Last week, I talked about Decision Making. This week, we’re going to be looking at presence.
We will be using the fact that your champion exists to gain an advantage in your games. Let’s get started right away!
PRESENCE
In this game, presence is using the fact that you are around to influence your enemy’s decision-making. Presence is one of the significant components of mind games in League of Legends. You can think of it as “Body Language”.
Studies suggest that 70% of communication is non-verbal. Presence in this game is using your champion’s movements to give false information to your enemy. That information could change his way of thinking in your favor.
IMPORTANCE OF PRESENCE
Presence is something that gets rarely talked about in League of Legends guides. Nobody mentions it even though it’s something that many pro players do often without thinking about it. Presence is a handy tool in the game.
It can be used when you have no resources (health, mana, etc.). It’s also used to deter enemies from chasing low-health allies. It’s also used to confuse your enemy or cause him to hesitate and miss an opportunity. Finally, it’s also used to change your enemy’s decision, which is very important.
If you can convince your enemy to do something that favors you, you control the game.
HOW TO USE PRESENCE
You must interrupt your enemy’s thought process to use presence to your advantage. Also, you need to give him new information that will present a better decision. To do this, you first need to understand how players make decisions in League of Legends.
For more on this, I made an article that you can check out if you get lost:
Decision Making: Improve your Gameplay
- Predict Their Plans
First, you need to predict what they’re trying to achieve. This part isn’t usually difficult.
Example: Are they chasing your ally? Most likely, that means they’re trying to kill him.
Once you know what they’re trying to do, you need to do one of two things: increase the perceived risk or Provide them with an alternative.
2A. Increase the Perceived Risk
If you decide to go with this line, you only need to make them second-guess themselves. You can do this by making them think other allies are around.
Example: You are running towards an area where the enemy has no vision and turning for a brief moment.
In other words, you need to give them false information to make his decision seem bad.
2B. Provide them with an Alternative
Otherwise, you can go for this line. Most of the time, the alternative is your champion’s life on the line. To do this, you must understand a new concept called the “Threat Range.” This is the effective area where the enemy can damage you.
Example: The threat range of Udyr is 125 units and expands to 175 units when he uses Bear Stance.
After identifying their Threat Range, you can play outside of that area where you should be safe. With proper execution, you can use this tactic to bait the enemy into making a bad decision.
Example: Udyr is chasing your ally, and you are low on health. You can get close to Udyr and try to make him change targets. You can keep doing this until he changes the targets. If you execute this well, you could save your ally and yourself.
The example above is because you can escape Udyr, but your ally cannot. This technique could be powerful as you don’t need health, mana, or summoner spells.
TIPS AND TRICKS
As a jungler, there is a great way to abuse presence. Remember that presence is about giving the enemy false information. You can do a specific gank technique, quickly stepping in and out of a bush.
This will make the enemy laner think that you did it by accident. There’s a good chance that they will start to play defensively. They believe that you’ll still be waiting in the bush, and they will expect an upcoming gank. You may use this window to gank from another angle or a different lane.
As a laner, you can play in the lane as if your jungler is ready to gank and create pressure. This technique is often seen with Thresh by throwing his Dark Passage backward. This makes the enemy think that your jungler is about to take it.
But, any champion can do this by standing in an area where it’s usually unsafe. That area would only be safe if you had your jungler there. You may use this to bluff your opponents, thus creating pressure.
Often, I see players with full health and mana running for their lives. When they would be completely safe kiting back and using their presence to help their allies, this doesn’t mean you should dive and sacrifice for the team.
Instead, use the fact that you can capitalize on any mistakes they make. This might make them second-guess themselves, which can save your allies. You have to be there and be confident.
That’s all for now! I hope you learned something from this article. Good luck on the Rift!
