We are all creatures of habit. Be it a dose of morning coffee, browsing social media while sitting on the ceramic throne, a quick smoke break, or taking a ninja nap at work; once something becomes a part of our daily routine and creates a habit, it becomes a part of us, even to a point where we go on “autopilot” and we’re not even aware that we’re doing a certain thing. After all, everything that seem “normal” to us tend to be overlooked.

The same concept applies to MOBA, where we have the tendency to do things repetitively. For example, after clearing a wave, what do you do? Do you just go under the safety of the tower and wait for the next wave or do you go facecheck every nearby brush, wary of a gank.

In my early days of League, I’ve been guilty of the former. Is it bad to hug the tower? Yes and no. If you’re doing it to the point that you’re playing too passively, it’s bad. Yes, you’re not giving up kills but you are doing nothing to apply pressure to the opponent. It’s comparable to just slowly rolling over and dying. I was once too afraid of feeding that I developed a bad habit of playing too passively. If you’re hugging tower just as a short respite, even trying to bait a dive, that would be fine. It’s also okay from time to time in a 1v2 scenario, while waiting for a teammate to respond. Facechecking is also one bad habit that I’ve had and still somewhat manifests from time to time, especially with AoVs lack of wards. It once got me killed when I casually walked in a brush in a 1v2 lane and it turns out there were 3(!) heroes inside. Logic tells me not to do it but the habit of making sure there’s no one inside the brush (or just to sate the curiosity if there’s really someone hiding) got the better of me.

IDENTIFYING THE BAD

How can we define a bad habit? Just ask yourself “is it worth it?” and think about the risk vs reward. Like the example above, facechecking a brush would let you know if there’s someone hiding in it but aside from that, there’s no real value in knowing so. What’s the difference with facechecking and just assuming that there’s someone lurking in the brush? In both scenario, you can just play cautiously. Although having information about enemy location is a valuable resource, endangering yourself isn’t a worthy trade for it unless your teammates can capitalize on it and get better objectives in exchange.

Do you just fire off your skills unnecessarily, leaving you OOM (or simply having them on cooldown) in later important skirmishes? Do you splitpush without looking at the minimap only to be collapsed on? These are just examples of bad habits that need some fixing.

BREAKING THE BAD

Completely eradicating a bad habit is no easy task as it’s already ingrained in our system. It’s just like a weed that no matter how we yank off, still seemingly force itself into our lawn. What we can do though is replace a bad habit with a good one, like how planting cover crops block weeds’ chances to propagate. For example, splitpushing, as mentioned above, by itself is not bad. It’s actually a very viable strategy. But doing it without knowing the enemy location may lead to unfavorable results. Now, try adding a good habit like looking at the minimap and you’d notice a drastic change. Combine that with another habit like always clearing waves and you can easily upgrade your gameplay to Platinum (got to plat IV with just these). Habits can be comparable to muscle memory wherein when you’re not able to process information well enough and go to autopilot, you’ll somewhat “default” to these, even if you’re tilting.

FINAL THOUGHTS

What are your in-game habits? Identify them and if possible, jot them down to analyze if they qualify as good or bad.  You can also record your game and watch a playback of your gameplay.  Seeing your own game in a different perspective will give you much more insight into your habits.

In case of doubt, don’t be afraid to seek help. There are communities like the Squirrel Nation that are more than willing to help with your gameplay or even builds.

As always, observe, formulate, adapt… and most importantly, improve as there will always be a room for improvement.

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observe, formulate, adapt…

this has been the tagline for everything that I’ve written, but what does it mean actually?  So let me share the story behind this tagline…..

………

.. . .

..?

Well… It’s kinda embarrassing but I was just too lazy to finish my very first blog.  I was thinking of some sort of way to end it, but as what you’ve probably noticed, I suck at making conclusions (my very first write up was bland, with only a wall of text, no screencaps or diagrams whatsoever. I’ll probably revisit it and make it more uhm palatable).

I just thought of something that would somewhat reflect how I approach the game.  I’ve never been a mechanical genius.  Because of this, I rely on information that might give me some edge to compensate for what I lack.  I’ve also noticed that I do better with fewer resources compared to having a lot to work with.  Somehow I get poor results with more and have better success with less.

[STOP! NERD ALERT, YOU MAY SKIP THIS PART]  Even in other games, I tend to work like this.  In M:TG, the only success that we’ve had is a standard pauper tournament back in Mirrodin-Kamigawa days.  I asked my friend to print out a card list and I looked through them overnight.  I then checked our cardpool and ended up assembling a mono-white deck filled with walls, vigilant creatures, and equipment.  We were newcomers in the LGS venue and I sensed some hostility for some unknown reason.  I can still remember the snickers of the players watching when my friend dropped a Steel Wall.  My mind said “fuck ya’ll, that’s just the beginning.”  I noticed the snickers changed into exasperated sighs as my friend dropped Yotian Soldiers, Razor Golems, Bonesplitters, and Viridian Longbows; building a wall of artifacts that he backed with Razor Barrier and other protection instants.  My friend piloted that deck to first place.   The following week, there was an increase in the number of Steel Walls on the table.  That was such a feel good moment for me.

We used to play League of Legends too.  There was this one time when I played top and my friends played marksman and support bot.  In the loading screen, I noticed the lack of marksman on the other side.  They could just be trolls or noobs but something seemed fishy and it’s not just the Tahm Kench pick.  At the start of the game, the Volibear (or the Kench, can’t actually remember) typed “we have no ADR. haha” in all chat.  That moment, I became extremely suspicious.  I quickly requested a lane change with my friends (Caitlyn and Sona), saying I’m going to go solo bot and they’d duo top against the Yasuo.  They obliged and upon going bot, I just confirmed my suspicions — Voli and Tahm are running a kill lane.  I told my friends if the kill lane goes top, we’re gonna switch lanes too.  I’ve ran kill lanes before with my M:TG friend and I know that if it works, it’s devastating as your team just loses a carry.  With Caitlyn and Sona lacking reliable hard cc, I’m certain Caitlyn won’t be able to farm properly.  With me on Maokai, I know I’m not gonna lose my lane and they’re not getting a kill from me.  I told my jungler to be wary of bot in case I have to recall.  The wet sticky bandits didn’t switch top and I was at bot home alone.  They hid in the sidebrush waiting for me to make a wrong move but I just farmed under turret.  I didn’t hug the tower all the time.  I gave them the impression that they can get a kill on me and they just stuck there in bot, leaving the Yasuo top to get butchered by my teammates, until I got to level 6 while they were both level 4 and our jungler decided to pay bot lane a visit.  Fun times.  Moral lesson:  never mess with a kill lane vet.  [END OF NERD ALERT] 

FLEXIBILITY…

This is what my tagline is all about.  This doesn’t necessarily mean changing your hero pick to fill in for the team.  Oftentimes, I encounter players forced to play picks that they don’t normally use.  In a way, that would be good as you’re adapting, but to me, that’s not flexing, that’s being a masochist.  Flexing doesn’t end in picking a hero to fill for your team.  It actually just starts there.  During the entirety of a game, you’re given a lot of moments to flex.

