Master roam items, rotation paths, vision game, peel priorities, and engage timing
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.
Your early game rotation sets the pace for the entire match. Standard opening: escort your jungler through their first buff, providing a leash by attacking the camp. This takes about 20 seconds.
After the first buff, assess the map. Mid laner getting pressured? Rotate mid. Side lane getting pushed hard? Provide backup. Everything stable? Shadow your jungler to their second buff to prevent invades.
Once the jungler hits Level 4 around 1:30-2:00, your priorities shift. Now you should gank lanes, contest river bushes for vision, and prepare for the first Turtle at 2:00.
Ideal early rotation: jungler leash, mid lane check, gold lane support (protect marksman from enemy roamer), then Turtle prep.
Between rotations, check every bush along your path. The roamer who checks bushes prevents ambushes for the entire team. Walk into every bush even if you don't expect anyone. The one time you skip is the one time three enemies are hiding there.
Movement speed is your most important stat. Rapid Boots give 60 bonus movement speed out of combat, translating to faster rotations and more map presence.
Vision is your most valuable contribution, even more than CC or damage. Knowing where the enemy is lets your team make perfect decisions about when to fight, farm, or take objectives.
Your vision game starts with bush control. Position in key bushes along the river, between lanes, and near objectives. When you stand in a bush, you see the area while staying invisible. That asymmetric information is incredibly powerful.
The most important bushes: river bushes (between mid and sides), bushes near Turtle and Lord pits, and bushes at jungle entrances. Establish vision in these spots 15-20 seconds before any objective fight.
Advanced roamers create a "vision line," a connected chain of bushes that tracks enemy movements across a whole section of the map. Rotate between two or three key bushes to maintain coverage without items or abilities.
Information denial matters too. If you see the enemy roamer trying to set up vision near your objective, contest their bush. Your presence forces them to face-check and potentially die, or waste time routing around. Vision wars between roamers are one of the most strategic elements of high-level play.
Your team fight role comes down to one decision: engage or peel?
Most of the time, peeling is correct. Your marksman and mage deal the majority of your team's damage. If they die in the first two seconds, you lose regardless of how good your engage was.
Peeling means using CC to stop enemy divers from reaching your backline. If Lancelot dashes at your marksman, flicker-ult him away. If Chou flickers into your Pharsa, stun him instantly. You're the last line of defense.
There are exceptions. If you can land a multi-hero CC catching three or more enemies (Tigreal flicker-ult or Atlas ult), the massive CC gives your team time to wipe multiple targets. The key is certainty. Only engage if you're confident it wins the fight. A failed engage where you die is the worst outcome because your team loses their peeler.
Start every fight positioned near your carry with the intention to peel. If you spot a game-winning engage opportunity (multiple enemies grouped, key abilities on cooldown), take it. Otherwise, default to peeling. Patience wins more fights than aggression for roamers.
When you decide to engage, timing is everything. The perfect engage happens when enemies are grouped for your AoE CC, your team is positioned to follow up, key enemy defensives (Purify, Flicker) are on cooldown, and you're near an objective to take after winning.
Pre-fight setup is crucial. Communicate with pings. Position in fog so the enemy doesn't see you coming. If you're playing a Flicker-engage tank like Tigreal, stand in a bush on the enemy's flank. When the fight starts, Flicker in and immediately ult for a multi-hero knockup. The surprise makes this exponentially more powerful than a visible approach.
After engaging, don't chase kills. Land your CC, then pivot to peeling for your carries as they clean up. Many tanks engage beautifully, then chase into the enemy backline and die because they left their own backline exposed. The sequence is: engage, CC, peel.
Timing your engage with your team's damage is the final piece. Don't go in when your mage's ult is on cooldown or your marksman is across the map. Wait for damage dealers to be in range, confirm their abilities are ready, then pull the trigger.
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