If in the game of DotA there were only one lane, it would be like a tug-of-war, push vs push, anti-push vs anti-push.
If there were two lanes, teams could choose to either defend or push the other lane. In the simple case where the 5v5 is even and discounting towers, it is clearly favorable to have the 2nd lane pushing towards the opponent.
However DotA has 3 lanes, but the same ideas apply. As a rule of thumb, of the 3 lanes, you want more lanes pushing towards your opponent than coming towards you. This is the heart of map control and lane theory.
If we accept this as an axiom, we may deduce some principles, for instance:
- If the 2-5 players of a team are as pieces on a chess board threatening a lane such as the mid tower, it is advisable for the carry to push an outer lane thus putting pressure on 2 of the 3 lanes, and this becomes a requisite if the 3rd lane is being pushed towards you.
- In the early stages of the game, if the opponent is pushing their safe lane, you should generally either push yours or defend.
Because it is easier to defend 4 + a tower vs. 5 than a tower vs. 1, split pushers have a special place in lineup theory and especially having the stronger carry 1v1 is significant. If a hero requires more than one person to deal with him, this can be utilized to an advantage in split push scenarios.
However, following this logic, one might reason that having a line-up of strong solo split pushers (Who require more than one hero to deal with them) dedicated to each lane is a clever approach. Indeed, dota has been played this way in the past and this strategy still makes an occasional appearance. (cf. orange vs rattlesnake in g1-league). The risk is that an insurmountable early 5-man lineup will roll over you faster than you can split push them. To expound on this topic requires venturing into drafting and lineup theory so we will leave it at that.
So much for basic lane theory!
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