Something to think about...Freezing the lane...

[Psyght]

Hello everyone, my name is Psyght, I have played AOS for a long time, since around late 2.X-3.X and ive played ever since. At the start I wasn't very good, and no where near the competitive level, but now, in the last 6 months or so, I've elevated my game by paying attention to little things I see the higher tier players do. I would like to start writting semi short guides to help the lesser skilled players understand why the high tier players do what they do. To be clear, I myself am not that amazingly good, but I have very good game knowledge and semi high mechanic levels.

 

The first thing that I really think that a ton of medium to even high level players need to understand is something that is often referred to as freezing the lane. There are a couple of times in the game that this can be extremely effective, and recognizing these opportunities is the key to understanding how to/ when to freeze your lane. first we need to understand what your goal in freezing the lane even is, when refereeing to freezing the lane we are talking about 'freezing' the experience in that lane. When your doing this, your only goal is too last hit every creep in the lane, meaning both last hits for money, and denies, but thats it, you do not want to damage their creeps anymore than they are being damaged by the creeps on your side, in this your can achieve all the experience that you usually would, BUT the person who isnt in your lane isnt getting any exp at all. So now, to identify the times to use this method. im just going to make a list

 

1. when you force someone to go back to shop/heal.

2. your facing a roaming lane, that is constantly ganking.

3. they are farming neutral creeps. (this one is extremely situational, in alot of cases you do want to be pushing the lane.)

4. to stay safe in a lane your having problems with, in a 1v1 or 2v1 situation.

5. different style of freezing, but still applies. when they are boss fighting, and you cant stop it for whatever reason, You want to push the creeps to the tower and get rid of as many of your creeps as possible, while staying safe, and damaging the tower as much as possible.

Now let me say, that a couple of these times you arent gonna want to only last hit, your gonna want to damage your creeps more than theirs, as soon as you see them under 50% health your gonna want to start denying your creep, so that you can remove as much xp from the lane before they can return to claim it.

 

anyways, for a recap, freezing the lane properly, at all stages of the game, in any lane, can prove to be a very good way to get ahead of someone in your lane, in both last hits and xp.

I will try and get some replays demonstrating a few different things, but this guide is on going and i will continue updating.

-cheers

 

edit, i rethought some of the scenarios and removed a few, i think that pushing the lane is more important in some scenarios

Edit2: added a different way of 'freezing' the lane

Edited April 9, 2013 by Psyght

[doxthefox]

I've been freezing the lane since 3.0, but if the other lanes are losing and you're winning you should always push the lanes out and take their tower as soon as possible so that you can roam. The problem is that roaming is low risk high reward in this game since the creep aren't worth as much anymore. If you freeze the lane, then there is still a window for them to risk ganking without the possibility of losing out too much on creep. You actually punish them more by hard pushing the lane since the tower will damage the creep if you know the timings (ex: when they port back to base, roaming to mid and back etc.). I think the best case scenario for freezing the lane would be either top or bottom lane to setup a gank. On the protoss side bottom lane, you generally want to freeze the lane near your tower since their tower is so far away for an easy gank. The same logic for zerg top side. Obviously there is the creep push back mechanic that a lot of players don't abuse enough to have the creep meet in the middle near the tower depending on health/levels/comp of the opponent.

[Jaysi]

Sounds like you just summarized strictly last-hitting(no other attacks or spells) and when to use it. Or more a guide I suppose. But I agree with you, it is a good and more of a higher tier strategy. One of the reasons you might want the 15 damage talent if your hero starts with a low base weapon damage because last hitting becomes difficult with only like 60-70 weapon damage.

 

Would like to hear what other people say on when to use it.

[doxthefox]

Sounds like you just summarized strictly last-hitting(no other attacks or spells) and when to use it. Or more a guide I suppose. But I agree with you, it is a good and more of a higher tier strategy. One of the reasons you might want the 15 damage talent if your hero starts with a low base weapon damage because last hitting becomes difficult with only like 60-70 weapon damage.

 

Would like to hear what other people say on when to use it.

I ih'd against Soede after not playing for months and he ran +15/demigod/duran's machete/Attack speed. I ran +15/machete and a bunch of defense/utility stuff. The result was that he denied every single creep from me eventually since he did more damage. Of course I killed him once with a gank and cancelled all his work (totally balanced right?). Btw thanks Soede for telling me after the game on how he raped me in laning phase and extra thanks to Adam for telling me nothing when I asked about talents in game <3. Basically, if you don't run full offense, then you will be denied everything unless you're a caster with decent damage.

[Psyght]

Theres a time to only last hit, and a time to freeze the lane, they are different things really, you generally only want to be last hitting anyways, but the goal with freezing the lane is to get rid of the enemies creeps faster than your own. it really is a different mentality

[Nuparu]

I like to (try*) to freeze/last hit when I'm in short lane just so people can't gank me because I can walk 2 feet back and be fine unless they dive.

 

And even then, running full offense isn't worth it in my opinion, especially with the fact that denies aren't total denies.

 

The rest have utility later; Demigod doesn't. :s

[Unabsolutely]

It's called afk farming, not a new term that you made up on a spot right now.... Nothing new. When you farm you should maintain the creep equilibrium to make yourself less vulnerable to ganks which is a main component of any person that ever picks a carry.

[Psyght]

I never said i made it up.. lol this is huge in other moba style games where you cant deny, but combined with denying its very strong.

[Unabsolutely]

I never said i made it up.. lol this is huge in other moba style games where you cant deny, but combined with denying its very strong.

This tern is from dota... Where you can deny. Nothing new. Point of thread?

[Wrath]

1. when you force someone to go back to shop/heal.

2. your facing a roaming lane, that is constantly ganking.

