EXP Lane Domination

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.

Wave management in the EXP lane differs from other lanes because of the solo nature and proximity to the Turtle pit.

Default strategy for the first two minutes: freeze near your tower. This denies the enemy fighter farm (they have to overextend) and keeps you safe from ganks. Only last-hit, never use abilities on the wave.

Break the freeze when you want to back for items, when Turtle is about to spawn and you need to rotate, or when your jungler is coming for a gank (push the wave first so enemy minions aren't a factor).

When you push, build a slow push by killing ranged minions from two consecutive waves. The resulting big wave crashes into the enemy tower, giving you time to rotate to Turtle, invade the nearby enemy jungle camp, or recall for items.

Timing your push relative to objective spawns is critical. If Turtle spawns in 30 seconds on your side, start slow pushing now. The enemy EXP laner will be forced to either catch the wave at tower or join the Turtle fight. They can't do both.

Many EXP lane fighters use the Arrival battle spell, which teleports you to an allied tower or minion after a brief channel. Timing it correctly can single-handedly win fights across the map.

The ideal Arrival timing: your wave is pushed to the enemy tower (so you don't lose minions), a fight is happening mid or near Turtle, and your arrival creates a numbers advantage that wins the fight.

Before teleporting, quickly assess whether the fight is winnable with your presence. If your team is already losing 4v5 and the fight is over, teleporting just means you die too. But if the fight is even, your arrival can tip the balance.

After using Arrival, push whatever objective you can, then return to lane quickly. Every second away from EXP lane is gold and XP you're losing.

The best EXP laners predict fights 10-15 seconds in advance and start their push early. That way the wave is crashing into tower at the exact moment they need to rotate. Zero farm lost while still impacting the map.

If you don't take Arrival, your rotation window is limited to walking. Push the wave and path through jungle fog of war to approach from an unexpected angle.

Split pushing means applying pressure in a side lane while your team groups elsewhere. If the enemy sends someone to stop you, your team gets a 4v4 with more map control. If they don't, you take towers for free.

EXP lane fighters are the best split pushers because they combine tower damage with enough durability to survive if caught. Heroes like Sun, Zilong, and Masha melt towers with attack speed. Yu Zhong and Esmeralda can split push while being nearly unkillable in 1v1 or even 1v2 scenarios.

The rules of safe split pushing: never push without vision of the enemy team, always have an escape plan (dash, Flicker, or Arrival to safety), push only when enemies are visible on the opposite side, and communicate with your team so they apply pressure elsewhere.

The biggest mistake split pushers make is pushing without information. If you can't see the enemy on your minimap, assume they're coming for you and pull back. Getting caught and dying gives the enemy a free 4v5 and probably costs your team a tower or objective in return.