Lanes
From Liquipedia Dota 2 Wiki
A Lane is one of three main paths connecting the two factions, each lane coming with their own advantages and disadvantages.
Terminology[edit]
The lanes are identified and named after their geographic location on the map:
- Top Lane, which runs along the left and top edges of the map
- Middle Lane, which runs diagonally through the center of the map
- Bottom Lane, which runs along the bottom and right edges of the map
The Top and Bottom lane can also collectively be referred to as the Side Lanes.
Top Lane[edit]
The Top Lane (often shortened to just Top) is the lane that connects 
Radiant's north ramp with 
Dire's west ramp, running along the west (left) and north (top) side of the map. Starting at the Radiant's north entrance, the lane takes a straight path northwards, taking a 90° turn towards the east once it reaches the height of Dire's west ramp, continuing that direction until connecting with said ramp.
The Top Lane is considered to be Radiant's Safe Lane and Dire's Off Lane.
Middle Lane[edit]
The Middle Lane (often shortened to just Mid Lane, or Mid) is the lane that connects Radiant's north-east ramp with Dire's south-west ramp, running diagonally through the center of the map. Unlike the other lanes, the mid lane stays straight throughout, making this overall the shortest of the three lanes. Starting at the Radiant's north-east entrance, the lane takes a straight path towards the north-east until reaching Dire's ramp.
The Mid Lane is viewed the same by both teams, taking the same role.
Bottom Lane[edit]
The Bottom Lane (often shortened to just Bot Lane, or Bot) is the lane that connects Radiant's east ramp with Dire's south ramp, running along the east (right) and south (bottom) side of the map. Starting at the Radiant's east entrance, the lane takes a straight path eastwards, taking a 90° turn towards the north once it reaches the height of Dire's south ramp, continuing that direction until connecting with said ramp.
The Bottom Lane is considered to be Radiant's Off Lane and Dire's Safe Lane.
Safe Lane[edit]
Safe Lane refers to the part of the bottom lane that is within Radiant's side of the map, as well as to the part of the top lane that is within the Dire's side of the map.
For the Radiant, the safe lane starts at their east ramp, reaching up towards the corner, taking a 90° turn, and continuing northwards until reaching the south-east river ramp.
For the Dire, the safe lane starts at their west ramp, reaching up towards the corner, taking a 90° turn, and continuing southwards until reaching the north-west river ramp.
A Safe Lane is defined by the following traits:
- The lane is adjacent to the primary jungle, granting the team easy access to an alternative farming location during the laning phase.
- If the team has a jungler, the jungler can also come to aid the lane in case of emergencies.
- The Tier 1 Tower is located right before the 90° corner of the lane, while the opposing team's first tower is behind the river ramp.
- If not interfered with, the lane creeps meet within the respective faction's side of the map, closer to that team's tower.
- The river ramps are further away from the safe lane Tier 1 Towers, making it harder to gank that lane using the river.
- The safe lane takes more than half of the top/bot lane (roughly 60% of the lane), since they extend beyond the 90° turn.
Generally, this lane is considered to be more secure for the players than the other side lane, hence the name "Safe" Lane.
Off Lane[edit]
Off Lane (also called Hard Lane) refers to the part of the top lane that is within Radiant's side of the map, as well as to the part of the bottom lane that is within the Dire's side of the map.
For the Radiant, the off lane starts at their north ramp, and ends right before the north-east river ramp.
For the Dire, the off lane starts at their south ramp, and ends right before the south-east river ramp.
An Off Lane is defined by the following traits:
- The lane is adjacent to the respective faction's secondary jungle, which is not suitable for early-game farming, due to the lack of creep camps, and the few camps there being large and ancient camps.
- The Secret Shop is very close to this lane.
- The Tier 1 Tower is located right before the river ramp, while the opposing team's first tower is behind the 90° corner.
- If not interfered with, the lane creeps meet on the opposing team's side of the lane, way closer to their tower.
- The river ramps are right in front of the Tier 1 Tower, making it very prone to ganks, since enemies can use the ramp to cut off the path towards the tower. However, this grants easier access to the Rune within the river.
- The off lane takes less than half of the top/bot lane (roughly 40% of the lane), since they end way before the 90° turn.
Generally, this lane is considered to be more dangerous for the player than the other side lane, hence the name "Hard" Lane. The name "Off" Lane refers to the play style of running the lane, in which the hero is rarely seen last hitting in lane. They are instead staying "off the lane" at the safest distance possible to gain experience.
