For those that prefers to read, you can find the transcript of the video below.
What type of character to play in the carry role?
Due to the nature of the role, you are going to have a lead in gold while having a deficit in experience compared to the rest of the map so naturally, we are looking at character that perform well under those conditions. On top of that, you are facing two opponents in lane ready to poke you constantly so we are looking at someone that can confirm last hit easily even under pressure. And last, surviving by yourself is not required since you will have the protection of a support. All of that means you usually see Carries in the carry role, thanks to their great scaling through items, while being ranged to secure last hit. So pretty straightforward stuff but I always like to explain the why so you get a deeper understanding of the underlying reasoning behind.
What to do in the early game?
In the “How to win your Predecessor game” video I said the most important thing in the early game is farming and this cannot be truer than for the carry role. Your only goal in the early game is to farm, farm and farm even more.
So, the first thing you need to get right is your last hitting, that should be your first point of focus. You need to get almost perfect last hit even when the wave is moving due to your support fighting or even under tower. Poking or fighting back is only valuable if you don’t miss last hit at the same time. Last hit perfectly and you already will be better than the pack on that role.
Now that we last hit perfectly how can we maximize the amount of last hit we get? First step is wave management, it is a very deep topic that will have its own video, but you can already apply some simple tips from it. One is crash the wave before recalling to base if possible. This way you limit the amount of minion you will lose while walking back to the lane. Another important one is to try to keep the wave close to your tower when you can so you remain safe from aggression and force the opponents to expose themselves if they want to farm. You do that by letting the opponent push the wave towards you, that happens if they attack the minions more than you do. However, be careful in the early waves about using that technics since the opponents will get early level transitions that you need to respect.
Indeed, an early level advantage means more stats and more ability available to use to win any fight you are in, so if you can’t level up at the same time as your opponent’s just play passive. On the other hand, that is something you can try to abuse for yourself, pushing slightly faster than your opponents in the early waves to get a level advantage and surprise them with good damage. But be sure to crash the wave after the aggression otherwise the wave will be left close to their tower making it unsafe for you to farm.
Same thing if you support find a good window to engage, you need to be close enough to be ready to deal your damage. It is your job to find that sweet position where you can last hit safely but jump in the action if it comes to it. But keep in mind that you need to pay attention to whether the enemy jungler can be around to punish your aggressive move. Which bring me to the next point of don’t die. Dying set you back a lot of CS and you are a target that the enemy want to shut down, so respect enemies rotation and when you can, use your wards to remain safe. It is not your jungler job to keep you alive, keep in mind if the enemy jungler is around and you don’t die, your team will pull ahead. Don’t engage, then die, then blame your jungler. It’s not the right approach.
A last note regarding gold buff, early gold buff is not worth that much gold, the first one is equivalent to 3 melee minions or close to a cannon but the experience he provides is not that great. So it is good to get it if you can, but should never be at the cost of a wave or resulting in a bad wave management for you. Try to think critically of what gives you the most gold at any moment and you will be doing fine on the carry role. And usually in the early game what gives the most gold is farming your lane efficiently so don’t wander too much in the jungle and try to go for ganks, it is not your job.
To be fair early game for a carry if you want to do everything perfectly is pretty demanding on the amount of thing you need to pay attention, since you must do perfect last hitting, while positioning yourself in a way you don’t get killed against two opponents + a potential jungler, while controlling your wave state and also be ready to jump in if there is a window of aggression that your support is taking. So don’t be too harsh on yourself at the beginning and try to master all those things one by one otherwise you will get overwhelmed.
The mid game is here!
You farmed well, you start to get your first items, your crest is close, it’s time to fight right? Well, sometimes, like 10% of your time, the rest is still how do I maximize my farming. The difference with the early game is that the map will become more chaotic with all the other roles starting to move around the map. So, as a carry, you need to think all the time where can I get the most farm while remaining safe, for instance there is maybe a wave to catch in the mid lane because there was a huge fight in duo lane and suddenly the wave is too pushed up so you can’t farm here. Therefore, you are going to rotate but because you are looking to keep your farming going, not so much because you want to create opportunities for your team.
