Strategy Guides

Wave management is the most impactful skill you can develop as a laner. Every 30 seconds, a fresh wave of minions spawns from each base. Where those waves collide determines your zone of control, and manipulating that meeting point gives you a huge advantage. There are three wave states to learn: freeze, slow push, and fast push. Freezing means only last-hitting so the wave stays near your tower. This forces the enemy to overextend for farm, making them easy gank targets. To freeze, only auto-attack minions when they're one hit from death. Never use abilities on the wave during a freeze. A slow push is built by killing just the ranged minions and leaving the melee ones alive. Your wave snowballs into a big crash over two or three waves. This is ideal before Turtle spawns because the enemy laner has to choose between losing a huge wave to tower or following you to the fight. Fast pushing means using all your abilities to instantly clear the wave. This gives you priority to roam, invade, or recall for items. In the early game, default to freezing near your tower for safety. As objective timers approach, shift to slow pushes to create map pressure.

Your first clear sets the tempo for the entire early game. Start at the buff closest to your gold laner so they can leash (basic-attack the camp to help you clear faster). The standard Level 4 route is: first buff, small camp, second buff, Lithowanderer (the river crab), then gank or keep farming. Which buff you take first depends on your hero. Mana-hungry assassins like Lancelot and Ling want blue buff's mana regen. Auto-attack junglers like Roger and Alucard prefer red buff's slow effect. Speed is everything. The faster you hit Level 4, the sooner you can impact lanes with ganks. Kite jungle camps between abilities to minimize damage taken. Move away after using a skill, then walk back in to auto while waiting for cooldowns. This keeps your HP high and avoids wasted recalls. Advanced junglers also track the enemy jungler's pathing. If you see them ganking top side, their bottom-side camps are free to steal. Communicate your starting buff so your team knows which lane to leash and where jungle pressure will be first.

Every role has a specific spot in team fights. Understanding where to stand relative to your team is the foundation of winning 5v5s. Tanks and fighters form the front line. Their job is to initiate, absorb the initial burst and CC, and create space for damage dealers. Tanks like Tigreal, Atlas, and Khufra should be first into fog of war and first to engage. They want multi-hero CC to set up their team's damage. Fighters like Yu Zhong, Paquito, and Esmeralda sit slightly behind the tank, ready to dive the enemy backline or peel for their own carries. Mages sit in mid-range, behind the frontline but within casting range. Heroes like Pharsa, Yve, and Cecilion have huge zone control and can deal devastating damage from safety. The key is patience. Wait for the enemy to commit before dropping your full combo. Marksmen and supports stay in the backline. The marksman must never be the first person in the fight. Their job is to auto-attack the closest safe target while the frontline creates space. Supports stay near the marksman, ready to heal, shield, or peel. If the marksman dies early, you almost always lose the fight. Assassins have the most flexible positioning. They flank from the side or wait in fog for the perfect moment to dive the enemy carry.

The minimap is the most powerful tool in MLBB, yet most players barely look at it. Developing the habit of checking it every few seconds is the single biggest improvement most players can make. Think of it like checking your mirrors while driving. You do it constantly, not just when you sense danger. Create a rhythm: last-hit a minion, glance at the minimap, last-hit, glance. Within a few games of practicing this, it becomes automatic. What should you look for? First, count enemy icons. If all five are visible, you're safe. If only three are showing, two enemies are in fog and could be anywhere, including behind you in a bush. Second, watch for patterns. If the enemy jungler was last seen top side 20 seconds ago, they could now be near bottom. Third, track unattended waves. If enemy minions are pushing without anyone farming them, that laner is rotating. Pay attention to teammate health bars at the top of the screen. If someone's HP suddenly drops, they're fighting and might need help. A quick rotation to assist can turn a gank into a counter-kill.

The gold lane (bottom lane) gives bonus gold for last-hitting minions. That makes it the designated lane for marksmen, who need gold more than XP to hit their power spikes. Your positioning should prioritize safety above all else. You're the squishiest hero on your team, and dying early means losing precious farm time. Stand behind your ranged minions and use max attack range to last-hit. Never walk past the river line without vision of the enemy jungler. If you're playing a short-range marksman like Brody or Beatrix, stay within dash range of your tower. Your support should ideally be near your lane for the first two minutes to protect you. Communicate if they leave so you know to play more cautiously. If the enemy support rotates to your lane for a gank, retreat immediately. Don't try to outplay a 2v1. Kiting is essential. When an enemy approaches, attack-move backward: deal damage while creating distance. Practice this in custom games until it's muscle memory. A marksman who can kite is exponentially harder to kill.

The EXP lane (top lane) is home to fighters and certain tanks who benefit from solo XP to hit their level-based power spikes. Understanding your matchup is step one. Fighters fall into three categories: sustain fighters (Yu Zhong, Ruby) who heal through trades, burst fighters (Chou, Paquito) who deal explosive damage in short windows, and scaling fighters (Thamuz, Esmeralda) who get increasingly powerful with levels and items. Each category has a rock-paper-scissors dynamic. Sustain fighters beat burst fighters in extended trades because they heal back the damage. Burst fighters beat scaling fighters by shutting them down early. Scaling fighters beat sustain fighters by eventually outstatting them. Know which category both heroes fall into. If you're sustain vs burst, extend trades. If you're burst vs scaling, be aggressive early. If you're scaling vs sustain, farm safely and wait for your level 4 or item spike. Some key matchups to memorize: Esmeralda dominates most melee fighters because her shield-steal negates their sustain. Chou beats immobile fighters with his CC chain. Yu Zhong wins extended fights against almost anyone early.

Mid lane is the shortest lane in MLBB, so waves reach each other faster and the lane resets more quickly. This makes wave clear speed the most important stat for mid laners. A mage who can clear the wave in one ability rotation has priority: the freedom to roam, assist objectives, or invade before the opponent can follow. Heroes like Yve, Lunox, and Kagura have excellent early wave clear, which is why they're top mid lane picks. Aim to hit both melee and ranged minions with a single ability. Most mages can clear the full wave with one or two abilities by level 3-4. Position your skill so it passes through all six minions. Save your second ability for trading or emergencies. Mana management matters early. If you spam abilities to clear waves, you'll run dry before your first item buy. Use basic attacks for last-hits when possible and save abilities for when you need priority to roam. Once you finish Clock of Destiny or Lightning Truncheon, mana stops being an issue.

The roamer is the most selfless yet impactful role in MLBB. You sacrifice personal gold and XP to create advantages across the map. Your first purchase should be Roaming Boots, which come in three variants. Courage Mask gives an AoE attack and defense buff when activated, best for initiation tanks like Tigreal, Khufra, and Atlas. Shadow Mask grants invisibility to you and nearby allies, ideal for ambush setups. Awe Mask slows and marks a target for bonus damage, useful for pick compositions. The Roaming Boots passive shares gold with the nearby ally who has the lowest gold on your team. Lane with your marksman or jungler early to funnel gold to them. Never steal last-hits. Your gold comes from assists, passive generation, and the roam item's share mechanic. Every minion you take from a carry is net gold your team is losing.