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Terrain Decides What Calls Are Possible

Core rule

You fight the terrain before you fight the enemy.

The same roster can look strong or terrible depending on walls, bridges, chokes, ridges, corners, gates, and retreat paths.

Terrain questions

Before committing, ask:

  • Where can enemy damage land from?
  • Where can our damage land from?
  • Where can tanks stop the enemy before damage hits?
  • Where can healers safely cover danger?
  • Where does the zerg go after the engage?
  • If we retreat, do we create a clump?
  • If we push, are enemy cooldowns spent?

Terrain tools

Tools often act as terrain extensions:

  • firewall extends a wall or lane denial
  • wind wall changes a path
  • inertia/ring/root turns open ground into a temporary choke
  • knockbacks can deny an entry or ruin allied damage if used badly
  • Locus/cleanse/speed can turn a dangerous lane into a crossing lane
  • tank body position can make a corner safe or unsafe

Common failure pattern

Players stand where the terrain looks safe but actually creates a perfect bomb:

  • hugging a wall
  • stacking on a door
  • clumping behind a bridge
  • walking into a dead end
  • all taking the same side of a rock/lake
  • backing into the choke instead of spreading through it

Training prompt

For each major fight, draw three lines:

  1. enemy engage path
  2. friendly damage path
  3. friendly exit or next movement path

If those lines conflict, the call or positioning needs review.