The last 2 ranked games I played on my friend’s abandoned account (Gold IV), I played Mina.  Mid.  Yes, mid…  Mina fucking mid.  Why?  Because no one went mid.  I got laned against a Kahlii.  I haven’t had much success with Mina pre map change but windstone kinda upped my game on her.  After some successful games (used her from Silver II to Gold IV) , I’ve grown confident using her.  I was terrible on her pre-support items, I’m wondering if that’s a factor on my success lately.

Observe

The first step is observation.  You can’t really adapt if you have no idea what you’re adapting to.  From the hero select screen you’ll get to choose on how you’ll pick your team.  After lock in, you can already think ahead regarding the strengths and weaknesses of your comp.  On the loading screen you will already get some insight on how your team will fare against the enemy team, with some glimpse on the possible outcome of the match and even some idea on how how you should play to achieve or prevent that possible outcome.  Observation requires awareness, from what’s happening in your lane to what’s happening in the entire map.  

Using the example above, this is my team vs the enemy team — balanced team versus three immobile mages and two mobile marksmen (or one marksman and a ranged bruiser) .

Balance-wise, our team fills all roles and absolutely there’s no way even if hell freezes over that we’re gonna lose this match right?  Heck, the enemy team can even be obliterated by Raz alone! 

From the loading screen alone, we’ll be able to judge the outcome of the match.  The enemy team needs to play a perfect turtle/farm game in order to win.  I can imagine Veera on heavy ganking duties, with Slimz securing every objective.  Valhein can act as the counter-engage (Veera can do so to with her stun).  Diaochan and Kahlii would have to play it safe and wait for ganks.  In theory, this can even be a formidable team, damage-wise.

Still, no matter how unusual or weird the enemy comp may be, I always play cautiously,  especially that this is a ranked game.  I don’t let myself be complacent, not until I see the victory screen.

I was already thinking of where to start.  I thought of pressuring mid at first since it’s easily harassable with sidebrushes offering ways of concealing myself.  Supports usually try to pressure jungle but I’m unsure if my team would back me up if I go invade.  I don’t want to get collapsed on early so I plan to take the safer route by trying to harass mid.

We might not be able to secure a kill but I’m certain that with Raz, we’ll be able to chunk the opposing midlaner hard enough to make him/her recall and we might even be able to invade afterwards.  I am already formulating a plan! This should be in the second step, right?  Yeah unless I have to scrap all of it because of some unforeseen unfortunate events.

Raz was AFK.  Fck….

Formulate

Using the information gathered during the observation stage, this is where we use our game knowledge to build a plan, be it rotations or item builds or any other ways of using the resources that we have to secure the game.  Knowledge is key on this stage.

Continuing from the above, I still thought of pressuring mid early since Slimz might be going mid and I decided to support him at least.  Omega already went top and Arthur bot.  Slimz went jungle.  I still decided to go mid and clear waves since Slimz is in the jungle anyway, might as well cover mid and see if Slimz would come and get some waves.  

Slimz decided to go full jungle.  OK, I’m the midlaner.  I’m now facing Kahlii.  Now what?

First, I thought of Kahlii’s kit.  She’s as slow as molasses.  I can surely outrun her.  She has a shield that gives some MS and AP and an AoE slow.  I observed her playstyle while clearing the first wave.  She tried to harass me with her AoE which I easily dodged, and she moved forward a bit and just stood in place, trying to last hit creeps.  No positioning to make use of her passive.  I concluded that she’s not a good Kahlii. 

I looked at the map and saw Omega getting pushed by Veera and Valhein.  Arthur is tangoing with Diaochan.  Enemy Slimz nowhere in sight.  Our Slimz is still clearing.  Information overload! Just breathe in deeply, a huge gulp of air, and everything will slow down.  Now what?

Focus on what’s in front of you.  

Ah yes, the Kahlii.  She’s crossing the halfway mark of mid. I don’t have the means to take her down to help Omega.  What do I have?  My passive, a pull, my spin, and some AAs.  Not enough to kill and go top.  If I had an Execute instead of Heal, it might be enough to chunk her low.  Still, I went for her, skirting around her AoE.  I know my 2-skill combo is not enough to kill the Kahlii but that would suffice to get his attention.  

Notice me, Slimz Senpai!  

I don’t advocate forcing a kill but I won’t be able to rotate top since Kahlii might shove mid.  As mentioned in the screencap, she can also roam top if I decided to go and they would have the numbers advantage over us.  Plus I’m not even sure if our Slimz would help and if the enemy Slimz might suddenly appear too.

Adapt

I’ve decided to be a full-pledged Mina mid for this game.  So, what would I need to be a decent mid at least?  I need to clear waves fast to be able to rotate to other lanes.  I might be forced to get a Mantle of Ra component for faster clear.  Gaia’s would be my primary target item though for M.Def and MS.  There’s still the Kahlii problem though.

I noticed Slimz Senpai noticing me noticing the Kahlii not noticing Slimz Senpai.  Luckily, Slimz Senpai is slimzer than Evil Slimz.  We were able to take down Kahlii with his gank while the Evil Slimz died trying to help Kahlii.  Slimz Senpai got both kills.  We were then able to rotate top and kill the VeerXVal couple.  From then, the game was easy especially when Raz was able to reconnect and turns out he was actually a good Raz.

I was not able to get a screencap of the match history but we ended up winning (as expected from the loading screen).  Yeah, it’s nothing to brag about as the enemy had a losing team comp from the get go.  Still, I just want to point out the importance of flexibility.  I could’ve just bitched in chat that Mina is a poor midlaner and Slimz should do it.  Instead, I tried to be calm and adjusted to the current.  It also didn’t help the enemy’s case that their game is full of mistakes.  Games are usually decided with the team making the least mistakes getting the victory. 

In soloQ, you really have to tough it out and be able to adapt to unfortunate events and be wary that curveballs WILL BE thrown at you.  Troll picks are not uncommon and poor play/map awareness is especially rampant.  Reporting players won’t help you win the match.  Raging won’t help either.  It’s no use getting angry at a doorknob.  You can scream at it all day and it will still stay as it is – a doorknob.

