREDITS

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LEAGUE OF LEGENDS

Bottom Lane Meta Guide

ADC

SUPP
INTRODUCTION
WHAT IS BOTTOM LANE?
Bottom Lane, commonly referred to as Bot, is a laning position that
typically consists of two players from each team; the ADC (Attack
Damage Carry) and Support.

Laning phase is one of the most important phases for an ADC, as it

ADC

is the gateway to the mid and late game, where ADCs are meant to
shine. For the support, their job is to provide that gateway for their
ADC through a multitude of options. However, for both ADCs and
Supports alike, the skill of laning is an incredibly rare trait to have. A

SUPP

very few percentile of those who even play or main the Bottom
Lane position have very little mastery over the mechanics of how
laning works.

You
Enemy

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LEAGUE OF LEGENDS

Bottom Lane Meta Guide

01 INTRODUCTION
02 BASICS OF THE BOTTOM LANE
03 DEEPER DIVE INTO BOTTOM LANE
04 CREDITS

03

LEAGUE OF LEGENDS

Bottom Lane Meta Guide

ADC

BASICS OF THE BOTTOM LANE

WHAT IS AN ADC?
An Attack Damage Carry, commonly referred to as the ADC or AD,
is a ranged damage dealing champion that scales in power as the

SUPP

game goes on through farm, gold, and itemization. ADs are glass
cannons, they dish out incredibly large amounts of the damage in
the late game, but die just as quickly due to general fragility and
target focus from the enemy team. ADs are weak during the early
stages of the game, which is why they are accompanied by a

I do damage!

second champion, being the support.

WHAT IS A SUPPORT?
A Support, commonly referred to as Supp, is a champion that
generally offers different types of CCs, heals, and overall protection

ADC

for their AD. Different supports offer unique perspectives on how

they will work with their AD. Some are sustain-based supports;
providing constant shielding and healing, others are poke-based
supports; providing damage from afar to minimize risk, and some
are kill-based; providing heavy pressure to the enemy being killed.
All supports have a mix of these things, some better than others in
certain categories or not.

You
Enemy

04

SUPP

I am the ADCs supporting partner!

LEAGUE OF LEGENDS

Bottom Lane Meta Guide

ADC

BASICS OF THE BOTTOM LANE

WHAT IS FARMING?
As an ADC, developing and mastering the skill to consistently farm

SUPP

at a high level is a must. Farming (or typically referred to as CSing) is one of the highest priorities/responsibilites you must take
on. ADCs specifically require a tremendous amount of gold to be
impactful at all stages of the game, so starting off strong during
the laning phase is very important. Supports may or may not help
you farm by procing Targon's Embrace, but 95% of farming must be

I need to farm!

done by you, the ADC.

Be uncompromisingly critical with yourself when it comes farming

as an ADC. Every single minion you miss, you must take it upon
yourself to be judged harshly. Excuses like having a lot of kills or as-

ADC

sists or being ahead of the enemy ADC in farm to justify your own
farm is untolerable. Gold is gold, and no matter what the circumstance is, you must learn how to maximize your gold per minute.

The gold standard for an ADCs farm is 80-90 CS at the 10 minute

mark. 70+ is "acceptable" but anything lower is hurting your maximum potential damage.

You
Enemy

05

SUPP

I can help my ADC!

SUPP

LEAGUE OF LEGENDS

Bottom Lane Meta Guide

Enemy ADC cannot enter zoning line

without taking damage or missing farm.

ADC

Having a united zoning line will increase pressure

to the enemy; denying more farm, innate reluctancy
to trade, and pressure of death.

BASICS OF THE BOTTOM LANE

WHAT IS A ZONING LINE?
A zoning line is the maximum field of area that the enemy must
consider as a potential threat. Many times in solo queue, the enemy
support will often have positioning that is bad, forcing their AD to
either retreat, take damage for free or miss farm. Different champions have different zoning lines and zoning pressures, all dependent
on their kit.

Having a united zoning line combined with your duo partner is an

important skill to realize. Your zoning line pressure is increased, as
well as having better opportunities to look for potential outrades or

ADC

kills. Being in a united format can also minimizes mistakes such as

skillshot whifs or general mechanical mistakes. However, having a
united zoning line isnt always the best option, in-game, there will be
millions of varying options that you will choose from in a seconds
notice. Make sure to consider things such as the enemy jungler, as
being in the same spot may or may not be the most ideal position
to be in.

You
Enemy

06

SUPP

LEAGUE OF LEGENDS

Bottom Lane Meta Guide

Vayne

BASICS OF THE BOTTOM LANE

WHAT IS TRADING?

SUPP
I'm stronger, so I should
trade aggresively!

Trading is term used to when referring to two or more champions

exchanging damage, CCs, or summoner spells. Trading is used
in order to establish lane pressure by having health advantages,

Lucian

cooldown advantages, or summoner spell advantages.

Different champions have different trading potentials/strengths.

Some are very strong during the laning phase, and others are weaker. For example, Lucian is an aggressive, early-dominant ADC that
can usually bully out the enemy laner. On the other hand, Vayne is a

ADC

champion that suffers from early game trading.

