Hello, I’m Librarian Husky, and many low ELO midlane players make avoidable mistakes that significantly hinder their progress in ranked play. While these errors may seem minor, they can have a massive impact on your overall gameplay. Fortunately, most of these mistakes are easy to fix if you focus on a few key concepts. This guide will cover some of the most frequent errors made in the midlane and offer simple solutions to improve your playstyle without requiring countless hours of practice.

Easy Fixes for Common Mistakes

Improving in the midlane doesn’t always have to be a grueling process. You don’t need to spend hundreds of hours to fix many of the bad habits you may have developed. By recognizing and addressing these common mistakes, you can immediately see better results in your games. I’ll walk you through a few common errors that are likely holding you back, and show you how better players avoid them with simple, easy-to-apply strategies. These small adjustments can lead to big improvements in your gameplay, without a lot of effort.

Mana Management in Early Levels

One of the most frequent mistakes I see in low ELO is poor mana management in the early levels of the game. Many players tunnel vision on unlocking their entire kit by level three, without considering the importance of conserving mana. It’s important to remember that in the early game, most champions have at least one ability that is not particularly useful, such as Viktor’s W or Lux’s shield. These abilities are less effective early on and waste valuable mana that could be better used for trading or farming. Mana management is crucial, especially before you have items like Lost Chapter or have stacked Manaflow Band. With changes like the removal of mana biscuits, players can no longer afford to spam spells carelessly in the laning phase, making it even more important to be mindful of how you use your mana.

Understanding Mana Efficiency in Spells

One concept that’s essential for improving mana management is understanding how mana efficiency scales with spell levels. At level one, your spells generally offer poor damage for their mana cost. However, as you rank up your abilities, they become much more efficient. Spells scale in both damage and utility, making them more valuable for the same or slightly increased mana cost. Low ELO players often fail to take this into account and cast spells early on without thinking about their long-term efficiency. The result is that they run out of mana quickly, leaving themselves vulnerable to all-ins or forced to play defensively while waiting for their mana to regenerate.

A Common Low ELO Mistake

A frequent mistake I see in low ELO is players unlocking all three abilities as soon as they hit level three. While this might seem natural, it’s not always the most efficient choice. For champions that rely heavily on one or two main damage abilities, putting an extra point into your main spell rather than unlocking a less useful ability can be more effective. For example, champions like Viktor, Lux, or Orianna benefit from ranking up their main damaging abilities early, while delaying a less useful utility spell can conserve mana and lead to better trades.

Strategic Spell Leveling

Instead of hastily unlocking all three spells, good players often hold their skill point at level three and assess the situation. They consider whether they need the utility of a new spell or if it would be more effective to invest an additional point in their primary damage ability. For instance, if a player is close to their tower and doesn’t expect immediate danger, they can delay unlocking a dash or utility spell, saving it for when it’s actually needed. This approach gives them more flexibility and makes their trades more efficient without burning through mana unnecessarily.

Timing Level Three Decisions

This decision isn’t as risky as it might initially seem. Typically, you hit level three on the third wave of minions and level four on the fourth wave. This means you’ll only be without your utility spell for about 30 seconds. During this short window, you’re unlikely to miss out on a crucial fight or escape opportunity, and you’ll be in a better position to capitalize on the increased damage output from leveling your main ability. Avoiding this mistake can significantly improve your lane control and trading power in the early game.

The Importance of Mana Efficiency

Casting mana-inefficient spells early in the lane can drain your resources and make you vulnerable to losing the lane or failing to capitalize on important trades. This is particularly important for mages or champions with utility spells that don’t provide much value early on. For example, a Lux who spams her shield without timing it properly will quickly run out of mana, leaving her defenseless in the face of aggression from her opponent. Champions like Fizz or Zed, on the other hand, can afford to unlock all their abilities at level three since their full combo is necessary for burst damage.

Bonus Tip: Leveling Spells Mid-Cast

Here’s a more advanced tip: you can level up a spell while it’s mid-cast to increase its damage without spending the higher mana cost of the upgraded spell. For example, if you cast a level one Ziggs Q, it will deal a certain amount of damage based on its rank. However, if you level it up while the spell is midair, it will deal the upgraded damage but still consume the mana of the previous rank. This trick can save you small amounts of mana during the laning phase, which can add up over time. Implementing this habit is a quick way to improve your efficiency without much extra effort.

Building Good Habits

Building these small but effective habits can lead to significant improvements in your gameplay over time. Now, let’s move on to a slightly more complex but equally important concept. This next habit is one of the best you can develop in your midlane play, and it will dramatically increase your chances of climbing in ranked games.

Test Your Decision-Making

To see if you make this common mistake, let’s run through a scenario: a champion has just killed an enemy and is now pushing midlane. Pay attention to their positioning after the kill and consider what they should do next. This test will help you assess your decision-making when it comes to wave management and roaming.

Evaluating a Roaming Decision

In this example, Syndra is considering roaming to the top lane because Volibear is pushing aggressively. However, several factors need to be considered before committing to the roam. Syndra has no mana or items, so pushing the mid tower will be slow. Meanwhile, the enemy team has a level seven Nocturne with ultimate ready, which is a significant threat given Syndra has no flash available. Additionally, there’s no vision in the river, and Aurelion Sol is spawning soon. Based on this information, what would be the best decision?

Why Roaming Is the Wrong Choice

In this scenario, roaming to the top lane is a mistake. Syndra commits to helping Jax, but because she roamed in full vision, Volibear simply retreats. When Syndra tries to return to midlane, she is caught by Nocturne and dies due to her poor decision-making. The key reason this roam failed was a lack of wave management awareness.

The Mistake: Ignoring the Wave

The main error here was Syndra ignoring the wave in midlane. Waves are mirrored on both sides, meaning that as Syndra roamed, there was an enemy wave pushing into her tower. A good player would recognize that the wave must be cleared before committing to a roam, as leaving a large wave crashing into your tower can result in missed farm and pressure when you return to lane.

The Consequence of Poor Timing

When Aurelion Sol returned to mid, he pushed the wave hard, leaving six minions at Syndra’s tower. Because Syndra roamed unsuccessfully, she felt pressured to rush back to lane to avoid missing farm. This predictable behavior made her vulnerable, leading to her death. If Syndra had cleared the wave first, she would have had more flexibility and could have avoided the unnecessary risk.