Tips On How To Deal With Multiple Enemies Diving You In Online Games
In the fast-paced world of online gaming, especially in team-based games like League of Legends, Dota 2, Overwatch, and many others, facing a coordinated attack where half the enemy team dives you can be incredibly frustrating. It often leaves you feeling overwhelmed and helpless. However, with the right strategies, positioning, and game sense, you can significantly improve your ability to survive and even turn these situations to your advantage. This article provides comprehensive tips and techniques on how to deal with being the target of a coordinated team dive, ensuring you're better equipped to handle these high-pressure scenarios. Understanding the nuances of team dives, such as the enemy's composition, their objectives, and the resources they're willing to expend, is crucial for effective counterplay. This guide will delve deep into the various aspects of team dives, offering insights applicable across different game genres and skill levels.
Understanding Team Dives
Before diving into the solutions, it's important to first understand what a team dive actually entails. In essence, a team dive is a coordinated offensive maneuver where multiple members of the enemy team focus their efforts on eliminating a single target, often someone in a vulnerable position or a high-priority threat. Dives usually occur under turrets or in other areas where the target might feel relatively safe. The goal is to quickly neutralize the target before their teammates can effectively respond. Recognizing a dive before it happens is the first step in mitigating its impact. Awareness of enemy positioning, cooldowns, and overall game flow can provide crucial early warnings. For example, if you see multiple enemy champions moving towards your lane or a key objective, it's a strong indicator that a dive might be imminent. Similarly, if the enemy team has champions with strong dive potential, such as those with mobility skills or crowd control abilities, you need to be extra cautious. Understanding the specific dive compositions the enemy team might employ can also help you anticipate their strategies. Some teams might favor a quick burst dive, aiming to eliminate a target in a matter of seconds, while others might prefer a slower, more sustained dive that relies on tankiness and crowd control. Recognizing these patterns will allow you to adapt your positioning and defensive tactics accordingly.
Why You?
One of the first questions you should ask yourself when facing a dive is: "Why are they diving me?" Understanding the reasoning behind the dive can provide valuable insight into the enemy's game plan and how you can best counter it. Are you a high-priority target, such as the team's primary damage dealer or a crucial support? Are you significantly ahead in gold or experience, making you a valuable target to shut down? Or are you simply in a vulnerable position, making you an easy target? Your role in the team composition heavily influences your priority as a target. Carries, such as ADCs and mages, are often the primary focus of dives due to their high damage output. Supports, particularly those with strong engage or healing abilities, can also be targeted to disrupt the team's overall strategy. Tanks, while generally more resistant to dives, can still become targets if they're caught out of position or if the enemy team has the tools to deal with their defenses. Recognizing your value to the team and understanding how the enemy perceives you is crucial for making informed decisions. If you're a high-priority target, you need to be extra cautious about your positioning and rely on your teammates for peel and protection. If you're a less obvious target, you might be able to bait dives or use the enemy's aggression to your team's advantage. Evaluating your current strength and vulnerability is equally important. Are you significantly ahead in items and levels, making you a tempting target? Are you low on health or mana, making you an easy kill? Are your key defensive cooldowns on cooldown, leaving you exposed? Assessing your current state will help you determine the level of risk you're facing and the appropriate course of action. If you're strong and healthy, you might be able to survive a dive and even turn it around. If you're weak and vulnerable, you'll need to play more defensively and rely on your teammates for help.
Positioning is Key
Effective positioning is often the most critical factor in surviving a team dive. Your position on the map relative to your teammates, the enemy team, and key objectives can significantly impact your ability to survive and retaliate. Avoiding being in vulnerable spots is the first rule of thumb. Overextending in lane, pushing too far without vision, or wandering alone in the jungle are all common mistakes that can make you an easy target for a dive. Always be mindful of where the enemy team is likely to be and position yourself accordingly. Staying near your teammates is crucial, particularly if you're a high-priority target. The closer you are to your teammates, the faster they can react to a dive and provide assistance. This doesn't necessarily mean sticking together in a tight group, as that can make your team vulnerable to AoE damage, but it does mean staying within range of each other's abilities. Using the terrain to your advantage can also significantly improve your positioning. Walls, bushes, and other obstacles can provide cover and make it harder for the enemy team to engage on you. Positioning yourself near a wall, for example, can give you an escape route if you need to quickly retreat.
Warding and Map Awareness
Warding and map awareness go hand in hand with positioning. Proper warding provides vision of the enemy team's movements, allowing you to anticipate potential dives and position yourself accordingly. Regular map checks are essential for staying informed about the enemy's location and identifying potential threats. Placing wards in key areas, such as river bushes, jungle entrances, and around objectives, can provide valuable early warning of incoming dives. These wards allow you to track the enemy team's movements and make informed decisions about your positioning. Remember, warding is a team effort, and everyone should contribute to maintaining vision control. Pay close attention to the mini-map and track the enemy team's movements. If you notice multiple enemies disappearing from the map, it's a strong indicator that they might be planning a dive. In such situations, it's crucial to communicate with your team and adjust your positioning accordingly. Map awareness also involves understanding the enemy team's tendencies and patterns. Do they tend to dive frequently? Do they favor certain lanes or objectives? By recognizing these patterns, you can better anticipate their dives and prepare your defenses. In addition to warding and map awareness, communication is vital for preventing dives. If you suspect a dive is imminent, alert your teammates and call for assistance. Clear and concise communication can help your team react quickly and effectively to the threat.
