Table of Contents

Overview

Team Composition

DPS

Tank

Support

Flex

Offlane

Early Game

A Note on Camps

Webweavers

Your Webweavers

Their Webweavers

Mid-Late Game

Win Conditions

Conclusion

Hello and welcome to the first installment of a new series of educational guides on one of the many maps within Heroes of the Storm. My name is Cirinian, and I will be writing this alongside Soramirr. Both of us are coordinators for the Learning Fives program. For anyone not yet aware of who we are or what we do, Learning Fives is a community in which groups of five students are taken on by coaches, and trained as a unit for five week periods within HotS. These coaches will help their five students with mechanics, teamplay, communication, and virtually any other aspect of improving one's play that they can. It is entirely volunteer-based, meaning it would be impossible to accomplish without the support and enthusiasm of the community itself. Signups for both coaches and students happen every 8 weeks or so, so if this sounds like something that might interest you, check out the Discord link at the end of this guide.As for the guide itself, today we will be focusing on Tomb of the Spider Queen. In our experience, we have found that this is a map where many players of varying skill levels have difficulty knowing what is important on the map at any given time, where they should be, or even what to draft into a map with rotations as short and frequent as this map allows. With this guide, we hope to cover all of this information, and equip you with as many tools as possible to better understand the ins and outs of the map. We will attempt to loosely walk through the phases in chronological order of when you are most likely to encounter these aspects of the map. To begin, let's take a look at team compositions.This guide is geared toward people who already have a basic understanding of the functioning of the map (IE what webweavers are, how gems are earned, where the turn-in points are). If you are a brand new player, while this guide could still be helpful, you may be better suited finding a more introductory piece.We will attempt to touch on each individual role here, but there are a few overarching points to keep in mind at all times during the drafting phase on this map. First and foremost is the need for wave clear. Multiple heroes should generally have this on your team here. Most commonly, your offlaner and DPS will have waveclear, though it certainly does not hurt for your tank/flex to have some, as well. Having dependable waveclear helps in a few ways. First, it allows your four-man to rotate between top and mid quickly and efficiently, without sacrificing experience (or gems) in doing so. Second, it allows you to keep waves pushed, which is especially important on this map, given webweavers will spawn at where your wave currently is, in a given lane (more on this in "Webweavers"). Finally, in the event that you are being pushed in, generally in a webweaver phase, it allows you to more efficiently wipe up the lane and deal with the push.Another important piece is the potential for ganking. Rotations are incredibly short on this map, and can be done in seconds. As such, having heroes that can apply pressure to the offlane is an important factor. Generally speaking, this role will fall to your flex and/or your tank. A hero like Greymane is excellent for this, as he possesses both waveclear with his Human Q, and strong ganking potential with his Worgen form.Finally, with all of these rotations to various lanes in mind, it stands to reason that any hero with a globe quest is made stronger, due to the ease at which those quests can be completed. You should be consistently achieving two lane's worth of globes, dramatically reducing the time needed to finish it up. KT is a prime example of this, given his quest does not actually end, which in turn allows you to give him a monstrous shield ability by the late game.With the general points out of the way, here are some pointers for each specific role.- Usually a Mage with high waveclear- Can be physical, but needs to be balanced out by flex- ex. KT, Jaina, Gul'dan, Lunara, Junkrat- High waveclear (rotations) or strong ganker (bot pressure/picks)- Generally one or the other (help with ganks, or help with waveclear)- ex. Johanna, Muradin, ETC- Heroes with strong CC and/or ganking potential- Generally doesn't need to help clear waves, should still mostly be with 4stack- ex. Cain, Malf, Rehgar- Strong ganker, good camp clear- This is the primary ganker, as well as camp-taker- Mobility is strong- Ex. Greymane, Maiev, Zeratul- Waveclear, escape, zoning tools are all important- Better waveclear than opponent means more time to assist team/turn in gems- Poke for turn-in is very useful (ex. Blaze Q)- ex. Blaze, Yrel, LeoricHere's an example of a finished team comp:JainaJohannaCainGreymaneBlazeJaina and Johanna can extremely efficiently clear the waves for rotating top and mid, making this a very easy rotation to maintain. Johanna can also easily collect gems, as she is tanky enough to simply walk in and collect as they drop. Cain is a strong support all around, but here he has tools to both CC the enemy and set up winning skirmishes, while also making sure everyone stays topped off between/during rotations. Greymane has some waveclear to help out rotations if need be (Jaina gets picked, Webweavers are coming, etc), while also having tools to pressure bottom lane and clear camps where necessary. Finally, Blaze brings extra frontline for later, strong waveclear throughout the game, and can efficiently and safely stop the enemy offlaner from turning in gems thanks to Q. Overall, this rounds out to be an extremely balanced, efficient team composition for Tomb. Others obviously exist, this is simply here to give you an idea of what a team wants to shoot for, overall.Alright. You're out of draft, and you're into the game. As you've probably gathered by now, you're going to be operating in a laning setup of (largely) 4-1, meaning offlaner goes bottom, the other 4 rotate between mid and top to soak both lanes while staying together. At this phase of the game, your primary concern should be exp, and gems. Both will be earned together, given clearing waves will provide you with both. As with any situation, if you can get a good pick on an enemy, you should obviously take it, but your focus should not yet be on