There are multiple mechanics in League of Legends that players have to master if they want to improve their gameplay. One of the most important ones is roaming. Although beginners assume that they can roam whenever without having to put any thought into it, that couldn’t be further from the truth
There are a total of five things you have to keep in mind when determining whether it’s a good time to roam or not. The first is the timing, as you have to roam when your lane is safe. Then come how much vision you have, if you’re able to coordinate with your teammates, what objective you can secure by roaming, and finally what champion you’re playing as.
We’ll be going in depth on everything you need to think about before roaming in a match of League of Legends.
1. Timing
Perhaps the most crucial thing you have to look out for when even thinking of roaming is whether the timing is right. Typically, the best time to roam is when your opponent in your lane is either waiting to respawn or has just recalled.
Now, why is this? Well, if you roam around while your opponent in your lane is right there, then two things happen. First, the enemy notifies their team members and they know to keep a lookout for you. This way, any gank or objective you were trying to claim will be less likely to be successful.
The second thing that’ll happen is the enemy will be more likely to push your turret and even maybe destroy it, resulting in you losing the lane because of one mistake. Even if the turret doesn’t get destroyed, you’ll lose your farm if you didn’t freeze your lane, and that’ll be a disadvantage in its own right.
2. Vision
Although it’s impossible to have good vision of the entire map, there are a few places you should have good vision of if you want to roam. Those places are the enemy jungle and the river, as they’re the two places where the enemy jungler is most likely to be.
This will allow you to avoid potential ganks from the jungler, and also make more informed decisions about where to go. For example, if you’re thinking of going from the top lane to the middle lane and you see the enemy jungler’s roaming the river, then chances are you might go through the jungle to avoid running into the said enemy jungler.
Having good vision of the map is something that’s important regardless of what you’re thinking of doing and can be what saves you from a devastating gank. Therefore, we recommend you try to ward as often as you can.
3. Communication
Communication and coordination are both keys to winning a League of Legends match. They’re also extremely important if you want to roam the map without making things more difficult for our teammates.
Don’t get what we mean? Well, let us say one of your teammates is about to get a kill on the enemy who’s in his lane but he has to set everything up correctly. However, because you randomly waltz in his lane, the enemy gets the opportunity to either use an ability that gives him the advantage or retreat completely.
Because of this, it’s always recommended to let your teammates know when you’re about to leave your lane and when you’re returning so your team can keep in mind that you aren’t in your lane and plan their playstyle accordingly.
4. Objectives
The best reason to roam is to secure objectives like dragons, the Rift, towers, or anything else that has the potential to help you gain an advantage against the enemy. Because of this, we always recommend you time your roaming around the spawn time and availablity of these objectives.
If you’re planning on leaving your lane to roam but the dragon will spawn in a minute, then it might be a good idea to wait a couple of seconds first and then roaming so you could secure the dragon as well.
Additionally, if you see that a specific lane’s turret is vulnerable to attack then you can keep the other three things we mentioned in mind and go to that lane in order to take the turret out.
5. Your Champion
The final thing doesn’t determine when you should roam, but HOW you should do it. You see, there are champions that excel in roaming the same way there are champions that are less than ideal for this purpose.
So, what things in a champion determine how you should approach your thoughts toward roaming? Well, for example, strong crowd control abilities, high mobility, and burst damage are three attributes that make a champion excellent for pulling off ganks. Meanwhile, champions with abilities that either stun the enemy or quickly close the distance between them are great for setting up kills for teammates.
Although it’s impossible to have good vision of the entire map, there are a few places you should have good vision of if you want to roam. Those places are the enemy jungle and the river, as they’re the two places where the enemy jungler is most likely to be. 
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