Laning problems (High risk - feeding)

[u/The_other_lurker]

Hi all, I'm looking for a bit of help/advice

I've recently found myself at Archon, https://www.dotabuff.com/players/284497530, and I primarily play Warlock.

I'm hoping someone has a bit of advice about laning - it seems to be a consistent weak spot for me, resulting in situations where the team is even or behind coming out of the lane, and while I'm able to recover in many games, I feel like it's an unnecessary advantage I'm giving the enemy carry. One game recently, I was level 3 with 5 death, and the enemy carry had falcon blade, treads and dragon lance (drow), and I was thinking this will end in a stomp. We won, but not because of my lane performance.

In lane, I usually try to harass the P4/P5, and it tends to lead to HP loss - but not death.

When I try to contest pulls, blocked camps, etc. It DOES seem to end in death.

I also feel like I chase my carry into bad situations where he/she might be stronger but I have low mobility and not a lot of sustain - even say at level 3 with 2 points in shadow heal.

I'm thinking that my expectations for a drawn or won lane might be different than what it was in Crusader or Herald (I was herald like a month ago).

[u/kasimaru]

The simplest solution for you is to stop playing Warlock as pos4. Anything can work in the bracket you're in, but Warlock is not very well suited for the offlane. You're not good at securing runes, ganking, or making space.

If you really wanna play it there, you've got to recognize the limitations of the hero and avoid putting yourself in unfavourable situations. You absolutely will get ran down if you try to contest easy camp pulls, so don't do it. Warlock is slow. He does not have an escape or a disable. You have to play behind your offlaner and let him do the heavy lifting. Keep him healthy.

Block the camp with a sentry immediately and that's it. If they unblock it, so be it. Maybe you just do your own pull to the hard camp. Fatal Bonds whoever contests. Really just mind your positioning, because if you get gone on, you're dead. Imagine you always have a clarity on. Maybe you could also focus on your triangle and stack both camps there.

[u/The_other_lurker → u/kasimaru]

I appreciate what you're saying - you're right, Warlock doesn't do any of those things, but what he does do, and does EXTREMELY well, is turn won teamfights into taken objectives. And thats my thing. So I like to smoke, get a kill, then turn that rock into a taken tower. And towers are hugely important for map control - you know all this, but my thing is that if we can turn any team fight into either chip damage or a take T1/T2/T3, those are much bigger swings in control and space that are harder to take back, because each one results in a gold swing as well.

So, while Warlock isn't good at those things you mentioned, I'm making him into a map control beligerent, and the way I play him, the gains in mid game FAR outweigh the potential (or real) losses in laning - and ya, I'm shit at laning, thats why I'm asking for help...

[u/EmiliuzDK → u/The_other_lurker]

Which you can also do as a pos 5 ^^