picking fights with the enemy. Maintain your rotations, try to keep vision on turn-in points as much as possible, and play it safe. DPS Should be fully focused on clearing the waves efficiently, here. Make sure not to blow your spells on the enemy team unless you are confident you will get a kill. You need those spells to waveclear. Depending on your tank, this applies to them somewhat, as well., Using Johanna as an example, condemn is going to line up the minion wave for something like Jaina's Blizzard, allowing much greater clearing speed. Still, the Tank should be attempting to disrupt the enemy rotation (safely, of course), using things like poke, picks, or general CC to slow them down. The enemy Tank may try this as well, so be mindful of how protected your team is, by your positioning. Support should be staying in this main pack for the most part, simply making sure nobody takes too much damage, or is at risk of dying to the enemy team. Provided the brush is safe, it is often a good idea to remain in it, so that you can maintain vision of the top turn in. If the enemy is attempting to turn in, you are already in position to disrupt the attempts.Your Flex should stick with the group as well, for the most part, but should be keeping a constant eye on bottom lane. While offlane usually keeps to itself in most maps, the incredibly short rotation time means that you can punish an overaggressive laner in seconds. If you notice that your offlaner is being zoned, or the enemy has moved too far forward, be prepared to diverge from your team for a quick gank. Even if you do not get a kill, your frequent presence there will force the enemy back, potentially losing him EXP, and forcing him to concede more of the lane to your ally for fear of you showing up again. If you send a tank with you for the gank, make sure you are not going to lose experience in doing so. A multi-man gank attempt should be aimed at securing a kill, however, not simply zoning out the opponent. The exception to this is when bottom Siege camp is available, in which case it can be beneficial to send at least one extra person bottom to keep the lane pressured while you, the Flex/camp-taker, can clear it out quickly, furthering your bottom advantage. Overall, as Soramirr says, "If on a ganker, make the enemy solo a sad, sad man".As for the offlaner, your usual job of soaking, clearing, and occasionally trading all apply as it does in every map, but here you have some more areas to pay attention to. The turn-in area is a place that you want constant vision on. Anywhere past the first few minutes of the game, the threat of the enemy turning in is constant. Make sure you do not let them freely turn in their gems, as that provides them with an advantage, and having less gems means it is less valuable for your team to successfully pick off that person. Additionally, while you should always be paying attention to enemy rotations on any map, it is especially important here. You can be ganked at almost any time, within moments. You also need to be watching to know when you are able to push in at all. For example, if the other four enemies have all gone top to clear, you can move in to quickly clear a wave so that you are now free to scout the bottom turn-in on their return, or to turn in yourself, if you have gems.Camps are a little strange on this map, as there are rarely times where you can time a camp around the objective (you can occasionally get away with it if you wipe the enemy team first). As a result, camps become more about experience, while providing a little bit of extra lane pressure in the process. By and large you can simply have your Flex take camps whenever it is safe to do so. Regarding bottom siege, this should only be taken by your Flex if you know you have more control over bottom lane, and that lane is already pushed up (allowing you to enter and start it without being seen by the enemy). There is a little more leniency with this later into the game, but at this stage, try to stick to this rule of thumb.As you progress through the early game, the turn-in points become progressively more important. Gems are being constantly collected by both sides, and teams will soon be within the gem range needed to summon their first objective. This is where maintaining vision of your enemy (and both turn-ins) becomes so vital. Given the importance of vision and how to deal with contesting turn-ins was covered in the previous section, let's assume that you (or your enemy) has completed the objective, and their Webweavers are on the way. First, let's start with your Webweavers.First and foremost, it is important to understand that Webweavers will drop where your forward-most minions are in a given lane. As such, your want your lanes to be as pushed out as possible for this phase, as it reduces the travel time needed for them to start doing damage to enemy structures. Note that it is far better to push 1-2 lanes out, instead of trying to get every lane you have pushed, as you are not going to be focusing on all three lanes in most cases. For the first objective or two, you generally want to maintain your 4-stack, with your offlaner remaining in their lane to gain a larger exp advantage and potentially clear the bottom fort. Your 4-stack should be pushing top, as this is the most valuable lane to have weakened. This is because of the camps that feed into each lane. In this case, the boss feeds into top, meaning that the more you have this pushed in, the more of a win condition boss becomes in the late game. If top is already pushed close to the enemy gate, however, it can be beneficial to allow that Webweaver to push on its own, as it is threatening enough in that lane to do damage without you, and the enemy is now forced to clear that while you have free reign to both ambush the enemy offlaner if they try to defend bottom, or to gain even more exp in mid.Keeping your lanes pushed out is just as important for the enemy Webweaver phase as it is for yours, for the same reasons, too. The more pushed your lanes are, the less effective the enemy objective is, as they need to move up through the lane. In the first few phases, offlane should stay in their lane (as usual) and clear up their Webweaver, while the 4-stack rotates between top and mid, choosing whichever is closer to their forts to clear out first before quickly moving for the second. If bottom is not in immediate danger, but