If you’ve ever queued up for your first few League of Legends matches and heard your jungler yell “gank top” in chat only to stare at your screen confused, you’re not alone. A huge portion of new players struggle to wrap their heads around core map mechanics when they first start, and ganking is one of the most important ones to master if you want to stop losing lanes and climb ranks faster. If you’re asking what is ganking in League of Legends, this guide breaks down everything you need to know, from basic definitions to pro tricks you can use in your next match.
What Is Ganking in League of Legends, Exactly?
At its core, ganking is a coordinated ambush where a player leaves their regular play area to surprise an enemy laner who is out of position. Most ganks come from junglers, who spend the early game farming neutral camps between lane ambushes, but mid laners, roams, and even supports can pull off ganks when the opportunity arises. The end goal of a gank isn’t always to get a kill, though that’s the most obvious reward.
Successful ganks can also force the enemy laner to use their summoner spells like Flash or Heal, force them to recall to base and lose valuable minion XP and gold, or let your allied laner take turret plates for extra gold. I’ve seen ganks that only force an enemy to back completely turn the tide of a lane, because the allied laner gets to freeze the wave near their turret and deny the enemy three full waves of farm. The core rule of a successful gank is the element of surprise—if the enemy sees you coming, they’ll almost always escape before you can do any damage.
It’s also important to note that ganking is a team effort. Your jungler can’t pull off a gank if you’re pushed all the way to the enemy turret with no vision, or if you don’t engage when they jump in. I’ve lost count of how many ganks have failed because the laner was too focused on last-hitting minions to notice their jungler was right next to them ready to fight.
Key Components of a Successful Gank
Not all ganks are created equal, and if you’ve ever spent 30 seconds walking to a lane only to leave with nothing to show for it, you know how frustrating wasted ganks can be. From my 7 years of playing League and climbing to Diamond rank three separate times, hitting these four key points will raise your gank success rate by roughly 60% for most low and mid-rank lobbies:
- Vision control: You need to make sure the enemy laner doesn’t have wards in the river or jungle path you’re taking to their lane. If they see you coming 10 seconds early, they’ll just retreat to their turret and you’ve wasted your time. Use a sweep trinket to clear any wards you find along your path before you get close to the lane.
- Favorable lane state: The ideal lane state for a gank is when the enemy laner is pushed far into your side of the map, with no easy escape route back to their turret. If your allied laner is the one pushed up, you’ll have to dive the enemy under turret, which is far riskier for new players and rarely worth the effort early on.
- Champion kit synergy: If you’re playing a jungler with no stun or slow, ganking a lane where your ally also has no crowd control is almost always a waste of time. You need at least one form of CC to lock the enemy down long enough to get enough damage off to secure a kill or force them to back.
- Roughly even power level: Don’t try to gank a lane where the enemy is 2 levels and 1k gold up on both you and your laner. You’ll just end up giving them a double kill and making the lane even worse than it already was.
For example, if you’re playing Warwick, who has a point-and-click stun and built-in healing, ganking a lane with a Yasuo ally who can knock up enemies the second you engage will almost always end in a kill. But if you’re playing a farming jungler like Master Yi who only has a slow early on, you’re better off waiting until level 6 to gank, when you have your ultimate to stick to enemies even if they use dashes or flashes.
You also don’t have to gank every lane every game. If the enemy top laner is playing super safe under their turret, you’re better off focusing on ganking mid or bot where enemies are pushed up and vulnerable. Wasting time trying to force a gank on a safe lane will just make you fall behind the enemy jungler in farm and levels.
Common Ganking Mistakes to Avoid
A lot of new junglers get frustrated when their ganks never work, but most of the time they’re making simple, avoidable mistakes that are easy to fix once you know what to look for. Don’t show yourself on the map before you’re ready to engage. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen a jungler walk straight through the river brush that the enemy has warded, then wonder why the enemy laner ran away before they even got to the lane.
Another common mistake is ganking a losing lane just because your laner is spamming for help. If the enemy top laner is 3/0 and already has their first item, diving them under turret will just give them more kills and make the lane impossible to come back from. It’s almost always better to gank winning lanes to snowball their lead, or gank mid to get control of objectives like dragon or Rift Herald that give your whole team a buff.
Don’t waste all your jungle farm just to gank a single lane either. If you skip your red buff and two camps just to gank bot and it fails, you’ll be 2 levels behind the enemy jungler and useless for the rest of the game. You have to balance farming and ganking, especially in the first 10 minutes of the game when jungle farm gives you the most XP and gold. Never forget to check the enemy jungler’s location before you gank. If you see the enemy Lee Sin on the map ganking top, you can safely gank bot without worrying about them counter ganking you. But if the enemy jungler is missing, there’s a good chance they’re waiting in the same brush you are, ready to turn your gank into a 2v3 loss for your team.
Finally, don’t stay in a lane too long after a failed gank. If you hang around top lane for 2 minutes trying to wait for a good opportunity to engage, you’re losing out on farm and the enemy jungler is probably taking all your jungle camps and securing objectives while you’re wasting time. If a gank doesn’t work within 10 seconds of you showing up, cut your losses and head back to your jungle path.
How to Counter Enemy Ganks As a Laner
Ganking isn’t just something you do as a jungler, it’s something you have to defend against as a laner too, and there are simple steps you can take to avoid getting ganked over and over. Buy and place wards regularly. A 75 gold trinket ward placed in the river brush at level 3 will save you from dying to a level 3 gank that would put you 400 gold behind for the rest of the lane phase. If you’re playing a side lane, you should also place a deep ward in the enemy jungle around 10 minutes, so you can see the jungler coming long before they reach your lane.
Pay attention to the minimap every 3 to 5 seconds. If the enemy mid laner disappears from their lane for more than 10 seconds, they’re probably roaming to gank top or bot, so you should retreat to your turret until they show up again. You should also track the enemy jungler’s location as much as possible. If you see them gank top lane at level 4, you know you have at least 2 minutes of safe farm on bot lane before they can make their way back to you.
If you do get ganked, don’t panic. If you have flash or a dash ability, use it to get to safety immediately instead of trying to fight 2v1. It’s better to lose a few minions than to die and give the enemy a gold lead. If you’re pushed too far up and don’t have an escape, you can always use your turret as protection, even if it means you lose a few minion kills in the process. I’ve seen so many new players greed for 3 caster minions worth 90 gold, only to die and lose 300 gold plus XP and turret plates. It’s never worth it.
You can also play around your jungler’s pathing to set up counter ganks. If you know your jungler is planning to gank your lane soon, you can pretend to overextend to bait the enemy laner into pushing, then let your jungler jump out and ambush them. Just make sure you have enough health to survive the first few seconds of the fight before your jungler engages.
At the end of the day, mastering ganking is one of the fastest ways to get better at League of Legends, no matter what role you main. Even if you never play jungle, understanding what is ganking in League of Legends will help you avoid getting caught out as a laner, and know when to push your lane to help your jungler get a successful gank off. Start small: if you’re a jungler, try to get one successful gank off per game before you focus on more advanced plays, and if you’re a laner, make a habit of placing at least two wards per lane phase. You’ll be shocked at how much your win rate climbs once you stop making basic ganking mistakes.