Many players have a general understanding of the game, what heroes are countering who, what heroes are best at solo laning, and who can jungle; or in more simple words, what you can do to change the outcome of the game. This article goes one step further, and describes the abnormalities that are coded into the map; very small abnormalities that can have a huge impact on the game if you know how to take advantage of them, thus this article is directed towards the mid-skilled players.
Everyone has an understanding of the basics of the map, we have a sentinel base, a scourge base, a Roshan Area, two jungles (the big ones) and two forests (the small ones). Everyone know that we have three kinds of creeps: player allied (Treants, Ghouls etcetera), neutral creeps as well as ancients creeps (including Roshan too). What this section is about is how the overall map is different, many knows that Roshan is an abnormality which gives an advantage to the scourge side, but not many people know that the mid creeps are favouring the sentinel side or that you can triple pull in the sentinel jungle.
Map
Mid lane, and its relations to the rune spots and ganks.
To the solo mid hero, rune-control is very important and it is not difficult to see that the two sides are unsymmetrical.
We can see that the distance from the towers offers scourge a lot of advantage, and although they have a bit longer to the top rune, the sentinel hero has to go through a curve, meaning that the distance will be almost the same; meaning that the scourge has a distance advantage in a possible rune-race.
Furthermore, the mid lane is usually ganked a lot, as it is in the middle of the map (hence the name), this is where the sentinel lane has its powers. While as the scourge side can be easily ganked from both sides, a gank on the sentinel mid is usually a lot more difficult. The way to the mid lane from bot is usually heavily warded and can be seen as impenetrable, while as the way from the top lane is guarded by a curve that gives the sentinel mid a huge sight advantage at day. This sight advantage is even more enhanced by the fact that while scourge only has one pile of trees to juke in, the sentinel has two.
Roshan Zone
Probably the difference which has the most impact on the game, the Roshan zone is positioned on the scourge side of the map, and you can activate the scourge secret shop from the area. Being placed on the scourge side of the map, near the bot lane, means that scourge has access to the Roshan Zone through three towers (mid tier one, bot tier one and bot tier two), while sentinel only have from one (mid tier one tower). This means, that scourge is only in need of one ward, while as sentinel is in need of two wards to be able to see any gank attempt (granting that neither teams has lost any of the important towers).
This difference gives the scourge team a huge advantage, as even after a won team-fight, the sentinel team has to be careful, as a (buyback-) teleporting scourge team can easily backstab them.
Creeps
This section is including all the creep-relating differences in the map, including neutrals, the behaviour of creeps on lane, and the specific differences between the Ghouls and Treants.
Ghouls and Treants
Although these two units are alike in almost every case, there is one small difference; Treants have a greater base than the ghouls, due to the greater unit size they have. This in combination with the Treants coming from the lower left corner results in Ghouls being able to 'hide' behind the Treants, making them a lot harder to hit.
Pulling creeps
The majority of the DotA community know that both teams can pull one main camp. The scourge are then able to pull a second camp diagonally (is usable by the sentinel horizontally too) while as the sentinel are able to double, and even triple, pull with the use of tangoes or quelling blade. This does put the sentinel jungler in a dangerous position however, as the second creep camp is located fairly near the scourge tier one bot tower.
Jungling
Although the jungling aspect is close to extinct at the moment, it is still worth mentioning, as the two jungles differentiate greatly.
The creep-camps in the scourge jungle are positioned with a lot of distance among them, but in such a way that you are able to circle among them all, so not to waste valuable time; and in the later stage of the game, this allows you to end up at your own base, making it a safe jungle if pressured.
In comparison, the sentinel jungle are 'divided' in two, meaning that you can easily circle among the three main camps without actually moving, but as the game progresses, your jungle farm will decrease due to increased walking time.
What is probably the most known feature of the sentinel jungle however, is the 'magic bush' which are able to block two camps and thus nullifying any jungling hero.
But while the jungles are important, we must not neglect the forests, containing some of the most powerful units in the game. Here we can yet again see a difference between the sentinel and the scourge side, as while the sentinel ancient camp are facing toward the middle of the map, and are located in a rather non-travelled part; the scourge ancient camp is facing the scourge secret shop, with easy access to this as well as the Roshan Zone; making it a lot more difficult for sentinel to farm on scourge ancients than scourge on sentinel ancients if the game are even, but easier for sentinel to farm on sentinel ancients than scourge on scourge ancients if they are losing map-advantage.
Note: Other camps are pull-able with accurate timing and specific creeps, but as this is never done, this will not be mentioned here.
Mid lane in particular
Mid lane, as opposed to top and bot, has a slight difference in creep arrival, as a result of pre-discussed enlargement of scourge base. This means that the sentinel ranged creep is standing up-hill, and a ranged hero will be able to actively use the Fog of War, thus having a huge advantage in the first minute of the lane as the enemy do not have the ability to predict when the attacks are landing.
The picture to the right is an extreme situation, which almost never occurs with the first creep-spawn; usually the ranged creep are standing just on top of the ramp, allowing only heroes with approximately 600 range to attack from the actual Fog of War. Usually this is countered by creep-blocking, but while the sentinel towers are placed rather well for a creep-block, the scourge tier two mid tower is awkwardly placed, so that a perfect creep-block actually will allow a creep to avoid the block all together, by taking a different route.
Creeps vs Buildings
What buildings the creeps are going to attack when entering the base, is yet another small difference that can have a huge impact on the game. The following information is gotten by watching the creeps entering the base unobstructed and with no heroes on the map, and might differ in a game due to small differences.
| Sentinel Creeps | Scourge Creeps |
| Top | All creeps are attacking melee rax | All creeps are attacking melee rax. |
| Mid | Melee creeps are attacking melee rax; ranged creeps are attacking ranged rax. There is a possibility of melee creeps attacking right Ziggurat; ranged creeps attacking left Ziggurat. | Melee creeps are attacking the ranged rax; ranged creeps are attacking Moon Well. |
| Bottom | Melee creeps are attacking the ranged rax; all ranged creeps are attacking the Ziggurat. There is a possibility of melee creeps attacking Ziggurat. | All creeps are attacking the ranged rax. |
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