Master mage wave clear, roaming timings, river control, and burst combos
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.
Mid lane is the center of the map, so you can rotate to either side faster than anyone else. Roaming is one of your most important jobs.
The optimal timing: push your wave into the enemy tower so your opponent has to farm before following, then rotate through the river or jungle. Never walk down the lane where you'll be seen.
Best gank targets: lanes where your teammate has frozen near their tower (enemy is overextended), lanes where the enemy recently used their escape, or situations where your jungler is also rotating for a coordinated 3-person gank.
Ping your rotation target before arriving so your laner is ready to engage. After the gank, assess: can you take the tower? Push into the jungle? Or return to mid to catch the wave?
Never overstay in a side lane. If the gank fails or the enemy escapes, get back to mid immediately. Losing multiple mid waves to a failed roam puts you behind in gold and XP, and the enemy mid laner will punish by taking your tower plates.
The river bushes next to mid lane are the most contested vision points on the map. Controlling them gives you vision of enemy rotations, safety from ganks, and the ability to collapse on nearby fights.
After clearing your wave, walk into the river bush instead of standing in lane. The enemy can't see you, so they don't know if you're roaming or waiting in the bush. This forces enemy side lanes to play cautiously even when you're not actually ganking.
Mid-lane jungle camps on your side give extra gold and XP. When your wave is pushed and there's no roaming opportunity, clear the small camp to stay ahead. It gives enough XP to maintain your level advantage even if you miss a few minion last-hits.
River control also ties into objective fights. Before Turtle spawns, push your wave and establish river control. This lets your jungler start the objective confidently, knowing the enemy mid laner isn't sneaking up from the river.
Mid lane mages are burst damage dealers. Landing your full combo on the enemy mid laner is how you establish kill pressure and lane dominance.
Every mage has an optimal combo sequence. Kagura: umbrella toss, teleport, ultimate pull, second ult burst, dash away. Lunox dark form: skill 2, skill 1, ultimate for rapid dark orbs. Pharsa: ultimate for sustained damage, then skill 1 and 2 for burst and CC.
Practice your combo in custom mode until the execution is instant. In a real game, you have a fraction of a second before the enemy reacts. Hesitation means they dash away, Purify, or Flicker to safety.
The kill threshold for most mages is around 60-70% HP. At that point, a full combo plus Flameshot usually secures the kill. Poke with basic attacks and single skills until they reach that threshold, then commit to the all-in.
After securing a mid kill, push the wave into tower and roam immediately. The enemy has a 10-15 second death timer, which is enough to gank a side lane and potentially get a second kill.
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