Rise of Immortals General MOBA Strategy, Lingo and Tips

Rise of Immortals General MOBA Strategy, Lingo and Tips by Nacht

Here are some tips for MOBAS in general, not just specific to ROI.

MOBA Lingo Some terms which are frequently used in MOBAS

Gank A skirmish in which a few members of one team unknowingly engage a few members of the other team. Usually the ganking team exploits positional or number advantages for easy kills.
Push The process of pushing the creep wave of a certain lane towards the enemy’s defensive structure in order to destroy it.
Backdoor Destroying an enemy defensive structure while circumventing that defensive structures creep waves. Some games frown upon this.
MIA Missing in Action. Usually called during the early game when the opponent(s) of your team members lane is no where to be found. Be careful for ganks when MIA is called
SS Also known as MIA
Last Hit Delivering the finish blow to a creep/enemy in order to get the gold/credit.
KS Kill Steal(ing.) Last hitting an enemy hero in order to get credit for the kill, thus netting the bonus gold. This doesnt matter in ROI, but in DotA/HON, the ONLY person you can Kill Steal is the carry. Think about it.
IAS Increased Attack Speed.
DPS Damage Per Second. Also another way to say “damage.”
CC Crowd Control. Usually a disable or an ability which changes the position of an enemy hero. Slows/stuns/sleeps/silences are all considered CC
Nuke An activateable ability which causes a high damage spell.
GPM Gold per minute. A gauge to see how well your farming is.
XPM Experience per minute. A gauge to see how well you are leveling.
Lane An obvious route/road which connects opposing teams defensive structures symmetrically. Creeps follow these paths trying to kill eachother’s structures.
The meta The Metagame. Strategy that is subset of the basic strategy necessary to play the game. The definition of this term is varied but can include “pre-game” theory, behavior prediction, or “ad hoc strategy”

Game Phases

Early Game Starts at the beggining of the game. Primarily you use this time to farm, gain some levels, in general just get ready for mid game. Lane membership by heroes are very well defined. You are either in a lane, or home regaining your health/mana. Usually heroes can’t stay in a lane for extended periods of time. Ganks happen more towards the end of this phase. Farming is usually easy. Mistakes in play can usually be forgiven. Support heroes with high damage nukes, and some soft carries shine during this phase

Middle Game Lanes start to break down slightly as people start to roam the map more. This phase is usually signaled when a few defensive structures have been taken. People usually have enough levels to unlock one or two ranks of their ultimate and have approached maxing their normal abilities. Heroes usually have a decent amount of gear to function away from base for a reasonable amount of time. This phase is gank heavy, but usually does not have many full 5v5 team fights. Farming can be challenging. Mistakes in play can cost you an outer tower, but usually can be forgiven. Soft carries, initiators, and support heroes with hard nukes shine during this phase.

Late Game Lanes have completely broken down This phase is usually signaled when many defensive structures have been taken. People usually have fully maxed out all of their abilities and have unlocked their signature abilities. Heroes have a full set of gear, some pieces maxed, and are able to function for extended periods of time without returning to base. Ganking in general have now become full 5v5 team fights, usually started by pushing. Farming is usually remanded to cleaning up pushed up waves, or jungling. Mistakes in play can cost you crucial defensive structures and may cost you the game, play smart. AOE Support heroes Carries, Initiators and WELL Carries shine during this phase.

End Game Lanes have been completely broken down. This phase is usually signaled when the game simply consists of 5v5 team fights trying to destroy remaining enemy structures. People max level, decked in gear, can stay out of base forever unless they need to heal after a teamfight or buy. Farming is tough to do, and usually shunned upon. Mistakes in play WILL cost you the game, be clutch. CARRIES, OMFG CARRIES OWN THIS PHASE.

Know your Role Understand how your character should function in relation to the rest of your team. Typically there are three types of heroes in a MOBA. I’ll break down these types.

