Top 10 Tips for DOMINATING 1v1s | Winning Against "Better" Players

Why's Everyone Going 1v1?

As the season draws to a close, the spirit of competition is rising to a frenzy amd tensions run high. Inevitably, someone is going to challenge you to a 1v1 whether it be a stranger or a friendly rival. Of course, being the non-wussy that you are, you'll accept all challenges that come your way.

Sometimes you find you're a bit out of your league, but these tips below will help you gain an edge if not an outright advantage. No matter what the rank difference between you and your challenjour is, you can make up for it using the tips below. After all, 1v1s are much different than 5v5 games.

Check out our top ten tips on how to 1v1 to your maximum potential!

Why's Everyone Going 1v1?

As the season draws to a close, the spirit of competition is rising to a frenzy and tensions run high. Inevitably, someone is going to challenge you to a 1v1 whether it be a stranger or a friendly rival. Of course, being the non-wussy that you are, you'll accept all challenges that come your way.

Sometimes you find you're a bit out of your league, but these tips below will help you gain an edge if not an outright advantage. No matter what the rank difference between you and your challenjour is, you can make up for it using the tips below. After all, 1v1s are much different than 5v5 games.

Check out our top ten tips on how to 1v1 to your maximum potential!

1v1 Rules

Before we get into the strategies, let's go over the classic 1v1 rules:

1. First person to kill the other person wins
2. First person to get to 100 cs wins
3. First person to kill the enemy turret wins
4. Games are played mid lane
5. No jungle minions or ulting/killing other lane minions
6. Shopping and recalling is allowed 
7. Same champion is picked (not always)

Now that the rules are out of the way, let's dive right in!

Honorable 1v1 Strategies

There are certain strategies that are not only honorable, but also could easily be used in your standard gameplay. If you implement these into your playstyle on a consistent basis, you can win lane more often in 5v5s as well. 

1. Use Flash Intelligently

If you're playing a mirror match-up, both champions have the same tools at your disposal. This means you know exactly how much damage they can do compared to your own damage output. 

Think about what the most important spell to hit or dodge is, and make sure that the second you see that spell about to land, flash it. This could be something as obvious as Ahri's charm or it could be purely damage based like Lucian's Q.

2. Use Ignite Early

Generally speaking most players will opt for ignite as their second summoner simply because it's the easiest way to kill an enemy champion in lane. Using it earlier than later means that you can gain a quick advantage or force a flash. With the same kit at your disposal, the first one to attack is usually also the first one to win.

Using ignite earlier also means that their health potions are less effective, giving you the edge you need to win the all-in.

3. Use Health Potions Early

Similar to igniting early, you should press your health potion the moment you get the feeling that they're about to start an all-in or dish you damage over the amount of your health potion. The only reason you wouldn't want to do this is if you have time-warp tonic as a rune.

Either way, you want to make sure to use your health potion before they use ignite to get the maximum effectiveness out of the items.

4. Push Level Advantages

Players are usually aware of when they're about to hit the next level, but rarely do they truly force the advantage. The reason for this is that generally speaking junglers can easily gank you if you're playing too aggressively. However, in a 1v1 there are no junglers to worry about.

If you have an advantage in a mirror match-up, force the enemy laner to either fight you to the death or lose out on minion gold and experience.

5. Back off after missing skill shots

This might seem obvious, but if you miss a skill shot then it's time to back off. Similar to pushing the level advantage, when your spell is on cooldown you basically don't have that spell available just like if you were under-leveled. You should be pressing the enemy when they miss a skill shot and you should be backing off if you miss one.

1v1 Specific Strats

Some strategies are specific to 1v1 and won't necessarily work optimally in a 5v5. Almost all the stacking runes are useless, so make sure to consider which runes are most valuable in the early levels (most 1v1s will end before level 6).

1. Ghost Poro for AP

Electrocute is a popular mastery. Unfortunately, the Ghost Poro/Zombie Ward/Eyeball Collection rune level is weak for 1v1s. Pick up Ghost Poro and drop a ward in lane as soon as possible. This will give you a small amount of AP/AD when the enemy laner walks over it after expiration. Make sure to put it right near the middle of the lane for maximum effect.

2. Nullifying Orb for Shield

For some poke champions, you may opt to go for the Sorcery rune tree. If you do, picking up Nullifying Orb over classical choices like Absolute Focus and Mana Flow Band will be more valuable due to the all-in nature of most 1v1s.

Scorch is still going to be your best pick on this tree as a non-keystone.

3. Don't Trade CS for Damage

In some games it's okay to trade CS for damage, especially if you know your champion will be stronger in a few levels or will scale harder mid to late game. However, in a 1v1 you never want to trade CS for damage in a mirror match-up. Most games will end before you have a chance to shop, so taking damage just seals your early doom.

Dishonorable Strats

Oh you've gone and done it haven't you? You've challenged someone way over your head in a 1v1 and talked a lot of smack. There's not a lot you can do to back it up but you're desperate for the W. You can't straight up cheat but you can't look the fool either. Desperate times call for desperate measures. 

1. Pick a cheese champion (for mirror match-ups)

Take him out of his comfort zone. If that means picking an unorthodox champion and using a sneaky cheese strategy so be it. Refuse to go to the same runes and say they can pick whatever they want. Here are some examples you can try you devious fellow:

• Taric - Pick up press the attack and go level one Q (heal). With any luck they'll go electrocute/grasp and stun. While they're trying to line up the stun, hit them with the Q auto-auto, Q-auto-auto until they quickly discover they're in trouble.
• Rammus - Max your taunt and freeze your minion wave at turret. Refuse any CS that's close enough to hit them. When they get bored and wander a little too close to your turret you know what to do.
• Bard - He'll likely think you're trying to cheese him by collecting charms around the map. Instead, walk into his jungle before charms start spawning and try and kill him when he tries to pick one up. The small bush near red buff is best.

2. Challenge them late at night

When in-game strategies aren't good enough, try challenging them late at night when you know they're about to pass out from exhaustion. Better yet, take a nap beforehand so you're fresh and ready to pwn. Maybe even warm up a little on a smurf account in training mode if you're desperate enough!

Are you a 1v1 master? Got any tips you have that weren't mentioned above? Comment below and let us know if any of these tips helped you win some 1v1s recently!