mid is, the Offlane can rotate up to help clear it faster. If both top and mid hit at the same time, choose whichever lane they are NOT pushing first. If they choose to split and push both, pick whichever one is safer to clear first. You may lose structures here, and ultimately, the name of the game is damage control. You simply want to minimize the value the enemy objective can get, but don't get yourself killed for it, or they will gain far more momentum and value than if you had simply played it safe.By this stage in the game, you should largely be playing as 5. It is okay for your offlane (or flex if they have good waveclear) to break off to clear a lane that is pushing, or to shove up a lane, but you want to be close enough to your team that you can help them fight, should one break out. Due to this map being very "conventional" (meaning no major gimmicks, like an immortal spawning, or points that you need to hold appearing), team fighting is also quite conventional. Look for picks, capitalize on mistakes, and simply outmaneuver your opponent. Camps should (when safe) be done whenever they are available, unless you have killed multiple enemies and the turn in is clear. In that situation, starting boss as another ally turns in enough gems for Webweavers is quite beneficial (see "Win Conditions" below). Speaking of gems, if at any point the enemy has enough for a turn-in, make sure you have people watching both points (usually this will be your tank and your support, while the rest are pushing the wave, or taking camps if safe to do so). On Tomb, vision is so important, because of these points. Even beyond simply watching them, you want to keep tabs on your opponents as much as possible, to prevent an ambush on, for example, your support, who is watching a turn-in, or to prevent them from sneaking in and turning on a point that you do not currently have control over. Additionally, having vision means you have a much higher understanding of where you need to be going to turn in, yourself, or to allow an ally to turn in.Mostly, you are not going to get a turn in freely without out-rotating your enemy very, very hard. Vision is the key to this, but for the most part, you will have to fight. If one person on your team has a large number of gems, keeping them out of enemy vision is very valuable, as it forces the enemy to spit up and watch both points. You might even be able to take something like a 4v3 fight if you catch the defenders of one point out of position. Keep in mind, however, that the enemy may try to all-in on one turn in point, if they have enough to get objective as well. This is yet another reason that vision is so important, as you need to be prepared for this possibility. If you can see them doing this, you are at an advantage because you can then either get in a better position to fight them, if you think you will win, or you can fall back appropriately while your allies at the opposite turn in can get their gems handed in before the enemy, netting you the objective instead, at no real cost to your team. This back and forth over gems and turning in makes up a large majority of the mid/late game on Tomb.There are a few win conditions on Tomb. These will vary from game to game, but all of them are possible outcomes each time. Pay attention to where your advantages and opportunities are, and capitalize on them as your enemy presents them.This is best when you have cleared top fort, and you have won a teamfight (2-3 enemy players dead). After winning the teamfight, rotate quickly to boss, and burn it down as fast as you can. As it begins to get low (~30%), send someone with enough gems to turn in, netting you Webweavers. From here, you push top hard, plowing through the keep, and ideally securing a win through this lane. If you have killed the enemy keep as well, this is made significantly easier.This is the weakest win condition of the four most common, but can still work. It is best accomplished when the enemy is down at least 3 players, and you have already done some damage to/cleared mid keep. Ideally, you want to have both Bruiser camps pushing at the same time, alongside a Webweaver. This can be done with only one if you do not have as much time, but it will obviously be weaker than having both. Thanks to the Spell Armor from the mage bruiser, this turns the wave into a very formidable pushing force, one that you can potentially walk up and end with, even after the enemy respawns. Still, this is still the weakest of any win condition here, as mentioned before. Use with caution.This is best when you already have two or more keeps down, and your waves are currently pushed up. At this point the game is usually significantly skewed in your favor anyway, and Webweavers can practically just walk up and end by themselves. Still, if you aren't busy B-stepping in circles while your NPC's win the game, you can help by hitting the core alongside them. All you have to do for this is get a turn in, and dont let the enemy push out your waves.This is the classic method that applies to every map except for ToD. Win a teamfight, ideally wiping the entire enemy team, push up without going for any objectives, and simply win the game because nobody is there to stop you. There is not much to say here, given everybody should understand the concept behind winning a game when there is nothing to fight back against you. It should be noted that 30+ death timers are going to be needed for this, longer if you do not have a keep down, yet.Thus concludes our first guide on Heroes of the Storm's many maps. We hope to release more of these over time, ideally giving people a better understanding of each map currently available (probably only the actually competitive maps, to start). As with anything, the best way to learn is to do it yourself, though. These guides are intended as a starting point, if you are feeling unsure of something on a map, or stuck on certain aspects of it. Ultimately, you will have to make these decisions for yourself in any given game, and each one is going to play out differently than the last.Thank you for reading! Hopefully you can take something away from all this. If you like this guide, and want to see more, feel free to check out my personal blog, as well. I put out hero-specific guides every now and then, as well as the occasional alternative piece, if something sparks a desire to write about.Cirinian's Blog: