The Best Aggressive Trilane In This Meta?

Written by bby

Is there a "Best offensive trilane" in the current meta of Dota2? Most of you may think that there is no such thing (and they will probably be right), but if we take a look in a couple of major factors that have big impact on this case you might think different.

Surprisingly, the trilane that I'm talking about doesn't include Nyx, neither Undying. The lineup I am talking about used by TeamLiquid is Keeper of the Light, Shadow Demon and Clockwerk.

They used this lineup in their recent match, against the very well-performing team - Fnatic.eu in the semi-finals of Bigpoint Battle. This lineup was so effective it resulted in 2 easy kills for Team Liquid in 1:20 minutes. This was not left unseen and Na'Vi on the very next day, used the exact same offensive trilane versus VirtusPro. The result was almost the same - fast first blood at level one, with ease.

Team Liquid vs Fnatic.eu VOD 

Na'Vi vs VirtusPro VOD

Let me explain why this build worked so well for both TeamLiqiud and Na'VI. At the beginning of the game, when creeps spawn, Clockwers uses his Cog to keep the creepwave equilibruim on his side. Doing this, the enemy carry is pulled ahead, away from his tower and is more likely to get a little bit out of position. This is when the Disruptor uses "Disruption" on him or any other hero of the trilane that is out of position. Due to the 2.5 second duration of the Banish at level 1 the Clockwerk is able to  get close enough to use his Power Cog ability right on top of the disrupted tagret. If enemy supports try to get closer they will get pushed back by the cog and usually this is the time when the "Disruption" wears off and returns the enemy hero to play, along with 2 illusions of his (dealing 30% of his Damage) inside Clockwerk's Cogs (which have 5 second duration on Level 1). In the meantime the Keeper of the Light will be casting his Illuminate (200 dmg at Level 1) right on top of the Cog. With the rightclick damage coming out of the 3 heroes, even a Lifestealer, which is one of the tankiest carries in the game is easy to be taken down at Level 1 as seen on the replays above.

Another big advantage is that this trilane consists of two of the best late game supports. Shadow Demon with his Soul Catcher - one of the best late game abilities of a support and not being farm dependent he may definetely compete for "Best late game support". One of his main rivals is the other hero of the trilane - Keeper of the Light. Being able to provide mana for his whole team in the early game, as well as granting big split push ability and farming with ease important late game items is why this hero is ranked so high by professional teams. So easy kills early game with really good scaling in the late game sounds like a winning formula, right?

Another thing to keep in mind is the fact that these 3 heroes are not that hard to pick. Of course the Keeper of the Light is your biggest concern when it comes down to 1st pick/ban. Moreover, when you pick these heroes, it is not necessary to go for this trilane. They are so flexible and you can go Clock offlane with another trilane (Keeper farming woods), run dual-lane mid with the Shadow Demon or even constant roaming of the 2 supports.