Monday, April 16, 2012

Protips For Solo Mid Qeen Of Pain

QOP is one of my favorite heroes to play especially when soloing mid. The skill build I normally use and will be discussing in this article is the Blink/Scream/Scream/Blink/Scream/Ult/Scream build.
I’ve soloed against other QOPs who used a Blink/Shadow Strike/Shadow Strike build which seems like it lets you dominate the lane more but with a tradeoff for a weaker midgame. I will refrain from commenting too much on the Shadow Strike skill build since I have never used it personally.
I am not saying the SS build is bad. In fact, I think it is very strong and have plans to try it myself. But for years I have been using the Blink/Scream build with no problems and want to share some of my knowledge on it.

I’ve soloed against a wide variety of heroes and found that the most frustrating matchups are against Bat, Lich, and the unexpected Huskar and Bloodseeker. Other than those, I feel that other matchups against common mid solos are even.

Here are some pointers that I make use of regularly and will hopefully help you the next time you play QOP:

Proper use of Blink and Scream are key to winning the lane. Blink lets you trade hits more aggressively since you can blink out if something goes wrong. It also lets you capitalize if your opponent is out of position. Scream gives you control over the creep equilbrium and gives you killing potential.

A well known trick is using Scream to get a last hit and harass at the same time. If I can, I like to hit the range creep a few times to get it in killing range for scream. Then I just wait until a melee creep gets low enough and the enemy hero comes into range and scream them for 2cs and harass.
If they’re scared and stay back, don’t use scream and last hit like normal.
It’s better to walk up and scream rather than blinking because QOPs mana gets worn down very quickly if you blink and scream every time. Also, if the enemy decides to fight back when you come in, you want to have blink ready to escape in case things aren’t looking in your favor.
Do not do this when Scream is at level 1. The damage is really low and mana cost is high.

Another little thing I like to do is if the last enemy creep is about to die, and their hero is near the creepline, just blink next to them and scream and attack walk. You will do A LOT of damage. Most heroes can’t fight back because they have to tank creep hits as well as your attack. Use your judgment on this though because heroes like Huskar and Bat (if he had a few stacks on you) can just kill you easily.

Start using scream more when it’s about time for the rune to spawn. You want to push the creeps back so you can grab the rune.

At level 6, your killing potential goes up drastically and you can start being more aggressive. Your opponent will need to keep their hp above 500 or so because Scream, Sonic Wave, and a few attacks will kill them quickly. And most common mid solos tend to be more fragile so it’s easier to get them into this killing zone.
I like to pick up a TP at this point and look for gank or counter gank opportunities in the sidelanes. It’s really easy to get kills since not a lot of heroes can stand up to the early nuke damage.

When going for a kill, use Sonic Wave first and then blink in and Scream. This causes both Sonic Wave and Scream to hit at the same time for massive damage. If you Blink Scream first, there is a slight delay before casting Sonic Wave where the opponent can do something to survive, like use their magic stick, leap or windwalk away, silence you, etc.

If you happen to get a good rune like Double Damage or Haste, go gank the corresponding sidelane if they are pushed out. If it doesn’t look like an easy gank, head back mid and use the rune to help you win the lane. Don’t waste time sitting around the river waiting for a gank opportunity to happen. By the time you get back mid, the enemy may have had too much time alone and can fight you much easier.

Itemwise, I usually aim for getting bottle, two nulls, and a magic wand. The cheap stats really help her fragility and give her a good mana pool to support her spells. Another common trick is to drop your stat items, if it’s convenient, before using bottle and then pick them up afterwards. This lets you regen a larger percentage of your mana and hp.
Boots actually aren’t a high priority for QOP due to her ability to blink. Early stat items help far more than an early boots.

If you do come across heroes like Bat, Huskar, Bloodseeker, or even Exort Invokers or SF, some players like to deny every single creep with these heroes and stand between you and the creepwave and there’s nothing you can do about it. The best option I have found is to get a bottle ASAP and use the Scream trick to get cs. If they are denying a lot, most likely the wave will be on their ramp and you can runewhore. If they push the wave out so they can grab the rune, that’s okay too since you can now cs and get exp. Just play safe until level 6 and you might have a chance to kill them.

Making use of all these laning tips will add up and make your QOP play much stronger. Some of these things apply to other solos as well so I hope this makes you guys stronger solo mid players.
In the future, I hope to post up more in-detail advice for specific matchups.

WILL PUT UP SOME REPLAYS WHEN I GET A CHANCE.

4 comments:

  1. One point in Shadow Strike gives you a 200 damage nuke at level 1 for about 85? mana. Highly recommend getting it at level 1 or 2 and using that to spam on the opposing hero until level 4-5 when scream is a decent level.

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    Replies
    1. Yes, Shadow Strike builds are very painful to lane against.
      Assuming the skill build is Blink/SS/Scream/Scream/Scream/Ult, one of the big problems I find with this is that qop doesn't have the mana pool or regen to support using all those spells so early.

      A lot of players have started using a Blink/SS/SS/Max Scream build that skips ult until later levels which doesn't suffer from mana issues. I'm planning on trying this and will hopefully write a post about how it goes.

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    2. That's why you get a bottle and establish excellent rune control, so you always have mana around.

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