As already mentioned, flexing does not stop at changing from one role to another in hero select.  Even in game, when playing a specific role, you’d be forced to do other players’ jobs.  There will be times when you’ll be jungling then a laner decides to leave lane and take your jungle instead.  At times like this, you can flex, playing like a Punish laner — clearing the wave then getting nearby jungle creeps and taking tabs on buffs/jungle monsters.  It is hard and taxing but at least it might win you the game while bitching will get you nowhere.  Always take the initiative when such things occur as you can’t really rely on strangers.  Still, always play to your strengths.  Like when I played Mina mid, I was not intending to stay mid.  1v1 is not Mina’s strong point.  Teamfights and skirmishes are where she shines so finding a way to play to that strength was my priority.

Last night, I was forced to play marksman, which is one of the roles I hate the most (most hated is mid).  I waited for someone else to play marksman but no one switched so I just locked in Yorn as I really have no other choices.  I then noticed that I just picked Yorn into Kriknak and Batman.

 I decided to run bot and ended up with Batman and Toro.  Skud joined me and we were actually doing fairly well at first and able to push a bit.  I was thinking of fast clearing and quickly rallying mid with Skud in order to scare off Elsu.  Unfortunately, our Kahlii got killed by Elsu and then decided to go top, leaving the mid open.  At this moment, I felt really, really salty to be honest.  I hated marksman and I played it.  Now, I’m going mid with a marksman… against Elsu… with Kriknak and Batman lurking around.  I haven’t been playing lately too as I considered quitting AoV so I am unaware of Elsu’s kit.  I’ve just read somewhere that he’s like LoL’s Caitlyn so I just assumed I am playing against Caitlyn.  My mind was deadset on losing especially when my team started dying from Kriknak.  Still, a part of me wanted to play along.  I haven’t given up any kills and I thought I can farm under turret.  I’m not able to help at all though as the fear of getting stomped by Batman or Kriknak is just too much.  I only focused on getting my items.   

Since my team ended up fighting a lot, I went from lane to lane, clearing waves while being wary of the assassins.  My first death came from Kriknak when I got caught trying to help.  From then on, I decided not to respond in teamfights until I get my items.  

It’s a good thing that Kahlii was able to assist in fights while I was trying to farm my items.  My first kill was when I was able to solo Veera on top.  I think my team was fighting elsewhere in the map by then.  I was only able to join fights after Blitzblade/Greaves + Fafnir’s + Frost Cape.  I tried my best to just wait until the Kriknak jumps on a teammate then try to spam skills + passive proc.  The remaining entirety of the game, I just went from lane to lane, clearing creeps and trying to be reclusive as much as possible, all the while responding to teamfights if possible.  We were able to secure Slayer once but ended up wasting the dragon.  I was ready to lose by then until one teamfight later where I was able to get a triple kill and three of us miraculously survived.  We were able to open toplane.  Still, I’m sure one mistake can just end the game for us.  Can’t remember what happened except for one instance where we were all bot trying to siege with the creep wave and the enemy Kriknak was able to open our mid.  I was hoping one of us would def but none did.  This is why I strongly suggest taking the initiative.  I think we were able to ace them then Kahlii destroyed the core through the top with a large minion wave covering her.

On the above stated match, I did several adjustments.  First, the flex to Yorn to have a marksman in the team; then going mid to cover lane; and then building some tankiness to survive the burst from the assassins.  I also used Heal instead of Flicker in this match as I don’t believe Flicker would be enough to save me (with my poor mechanics, I will just surely waste it).  Heal has been handy on several occasions, allowing us to survive bursts and enabling us to retaliate.  Note though that I was totally irrelevant early game and avoided fighting as much as possible.  It’s a good thing that my teammates were able to weather the storm.  I believe it’s actually more from the opponent getting complacent and enjoying killing too much that we were able to scale into late game.  There were a lot of mistakes on both sides but I guess the opponent made the graver mistake which led to their loss.

Still, I’m wondering if things would’ve been different if I just went on with my Cresht comfort pick and flex from there.  Personally, I don’t like being forced to play a role I am not comfortable with.  Likewise, I dislike forcing people into roles or heroes they’re not familiar with.  It’s almost always better to just play something you’ve mastered instead of playing something you don’t like just to satisfy the team composition.  I only played marksman so as not to tilt my team.  Chances are we’ll end up fighting at the very start of the game if no one played marksman and as much as possible, I wanted to avoid that as a civil war would just further reduce our chances of winning.

Don’t be afraid to experiment.  If you think you’re going to lose anyway, I believe it’s worth it to try some unconventional stuff.  There was one time when I was playing Superman against 3 mages.  Gaia’s and Medallion were not enough so I bought 2 more Gaia’s which gave me 15% MS which Superman needs along with tankiness.  This made it easier to cause disruption in the enemy team to allow my teammates to free-hit.

Of course, game knowledge is of utmost importance to be able to adapt.  Knowing how heroes, items, and other game-related stuff function will open up more windows for flexibility.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Being able to adjust to situations can allow you to turn unfavorable situations into your advantage, so instead of tilting or raging, take a very very deep breather and think of ways to recover from your situation.  You might still end up losing but at least you tried your best. After all, losing games is okay as long as you’ve learned something from them.

To close this, I’ll just leave a quote from Bruce Lee: 

“Don’t get set into one form, adapt it and build your own, and let it grow, be like water. Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless — like water. Now you put water in a cup, it becomes the cup; You put water into a bottle it becomes the bottle; You put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow or it can crash.  Be water, my friend.”

This is just a simple flowchart.  It doesn’t have the specifics of rotations or dueling but more of laning in a nutshell.

As usual, I’d like to thank Samurai Gamers for the info in this guide.

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If Streetfighter has Ryu and Ken, AoV has the tiltduo — Valhein and Yorn.  Yorn is probably second only to Valhein in terms of notoriously being instalocked and inducing tilt upon teammates even before a game starts.  He has been a part of my personal Tiltrinity/Tiltrio (Valhein, Yorn, Zanis).  Still, he’s the hero that I have the highest mastery with, mostly by spamming him in 3v3s (he either wins fast or loses fast and I’m just aiming to get the 4-game reward per day).

Yorn VS other marksmen

Compared to other marksmen, Yorn isn’t flashy. He can’t go in and out of fights like Violet.  He can’t poke like Joker. He doesn’t have a good cc like Slimz.  He doesn’t have slows like Tel’annas.  So why Yorn?

… on top of that, he doesn’t have good level spikes and his skills can’t contribute much in early skirmishes.  Violet’s poke hurts even pre level 4; Tel’annas can provide slow for small fights; Slimz has deadly pick potential; while Yorn only has damage which is mediocre at base, slow as molasses laser satellites, and hard to hit cc.  WHY Yorn?

… adding the final nail on the coffin is his complete lack of escape skills. His horrendous mobility makes him a food factory for divers and assassins. WTF! YORN?! Why in the nine realms of hell would you play Yorn over other marksmen?

