Hello, I am Statusbaked, the current jungler for Phoenix Reign. This is a guide for how I play jungle
Lance successfully in both rank play and competitive matches.
Lance is primarily a roamer, but is very effective in the jungle position in the current meta, and that is what this guide will focus on.
Lance is a tanky bruiser that excels at locking enemies down, catching them out of position, and pulling off clutch-escapes.
Lance can build many items situationally, but here are some of the more common primary damage item combinations:
Sorrowblade +
Breaking Point
Double
Sorrowblade
Tension Bow +
Sorrowblade
Sorrowblade +
Tyrant's Monocle
Personally, I favor the double
Sorrowblade and
Sorrowblade +
Breaking Point builds, but any of the above can be effective depending on the situation.
I hope you enjoy the guide!
-Statusbaked
Partisan’s Technique
Lance’s perk has 2 parts, both of which are extremely important to his overall kit. The first part is that Lance’s basic attacks deal damage to every target in a straight line. However,
Lance’s attacks are slower and attack speed is less effective. This is extremely useful for jungle clear and team fights, as it allows you to clear the back camps and stack
Breaking Point extremely quickly with the massive AOE. Line all 3 camps in a row for the best clear time.
The other part of Partisan’s Technique is his stamina use instead of energy. Since Stamina regenerates extremely quickly, Lance almost never has a problem with using abilities when they are off CD. Throughout the game, since Lance has quick clear speed and doesn’t need energy, it allows you to give up jungle health minions to the laner to get them ahead.
When activated,
Lance “Imaples” his enemies in a narrow live in the activated direction, dealing immense damage and rooting enemies for a duration.
Impale is an extremely dynamic ability that can change the course of a fight instantly. It is, however, a fairly difficult ability to successfully land and leaves you very vulnerable if missed due to it locking you in place for a short duration.
To increase the chance of
Impale landing, try using it in a corridor where there is little room for the enemy to move side-to-side. Landing
Impale is a lot about predictions, but it is important not to over/under predict. Don’t use Impale where the enemy is standing, instead use it where they are going to be moving. When playing against highly mobile heroes, save
Impale for after they use their mobility ability. For example, when playing against a
Skye only use
Impale after she
Suri Strikes to be sure she won’t be able to quickly dodge the skill.
Impale is also extremely good to combine with other crowd control abilities like
Catherine’s
Merciless Pursuit or a
Celeste
Core Collapse. Let the other hero land their CC ability first and then use Impale for a guaranteed hit.
Upgrade Priority:
Always take
Impale’s overdrive first. The additional damage and reduced cooldown in the early game is extremely important in helping Lance to snowball the game. Additionally, the duration of the root is increased once overdriven.
Gythian Wall
Lance’s B ability,
Gythian Wall gives him an incredible amount of peel, CC and innate survivability. When activated,
Lance knocks enemies back in the target direction, dealing significant damage and also stunning enemies if they collide with a wall or structure. Because of this, it is best to fight in narrow spaces where Lance can easily sweep enemies into a wall for incredible CC.
Additionally,
Lance has passive damage reducing in the direction he is facing and can strafe around his first target to move the damage reduction shield. To activate the passive damage reduction, simply basic attack a target and it will stay active as long as you continue basic attacking. After Lance’s sweeping motion with the shield, he holds his shield in place, actively reducing an even greater amount of damage. Once overdriven, you can use this ability to block the burning effects from abilities like
Ringo’s
Hellfire Brew and
Skaarf’s
Spitfire, or high-damage directional abilities like
Celeste’s
Solar Storm.
Upgrade Priority:
Always overdrive
Gythian Wall second after
Impale. Each upgrade gives a reduced cooldown, increased stun duration and more damage reduction. Once overdriven,
Lance ignores all debuffs while he is holding his shield in place.
Combat Roll
While it may not seem like a very threatening ability,
Lance’s
Combat Roll pretty much ties his whole kit together.
Combat Roll is extremely good for escaping;
Lance is probably the best hero at preventing aces in the late game with his endless escapes and rolls/Impales through walls. Lance can go through pretty much any wall, but some walls have very particular spots. Check out the wall jump section for detailed information.
After
Lance uses
Combat Roll, his next basic attack strikes quickly and deals additional crystal damage. This is extremely important for Lance due to his naturally slow basic attacks. Use Combat Roll as a gap closer, a way to dodge skill-shots and as a way to increase damage output. Once
Impale is overdriven, it resets the cooldown on
Combat Roll. For insane damage output, use Combat Roll+Basic attack, Impale, then Combat Roll+Basic Attack again.
Lance’s abilities are very position oriented. Use
Combat Roll to get into position to successfully land the abilities, and to better utilize them. For example, using
Combat Roll to get in front of an enemy and then using
Gythian Wall to knock them back into your team is an extremely effective maneuver.
The early game is the most important part of the game for
Lance. After the first rotation, try and steal the enemy bottoms. After that, you should go and lane and either try for a gank or sit there while you wait for enemy camps to spawn. If you’re confident you can steal the backs and get out alive, you can invade the enemy backs. This is very risky, but if you wait in the bush and use
Impale when the camps are below half health, you should be able to steal them quite easily and even get out. If you’re not as confident or the enemy has a strong early game, just wait in lane until the mid healer comes up and contest that with your laner rotating down. Again, wait in a bush and try to root it at low health.
Gythian Wall is also very good at stealing camps, but Impale is definitely better due to the massive burst damage. Keep the pressure up in jungle throughout the early-mid game, as Lance needs a snowball to win. Focus on getting farm, and especially the enemy mid camps to gain an XP lead.
The only hero that really gives Lance any trouble in the early game is a
Taka. Against
Taka, focus on your own jungle and try and gank lane a lot to get your laner ahead and make enemy laner struggle. If
Taka builds a lot of armor, never engage early. If
Taka doesn’t build armor, you can beat him in jungle. Focus on killing laner and peel back
Taka while you’re killing the enemy laner if you do end up in a team fight. Against
Taka and other mobile heroes, early
Travel Boots are extremely effective.
In the mid game, start to pressure the lane a lot more. Keep the pressure up in lane by constantly ganking and rotating down as three with your laner. If you can land
Impale during a gank, you will be pretty much guaranteed to get the kill. Focus on maintaining the advantage you gained in the early game by pushing objectives and setting up/clearing vision to get ready for the late game and to ensure you stay safe roaming the jungle. If you are behind for whatever reason at this point in the game, put all focus on feeding the laner.
Lance will fall off, so it is essential your laner is fed to be able to carry in the late game while Lance peels for him.
In the late game, focus on landing abilities and peeling for your laner in team fights. Save
Gythian Wall for when the enemy is either using a crucial ability that can be stunned or to use to peel for your team. Use Impale to deal damage and peel against melee heroes that aren’t
Taka.
The biggest thing is to avoid getting poked down in fights. If you miss the root, make sure you use
Combat Roll to get out as quickly as possible. Additionally, it is easy to forget to auto attack in the late game with all the carnage, but basic attacking does an immense amount of damage, especially if you can hit multiple enemies. Use
Combat Roll to dance around the fight and continually auto attack.
Quibble
Ardan
Adagio
Reflex Block
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