- All roles
Mana and cooldown trading is picking your fights by the enemy's resources instead of your own: bait out their key spell, shield or reload, then trade while it is unavailable. A spell that is down cannot hurt you or protect them, so the same trade costs far less.
What it is
Almost every lane matchup is decided by one or two enemy abilities: the stun, the dash, the shield, the dodge. While that ability is ready you are fighting the full champion. After it is spent you are fighting a weaker one for a known amount of time. A cooldown is the time before an ability, item or summoner spell can be used again, so that window is a fact you can count, not a guess.
There are three kinds of window. First, a long cooldown after a key spell is used, which gives you many seconds to trade. Second, a short lockout, such as a shield that lasts only about a second and a half (Yone's Spirit Cleave shield), a brief invulnerable stance (Fiora's Riposte prevents non-turret damage for 0.75 seconds) or a reload (Jhin reloads over 2.5 seconds after his fourth shot). These are over before you can walk away, so you wait them out rather than trade through them. Third, resource windows: mana users run low on mana, and energy users have a small pool that their abilities drain, so an enemy who has wasted spells on a wave cannot trade at all.
This is about timing, while Spacing and Tethering is about position. The two combine: you hold the edge of their range to bait the spell, then close in once it is gone. Because cooldowns shrink with levels and ability haste, your count from the last game may be wrong this one, and numbers on champion pages move between patches, so check them in the Practice Tool rather than trusting memory.
How to do it
- Name the key spell
For each matchup, pick the one ability that decides trades: a stun, a shield, a dodge, a gap closer. Items count too, since items and summoner spells have cooldowns. Write it in your head as the thing you are waiting for.
- Bait it out
Make the enemy use it on something that does not matter. Step into its range just long enough to look like a target, or poke so they answer. Throwing a cheap poke, or standing so a minion takes the hit, can make a shield or skillshot go on the wrong target. Do not offer a real fight while it is ready.
- Start a timer when it is spent
The moment they cast, count. Use the cooldown you looked up in the Practice Tool and assume ability haste makes it a little shorter later in the game. Add a second or two of safety, and keep an eye on their next cast to catch an early return.
- Let short windows end
If the lockout is under two seconds, such as a shield or a stance, do not spend your burst into it. Hold your spell, let it fade, and start the trade on the first frame it is gone. A reload works the other way round: start when it begins, since they cannot attack for its length.
- Commit inside the window
Use your full combo and any gap closer while the spell is down, and leave before it returns. Do not stay for a second round once the timer is almost up. If they use it on you early, back off at once.
- Starve them
A champion who burns mana or energy on waves has less for you. Push the wave with a cheap ability if you can, then trade when the enemy bar is low. Count their Flash and Ignite as well and use them as a trade signal.
Watch it
What to watch for: From 0:23 the video covers cooldown punish, then trades in minions at 1:46 and spell baiting at 3:28, which the video calls the most important.
Video: Laning 01: Spell Baiting, Cooldown Punish & Space — Riot Phroxzon League of Legends Game Design
Common mistakes
- You trade into a ready key spell because you are ahead. Wait for it to be spent, then go.
- You use your own burst into a short shield. It is absorbed. Let it fade and cast after.
- You lose count after a cooldown reduction. Check actual numbers in the Practice Tool and leave a margin.
- You bait and then do nothing. When the spell is spent, commit, or the window closes.
- You ignore the enemy's resource bar. Low mana or energy means a free trade.
Practice drill
- In the Practice Tool, cast your key enemy ability and time its cooldown with a stopwatch at level 1, then at level 6. Write both numbers down for three champions you meet often.
- In lane, call out loud every time the enemy casts their key spell, and trade only in the window. Success is one clean trade per cooldown and none when it is ready.