3. they are farming neutral creeps.

4. they are taking a boss (but you cant stop it, stopping the boss take is key, but if you cant, denying lane xp is a plus)

5. any other time they are out of the lane ;)

1. If they went back to shop/heal then don't you want to shove the lane and put damage on the tower while you can?
   
2. Agreed.
   
3. If they're farming neutral creeps and aren't around what's the benefit of denying creeps? Just shove the lane.
   
4. If they're taking a boss then you should DEFINITELY shove the lane because you need to do something to stay even with them in terms of money. This is the one I disagree on the most.
   
5. If they're out of the lane then why deny creeps??? Just shove the lane. Same as #3.
   

[Unabsolutely]

1. If they're farming neutral creeps and aren't around what's the benefit of denying creeps? Just shove the lane.
    
   
2. If they're out of the lane then why deny creeps??? Just shove the lane. Same as #3.
   

Not to die? You're overextending if you don't do it.

[Wrath]

Not to die? You're overextending if you don't do it.

 

It depends on whether or not you know where they are. Your team needs to call MIAs. Wards must be placed. But denying creeps and not pushing the lane definitely makes no sense when the enemies have given it to you on a silver platter.

[Unabsolutely]

It depends on whether or not you know where they are. Your team needs to call MIAs. Wards must be placed. But denying creeps and not pushing the lane definitely makes no sense when the enemies have given it to you on a silver platter.

Assuming enemy doesn't have wards. Also MIAs? L2minimap(shadow exception).

Denying creeps definiely makes sense when you die for moving 2 units out of the safe zone.

[doxthefox]

Assuming enemy doesn't have wards. Also MIAs? L2minimap(shadow exception).

Denying creeps definiely makes sense when you die for moving 2 units out of the safe zone.

It's pretty simple what he's saying... If they go back to base (porting/ well away from the creep) then you punish them by hard pushing. You'll deny way more creep if you push to their tower than by freezing the lane. Freezing the lane is good if you freeze it in front of your tower to make it easier for ganks of course. By hard pushing when the enemy is gone you also will probably reset the laning creep to meet at a more favorable area if you time it right. Likewise if you time it wrong then you'll end up in a bad position. Pretty standard stuff to veterans, but definitely not something most would think about during their first few times playing the game.

[Psyght]

1. If they went back to shop/heal then don't you want to shove the lane and put damage on the tower while you can?
    
   
2. Agreed.
    
   
3. If they're farming neutral creeps and aren't around what's the benefit of denying creeps? Just shove the lane.
    
   
4. If they're taking a boss then you should DEFINITELY shove the lane because you need to do something to stay even with them in terms of money. This is the one I disagree on the most.
    
   
5. If they're out of the lane then why deny creeps??? Just shove the lane. Same as #3.
   

I edited it a bit. as far as number 3 goes, that is extremely situational, if they arent gonna be out of lane long, you want to deny, so when they get back they wont be able to get the xp or last hits.

[Psyght]

It's pretty simple what he's saying... If they go back to base (porting/ well away from the creep) then you punish them by hard pushing. You'll deny way more creep if you push to their tower than by freezing the lane. Freezing the lane is good if you freeze it in front of your tower to make it easier for ganks of course. By hard pushing when the enemy is gone you also will probably reset the laning creep to meet at a more favorable area if you time it right. Likewise if you time it wrong then you'll end up in a bad position. Pretty standard stuff to veterans, but definitely not something most would think about during their first few times playing the game.

 

In aos you can start denying creeps at 50% health, you can defiantly deny more creeps than when pushing tower, cause people arent out of the lane for 4 waves lol. I really think you guys are generalizing situations that have so many variables, i wasnt making an in depth guide i was making a short guide to make players aware of a technique that 90% of people dont use.

[Skydie]

 

Not to die? You're overextending if you don't do it.

 

Don't worry if you overextend she isn't going to die. Amateur. Sorry in your case he.

[DavidChan]

This usually only works in short lane. In mid-lane, smart players will not let you deny + last hitting like that. You will usually get harassed. When enemy leave mid-lane, you want to push or putting your eyes on ur surroundings or minimap in case for gank. To be able to last hitting + denying at 50% require so much attention that mid-lane players will usually miss out on good opportunities for ganking. Mid-lane needs to pay attention to every detail for a good gank or call mia. So, to do this freezing thing at mid requires too much APM + map awareness skill (usually just impossible to do on every creeps). For long lanes, we usually put solo hero there, which is impossible to do this freeze killing that you are referring to. I find it only short lane is possible to do this perfectly. And, it is very easy to do this with two players. Also, sometime depending on the situation such as heroes you have at short lane. You want to not freeze the lane, but push against the enemy solo. Just depending on situations.

 

Also, depends on heroes you're choosing. To do this with hero like egon requires too much focusing and you will miss out on whats going on around you, such as constantly checking ur team's lane for opportunity to gank or calling.

 

I usually dont give a crap about this and just A moving since is just a casual in house.

[Psyght]

I dont think you can say this isn't good because it requires high skill level to do.. lol

[CheekyKunt]

cliffs?

[DavidChan]

I dont think you can say this isn't good because it requires high skill level to do.. lol

 

This is good. It is easy to do, and we've been doing it all the time in short lanes. I'm just saying it only really works in short lane (at least in IH). In Pubs, you can do it anywhere you want because new players don't gank you, so you can spend all your time focusing on your own lane. If players do this and forget about constantly checking your team's lane, then they're not playing AoS at high level. Usually is because people are focusing too much on their own lane doing deny and last hitting, they get ganked and blame people for not calling MIA. In IH, we have to constantly checking surrounding for ganks such as jungler. If you don't keep your distance or get ready to run at any given time, you will get ganked.