Alterac Pass

The standard formation is 1-3-1. One hero takes the side lane next to the upcoming Prison Camps, three play the middle lane where the Siege Camps are, and your offlaner takes the far side lane. The camps alternate between top and bottom every round, so you always know which side lane is the near one and can swap the solo laners after each objective. If you have a global hero, put them on the far lane: they can soak until the last second and still arrive on time. Side laners should join the middle group whenever their lane has nothing to soak, especially to push with gnolls.

• Near lane: a hero who can stall and poke, ideally one able to kite Guards around the camp.
• Middle: tank, healer and your main damage; the gnoll Siege Camps are theirs to take.
• Far lane: the offlaner or a global hero who can soak late and still make the objective.

Use the Healing Fountain before 1:00 so it is back for the 3:00 objective. At 0:30 start the gnoll Siege Camp on your side of the middle lane and push with it as soon as it is captured; gnolls have plenty of health and strip armor from anything they hit, so two or three heroes walking with them can crack a wall early. Keep both side lanes soaked and stay out of the mud pits at the edges of the middle area, which slow you 16% per second up to 60%. The first Cavalry is the weakest of the game, so do not overcommit to it: arriving with everyone alive and your waves soaked matters more than winning it by force.

• 0:30: clear your gnoll camp and push the middle lane with it; it respawns 1:30 after capture, so a second one is often up again before 3:00.
• Before 1:00: tap the Healing Fountain; its 2-minute cooldown lines up with the first objective.
• 2:30: the near side laner and the middle group start moving so they are on the point at 3:00 with mana.

Decide early whether you contest or give. If you contest, arrive with four or five, wear the Guards down without killing them and only finish the one that blocks your channel; on the isolated camps (top-right and bottom-left) you can kite Guards around the walls and take no damage. The defenders' only real answer is to push you off the ring: a hero standing on the point pauses the timer while channeling and stops it after 3 seconds, so bodies and zoning matter more than one stun. If you give it instead, poke the capturers to stall them while the rest of your team takes your Siege Camp, the Boss on the opposite side or the far lane, where the enemy takes longest to respond. After a win, let minions stack behind your Cavalry and push the side lane where the camps just were, because the next round is on the other side and a Fort there means Reavers. After a loss, match their numbers lane by lane, put single-target damage on the Cavalry and give up a doomed Fort instead of losing two.

• Almost won it but the fight turned? Retreat, recover, then come back to stop their channel and finish the job with a kill lead.
• Ruin your own waves right before losing: enemy Cavalry with no minions behind it dies to structures.
• Set up waves before winning so your three Cavalries hit structures at the same time and cannot be defended one by one.

Alterac Pass has only four camps: two gnoll Siege Camps in the middle lane and an Ice Giant Boss in each side lane. All of them disappear the moment Cavalry spawns (unless already in combat) and return only when the last Cavalry dies, so plan captures around the objective, not during it. Both Bosses are immune to bribe effects. Because Bosses come back right after the Cavalry phase, walking toward one before the last Cavalry dies either catches the enemy there or lets you take yours while they take theirs.

• Siege camp (3 gnolls): 0:30, respawns 1:30 after capture. Tanky units that reduce the armor of heroes and structures they hit; best pushed with several heroes.
• Boss camp (Ice Giant), one per side lane: 5:00, respawns 5:00 after capture. Mega Smash stuns everyone in melee range every 10 seconds; Ice Shard slows 50% every 15 seconds, so dodge both or the slow feeds you into the smash.
• Bosses are disabled while Cavalry is alive: start walking to one before the last Cavalry dies to beat the enemy to it.
• Double Boss (one after the other) is the strongest non-objective play after about 10:00; if you suspect the enemy is on a Boss, start the other to deny it, and back off if they show up.

Each round the hold gets 10 seconds longer and adds a Guard, so late objectives are long, bloody fights; a wipe there usually ends the game because three Cavalries hit undefended structures at once. From about 10:00, take a Boss (ideally both, back to back) whenever the enemy is down heroes and no objective is up, then push with the last one. The General heals about 1% per second out of combat, so a failed dive on him is wasted: only go in when you can finish the job, otherwise take a Keep for Reavers instead. Count his armor before committing: with two Keeps left, break one first only if it is below 50% health; with one Keep left, only if it is below 30%. If gnolls are in the lane, their armor shred makes taking the middle Keep worthwhile regardless.

• Win conditions: the objective, a Boss push, or gnolls with heroes behind them.
• Reavers walk in front of the wave and soak damage; minions behind them deal 200% to structures, so never let a Reaver lane sit unattended.
• The General reaches 28,100 health at 21:00 while a Keep stays at 22,550: late, a full-health Keep is not worth breaking just for 20 armor.