LoL Blitzcrank Carrying Guide

LoL Blitzcrank Carrying Guide by jkim

Recently the meta has shifted towards a lot of squishy supports – Janna, Morg, Annie – and with these changes, we hooklife mains shall thrive! But first we have to learn how to play the champ of fisting such that in chat we see:

“God hand!” or “Is that him?”

rather than:

“gg blitz” or “STOP FUCKING GRABBING AMUMU”

So where do we start? Well at the beginning, silly!

Champ select – If you’re first pick you ban the shit out of:

1.Riven – On your team? WILL feed! On enemy team? WILL be fed!

1. Rengar – See above.
2. Whoever else your team wants b/c if you don’t ban them they’re gonna rage and flame you when they die b/c they decided to solo tower dive lvl 3

Otherwise just call “support only pls can’t play anything else” – or anything that gets you to Blitzcrank. If Blitzcrank is banned: dodge. Just kidding~ just play something else.

If there is anyone on the enemy team who has a gap closer + can build enough damage to kill your adc in an instant – you NEED exhaust. You ain’t Janna; no super tornado and healing push away mega monsoon BS ult. Exhaust is good for slowing that mofo down AND reducing damage – OP. If you use exhaust correctly, you should always get a “fuck exhaust” from the enemy Suckamere. Otherwise Ignite can be a good option for burning squishies in lane.

Pah! Pah! Pah! Pah! Pah! You’ve loaded onto the rift! Quick 15 seconds to determine what you’re gonna buy. Here’s the options:

1. Ancient Coin + 4 red pots/biscuits + Yellow Trinket
2. Targon’s Brace + 4 red pots/biscuits + Yellow Trinket

Look at their team. Look at your team. Answer these questions in your mind:

1. Do they have lots of gap closers/escapes on their team – Things that will bring them very quickly towards you and your carry and/or help them quickly make distance from your pursuing team. Does your carry have a built-in escape?
2. Does your team have a lot of gap closers/escapes?

If the answer is yes to both those questions – as is in most cases these days what with Vi, J4, and Ahri being so popular – you need to get Option 1.

If the answer is no – Option 2. This will give you some measure of sustain in lane in case you happen to trade badly and give your carry a little extra tankiness later in midgame brawls.

Let’s continue – Now you’ve left the fountain and are racing towards your jungler’s start point wherever that might be. One level into Q (duh). Ok so guess what? People just don’t fall for that bullshit “oh I’m gonna sit in dragon pit and Q blindly huehue” tactic anymore. Unless you have another good lockdown on your team – lux snare or morg bind – it’s really not even worth the invade. All you’re risking is someone on your team dying and that’s just downright demoralizing. Plus if you miss this first grab on the invade it’s just a sucky feeling in general, and we gotta carry as the Godhand now don’t we?

Leash the jungler for goodness sake; he’ll thank you and come gank for you because of social reciprocity. No there’s no need to give more than a few auto attacks. Get to lane quick! You want a quick level advantage. In fact depending on your lane matchup, you may not even want to go for a grab until you’re level 2 and you can knock them up with an E. How do you do this? Well shiz, auto the first line of minions – Be careful not to take the last hit, unless you went Targon’s Brace.

Now this is the part where you’re going to have to think. Do they have a long range adc/support who is going to punish the hell out of you for trying to push fast? Oh they do? Then make a judgement call! If you’re going to get chunked to 50% for trying to get a fast level 2 that is no good! Who cares if you have the level advantage if you don’t have any health. You’re just going to end up grabbing and either:

1. Miss in which case the enemy lane turns 2 very quickly thereafter and engages on you and makes you blow summoners/die.
2. Land in which case the enemy lane turns 2 very quickly thereafter and engages on you (with your Q’s blessing) and makes you blow summoners /die

Now what is the most important skill to have as an in-lane Blitzcrank, class?

Reading the wave

This means observing and identifying the direction of the push, predicting how the enemy laners will move according to it, how YOUR adc will respond to it, and acting accordingly.Since this is so important, let’s work on some common patterns of wave movement.

Scenario 1: The forward push – In this basic wave movement, your side is pushing towards the enemies. People talk about a pushing wave all the time, but wtf does this even mean? It means that your minions outnumber the enemy’s and are thus your minions are killing their minions faster than theirs are killing yours. The forward push can be broken down into 3 separate phases:

Phase 1 –> Your wave slightly outnumbers the enemy’s.

In this phase you must take note of several things. One, the enemy adc is sufficiently blocked by minions in the front and protected by his support on the right flank. If the enemy support has sufficient brush control, it is extremely difficult to pull off a successful engage. Should you approach from the front, the enemy adc has plenty of time to kite and deal damage to you before you are behind the minion line. On the other hand, trying to gain brush control means having to deal with both the enemy support and the enemy adc while your adc is likely not in a convenient position to back you up.

Phase 2 –> Your wave is focusing down the last of the enemy’s minion wave, but has not yet advanced towards the enemy turret

You must take note of several more things in this phase. One, the enemy adc is far more exposed than he was before, and the movement of your wave towards the enemy tower is imminent. So what do you consider before you act? Consider the position of the enemy support relative to the enemy adc. If the enemy support is overextended – or far away from the enemy adc – you could hook him in. But wait! There’s much more to think about before even thinking about hooking in the enemy support –

Do you have vision on the enemy jungler/do you know where he might be (for example pre-3:30 min it’s highly unlikely you’re going to get ganked and at 7 min the jungler will likely be at one of his buffs)?

Are you sure the enemy mid is not MIA from lane?

Does your adc have the health/mana/cooldowns to follow up?

Does the enemy top laner have tp? Does yours?

What powerspikes are there to consider? Will grabbing the enemy simply facilitate their engage on you? Can you outdamage them faster if you land the grab?

Phase 3 –> Your wave is starting to move, having finished off the last of the enemy minions.

In this phase the enemy adc is completely exposed, as is the support. Predicting the last minion’s death and then quickly engaging is an option here as there is nothing in the front that could possibly block your hook. Depending on how much poke/trading has gone on before this point, you can decide whether or not it’s a safe bet to hook either the enemy adc or support. Early in the game, this phase of the forward push is the most dangerous of situations to the enemy laners because minion aggro will do a lot of damage if you land a successful hook. Again you should consider the questions previously mentioned before making a move. If you’re scared of missing the hook (which by the way don’t be! Even Madlife misses hooks; just don’t let it get to you, and if someone is being negative remember that they have shit days too. Take it in stride, relax and focus on the next opportunity for a play), you can W to get your speed boost and close the distance w/o having to deal with minions getting in your way. This allows you to either get a close range Q or an E-empowered auto attack, setting up for some free damage from your adc.

Keep in mind, however, that as you get better at reading the wave, so does the enemy! Sometimes they will overextend on purpose during this phase of the forward push (their back push) in order to bait for a gank/something. Unfortunately I can’t just tell you what to do here, because there’s such a myriad of situations that could arise. You’re going to have to rely on your knowledge and experience in order to determine the best course of action!