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In **League of Legends** solo queue, one of the most annoying habits I see is people “playing safe” by hovering mid and waiting to see what happens, when in reality they’re just bleeding tempo while nothing gets accomplished, because you’re not pushing a wave, you’re not taking vision, you’re not threatening a tower, you’re just standing in the most contested part of the map hoping the game presents you an easy play. And yeah, sometimes something happens and you get a kill, but most of the time it’s just this slow death where your side waves rot, your reset gets delayed, and you end up permanently moving second while telling yourself you were being “ready.”





# Why mid hovering is a tempo trap





Mid is where everyone ends up when they don’t know what to do next, so the moment you park there with no plan you’re basically joining the ARAM queue, except now you’ve also handed the enemy free information because they can see you. The biggest issue is you can’t be efficient from mid unless you’re actually doing something with it, like pushing the wave to create first move, or using the time to take vision and threaten picks, because if you’re just standing near your team you’re not pressuring anything and the enemy gets to stabilize for free.





# The rule: pick a side, then make it real





The fix is simple: **pick a side and commit**, meaning you decide “we’re playing for bot side” or “we’re playing for top side,” and then your actions match that decision. If you’re playing bot side, you push mid so you have first move, you reset on time, you take river vision, you control the entrances, and you’re ready when the fight starts, but you don’t just stand mid waiting for someone to int. If you’re playing top side, same thing, but mirrored, because the map rewards commitment, not hesitation, and half-rotations are how you get caught in jungle with no wave and no backup.





# What it looks like when you do it correctly





When you catch yourself hovering mid, do this: either push the mid wave and then move with intention, or leave mid and go collect the side wave that’s about to crash, because at least that creates pressure and forces an answer. The mistake is doing neither, because then you’re just a spectator while the game state moves forward without you, and when the objective spawns you suddenly realize you’re late, you’re under-statted, and you don’t have vision, so you take a fight in fog and the whole thing explodes.



About me: I’m Shelbion, and I’ve coached thousands of 1-on-1 sessions across every rank, so I’m big on rules that still work when solo queue gets messy. If you want help applying this to your own games, DM me on Discord: **shelbion** (link in sidebar/profile). For extra guides and breakdowns, search **TheAcademyAi** on Patreon (linked on my profile).