How can you counter a kill lane?
I asked this question earlier to get a better idea of what a kill lane actually is.
Now I'm wondering, if I'm playing against a kill lane (let's say in draft pick or something so champ select can be part of the question), how can I deal with it?
What champ combinations are good to counter a kill lane?
How should your lane behave against a kill lane?
It's very rare that you'll have the opportunity to, with certainty, pick against a kill lane. Typically, they will be picked in response to your more traditional bottom lane choices (AD and a support). Moreover, if they picked one early on, it's very easy to confuse their choices with either a top or a jungle choice. In fact, they have the option of switching from a top/jungle choice at the last minute if they feel a kill lane would hurt your team.
That said, if you get the opportunity to pick against one, don't outpick yourself. You already know that they need to survive on harassing you until you're low, then killing you. Failing to do so doesn't optimally scale their champions (usually), and they're not built for farming. To pick against a kill lane, you have a couple of options:
- Pick a traditional farm lane, but one that can easily escape harassment. Janna and Corki, for instance, would be decent picks (especially if you open with Valkyrie on Corki and Howling Gale on Janna) because of their ability to disrupt harassment and escape bad situations. Kog'maw, on the other hand, would be an abysmal pick despite his range; he has no inherent escapes, and many kill lanes have implicit or explicit gap closers (implicit being a stun, where they can walk up to you, whereas explicit would be a dash). Typically, you'll need a way to immediately negate a gap closer without flash in order to be effective. If you're dealing with a burst kill lane (Sion combinations, for instance), Soraka is usually an excellent choice because of her magic resistance passive and burst heals. However, individual champions aside: Your best bet here is to be able to disrupt their initiation.
- Pick a non-traditional lane or another kill lane. If you don't feel that you and your support are capable of not dying (even the support dying here is extremely bad), pick a more bruiser-centric lane or a tankier AD (like Urgot). There may be other pick strategies (Soraka+AP comes to mind), but I don't think they're proven enough to mention.
In any event, the core point is that neither you or your support can start dying. As mentioned in a related question, "What is the idea behind a bot kill lane", the benefit of a kill lane is the indirect ability to leave their lane and assault other lanes or the jungle. Prevent them from killing you, and they have to remain in the lane.
If you've already picked your AD and support bottom, then get a kill lane, there are a few strategies you can employ to reduce their effectiveness. These apply in the above case, as well:
- Maintain wards in your lane bushes (as well as the river; ganks are even worse for you, now). This makes it harder for them to stand in the bush then surprise you for the kill.
- Many kill lanes depend on a skill shot; once you know where they are, keep behind your minions in relation to their position.
- As an AD, you should have excellent damage. Jungle ganks (careful! They are a kill lane, after all) are one way to reduce their confidence and give you some breathing room.
- They must get kills to be effective. Heal baits, especially with a hidden jungler, are an effective way to get an impetuous tower dive.
Once you have a lead, continue to play very cautiously. Like most top and jungle bruisers, many top lanes are dangerous even if you only start feeding them late into the game. Playing against them requires you to be conservative, as their lane is designed to punish over-aggressive play.
Finally, never be afraid of building defensively as the AD carry. If you cannot take the lead in your lane, at least you can not die.