EPTPlease let me know what you do and don’t like, any other tips you’ve thought of, or any other feedback so that I can improve both this and future content.
Mercs:
Mindset
* Mainly, you want to cap mercs before the race to the map objective, so that they can push waves uncontested and return more than you invested in them. Camps are mirrored so that both teams can do so and cancel out each other. Often, instead of doing neutral camps, teams will just as easily clear the enemy camp in lane. If you think about it, the resources you spend clearing mercs comes out more or less even if your opponent reacts to them, spending the same resources clearing your mercs, meaning no one gets a clear advantage from these scenarios. There are two main ways to think of mercs strategically- either you are trading time with your future self, or with your opponents.
- (1) You are giving up (for the sake of an example) 10 seconds to clear mercs that you could be using to push, and you get that same value back from the mercs as you push with them after. In order to make this trade worthwhile, you need the 10 seconds that you invest to be time you wouldn’t be using optimally anyways (you’re waiting for boss/wave to approach perhaps), for the time you have mercs to be more worthwhile. Doing Mercs during, for example: a curse, while seeds are up, or while temples are active will have the opposite effect, because you’re trading time where something more impactful demands your resources.
- (2) Otherwise, you’re trading time with the enemy- you clear a camp then they clear it afterwards- which means you get to decide what the next step is: where you fight, what you fight over, if you fight at all or if you keep clearing camps on a big merry-go round. Or maybe you opt to use the mercs to set up and ambush, flanking as they go for the mercs, or sitting in bushes close by for the next rotation. Whatever it is, if you gave them 10 seconds of time where they were free to do what they wanted, including possibly jumping you at mercs, for 10 seconds of deciding what the next step of the game is.
Tips ‘n’ Tricks
* Fats do dodgeable AOE damage when capped, but targeted (non-AOE) attacks while still neutral.
* Positioning yourself in the back corner of a knight camp can make it so only 2 melee knights do damage to you at a time while you clear it, with the third being bodyblocked by the other 2.
* If Mercenaries wander off of their point while being taken, and die there, they will spawn in the spot they died. This can be worth remembering when a battle breaks out over a camp, or if you suspect the enemy team might come while you’re doing them, since you can use capped mercs to block hostile skillshots, bodyblock, etc.
* Bribe gains extra value on the maps with the new mercs, since (1) hard camps are stronger relative to old maps, and (2) you can bribe the shaman and the minions are easy to clean up.
* The hard camp on the new maps will not respawn the smaller mercs, so feel free to clear those first.
Bosses
Mindset
* Taking a boss, regardless of whether you are ahead or behind (or by how much) is when you are at your most vulnerable. Not just because of the damage you are taking from it, which is obvious, but because of the cooldowns you are expending on it, the risk of splitting focus between finishing boss and fighting the other team, and the risky terrain it draws you into, which are less obvious. If you’re ahead enough that you feel comfortable taking boss, remember that that’s the best way for the enemy team to come back. So, while level leads and and more HP/mana are nice, the most important factor is having the enemy team unable to respond because they are either busy elsewhere on the map, or dead. Otherwise, you are essentially relying on them to be bad instead of relying on your own strengths to win the game.
Tips ‘n’ Tricks
* Tornadoes spawn on champions. If you position your team on the enemy side of the map, then move to yours after the tornado spawns, it can help you instead of hindering you.
* You can get 1 autoattack off after the boss starts channeling his stun before you need to get out, but you need to dodge golem roots as soon as they appear under you.
* Boss will target the champions closest to it (with its autoattacks), switching targets if the old target leaves range, and a new one enters it. Once an auto attack animation starts however, it’s going to hit, so you have to swap before that point.
* When the lobster king boss (Sky Temple and Spider Queen) starts charging up his stun, there are a few frames where he becomes un-clickable, so right-clicking on him will walk you into the stun. So, whenever you see the stun starting, check yo’self befo’ yo reck yo’self.
I keep a list of content (that is kept up to date) in this doc
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1xMVWGzmv-bAEJYf6noFfmZfioIAnO3pRkRfAJzpTbwM/edit?usp=sharing
I wish more people would think about proper merc camp timing!
