In competitive League of Legends, strategies come and go, shaping how the game is played one patch at a time. Lately, one strategy coming back from nostalgic times is the lane swap—and T1’s jungler Oner has just one suggestion for players who face a lane swap in solo queue.
Lane swaps have crawled back into the current meta and are now a big deal, especially in pro play. But as veteran players know, the League community really loves to replicate strategies seen in tier-one play or international tournaments—most of the time without much success. So while Oner opted to keep the tips and tricks on how to counter this strategy to himself, as T1 is currently competing for the 2024 Mid-Season Invitational title, he did give precise instructions to solo queue players whose opponents try to lane swap: “Just have fun.”
According to Oner, there’s “no way” to fix your strategy if you go up against lane swaps in solo queue at the moment as a jungler. Countering this strategy requires a good level of communication between you and your teammates, and when you’re trying to climb the ranks in solo queue, that’s rare to find or challenging to build in a short amount of time.
Usually, lane swaps are done to dodge tough matchups in the bot lane and deny the enemy top laner farm at the same time. But pulling off a successful lane swap takes a lot of teamwork and communication, something that’s not always easy to come by in solo queue.
But when it works, a lane swap can give your team a big advantage. By teaming up in the top lane, you can push down the enemy’s tower before they have a chance to do the same to yours. Plus, it helps with map control and can give your duo lane a leg up in terms of gold and items.
Not everyone is a fan of the lane swap strategy, but you might encounter it in your ranked games for a few more weeks before the meta readjusts itself again. If that happens, you could try to establish smooth communication and a plan with your team—or follow Oner’s suggestion and “just have fun.”