If you can, try to get some towers, either in your lane or some others lanes, this give a good influx of gold for your team but also yourself. Don’t forget to stay in range of the tower when it dies to get this juicy local gold for yourself. Of course, don’t die, the enemy teams knows that if you get BIG that will spell trouble for them so they will try to shut you down. If you play carry you have to accept that you are going to be targeted by the whole enemy team.
If there is a Fangtooth that will be started by your team, you need to be there, your damage is important to do it in a timely manner. And position yourself in a way that if the enemy team comes to contest, they can’t engage you, which usually means inside the pit on the ledge.
Which bring the last point for the mid game which is about teamfight for carry. There is a big misconception about the carry job in teamfight for most player. They believe the carry job is to do damage which is not completely wrong but it’s still far from the truth. Your true role is to deal damage while remaining safe and players tend to forget the second part. Indeed, if you are dead you will deal no damage. As a carry you always need to find this thin line about doing damage while not being easy to focus, which means as a carry you usually don’t get to choose who you damage, but it’s fine you are not an assassin that should kill backline carries. So, positioning is the key to successful teamfighting for a carry. Position yourself in a way that put you in range to deal damage to at least one target but also where the enemy teams cannot turn easily on you, which usually means behind your frontline. And if you get engaged on by the enemy team, remember the safest place is not always running away to your base, the safest place is to run in direction of the teammates that can help you. Teamfights will come with experience but if you really want to get better at them you need to watch their replays and ask yourself what should I do at every point in the teamfight while reviewing it.
How to close our the late game?
Finally late game, I can start pew-pew-ing everyone while pressing W with not a care in the world, right, Right? Well, eeeeeh, no! You still need to look for farm until you are full build. At that point in the match you can even take jungle camps to help with this endeavour but the most important thing is to set up wave for your team. Late game are won by getting map control and one of the way to do that is having wave pushed up on the map, you are looking for farm, you are efficient at clearing wave, that is one of your job. So similar to the mid game where you looked critically at the map to know where you should find your farm, you do the same thing here.
But while doing so, be careful, you are a central piece of the lategame if you get picked up before teamfights that most likely means your team will have to concede an objective and that can result in the game being loss on the spot. So setup wave but don’t risk getting collapse on, remains safe at all time.
Then, your next job is to be present with your team when they want to teamfight or force objectives. Once again a fine line to find between getting your farm and lane setup and starting the rotation at the right moment to arrive on time. You won’t get it perfectly at the beginning. This is something that will come with experience, try simply to keep it in mind so you can improve that skill.
Remember in teamfight your job is to do damage while remaining in a safe position and finding that safe position won’t be easy since you are the public enemy number one for the enemy team. It is important that you assess all your defensive cooldown before every teamfight since having blink or cleanse up will completely change how you can approach it. An ideal position is to be ready to follow up your team engage while remaining hidden from the vision of the enemy team so enemy divers will have a harder time to devise their own plan. Once again, this is one of the hardest skills to gain as a carry and sometimes staying alive is not fully on you but also on your team. Still, it is your job to make it easier for your team to protect you.
Conclusion
This is it for the carry guide, as you can see, a big portion of what makes a great carry is optimizing your farm and then converting this farm into damage during teamfight and objectives moments. Improving your farm is pretty straightforward and that should be your first focus because without farm you can’t fight and once you get this part done, you will enter what truly makes carry fun but also your hardest journey, dominating games while the whole enemy team want you dead.
Thank you for spending the time on this content and I hope it has provided you clear direction on how to bring your gameplay to the next level. Keep in mind that everyone around you also progress, and so if you want to rank up you need to progress faster than the pack. Following what we have seen in this guide will definitely allow you to do that, because very few play games with an understanding of what they are doing. So go out there and feel free to share your success story in the comments. For me, I will see you in the future with more educational content to help you towards becoming the best at Predecessor.
Mugi out!