What Does Leash Mean in League of Legends?

If you’ve ever found yourself being spammed with pings from your jungler while he repeatedly types LEASH in all caps, don’t worry, you’re not alone. If you’re not sure what it is, there’s no shame in it. 

We’re here to help! Regardless of how it sounds, It isn’t what you use to hold your favorite pet. It’s an important tool used to help out your jungle.

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What is Leashing?

Leashing is the term used in League of Legends to refer to the process in which a player usually helps a jungler or core champion kill a monster. 

While this can be done at all stages of the game, it’s common during the first phase of the game to help your jungler secure the blue or red buff, depending on which they choose. 

Some champions with slower clear speeds struggle doing it at level 1. Others can do it rather quickly, such as Shaco with his Jack in the Box.

Why Is It Important?

Like we mentioned, some jungler suffer from slow clear speeds, and helping out your jungler can have good long term effects for your team. 

Let’s look at Amumu, for example. He’s very mana dependent, and as a result, he often starts at blue buff. 

Opponents will know this too, which may tempt them to either invade your red buff camp or set up an ambush for Amumu. When you don’t leash, you leave him open to ganks like these. 

As soon as Amumu gains blue buff, he has the option of keeping Despair on, which significantly increases his clear speed early on. 

This subsequently results in him reaching level 6 earlier, which gives him access to Curse of the Sad Mummy, which means he can gank earlier (since it may be difficult for him to gank prior to level 6 unless the enemy team pushes too far). 

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What Happens When You Don’t Leash?

Well, if your jungler can handle himself, then nothing really. He loses a few seconds getting the first buff or raptor camp, and while it may not sound like much, a few seconds is really all the enemy jungler needs to secure the Rift Scuttler which makes securing and defending objectives a lot harder for your team. 

Not to mention if the enemy jungler decides to invade, your own jungler would have no choice but to risk himself by going to the enemy’s side of the map. 

Leashing, especially in the bot lane, should be done regularly, because with 3 of you there, you should be back in lane before any of the enemy minions die. 

Conclusion

It isn’t just important for slower clear champions either, as champions who innately clear quickly like Olaf can clear even quicker, which makes him gank faster or get enough items to secure more objectives early on. 

Everyone wins. A string of early game successes often results in your teammates snowballing well into the late game. See? It’s like a domino effect. Helping out your jungler helps your team.