Personally, I play him for the fact that he is well… Yorn.

• He has no fancy skills.  If you can throw a skill, shoot, and then run, you’ll be able to decently play him.
• He rewards good macro.  His ultimate is global and can “support” teammates across the map.  Since he’s heavily item reliant, being able to farm well is heavily rewarded.
• He can destroy tanks with just two items (Fafnir’s and Muramasa) and can stay relevant with 3 damage items (Blitzblade, Fafnir’s, Muramasa or Claves).  This gives him flex slots — tank items like Frost Cape and Hyoga’s and/or utility items like Curse of Death can be built on him without compromising his damage output that much
• He can be played as support artillery (not roam/full support but providing covering fire).

Actually, my main reason for playing him is the same why I became a Teemo main in League — to prevent my teammates from picking him.  I got teamed with a lot of bad Yorns that I decided to study him myself and just instalock.

If you’re reading this, I don’t think  I need to list any more reasons to play Yorn.  Admit it, deep inside, you need him just as much as you need the sun.  After all, the sun’s power is limitless… Limitless!

This guide will not make you a pro Yorn, but it might turn you into a smart Yorn.

Playing Yorn

Unlike most marksmen that rely mostly on NA (normal attacks) for DPS, I believe Yorn is more of a marksman/caster hybrid, meaning you have to “weave” your  NA and skills to get the maximum benefit of his passive.  I think of him as a less mobile version of Violet.  You can go the normal attack route for his passive procs but weaving skills and NA speeds up the procs which is essential since he is very squishy, you’d want to deal as much damage as possible in the shortest possible time.

Yorn’s passive is a double-edged sword.  With damage items, it’s like a Natalya ult that melts even the tankiest of tanks.  If gimped, his passive is a self stun that will poke your opponents’ cheeks until they get annoyed enough and decide to vaporize you.

Maximizing Yorn’s range is a crucial element to Yorn’s gameplay.  Fortunately, his range is pretty decent and he can even match most mages in terms of zoning.  Of course, his skills are weaksauce compared to mages so you’ll rely on Yorn’s passive for additional damage.  His range is the reason why I’m favoring him in Valley Skirmish (yes, I can go mage but Yorn wrecks towers with ease).

Knowledge of the opponents’ effective zone is a must in surviving  and being effective in a skirmish/duel.   For this, imagine circles around heroes to determine their effective ranges.

On the image above, I’ve drawn a rough approximation of Yorn’s effective range.  As Yorn, our goal is to overlap the orange circle into the enemy and attack.  Within the orange circle, I placed a red circle which indicates the danger zone.  As much as possible, you want no enemies inside this zone.  This danger zone may vary from player to player.  Personally, I made it a bit large to play safer so that I can avoid getting yamcha’d.

It’s also important to overlap the orange circle over your allies so you can provide covering fire quickly.  Proper usage of these circles can help a lot not only with survivability but effective damage dealing as well.

Note that with this, knowing the enemy heroes’ abilities is very important.  Without a good grasp of the enemy skill ranges, it will be difficult to effectively utilize zoning.

On the image above, we have Slimz in our range but he is too uncomfortably close.  If this isn’t an AI, the Violet could’ve easily rolled in for the kill.

In summary, your ideal position is in the backlines, maintaining a safe range but close enough to provide immediate artillery support.  You’ll be attacking ALL enemy heroes within your circle, regardless if it’s a tank or not.  You’ll focus on carries IF they’re within range.  If not, attack whoever is.  Never ever give up a favorable position just to damage the enemy backlines.  It is the assassin’s job to kill the enemy carries, not yours.  I’ve seen a lot of stupid Yorns through the frontline to reach the enemy backline and attempt to take down carries.  Don’t be one of them.  They’re overpopulated already.  Ignore teammates saying “don’t aim for the tanks, vovotanganoob.”  Attack whoever is within your range.  You don’t have the luxury of zoom-zoom or displacement skills.   Chasing kills outside of your ult is basically out of the question.

Situational awareness is probably the most important player skill in using Yorn.  You have to be able to position yourself properly in teamfights and determine which places are safe to farm.  Since Yorn requires items to be effective, you’ll have to be able to get all the possible farm that your arrows can reach.  Here’s a list of some things to take note:

on laning:

• Always look at the minimap.  I just can’t stress this enough.  Be wary when enemies are missing.  Take note of boss monsters.  With your ult, you can assist teammates in taking them or steal one from an opponent.
• Focus on farm.  You need to rush your first item (usually Blitzblade) in order to be of significance early game.  Take the small jungle monsters if possible (of course, don’t do it on the first jungle clear!).  Whenever you see a minion wave even in other lanes and no one plans on taking it, go for it as long as it’s safe.  Don’t let any minion go to waste.
• Don’t overextend (get back to farming).  Even just crossing the river is dangerous for Yorn.  Plan your pathing properly.  If planning to rotate, avoid dangerous spots like the river, especially if enemies are missing.
• Avoid facechecking brushes.  You won’t get any Brave Points for doing so.
• Don’t unnecessarily spam skills.  Weaving normal attack+skills requires a fuckton of mana.  Clear waves with normal attacks.  You can do a fast clears with passive procs on normals.  It’s even quicker if you got Blitzblade.  If the team approves, take the blue buff.  Yorn is a beast with one.
• Roam only if extremely necessary.  Pre-Blitzblade, Yorn is a shit roamer.  If the enemy laner rotates, it’s often better to just focus on the turret instead of rushing to the skirmish, especially if it’s far off your lane.  Carefully assess if your roam will be rewarding.  If not, try to help with your ult and push (again, safely).

on teamfights:

• Track your enemies.  Yes, all 5 of them; and yes, you have to look at the minimap for this.  Assess your team’s and enemies’ position.  Look out for possible flanks.  Be wary of brushes.
• Know your opponents’ effective range.  If you get caught, you’re dead.  Being in the backline does not mean you’re always safe.
• Master Yorn’s spacing.  You can do this in 3v3.  Don’t go too far unless you’re in grave danger.
• Always be on the move.  Move in between passive procs.  Always look for the best possible position to hit someone.   Try to kite.  One of the common mistakes I see on some Yorns is they just stand on one location and shoot til they drop.  Positioning with Yorn is extremely important especially that he roots himself when he procs his passive.
• Wait for a clusterfuck and unleash hell.  Use your teammates as a distraction as much as possible.  This is what I usually do in soloQ as you can’t really rely on anyone to back you up.  You have to find ways to deal damage without endangering yourself.

