Synergy's Basic Guide to Positioning WIP

Introduction

Hello reader,

I am writing this guide on positioning for my friends. Countless times my friends and myself have found ourselves being singled out and killed where it could easily be avoided. It is easy to make the mistake of overconfidence. After reading this guide I hope you will better understand the simple rules of positioning and how to analyse a situation before judging the best choice of action.

Without further ado, let us begin.

What is positioning?

Positioning is, logically, your position on the map. Basically it is your current positiion relative to a multitude of things

• Your allies
• Your tower
• Your enemy
• Your creeps

A simple example of bad positioning will be one near the enemy but far from either your allies, tower, or for the early game your creep wave.

Conversely, an example of good positioning would be one near your allies, preferably a stunner or healer, your tower, and behind your creep wave, typically in the early game where many crucial kills happen.

Positioning during Laning

In almost every game a first blood typically happens within about 5 minutes. This can happen due to a coordinated gank or a greedy tower dive. Although things such as a lack of vision (buy your Observer Wards people!), it is also due to positioning.

In the following example I will show an example of decent positioning but a small mistake resulting in First Blood (note this is a relatively low skill match, I was admittedly on my smurfing account)

The following lane is a solo Drow Ranger up against a dual lane of a Morphling and a Pudge. The creep wave has been pushed towards the Radiant tower putting a substantial distance between the Drow Ranger and her tower.







The Pudge walks up past the Dire creeps looking for a kill. The Drow Ranger, slow to react, doesn't retreat until it is too late. She is hooked into range of Rot.







A single Waveform and right click gives the Morphling First Blood.

The Drow Ranger's positioning, while not fantastic, has some points to take note of.

In this image, the thick red line represent the path of Pudge's hook. Due to Drow Ranger's current position Pudge is unable to get in line for a Meat Hook. The dotted line represents the path Pudge has to take in order to threaten Drow. In a solo vs dual lane scenario it is wise for the solo to be playing extremely cautiously and alertly, which was not the case for this Drow. If she was standing at the area marked by the red circle she might have had more time to react.

Keep in mind the attack range of your hero. Lina and Drow Ranger have the highest at 650, while some heroes such as Morphling and Zeus have pitiful range, so positioning is more important for those heroes. Even more so for melee heroes, as going into range for a last hit could lead to a death.

Positioning on the Middle Lane

The Mid-lane is a little bit different due to the high ground elements. Ranged heroes have a 25% chance to miss on their attacks when attacking uphill. Furthermore, without a ward you will not be able to see uphill when on the low ground, unless a unit attacks or casts a spell.

In the following examples I will show the importance of positioning which could win or lose your lane.

In the above image the Invoker, played by myself, is laning against a Warlock solo mid. As the creep wave is mostly cleared, I decide to trade hits with the Warlock. This is extremely risky as despite there being few creeps, if I get unlucky with misses I will do less damage than I end up taking. Furthermore I run the risk of being ganked by a roaming support hero which would end in a sure kill.


Warlock follows up our trading of hits with a Shadow Word. As my base damage is significantly higher I am under the impression I will do a lot of damage to him. Generally, this is extremely reckless, however I get lucky and hit most of my attacks. I decide to pull up once I have taken significant amounts of damage. Had there been a roaming support I would have died.


During my retreat I switch to Quas to counteract the DoT damage. I realise that Warlock is out of position when he follows me uphill when the creep wave arrives so I quickly exploit his poor positioning with a Cold Snap that triggers multiple times due to the creeps, nearly netting me a kill and putting the Warlock out of EXP range momentarily. The Warlock's positioning mistake costs him the lane.




This next example happens a bit later, but nets me a kill once again due to a foolish mistake by the Warlock.


The Warlock finds a double damage rune at bottom and is coming to gank me Mid. I see him coming and retreat to my tower.


He gives up on his gank, but his poor pathing leaves him in tower range without any allied creeps to tank for him. With Cold Snap already invoked from before I capitalise on this poor positioning.


A few right clicks on the squishy Warlock nets me an easy kill; the Double Damage rune wasted.


If you are wondering, I ended up losing that match.

Chapter Title

More to come...