Hello, this is Primalink and this is my guide. This guide shows my thoughts on a lane swap in Summoner's Rift. PLEASE keep in mind that this guide is mostly Theory and Speculation. I just simply do not have the time to test out this strategy. However, this guide is very logical and should make sense when I explain. If you have any questions about the guide or have any ideas for the guide, PLEASE post them in the comments so I can see them. Any additional feedback is also welcome.

The Purple Side

Note the word PURPLE in the title

Top Lane:

ONE champion, should be any top laner that works in the current meta

Jungler:

ONE champion, preferably one with good ganking potential BUT good ganking potential is not completely necessary for this strategy

Mid Lane:

TWO champions, standard ad carry/support combo, preferably an aggressive combo such as Corki/ Taric.

Bot Lane:

ONE champion, a mid lane champion that you find in the current meta. This champion should have good sustain, escapability, tankiness, or good farming. OR a combination of any of these aspects.

Keep in mind this strategy is for the purple side

A simple explanation would be that mid lane is the MOST IMPORTANT lane to have a tower in and that having two champions in it would help your team keep that tower, BUT there are many more logical reasons than just that.

A support in mid lane will have better opportunities for placing wards and thus will grant your team more vision on the map. A support in mid lane can still ward dragon , but now your team can ward both wraiths camps and baron nashor with ease.
In short a support in mid lane can devote more of their money to warding crucial spots on the map than the standard solo ap caster would and in the end having a support in mid gives your team more vision on the map.

An AD carry in mid lane can farm, farm, farm and will have more opportunities to help your team get kills.
As is well known, minions get to mid lane FASTER than to any other lane. This means an AD carry can get the same amount of minion kills in mid lane FASTER than in bot lane. This means you can get money faster on your most item dependent champ.
Also, more mobile AD carries, like Ezreal or Corki, can help out in ganks on top or bot lane. Their shear damage output could ensure a kill for your team during a gank.

Hmmmmm now who did I forget about... oh right the enemy mid laner, they're going to have bad time in lane. A good AD carry/Support combo can easily shut down a solo laner or if they can't, they can easily deny them farm.

The section below is if the mid laner does not switch lanes. I will go more in depth on what happens if a lane switch happens later in the guide

An aggressive AD carry/Support combo can look to get kills quite easily on solo laners with few escapes. In short, either the support or the AD carry initiates the fight and the enemy either flashes/ghosts away, they escape but they are low on health, or they die. ALL of these situations are good for your team. The enemy champion will be underleveled and will not have a lot of gold which are both good for your team

A passive AD carry/Support combo can zone the enemy. To zone, the support moves around the enemy caster minions and tries to keep the enemy out of exp range. If the enemy needs to be discouraged from leaving the turret, a few fights can make them think twice before entering exp range. The enemy will be underleveled and will not have a lot of gold.

Lets say the enemy jungler ganks in order to help the enemy mid laner.
1. Your support should have warded AT LEAST one side of the lane efficiently so that a safe side of the lane is established. For example, if the support has warded the brush and jungle above mid lane efficiently then the AD carry/support should stick to the top side of mid lane since the jungler cannot enter mid lane from the top without being seen and if he tries to enter from the top he is easily spotted. If the jungler tries to enter from the bottom side of mid lane, then AD carry/support are far enough away from the jungler to be able to run away from the gank easily.

If you have wards on both side of the lane, any gank attempts by the jungler can be easily spotted.

2. 1 mid laner+ 1 jungler= 2 champions
1 support+ 1 AD carry= 2 champions
This means the fight should be relatively even, or in your favor considering how the enemy mid laner should be underleveled

One of the few downsides to this strategy is that your former solo mid champion will now be in a 2v1 lane unless the enemy team does a lane switch.

If they do not do a lane switch, then your solo champion in bot will have to have some of the aspects previously mentioned.

Champions such as Swain or Vladimir will have enough sustain to be able to survive the 2v1 without too much difficulty.

Champions with good escapes, like Ahri and Katarina, will be able to get out of sticky situations and will most likely survive the lane.

Any champions that can get a good amount of farm from this lane are viable.

Basically, the solo champion just has to survive the lane and get some farm out of it

KEEP in mind, that this strategy can be used to punish the enemy team for picking certain ap casters. While your solo champion in bot can survive the lane, the mid champion for the enemy team might not be a champ that can survive the lane. The enemy mid laner might die repeatedly or they might not be able to get any farm due to how their champion works. A situation like that is a good situation for your team.

No one likes to be in a 2v1 lane at the start of the game and the enemy mid laner should become so annoyed with the lane that they will ask their bot lane to do a lane switch.

