Vainglory 5V5: 10 Tips & Tricks You Need to Know

Vainglory‘s 5V5 mode released on February 13 to the delight of many fans. If all you’ve known of Vainglory was 3V3 and need some hot tips, look no further. Developer Super Evil Megacorp themselves were kind enough to provide Heavy.com with 10 tips and tricks to rise up in the new mode.

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1. Start Off With a Bang

Jungle monsters and lane minions don’t show up in Vainglory 5V5 until about a minute into the match. Take the opportunity to roam the map and make some mischief. Get some heroes together, invade the enemy jungle, and pick off unaware opponents.

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2. Pre-plan Your First Jungle Rotation

When playing as a jungler hero, plan your path in advance. Start by killing the Weapon Treant for its orb, then take the nearby gold camp, and then head up the river into the mid-lane for a sneak attack. The weapon orb at level one isn’t all that powerful but it does slow opponents which will allow either you or your mid-lane carry to get an easy kill. You might get the First Blood bonus as well. Then head to an ally who needs help or head north for more available jungle camps. Don’t spend too much time in the jungle. Be sure to ambush opponents in the lanes whenever you can.

3. Ride the River’s Current

When you move with the river’s current on the Sovereign’s Rise map (from the middle of the map toward the outer lanes), you’ll get a speed boost. That way you can quickly reach the outer lanes and protect endangered turrets or engage in quick ambushes. Because this speed boost is so valuable, teams often station two heroes in the mid-lane (a carry and a captain), with one hero in the jungle, heroes in the top and bottom lanes. That way all of the bases are covered and the heroes in the middle can rush to the other lanes if necessary.

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4. Manipulate the Minion Wave

The 5V5 mode introduces a Captain Minion that decreases the damage ally minions take from enemy minions and turrets. If you kill the enemy captain minion while yours is still alive, it will create a strong push against the enemy turret, allowing you to head to another lane or the jungle. You can also leave the enemy captain to push into your turret, allowing you to farm much more safely and make it easier to last-hit since your minons and turrets will deal less damage to them. This is great especially if you’re a “late-game scaling” hero who needs to play conservatively early and wait for power spikes that come much later in the match.

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5. Explore the Captain Role

The captian is much more than a support hero. You’ll be involved in all three lanes, disrupting enemies, saving allies, soaking up damage and making clutch plays. You don’t have to focus your build on defense, either. Some of the most successful captains such as Ardan and Catherine pack quite a punch. In addition, players are least likely to pick the captain role, giving you first dibs most of the time.

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6. Flex that Fountain

Many believe that you should buy the Fountain of Renewal first for its team-wide healing powers. However, you don’t really need the power for the first five minutes of play. Buy something with an immediate impact first, such as the War Treads which will help your team hunt down enemies and cover ground faster or the SuperScout 2000 which lets you put cameras all over the map and reveal enemies. You can also buy attack-boosting items to throw off the enemy team. This early advantage is so integral that the fountain can really wait.

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7. Teamfights Failing? Try Split-Pushing

If you find your team losing every fight, its time to rethink your tactics. Send four heroes to fight or distract while one high-damage hero heads to an outer lane to tear apart turrets. This will force the enemy to send someone out to defeat the split-pusher or else have their turrets destroyed, messing up their plans. In a best-case senario, the enemy won’t even notice what’s happening to their turrets until its too late. You can also use Teleport Boots to bean yourself back to a vulnerable lane deep in enemy territory.

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8. Map Awareness Wins Games

Keep an eye on the mini-map at all times. That way you can see if someone is missing from a lane as well as where they were last seen, so you can predict their next move and be one step ahead of them. Try to just focus on map awareness for a whole game, much more than you usually do. You’ll be surprised by how big of a difference it can make.

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9. Join a Guild

Most games are most fun when you know you’re playing with reliable teammates, especially those who don’t troll or leave mid-match. Vainglory has a Guild Finder tool that will help you find players at a similar skill level and who like to play at the same time of day as you do. You’ll be dominating in no time. In addition, you’ll get 750 Glory when you join your first guild.

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10. Spy the Dragons

5V5 matches on Sovereign’s Rise are home to two powerful dragons. Ghostwing spawns six minutes after the match begins and Blackclaw spawns 15 minutes after. You’ll know when they’re coming because a circle will appear on the map where they appear. Ghostwing applies a buff that adds a regenerating barrier, health, and energy when out of combat while Blackclaw will rampage down the center lane attacking enemies and turrets on his way to the enemy Vain Crystal. When they spawn, place a Scout Cam in the back of the dragon pit. That way if an enemy team attempts to take the dragon, you’ll know right away and can swoop in after them. If you have allies around, force a teamfight since the enemy will be injured by the dragon. If you’re alone, wait until the last second and attempt to snipe the dragon’s last tick of health to steal the dragon away from the enemy.

Thanks again to Super Evil Megacorp for these great tips.

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