Knowing the matchups for the multitude of champions you will be

playing against and with is an important skill to realize. Although
it's not impossible to outrade a Lucian as Vayne, it is a general rule
of thumb that, objectively speaking, certain champions definitively
have stronger stages in the game than others.

You
Enemy

ADC

07

SUPP

LEAGUE OF LEGENDS

Bottom Lane Meta Guide

01 INTRODUCTION
02 BASICS OF THE BOTTOM LANE
03 DEEPER DIVE INTO BOTTOM LANE
04 CREDITS

08

LEAGUE OF LEGENDS

LV 1

Bottom Lane Meta Guide

DEEPER DIVE INTO BOTTOM LANE
WHAT IS PASSIVITY AND AGGRESSION?

ADC

LV 1

Believe it or not, there is no such thing as a passive or aggressive

player in League of Legends. Rather, it is knowing the absolute
limits of certain champions, what they can or cannot do, and how

SUPP

they can take advantage of it. Many times, players will say that they
are a more passive-styled laner. What this really translates to, is
their lack of knowledge to know what is physically even possible to
do, in any aspect. This can also be applied to those who say they
are a more aggressive-styled laner. If the player goes over the limits

LV 2

of his or her champion, and dies, they did not know the limits of
their champions, and therefore were punished for it. If you knew
100% that you could kill both the AD and Support, would you not?

Having a level advantage over

your opponent is huge. Not only
do you have higher base stats,
but you also have access to
another one of your four abilities.

Of course. However, refining this calculation to know that

something is even feasibly possible takes years and years of
playing, studying, and experiencing different champions.

ADC

LV 2

Can you kill them at level 1? Level 2? What items do they have?
What summoner spells do they have? What are our and their power
spikes? Where is our jungler? Where is their jungler? Who do we
focus? There are a million options and questions that you must be
calculating in your head every second of every game. This will allow
you to better understand how laning works.

You
Enemy

09

SUPP

LEAGUE OF LEGENDS

Bottom Lane Meta Guide

DEEPER DIVE INTO BOTTOM LANE

WHAT ARE MATCHUPS?
Matchups is the understanding of your own role/champion relative
to your enemy counterpart. Understanding the matchup is understanding not only your power during the laning phase, but outside of
it as well, from the mid to late game.

Using Lucian and Vayne as an example again, while the LucianVayne matchup favors Lucian earlier on in the game, Vayne heavily
outscales Lucian, providing more sustainable game impact once
both ADCs hit 5-6 items.

However, just because Vayne outscales Lucian, doesn't mean that

Vayne is worth picking over Lucian. The meta will influence which
champions are the most game impactful. In fact, it is unlikely that
champions that thrive in the late game such as Vayne, are even
able to get to such a point, as smart players will be able to close out
games efficiently and fast. Remember, there is no objectively best
champion; the meta dictates what is the best at the current time,
and being adaptable to learn all the different matchups as the game
requires, is an important skill to have.

You
Enemy

10

LEAGUE OF LEGENDS

Bottom Lane Meta Guide

ADC
DEEPER DIVE INTO BOTTOM LANE
WHAT IS VISION CONTROL?

SUPP

Vision control and warding are not the same. Anyone can ward.
Vision control is the understanding of using the limited amounts of
wards/trinkets/sweepers to maximize your vision at important places at important times, while simultaneously denying enemy vision.

Knowing when to ward important places such as the tribrush, river,

dragon pit, or in-lane bushes at the right time, is an important skill
to have. Geographically speaking, bottom lane has massive influence over the major neutral monster objective, the dragon. Having
vision in the dragon pit is always good to have, as it allows you and

ADC

your entire team to know whether the enemy is doing it or not, and
what is the best reactive move to make against it.

Learning how to ward the map effectively takes deep understanding of how the map is played. Vision is core in an information-based
game, and having more of it increases your chances of winning the
game drastically.

You
Enemy

11

SUPP

LEAGUE OF LEGENDS

Bottom Lane Meta Guide

01 INTRODUCTION
02 BASICS OF THE BOTTOM LANE
03 DEEPER DIVE INTO BOTTOM LANE
04 CREDITS

12

LEAGUE OF LEGENDS

Bottom Lane Meta Guide

CREDITS
CONCLUDING REMARKS
I have been playing League of Legends for almost 4 years now, and
have developed a huge passion for the game as the years have
gone by. My highest ranking is Platinum III with 100LP in NA and I
main the ADC role. I love watching/studying high levels of competitive play in each of the 4 major regions (NA, EU, CN, KR) and am
obsessed with becoming better and better at the game.

I made this very basic guide just to give some insight on how the
bottom lane is played, so I hope you guys enjoyed reading and
hopefully you learned a thing or two about the bottom lane from
this guide.

Thanks for reading guys!

Peter Yiliang Peng, you'll probably never seen this, but if you do, I
love you lord Godlift.
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LEAGUE OF LEGENDS

Bottom Lane Meta Guide

CREDITS
COLOPHON
Designer

Josh Kim

Date

09.03.16

Typeface Roboto
Contact

jkimcorcoran@hotmail.com

behance.net/jkimcorcoran

All credits for illustration/photography go towards Riot Games.

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