Advanced - Creep Blocking

Creep blocking is a technique used to start the game, and play most of the game, near ones own towers. This allows for less ganks on you, and easier leveling as you will be aided by your tower and enemy heroes may not be willing to chase you into your tower range (especially in non em games).

The technique goes as follows. Once your hero is selected, choose a lane (top, middle, or bottom). Instead of running straight to the tier 1 tower (towers farthest from your main base where first creep lines clash closest to) , select your hero to wait either near the tier 2 tower (tower in between tier 1 and main base in each lane) , or near the 2 barracks in your selected lane where creeps spawn from. Personally, I prefer standing near the tier 2 tower when blocking due to the creeps approaching me in a straight line, allowing me to block easier. Creeps will eventually spawn and start heading towards the tier 1 tower and eventually clash with the other teams creep. You are waiting by the tier 2 tower (assuming my way of preference) , and when the creeps get close to you start running in the same direction as them, headed towards the tier 1 tower. As you are running towards the tier 1 tower, have your left hand on the S key on your keyboard, ready to hit it, which is the stop command for your hero. With this ready, align yourself directly in front of the creep line, and then tap S once. The creep will collide with you hero. Then before they can run around you, start moving forward again, and tap S again, repeating this process over and over until you reach your tier 1 tower, or until you have felt you have blocked enough.

I say this because you CAN block too much. The point of creep blocking is to fight close to ones own tower as much as possible, so you have the tower as an extra defender if need be against a gank. So if you block too well, the first line will clash in range of your tier 1 tower, and it will deal damage quickly obliterating the first enemy creep line. This will in turn push your line much farther into enemy territory, which is a tactical error, making one much more susceptible to ganks and much harder to farm.

With this said, the optimal point you are aiming for when blocking is for your first creep line to clash the enemy creep line right OUTSIDE the range of your tier 1 tower. This way the tower is not dealing additional damage and pushing your creep lines, yet you are also still close enough to your tower to treat it as a defense against ganks and chases. Also, this will result in a clashing of your second creep lines much closer to your tower, than the enemies, assuming all other variables held constant (hero damage, last hitting, denying, no creep pulling etc.).

I have found that most public game players only block the first creep line. However, any point where you can block and put yourself closer to your own towers is beneficial to do so, reducing gank threats, and adding extra defense in case of a chase or low life farming. This is most pertinent in the first 10 to 15 minutes of the game, where the goal is lane stability and level maintainment and not so much pushing, unless the opportunity presents itself.

As you probably know, Sentinel's top creep line starts farthest away from its tier 1 tower, deepest into enemy territory, so blocking this one as much as possible is a good idea. Middle is the case where you want to block the first line just enough so that the first line clashes just outside of the tier 1 tower's range. Bottom for sentinel, is a creep line which you want to be careful not to block too much. I have found that usually around 2 to 3 solid Stop command taps leads you to block just enough so that the first line results just outside your tier 1 tower's range. Any more than this and your first line is starting inside your tower's range, resulting in a much deeper push into enemy territory for your second line.

Scourge blocking is the exact opposite of the previous paragraph, because it fits together like a puzzle, complementing the sentinel creep line, by having the clashes meet in the opposite places. So, condensed, top on scourge you do not block much (same as sentinel bottom), mid same as if you were sentinel blocking mid, and bottom block as much as possible (same as sentinel top).