League of Legends is an objective based game. The ultimate aim is to destroy the opposing team’s nexus and to do so you have to get through their towers and inhibitors. Neutral objectives such as baron and dragon, kills and gold only matter insofar as they aid you in destroying enemy structures.

Season 8 so far has been somewhat defined by stalled out games. Tanks are as prevalent as ever, ADC’s thanks to Targon’s and over-heal are somewhat tanky themselves and wave clear champions such as Sivir and Azir are prevalent. As such it doesn’t take a particularly advanced understanding of macro strategy to stall out games and make it difficult for an opponent to secure objectives. Which is why we see these long games with extended baron dances and very little happening until finally someone makes a mistake. This is often in itself, a mistake.

The tools are the same as they’ve always been: map rotations, split pushing, vision control and wave manipulation. Given the meta, nuanced understanding of these concepts are now more than ever what separates the good teams from the mediocre – especially if the game is fairly even. It is no longer good enough to threaten a single objective and hope the enemy gives you a favourable team fight. You have to manufacture conditions that give your opponent no good options.

Ryze Demonstrating a Fork

In chess, forking is a term used for when you use a piece to simultaneously threaten two of your opponent’s pieces. No matter what your opponent does they are losing one of the two. Their only choice is which.

I first heard the team used in the context of League of Legends by professional coach Nick “LS” De Cesare. In his VOD analysis of Team Solo Mid vs Team Liquid (2017 Spring) he observes Bjergsen and TSM position in such a way that they are simultaneously threatening an inhibitor and baron by using the mobility of Ryze ultimate. Whilst this is a very specific use of forking, I chose it because it demonstrates the concept so clearly.

TSM threaten their opponent’s inhibitor, giving them only poor options. Either rotate back to defend, chase through enemy vision and hope to force a fight or try and force baron. No matter what they do TSM will see and can chose their next move. In this instance they do chose to rotate to defend and as such Bjergsen responds by teleporting his team to an incontestable baron.

Forking is Common in League

Forking however is not unique to Ryze. It is prevalent in many aspects of the game. You could consider neutral objective control a form of forking. Pushing mid before contesting a neutral objective is a common macro rule known as gaining mid priority. It’s also a form of forking. The point of pushing mid is that it allows you to threaten mid lane if the enemy goes to the neutral objective, or you gain position on dragon/baron. This gives your team the options. You can simply opt to trade; this is often desirable if for a less desirable drake. Or you can try to push the opponents off drake without committing to a fight, then resume pressuring mid with superior positioning.

The point is by positioning in such a way that they can threaten two objectives simultaneously a team is dictating choices onto their opponent.

Similarly, merely by having full vision control of baron you are in essence forking. Whilst you’re only threatening a single objective, you can be doing one of two things. It’s Schrödinger’s baron. If your team can’t be seen the enemy team has to presume that you’re simultaneously doing baron or looking for an ambush. They have no option but to venture in to gain vision. However, this is a much stronger play if you’re the superior team fighting composition or ahead. If you’re even with the enemy team, or the weaker composition it is not a strong option because you don’t want said fight. So what do you do?

Well ideally you have an external locus of pressure. Like a split pusher, or even better super minions. . Both put pressure on a lane that demands a response. One gives you a numbers advantage at the objective with the minions functioning as a sixth man. The other allows you to pressure, chipping down the enemy turret which forces the other team into either forcing baron or sending a response – once again giving you the numbers advantage. This turns the situation into a true fork, you’re threatening two different points at once which demands a response.

Getting Creative

That’s all well and good but already having taken an inhibitor is a luxury, as is having a member strong enough to effectively pressure a side-lane. What if you have neither? This occurred in a recent game, Team Liquid vs Optic Gaming. After failing to fully execute on their early game composition, TL find themselves against a composition with both superior team fighting and scaling. In theory, assuming equally skilled players they should lose this game.

After staving off a difficult early game, Team Optic is now confident enough to fend Liquid off from starting baron whilst their ADC secures a mountain drake. There is no way that TL can start baron and whilst they see Cody Sun walk over a ward towards drake, until the sound signifying it’s secure, they cannot be certain where he is. Unable to charge into Optic head on, TL retreats into the enemy jungle and secures vision control.

The team already had a slow pushing wave in top that is now crashing towards the enemy tower. TL is now ideally positioned to threaten both the tower and baron simultaneously as they have denied OPT any vision of their current location.

In between these frames, TL has full vision of Akaadian channelling his recall. As such they begin to manoeuvre some members towards baron. Akaadian then cancels his recall and begins to posture upwards, still in vision of TL. Impact is now positioned above the team which may have led OPT to believe the other members have started the baron. They move up on mass and Xmithie flanks from fog.

Whilst Optic responded less than ideally, the mistake was a result of being under multiple sources of pressure simultaneously. Thanks to creative use of vision and wave manipulation TL to secure a favourable fight, baron and then win a game they should have probably lost.

League of Legends is a game of pressure. You have to pay constant attention to what the enemy can take from you and what you can take from the enemy. If you slip up in one aspect of the game even for a moment, a good team will seize the chance and force you into making very difficult decisions in a very small amount of time. That is the power of the fork.