Laning[edit]
Laning is the act of staying in a lane. A hero that lanes gains gold and experience from the dying creeps, and is also protecting the nearest tower. Games generally start out with a laning phase where all or the majority of players start out in a lane. Later on more roles such as ganking, pushing, and roaming come into play, but often enough players go back to laning for a steady income of exp and gold.
Laning Strategies[edit]
Due to the nature of the lanes, each with their advantages and disadvantages, various different laning strategies can be employed.
Solo Lane[edit]
A Solo Lane is a lane that involves only one player of the team. This grants the hero the advantage of not having to share gold or experience with allies, allowing them to farm much quicker. However, a solo lane exposes the hero, making them very susceptible to ganks. A solo laner also may struggle a lot against an opposing dual lane or even a trilane.
Solo lanes can be done in each lane, but is most almost always done in the Mid Lane, and is also commonly seen in the Off Lane. Solo Safe Lanes are a rare occurence.
Solo Mid[edit]
The Mid Lane is the optimal solo lane for several reasons:
- Due to the lane being the shortest, lane creeps take less time to meet on this lane, making this the lane the fastest in terms of farming.
- The lane offers easy access to both Runes, the primary and secondary jungles, as well as easy access to both side lanes.
- The distance between each tower is way shorter than in the side lanes, including the distance of both teams' mid tier 1 towers.
- The river ramps grant a level of safety for the player, as well as highground advantage.
- The mid lane is relatively symetric for both teams, so that it is an even playing field, for both sides, unlike the other lanes.
The middle lane is usually reserved for key heroes and takes a high degree of skill. The mid laner must contest last hits and denies to control the flow of gold and experience in their favor. This has the benefit of controlling the power of the enemy mid laner, while also bolstering their own strength. The player who "wins" the mid lane essentially is able to gank the side lanes more successfully as well as push down the enemy's mid lane tower, gaining map control for their entire team. The mid lane also revolves a lot around rune control and avoiding enemy ganks.
Solo Off[edit]
The Off Lane is also commonly used as a solo lane. However, unlike the mid solo lane, the solo off lane serves other purposes. Due to the dangerous nature of the offlane, the solo offlaner is expected to be underfarmed. Instead of going for last hits, the solo offlane rather stays at a safe distance and soaks up the experience of slaing creeps instead, trying to level up as quickly as possible without dying.
Due to this, a solo off-lane is usually done by heroes that prioritise experience and levels over gold and items, heroes who experience a big power spike by acquiring their ultimate, or by heroes that have stats gain per level.
Dual Lane[edit]
A Dual Lane is a lane that involves two players of the team. Usually, this setup contains one farm-dependent hero that focuses on last-hitting as much as possible, coupled with a support that protects the farming ally, denies as many creeps as possible, and wards off the enemies. This setup only goes for kills if the opportunity arises and if the farming ally does not miss out on too many last hits.
Another common dual lane is the aggressive dual lane that has both players focusing on killing the enemies in the lane as often as possible, denying them as much laning time as possible. This playstyle usually also couples in with a quick push, trying to take down the enemy tier 1 tower as fast as possible.
The carry-support dual lane is most commonly seen in the safe lane, as the safe lane is the perfect environment for a carry to farm. Dual lanes in the offlane usually involve the aggressive setup, with both heroes trying to make the best of the off lane. Dual mid lanes are a very rare occurence.
Tri-Lane[edit]
A Tri-Lane is a lane that involves three players of the team. Similar to the dual lane, there are two types of Tri-Lane strategies.
The defensive trilane is three heroes in the safe lane. Two supporting heroes make sure the third hero, their carry, gets all the farm, without having to worry much about the enemy. They push the enemy heroes back to deny them experience and gold, while simultaneously protecting their carry from the enemy. The supporting heroes can gain some experience and gold of their own by farming the jungle in the meantime.
The aggressive trilane is three heroes in the Offlane. They try to pressure the enemy team's safe lane and disrupt the jungle. To be successful, an aggressive trilane is largely dependent on getting hero or tower kills.
Version history[edit]
Description
- Creeps meet a bit closer to the offlane tower
- Creeps now arrive slightly closer to the top dire tower and bottom Radiant tower
- Creeps now meet slightly closer to the Dire safelane
- Moved Dire bottom Tier 2 Tower back very slightly
- Bottom Lane Dire creeps now arrive slightly closer to the Dire Tier 1 Tower
- Top Lane Radiant creeps now arrive slightly farther from the Radiant Tier 1 Tower
- Improved creep pathing at bottom lane as well as middle necromancer creep timing.
- Bottom lane scourge creeps meet sent creeps a bit higher up
- Made Scourge center lane towers further apart
