SoloLane Matchups, the thing every solo lane main needs to know.

[@kasperillas1444]

"Hey guys I wanted to do a rather short video" 27 mins xD

[@benni_crafter4931]

😄 true. But this is good for solo lane mains as me 🙂

[@steeldragon5730]

damnit, the moment i started this video and heard it then saw the video length i wanted to comment this

[@LTDextel]

@@steeldragon5730 Agreed lol

[@richardwagner4481]

My exact first thought 😂

[@andreasosterdahl6591]

Well he has a great voice that few people do, it helps a lot!

[@Gohka]

Can't speak for everyone else, but I'd watch a 3+ hour long video of you going over matchups. Or maybe a few shorter videos where you go over each "class" like a Tank/Bruiser vid, a ranged assassin vid, etc.

[@whatdothlife4660]

So a normal length Paradox video :P

[@beertje6394]

yes please

[@Slimdante]

oh yeah

[@Zx30]

Agreed. I'd watch the whole thing, sir!

[@rawen160]

If you are into hours+ lenght then I recommend channel Mauler, though it is more of a critique or commentary channel. His dark souls 2 "review" has iirc 8 parts of 2 hours EACH.

[@jerrygreen8965]

I like how this professional HotS youtuber has EVERY hero... Exept.. Probius..? “Wait, he’s still in the game?”

[@julioiglesias8067]

Poor probe... With that sad probe face...

[@steeldragon5730]

also little TLDR, any solo lane you might be winning can be lost because your 4 man feeds and the enemy team gets a big EXP bonus because of it

[@kevinfan8477]

Malthael's W can also work as a gap closer vs ranged solo laners. Mark a minion, back up so that the enemy hero pushes up a little, then turn around and W back in to get onto the enemy hero. Post level 4 (Die Alone) and even moreso if you take Massacre at level 7, you'll generally win this trade - force the hero back into their base, then heal back up off the minions. Even easier if you took Fear the Reaper at level 1.

[@steeldragon5730]

that 3-4 hour long video, you can break it down to make it easier for people with the new thing youtube has where in the video length you can break it down into segments and name them, so for example you can name one segment malthael vs roster, then move on to the next. this allows people to skip to their preffered bruiser without having to move all around or need someone to give them time stamps

[@t.t4306]

I like the idea of breaking it down by category: Melee Solo Laner Ranged Solo Laner Dive Solo Laner Maybe also specifically separate them further in each category like: Waveclear Duelist

[@harddk1]

From one who does alot of sololane malthael (and others). - Try and force them back, if you can harass without getting into danger. Get behind the creepline when they focus your creeps. Don't damage the creeps for siege dmg. Made a lot of enemy soloQs lose on early exp like this. - Sneak in early camp if the map allows it. Malthael excels at it. Can even be done if you burst a creepline (2nd - 4th are best), then run to a nearby camp. Lots of exp, and enough to mostly push towers. These tacs gets harder to utilize when at high Diamond or Masters, but can still work on some setups.

[@jamester0772]

Hey hey paradox, quick content suggestion. Id really like to see a new full guide series for how to get better at hots. And this is how I would like to see it executed: Part 1: general knowledge; This would explain general knowledge about each map and what's important on them, waveclear, objective, camps. What roles need to be filled and who would be good picks to do that? Part 2: Roles; What roles are there in hots and what is their primary purpose. Think about solo laners, tanks, healers. What does it mean and who are the heroes that fit that. What are their priorities. Part 3: Hero matchups; Go in deeper into the heroes and their counters. What and who do you need to look out for. How would you deal with that. Part 4: Stategies; Which heroes play well together. How to pick and ban. When do you push core. I know this is a very big ask But having a categorised series where it is clear where you can turn to learn and improve would help me and others a lot I believe. I would evem be willing tonwork together on a website to make it even easier for people to navigate to topics they want to learn. It would give me a genuine road to follow and something I can really turn to to improve.

[@makedredd299]

This is a place I have checked out for the last 5 years playing HotS casually. It doesn’t address all your bullet points but it addresses some of them. www.icy-veins.com/heroes/li-li-build-guide The rest I get from watching former pro player Fan’s HotS channel and NotParadox’s channel. You can’t learn everything at once but just watching those channels helps a lot.

