Just as important as taking Roshan is contesting him when the enemy team attempts to secure the objective. A successful contest can turn the tide of a game.
Key Strategies for Contesting:
- Vision:
- Deep Wards: Place Observer Wards in the enemy jungle and around Roshan's pit to detect their movements.
- Sentry Wards: Use Sentry Wards to deward any enemy vision around the pit and reveal heroes using Smoke of Deceit.
- Timing:
- Anticipate: Pay attention to enemy hero movements, missing heroes, and their power spikes. If they just won a team fight or secured a key item, they might go for Roshan.
- Roshan Timer: Keep track of Roshan's respawn timer (8-11 minutes after death).
- Initiation and Crowd Control:
- Powerful AoE Spells: Heroes with large area-of-effect (AoE) ultimates (e.g., Earthshaker's Echo Slam, Enigma's Black Hole) can be devastating in the confined space of the Roshan pit.
- Stuns/Silences: Focus crowd control on key enemy damage dealers or initiators.
- Smoke Ganks: Use Smoke of Deceit to approach the Roshan pit undetected, allowing for a surprise initiation.
- High Ground Advantage: If you are defending, use the high ground around the pit to your advantage, providing vision and forcing enemies to push into you.
- Stealing Aegis/Last Hit: If you can't win the team fight, try to steal the last hit on Roshan to deny the enemy the Aegis. Heroes with high burst damage or long-range abilities are good for this.
- Disrupting the Attempt: Even if you can't kill them, disrupting their Roshan attempt can buy your team time or force them to retreat.
Contesting Roshan is often a high-stakes team fight. Good communication, vision, and coordinated spell usage are paramount for success.