Defensive Engineering: Targeting Rules, Threat Access, and Anti-Backline Setups

Positioning stops being guesswork and becomes engineering when you think in terms of targeting rules and threat access: what can each enemy unit reach, in what order, and how do I arrange my board so that the thing they reach first is the thing I care about least? Done well, this turns "hope my carry survives" into "their assassin is mechanically unable to touch my carry for the first six seconds".

How units choose targets

Broadly, melee units path to and attack the nearest reachable enemy; ranged units attack the nearest enemy within range. Assassins and "dive" abilities specifically go for the enemy back line / farthest enemy. Some abilities target by a rule — most items, most HP, a random enemy, a line or area. Every one of these rules can be exploited.

Controlling threat access

• The front-row centre is a magnet. Whatever you put in the middle of your front row is what most of the enemy melee engages first. Put your sturdiest, most expendable-relative-to-its-durability unit there.
• Width denies flanking. If your front row has a gap or is off-centre, enemy units path around it to your back line. A full-width front row forces them to fight through.
• Depth buys time. Every empty hex between your front line and your carry is distance an assassin has to travel and time your carry gets.
• The far corner is the assassin's longest path. Between the two back corners, one is always farther from where the enemy assassin spawns. Your carry goes there; scout the spawn side to know which.
• A bodyguard is an adjacency rule. A durable unit in the hex next to your carry means the assassin, on arrival, has an enemy adjacent and often engages it first — one or two extra casts for your carry.

Anti-backline setups

If you have the assassin or the dive, engineer their side too. Scout where their carry sits and spawn your diver on the matching flank so it arrives fastest. If they've cornered their carry bottom-left, your assassin belongs bottom-left. Against a player who always corners the same way, this is close to a free kill — until they adjust (see mind games).

Spreading against rules-based abilities

• Line / cone / bounce abilities hit units in a shape or chain between nearby units. Offset your board so no two important units are in the same row/column or within chain range of each other.
• "Most items" / "most HP" targeting — you can bait it by making the unit that meets the condition a decoy in a spot where the ability landing on it is harmless.
• Area-around-target — keep your carry away from your own front line so an ability aimed at a tank doesn't splash the carry.

Sacrificial engineering

A single cheap unit placed alone changes enemy pathing for the critical opening seconds. Uses:

• Corner decoy — one unit in the "wrong" back corner pulls the assassin away from your real carry.
• Flank split — a unit pushed wide draws part of the enemy front line off-centre, splitting their board so your team collapses on the smaller half.
• Tempo bait — a unit positioned to die first but soak the enemy's opening ability so it's on cooldown when your carry is exposed.

Every sacrifice costs a unit's worth of board presence, so it's only correct when the thing you're redirecting would otherwise decide the fight.