Towers of Doom
|
How the Objective Works:1:30 Sapper Camps Spawn 1:50-2:20 Alters Spawn (3)
5:00 Boss Spawns 12:00 Towers Upgrade, Tunnel Spawns |
Map Meta:
Laning Phase:
While this map has many different, and potentially successful, strategies the traditional one is listed below. This is because of its ease of execution and its low requirement for communication and coordination.
Meta Strategy: 1-1-3
On Towers of Doom the solo lane is the top lane. One reason this is, is because the distances between the lanes are not equal. The top lane is further away from the middle lane, than the bottom lane is from the same. Furthermore, there are more abundant rotation paths to the bottom lane, making it inherently more risky.
But that's not all, Towers of Doom is strange because not all parts of the map are equal. Controlling the bottom forts and camps is far more important than controlling the top. This is because of a concept I like calling 'vision territory'. Consider the 4 alter spawn locations, two of them are equidistant from either side (bottom + mid), and the other two are biased towards one team or the other (top alters). By controlling the enemies' bottom fort you provide yourself with vision and territory that covers both the bottom and middle alters. Controlling the enemies' middle fort provides territory for the middle alter. Finally, controlling the enemies' top tower provides no territory that includes an alter. By biasing the bottom and middle alters into your favor you can easily control 3 out of 4 alters - just by holding your enemies bottom fort.
This leads us into why we put our 3 man team bottom (typically, two support characters and an auto-attack carry). It is most important to control the bottom fort so it makes sense to dedicate resources to that ends. Finally, the tank normally sits middle to provide a bit more control of cross-map rotations.
Meta Strategy: 1-1-3
On Towers of Doom the solo lane is the top lane. One reason this is, is because the distances between the lanes are not equal. The top lane is further away from the middle lane, than the bottom lane is from the same. Furthermore, there are more abundant rotation paths to the bottom lane, making it inherently more risky.
But that's not all, Towers of Doom is strange because not all parts of the map are equal. Controlling the bottom forts and camps is far more important than controlling the top. This is because of a concept I like calling 'vision territory'. Consider the 4 alter spawn locations, two of them are equidistant from either side (bottom + mid), and the other two are biased towards one team or the other (top alters). By controlling the enemies' bottom fort you provide yourself with vision and territory that covers both the bottom and middle alters. Controlling the enemies' middle fort provides territory for the middle alter. Finally, controlling the enemies' top tower provides no territory that includes an alter. By biasing the bottom and middle alters into your favor you can easily control 3 out of 4 alters - just by holding your enemies bottom fort.
This leads us into why we put our 3 man team bottom (typically, two support characters and an auto-attack carry). It is most important to control the bottom fort so it makes sense to dedicate resources to that ends. Finally, the tank normally sits middle to provide a bit more control of cross-map rotations.
First Objective:
There are few maps which you have things to do before the main objective, but this is one of them. Before the first Alters spawn, around 2 minutes, you'll want to seize one of the bottom sapper camps. Normally, this should be the one on your side of the map but if the opportunity arises you can take the aggressive side sapper camp instead.
The first time alters spawn it will always be a set of three. Two of these will be the side-biased top left and top right alters. As soon as possible the allied solo laner should start capturing the top alter on your side of the map.
The 3 man group, which we've originally sent to the bottom lane, should look to gain a positioning advantage on the bottom (or middle) alter, by showing up there before the enemies. Finally, the tank should hide their presence in the middle lane. This creates threat everywhere on the map, as far as your foes know: the tank could be in the nearest bush. After assessing the situation, the tank should then look to move either to secure the top-friendly alter, if it becomes contested, or join the 3 man for the middle or bottom alter.
The first time alters spawn it will always be a set of three. Two of these will be the side-biased top left and top right alters. As soon as possible the allied solo laner should start capturing the top alter on your side of the map.
The 3 man group, which we've originally sent to the bottom lane, should look to gain a positioning advantage on the bottom (or middle) alter, by showing up there before the enemies. Finally, the tank should hide their presence in the middle lane. This creates threat everywhere on the map, as far as your foes know: the tank could be in the nearest bush. After assessing the situation, the tank should then look to move either to secure the top-friendly alter, if it becomes contested, or join the 3 man for the middle or bottom alter.
Between Objectives:
If you've won an alter phase, you've very likely either forced your enemies to hearth, or flat out killed them. This means you will have some time to turn your small advantage of winning an alter into a larger advantage. During these periods prioritize (in this order) forts, from bottom to top, aggressive sappers camp, and finally top and defensive sappers. Only ever go attempt to secure the boss if it will finish your enemies core, or cause the next alter phase to be lethal.
Its important to note, that on Tower of Doom, experience is essential. This is common among many maps, but exaggerated on Towers of Doom due to the inability to kill the core using anything except for objectives. Consider your sources of experience on this map and how difficult they are to obtain. First up we have minions, these are fairly easy to collect experience from. Next up, we have towers, aggressive towers are rather difficult to secure, but easily taken back by the other team. Finally, to make a kill you nearly always take some type of risk. Because the tower count will nearly always be 3 (allied) to 3 (enemy) this means the only experience differentials on Towers of Doom comes from kills and minions. It is key to collect the experience from minions, even into the later game on this map, due to there being only temporary experience gains from structures.
Its important to note, that on Tower of Doom, experience is essential. This is common among many maps, but exaggerated on Towers of Doom due to the inability to kill the core using anything except for objectives. Consider your sources of experience on this map and how difficult they are to obtain. First up we have minions, these are fairly easy to collect experience from. Next up, we have towers, aggressive towers are rather difficult to secure, but easily taken back by the other team. Finally, to make a kill you nearly always take some type of risk. Because the tower count will nearly always be 3 (allied) to 3 (enemy) this means the only experience differentials on Towers of Doom comes from kills and minions. It is key to collect the experience from minions, even into the later game on this map, due to there being only temporary experience gains from structures.
Late Objectives:
The only additional information you need for late game objectives deals with running sapper camps into the enemies' core through bottom lane. Ideally you'll want to end up in a position where you hold the both bottom forts. This allows one or two people from your team to split off and grab the bottom sapper camps. As noted before the bottom fort is far more powerful since it give a territory advantage that the middle and top forts do not. It is worth holding the bottom for as long as possible to attempt and run sappers into the 'death zone' to secure damage on the enemies' core.
If you end up in the reverse position where your enemy controls the bottom lane there are a few ways to deal with this. More prominently you can setup 1-1-3 like early game, threaten the two top forts while the 3 man stops as many sappers as they can safely. When enemy heroes respond to the upper parts of the map, take back the bottom fort and resume the game as normal. You'll still need to win a big team-fight in order to get in an advantage position - but retaking your bottom fort is essential to minimizing the risk of that fight.
If you end up in the reverse position where your enemy controls the bottom lane there are a few ways to deal with this. More prominently you can setup 1-1-3 like early game, threaten the two top forts while the 3 man stops as many sappers as they can safely. When enemy heroes respond to the upper parts of the map, take back the bottom fort and resume the game as normal. You'll still need to win a big team-fight in order to get in an advantage position - but retaking your bottom fort is essential to minimizing the risk of that fight.
Types of Great Heroes for this Map:
Meta OPS:
|
Synergistic:
|