Big thanks to the ChaosSquirrel, Sno, Judge, and BK Gluttony (Yung Rocks) from Squirrel Nation for their detailed responses to my questions. Also, thanks and shoutout to Visioned for sharing some insights regarding the topic. As always, credits to Samurai Gamers for some of the images.

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The jungler, arguably, is the most difficult role to practice in soloQ. Unlike laners who can’t be directly denied XP and gold by their opposing laners (by last hitting their own minions ala DotA), the jungler’s “lane” is basically free for all, having neutral camps that can be taken by enemies and teammates alike. This is partly the reason why I very rarely take the jungle role (if I do, I make sure that I am taking a hero that is resilient to invades).

WHAT IS AN INVADE?

An invade is wherein one enters the enemy jungle with the purpose of taking away some neutral camps, with focus on the red or blue buff. Its main goal is to gimp the enemy jungler of XP to delay his/her level 4 powerspike. There is also the potential of having three buffs to the team. A successful invade is being able to take enemy camp/s (the buff included) without having any team casualties or your own buff getting stolen. The best case scenario is taking camps and getting some kills without a teammate dying.

Invades are better done as a team to increase chances of success. Supports can also solo invade and give the enemy jungler a traumatizing experience especially if his/her teammates won’t come to assist.  

Teammates can also “invade” their own jungler’s camps. This is rather common in soloQ and automatically sets back the jungler even without enemy effort. I strongly advise laners not to mess up their jungler’s first clear and just help protect the jungle.

In my opinion, invasion is the best gauge for determining if you are teamed up with good players in soloQ.  Whether you are doing the invade or you are the one being invaded, you can see how teammates will respond, and from this you will have some insight on how the game will pan out.

HOW TO PREVENT AN INVADE?

As a soloQ jungler, the most convenient way is to spam ping “watch the jungle!” at least 3 times. The results would vary depending on how helpful your teammates are. If you are lucky enough, teammate/s would guard the jungle entrances to discourage invades or even reset the buff monster.

Teammates stealing camps, sadly, is unpreventable if you can’t dissuade them from doing so.  I strongly advise to nonjunglers not to mess up their jungler’s first clear as doing so would gimp the entire team in the process.  Also, try to stay away from your junglers when they are clearing so as not to leech XP/gold from them.

DEALING WITH INVADES

As a jungler, the best response to an enemy team invade is to do a counter-invade. Don’t even bother to fight to defend your jungle. Just walk straight into the enemy jungle and steal their buff. Don’t waste time. Even professional teams usually respond this way in rare games with invades. Instead of trying to fight it out, they just trade buffs and part ways like gentlemen, especially if the defending team has weaker fight potential. Contesting is just too risky, while being unsure of the rewards. Yes, you might be able to get some kills but the chances are pretty slim while the enemy has better chances of stealing a camp or two and escaping unscathed. In that case, you are left with nothing and your teammates even probably missed some minions. Even worse is getting killed trying to fight for your camps. Compare that to just going to the enemy jungle and taking the buff which has lower risks and greater chances of success.

There are scenarios where you can possibly wait for the enemy to invade and then ambush them, but that requires intensive knowledge of the enemy plan. Waiting for an ambush has its own risks.  If the enemy decided to just lane and not proceed with an invade, chances are your laners will miss some farm.  You have to be able to precisely read the opponents map movement in able to properly execute a good ambush.  If it’s a competitive team game where there is good communication and you have knowledge of habits/trademark strat of the enemy team, there is always a counterplay in an invade. This makes invading even riskier than being invaded. But we’re talking about soloQ here and that greatly reduces the likelihood of properly pulling off a decent defense.

For nonjunglers, one thing that you could do is to make the enemies lose as much time as you can.  This can be done by resetting the buff.   It’s actually very impactful because you’ll make the invading laners lose on most of their first wave, which will even the trade.  To reset a buff, just hit it once to make it chase you.  You don’t even have to stay to watch the jungle.

What if you get “invaded” by a teammate?

Clear their waves.  Tax them.  Heavily.  As BK Gluttony (Yung Rocks) said, ” (if) they want communism, they’ll have communism.”

What if you were not able to counter-invade?

as a jungler:

• DEAL WITH IT.  Don’t get tilted.  You’re probably thinking of AFK’ing now (that occurred to me before), but don’t do it. Treat it as a learning experience and just play the game normally (well, as normally as possible).  Don’t blame your teammates for not protecting your jungle.  Negative thoughts won’t do you any good.  Stay positive.
• DON’T DIE.  Don’t make risky plays that can get your teammates killed. Giving away kills will even get you further behind so avoid ganking especially if the enemy laners are stronger than your team’s.
• Never force an objective if you’re not strong enough to fight for it. Take something elsewhere if the opponents are too busy taking uncontestable stuff. For example, if they are going for a dragon, go for a quick invade for the opposite jungle or a turret if possible. Chances are you’re not strong enough to contest anyway.
• Find ways to make it back to the game.  You are to avoid unnecessary fights but that does not mean you won’t be looking for opportunities.  Remember, playing defensively is different from playing passively.  It means choosing fights wisely and not just rolling over to die.  Check the map for free objectives or favorable fights. You are not just running away and avoiding the enemy.  You are avoiding the enemy but running towards a low-risk objective, be it a turret, the enemy jungle, or a major jungle camp.

