Most deaths in League are not mechanical. They come from a handful of decisions: standing in a pushed wave with no vision of the enemy jungler, walking into fog alone, trading when the enemy is stronger, staying in lane with low health, or being the closest target in a fight. Fix those decisions and your deaths drop fast, even if your mechanics stay the same.
Last updated
1. You don't know where the enemy jungler is
The most common early death is a gank you never saw coming. The enemy jungler starts on one side of the map, and by the time the first wave crashes they can be in your river. If you don't know where they started, assume they are next to you.
Watch where the enemy jungler shows up first, then count their clear. Ward the river entrance on their side before the timing they can arrive, and play near your tower when your ward is down.
2. Your wave is pushed into their tower
A wave pushing toward the enemy tower pulls you forward with it. The further up you stand, the longer the walk home and the easier you are to gank. Many deaths happen simply because the wave put the player in a spot they could not escape from.
When you have no vision or the jungler is unaccounted for, let the wave come to you. Slow push or freeze near your tower, and push only when you can use the push for something: a recall, a roam or an objective.
3. You walk into fog alone
Facechecking a bush or walking into a dark jungle in the mid game is how solo queue players get caught. If several enemies are missing, the fog you are walking into is probably where they are.
Light up the area first with a ward, a sweeper or a long-range ability. If you can't, walk in with a teammate or don't walk in at all. Vision you take together with your team is safe; vision you take alone often is not.
4. You trade when the enemy is stronger
Every champion has moments when it is strong and moments when it is weak: the first level 2, level 6, the first completed item, a key ability on cooldown. Fighting the enemy during their window is a quick way to die.
Before you trade, compare levels, items, summoner spells and cooldowns. Trade when you are ahead on one of them, and back off when they are.
5. You stay in lane too long
Staying with low health or no mana to grab one more wave often ends in a death that costs far more than the wave was worth. The same goes for staying after the enemy laner recalls with an item advantage.
Plan your recall: push the wave, go home with the gold you need, and come back before the next wave arrives at your tower. A well-timed recall loses almost nothing.
6. You farm a side lane while enemies are missing
In the mid game, the most punished habit is pushing a side lane with no vision while three or four enemies are off the map. They are often walking toward you.
Count the enemies you can see. If most of them are missing, stop pushing past the middle of the lane until you know where they are, or move to where your team is.
7. You are the closest target in teamfights
Carries die in fights because they stand in front of their frontline, or walk forward to land one more ability. The enemy hits whoever is in range, and that is often you.
Stand where you can still hit something but the enemy has to go through your frontline to reach you. Know which enemy champions can reach you, and keep that distance from them.
8. You chase kills
Chasing a low-health enemy into their jungle or under their tower turns a good fight into a bad one. Their teammates are often closer than yours.
Ask what the kill gets you. If the answer is a tower, a dragon or a big shutdown, it may be worth the risk. If it is just a kill, take the wave or the objective and let them go.
9. You walk to the objective last and alone
Deaths around dragon and Baron usually happen before the fight starts, when one player walks into the river without vision while the enemy team is already there.
Be at the objective early, with your team, and with vision placed and enemy wards cleared. The team that sets up first rarely loses the fight.
Review your deaths, not your whole game
After a game, open the replay and jump to each of your deaths. For each one, pick the reason from the list above: jungler, wave, fog, trade, recall, side lane, positioning, chasing or objective.
After five games, one or two reasons will show up again and again. Those are the habits to fix first, and fixing just one of them usually removes a death or two from every game.
Practice the decisions, not just the mechanics
Every fix on this page is a decision you can practice. MOBA Trainer turns real game situations into puzzles: you see the map and choose what to do, then learn why the best players choose differently. Each pattern above has a video explanation and training puzzles on the Pattern Map, made by top players and coaches.
Frequently asked questions
- Why do I keep dying in League of Legends?
- Usually because of a few repeated decisions rather than mechanics: playing a pushed wave without knowing where the enemy jungler is, walking into fog alone, fighting during the enemy's power spike, staying in lane with low health, or standing in front of your team in fights.
- How do I stop dying to ganks?
- Track where the enemy jungler started and when they can reach your lane, ward the river entrance on their side before that time, and keep your wave closer to your own tower when you have no vision.
- Is dying less the fastest way to climb?
- It is one of the fastest. Each death gives the enemy gold and time on the map. Cutting even one or two deaths per game makes a big difference, because you also keep your farm and pressure.
- How can I practice not dying?
- Review your deaths after each game and name the reason, then practice the decision behind it. MOBA Trainer's puzzles let you practice these decisions (vision, waves, positioning, fights) in a few minutes a day, outside of ranked games.
- Is MOBA Trainer free?
- The daily puzzle and the first lesson are free. The full campaign with every pattern is part of the Season Pass. MOBA Trainer runs on Windows, macOS, iPhone and Android.