[Guide] Twisted Treeline

On September 21 2011 04:10 UniversalSnip wrote:
I played with my friends in a 3s tournament last month and won a bunch of RP.

In the title alone you are actually asking two separate questions.

* Why aren't 3s competitive?

There is exactly ONE reason and only one reason why 3s are not competitive: very few people play them.

* Why aren't 3s suited for competitive play?

This is a different and more interesting question. Even if people did play it, the map would not be good for high level organized play. Reasons why

- Turtling is too strong. The terrain around the base turrets is too defensively oriented, they're extremely difficult to dive, and depending on the team comps the nexus turret can be even worse. The team with map control doesn't get enough farm advantage over a turtling team to consistently overcome the above disadvantages so the game can stall out pretty hard.
- Dragon is too easy to take. Once the jungler gets razors you need it warded all the time; once he gets wriggles the bottom half of the map is basically off limits while dragon is up.
- Random buff spawns. This is just obnoxious, makes a huge difference since the wraiths are almost as tough as dragon whereas the wolves can be your bitches at level 2.
- Level two jungle ganks are too strong. Plain and simple. You cannot get enough vision to prevent this with any degree of reliability.
- Champ balance. People way way way overstate the degree to which champions are imbalanced in 3s, but there are some champs that are a free win if played decently (singed and until recently morde come to mind) and some I would never pick (ashe). Almost all viable champs on this map are counterpickable though.



Not really. Would be nice, both for 3s and 5s, but no, wouldn't be a huge deal.



I don't view it as an issue.



Entirely...? Nothing. Need both map changes and a separate balance system.



Some carries are ok, but they're all very easily counterpicked.

General Lane Principles
1) Laning is all about advantageous trades. Taking free hits is very, very bad.
2) A lane that is pushing will continue pushing until the waves reach a tower. When a wave hits a tower it will kill all the creeps, sending the wave pushing back in the opposite direction. The larger the wave you send at the tower, the longer the tower spends attacking the creeps - and the larger the eventual counterpush.
3) Harassing an enemy champion with autoattacks will push the lane, since you will attract aggro and effectively be tanking for your creeps.
4) When are you pushing, you receive more experience and gold. Then when the lane pushes back at the tower, the experience and gold become equalized again. There are four ways to extend this temporary advantage into a permanent one.
a) Kill the opponent by hitting an important level before he does. Level two and level six are often kill opportunities for the player who hits them first.
b) Send the wave into the tower while the opponent isn’t there. Every wave a tower kills without an opponent there is a significant loss.
c) Send the wave into the tower against a weak counterpusher. Only certain champions can last hit effectively under a tower. This only denies gold initially, but many champions will be forced to expend mana or health trying to push the creeps of their tower as quickly as possible. Extended pushing can therefore send them back to base and deny experience. Some heroes will simply lose their lane to this (blitz for example), but there are three effective counters.
i) Push back harder. Not always possible.
ii) Gank the pushing champion.
iii) Superior sustain. Powerful, cheap ways of building sustain include multiple doran’s blades/shields/rings, catalyst, and wriggles.
d) Exploit the map control strong pushing grants to accomplish other objectives. For example, in fives, mid can push their lanes, then go do the enemy wraiths and gain a significant advantage. In threes you could push and then rush red.
5) Freezing a lane is when the opponent has a lane that is in the process of pushing, which you then ‘halt’ by equalizing it with your wave at a desired point.
Example: A large enemy wave is coming down the lane. Instead of letting it do so, I block them for a few seconds until my wave arrives, then attack his wave until it’s equal strength with mine – that way it won’t eventually push into my tower. If I last hit carefully now, the wave will stay where I parked it for a long time.
a) If you control your lane poorly and the opponent freezes it in an advantageous spot, there isn’t very much you can do. Either he has to push it with last hitting or you have to push the lane into his tower to get a counterpush going. If you try to push it into his tower, the lane won’t fully reset unless your wave is large, so it may not be possible to fix the situation this way.
 
Treeline Specific Notes
1) Every lane position is bad without constant warding.
2) Top lane has five positions.
a) Opponent’s wave just outside your tower. This is an extremely weak position. You cannot leave your lane without telegraphing your destination, your opponent can leave at any time without your knowledge and is difficult to gank as the approach paths are weak. Your jungler is crippled because he is revealed if he attempts to cross from top to bottom jungle or vice versa, unless he gives up xp and gold by taking the long back route. You cannot be easily ganked from this position, but your jungle and bot lane are very insecure.
b) Opponent’s wave pushed just past the bushes. This is not as bad, but still disadvantaged. Your opponent can leave easily as he controls the bushes, and you are gankable, but the overall team position on the map is stronger.
c) Waves in the center of the map. Equal. Both players vulnerable to ganks.
d) The other two positions are the reverse of the first two. These are the strongest positions.
3) Bot lane has three positions.
a) Just outside your tower. You lose control of red, but otherwise this is nowhere near as bad as when top lane’s waves are at the tower.
b) Central. I really don’t know what the strengths/weaknesses of this position are. If you have a ward up, shouldn’t be gankable.
c) The reverse of the first position. When the lane is here, if red is pinked this is a key opportunity to three man ninja red.