Lane-Swapping: Making the Best of a Bad Situation

I didn't see that coming!

The teams have been drafted, heroes have been selected, and starting items have been bought. The team captain has assigned everyone to their lanes, which were chosen to create favorable matchups during the laning phase. But wait - what is Windrunner doing in the safe lane, I thought she was supposed to be playing the off-lane? The carry and support are going to dual mid? This ruins everything!

Anyone who has played even a modest amount of DOTA 2 has run into this situation before. Let's face it: you aren't going to be able to accurately guess the enemies lanes 100% of the time. Usually, there may only be a few options they could go with, and you can set your lanes up where you will be alright regardless of what they do. But what happens when they throw you a curveball? The purpose of this article is to introduce the idea of an early lane-swap, and how to best use it to your advantage.

 

Why isn't it used more?

I think we can all agree that swapping lanes isn't some advanced tactic known only to the pros, or that it requires the highest of player skill. Even the most novice players can accomplish it with a few words to their teammates and 135 gold. So why don't we see it more often? A few primary reasons come to mind:

 

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

With smart drafting and good knowledge of team composition and laning, we should be able to predict how the enemies will lane their heroes, and at the very least plan for the few options they may have. The amount of times a lane-swap is even necessary or viable is pretty low. As a result, players are even less comfortable with the idea when it IS viable.

 

 

"OW, right in the ego."

It takes a confident person to captain a team, drafting for them, and setting up their lanes. It takes even more confidence to admit when you were outsmarted, and an adjustment to your original plan is needed. Many players would rather ride out their initial decisions to failure rather than risk embarassment (this is primarily true in pubs, where you don't know and trust your teammates).

 

 

"So if I put this one here...then that one goes there..."

Sometimes even when you know a lane-swap is needed, and are willing to make the change, you still don't. Why? I know I have seen situations where my team could sense that a change may be necessary, but then we wasted so much time arguing about our options that we just ended up leaving things as-is. If you can't clearly define the best course of action for your team, you're likely to do nothing at all. 

 

Making the decision.

As mentioned before, the hardest part about performing a lane-swap on the fly isn't the actual execution, it's the decision to do it in the first place. When faced with a laning situation you didn't expect, or perhaps with a lane that you are just flat-out losing, ask yourself the following questions:

1. Which of your lanes are now at a disadvantage? What about at an advantage?

First thing that needs to be done is weighing the advantages/disadvantages that each lane now has. Bear in mind that sometimes, "winning" a lane may mean more than just getting free farm. For instance, let's say you picked an agressive tri-lane to send against their farming lane, and it turns out you'll be facing their off lane hero instead.

You won't "lose" this lane necessarily, but the entire strategy behind your picks has been compromised, and may require a lane-swap to remedy. Also note that just because you were taken by suprise doesn't necessarily mean that you need to make any changes at all. I have occasionally seen a team misjudge the enemy lanes during the draft, only to come out ahead in the situation. It's possible they misjudged you, also!

2. Do any of the losing lanes contain heroes that need to win their lane?

If you do have lanes that you think are going to suffer, will your team as a whole suffer as a result? If your carry is going to have a very hard time farming, or a level-dependent utility hero will be zoned out of XP range, then a change may be in order. If your Queen of Pain has to face a dual-lane mid which will cut into her farm a bit, but she can still get solo XP and gank , is it really worth making a change?

3. If you can afford to allow those lanes to lose, will your other lanes win as a result?

Sometimes when an enemy team goes all in to win a lane, they can get tunnel-vision and not realize they are giving up too much in return. As in the afforementioned example, if a dual lane mid will give your QoP a hard time, but as a result you have a free-farming carry and more room for your supports/utilities to gank and farm, then so what? Let them win that battle, you will win the war.

4. If you feel you need to make a change, is there a solution that will better your situation?

It doesn't happen very often, but sometimes you are just flat-out out-picked, and no amount of lane swapping will remedy that. Yeah, the enemy may have sent a very strong dual-lane against your tri-lane, and they are putting a lot more pressure on you then you were expecting. But will rotating to your off-lane to face another tough dual-lane combo be any better?

Sometimes it's necessary to just go with the lesser of two evils. It's important to note that to avoid this happening, you should pick as many versatile heroes as possible. A hero like Windrunner can lane in all three lanes, under most circumstances. Having these heroes on your team will greatly increase your laning options and flexibility.

Picking versatile heroes like Windrunner will give you more laning options.

 

Make it happen.

So you have decided a lane-swap is in order. You can't afford to lose the lane, and a simple adjustment will put your team back on track. Let's go over a few simple steps that can make your swap a success.

1. Determine if either lane is susceptible to a gank.

This is step #1 for a reason. If you are going to have to buy TP scrolls and change lanes anyway, why not try to get a gank in while you're at it? The enemy will likely not be expecting it, and if you score a kill (or kills), then you will make up the 135g and then some! Too many times I have seen players lane-swap simultaneously, wasting what could have been a temporary numbers advantage.

2. If you are the one leaving the lane, push your lane.

If they aren't pulling their lane and completely zoning you out of XP or attack range, then take this last chance to soak up as much gold and XP as possible. You may need to push up so you can get to the shop and buy a TP scroll, also. Auto attack like a madman and push your lane up before you TP. This will have the added benefit of pushing them away from your tower for the time being, and making it so they don't notice your absence in the lane right away. This leads us to the next point...

3. DO NOT make it obvious that you're leaving the lane.

If you push the lane up a bit and hang back out of sight, that's normal behavior. They won't think too much of it, and may not even call you missing to their team. Use this time to TP to the target lane, doing so out of sight of the enemy team. This is ganking 101, so if that is your intention then you should already be thinking along these lines. Just consider this a friendly reminder :)

Make sure to TP out of sight ot faciliatate ganks!

 

4. Use your numbers advantage to their fullest.

If you end up with 4 heroes in one lane, and you successfully gank that lane, don't be afraid to press any advantage you may have. If you have any heroes that can push at a low level (Leshrac, Veno, Enchantress, Chen, etc.), it may be beneficial to hang around and try to take the T1 tower. At the very least, you may bait some TPs if they think you are going to 4 man push this lane. Now when you complete your swap, that lane will be at a disadvantage as well!

 

Hopefully, this article gave you something to think about next time you’re faced with this situation. If you’re already someone who has had success with lane-swapping, share your experiences/advice in the comments below!

As you go forward armed with this knowledge, remember this: Just like everything in DOTA 2, practice make perfect. If you try to swap your lanes around in a game, and it blows up in your face, don't give up! Just revisit everything in this article, try to see what went wrong, and try harder next time. Trust me when I say that there's no joy like having your enemy throw you a curveball, only for you to throw it right back in their face!