Mario "Kolapz" Mader takes a look at the current state of competitive Heroes of Newerth, it's evolution and the dominant strategy - the trilanes. Although the history of competitive Heroes of Newerth is by no means a long one, over its course we have seen different styles of play dominate for a certain period of time. From turtling in the beta stages, to pushing around the release of the game. From heavy gank oriented after release to the bastard child we have now that is a weird mix of getting your hard carry farmed in the trilane while the rest of the team ganks as much as they can - which I will focus on in this article. Every patch brings something new to the table, but mostly in the form of individual heroes becoming competitively viable, or on the other hand, going completely off the radar. The constant factor was, however, the evolution. The evolution of the "metagame" as teams brainstorm for counters and solutions against the currently predominant style of play. An often seen complaint from spectators and fans alike is that watching competitive Heroes of Newerth gets boring after a while of seeing the same heroes picked and same playstyle being used. This complaint is often accompanied by a challenge towards the teams to "man up" and start picking different heroes and using different strategies. It is a statement I only partly agree with. It is only natural for teams to pick the heroes and strategies they have the most success with, as risk might bring them a short term "+1 internetz" from the crowd and maybe, just maybe, an upset victory because of the surprise pick - but probably not much success against the other top teams in a long-term. It is only natural for them to use the winning strategy as much as they can, up until the point when a counter for that strategy enters the scene.
Even though the trilane strategy has been the dominating playstyle for a few months now, I do not agree that it is a boring one. People seem to have missed the evolution that has happened within it since it's introduction. Ranged carries like Soulstealer, Forsaken Archer, Arachna and Corrupted Disciple that have been predominantly used (also because of the Geometer's Bane+Frostwulf Skull combination) have been pushed out of the middle lane and constantly countered by ganking mid-lane heroes like Thunderbringer, Witch Slayer, Tundra and Doctor Repulsor. The inability to reliably use those heroes opened the space for melee carries like Dark Lady, Pandamonium and Maliken to be used as a replacement or reliable supplement. In order for the to be reliable, however, they needed to have a free farming time in their lane. In order for them to get a free farming time, the trilane strategy was pulled out of the magicians hat and that playstyle has been dominant ever since. I did not overlook the fact that Soulstealer and Forsaken Archer are still used frequently, unlike Arachna and Corrupted Disciple. My point still stands, as when they're in the middle lane, more often then not they will get crushed by one of the ganking mid-lane heroes I mentioned. What differentiates them from the other two, however, is their ability to quickly make up for the lost farm with their in-built farming skills - Demon Hands and Skeletons (Split-shot as well, but to a lesser degree since it's usually not very beneficial until very late game).
Back to the evolution within the trilane strategy. Since it's inception we've seen a couple heroes being introduced seemingly out of thin air. The previous top support picks like Demented Shaman and Plague Rider have been replaced by other heroes that fit better into trilanes. Andromeda is the highlight of this change as she instantly switched from useless category to overpowered, despite her not receiving any changes at all. Although not used at first at all in trilanes, Voodoo Jester has since then grown into a top-tier pick due to his steroid healing skill, the Mojo. Valkyrie and Bubbles have become top-tier picks because of their escape mechanisms (amongst other things) which are very needed when laned against the opposing trilane.
New heroes being used is not the end of it, though. Teams have started to actively seek to evolutionize the playstyle once again in an attempt to counter this predominant trilane strategy. We've already seen them experiment with a staggering amount of possibilities, a fact that not many viewers seem to acknowledge. While at first teams just laned their own trilane on the other side of the map and hoped that it will farm more efficiently and that their solo will not give away kills, shortly after they just removed the latter risk and conceded to the opposing trilane and sent their solo hero to jungle/roam/gank. Recently we have seen the solo being replaced by a more efficient jungling hero, Tempest, who is now starting to see a bit more play again. Another thing people tried is to actively counter the opposing trilane with a more aggressive one that doesn't include a carry and who's sole purpose is to fight them head on and hopefully win with their superior killing potential. European teams re-introduced the level 1 Kongor killing strategy that gives them an instant advantage over the opposing trilane.
The next step to countering trilanes? I will make a bold prediction now (not so bold since it was already suggested by people close to the competitive scene but never really put into effect) and suggest that laning 1-2-2 with a hardcarry+babysitter in the middle lane and an aggressive double-stun combination in the long lane will be the next step. The opponents trilane will have to break up and send a hero to the mid-lane, unless they're fine with losing two lanes.
Let's say that team A is the one that wants to run a standard current trilane strategy, while team B is the one that wants to counter it.
Team A (hellbourne):
carry+support+support = top lane
mid laner
hero with escape mechanism = bottom lane
Team B (legion):
hero with escape mechanism = top lane
carry+support = mid lane
stun+stun = bottom lane
This team composition would inevitably force the trilaning team to send a support hero from the top lane to the middle lane, thus resulting in the following scenario:
Team A (hellbourne):
carry+support = top lane
mid laner+support = mid lane
hero with escape mechanism = bottom lane
Team B (legion):
hero with escape mechanism = top lane
carry+support = mid lane
stun+stun = bottom lane
Ofcourse, the possibilites of lane swaps in the situation is basically limitless and this is just one example of what could be the next step. The result is, however, the same - the end of trilanes. The evolution of the metagame and the dominant playstyle is both constant and inevitable as teams search for the winning one. A strategy can only be the dominant one for as long as it is not countered and I predict the next one will come sooner than most people expect. The crying of viewers demanding change (since they do not realize the change is already constantly happening) will then be over, at least until the newest winning strategy becomes boring again.
The evolution, however, can not be stopped.
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