The midlane is one of the most popular roles in Wild Rift, even surpassing jungle in terms of players. Due to its high potential to carry games and fun to play pool of champions, the midlane was, is, and will always be the best role to climb within Wild Rift. But that does not mean midlane players are invincible. Here’s how to play mid in Wild Rift.
Midlane Basics in Wild Rift
As the name implies, midlaners go on the middle road to battle it out on the Wild Rift. As such, they have ample access to the entirety of the map. To both jungle quadrants, both baron and dragon lane for roams and objectives like the dragon. There’s a downside to the lane, too, though. It is very short, making it very easy for enemy junglers and supports to come and gank you.
If you want to become a successful midlaner, there are a few essential things you should know:
Know your matchup
How you match against the enemy champion (and player) is often how the fate of midlane is decided in each game. As mentioned above, the midlane is a short lane. If you’re behind, it’s easy for strong duelists like Yasuo or Zed to run you down or junglers like Vi or Lee to surprise you with weird gank angles. That is the nature of mid.
Let’s say you main Diana, and you like to play her. She fairs well against champions like Yasuo or Zed because she is a duelist and can go toe-to-toe with them. However, she struggles against ranged champions like Orianna.
In a Yasuo matchup, it’s effortless for Diana to control the wave, fight and escape ganks. In the Orianna lane, a champion like Diana has no control, making her the perfect prey for early-game junglers. Knowing matchups takes a LOT of practice and many games, but it is probably the most rewarding aspect of the game you can focus on as a midlaner.
Roam timings
Let’s say you’re winning your matchup in CS, are pushing the enemy under the tower, and punishing them when they go for farm, but can’t kill them. What do you do? If your answer was “push and roam,” you are on the right path to being a great midlaner. Of course, roaming depends on a lot of factors. The most unpredictable one is your teammates.
Midlane is the best lane for roaming, even better than jungle. The sheer threat of kills midlaners have when they are winning lane changes the whole laning phase for the enemy team.
But even still, you can leave your lane, hide in a bush, and generate pressure on your teammates. Or you can go into a safe part of their jungle and drop a ward to protect them. You can do many things, and getting kills does not define a successful roam. Information can be just as crucial for you and your teammates.
How to Climb Playing Mid in Wild Rift
Midlane can be the most fun to play in Wild Rift at times. Champions are self-sufficient, strong in combat, and can easily carry games if piloted correctly. Couple that with excellent carry agency naturally given by the position of the lane, and it’s easy to see why most “star players” are midlaners.
Here’s how you can apply some key concepts to climb by playing midlane:
Play two or three champions AT MOST – it will help you with mechanics and decision making, but, most importantly, it will help you practice matchups. Playing the same champion over and over makes it much easier to focus on what to do because you will not be focusing on how to play your champion.
Learn how and when to sidelane – there will be games in which you can’t do much, and neither can the enemies. There will be many games in which things are even for most of the game. In those games, you have to use every tool at your disposal to get gold advantages. The most reliable strategy any midlaner can use to obtain gold is sidelaning. After towers are destroyed, and your dragon lane is moving mid to secure the building, don’t bleed out gold and XP. Don’t share with them, move where they were, and keep farming and applying pressure to towers.
Stay on top of the meta – midlane is a challenging role to play. While it’s got the best carry potential in the game, you need to practice a lot. You need to experiment with matchups and build every patch not to fall behind. The midlane meta is highly volatile, so keep up with the patch notes and read them thoroughly every time. Another great thing you can do to stay on top of the meta is check out what your favorite champs’ high elo mains are building. You can easily view them in the ranked tab for each champion!
Mid is the most iconic role in Wild Rift. Everyone wants to play it. If you want to be one of the best or even climb some divisions, you must dedicate yourself to it. It’s very volatile, and one wrong move could cost you the win. But this makes it fun; it’s incredibly satisfying to carry games from midlane.