As a nonjungler:

• Don’t tilt and don’t blame your jungler.  No one wants to get robbed.  Kicking someone when he/she is already down will just make things worse.
• Beware of the enemy jungler.  Don’t die.  Chances are the enemy jungler has level and item advantage over you.  Keep tabs of him/her especially if you’re a roamer, but don’t give them kills as that will further gimp you.  Knowing where the enemy jungler is will give you insight of what possible plays the opponent might be setting up.
• Watch objectives.  Keep tabs of the abyssal dragon even if you’re not able to contest.  This can help your team to make low-risk plays or take alternative objectives elsewhere in the map.
• Assist your jungler.  Especially if he/she pings for reasonable plays.  If you think his/her play is a bad idea, spam ping retreat.

INVADE RESILIENCY

Most junglers, especially assassins, are susceptible to invades.  Snowball heroes like Batman, Ryoma, and Zill require hitting early powerspikes and taking advantage of it. These heroes are bullies and rely on being stronger than the enemy heroes.  Because of this, they suffer a lot from being invaded since they need to be ahead of the enemy in order to be significant.  Late game, they also don’t do much thus making recovery even more difficult.  A successful invade on these heroes is usually enough to break their tempo and make them almost irrelevant.

While Murad and Nakroth are vulnerable to invades, their fast farming coupled with late game capabilities allow them to recover to late game if played safely.  They can just free-run/parkour around the map even through the enemy jungle camps and focus on farm until they have recovered sufficiently enough.  Butterfly can get a lucky kill/s to get her back to the game.  These heroes need to be repeatedly invaded to fully gimp them down.

Some junglers are blue buff reliant like Zephys and Violet who both need mana to speed up their clears. Both can still recover though as Zephys can stay relevant with a tank build while Violet, being a marksman can shine late game with items.

Marksmen junglers will stay relevant late game as long as they are able to get good farm. Fennik and Slimz though can have trouble doing their objective-focused playstyle as part of it revolves around hitting level 4 and getting the first dragon. Still, they can salvage the game depending on how well they can get gold. Among marksmen, Lindis can be the most resilient as she can clear fast even without blue. Her movespeed buff and traps allow her to sneak into the enemy jungle safely and take some camps.

While not popular in the jungle, Arduin and Wonderwoman are resistant to invades since they are more supportive, utility tanks than carry. I actually used to play unconventional junglers because of fear of being invaded. We even intentionally tried running a weird strat to some success, which focused on giving the blue buff to the midlaner while I played a support jungle style.

FINAL THOUGHTS

The most important thing when dealing with invades is to avoid tilting.  Having the ability to play normally even in tough situations is needed in order for you and your team to recover from an invade.  After all it is a part of the game and will surely be encountered as you rank up.    Play smart and everything may come out okay.  If not, try to learn something from it as the experience might be applied in your future games.  As always – observe, formulate, adapt.

This was just reformatted from the original post from the Arena of Valor subreddit.  Please refer to that for a full summary.  I have added my comments below each item description.  Share your thoughts about the item changes at Squirrel Nation.

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THE BEAST

Unique Passive: 25% life steal >> 25% life steal (physical and magic lifesteal)

Due to the changes made to The Beast, magic lifesteal percentage adjustments were made to some heroes and equipment:

• The life steal percentages of Valhein’s magic damage have been adjusted from 100% to 50%.
• Magic life steal percentage of Valhein’s ultimate: 50% >> 35%
• Life steal percentage of Tel’annas’ S1’s magic damage has been adjusted from 100% to 50%.
• Magic life steal percentages of Heart of Incubus, Mantle of Ra, and Leviathan have been adjusted to 25%.
• Magic life steal percentage of Blitz Blade has been adjusted to 35%.

​COMMENT:  This is probably the most anticipated item change.  People have been talking about how The Beast could be powerful on Valhein, Tel-annas, Kilgroth, and the likes.  Personally, I’m not sure how I’ll slot this in to their item builds, especially Kilgroth who values attack speed so much.  Outside of lifesteal, its only stat is AD.  If a marksman ever needs lifesteal, Bow of Slaughter would be a much better choice IMO.  Still, don’t take my word for it as I haven’t tested it yet. 

 

AMULET OF LONGEVITY

Price: 2680  >> 1980

New recipe:  Greaves of Protection + Necklace of Vitality + Talisman of Strength

• HP Regen +100/5 sec → HP Regen +50/5 sec
• HP +1700 → HP +1800

Removed:  Unique Passive: Heal +20%

Removed:  Unique Passive: Max HP +10%

Added:  Unique Passive: Restores 2% of max HP and 1% of max mana every second after exiting combat.

COMMENT:  Supports would probably pick this up as it costs cheap.  Its old users would most probably drop this though since it has no more bonus HP.

 

CRIMSON BANNER

R.I.P.  Let’s all offer a moment of silence for tankerfly.  Nah…

COMMENT:  I was never a fan of this item so I won’t miss it.  Still, I was hoping they’d turn it into a Tome of the Reaper/Curse of Death for tanks, like having a reaper effect on hit kinda like an Aegis slow proc.  It could’ve fit it thematically, giving you health at the same time denying enemy healing.

 

ODIN’S WILL

Price: 1820  >> 1900

New recipe:   Greaves of Protection + Light Armor + Light Armor

• Attack Damage +60 >> Armor +200
• HP +1000 >> HP +1200

​COMMENT:  I personally like this change as 60 AD felt awkward.  I’ve only seen  Superman purchase this.  I’d probably try it on Maloch as soon as it comes out.

 

ROCK SHIELD

• HP +800 >>HP +1000
• Shield based on max HP: 10% >> 12%

​COMMENT:  Not gonna lie, I hate this item.  I feel that the shield support item offers much more better stats.

 

SOULREAVER

Attack Damage +40 >>Attack Damage +60

COMMENT:  This would somehow mitigate some of Kriknak’s damage nerf early game.  I feel that this buff might put other assassin junglers into the map.

 

BOW OF SLAUGHTER

Price: 2400 → 2330

COMMENT:  I rarely see this item.  Still, if I’d have to choose between the Beast and this for a marksman, I’d go with this.

for full summary of changes, refer to the original post

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BUFFS

ILUMIA 

S1: Divine Light

Added a timer display for enhanced ability.

Radius of outer border of explosion: 2.8 m >> 3 m

Additional damage along the path of the enhanced Divine Light:  1 time >> 1.6 times

 

PREYTA 

S1: Plague Specter

Magic damage: 240/300/360/420/480/540 (+0.37 AP) >> 250/300/350/400/450/500 (+0.35 AP)

S2: Poison Gas Bomb

Stun time after enhancement: 1 sec >> 0.75 sec

Cooldown: 14/13/12/11/10/9 >> 12/11.4/10.8/10.2/9.6/9

S3: Disciple of the Plague

Shield: 500/850/1200 (+1.2 AP) >> 500/750/1000 (+1.0 AP)

Attack speed bonus: 25% >> 24%/32%/40%

Range magic damage: 80/160/240 (+0.4 AP) >> 100/175/250 (+0.5 AP)

 

THE FLASH

Base movement speed: 380 >> 400

S1: Super Speed

Cooldown: 11/10.4/9.8/9.2/8.6/8 >> 10/9.4/8.8/8.2/7.6/7

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AZZEN’KA

S2: Dust Devil

Range: 7m >> 7.5m

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MGANGA

Base movement speed: 350 >> 360

Growth attack speed: 1% >> 2%

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NATALYA

Base armor: 83 >> 91

Growth max HP: 190.8 >> 202

Decreased the duration from casting of Natalya’s ultimate to when it can be canceled: 1 sec >> 0.5 sec

 

KAHLII 

Base attack damage: 157 >> 167

 

TEL’ANNAS

S1: Eagle Eye

Magic damage equal to physical damage: 40/48/56/64/72/80 (+0.55 AD) >> 50/58/66/74/82/90 (+0.55 AD) (can critically strike)

S2: Penetrating Shot

Physical damage: 180/210/240/270/300/330 (+1.0 AD) >> 275/335/395/455/515/575 (+0.6 AD)

Removed: The arrows lose 20% damage for each enemy hit, up to 40% damage loss.

Added:  Each enemy hero hit increases movement speed by 20% for 1 second.

S3: Arrow of Chaos

Removed:  Movement speed increased by 30% for 2 seconds.

 

YORN

Passive: Fierce Shot

Damage of each shot: 75 (+4 per level) (+0.4 AD) >> 75 (+6 per level) (+0.4 AD)

 

THE JOKER

S3: Canned Laughter

Physical damage: 440/560/680 (+2.4 AD) >> 530/715/900 (+2.4 AD)

 

RYOMA

S2: Wailing Blade

Physical damage: 320/360/400/440/480/520 (+2 AD) >> 350/395/440/485/530/575 (+2.1 AD)

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BATMAN

S3: Dark Knight

Added:  Untargetable during flight if this ability is activated again while invisible.

