What is Position 1 in Mobile Legends?

The position 1 role in Mobile Legends refers to the designated hard carry hero that receives the highest farming priority. Their main objective is to carry the game through massive damage output and scoring kills on key targets.

Responsibilities of a Position 1 Carry

As the primary damage dealer, the duties of the position 1 carry are:

• Maximize Gold/XP Income: Last hit minions properly, take jungle camps, track global gold from turrets/objectives
• Craft Core Items: Funnel gold towards big damage items to hit power spikes
• Dominate Teamfights: Position to freely attack, focus on blowing up squishies
• Take Objectives: Use item leads to force big objectives like Lord
• Threaten Base Pushes: Translate gold into structure damage

Failing to excel in any of these areas can cause the carry to fall behind. If they lack items, they won‘t have the needed firepower.

Below is a chart highlighting the gold income over time for position 1 carries compared to other roles:

(Gold Graph comparing income growth across positions)

As you can see, carries tend to gradually accrue a sizable gold advantage. This surplus finances their ultra-expensive core items.

Core Attributes of Position 1 Heroes

To fully leverage high net worth leads, carries need certain attributes:

• Scaling Damage: Keep getting stronger later into the match
• Pushing Potential: Rapidly clear minion waves and damage structures
• 1v1 Threat: Can split push lanes and win most isolated fights
• High Range/Mobility: Position safely to free hit opponents
• Survivability: Withstand being focused in teamfights long enough deal damage

If a hero lacks these qualities, they won‘t be able to hardcore carry. For example, pure tanks don‘t build enough damage items to pose a late game threat.

Specialized Carry Categories

There are two main types of position 1 carries:

Marksmen: Ranged physical damage dealers. Highest basic attack DPS. Examples: Moskov, Claude

Mages: Magic damage from spells. Massive AOE or burst potential. Examples: Pharsa, Cecillion

Marksmen pour damage primarily through auto attacks. They take objectives quickly with their fast tower siege. Mages have superior wave clear and usually higher skill caps.

Below shows a representative marksman, mage, and fighter carry:

As an advanced technique, some heroes like Esmeralda, Uranus, and Yu Zhong that usually go to side lanes can also be run mid lane to accelerate their farm. This enables earlier power spikes to allow them to carry.

Early Game Farming Reliance

In the opening minutes, carries are extremely vulnerable and weak without their core items. Their main focus should be accumulating gold rather than fighting enemies. This leads to heavy reliance on their position 5 support for protection.

Compared to other roles, carries have the lowest stats and combat impact early on. They mainly contribute by last hitting minions. Below shows the stat ratings across all five roles during the start of the game:

(Relative stat distribution in early game)

As you can see, carries trail behind every other role. Even position 5 supports offer more tankiness thanks to emblem upgrades.

This means carries should not take risky 1 vs 1‘s and instead just concentrate on farming safely under towers. Good supports will zone enemies away and prevent early deaths.

Mid Game Power Spikes

After equipping their first core item, carries will hit an initial power spike with massively amplified damage. At this point they can start participating in small skirmishes and kills. However, their threat level remains limited until the late game.

One of the biggest carry mistakes is forcing mid game team fights repeatedly instead of continuing to accumulate gold. Carries need to avoid dying before hitting full build to maximize their damage potential.

The mid game spike timings for marksmen and mages can vary substantially depending on the hero. Here‘s a quick chart as a guideline:

So in summary, carries are quite useless early, get a spark in strength with 1 core item, and transform into monsters with full build completions after ~15 minutes.

Late Game Carry Potential

Once position 1‘s complete around 3+ core items with boots, they will deliver terrifying damage capable of instantly deleting squishy heroes. Their auto attacks and spells can chunk towers rapidly as well.

However, games often end far earlier than full builds can be completed. Looking at competitive tournament match lengths, we see an average around 12-18 minutes:

(Average pro match durations)

As such, carries need to be prudent in accelerating their farm to hit power spikes ASAP. If both teams have even gold and experience, clashes will favor early game heroes before carries come fully online.

During the late game, carries can also split push side lanes while their team delays big fights. This allows them to apply pressure via minions while continuing to scale up. Eventually they‘ll grow strong enough to 1 vs 3 or more given enough farm space.

