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League of Legends: What is lane swapping and how is Riot fixing it?
j
Anthony King
Gamer
03 Feb 2026
Posted On
League of Legends [1] has been around for a while now, and in that time, players have discovered multiple strategies and tactics. One of the more recent tactics is called lane swapping, which is when two or sometimes one of the bot lane players goes to the top lane to help their teammate win that lane, resulting in multiple benefits.
However, while lane-swapping has been fairly viable for a while, it seems Riot Games doesn’t like it at all. After all, the company announced lane swapping would be “fixed” in an upcoming update, though players may wonder how that will happen and why Riot is even fixing it if there’s a counter for it.
Without any more delay, here’s what lane swapping is in League of Legends and how Riot Games is fixing it. If you don’t want to resort to strategies that Riot may eventually fix to win, we have some good news. Just hire a professional teammate from Eloking and play like a pro without the need to lane swap. You can also use the code “BoostToday” for an awesome 20% discount on orders. Or if you're not sure if you need a teammate but just a win, specific division or any other type of boost - check the lol boost page to see all types of boosting services for League of Legends that Eloking offers.
What is lane swapping in League of Legends?
Lane swapping in League of Legends is a strategy where two or sometimes one of the bot lane players on a team exchange lanes with the top laner. Players use this tactic to avoid unfavorable bot lane matchups, put an enemy laner behind, or provide an advantage to their bot laner. It’s common in professional games but rare in most ranked games.
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League of Legends lane swap detection system
Riot Games is introducing a lane swap detection system to counteract the strategy. This mechanic activates when two champions from the same team, if one of them doesn’t have jungle items, are in the top or mid lane or their surrounding areas. The detection will happen during these timeframes:
Top lane: Between 1:30 and 3:30.
Mid lane: Between 1:30 and 2:15.
The detection is different for teams with unique compositions like:
What happens if there is a lane swap in League of Legends?
Multiple penalties are applied when the system detects a lane swap to discourage the strategy. The defending turret gains 95% damage reduction and starts dealing 300% damage to minions, quickly eliminating them. The nearest allied champion in the lane receives gold and experience from champion and minion kills.
Also, the top-lane turret has extra effects like:
It will one-shot most champions within its range.
The defending champion under the turret gets a 50% damage reduction.
Offending champions get 50% less gold and experience from minions.
These effects will last 25 seconds in the top lane and 6 seconds in the mid lane.
How does removing lane swapping affect gameplay and strategies?
Riot is making these changes to prevent players from changing lanes in the early game to maintain the integrity of lane assignments. Riot Phroxzon, the lead gameplay designer, emphasizes that these changes are temporary and work as an aggressive initial approach while the team works on a long-term solution. Riot is doing this to prevent teams from getting unfair advantages through lane swapping.
Potential issues and community concerns
While Riot’s patches are designed to prevent lane swaps, they can introduce some problems.
Players can deliberately trigger the lane swap detection to punish teammates unfairly. Riot promises to monitor and punish players who abuse the mechanic. Also, some level 1 strategies like a stealthed Twitch or Teemo gank can accidentally trigger lane swap penalties. Riot acknowledges this issue but believes the mechanic is necessary to eliminate lane swapping.
What does the LoL community think?
The community has had a mixed reaction over Riot’s lane swap changes. Prominent figures in the League of Legends community have shared their thoughts regarding the mechanic.
Nick “LS” De Cesare said these changes won’t remove lane swaps but alter how they happen. He states, ”The entire philosophy behind why it exists isn’t addressed in these changes, and thus all that needs happen is people understand the new variables and recalculate accordingly,”
Cloud9 bot laner Jesper “Zven” Svenningesen jokes about it saying, ”Why don’t they just shoot bot laners in the head IRL if they go top?”
Christian ”IWDominate” Rivera, a former professional player and content creator, expressed concerns about the impact on LoL Esports. He warned that if these mechanics mixed with Fearless Draft’s removal can limit champion diversity in Spring Split. He said, ”If this goes through AND fearless is removed, league will be insanely boring when it comes to champion diversity of Spring,” He continues, ”Remember, the main reason people even started experimenting with lane swaps were because of how insanely unplayable certain botlane matchups were in the first few levels.”
Lane swapping is a strategy where bot laners switch with the top laner, often to avoid bad matchups or give an advantage. It's more common in pro play than ranked games.
Riot is introducing a lane swap detection system. It applies penalties like damage reduction for turrets and reduced gold/XP for offending champions if a swap is detected early.
The defending turret gains damage reduction and deals bonus damage to minions. The allied champion in lane also receives bonus gold and experience.
Riot wants to maintain the integrity of lane assignments in the early game and prevent teams from gaining unfair advantages. The changes are considered a temporary solution.
The community has mixed reactions. Some, like LS, believe the changes won't eliminate lane swaps, while others, like Zven, joke about harsher punishments for bot laners going top.
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