League 101: How to use Rift Herald optimally

It is possible that you see two Rift Herald being picked up in one game due to the spawn and respawn timers of the epic monster. There are optimal ways for both rift Heralds to use, so we will be discussing both uses. So, without further ado, let us dive right into it!

Two Rift Heralds?

The first Herald spawns on Summoners Rift at 8 minutes in the game at the top side of the map. That means turret plates are still a thing. If you do not kill the Rift Herald before 13 minutes and 45 seconds into the game, there will not be a second Rift Herald. That is because he needs 6 minutes to respawn and with Baron Nashor spawning 20 minutes into the game at the exact same location, it is impossible to have both.

Optimal use of first Rift Herald

Ideally, you want to kill and pick up the Rift Herald eye before 13 minutes into the game. Usually, when you won a skirmish on the topside of the jungle or when your jungler had a successful gank and now has some free time. When picked up, you have a big decision to make: when and where do you put down the Rift Herald? Preferably to gain the biggest possible advantage in the game. Well, good news for you, you can extend your lead with a Rift Herald or gain one if you were behind.

Press tab and look for the player with the most carry potential. This can be a carry toplaner, midlaner or botlaner. Go to his or her lane and try to kill the opponent. If that is not possible, no worries, you can still gain the advantage. Push the lane under the turret, get the turret so low that it only has two plates and 1/5th of the third plate alive. Then pop your Herald to fully execute the turret with only one charge of the Herald! This way, you get all the turret plate gold for your carry and possibly get the first turret for your team. Beware, do this before turret plates fall to gain the most optimal use of the first Herald.

What about the second Rift Herald?

The second Herald (or a late first one) cannot be used for turret plates. That, however, does not make it useless. This one can be used to open the map even more for your team when you have a bad siege comp or just want extra pressure. There are two optimal ways to use this Rift Herald. The first one is to siege the midlane turret (or any other outer turret) to open the map more. Use your Rift Herald to get that extra damage down. With the midlane turret down, arguably the most valuable turret, you can now impact the enemy jungle and play more with your newly gain advantage.

Another great use for the second Herald is to help you get another objective. Depending on how late you are in the game, you can use the pressure of the second Rift Herald to either get a dragon or if you are lucky a Baron. When the dragon respawns, you can use the pressure of the Rift Herald to force the enemy team to kill the Rift Herald instead of contesting the dragon. If, however, they still contest the dragon, your Rift Herald would have gotten so much free time that you could have already gotten a turret out of it. So practically it is a win win situation.

If the Baron is already alive and you still have your Herald, you can use it in a sidelane with a splitpusher to pull at least two enemies to that lane and create a numbers advantage around the Baron. Once multiple enemies show up on the other side of the map where you spawned the Herald, you can contest and even get the Baron for free.

Use these simple tricks to optimally use the Rift Herald in your games to win some more LP and finally gain your desired rank in Solo Queue!

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