Itemization Analysis

For beginners, recommended default builds tend to work reasonably well. However, against certain opponents, making modifications can prove extremely effective.

We‘ll analyze a few common itemization considerations for hitting power spikes faster:

Rush Critical Chance Against Squishies

If facing mainly low HP mages/marksmen, rushing ~30% crit chance amplifies overall damage more than attack speed or lifesteal due to the big crit multiplier (250%). This makes items like Berserker‘s Fury and Wind of Nature strong first buys.

Delay Lifesteal Sustain If Unpressured

Classes like mages and supports lack sustained physical damage, so lifesteal becomes less valuable early. Prioritizing more raw AD or AS accelerates farming speed too.

Counter Shields With Armor Penetration

Againstbarrier abilities from heroes like Gloo, Khufra, Gatotkaca, building some armor penetration ensures their shields do less to mitigate damage taken.

Making smart adjustments involves analyzing both your hero and the opponent‘s draft, which improves with experience. Sticking to defaults works fine otherwise.

Early Game Carry Tactics

During the opening 4-6 minutes, carries should employ certain tactics to safely accumulate farm:

Secure Good Recall Timing: Stay in lane until having enough gold to buy a strong item component without missing minion waves. Recalling at a bad timing risks wasting income.

Don‘t Push Past River: Extending too far risks facing ganks from the jungle or mid lane. Freezing the minion wave near your tower enhances safety.

Keep Vision Up: Use the minimap to spot missing enemies. Wards provide advance warning on rotations.

Avoid Overextending Without Support: If your support roams mid, do not push up alone while vulnerable. Just clear waves near tower and wait.

Adopting very passive early play secures the gold needed to transform into an unstoppable force later on. Patience pays off exponentially!

Duo Laning Tactics With Support

The synergy between the position 1 and 5 duo shapes games. Bad coordination leads to failed trades, lost objectives, and limited farm.

Here are effective tactics:

Freeze Near Tower: Only last hit and deny farm from enemies. This constant pressure demands their attention instead of roaming.

Zone Enemies Out: If they approach, use poke damage and CC to force them backwards. Make them fear farming in experience range.

Match Recalls: Time simultaneous base purchases to return to lane together. Avoid leaving your carry dangerously exposed.

Secure Early Kills: If you have a strong level 2-3 spike, play aggressively and go for first blood. This accelerates item progression.

Counter Support Roams: When their position 5 leaves, hard shove minions into their tower to deny farm.

Deny Jungling: Keep both side lane brushes warded so your support can intercept jungle farm attempts.

Flawless duo execution creates massive early gold leads for steamrolling later team fights. But greed and impatience often undermine carry potential. Resist temptation!

Common Carry Mistakes

Some bad habits can seriously sabotage position 1 effectiveness:

• Overforcing Fights Pre-Power Spikes: Repeatedly brawling 5v5 too early instead of farming delays core items. Just PvE and avoid skirmishes before strong.

• Neglecting Side Lane Farm: ARAM‘ing mid all game caps income. Carries need to catch large minion waves in side lanes that give more gold/xp than mid.

• Face Checking Brushes: Face tanking skill shots and CC when checking unknown locations brings death and losses. Use abilities/summon spells to safely scout.

• Bad Recall Timings: Inefficiency in base timing can waste 30+ seconds of idle time. This reduces GPM and delays power spikes.

• Ignoring Objectives: Not prioritizing Turtle, Lord, turrets, etc can throw winnable games. Carries must secure these bonuses to cement leads.

Adjusting these habits alone can easily add 300-600 GPM for much faster item completions.

S Tier Carry Picks

For beginners new to carrying, these heroes offer the easiest transition into learning the role:

Marksmen: Claude, Brody

Mages: Pharsa, Cecillion, Yve

Fighters: Yu Zhong, Esmeralda

They feature long range, wave clear, mobility, and good scaling. This gives you room to farm safely while dishing heavy damage if left unchecked.

Closing Thoughts

Positioning 1 carries represent the pinnacle of damage potential in Mobile Legends. With perfect execution, they reward your trust tenfold in the late game through crushing teams single handedly. But without adequate farm freedom and support, their impotence leaves you helpless. Mastering this dichotomy proves absolutely vital to climb rank and dominate matches!