2 Team-Fighting Tips

1. Initiating vs. counter-initiating.

Some abilities are especially suited to counter-initiating after the team-fight has already begun. Here’s my tip for Warlock players: You have one job–to counter-initiate with your golem in a team-fight. Don’t use golem in a pick-off. Don’t initiate with golem. Don’t cast a bunch of other spells and run out of mana. Don’t even fatal bonds first (but I won’t argue with a good player who chooses to; I don’t). Just wait for the enemy to start team-fighting, and then you chaotic offering on top of the fight.

Usually this means you are waiting for the enemy initiator (Axe, Void, Sven) to commit, and then you cast ultimate on top. Tidehunter ravage, Phoenix sunray, and Winter Wyvern curse are other heroes with similar ideas.

Back when Badman had his 5 minutes of Spectre fame, it was interesting to study his play. He was very active and fought a lot, but he never used haunt to gank or pick-off. Haunt was reserved for team fights.

Think about your purpose in a fight, and the purpose of each of your abilities. Think about the order in which abilities should be used.

2. Front-line vs. back-line.

Think about who you are going to target in a team-fight. Playing a carry like Storm or Spectre, you are frequently going to target the squishy back-line. If you are a Beastmaster or Winter Wyvern, you’re probably looking to ultimate a BKB’d core in the late game. These things should be thought about in advance, before the time comes.

Usually, deciding who to target is a blurrier decision. Often you just focus whoever is in front of you, or out of position, or whoever your team is going on.

If your enemy has a Wraith King, you probably shouldn’t be targeting him first at all. Non-burstable tanks or aegis carriers are also poor initial targets.

Also think about who is trying to jump you! If you are the squishy back-line, watch your positioning. Don’t get excited the moment a fight starts and jump in front.. there are still people looking to gib you. Try not to clump and share AoE spells that weren’t even targeting you.

The skillful player anticipates things ahead of time.