[@shocknawe]

Hey Not, have you considered making a video about listing the heroes and their features? Something like combining what you used to do in the beginning of hero specific videos, but focusing on what you said on your 2020 Draft guide. I thought even more about this after your draft video as you listed those things that, at least, 3 people from the team had to have, but ai realised I dont know, for instance, who are all the heroes able to solo camps, for instance. Something like: Jaina: she is good at wave and camp clear and good at countering a, b, c, but is weak against heroes with x, y and/or z. She shines in maps where N and M are prominent (or you could quickly list the maps, idk). She goes well in teams with this, this and that. The last part of this video is actually quite close to what I had in mind. Really fantastic. Anyhow, thanks A LOT about your work here on KZbin, helping us improve and keeping HOTS alive. Cheers.

[@Mansour-wj6we]

Thier is one big downside for running ranged hero in the solo lane: in team fight your tank will struggle to survive by him self in the front line that’s why you always see double or triple melees in this meta

[@renem.5852]

You can still pick another Melee for.your 4man?

[@Inconnuedelaseine]

We are still waiting for the skill matchup video :)

[@Xanthanarium]

Something that I feel is worth mentioning is that damage reduction is only half as effective against Deathwing's abilities as any other hero (except alarak or stacked ktz) because it stacks additively with his trait's double spell damage vs heroes. So for instance, Leoric's DR will bring his damage from 200% to 150% against heroes, bringing his damage down by a quarter instead of a half. Of course, DR works to full effect on his auto attacks against anyone and his spell damage against nonheroes.

[@lessiedevelop7718]

I often run Oppressor (lvl 7) on Garrosh against Deathwing and it works wonders (at the cost of Into the Fray). I guess redeucing spell power works multiplicatively, because he quickly turns from a fearsome dragon into a pushover who can't damage anyone or heal himself.

[@Xanthanarium]

@@lessiedevelop7718 I just double checked it and no, that one doesn't work any differently than any other talent. Which wouldn't make any sense, anyways, because damage reductions are just spell power reductions with auto attack reduction added on. What you're probably noticing is the healing reduction, because even though the healing works for a percentage of his damage, it still gets affected fully by spell power. The only DR that works differently is D.va's, which is actually multiplicative. Purportedly, when she was added, it worked against % health damage as well, which gave her a niche to fill, but they took that away from her.

[@danielchristensen1492]

Would LOVE a more detail video on every single solo laners to hear if you see something i dont see. I play alot of solo laner.

[@curtisw0234]

1 of the main components I'd say is sometimes you can accept that you will lose the offlane and trade it for something else, for example a global or to stack something that might be OP enough to bring you back into the game. I really like to play ragnaros for example on Dshire I might get countered but around level 10 I don't even care anymore I lava wave the solo lane on CD and play to help my team control the bottom point and camps.

[@vanralf1690]

THanks for making this

[@HowPettyful]

Big agree on the stuff w skill matchups. I've been coerced into solo laning as Mephisto (lvl 54) and beaten Sonya and Fenixs who didn't know what they were doing.

[@Zx30]

I'm interested in knowing who that Rag player is you were talking about. Care to share please? I love Rag 😁

[@graog123]

"Hey guys, wanted to do a short video" 27mins lol, love it

[@aaronfarley2857]

Ok I play alot of tyrael and I mainly go his auto-attack build, what do you like to on tyrael? and what are your tips and suggestions for tyrael? because I haven't heard you talk about him yet and I'd like to hear what you think him in some of these situations.

[@TanatosCraft]

Could you do a 'vocabulary' video? Talking about the therms used to really understand the game. Like, of course some are well-known like CC and Poke but I mean you could explain all (or at least a little bit more) for some therms like Double Soak, Peel and etc

[@pedrop676]

I think this could be interesting if he focused on a few terms and on how those things are useful when combined. If it just about explaining the terms, you can find glossaries around the web. I don't know if you asked this because you also want to learn them, but here is a glossary from a website I use often. It may be useful for other people too: www.icy-veins.com/heroes/glossary-of-terms

[@TanatosCraft]

Thank you very much friend. Actually I saw some glossaries like but sometimes it's hard to know when or how to do those things. I'd like an explanation of which thing is more (or less) important and at what time should I focus on that, just as you said abobe

[@pedrop676]

@@TanatosCraft Oh! I see. That's really important. Unfortunately, these are things people usually talk about in videos about other subjects. Or in guides like those on the website I've shared here. Then we have to match those pieces and try for ourselves in the game. I wish there were more videos or guides specifically on these subjects. NotParadox actually has a video on when to get mercenaries which helped me a lot. I don't know if you already know this, but the best I can say here is to pay attention to the laning phase, when both teams are on the race to reach level 10, and the mid to late games, when getting kills give you more XP than minions and when winning teams fights can have a greater impact on the match. As a rule of thumb, avoid team fights during the laning phase, except if it is for winning an objective, especially on levels 1 to 4. I've seen too many teams trying too hard to win early team fights while the other team easily got an XP lead just by killing minions, even when suffering more deaths then their opponents. After level 10, the priority becomes winning team fights over getting XP from minions. Remember: this is just a rule of thumb and there is space for creativity and there are moments to break the rules. However, dividing the game into phases help me know when why I should be pushing, getting mercenaries and engaging team fights. It also helps me to get a sense of what the other team is doing and how to counter it. I'm still learning, but this is how I'm playing today hehe. I hope I've helped!