Initiator/Tank Usually a strength hero, or a hero with passives/actives which help him mititgate damage and control/slow enemy heroes. They don’t particularly do a whole bunch of damage, but they are hard to kill and set up bigger damage dealers opportunities to maximize their damage. Usually the first one in, and the last one out. In ROI when ganking or chasing past a tower, these heroes want to be the ones to try and wall off as much damage as possible. Scorpix is the easiest example of an initiator/tank. These heroes have a medium priority for gold gained and usually shine mid game. Example: Scorpix

SupportUsually an intelligence hero with appreciable nukes (a finite damaging spell) and team disabling abilities (Vezin’s Vortez, Neth’s Snare, Tat’s Freeze.) Because these heroes’ abilities have finite amounts of damage on them, they lack the ability to scale. Because of this gear isn’t a huge deal for them, it won’t contribute to their overall damage output because their primary source of damage are static nukes, and no gear contributes to the effectiveness of crowd control abilities. These heroes usually buy supportive items which give them bonus abilities to help high damage dealing allies, and are in charge of buying wards of sight to give the team vision of the map. These heroes have a low priority for gold gained, and usually shine mid game. Example: Tatiana

Soft-Carry Can be an agility/strength/intelligence hero with one ability which is a nuke, one ability which allows them to scale, and usually an ability which allows them to close distance quickly. These heroes are usually a mix of initiator/support and a carry. They can do many things well, but nothing particularly VERY well. These heroes are usually instrumental in the mid-game and are fantastic gankers. They excel in small skirmishes, excelling in the laning phase, and finishing off heroes. They can use a variety of builds and can lean towards being more of a support or carry hero. Very flexible and fun to play. These heroes have a medium priority for gold gained and usually shine in the mid game. Example: Tzai

Hard-Carry Usually an agility hero with two abilities which allow them to scale and some sort of movement impairing or movement gaining ability. These heroes have the *potential* to the most amount of damage in the game. Usually they are very squishy and weak early game, but by the time end game rolls around .. watch the **** out. Your job is to farm and avoid dying. Nothing is more important than getting the gear/experience you need to carry your team to victory at the end. Don’t be surprised if you pull of a pentakill with these heroes if your very geared. The world belongs to them. These heroes have an EXTREMELY HIGH priority for gold gained and ONLY shine in the late game. Protect them, and they will win for you later. Example: Nyssus, Thalia

The Tips

Communicate Effectively Talk to your team, coordinate ganks, call missing, try to work as a cohesive unit. A well organized team will surgical destroy a team filled with chaos.

Be geared for team fights If you have gold to buy/upgrade an item before trying to start a team fight, GET IT. Those extra stats could be the game changer.

Build Correctly Know how to build your hero. Do you run out of mana easily? Are you squishy? Are you slow? Get items to address these problems, then build on your strengths.

Be Efficient Use your time effectively. You should ALWAYS being doing something. If you aren’t in a lane farming/pushing, you are ganking, if you aren’t ganking, you should be in a lane farming/pushing. If you aren’t doing something to increase your XPM or GPM then you are wasting time. This is a game where gear and level are extremely important, you need to be on top of the curve to come out of teamfights on the winning side.

Mind Games While it’s usually frowned upon, psychological warfare is a viable tactic. Trash talk, embarrassing comments, and playing aggressively are all ways to get inside of your opponents head. Once you are in your opponents head they will start to second guess their actions. Once they second guess their actions … fresh meat. Edit: Do not fall for this! Mental toughness is a big deal in competitive play.

Animation Canceling The act of canceling the animation of an auto-attack or a spell in order to correct a missclick or feign the use of one of your abilities to play fake out your opponent. You can’t animation cancel spells in ROI.

Juking/Pathing Learn the map, memorize it. When escaping a pursuing enemy teams, try not to take conventional routes towards your base. Irratic and unpredictable movements can throw the enemy off. Running into cornered neutral creeps sites is an excellent way to avoid a gank.

Be aware If you don’t see many enemy heroes on the map, that usually means they are up to no good. Be careful when you don’t know where the enemy is. Also, help your teammate if they are running away from a gank, especially if your a support hero.

I hope some of this information will help some of you new mobas players.
I wrote this on a few hours sleep for fogive grammatical errors or some sentences that dont make sense, lol.