Map objectives: when to fight and when to walk away

01The objective is not always worth it

An objective is worth whatever damage it does to the enemy base, minus what contesting it costs you. If you are a talent tier behind, contesting is how you lose two players and the next objective as well. Trading it — soaking three lanes and taking a fort while the enemy takes the objective — is very often the better deal, and almost nobody does it.

02Arrive early or do not arrive

Fights at an objective are decided before they start, by who got there with vision and full health. Walking in ten seconds late, one at a time, is how five players lose to four. If your team is not going to be there in time, say so and take the lanes instead: half a map of free experience beats half a fight.

• Check the timer before you recall, not after.
• Two people soaking during an objective is normal, not a betrayal.
• If you win the objective and lose two heroes, count it again.

03What an objective is really for

Winning an objective rarely ends a game by itself. What it buys is a window: the enemy is dead or pushed back, and for the next forty seconds your team can take a fort, a mercenary camp or a level lead. Teams that win the objective and then stand around admiring it give back everything they just earned.