[@chanodomnakalagshana7458]

I am a Malthael main and what I don't see other Malthaels do is use W on minion wave to close the gap. It turns out to be a huge surprise cuz a lot of people aren't expecting that since they have no reaper's mark on them. They think they are safe and Mal cannot possibly teleport to. Of course, high-level players who always keep this in mind will win against Malthael as ranged.

[@Harbyz]

Arthas is one of the best solo laners in the game, if you face ranged you go Q build If you face melee you go AA build Just learn to manage your mana and keep someone in your E

[@beertje6394]

please give me that 3 hour long video, I would watch

[@andy02q]

Oh I had a match with Rex vs Deha on DShire recently and our 4-man lastpicked leo who died 10 times. Ontop the Deha played pretty well and had topshrine 60% of the time + he zoned me out of slightly more xp then I could zone him up until lvl 6 when I kinda figured him out and started to win and even got two kills with our Zeratul helping. Then at 13 we had 1 keep left with them at 6 forts but I got 2 more Deha kills even without Zera and their Diablo tried to help out but I 100-0 the Dia in 6s in both cases (bait onto shrine, bait Overpower, stun, slow bodyblock and Rex +125%at-spd talent is INSANE) and then we won.

[@rynjp]

i love this, so important! Once i learned to think about HOW my hero can win the lane, the game became much easier. It does take time to learn matchups though. New players, do a quick search on heroescounters.com or ask a more experienced player!

[@VirtualTransmission]

What do you think of bruiser blaze with the recent rework? I know you touched upon him as a bait, but would you consider him as a pure bruiser build anymore?

[@christerad1669]

i played the blaze bruiser build and damn how quick he clean the lane is insane . i can double soak 2 lane and win most matchup because it was so quick .

[@shadowmage9655]

I once beat a Malthael multiple times in a solo lane using Tyrael. I picked Ardent Restoration at lv 1 and when I got Divine Vigor at lv 4 we were at a stalemate where we out healed each others dmg. When I got Purge Evil at lv 7 I was bulling him out of his lane by dualing him 1v1 and even managed to kill him. He later got his bw to help him and i was able to take on both of them but it cost them their healer mid and then they started loosing 2v3's

[@andreyrojasmadrigal6940]

If you had the time and the dessire to do it, i'd be nice to see a pread sheet of solo laners and the kind of match'ups they have. Anyway, great video man!

[@Obad_93]

What you guys think of life drain Guldan as a solo laner? I think he is really underrated solo laner!

[@HugoDeVilliers]

Love spotting Kyle entering the Nexus... :)

[@0bsidious]

Good to see a useful video for higher elo players. But yeah, branch off of this to focus on how to play certain match-ups. I feel that you glossed over most of the chars, giving best match up and worst match up for instance could help people decide on a counter pick to their chars weaknesses. If a player plays one char enough then they know where things get tough, help them cover the bases.

[@Gnoe1337]

You completely skipped over melee assassins, there's quite a few that can be used as solo laners as well.

[@Bards.98]

And then you have Nova solo laner down here.

[@joeblack5253]

When you mentioned varian, did you meant winblades or cs?

[@lukegrim3858]

Even in skill matchups I'd say picks matter. Like I'm a pretty dang good Sonya for gold-plat MMR (FAR from perfect; 65% win rate over 800 games) but I'd still take a Gaz matchup over an Art matchup any day of the week. Skill matchup just means you have to be way better rather than slightly better than the average player of your rank which is never ideal if you're anywhere near your correct MMR. And isn't EVERY matchup a skill matchup at the end of the day? There are Gazlowes that could beat my Sonya for sure but they'd have to be a Master-GM quality Gaz playing in Gold-Plat. Again, just not something you really want to count on when drafting.

[@kuratudu]

Cho'Gall video will still happen?

[@fedeve99]

Hello, what kind of solo should I use on a havy teamfight map as tomb of the spider queen?

[@christopherbailey3406]

Does NotParadox read these? Because I was gonna ask him his thoughts on Thrall block talent at lvl 7.