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ROURKE

Passive: Scattershot

Percentage of damage dealt to structures based on attack damage: 80% >> 100%

S1: Charged Shot

Storage time for enhanced normal attacks: 1.5 sec >> 4 sec

 

BALDUM

S1: Wild Charge

Cooldown: 12/11.6/11.2/10.8/10.4/10 >> 10/9.6/9.2/8.8/8.4/8 sec

S2: Wild Stomp

Added: Double damage to jungle monsters.

Added: Cooldown reduced by 0.3 seconds every time it hits a jungle monster.

Percentage damage reduction: 15/18/21/24/27/30% >> 25/30/35/40/45/50%​

 

WONDER WOMAN

S1: Sword & Shield

Maximum damage to jungle monsters: 100 >> 1000

 

ZANIS

S2: Tail Sweep

Increased attack speed: 50% >> (100/120/140/160/180/200)%

Added:  Life steal for 3 seconds: (10/12/14/16/18/20)%

Duration of increased attack speed and life steal: 5 sec >> 3.5 sec

Cooldown: 9/8.6/8.2/7.8/7.4/7 >> 8/7.7/7.4/7.1/6.8/6.5

S3: Dragon’s Wrath

Additional true damage: 80/130/180 (+0.4 AD) >> 70/110/150 (+0.35 AD)

Removed: 20% damage reduction.

Cooldown: 24/20/16 >> 24/22/20

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LUMBURR

S2: Rampage

Cooldown: 15/14/13/12/11/10 >> 13/12.4/11.8/11.2/10.6/10

Mana cost: 80/90/100/110/120/130 >> 75/80/85/90/95/100

S3: Earth Splitter

Cooldown: 40/35/30 >> 36/33/30

Mana cost: 150/180/210 >> 120/140/160

 

TAARA

Growth max HP: 278.3 >> 328.3

Passive:  Fighting Spirit

Attack damage bonus for each 1% of max HP lost: 2 – 5 (increases with level) >> 3 – 6 (increases with level)

 

MALOCH 

Passive: Plunder

HP regen: 2% of lost HP >> 2% of lost HP (+0.15 additional AD bonus)

S1: Cleave

HP regen for each hero hit: 6% of lost HP >> 6% of lost HP (+0.3 additional AD bonus)

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OMEGA

S1: Guardian Mode

Duration of increased movement speed: 5 sec >> 3 sec

S2: Crash Mode

Ability animation duration decreased by 0.15 seconds.

S3: Exterminate

Added:  Each spin also deals a temporary knockback effect to enemy units (ineffective against towers.)

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MAX

S3: Liftoff

Physical damage: 600/800/1000 (+1.0 AD) >> 700/950/1200 (+2.0 bonus AD)

ARUM

Passive: Ravenous Beasts

Added:  Beasts no longer visible when Arum is hiding in a brush.

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NERFS

IGNIS

S1: Fire Crash

Magic damage: 320/380/440/500/560/620 (+0.5 AP) >> 340/380/420/460/500/540 (+0.4 AP)

 

RAZ

S2: Power Surge

Magic damage: 500/580/660/740/820/900 (+0.93 AP) >> 500/570/640/710/780/850 (+0.9 AP)

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ANNETTE

S1: Gust Force

Magic damage: 75 – 120 (+0.12 AP) >> 65 – 110 (+0.15 AP)

S3: Hurricane Wall

Removed:  Channeling.  Can move while casting.

Radius of ultimate area: 4.5m >> 3.5m

Duration of ultimate area: 3.5 sec >> 2.5 sec

Cooldown: 60/55/50 >> 70/65/60

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SLIMZ

S3: Savage Potion

Percent damage based on max HP: 4%/5%/6% >> 3%/4%/5% (fixed a bug in which this percentage will not grow)

 

KRIKNAK

Passive: Bite

Physical damage: 100 (+1.0 additional AD) → 80 (+1.0 additional AD)

S1: Terrifying Plague

Physical damage: 410/465/520/575/630/685 (+1.6 additional AD) >> 360/420/480/540/600/660 (+1.5 additional AD)

Percentage magic damage based on max HP: 10 (+0.02 additional AD)% >> 8 (+0.02 additional AD)%

 

Y’BNETH

Passive: Natural Affinity

HP recovered per second: 80 (+15 per level) >> 45 (+18 per level)

S1: Wicked Thorns/Redwood Rush

Physical damage: 270 (+40 per level) (+0.8 AD) >> 250 (+50 per level) (+0.8 AD)

Cooldown: 5/4.7/4.4/4.1/3.8/3.5 >> 6/5.5/5/4.5/4/3.5

S2: Branching Out

Physical damage: 340 (+45 per level) (+0.85 AD) >> 285 (+55 per level) (+0.95 AD)

 

MINA

Base movement speed: 390 >> 380

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​REBALANCE

 