Building Yorn

I’m not recommending any specific build here as I strongly believe that builds or arcanas won’t make you win games.  Playstyle does.  I’m just going to list item options for Yorn.  When it comes to items, it’s best to maximize his passive.  A common lapse that I can see is rushing AS items to proc his passive early, with Devil’s Handshake and Slikk’s Sting being the most common culprits.  With Yorn’s already bad early game, this is like a nail on the coffin as they don’t really contribute anything aside from attack speed.  Yorn’s first items should be able to help his early game, either to increase damage or improve his survivability.

The Blitzblade rework is heavensent for Yorn.  It synergizes greatly with his kit and is cheap, making it a good rush/farm item.  It also helps with his near immobility and allows him to rotate faster and get to farming locations quickly.  Yorn’s passive also procs it (last arrow has lightning) increasing his DPS early game.  Late game, you can replace it with Slikk’s Sting (if you went Claves) or even Devil’s Handshake.

Fafnir’s Talon is Yorn’s true core item.  It has on-hit effect and lifesteal which provides decent lane sustain that synergizes well with his passive.  This used to be my rush item followed by an early def (when playing solo).  It might be suboptimal though against squishies and you’d probably lose a duel against early raw damage items.  Against HP stackers and/or Orb of Magi users, this can be a perfect rush item.

Claves Sancti can be rushed after Warboots when facing a squishy team.  This combination greatly spikes  Yorn’s overall damage potential and is impactful if your team needs to teamfight early for contesting objectives.   I used to personally dislike crit as I hate RNG-based stuff.  Most of the successful Yorn games that I’ve had were no-Claves builds.  Lately though, I’ve been valuing the random chance to chunk the opponent’s HP and I’m now respecting the powerspike that Claves provides.  Take note though that when rushing Claves, it’s better to go with Warboots instead of defensive boots as Claves doesn’t give attack speed.  Warboots helps with this to increase his DPS.

For movespeed, Warboots is rather cheap and can greatly Yorn’s early game.  If going with this, rush this over damage items unless you get early kills and can finish them at once.  Personally, I build defensively and opt for Gilded Greaves or Sonic Boots, depending on the situation.

After completing one (or two or even all) of the three damage items above, you can go defensively, offensively (penetration), or utility (anti-heal, etc), depending on the enemy team comp.

For armor penetration, Rankbreaker can be considered as a second damage item.  Personally, I like it for the %MS bonus and with Blitzblade, would allow you to even more quickly rotate.  I used to build it a lot when I hated to get crit items.  Late game,  Muramasa is better though as you’ll probably be hitting the enemy frontline most of time.

For defensive items, I go with Frost Cape (got this from Vex build IIRC) as it provides CDR, burst protection, and some additional damage and slow or Hyoga’s Edge if I want some m.def.  Hyoga’s Edge gives better kiting because of its %MS bonus in the expense of additional damage.  There’s also the option of building both if you need more survivability.  Most of the time though, one of the two would suffice.  Note that it’s better to proc Frost Cape slow with S2 as the slow will help landing S1 easier.  With Hyoga’s, you can just hit the enemy with a normal attack and use S1.

Other items to consider are Omniarms, which also increases his overall burst (I feel it’s better to get this as third offensive item); Fenrir’s Tooth which synergizes well with Fafnir’s Talon; and Curse of Death, which is a good punisher item against healers.  This is especially helpful since it’s rare to find teammates building anti-heal items.  I once tried Spear of Longinus since Yorn can instantly stack its effect but I find it too cute.  Perhaps it’s passable if running a super AD heavy team comp to boost the team’s damage.  Of course, the always popular final item, Blade of Eternity, can be considered as well for defense.   Death Sickle is also an option when Blade of Eternity loses its revive.  Still, I mostly prefer just having Frost Cape + Hyoga’s Edge if I want more defensive items as it allows Yorn to better kite and reposition.

How about more AS items?  Personally, I don’t think he will reap that much benefit stacking pure AS items like Slikk’s Sting or Devil’s Handshake compared to getting AD and/or good on hit effects.  Slikk’s Sting synergizes though with Claves.  Late game, if you went with Claves, you can sell Blitzblade and replace it with Slikk’s Sting.  Devil’s Handshake, on the other hand, is a bit suboptimal IMO as Yorn doesn’t have attack-modifying skills like Slimz or Tel-annas.

Yorn’s glass cannon build, when properly babysat, is absolutely disgusting.  Its damage output is simply ridiculous.  If playing with friends, I’d opt to this, but in soloQ where there is no reliable peel, this build tends to get deleted instantly.

As I’ve already mentioned, I’m not advocating a fixed item build on Yorn as I feel that it defeats the purpose of playing him.  If going for a fixed build, I’d suggest picking another marksman instead.

Arcana

In my opinion, Yorn is one of the less arcana-reliant heroes.  Still, arcanas would definitely help with his early game to a significant degree.  I’ve even used him with tank arcanas (Indomitable/Benevolence/Valiance) and did well.  All that matters is being able to farm his items.  Even AP mains can use him if they need a marksman even with the usual (Violate/Benevolence/Flurry) without wasting too much as Blitzblade deals magic damage anyway.  To tell you the truth, I’ve played him a lot with non-marksman arcana that I have no idea what’s the most optimal arcana build for him.  This is probably one of the reasons why I picked him up.  Still, if you want to optimize a page for him, the regular marksman set (Blitz/Guerilla/Skewer) is a decent thing to start with.  There are also some builds running purple Reave for sustain.  Haven’t tried them though.

A dedicated arcana page is not a must but it would help mitigate some of his early game weakness.

Talents

Flicker is a must, but for players like me though with poor reaction time, I feel it won’t help that much, so I opted for Heal which I can use for teammates too.

Yorn jungle, yes or no?

I’ve actually seen him being jungled in higher ranks.  If it’s viable in high ranks, it should be viable in the low ranks right?  Well, it’s hard to tell.  Teammates are reliable in higher ranks so that should be a factor.  Yorn is a fragile jungler and if invaded, he’s in a lot of trouble.  In low-rank soloQ, you can’t really rely on teammates to have your back.  Still, if NO ONE wants to go jungle and you’re confident with your skills, just do it.  It’s better than just freely giving away your jungle to the enemy team.

Final thoughts…

Yorn is not an autopilot hero, meaning it’s the player that makes or breaks a Yorn, not the other way around.  There are some heroes that can carry even a mediocre player.  Yorn is not one of them.   Still, I don’t believe Yorn is bad.  It just so happened that there are better options and it doesn’t help that the usual Yorn pickers often go YOLO.  Personally, I’d lock Yorn if I need to play marksman as I’m mostly a roleplayer and not a carry player.  I prefer to just support the team with artillery barrage than to duke it out wild wild west style like other marksmen.  The most important thing, I guess, is Yorn allows flexibility to observe, formulate, and adapt.

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My personal Yorn story….

