Peeling: The art of keeping carries alive

 

 

LoL’s current meta is laid out in a series of roles. We have the bruiser top lane, the tank jungle, a burst champion mid, and a ranged carry babysat by a support at bot lane. Bruisers and tanks disrupt the enemy and tank damage, the mid tries to deal as much damage as quickly as possible, and the ranged carry cleans up by providing ranged damage from the back, protected by a support. It’s all pretty simple, and most players abide by the meta, playing champions most suited for their roles in their respective lanes. However, not every game turns out the same way everytime; LoL isnt a game of rock-scissors-paper where there is a clear cut way to win or lose. The dynamic nature of LoL demands that you switch your focus when neccessary, whether in terms of objectives (Push a tower or Baron?) or targets in teamfights (Target the Veigar before he bursts, or the Vayne who has the potential to kill everyone?). As such, the concept of ‘peeling’ arises but yet has been largely ignored by most players in the community.

 

Every player wants to be the show stopper, the big dog, the MVP of a team. You dish out your damage/crowd control and take pride in instagibbing the enemy mid, and strike fear into the hearts of your opponents everytime your icon appears on the minimap. Teamfight after teamfight, you kill and lock but slowly you watch as your team slowly lose the fight 4v5 and you are powerless to help them. As they break your nexus, you can only rage and type in all chat “NOOB TEAM!”, but was it really their fault? Faintly, you hear your AD Carry talk about having no ‘peel’ and dismiss it as just an excuse for playing badly.

 

If this sounds familiar to you, then you are one of the many players of League of Legends who have yet to understand the concept of ‘peeling’. No, we’re not talking about removing the skin off our fruits; it’s a major part of playing in a team oriented game that should be understood by everyone. Peeling refers to casting crowd control spells to protect instead of to kill.

 

“What?! That’s blasphemy! It’s always better to kill then to protect!”

 

Hear me out before you bring out the torches and pitchforks. If you are an assassin like Khazix or Zed, no one is expecting you to slow down an entire enemy team. Assassins kill, thats their entire concept.  Peeling refers mostly to bruisers, tanks and supports with crowd control who are supposed to lock down the enemy to kill.

 

“But isnt that the same thing?”

 

 Not quite. Instead of killing the enemy, you stun or slow or silence or snare the ones who are chasing your carries, stopping them from being killed and winning the teamfight overall.

 

“But that’s the support’s job! I aint no support!”

 

Much like larger scale MMO raids, it is important to keep everyone alive, because having a full team will always be better than fighting undermanned. That means keeping that Kogmaw alive long enough to take down everyone and take objectives after winning teamfights. Most players only think about kills. Rarely do they look at the bigger picture. You may be a 10-0 Renekton, but you will still need your ADC to finish off towers and take objectives.

 

So what should you do? Simple. If your team needs more peel, just change your priorities. Protect the ADC, CC the high priority targets and make sure that your teammates have a window of opportunity to do what they do. Save some of your key stuns to predict when the enemy will rush your squishies, and you will not only save your team, but you will get your kills either way. Keep your team alive and you will win more games than if you try to be a solo hero. League isnt about your personal score but more about team play and taking objectives.