Where is the lane, and where do I stand?
Week 3
The lane does not hold still
Last week you learned to take gold off a creep.
This week: the place where you do it moves.
A wave has a balance point. The point drifts. Both sides can move it on purpose.
The ground you are standing on was chosen — by you, or for you.
The habit this week breaks
Standing at the front of the wave.
It looks like participating.
It is taking creep aggro and enemy spells at the same time — and pushing the lane while you do it.
The wave has a balance point
Who moves it
Where the lane sits is decided by how fast each side’s creeps die.
Every extra attack you land moves it toward their tower.
Every deny, every attack you hold back, pulls it toward yours.
Nothing mysterious — once you know to look.
Three states of one lane
Hold it near your tower
The beginner-friendly state.
Close to your tower. Far from their support. A short walk home.
You give up map. You get clean last hits and a way out.
Pushing is not the error
Push when you are going home. Push when you are going to the jungle. Push when you want them taking last hits under their own tower.
Unconscious pushing is the error.
The middle is not the middle
Why the off lane is the hard lane
In mid, the waves meet at the centre of the map.
On a safe lane they meet near the safe-laner’s own tower —
so the off-laner meets the wave far from home and close to the enemy.
Nobody outplayed them. The wave simply rests somewhere worse, before anyone has done anything.
Space traded for safety
Holding the lane gives up map space.
In exchange: safety, and clean last hits.
You will make versions of this trade for the rest of the game. This is the first time you make it on purpose.
This week’s hero
Wraith King — Vampiric Spirit
Lifesteal lets you trade health for last hits. The skeletons give you a say over where the wave sits.
Put it next to week 2’s Dragon Blood: two answers to “how do I stay longer”. Which one you prefer says something about how you want to play.
This week’s item
Magic Wand.
Its charges come from the enemy casting spells.
It turns what are they doing into something you can bank and spend later — the first item that reads the enemy.
After this week
Say where the wave will settle on a lane before it gets there — and why the two sides differ.
Give a reason to push that has nothing to do with the tower.
Explain the off lane in terms of distance, not skill.
Lobby Lab 3
Hold the line.