You’re probably wondering why you’d believe me if I’m not even a Yorn main.  Sadly, my most played hero is Yorn who I spammed a lot in 3v3.  That’s where I saw his potential.  I kinda compare him to Natalya if played with NA-skill weaving.  Before that, I’ve tried multiple AS builds on him with limited success.  I stumbled upon a Vex(?) YT vid which builds Warboots, Fafnir’s, Frostcape, Muramasa, Fenrir’s, and Ancestral Glory.  Being a fan of tanky builds, I gave it a spin and kinda fell in love with the build.  That’s when I spammed it in 3v3 for fast games.  I found out it’s pretty stable in 5v5 too.

The problem that I had with the build though is rushing Fafnir’s feel a bit suboptimal against squishy targets early game.  Maybe it’s just me though.  I’ve tried the old Blitzblade but it feels too expensive for a bridge item plus it’s underwhelming. Still I had success with Vex build so I stuck with it, just modifying it sometimes with Curse of Death against healers.  I’ve stopped playing Yorn on my main as I don’t want him to be my “default hero” when I experience connection issues.

Lately, I’ve been playing on an account that I made to get a Veera skin.  It’s currently just Gold II.  I was having problems getting from Silver to Gold with Maloch for some weird reason so I tried Yorn for the lulz and tried the reworked Blitzblade.  The climb was rather smooth.  Out of 12 Yorn games, I got 11 wins, and I’m on a 9-win streak currently.

What I’m trying to imply here is Yorn can work in soloQ even with disorganized teams and lack of peel.  You don’t even have to play like a god but just to position yourself really well and play smart.  Focus on objectives and avoid unnecessary fights.

On average, I do 25% to 30% of the team damage with 3 games where I did 45% to 50%.  It might be rather low compared to other marksmen but I play a more objective-focused game.

There will be some games where you’ll suck.   If you can’t carry games, at least carry your own weight or let yourself be carried by teammates.  Yeah.  It feels terrible but if you want to win, you’d have to play like you want to win.  In the 0/3/6 game, I was barely able to farm as the enemies kept diving me.  I settled for scraps, scurrying from lane to lane and taking small creeps in the jungle to try to catch up.  I tried to help whenever I can with teamfights.  Notice that I built Curse of Death on this match.  We were playing against healers then so I decided to get a utility item.

At the moment, I am level 22 on the “yorn account” and have 2 arcana setups.  One for tank (of course) and one for AP (which I’m building for Burn Arthur).  The AP page is the one that I’m currently using for Yorn.  Just thought the AS from Flurry would help a bit plus Blitzblade deals magic damage and would benefit from the m.pen compared to Valiance from the tank page.

I believe I can still take Yorn higher if I can get by my ranked anxiety and if I can get better connection.  I get really salty whenever I get DC’d.  I don’t mind getting stupid teammates.  At least I can do something with that.  With shitty connection, I can’t do anything.

I finished Gold II in the “Yorn account” last season.  Not sure if I’d play him again this season.  I’m planning on focusing on my main and hope to get to plat at least.  Again, thanks for the time spent reading this and see you in the Antaris Fields.  Long days and pleasant nights!

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All credits go to u/A_Certain_Person for the build.

Images from Samurai Gamers

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I used to play Garen a lot in League so when I shifted to AoV, I was stuck for a long time with Arthur due to the similarity of their kit. I spammed Arthur until I got Maloch (free at SEA). After trying out Arthur’s regular bruiser builds and playing jungle double burn, I tried AP builds on him, even buying out Sap and Consume arcana to get early magic lifesteal for his skill 2 until I realized I just wasted gold to make a worse version of Arum. That was the last time I tried experimenting with him. I then stumbled upon u/A_Certain_Person’s reddit post about Arthur Burninator build. That rekindled (pun not intended) my obsession with Arthur experimentation.

THE WHITEBOARD

The core is pretty simple, as  u/A_Certain_Person said, just replace the Frost Cape in a Double Burn build with Berith’s Agony.  The other items (Mail of Pain, Medallion, Gaia’s) are situational, depending on the enemy team comp.  Hyoga’s Edge is also a good option for resistances and chase potential.

Other AP items?

Soaring Aura is pretty decent to help other magic damage dealers in the team.  Frosty’s Revenge might look good on paper for permaslow but with 0.4 AP scaling, it’s just a costly HP item.  Hyoga’s provide the same permaslow at a cheaper price.  If it was old Frosty’s I won’t hesitate building it.  I once tried Rhea’s Blessing in an AP build but you have to dedicate a whole lot of AP into it.  It still won’t turn Arthur into a better Arum.  Generally, AP items are meh unless they have good utility due to poor AP scaling with skill 2.

Arcana

For arcanas, I opted for Xeniel’s customized page – Indomitable, Benevolence, Flurry.  Yes.  Flurry.  You can go with the traditional Warrior page and stick with Skewer but  with the amount of burn that we’re running, I believe magic pierce is a logical choice.

Flurry synergizes with a lot of stuff going on with the build so I feel it’s too good to pass up.   With this, you can just rush Heart of Incubus before proceeding with Leviathan for faster clears.

Pros and cons:

PROS:

• a rather fun build
• high potential damage output
• AoE damage good in chaotic teamfights (which is normal in pub games)

CONS:

• needs CC from teammates to be able to maximize damage output (hard to force a reliable disable item on build)
• if team comp deals mostly magic damage (i.e. mage mid, mage jungle, mage support), team can be countered by mdef stacking
• can be a flamebait (pun again not intended) from teammates

CONCLUSION

On testing, it doesn’t stray from Arthur’s usual playstyle of mostly splitting; getting attention; and popping in and out of fights while managing his cooldowns, zoning opponents if possible.  His classic warrior build can dive backlines and finish squishies.  This build can do both zoning and diving but transfers his burst damage to sustained damage which is good for zoning targets out.  One takeaway from this build though is since it’s more sustained than burst, Arthur’s kitability even becomes more prominent with this build as you need to stay in fights.

All I can say is this is a fun way to build Arthur.  Personally, I like the build and I would like to thank  u/A_Certain_Person again for it.  I’ll be updating this guide from time to time once I do further testing.

Observe.  Formulate.  Adapt.

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Having connection problems at home, I usually just resort to doing custom games with AI since I don’t want to get dc’d and reported.  Believe it or not, playing with the AI improved my macro significantly.

Of course doing a full regular game against the AI wouldn’t help with anything except boost your ego, so I set some rules:

• I start the game with 10 points.
• Every tower that I lose, I get some points deducted; 1 point for tier 1, 2 points for tier 2.
• Passing score is 7 points.

This means if you lose all tier 1 turrets, you can’t lose another turret. If you lose a tier 1 and a tier 2 turret, you’ll lose if another of your turrets fall.

Sounds fairly easy eh?

