My thoughts on Team Strategies.

So i've been thinking not so much about meta but more about the actual strategies that the meta brings about.

we talk a lot about meta and whats coming in or going out of the current meta game and well when we discuss this we kind of gloss of the very strategies that are the result of this.

so i thought i would put my thoughts down and ask peoples thoughts on this subject.

so ive developed a system for identifying strategies and ive come up with

THE CLUSTER SYSTEM FOR DOTA STRATEGIES

so we have at the core of the cluster a TIER ONE strategy or a HOME CLUSTER. then branching of from the HOME cluster we have the sub levels or sub clusters.

this is what ive come up with.

HOME CLUSTERS

PUSH
FIGHT
GANK
FOURMAN

you then have the sub clusters for each of the main four strategies

PUSH
- SPLIT PUSH
- DEATH BALL
- RAT DOTO

FIGHT
- TEAM FIGHT
- COUNTER TEAMFIGHT


GANK
- CORE GANK
- ADVANTAGE GANK
- COUNTER GANK

FOURMAN
- FOUR PROTECT ONE
- FOUR CREATE SPACE FOR ONE
- FOUR FOCUS ONE

ill describe each of these in turn.

PUSH

PUSH strategy / sub tier 3 RAT DOTO

rat doto i feel, is when you completely avoid taking any form of combat and focus solely on avoiding the enemy and taking towers. this is characterised by the fact that usually a team has superior fighting capabilities even when at a disadvantage i.e. potential 3v5 wins or higher core progression due to early feeding or farm. point case your Kunkka. RAT DOTO is all about staying away from the enemy and gaining map control and core progression through continual rotations.

this is different to:

PUSH strategy / Sub tier 2 SPLIT PUSH

i feel split pushing is when you strategically force/pressure towers in multiple lanes so you can take a fight at an advantage while the enemy forces are split. this is characterised by highly mobile cores and an even item core progression. example are fighting as 3 vs 2 while the other two are pressuring a tower forcing rotations.

this is again different to:

PUSH strategy / Sub tier 1 DEATH BALL

this strategy is where a team is comprised of heroes that can fight early and take towers early through a combination of powerful disables and/or tower harmful abilities. Deathball strats focus on rotations as 5 early and making the most of the push as 5. they usually want to take a fight and win it then turn the win into a tower or two. by doing so they gain a massive gold and xp advantage very early in the game and force the map control to favour them heavily.

FIGHT

TEAM FIGHT / Sub tier 1 TEAM FIGHT

this is characterised by a team that has MASSIVE capabilities in a team fight onces that have the potential to completely destroy any enemy. example of this are large aoe disable ultimate s or high damage out put ultimate s or abilities that can group or reposition whole teams at once. teams with this strategy in mind will be looking to fight as 5 continuously when these abilities are up as they guarantee a successful fight.

TEAM FIGHT / Sub tier 2 COUNTER TEAM FIGHT

this strategy is characterised by a line up that is a direct TEAM FIGHT counter to sub tier one. it has a focus on being able to survive and turn a fight around after a large team fight. this is sometimes found in drafts that have abilities that can return to a fight quickly so in effect are allowing thier team to fight 6v5 Weaver Ember Spirit Natures Prophet are examples of this. this draft relies on the time between TEAM FIGHTS where they look to fight as 5 and gain an advantage during this time period.

FOURMAN

FOURMAN / Sub tier 1 FOUR PROTECT ONE

this strategy is characterised by a draft that revolves around a very very very late game hard carry one that is completely useless during the early portion of the game. drafts are then required to protect that hero until the late game arrives. this strategy focuses on being able to save their carry at all costs and being able to protect the map coverage and control for as long as possible to allow that carry to farm. also the other four heroes usually have some form of disengagement ultimate or skill that can remove the team from a fight. this strategy is reliant on the team being able to keep the hard carry alive till late late game where they will then try and take fights and completely destroy the enemy.

FOURMAN / Sub tier 2 FOUR CREATE SPACE FOR ONE

this strategy is characterised by a team that has a hero that can do two things well. PUSH and GO LATE. example are Soul Keeper and Anti Mage and Naga Siren. the core of this is to force pressure from the start to force the enemy to respond as 5 so they will not lose map control or towers. this is usually apparent with teams that have very strong 4 heroes that can fight early and can win early. Centaur Warrunner is usually a hero that is drafted into this strategy. the goal of this is to allow the 5th hero to take towers and gain farm while the enemy team is occupied with the other 4 heroes pressuring a tower.


this is as far as ive got to atm but ill be filling in the rest soon.

what are people thoughts??

Whilst I think your for the most part accurate in your assumptions. Deathball DOTA doesn't mean you turn fights/pick-offs into towers, because you should be looking to do that at most opportunities in the game anyhow. I would instead call it, line-ups that hit an early timing window with the right item (Like Mek, or Eul's Scepter), and thus have such powerful fight/push that they can force down towers without the other team realitically being able to contest.

EDIT:

I also think combo is probably a valid seperate form of team-fight. These are the line-ups which want to do like Reverse Polarity into Chronosphere into Death Ward. It's not as simple as just having independant team-fight abilities, because the line-up has been drafted with this specific combo in mind, and can probably win any teamfight in the game if they get the combo off properly.