25 Tips One-Tricks Don't Want You to Know
Impress your friends with niche game-knowledge and improve your game!
If you’re anything like me, you love learning about all the small and fun interactions the game has to offer. When it comes to unique champion interactions, there is nobody who knows this better than one-tricks. With that experience comes learning how to counterplay and exploit gameplay/champion mechanics. You can hear the muffled sigh from behind Zed's mask when the enemy laners build a Zhonya’s. Warwick mains everywhere shed a tear when they see the 10/0 Vayne build QSS knowing full well they’re never killing her. But this is all common knowledge at this point. So, what are the more obscure counterplay measures that you don’t know but probably should?
Here are 25 tips that one-tricks don’t want you to know:
1. Yasuo can utilize his ultimate, Last Breath, when an enemy is knocked airborne by blast cone. This can only be done if your teammate is the one to pop the blast cone or if you have quick fingers, you can activate your QSS mid-flight to cleans the knock-up and prepare your montage clip.
2. Swain can also utilize some blast cone shenanigans. If an enemy is blast coned into the air, Swain can pull them back to him Mortal Kombat-style.
3. Staying close to minions when fighting Graves. Put on your blue suede shoes and watch the Graves tilt off the face of the earth when he autos every creep instead of you. This is extremely important to keep in mind, as Graves relies almost entirely on his auto attacks and burst damage.
4. With good reaction time, you can use Shaco's Hallucinate to dodge out things such as Warwick's Infinite Duress and other hard CC. This can be the difference between being shut down completely or turning around a team fight/skirmish.
5. On the other side of our previous tip, Warwick can dodge hard CC with his Infinite Duress. So, save your stuns for before or after you see the wolf throwing themselves at you like a TV on Black Friday.
6. Yasuo’s Wind Wall doesn’t only block traditional projectiles like ranged auto attacks or skill shots. Wind Wall can also block things like Azir’s Shurima Shuffle, Lulu’s Polymorph, and Orianna ball. Keep this in mind when you see Yasuo use Wind Wall and hold on to your abilities until you can work your way around it.
7. You can use QSS to cleanse Mordekaiser’s Realm of Death and make him regret flashing into the middle of a teamfight. This guarantees that you can now escape his ultimate and render it useless or that he won’t use it on you.
8. An oldie but a goodie: You can block Thresh's lantern with wards or other clickable objects (Shaco box, Jhin trap, etc). This tip has been around for a while, but surprisingly few players utilize it!
9. Soraka silence can be used to cancel channels (like Pyke's hook, Nunu's snowball, and Rammus' Powerball). A well-timed silence can completely ruin the other team's engage and turn a fight around.
10. Banshee's Veil prevents vision denial from Nocturne’s Paranoia. Use this time to make a decision based on where Nocturne is on the map. Did he engage on bot while you’re top? Take your tower. Did he go mid while you’re in the nearby river? Take the opportunity to countergank.
11. Zyra seeds materialize if the bush she’s in is warded. Zyra mains can use this information to know whether they are spotted or not if they’re trying to pull some bush shenanigans.
12. You can hide in a bush to avoid Kled’s Chaaaaaaaarge!!! since he requires vision to lock on to a target. This transforms his ability to Waiiiiiiiit!!! (please laugh at my jokes). Once you’ve avoided the initial knock-up, you can decide to either disengage or, if Kled’s mispositioned, you can blow him up with your team.
13. Elise can rappel onto objects like Blast Cone and Scryer’s Bloom for quick escapes. Try to preemptively pop these if you fear Elise may use these to get away from you.
14. Another oldie but a good: Sweeper during teamfights with champions that utilize invisibility. You pop sweeper and see the Shaco that just went invisible in the middle of a team fight? Spam ping like your life depends on it (because it does).
15. Vi’s Assault and Battery can be canceled by going un-targetable such as Fizz’s Playful/Trickster, Kled’s Dismount, Xayah’s Featherstorm. Bait out her ultimate and use a spell like these to fool Vi into a bad fight.
16. Save hard CC until Zed finishes his ultimate and shoot it behind you. Instantly CC him and escape (I’m looking at you, Ashe mains).
17. Hug walls to hide vitals from Fiora early. Late game this isn’t a huge deal, but early game this can make an enormous difference!
18. Use Zhonya’s when Caitlyn’s Ace in the Hole is traveling through the air. If used while channeling, it sets Caitlyn's ultimate on a short cooldown instead of the full cooldown. This can be the difference between making a clean get away or just prolonging your death for another five seconds.
19. Neeko W can be used to counter traps like Teemo’s mushroom and Caitlyn’s trap. Use this to scout ahead when face checking to promote a positive gaming experience. Why do the dirty work when somebody else can do it for you?
20. You can QSS/Gangplank Orange to cleanse Urgot’s Fear Beyond Death. This may surprise the Urgot and create an opportunity for outplays. Just be sure not to use QSS/GP Orange until the pull animation starts.
21. There is a small window after Qiyana’s Supreme Display of Talent’s knockback and her stun where you can activate Zhonya's/Stopwatch. Take this opportunity to Flash over a wall if possible or even reengage on Qiyana now that her major cooldown is down.
22. Hooking Tahm Kench after he’s swallowed his ADC is a double kill delivery service. Remember to spam “The time of man has come to an end” and your mastery emote to assert your dominance.
23. Zyra gains a seed on champion takedown, allowing her to place it wherever she wishes. Use this knowledge to prepare yourself mentally and avoid whatever plants she throws out.
24. Warwick's Blood Hunt follows the real Leblanc and Shaco, not their clones - even when cloaked. A good Warwick will ping the scent trail, so the rest of the team knows where the enemy is.
25. Shaco can cast Deceive and immediately start channeling Teleport while invisible. Twitch can also do this with Ambush. This is very handy for quick escapes! Just be sure you’re not in the way of any skill shots. Otherwise, you’ll be caught with your pants down and it’ll be awkward for everybody involved.
That will wrap it up! That was 25 tips that one-tricks don’t want you to know. I hope you learned something new today and can try these tips out for yourself! These will not make or break your games by any means. But hopefully, this can create a better overall experience for you or at least made you go "huh, I didn't know that!".
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