Well not quite actually. Especially if you focus on hunting enemy heroes.  From this exercise I learned 2 things:

1. Focus on the minimap.
2. Clear the minion waves.

It’s not unusual to ignore a small wave of minions creeping to your base then get a bit busy around the map only to find out that the same wave has eaten up half your turret’s HP.  Turrets in AoV are relatively weak so you have to quickly respond.  AI gaming opened my eyes about that.

After doing a lot of AI customs, when I got to play regular PVP games, my instinct was to always clear waves and focus on the minimap to observe minion movement (somehow I feel like a surfer waiting for waves LOL).   Not only did it save our turrets, but also kept me well farmed and ahead in gold.  Minion wave mastery will help predict the flow of creeps thus helping in getting advantages which will then translate to securing the game.

You can also practice using hero trial.  This will allow  you to learn the most efficient farming method for your hero, test skill ranges, and other things about your main hero.

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INTRODUCTION
Since Arcanas cost 2K each, it is logical that you should get good return of your investment. The first step in maximizing Arcana is to determine your primary role as this is where you’ll base your first Arcana buys. Just imagine playing an RPG where you get to choose a class then you’ll get to crossclass. For example, if you’re planning to main marksman and try tank as secondary role, Guerilla would be a good buy as it’s utilized by both classes. Mages can utilize it too but most opt for Benevolence, which is also considered a premier Tank arcana. For assassins, obviously, Assassinate is their primary arcana. Tanks and mages can still utilize it for the extra MS.

DON’T BUY TIER I or II ARCANAS. They’re just a waste of gold and are given freely anyway. I actually sold mine just to clear up inventory.
To start, these are the basic arcana setups:
MARKSMAN
10 Blitz
10 Guerilla
10 Skewer
TANKS
10 Indomitable *(or 8 Indomitable, 2 Blitz)
10 Benevolence/Guerilla*/Assassinate*
10 Valiance***
*There are some builds that try to get 1% crit for the random chance of hitting it. If you’re MAINING MARKSMAN which you usually get Blitz anyway, you can opt for just 8 indomitable and just slot in 2 Blitz arcs for 1% crit/3.2% AS if you’re planning to make a dedicated tank page. You’ll save 4K gold from this. I’m not a fan of RNG so I don’t personally advocate getting crit. Still, 4K gold is a lot.
**Benevolence vs Guerilla: Both are good. Benevolence gives a little bit of tankiness and some sustain. I like having Benevolence if I’m uncertain about my lane. There are situations where you’ll be facing 2 laners (yeah, happens in soloQ, low ranks) and the added regen can help mitigate some of the poke. If you’re playing a hero that doesn’t synergize much with AS and you’re planning on setting up a mage arc page, Benevolence is the better choice. Guerilla on the other hand gives better mobility and some extra attacks. Certain heroes like Maloch, Arduin, or Ormarr can utilize Indomitable/Guerilla/Benevolence well.
Assassinate is a good choice if you’re starting out on maining assassins.
***Skewer or Flurry are good options if those are the ones that you have available. Valiance is for a dedicated tank page.
WARRIORS
10 Indomitable
10 Benevolence ( or Guerilla)
10 Skewer
For me, this is the most balanced arcana page to get as it can also be used on marksmen and even tanks with physical damage.
MAGES
10 Violate
10 Benevolence/Guerilla*
10 Flurry
This is the basic mage build. Specialized ones use magic lifesteal purples but I feel they’re not cost effective unless you’re one-tricking. Magic lifesteal purples are quite niche even in mages.
*Guerilla vs Benevolence: Personally I’d go for Benevolence for HP, sustain and MS. Still, guerilla is fine if you’re maining marksman/mage.
ASSASSINS
10 Onslaught
10 Assassinate
10 Skewer
This page can actually be utilized by some marksmen (Joker, Yorn) and tanks/warriors. If you’re a dedicated assassin, I’d suggest going with just this for any physical damage hero and build a second mage page.
CHOOSING A CLASS AND CROSSCLASSING
Please note that the secondary arcs suggested for this are for budget purposes and not specialized ones. Crossclassing from AD (marksmen/assassins) to AP can be quite costly as most arcanas need to be replaced. It’s better to plan ahead as this allows you to further maximize your investment.
ASSASSINS – Get Onslaught, Assassinate, Skewer

• Secondary tank – you can use the same assassin page on AD tanks. If going deeper, replace Onslaught with Indomitable and Skewer with Valiance (especially when on Maloch)
• Secondary mage – This would be a total revamp but replace Onslaught and Skewer first with Violate and Flurry. You can go with Assassinate since mages usually just go for MS anyway.
• Secondary marksman – use same (can work on Joker or Yorn) or just replace Assassinate with Guerilla. Personally, I’d just use this and make a secondary AP page instead.

TANK – Tanks are actually flexible in arcana. A dedicated tank page usually consists of Indomitable, Benevolence, and Valiance. IMO, the most important arcana for a tank main is Benevolence as you can use it for secondary classes without hurting your build too much.
If you’re using AP tanks and planning on secondary mage, I’d suggest getting Indomitable, Benevolence, and Flurry instead. If you’re planning on physical damage tanks and secondary AD, just build a warrior page.

• Secondary marksman – First to be replaced would be Valiance for Skewer. If you’re investing on AS, replace Benevolence second with Guerilla. Some marksmen can work on Indomitable/Guerilla/Skewer (or even with Benevolence). I played Yorn to some success with just a Skewer for Valiance. Marksmen tend to rely on items anyway. Arcs are good for early game though. Another suggestion if you’re a tank main and you want a marksman, master Yorn. Yes, he sucks and he’s too item dependent (most marksmen are anyway) but you’d save a lot of gold with him since he’s free plus he can function with your regular tank arcana. Just rush blitzblade
• Secondary mage – Replace Valiance with Flurry. If lacking ooomph, replace Indomitable too with Violate. Some mages like Mganga can work on Indomitable/Benevolence/Flurry though.
• Secondary assassin – Replace Valiance with Skewer then Indomitable with Onslaught. You can even go stay with Benevolence if you’re saving for a third page, i.e. mage.
• Secondary warrior – You can go with same or just replace green with Skewer for pierce,

MARKSMAN – Get Blitz, Guerilla, Skewer

• Secondary tank – replace Skewer first with Valiance. You can get 8 Indomitable and leave 2 Blitz for crit. If you want to make a pure tank page, just go on and replace Guerilla with Benevolence.
• Secondary assassin – replace Blitz with Onslaught then proceed to get Assassinate for Guerilla
• Secondary mage – major overhaul again. Replace Blitz and Skewer with Violate and Flurry; complete Flurry first.

MAGE – Basic would be Violate, Benevolence, Flurry. No idea for specialized arcs. Sometimes they go Devour for purple but it’s hard to crossclass with that.