[@Sliverappl]

What about it? And thrall don’t have block at lvl7. The closest I can find is at lvl 4 wolf upgrade. However the other 2 talent just give more value the block.

[@christopherbailey3406]

yes 4. idk why i thought 7. It's a pretty good block that also charges up your passive faster hypothetically.

[@nuadai]

Artanis is one of my favorite Heroes. But I find it much harder to trade with other sololaners, than you make it appear. I remember watching your Yrel video with Liam, and I was baffled when you said Artanis can bully Yrel. Yrel has better waveclear, better CC, and the Best Block talent on Lvl1. And I'd also say that her sustain is better. Would you mind explaining Artanis a bit in depth at some point in a video?

[@julioiglesias8067]

I'm playing artanis before and after rework. And usually I can trade yrel and malth even, however mostly after lvl 7 due to talents. Usually I'm going AA quest at 1. With that every time you clash with anyone, melee preferably, you stack. And by 7 I take the shield talent that reduced CD of shield while it's up. Since you have to keep moving and keep hitting things your shield should be on most of the time.

[@nuadai]

@@julioiglesias8067 hm... I honestly haven't played against Yrel a lot but when I have, she comes out on top. I also go quest, although I take green shield on 4. But honestly I don't see how blue one would help, against everything I listed above. With her block you cannot deal any dmg to her until you stack a lot in the late game. And she can bash you around and also hit you, while also hitting the minions with any of her abilities. While you do that only with the dash

[@buborka7441]

Ah yes, thrall and his ancestral

[@marioeder5245]

what you think about yrel? i was playing her mainly last season, but after her nerf i wasnt playing too much and noticed that she has one of the worst winrates of all bruisers on every single map.

[@LazYevgen]

And first pick first ban in every competitive game 😜

[@marioeder5245]

Yevgen Chupak still? also after the nerf?? i didnt play her too much this season

[@rosao6997]

I really struggle against Rexxar. What do you guys recommend when solo laning against Rexxar ?

[@Szerszenix]

Try Chen, Samuro, Mei, Butcher, Greymane - against Rexxar, you want to either shut down Misha or jump Rexxar every time you can. You have to treat him as a range hero with the addition of Misha, so if you can poke Misha enough or heal off her while damaging her, you are good against the matchup.

[@someguy9970]

If the Rexxar has any idea how to play there is almost nothing you can do. Melee heroes with sustain he’ll just keep Misha away and poke you down, and if you try to hit him he’ll stun you with the bear. Even then, Rexxar can take the talent at 4 that makes Misha heal for 4.5% of her hp with every attack, and can sustain against some melee. Combined with Rexxar poking you and the stun + Misha heal on E, there is practically no melee hero that can safely trade into Rexxar. The only hero that can win is TLV solo lane with all Vikings. Really the best way to deal with Rexxar is to just gank him if you can.

[@someguy9970]

Szerszenix Lol none of those heroes work if the Rexxar knows what he’s doing, especially Samuro, Mei, and GM. Rexxar takes flare and always knows where Samuro is and which one is real. Mei does no dmg and has shit waveclear, she doesn’t beat anyone in lane. GM will never be able to dive the Rex cause he’ll keep his bear close, won’t be able to keep up with waveclear, and at best can do a little bit of poke damage. Chen is easy to deal with as Rex, just keep Misha by you and if Chen dives you you stun him. Butcher can be tricky if he takes Victuals at 7, but you can still do the previous method of just keeping Misha by you and poking him down.

[@Szerszenix]

@@someguy9970 Sure, but how many players below high diamond have you seen actually reacting to what's happening during a match? I'm around mid-high diamond and I have yet to see Rexxar taking flare to deal with stealth. Pro players agree that good Rexxar is uncounterable, but such Rexxars are rare in SL and below Master's, based on my experience ofc. Examples I've given are what I've seen working against Rexxars in my games (by no means I'm a Rexxar pro) - Samuro being the strongest response to him, simply because noone takes flare and he has a free pass on Rexxar. Butcher usually heals off Misha, because very few Rexxars keep Misha away where I'm at - they're convinced they can win against anyone just by picking up Rexxar, because that's general consensus, right? Butcher can also charge Rexxar, dish out 500+ damage almost instantly and scare him away after 3rd such charge. Similar with GM/Mei - jump Rexxar when he overextends and dish out enough damage to scare him away. I'm not claiming those are perfect responses to him, but at least you stand some chances if you're decent on any of those heroes and your team mates are not too eager to help you, which happens quite frequently in SL.

