Vainglory Forums

I've finally gotten back into the game after a long hiatus and thanks to Gwen, I feel comfortable in the one position I never felt good in: Lane. So, while Gwen is good and all I want to expand my Laner possibilities. I just don't know who to attempt to try and learn next and was hoping for suggestions. I'll take anything from who you think is the best laner right now, your favorite, the most fun, whatever. Just give me some suggestions on who I should pick up.

I suggest skaarf, mainly because it feels amazing when you hit his fireballs consistently

I would suggest Ringo, as he's fairly easy to play, and Samuel, since his lifesteal is pretty powerful at the moment and you can poke your enemies easily if they come out from behind their minions.

I recommend Baron.
If you build WP, you can easily kill squishy heroes quickly
If you build CP, you can more easily kill fleeing heroes

Thanks for the suggestion guys. I will take them all into consideration but I'm wondering about two things. Is Kestrel as good as she used to be or has she been nerfed down? And is CP Vox still a viable option?

They're both great if you know how to use them correctly. You should probably play Ringo and some of the easier heroes first before you move on to the more complicated heroes so you have more experience in the lane and know when to back off and whatnot.

Like Maximus said, stick with easier heroes first. If you want to use Kestrel, you need good timing and good aim. Like all snipers though, you have to think about what you're opponent is going to do.
Ex: Fortress is running from Baron. Baron should aim his A just a bit in front of Fortress so Fortress can't just run past it.

Sorry in advance for long post, but IMO it's not really so much about who you pick up but how you play the laner's role. I think there's 3 very important things you need to be a competent laner:

1. Last hitting (quite obvious)
The golden standard I heard is supposedly 10 last hits/minute, although usually I find this only happens to a laner who is already ahead of their opponent. Nevertheless, it is a good goal to work towards to. Minimally you should aim to outfarm the opponent's laner. Do note however some laners are less dependent on farm than others. (eg. Ringo needs a lot more than Skaarf to be useful)

2. Knowledge of lane equilibrium
This is something I think a lot of Vainglory players don't pay enough attention to, and I tend to catch lower skilled laners off guard by controlling the wave to deny them farm. Some pointers to note

- Minions will always attack you if you are dealing damage to the enemy hero, whether basic attacks or spells. Use this to pull creeps closer to your tower and make it less safe for the other laner to farm.

- You don't have to keep hitting the minions. Vainglory already makes it easy to last hit by showing you when the minion's health turns bright red. If you let the minions go at each other without hitting them too much, you can keep the wave near your tower for an extended period of time, denying the other laner much needed farm.

- Sometimes it's okay to tank the minions a bit if you think the wave is pushing towards your tower too soon. This will stop the minions from getting into tower range, which will ruin your last hits especially when you haven't progressed past your initial items at the start of the game.

- Know when is a good time to aggressively push the wave to force the minions towards the enemy tower, so that the tower will kill off minions fast, leaving the enemy laner unable to last hit properly. Also good for resetting lane equilibrium if it is currently not in your favour, though it does expose you to the risk of getting ganked if you are too aggressive.

3. Good game sense
You're the most fragile hero in the lineup (probably) so standing in the wrong position at the wrong time means certain death. Knowing the opponent's lineup is also very important as to determining how you play in the lane. I probably will never expect a reim/phinn combo to gank me successfully, so I usually play more aggressive if i know what I'm up against. Conversely, I will be very defensive against a flicker/anything else combo because I know the threat the combo poses to me even if I am on my side of the map. Also plan your initial items according to what you face in lane. If you expect high harass (eg. SAW, Vox, buy a book to get lifesteal off killing minions). Also please check your opponent's items/perks and aim to counter what they have when you are building items.

Good heroes to practice with:
I suggest starting with Ringo. He's squishy and fragile, but deals decent damage, and your multiple deaths at the start will teach you the hard way about positioning and game sense. My first experience laning was from spamming Ringo until I got really good at the hero, regardless of what I was up against (even SAW). He's very easy to use, but what makes him difficult to master is positioning which is the foundation for all your other laning heroes in future.

Stronger laners in the game:
I still think Skaarf is still very strong overall, even after getting nerfed. CP Vox is very strong at controlling the lane with his cancer after that patch where Resonance became so much easier to apply and sustain. Samuel also has decent lane presence, but is not that easy to use effectively. Generally the stronger laners are those that can control the lane better (be it the ability to manipulate the wave or ability to trade damage with the enemy laner)

No one has mentioned her so I will, but I think Celeste is one of the strongest laners in the game. There's a bit of a learning curve to her, but she's very strong.

I agree one of the most painful laners to have to trade blows with is Celeste, the range and burst damage with her A ability is deadly. Especially if your a hero like Saw, Celeste and Skaarf just outrange you leaving your hopeless without turret hugging. Though personally the most even laner atm is Skaarf, especially with lit goop on minions. Helps that I spun the Gold Skaarf skin I'm addicted to it xD