I see things about certain heroes being better in certain lanes, but is there really a difference? I don’t have access to 5v5, and I haven’t had the time to watch many matches, so I haven’t gotten to really get a good insight on this.
Does it really matter which hero goes where as long as you have a balanced team across the map? Or are certain heroes crucial to successful laning in top/mid/bottom?
This is what I know in general, correct me if I’m wrong:
Top - Usually someone tanky or good against wp laners. If jungle goes cp, top should generally be wp (and vice versa).
Mid - Someone with good CC/escape because mid is most easily ganked, usually cp (closer to cp buff).
Bot - Wp laner (close to weapon buff).
I hadn’t even considered where the buffs were, those are great points.
The most important difference is the shop location and the jungle camps nearby. In the top lane, you are closest to the CP buff treeant and have the shop on your side while on the bottom lane you have the WP buff treeant closest to you and the shop is closer on the enemy’s side. So generally, you want a CP hero in the top lane and a WP hero in the bottom lane so they can utilize those buffs. In addition, the gold toad is closer to the bottom lane carry, so the carry can sometimes rotate back there with the jungler to get good ambient gold. As for the shop locations, you want a hero who can utilize the closer shop location to the best of their ability in order to get an easy item advantage over the enemy carry, so a mobile carry might work well in the top lane.
don’t forget that running to aid your team is better from middle to top or bottom due to the flow of the river.
top and bottom are inherently harder due to the distance needed to travel to get buffs and how easy it is to get ganked if you don’t pay attention.
@idmonfish made a pretty good summary /guide on the brokenmyth website. I can’t remember the link… but its a pretty good read.
@HipsterSkaarf also made a top view map detailing the locations of buffs and such as well…
This is extremely helpful. Replying so I keep it.
You can bookmark and like posts, too!
It is about where certain jungle camps are at
Bottom Lane: WP carry who can maximize the WP buff. This most likely will be the lane where your team takes its first turret. With the buff, you should shove the lane and either do chip damage on the turret, steal the enemy heal camp, or rotate to mid. Without the buff, play the lane like a typical 1v1. It isn’t uncommon for 3v1 situation to occur here after the jungler and roam clear gold toad and the heal camp.
Mid: CP who can take the nearby CP buff. Most likely to be ganked but also most likely to have vision and roam help. Vision in the top river is ideal. Shading you position south is reasonable due to where the enemy jungler most likely will be coming from the north. Celeste, Varya, Samual, and Skaarf all see play here. Vision on the enemy CP buff camp placed around 3:20 will give your jungler a chance to steal it. It also sees gank and first shop rotations.
Top: Melee sustain hero or artillery mage who can hold the lane on their own. You are facing 90 seconds of a WP buff ranged hero, often Ringo or SAW. Glaive, Rona, and Joule all have escapes and can heal with BoE. Grace is tanky and can wave clear. Samuel, Skaarf, and Baron have enough range and wave clear to hold the turret. Top lane is the hard lane. Your goal is to out last the enemy bottom laner for whose turret drops first. Don’t be afraid to call for help from whoever is near mid.