Laning phase: wave balance, pull, and the three decisions that decide the first 10 minutes

The laning phase is the part of Dota with the most written rules and the least real understanding. Everyone knows that "last hit is important" and that "you have to deny it". Few can explain why a lane turns without anyone dying, and that's exactly what decides the first ten minutes.

This guide treats the lane for what it is: a contest where the creep wave stands still. Almost everything else is a consequence of this.

Part 1: The Wave Balance

Why the position of the wave is the most important thing

Where the wave is standing still defines three things at once:

1. Who is safe. Near his tower you are protected; near his tower you are exposed to gank.
2. Who gains experience. Who is in range of the creep who dies.
3. Who controls the pace. Who decides when the wave moves decides when the rotations make sense.

That's why the lane fight, in the end, is a fight where the creep wave is.

The three possible positions, and what to do in each one

The most common beginner mistake is to hit every creep all the time. This pushes the wave to the enemy tower without you having chosen, and puts you in the most dangerous place in the lane without compensation.

How to hold the wave without losing last hit

The technique is only one: hit only the creep that will die, at the last moment. Each extra slap on the other creeps is a push you didn't ask for.

If the wave is already going the wrong way, there are two fixes: stop hitting (the cheapest) and block the wave with the body at the beginning of the game (the most efficient, and the one that almost no one trains).

Part 2: pull, and why it's the most underrated move

Pulling a jungle field at the right time makes your wave go back to your tower and denies experience to the opponent. It's the play with the best cost-to-effect ratio of the laning phase, and it's the responsibility of the support.

What pull delivers:

• returns the wave to the safe position, which gives the carry a smooth farm;
• he denies the creeps to the opponent, which slows down his level;
• generates gold and experience for support, which would not have been able to get otherwise.

The mistake that nullifies everything: pulling without looking at the wave. Pull done with the wave already on your tower wastes the field and doesn't change anything. The pull counts when your wave is pushing out and you want to bring it back.

Part 3: The Three Decisions of the Laning Phase

Decision 1: Level or aggression

You can't pursue both at the same time. Every second in an aggressive position is a second where you can be out of experience range.

• Choose level when you're the offlaner alone, when you've lost the initial trades, or when your hero only exists after level 6.
• Choose aggression when you have a local numerical advantage, when your hero wins the trade at that specific level, or when the opponent is out of regeneration.

The costly mistake is to choose aggression out of habit and keep it after the enemy support has rotated.

Decision 2: Spend or save regeneration

Regeneration is the currency of the laning phase. Whoever runs out first loses the lane, even though they won the trades.

Two rules that solve almost everything:

• Do not use regeneration while you are being beaten. You are paying for the opponent to push you.
• Use it before health becomes dangerous, not after. Regeneration used at 30% health is regeneration that becomes free zoning for the other side.

Decision 3: When the lane ended

The lane ends sooner than most think. Signs that it's over:

• the tier 1 turret fell on one side;
• the enemy support disappeared and did not return;
• You're level 6 or 7 and there's nothing else to earn there.

Staying in the lane after that is the mistake that costs the most level and gold between minutes 8 and 14. The map has already changed, and you continue to play the previous game.

Part 4: the lane by position, in one line each

• Position 1: level first, last hit later, kill never as an objective. Lost lane is fixed by exiting it, not with a playthrough.
• Position 2: Line control and rune are worth more than damage. Rune without information is bait.
• Position 3: the goal is not to win, it's to get to 10 with level and deny creep. Alternate wave and jungle field.
• Position 4: Choose between sustaining 3 and converting advantage. Exit the lane when the exit creates a mandatory threat.
• Position 5: Your client is the carry. Wave and pull control are worth more than damage trade-off. Do not rotate before minute 8.

Part 5: The Read Error That Runs Through All Brackets

The mid bracket player evaluates his own lane by the scoreboard: he killed, he died, he was tied. The player who goes up evaluates it by the state of the map at minute 10.

The right questions, at the end of the lane:

1. Did my core come out with enough level and last hit for what it needs to do in the next ten minutes?
2. Did the tower that fell, fall on the side that matters?
3. Did I leave the lane with initiative (I can choose where I play now) or with debt (I have to react to what they do)?

Part 6: The Four Minutes No One Trains

There is a specific window that separates those who go up from those who brake, and it is from minutes 6 to 10. In it, three things happen at the same time and most players only notice one.

The first: the supports start to go out of lane. The lane that was two-on-two becomes one-on-one, and the hero who depended on his teammate to win the trade needs to change his stance on the spot, not two minutes later.

The second: tier 1 towers start to fall, and each one that falls changes the map permanently. Fallen tower opens up the territory behind it: the losing side has less safe farm space, and the winning side can invade. If your tower has fallen, your farm needs to change address immediately, and almost no one does that.

The third: the first heroes reach level 6. A single new ultimate on the map changes which matchups are safe. If the enemy hero you leveled up is the one who kills you alone, your lane ended that second, regardless of how it was going.

The habit that solves all three at once is to look at the level score and the minimap with each wave, and not with each death. It's information that's on the screen all the time and that almost no one reads.

The first ten minutes in six lines

• The lane is a contest for where the creep wave is stationary.
• Only hit the creep that will die. Each extra slap is a push you didn't choose.
• Pull is the play with the best cost and effect of the phase, and it depends on looking at the wave.
• Level and aggression are exclusive choices.
• Regeneration is currency: use before the squeeze, never during.
• The lane ends sooner than you think. Leaving at the right time is worth more than a kill.