Demystifying Positions and Roles in Mobile Legends

Hey friend! Terry here, your favorite tech geek and Mobile Legends enthusiast. As an experienced player and analyst, I often get asked "What is position 1 in ML?". Mobile Legends has a unique system of positions and roles that can be confusing for new players. In this comprehensive guide, I‘ll break down everything you need to know about positions 1-5, the key roles, and how to leverage the position system to boost your ranked performance!

POS 1 – The Hard Carry

The position 1 player is assigned the carry role and given the highest farming priority on the team. They focus on accumulating gold from minion kills to buy damaging items and carry the team to victory in the late game.

The carry is ideally played by Marksman heroes like Miya, Layla, Claude who scale incredibly well with items and deal sustained damage in team fights. They start off weak but become unstoppable once they have 3-4 core damage items.

In the standard map, the carry goes solo in the bottom gold lane along with the support. Their goal in the early game is to farm safely without dying. It‘s okay to lose some minion gold and even sacrifice a turret or two, as long as you can free-farm to hit your item power spikes. Avoid fighting until you have your core items.

According to in-game stats, Marksmen currently make up 22% of hero picks in high Mythic ranked matches. This shows the consistent popularity and power of the carry role.

Tips for Playing Carry

• Focus only on last-hitting minions and farming jungle creeps between waves.

• Don‘t take risky fights when at an item disadvantage. Play safely under towers.

• Buy items like Berserker‘s Fury, Scarlet Phantom, Wind of Nature that synergize with your kit.

• Use Retribution skill to secure buffs, turtle, Lord. Buffs accelerate your farming.

• Join teamfights ONLY with your core items, then wipe enemies!

Playing a textbook carry takes discipline – it‘s tempting to join early skirmishes, but avoiding them to hit your item timings is key. Master this playstyle and you‘ll reliably dominate ranked matches.

POS 2 – The Mid Laner

The position 2 player goes mid and acts as the team‘s playmaker in the early-mid game while the carry is still farming. They actively gank side lanes to get kills and push down turrets in the first 10 minutes.

Mobile Legends pros typically draft strong early-mid game Mages or Assassins in the mid lane. Heroes like Selena, Yve, Pharsa have powerful level 4 ultimates that enable them to roam and secure kills. Physical assassins like Lancelot, Hayabusa provide burst damage to snowball leads.

The mid laner avails of the quick level advantages provided by solo exp and farm in the mid lane. Once they unlock their ultimate, they start ganking sidelanes in coordination with the jungler and support. This allows them to catch enemies off guard and rack up kills before they group up.

Mid heroes tend to fall off in the late game compared to hyper-carries. So their window of power is the early-mid game. According to pro draft stats, Mages make up 18% of picks while Assassins are at 15% in Mythic ranked.

Tips for Mid Laners

• Push your minion wave before ganking. This denies gold/exp to the enemy midlaner.

• Always carry a damage skill when ganking sidelanes. Secure kills before enemies escape.

• Roam down to the turtle pit around the 2 minute mark. Your damage can help secure it.

• Take towers quickly after ganks to expand your team‘s map control.

• Buy magic penetration items like Genius Wand against tanky enemies.

Having a strong mid laner who dictates the pace of the game is a hallmark of high-level ranked play. If you like playing proactive heroes, master carrying from the mid position.

POS 3 – The Offlaner

The offlaner occupies the solo Exp lane (top lane) and is generally assigned position 3. Their main job is to disrupt and deny farm from the enemy carry in the early game.

Offlane heroes need to be tanky or have good escape tools to survive solo against the enemy duo. Fighters like Thamuz, Alpha specialize in sustained trades with their innate lifesteal. Others like Jawhead and Chou have dashes to avoid ganks.

In high MMR matches, offlaners will aggressively trade blows with the enemy carry when possible, forcing them to burn through health potions and miss last hits under tower. Calling for ganks when the carry is low also denies them gold and exp.

The offlaner acts as a frontliner and damage soak in mid game fights, allowing your carries to deal damage safely. They also split push sidelanes to pressure the map when mid game team fights start.

Tankier sustain fighters currently make up around 13% of mythic picks while mobile fighters are at 11%. Both subclasses perform well in the offlane.

Tips for Offlane Players

• Bring a melee sustain fighter or someone with good disengage.

• Freeze your minion wave just outside tower range to deny farm.