If the enemy AD carry/Support combo is in mid lane AND your AD carry/Support combo is in mid lane, then the lane will be like a normal bot lane in the current meta. Both AD carries will focus on farm and will engage in fights as usual, while the supports ward around the map. A lane switch will not really hurt either AD carry/Support combo, BUT it will hurt the former enemy mid laner.

The former enemy mid laner is now in bot lane, which is less than stellar for them.
If the enemy champion is mana dependent, like Anivia or Karthus, then they cannot easily obtain the blue buff on their side of the map (KEEP in mind, this strategy puts your team on the purple side of the map). The enemy champion now has to leave their lane for a while if they want that blue buff which leaves your solo bot laner free to farm or push to their desire, while still being able to easily get their own blue buff since the blue buff for the purple team is right next to bot lane.

Also, the enemy champion in bot lane now is more susceptible to ganks. Your jungler can enter bot lane through the tri-brush which will bring them right behind the enemy champion, while your bot laner can only be ganked from behind if they are either overextended in their lane or the enemy goes through the brush behind your team's bot turret. If both your jungler and your bot lane champ play smart, then your bot lane champion will survive with ease and the enemy bot laner will either die quite a bit from ganks or they will have to lane with the constant fear of being ganked.

Some of you are probably thinking that if the enemy bot laner puts down a few wards then they will be fine. Let me ask you this, how many times does a bot lane with an AD carry/Support combo get ganked successfully? It happens ALL the time even though the support is devoting their money to buying wards. The former enemy mid laner, who is now in bot lane, will not buy nearly as many wards, even though they have to worry about more effective ganks made by your jungler.

Anivia is one of those champs that struggles in 2v1 lanes in the early game. Her q, Flash Frost, is her main source of cc but it is a relatively slow skill shot and can either be avoided or the damage that is taken can be easily restored or shielded by the support. Her only other damage source prior to level 6 is her e, Frostbite, but this is a single target skill which makes it less useful in 2v1s. Her ultimate, Glacial Storm, is her only source of area of effect damage, but this skill drains her mana so quickly that she has to get blue buff in order to use it constantly.

If Anivia moves out of the less favorable 2v1 lane to bot lane, this is still good for your team. Anivia is very blue buff dependent and if she doesn't get blue buff she will have next to no mana very quickly if she is farming well. This means she will have to leave lane to get that blue buff (and the enemy Anivia will leave lane if they are good). This leaves your bot laner free to farm for a little and can give your team a slight edge.



Karthus is a really good champion to try this strategy. He is a powerful late game champ who deals lots of damage but in order for him to become strong in the late game, he has to farm A LOT. It isn't unusual to see a Karthus player to primarily focus on farming, but how is he going to farm if he is in a 2v1 lane?

If you use this strategy against him, have your AD carry/support combo harass him constantly. This will limit how much farm he has and will severely delay his late game strength if you deny him farm effectively.

If Karthus moves to Bot lane, then that is also good for your team. Karthus is a notoriously slow champ which means he has to waste a lot of time just getting to bot lane from the fountain. Also, because he is so slow, he is more susceptible to ganks because he can't run away very quickly and his only real defensive skill is Wall of Pain which has a long cooldown and is hard to position so that it blocks both your jungler and your bot laner. On top of this, Karthus is blue buff dependent if he wants to use his Defile or to simply get farm. If he's in bot lane, he will have to waste a lot of time traveling to blue buff and back to bot lane.

Karthus is a common champ and this strategy is a good counter against him

I'm not sure if this strategy could work for the blue side as well. If it would be able have any chance of working, then your former mid laner would have to go to top lane so that they can be near the blue buff, BUT this means your new top laner will be facing a top laner, such as Riven or Garen, who will most likely dominate the top lane. If your new top laner can easily survive the matchup, then that's one less thing to worry about BUT don't forget about your former top laner who now has to do a 2v1 lane. Your new solo bot laner has to survive the matchup or else he will become underleveled.

In short, both your new solo top laner and your new solo bot laner have to survive their matchups. However I feel this severely limits the number of champions you can pick for both top and bot lane while the Purple side strategy only limits the number of champions you can play in the solo bot lane and the top lane is left relatively unaffected.

If you didn't feel like reading all of that, here's the even SHORTER version.

Purple Side strategy is better than a Blue Side version of it.

I feel like this strategy can help your team punish the enemy team for picking certain champions who cannot survive a 2v1 mid lane or a solo bot lane. This strategy will also grant your team better ward coverage around the map.

If you have any feedback about my strategy, please do not hesitate to post it in the comments or message me directly.
If you're feedback is helpful to the guide, I will use it to make this guide better.

Thank You for Reading My Guide