Reading the draft: damage types, control and the answers to them

01Three questions, asked in order

Look at the enemy five and ask: where does their damage come from, how do they lock me down, and when are they strongest? Everything else is detail. A draft that is four magic damage heroes loses to one item. A draft with five seconds of chained disable kills you before you act, whatever you built. And a draft that is terrifying at twenty minutes and harmless at forty tells you exactly how to play the map.

02Physical, magical, pure

Armour answers physical damage and does nothing against magic. Magic resistance answers magic and does nothing against physical. Pure damage ignores both and is only answered by not being there. Count the enemy's sources before you buy: one big defensive item against the damage that is actually coming beats two items against the damage you imagined.

• Count how many of the five actually deal each type. Two is a pattern; one is noise.
• Buying resistance against a hero who has not bought damage yet is buying too early.
• The cheapest answer to burst is usually a way out, not more health.

03Disable is measured in seconds, not spells

Add up the enemy's chained disable in seconds. Under two, you can usually walk away. Between two and four, you need a way to break out or a body in front of you. Over four seconds, whoever they open on is dead and the fight is decided by who stands next to them. That number, not the hero names, is what tells you whether your team can contest the objective.

04Timing beats composition

Every draft has a window where it is at its best. Line-ups built on one big spell peak when that spell comes online and fade as everyone buys the answer to it. Line-ups built on raw scaling are weak for half an hour and then unbeatable. Work out both windows — yours and theirs — and the whole game becomes a question of whether you can force the fight inside yours.