Soak

Soaking is an activity during which Players seek to remain in a lane, near Minions, in order to acquire Experience (XP) from their deaths.

Gaining experience in games is the single best way to gain an advantage over the opposing team and win games. Most new players aren't focused on gathering experience, and lose games because of that ignorance. You should always be looking for ways to maximize XP, and that includes staying in range of minions that are about to die. You don't need to get "last hits" to get minion XP, you just need to be close. That means good timing and positioning can result you in staying totally level with the opponents, even if you're losing your lane in a big way. Stay close, be aware of XP opportunities, and win more often.

It is not uncommon to see teams eager to dig in at their opponent's base make an aggressive push, but this is not necessary to acquire the minion XP. Although aggressive strategies absolutely can and will work for experienced and communicative teams, for beginning players a more defensive strategy is recommended. This is especially important for players who are soloing lanes; they will do well to make sure that the fight with minions does not happen so far away from the safety of their fort that they cannot easily retreat should trouble arise.

Additional Information

 * Soak radius is equal to 12.75 and is calculated as a distance between units' centers.
 * Summons however, like Abathur's locusts or Azmodan's demons, only get XP if they last hit (Abathur's Symbiote counts as him being in range, but locust only counts if it gets last hit).
 * Long range abilities like Azmodan's Globe of Annihilation can take advantage of this to farm experience from two lanes at one time.