Funneling Strategy in League of Legends: A Closer Look
League of Legends is a highly competitive game with players constantly seeking strategies to gain an advantage. One such strategy is funneling, where one or more players invest their resources into a single carry champion. This allows the carry to snowball early and dominate teamfights with the help of their support.
The Concept Behind Funneling
Funneling involves funneling resources from multiple lanes into one carry champion to accelerate their growth. Typically, one player collects all the gold and experience while another builds supportive items. This strategy allows the carry to become incredibly powerful, giving them a significant advantage in teamfights.
Pros And Cons of Funneling
- The advantage of funneling is that it punishes uncoordinated play and allows the carry champion to gain core items much faster, making it easier to close out games.
- However, the disadvantage is that good team coordination can easily shut down the funneling strategy. Focusing the carry champion can disrupt the entire strategy.
Reception and Examples of Funneling
Many players express dislike for the funneling strategy, considering it an abuse of the game’s mechanics. Even players who have the funneling duo on their team often dislike it because the duo prioritizes individual carry potential over team-based play.
Here are some common examples of funneling strategies:
Taric/Master Yi Funnel
In this strategy, Master Yi acts as the hyper carry while Taric collects waves and supports him. Taric provides Armor to Master Yi during teamfights, ensuring successful engages with Yi’s Alpha Strike ability.
Braum/Kai’Sa Funnel
In this strategy, Kai’Sa (or Lucian/Irelia) takes smite and goes to mid lane, while Braum roams the jungle and weakens jungle camps for Kai’Sa to collect. Kai’Sa farms safely in mid lane and easily procs Braum’s passive in teamfights.
Janna Top With Smite Funnel
In this strategy, the top laner plays Janna with smite. They farm top lane for a short while and then roam around the map, assisting the jungler and ganking other lanes for kills. Lack of resources on top lane leads to objective bounties for the team.
Riot Games’ Attempt To Reduce Funneling
Riot Games has made efforts to minimize funneling strategies, but completely eliminating them is challenging. They have implemented various changes, such as reducing gold and experience for junglers, adjusting support items for objective bounty calculations, and modifying champion abilities.
Conclusion
Funneling remains a disliked strategy among players, and Riot Games continues to address it. While there are effective ways to counter funneling through coordinated team play, it can be frustrating to deal with in solo queue. Players are encouraged to focus on disciplined team play to avoid being punished by funneling strategies.