[@JaySee5]

You forgot about: Murky, Probius, Gazlowe

[@dakotabrown1968]

Kind of upset about no mention of illidan solo lane farm ue stacks and can win skill based match ups vs anything except arthas

[@benni_crafter4931]

Hey, how do you counter chen? I ask because i am about to learn how to play chen and want to see his weeknesses!

[@karaiidesu]

Samuro is the hero who can win most easily a lane against Chen.

[@benni_crafter4931]

@@karaiidesu ok that's true. Any other counters?

[@Toast_94]

​@@benni_crafter4931 Murky does pretty well. He farms Chen for the slime quest and can bubble when Chen kicks him. Additionally Chen doesn't have the mobility to shut down the puffer once kick is down so Murk can puffer the wave during that time and probably get some bribe stacks out of it. Once the quest is done Chen can't contest him very well.

[@Szerszenix]

@@benni_crafter4931 Samuro, Chromie, Leoric, Yrel, Mal'ganis shut down Chen decently.

[@benni_crafter4931]

I am pretty sure that chromie doesn't win against chen because he can always jump on her and take half her life away. Leoric also does not win against chen because of the heal reduction at lvl 4. Yrel could be because she can heal up the whole time but i am not sure. Mal Ganis sounds pretty weird, because he has low damage and even worse waveclear than chen. I can only agree with samuro and murky for 100%

[@Hj4a]

Awesome vid, as always! Ends of games are overrated though. :P

[@infraredxray]

imo Butcher is an underrated Rexxar counter

[@Bluray2]

Before stacks its not, and if butch goes solo he is really cant stack, so he is useless. Just show up yourself only when misha is close enough to stun butcher when he starting charge - stun him and keep autoattacking by misha and rexxar

[@podaniteodor2256]

How are you going to win against him with no meat ?

[@Bluray2]

Qhira can counter him

[@infraredxray]

Bluray he gets 7 meat per wave and its pretty common that an ally will rotate to you and the gank usually results in at least a bear kill and sometimes a rexx kill which is 40 meat lol so you will stack

[@infraredxray]

Bluray butcher has an extremely high skill ceiling to be played properly though so it takes a lot of playing him

[@robertbaragar6480]

I thought last pick was healer lol

[@Szerszenix]

That's what you usually get/are forced into picking 90% of the time in SL, hence last pick pretty much doesn't matter all the way up to high diamond ;s

[@vansserafim]

“Short video” 27 minutes

[@Bards.98]

"D.Va is pretty cringe" I miss those times...

[@michakwiatkowski1527]

fringe

[@benni_crafter4931]

Why does barely everyone take echo on thrall? If you can use your q barely every time, you get pretty much no value but with rolling thunder you have more burst + plus the healing from the aa + one more jump from your q, so even more healing from your trait. Imo is rolling thunder way better than echo. What is your thoughts about this?

[@snafuequals]

Barely

[@Bl_ss_m]

No murky :(

[@Mirage7uae]

Imperius is the strongest solo laner , there is no way to counter him

[@baxxos]

I main Imperius and I'm having a hard time beating Artanis and Malth

[@xKuragu]

DW VS Leoric " You actually heal a lot against deathwing". Is this 2020? Leo's W heals his own 20% of max health, not enemies health. If he drains a Murky he still heals his 20% health.

[@shudnal]

Leoric can land almost every soul drain max length on DW when he gets close. Compare it with slippy heroes like Murky.

[@Legend71717]

rather short video 27 minutes yes

[@FlyingShadow11]

malth solo is such an easy counter lol

[@jovanpetrovich9359]

Zagara just seems so weak in the solo now

[@Михаил-м4у6л]

I want to cry out loud every time when i remember that Zaga can be disrupted while crawling into Nydus Worm.

[@justforhusky]

Hey brother! I realised that I didn’t have notifications enabled. Maybe others have the same, why not give this a shoutout during next vid ;) anyway hope you and your closest are healthy and happy 😊

[@Jyeoi]

Short 27mins.

[@CarKiller92]

calling Leoric weak... lol, I immediately lost interest :D

[@BlackRoseThornEtna]

to be fair, Nazebo could of countered the Mathael, making your counter pick pointless.

[@PhO3NiX96]

I feel like you have good guide ideas but you never fully make the video which is very frustrating

[@АндрійМихайленко-п9х]

'Rather short video' @ Makes it 27 minutes long 😅 Actually, I really like your content (especially this video), you helped me to improve at hots a lot, but the videos are sometimes too long and hard to watch. It feels like Deckard's ult 'Stay Awhile and Listen', I always fall alseep while watching long guides. You might wanna make them more concise to keep your audience more engaged.