FENNIK

S1: Thief’s Mark

Cooldown: 11/10.2/9.4/8.6/7.8/7 >> 10/9.4/8.8/8.2/7.6/7

S3: Chain Hammer Cyclone

Cooldown: 36/30/24 >> 30/25/20

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LINDIS

S1: Piercing Gaze

Physical damage: 125/210/295/380/465/550 (+0.2 AD) >> 140/210/280/350/420/490 (+0.2 AD)

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ZEPHYS

S1: Death Rift

Physical damage: 190/214/238/262/286/310 (+1.0 AD) >> 175/200/225/250/275/300 (+1.0 AD)

Additional physical damage: 85/97/109/121/133/145 (+1.5 AD) >> 175/200/225/250/275/300 (+1.3 AD)

S2: Death’s Flurry

Cooldown: 8/7.2/6.4/4.6/4.8/4 >> 5

​​

MURAD

Passive: Rift

Attack damage bonus: 5% >> 24 (+3 every 2 levels)

​

RIKTOR

Passive: Fighting Spirit

Movement speed bonus when switching between environments: 40% for 1 sec >> 50% for 0.5 sec

S1: Jungle Strike

Slash damage: 150 – 300 (+0.8 AD) >> 125 – 275 (+0.8 AD)

Magic damage from normal attacks: 25 – 150 >> 10 – 135

S2: Retaliate

Physical damage dealt from counterattack: 200 – 450 (+1.2 AD) >> 200 – 425 (+1.0 AD)

[Added] Physical damage when on land: 200 – 450 (+1.2 AD) >> 225 – 475 (+1.5 AD)

​​

ROXIE

S1: Wild Fire

[Added] Damage and healing are doubled within 2.5 seconds of activation.

Magic damage: 35/45/55/65/75/85 (+0.16 AP) >> 20/26/32/38/44/50 (+0.14 AP)

S3: Agnie’s Grasp

Control time fixed at 2.5 seconds → Control time between 1.5 – 2.5 seconds. The closer it is, the longer the duration.

Cooldown: 45/40/35 >> 40/36/32

Pushing is one of the very basics of the game and is probably the most essential.  Sadly, it also seems to be the most overlooked aspect, with many players simply ignoring it which I can’t think of any explanation for.  To the uninitiated, pushing is basically defined as advancing a lane, with the main objective of taking down turrets.

With pushing, the terms wave management and minion timings are usually thrown in the discussion.  Just check the links for more detailed info about the two.  I have also talked about pushing in detail in the past. 

Minions can be utilized to slowly (and subtly) push a lane.  Oftentimes, they are just ignored thus resulting into a surprise tower takedown.  Proper minion management can increase the chances of takedowns through creep waves.  In this post, I will be sharing some tips to be a good minion commander.

THE BEST DEFENSE AND OFFENSE

Playing in soloQ as a tank/support, I often experience being “held hostage” by my own team, with our side barely advancing as the team focuses more on kills.  I’ve tried splitpushing but my team usually end up getting killed as they lack numbers advantage, especially with me, the one who should be setting up plays, decided to split.  Additionally tank/supports are usually inefficient tower breakers even though some have decent waveclear.  Because of this, I slowly developed a personal playstyle to help the team push (if no one wants to) and support in teamfights at the same time.  It’s called………… *drumroll*  uhm…

WAVE CLEARING…

Waveclearing again wut?!

Yeah, just waveclearing.  It’s as easy as that.  Check the map and whenever a wave crosses the river and enters your territory and no one else is getting it, try to clear it yourself.  You don’t even have to wait for the next wave.  Just clear one and go to whatever thing you’re supposed to do.  This not only helps your turret from being sneaky pushed by creeps but it can also help your waves advance and if lucky, do a sneak push on the enemy.  This helps with your gold income as well so it’s a win-win.  Since waves take 18 secs in mid and 27 secs in the sides to reach the center, you can even defend two lanes if you’re using a mobile hero with good waveclear like Arthur (or Superman), provided that there are no enemy heroes making a push.  Simply put, good waveclearing is the most fundamental skill of a minion commander.

GETTING THE MOST VALUE FROM YOUR MINIONS

A good general knows how to best utilize his/her troops.  Likewise, a good minion commander will not just throw away valuable military assets.  Remember that minions give gold to the enemy so simply letting them be farmed by the opponent is just basically giving them free kills.  This is why pushing and amassing minions should be properly and carefully timed or you’ll just be feeding gold to the enemy team.

For example, after securing a kill on the enemy laner, if your hero has poor tower takedown potential, you can just clear the wave (if there is any) and roam/rotate to help a teammate or get nearby objectives.  Early game, it is advisable even for known towerbreakers like Kilgroth to clear nearby monsters like the scout bird or quick invade (safely) the enemy jungle while the waves are crashing onto the enemy turrets.

Allowing the waves to just crash to the enemy turret also gives you ample time to focus on objectives (like the abyssal dragon) with numbers advantage since one from the enemy team will most probably clear the wave instead of contesting.  It’s still a win-win if they decide to contest as the possibility of tower takedown increases.

Why would this simple tactic work?

1.  Players simply ignore minion waves.  Given a choice between a kill and a wave, a lot of players would opt for a kill (or even compete with the jungler for farm).   This often results in forced fights or skirmishes around the map without any goal at all.  With this in mind, you can just go clear a wave and then join the chaos yourself if you want to.  At least, while you’re all busy fighting, your waves are doing their job.  

2.   Minion waves can break a stalemate.  This is related to #1.  There are instances when opposing teams get into a wild wild west staredown, wherein one team gauges the other team while looking for a good timing to initiate a fight (usually ends in a chaotic-shoot-em-up clown fiesta or a no-action-all-bluster clown siesta).  This happens even without a definite objective to fight on and is mostly a flamebait for anyone who won’t join in.  If you have a wave pushing towards the enemy base, stalemates like this would end in your favor as the enemy risks losing a turret in a prolonged staredown.  

3.   Players underestimate the power of minions.  This has been the most common thing that I’ve seen.  Players would come too late to defend.  It’s just ridiculous to see a marksman incredibly failing to finish off a siege minion as the turret gets reduced to rubble.  This just recently happened in my game where a Valhein was getting blue while our tier 2 top turret nearby is being sieged.

  This is just a recycled image.  As shown, minions by themselves can eventually tear down a turret as long as they can crash onto one.

4.  Most players overestimate the power of turrets.  By themselves, turrets are terrible defenders.  They are meant to lose to minions over time, so you can’t rely on them solely to stop a minion push.  However, they support to your minion line and give vision, thus providing essential map control, so keeping them intact is still a top priority.

5.  Pushing waves open up options for your team while limiting opponents’ choices.  With creeps providing vision, your team gains better map control allowing you to scout enemies moving in lanes.  At the same time, the opponent is forced to decide whether to clear waves or riskily scout dragon or slayer especially if your team is nowhere in sight.  Also, having multiple pressured decision making choices increases the chances of a team making mistakes.  The team that makes the lesser mistakes will most often win the game.

Why not just siege or splitpush?

Wars need funding.  AoV is basically a war between two teams.  Ultimately, your team will be sieging or one of your teammates will be splitpushing later in the game, but both of those require resources to be done early.  You need better items (sometimes even drake) to successfully siege, and the same goes with splitpush where you might even have to craft a play around it.  On the other hand, keeping your lane clear of waves require little to no resources unless you’re playing a hero with terrible waveclear.  In fact, it even provides you income.

A botched siege wastes team effort and time which could’ve been used instead to take valuable objectives around the map.  I’ve experienced a lot of games devolving into an “OM”,  ARAM, running it down mid, or whatever thing you call it and it usually ends with the one having the pushing lanes getting the upperhand.

A properly executed splitpush wins games, while a badly timed splitpush is just giving away gold to the enemy team, especially if you have to bail out with a large army of minions behind.  It’s just like sending your troops to be slaughtered.

Additionally, both strategies require having a decent team which does not often happen in soloQ.  On the other hand, proper wave management is something that you can practice on your own and at the same time, can patch some holes in a crappy teammate’s gameplay.  If a teammate does not clear waves, you can just run to his/her lane and do it yourself.  You earn gold and at the same time provide both defense and offense to the lane.

APPLICATION

Heroes with good clearing potential can be good minion commanders.  There are some heroes though, especially supports, that severely lack waveclear.  Whenever I play support, I pick ones that can at least clear waves decently or if I want to improve my clear, I itemize with Heart of Incubus.  I only do it though in extreme need — when teammates just won’t listen to pings.  IMO it’s a good investment especially if no one on your team is clearing waves.

As mentioned above, with the vision and map control they are providing, minions can be used as a bait to force the enemy’s hand into desperate measures.  With large waves pushing from your side, depending on their proximity to the enemy turrets, the enemy team would be baited to clear them while you can freely take objectives like dragon and slayer. 

You can even double bait the enemy — bait them with minions, dragon, and/or slayer while your team waits in their jungle for an ambush.  Another double-bait trick is to wait instead in the fog of war, behind an advancing wave that is going near the enemy turret, and do a quick “stealth“ push.  A successful execution of any these will often lead to a win.  This is how a meticulously planned minion wave push can add to your win conditions.

The Faux Splitpush

Some heroes suck at breaking towers but excels in waveclearing.  For such, I’d just apply the usual laning tactics while pushing.  Instead of staying in lane after clearing enemy wave, I’d get nearby jungle monsters or just go in a nearby brush while observing enemy map movement.  I’d even let the minion waves crash onto each other and then just follow up.  Somehow, it gives the false impression to the enemy that no one is pushing. Most of the time, enemies would respond only to heroes pushing, but not to creeps, so staying hidden as much as possible can help your minion wave reach further.

Another tactic that I use is to “leave” while the enemy wave is about to be completely cleared.  I let myself be seen “rotating” but I just stay hidden and continue to support my waves, going in and out, keeping close watch on the map and tracking enemy movements.

Staggering your push can make the enemy guess your intentions.  You can get one wave and just show yourself “leaving the push” as above.  This has the same effect of “the waves can’t push without a hero” line of though that I usually encounter in solo.

There are also times when I just stay in a nearby brush and wait for enemies to clear the waves then go out for an ambush. I’ve taken down a lot of squishies with this.  Even if you don’t get a kill, you can chunk the enemy low enough to make them insignificant and have to heal back up. I used to do this with Arthur as he is awkward in teamfights but his mobility allows him to rotate ala Superman.

These are just a few examples of application of minion commander tactics.  There are probably more.  A minion wave’s potential is only limited by the minion commander’s imagination and cunning.  In chess, good usage of pawns can influence the outcome of the game.  The same logic applies in AoV with proper management of waves.

FINAL THOUGHTS

To summarize, check the minimap for any amassing minion waves, either on your side or the opponents’.  Always keep your lanes clear beyond the river, but be wary of large waves from your team.  If there are any, look for would-be contested objectives around the map and force the enemy team into making a decision whether to clear the wave and give up numbers advantage or risk losing a turret and contest the objective.  Don’t let a minion wave on your side get cleared without getting something in return; and as always, observe, formulate, and adapt.

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For more game guides, visit the Academy.  

Also, please drop by SquirrelNation especially if you want to improve your gameplay.  The SquirrelNation is a friendly community with a some high-level coaching staff to assist.  You can record your games and send them for review to know your strong points and the things that you need to improve.

 

Humility is arguably the very first step in improvement. I can’t think of any other virtue needed for self improvement that is more important than humility.  Humility leads to acceptance.  In order to improve, one must accept the fact that he or she does mistakes that need to be corrected.

Instead of looking for someone else to blame for your loss, ask yourself what could you have done to win? Did you make any mistakes that added to the ones made by your team to cost you the game?  Games are usually won by teams that made the least mistakes.

Criticizing yourself could be difficult, especially with the fact that it’s easier to remember good plays versus bad. For this, recording and watching your games would help. Seeing your gameplay from a different perspective makes your mistakes much more visible and from there, you can take steps in correcting them.  I’ve done this before in League.  I used to think I played well until I tried to watch a replay.  I cringed on some of my plays and bad rotations.  It’s like watching a different person play.  Sadly I know that it was me, and I know for a fact that it would be a different person if I will make efforts to improve.

Once you improve, it’s normal to be proud of yourself.  After all, you deserve to be happy of your accomplishments.  Pride in small amounts is helpful.  It will give you the confidence to make plays and other decisions that you used to hesitate to make. Remember though that too much of it will result in shutting yourself off from other people’s suggestions, especially from those who we think are inferior to us.  Take time to hear every suggestion regardless of rank as there might be some merit to them.  At least, you’ll have chance to correct and teach other players on how you got to improve.  

Every game is different. You might have that one game where you carried like a pro, and by the next game you might end up having to be carried instead. Enjoy the games where you played like a god and learn from ones that you had to be lifted up by the scruff of your neck; but still, always treat each game differently as no game would be the same, even with those of exact team comps.  Your past games won’t be considered, whether you played well or not.  Stay humble.  Be open to opinions.

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For more guides, visit the Academy.  Also, everyone is welcome to join the Squirrel Nation, a discord server where players motivate one another to improve.

I’m currently a faculty member content creator at AoV Academy, which was founded by ChaosSquirrel and managed by IzaqPlays.  Follow and Like the Academy Facebook page to get the latest updates, guides, and vids.  I am still maintaining this blog though, mostly as a “draft” page for my usually lengthy writeups and for posting quick guides and test server updates.

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BACKGROUND

I have once made a post in my old blog about AoV being a more complex tower defense. As a person dealing with ranked anxiety, my own post gave me an idea on how to face ranked games.

Ranked anxiety can be experienced by some players. Oftentimes, it is due to fear of failing. My anxiety stems from the fear that my failure would affect other people. Losing by itself is fine by me. I’ve lost 3v3s and 5v5 casuals and didn’t feel salty or tilted afterwards. I don’t have anything to lose after all. In fact, I’ve gained some from those lost matches — knowledge plus a free time to experiment on the item builds and the limits of my hero. For example, I’d sometimes dive on the enemy team just to see how tanky my build is. Don’t worry, I only do this in casuals and when I feel the game result is sealed.

Ranked games, on the other hand, has something at stake. There are competitive players who want to reach certain goals or just casuals who want to see how far they can go. I can’t fathom why there are other players with the desire to troll players who are trying. I guess some people just want to see the world burn. Failing those who try to win leaves me with a feeling of guilt. That’s why I usually just play ranked games with friends or try to play when I have a “positive winning vibe” and try not to think too much of the outcome. When I’m aware that I’m in a ranked game, I tend to play too cautiously to the point that sometimes I tend to miss opportunities for making plays that I know I can successfully pull off due to the fear of failing.

There are times when I would just spam custom AI games. This is where I just test all sorts of stuff. Doing so, I was able to develop an exercise to improve some macro with AI. Jumping to PvP from PvAI, I felt that games felt more relaxed as I got used to thinking that I’m playing alone. This mindset I brought to ranked games and it greatly helped with my unease.

CONDITIONING THE MIND a.k.a. FOOLING YOURSELF

For developing a PvAI state of mind, treating each game as a more advanced tower defense is a good starting point. In order to achieve this, we are going to set some rules:

#1: DISABLE CHAT
This is the most important since there is no chat in PvAI. There is no advantage in keeping it up anyway. Everything you want to communicate to your teammate, you can do with pings and if they’re not receptive, chatting won’t help you either. Chances are you’ll only read toxicity and that’s what we’re trying to avoid.

#2: TEAMMATES = AI
As a follow up for Rule #1, just use pings. If you’re issuing commands to AI, do you use chat? Of course not! But the AI usually follows your commands, right? Well, just assume that the “AI code is broken” if your teammate won’t listen.  At least, you won’t get salty with an AI.

Even you’re “playing with AI”, try to use pings to warn or inform teammates of your intentions.  We’ll never know if we’re playing with a “smart AI” and it might respond to our commands.  There would even be times that a “smart AI” would come do a broken AI’s job. Good bot!

At times when the “AI is broken”, you’d have to do what you want them to do.  Did the “AI” leave its lane to farm the jungle?  Do a quick rotation after whatever you’re doing and clear the waves then go back to whatever you need to do.  This would vary from hero to hero though, depending on the mobility and waveclear of the hero that you’re using.  But if you think you can do it without compromising your role, just do it instead of spamming pings. 

#3: FOCUS ON TOWERS AND ALWAYS CLEAR THE WAVES
Protect your tower, destroy theirs. Guess what? The enemy is playing tower defense too, and the only way to win is to kill theirs first. And like all tower defense games, the enemy minion waves will destroy your tower. Losing the main tower will make you lose the game. Losing makes you lose stars. You like stars. It’s as simple as that. Focusing on waves and towers also improves rotations and is a good habit to gain. Just always look for the minimap for incoming enemy waves that might take down your towers. Another effect of tower and wave focused playstyle is it helps maintain a PvAI state of mind.

#4: ENEMIES = BOSS MINIONS
There are times when a boss minion spawns to take your tower (or sometimes just make your life a living hell). Do you have to kill them? Of course, if they’re a threat to your tower or they’re blocking your path to victory. If they run away, do you need to chase? Well, if a single egg rolls towards the edge of the table, would you catch it? Yes. But would you still do so if the entire egg tray is about to fall too? Just put that in mind. Most of the time, there are more important objectives over an escaping enemy hero. I’ve seen a lot of towers getting wrecked because of players focusing on a low HP enemy and not able to defend in time. Always check if there is an egg tray that is about to fall if you’re thinking of catching a single egg.   After all, you’re only fighting AI heroes so why bother giving a chase in risk of losing a tower? No bragging rights in taking down an AI, right?

#5: GOLD IS IMPORTANT
In tower defense, you need resources to build towers. The same is true in AoV but instead of towers, you buy items to be stronger than the enemy. Check this guide
for info about the best gold sources. Still, the easiest way to get gold is to follow rules #3 . Follow that and you almost automatically follow #5. Two birds with one stone! Pretty neat huh?

#6: IT’S OK TO LOSE
Seriously, it’s just a game. I have to tell this over and over even to myself. Yes, it might be a big deal to others but as long as you tried your best and learned something from your loss, you’d do fine. Plus you just lost against the “AI”, so it’s not that big of a deal, right? >_< Just don’t be too hard on yourself as there are really bad queue moments. If you’re on a losing streak, take a rest instead of trying to recover lost stars. Tryharding oftentimes just lead to more undesirable results.

SUMMING IT UP

There are many causes for having ranked anxiety. Sometimes simple deep breathing can help but for others like me that would have to psych ourselves up, this Tower Defense PVE mental state can help in soloing.  Still, if you found “good bots” in a game, don’t hesitate to queue with them. After all, MOBA is best enjoyed with buddies.

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