• Hide in bushes to threaten enemy carry when they try to last hit.

• Absorb ganks without dying while your team takes objectives across the map.

• Teleport to teamfights once you have ult and tank items. Soak and disrupt.

A strong offlaner gives your team an exp and gold advantage by enabling your jungler to focus the top side. It‘s a vital role, so learn it if you like bruisers and tanks!

POS 4 – The Jungler

The jungler is assigned position 4 and takes care of farming the jungle creeps between ganking lanes. They act as a wildcard, applying pressure across the map in the early-mid game.

Assassins like Ling and Hayabusa who can swiftly takedown lone targets excel in the jungle role. Other popular picks include Fighters like Roger and Thamuz who can sustain and farm efficiently between ganks.

A good jungler will constantly track the enemy jungler‘s location and the state of the lanes. When they see a gank opportunity – either a low health overextending enemy or an allied CC ready to set up – they pounce from the fog of war.

Successfully ganking and killing lane opponents accelerates ally farming while denying enemies gold and exp. This snowballs the gold/exp advantage in your team‘s favor.

The jungler transitions into an extra assassin or fighter in mid-late game teamfights. Their farm from jungle creeps ensures they are equipped to deal damage alongside the carries and mages.

Assassins have a pick rate of around 11% while Fighters sit at 14% in Mythic rank according to current draft trends. Junglers are pivotal playmakers in ranked.

Jungling Tips

• Prioritize farming your jungle before looking to gank. Get that core item power spike.

• Track the enemy jungler‘s location. Countergank or steal their farm when they gank.

• Only gank lanes when your ally has CC ready or the enemy is very low HP.

• Take Turtle and contest enemy jungle farm starting at level 4.

• Farm lanes when allies are dead and jungle is cleared. Don‘t waste time.

Perfecting jungle timings, tracking, and ganking takes a lot of practice. But learning this role will turn you into a ranked star.

POS 5 – The Support

The position 5 support accompanies the carry in the duo gold lane. They are crucial during the vulnerable early game stages for the carry, enabling them to farm safely.

Supports are picked for utility and damage rather than gold scaling. Tanks like Tigreal and Khufra can peel enemies away and soak damage. Some supports like Mathilda and Estes provide heals and shields to keep their lane partner healthy.

A good support will harass the enemy laners, absorb key abilities, block last hits under tower, and deny core farm from the opposing carry. Staying alive but annoying enemies and enabling your own carry is the key.

In coordinated pro play, the support will also roam mid after the first item power spike (Tier 2 boots, Roaming Mask etc.) and get vision around objectives. This allows your team to group for turtles and push towers.

Pure support picks currently have around a 8% pick rate in high elo Mythic ranked games based on draft statistics. But they have an outsized impact relative to their gold share.

Support Tips

• Block minions waves, absorb harass and body block skillshots for your carry.

• Zone enemies away from the minion wave and harass them heavily when they overextend.

• After getting initial items, roam mid and get vision around Turtle. Help your mid gank.

• Ensure you and the jungler secure the Turtle spawn at 2 minutes.

• Provide proper vision coverage of lanes and stay near your carries in mid game fights.

Have a sacrificial mindset, and you‘ll find dominating ranked games as position 5 support highly rewarding. Your team‘s success is directly enabled by you!

Final Thoughts on Positions

Let‘s do a quick recap:

• Position 1 (Carry) – Marksmen who need ample farm but destroy late game

• Position 2 (Mid) – Strong early-mid playmakers that roam and snowball

• Position 3 (Offlane) – Frontliners who disrupt enemy carry farm

• Position 4 (Jungler) – Farm jungle and snowball lanes with ganks

• Position 5 (Support) – Enable allies and roam the map providing vision and protection

Understanding each position‘s priorities and power spikes is so important to winning ranked matches. Also, choosing suitable heroes for your playstyle based on positions leads to natural chemistry and coordination with your teammates‘ game plans.

Mastering a single position – like spamming marksmen bot as position 1 – allows you to rank up much quicker compared to filling every game. Specialization breeds excellence!

So there you have it, my complete advanced guide to positions and roles in Mobile Legends. I hope this article has helped demystify the lingo and given you actionable tips to raise your ranked win rate when playing each position. Let me know if you have any other Mobile Legends topics you‘d like covered! This is Terry signing off.