Defensive Strategies and Techniques
When faced with a team dive, employing effective defensive strategies and techniques is crucial for survival. These strategies range from using your champion's abilities to coordinating with your team and making smart decisions under pressure. Utilizing your champion's abilities effectively is paramount. Many champions have abilities that can help them survive dives, such as dashes, blinks, crowd control, and shields. Knowing how and when to use these abilities can make the difference between life and death. For example, a champion with a dash ability can use it to quickly escape from danger, while a champion with a stun or root can use it to interrupt the dive and create an opportunity for their teammates to counter-engage. It's essential to practice using your champion's abilities in different situations and understand their limitations. Don't waste your key defensive abilities prematurely, but don't hesitate to use them if it means surviving a dive. If the enemy team commits to the dive and is severely damaged, the counter-engage is the best chance to reverse the situation. Knowing your champion's power spikes and what it would take to deal a considerable amount of damage is very important.
Counter-Engage and Team Coordination
Counter-engaging is a proactive defensive strategy that involves turning the tables on the enemy team and launching a counter-attack. A well-timed counter-engage can disrupt the dive, punish the enemy team for their aggression, and potentially secure kills. A successful counter-engage requires strong team coordination and communication. Your teammates need to be ready to follow up on your engage and provide the necessary damage and support. This might involve using crowd control abilities to lock down the enemy team, focusing fire on key targets, or providing shields and heals to protect your team. Counter-engaging is a risky strategy, as it can backfire if not executed properly. It's crucial to assess the situation carefully before committing to a counter-engage. Consider your team's composition, your current health and mana levels, and the enemy team's remaining cooldowns. If you're significantly behind or if the enemy team has a clear advantage, it might be better to disengage and regroup. However, if you see an opportunity to turn the tide, a well-coordinated counter-engage can be devastating. Teamwork is the cornerstone of surviving dives. Communicating with your teammates, coordinating your abilities, and working together to protect each other are essential for success. Call for assistance when you're being dived, and be ready to provide support to your teammates when they're in danger. Dive situations are perfect examples of when a single misstep can change the whole course of a game. Remember, online games are designed to be played as a team, and your chances of winning are much higher when you're working together.
Itemization and Build Choices
Itemization and build choices play a crucial role in your ability to survive team dives. Selecting the right items can significantly increase your survivability, allowing you to withstand more damage and sustain yourself through the dive. Defensive items, such as armor, magic resistance, and health, are essential for surviving dives. The specific items you choose will depend on the enemy team's composition and the types of damage they're dealing. If the enemy team is primarily dealing physical damage, items that provide armor are a good choice. If they're dealing magic damage, items that provide magic resistance are more effective. Health items can provide a general increase in survivability, making you more resistant to all types of damage. In addition to defensive stats, certain items can provide active abilities that can help you survive dives. Items that grant shields, heals, or crowd control immunity can be particularly useful. For example, an item that grants a temporary shield can absorb a significant amount of damage, while an item that provides crowd control immunity can prevent you from being stunned or rooted during the dive. Your item build should be tailored to the specific challenges you're facing in the game. If you're being frequently dived, prioritizing defensive items is crucial. However, you also need to balance your defensive build with offensive items to ensure that you can still contribute to your team's damage output. Adaptability is key when choosing your items. Be prepared to adjust your build based on the enemy team's composition and the evolving game state. There may be no better opportunity to get an advantage than to change your build based on certain situations.
Mental Fortitude and Decision-Making
Finally, maintaining mental fortitude and making smart decisions under pressure are essential for dealing with team dives. Staying calm and focused, even when under intense pressure, can significantly improve your ability to react effectively and make the right choices. It's easy to panic when you're being dived, but panicking can lead to mistakes that can cost you your life. Take a deep breath, assess the situation, and make a plan. Don't make impulsive decisions, and think carefully about your options. Good decision-making involves weighing the risks and rewards of different courses of action. Should you try to fight back, or should you focus on escaping? Should you rely on your teammates for help, or should you try to survive on your own? The answers to these questions will depend on the specific circumstances of the dive, but by carefully considering your options, you can increase your chances of making the right choice. Learning from past mistakes is crucial for improving your decision-making. Analyze your dives after the game and identify what you could have done differently. Did you position yourself poorly? Did you waste your abilities? Did you fail to communicate with your teammates? By learning from your mistakes, you can avoid repeating them in the future.
Conclusion
Dealing with team dives in online games can be challenging, but by understanding the dynamics of dives, improving your positioning, employing effective defensive strategies, optimizing your item build, and maintaining mental fortitude, you can significantly improve your ability to survive and even turn these situations to your advantage. Remember, practice makes perfect, so don't be discouraged if you don't get it right away. Keep practicing these tips and techniques, and you'll become a more resilient and effective player. The key is to use all of the tools at your disposal and create as many possibilities as you can. Surviving team dives is a combination of skill, knowledge, and communication, and by mastering these elements, you'll become a formidable force on the battlefield.
