Wizard's Isle
| Wizard's Isle | |
|---|---|
| |
| Region | Ascalon (pre-Searing) |
| Environment Effects | None |
| Map | |
| |
Wizard's Isle is very similar to Hunter's Isle and Warrior's Isle. This Guild Hall is inspired by Ascalon (pre-Searing).
Layout[edit]
The two bases are connected by a winding path with an alternative route to a back door of each base on either side. The Tower Flag Stand is in the center of the map in a slightly wider more open area surrounded by small buildings. A trebuchet faces the entrance to each base with a repair kit located just opposite each trebuchet at the start of the match at the top of a small bluff overlooking the path to the flag stand.
Map mechanics and rewards[edit]
- There is a repair kit outside each base which can be used to repair the trebuchets by interacting with the lever while holding the repair kit.
- Once repaired, each trebuchet can be loaded by pulling the lever, then fired by pulling the lever again once the loading animation has finished creating a high damage AoE explosion inside the base it faces.
- In addition to these rules, this map follows the standard rules of a GvG.
Strategy and tactics[edit]
Splitting on this map is generally difficult as it is actually faster to run down the central main path than around the side paths to the back door. The entrance to the side paths are also quite visible from the stand so splits are usually noticed early and easily countered. The opening move for both teams usually involves a midliner taking the flag while the flagger runs out to secure the repair kit and bring it safely back to base to prevent the trebuchet facing their own base being repaired easily.
Defensive Team[edit]
Wizard's Isle is commonly chosen for the looks. Many people like the "pre-searing" style grass and sky. It's very popular among casual or PvE guilds, and is often considered a "generic" map for GvG. Unfortunately, this map has some serious defensive gaps for the home team.
Of the three sister maps (Wizard's Isle, Hunter's Isle, and Warrior's Isle), Wizard's Isle is the least defendable for the home team. This is because the Trebuchet makes most of the inner area undefendable and the inner walls protect the attacking team from your archers, the attacking team can easily break a turtling team. The outer archers are more vulnerable than the archers on the other two sister maps because an attacker can easily get to them (close stairs) and they don't cover each other. These outer archers provide almost no support, the only advantage is, none of them will get hit by a siege.
The res shrine on this map is much closer to the alternative exit than the other two maps. This means you can often sneak one or two people out of the base without being noticed to gank or repair the siege. Furthermore, the inner gap in your walls can be used to quickly switch sides while the attacking team is forced to go all the way around.
Offensive team[edit]
The attacking team has substantially better defense than the defensive team. The "gate" archers will cover each other adding DPS to push out a ganker and the twin pin down can help snare and kill gank teams. Only one archer is subject to catapult fire, which is better than the other trebuchet maps.
The lord pit can be very secure to turtle in. The knights don't often aggro past the bridge and your archers have a clean line of sight. Finally, that there is even some cover inside the protected area. Furthermore, because your flag spawns within your protected area, it can be easier to pick it up and push out unlike many maps where you have to push into the other team to pick up the flag.
Disputed areas[edit]
The little wooden area is a runner's nightmare. It is easy to body block and force boosts. Both bases have relatively small gates, so it is easy to reverse body block on ganks or to pin people inside their base for sieges.
Like for its sister maps, there is a large open area on both the SE and NW corners of the map. This gives a ganker the ability to push far back as he sneaks out, hopefully beyond the range where they can see you on the map or by pressing alt. This makes it easy to sneak a repair kit or gank, although because of the limited movement in any direction gankers are very susceptible to a collapse.
The defensive team's kit area is also fairly close to the flag stand. This makes it a common place to drop spirits that are hard to kill (because they have to push all the way through your outer NPCs and up the hill). A ranger can also sit on that ledge and use his bow reasonably well, although you risk the other team falling back and forcing you to waste time by running around.