• Secondary AD – for assassins, total revamp Violate and Flurry would be replaced with Onslaught and Skewer. Benevolence can either stick or be replaced with Assassinate. For marksmen, same except for Violate to Blitz, Benevolence to Guerilla. For warriors, replace red and green with Indomitable and Skewer.
• Secondary tank – if playing AP tanks like Chaugnar, you can stick with the same page. If going for a dedicated tank page, replace Violate and Flurry with Indomitable and Valiance.

WARRIOR – As mentioned, basic warrior setup is Indomitable, Benevolence, Skewer.
If you’re planning to get a marksman page, you can opt for 8 Indomitable and 2 Blitz instead of 10 Indomitable to save 4K gold (as shown on pic below).

Secondary tank – if playing an AD tank, use the same. For a dedicated tank page, replace Skewer with Valiance.
Secondary AD – For marksmen, use the same or replace Indomitable and Benevolence with Blitz and Guerilla. Personally, I’d just use the same and try to build an AP page instead. For assassins, replace red with Onslaught and see if you’re fine with Benevolence.
Secondary mage – Just replace reds and greens with Violate and Flurry; complete Flurry first.
SPECIALIZED ARCANA
You can further tune up your arcana page to fit specific heroes. For example, Wukong utilizes a high crit page with Tyrant (which is suboptimal in some heroes). If you’re planning to one trick a certain hero, you can get specialized pages. Otherwise, just go with the basics and just invest on specialized arcana when you have spare gold lying around. For example, this is the setup I’m using for Maloch:

As mentioned a lot of times above, offensive arcanas can be utilized on tanks to good effect. I’ve seen Ormarr with Assassin arcanas to help with early ganks then given his usual tank items.

Defensive arcanas can also be used in offensive heroes, especially if you don’t have enough arcanas yet. I used the setup below for Mganga and currently using it for Xeniel.

Being a tank main, I used to run Indomitable/Benevolence/Skewer on Yorn as I didn’t have enough for a full marksman set. Yorn benefits from the AS from Indomitable and HP gives him some survivability. The trade off though is you’ll be lacking early game damage so you’d have to compensate with items. In return, you’ll be able to survive from damage that was supposed to kill you.

EDIT: 09/02/2018; FOR MAGES:
Lauriel: Enlightened/Benevolence/Focus
Zill, Preyta, Raz: Violate/Sap-Guerilla mix/Flurry
Credit to u/milandeleev for info.
CONCLUSION
To get good value of your gold, try to plan your main and secondary roles well. Sometimes it would even vary depending on your playstyle. You can play a lot of heroes with even just 2 to 3 pages of arcana. Hero mastery is still the key and arcanas are just there to enhance your stats.

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Seriously, you won’t be able to convey anything on chat that can’t be said in quick pings.  If you’re typing, you’re not playing since your focus is on the chatbox and not in the game.  It’s ok if you’re playing with friends but you can use discord voice chat for that.

Please do yourself a favor and disable chat.  Save your heart.

BACKGROUND

I’ve mentioned this strat on reddit before and we’ve used it to great success in Gold-Plat ranked. Haven’t tested it though after the map update.

We don’t have a dedicated jungler in our group as no one seemed to like playing assassins, which is understandable as it’s very rare that you’ll be able to full clear to level 4 in pub games. Chances are you’ll get stuck at 3 with no camps to farm. The only options would be to take the scout birds or go to lane and take away some farm. Both options would take you out of your comfort zone and at risk of being seen or even collapsed in the case of the scout birds.

We usually go 3-man queue in ranked to minimize the impact of leavers. My two friends usually play support and marksman. There is no shortage of mages in ranked but they usually run to sidelanes, leaving the marksman mid. Sometimes there are no junglers from the 2 “wildcards” that we get teamed with so I’m forced to jungle.

Knowing my chances of hitting a quick level 4 are low, I just thought why not give the first blue to my marksman (who plays a wicked violet) and start with red instead?

THE STRAT

The basic strategy will be:

• Jungler will start red.
• Marksman and support will take blue.

From here, the duo could go straight to lane or clear one more camp before going mid. They can also take one camp close to mid from the enemy red camp.

Jungler can go clear the entire bottom jungle then take the scout bird nearby and/or gank mid or bot early. At this time, the enemy jungler is still doing his full clear so the chances of a countergank is low.

A variation would be Marksman, support, (and top) would invade enemy red (could be easily taken out quickly with the top not losing farm on returning to lane). The marksman and support would then quickly take blue and head back to lane or try to gank the enemy mid, take lane creeps, proceed to blue jungle clear, then back to lane. They could also collapse on top if the enemy laner overextends.

Hero Choices

Duo mid: A main hero with good damage output + good clear even without Punish and a support hero with good cc. We used to run Violet (no Punish) + Alice for this.

Jungler: “Support jungler” preferably a tanky hero with red buff + level 2 gank potential and decent clear speed. I used to run Ormarr, Taara (pre-rework), or Arthur for this.  Punish supports like Cresht and Arum can be utilized too.  Heroes that rely on level 4 power spike are to be avoided.

APPLICATION

As already mentioned, we used to run Violet + Alice mid and I’d do Taara/Arthur jungle.  We ran triple-queue without comms as we’re well used to each other’s playstyle.  In our games,  the enemy mid turret usually falls early or the enemy mid AFKs when his/her teammates do not respond.  Either we bait them into skirmishes or just rotate to other nearby objectives.  We played this comp rather aggressively, using our numbers advantage to invade the enemy jungle after a shove.

PROS

• Map control. If executed properly, you’ll be able to control the middle portion of the map since basically you’re doing a modified 1-3-1 laning. This can result to a faster mid turret takedown.
• Epic monster security. With mid as “rendezvous point” it’s easier to guard both dragons and slayer.
• Faster responses. Again, with mid as rendezvous, rotations can be quicker

CONS

• If not executed properly, midlane can become stagnant and severely gimped from XP/gold sharing.  The lane needs to be HIGHLY PROACTIVE in order to prevent this.  You’re basically opening mid here, just doing clearing and rotations.
• Can be countered by a good enemy jungler and a control mage with fast clears. The mage can just clear waves and towerhug while waiting for his/her jungler to powerfarm to 4. If this happens, you’ll end up with 3 level 2/3 heroes against 2 level 4s. If the enemy collapses on your duo mid + jungler, you’ll be facing 2 ults.  Yahoo!

 

CONCLUSION

Basically, I’d classify this as a cheese tactic.  A cheese relies on the element of surprise and speed and requires precise execution.  This could be high risk, high reward depending on how it pans out. I’d recommend this strat to those who enjoys quick rotations and skirmishes.

Observe.  Formulate.  Adapt.

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