Haunted Mines: Tips and Tricks

by JR Cook - 9 years ago     show comments

Haunted Mines is a small, two lane map that includes a second level which comes into play during the objective phase of the game.  This unique two level aspect, combined with the map objective, create the need for specific strategies that differ from other maps.  With that in mind, here are some tips and tricks to help make you more successful on Haunted Mines.

Lane Assignments

At its essence, Haunted Mines is a very simple map.  The goal is essentially to push your golem faster than the opposing team can push theirs.  When the game begins the first thing you want to do is identify whether your golem will be pushing the top or bottom lane.  There will be two rock circles, one above and one below, your core.  Find the one that contains the glowing golem bones and that will be that lane that your golem will push when he spawns.

In the above image you can see that the Blue Team’s golem will be pushing the top lane.  With that in mind, the proper strategy is to assign four Heroes to the top lane and one Hero to the bottom lane.  If their golem was instead going in the bottom lane, they would want to send four bottom and one top.  Remember, the goal is to push your golem lane faster than they can push their golem lane.  With that in mind, you want to put your strongest pushers in the lane with your golem.  Heroes such as Sylvanas, Zagara and Asmodan excel at pushing, so they are ideal additions to the golem lane.  When it comes to the Hero soloing the opposing lane, you generally want either a strong ranged defender or a Hero that is hard to kill.  Raynor, Johanna, ETC and Lili are some great examples.  The goal here is to simply harass and slow down the opposing team as much as possible, not to push the lane out.  Soak experience and above all else stay alive!

Don’t Get Greedy

The mines will open for the first time at the 2:00 minute mark.  When the countdown starts, the Hero soloing will want to go join the other four Heroes so that they can all enter the mines together.  Once the mines open, your team should enter and quickly move to the two camps circled in the image below.

These two camps contain more skulls than the other camps, so you want to be sure to grab them first.  Once you do that, your team can move back towards the entrance where you came in and clean up the other camps.  You may encounter the other team as you move thru the mines.  Don’t forget that your goal is to gather skulls!  If you can get a kill or two, by all means take them, but don’t chase.  This is the first example of not getting greedy.  While you are chasing that half dead Hero all the way thru the mines, the opposing team is probably gathering skulls, so even if you do get the kill it won’t be worth it.  If you encounter the enemy team and they are stronger than you, simply fall back and try to find another area to gather skulls.  If there are no other skulls to be had, be satisfied with what you have and move on.  Sometimes this means grabbing the bruiser camp, while the opposing team finishes off the boss golem.  Sometimes this means making a concerted push down your golem lane, while the opposing team cleans up the mines.  This is the second, and most important example of not getting greedy.  You don’t need all the skulls, in many cases you don’t even need most of the skulls.  You can easily accomplish more with a 40 skull golem vs their 60 skull golem if you play it right.  Remember, it doesn’t matter who has the stronger golem.  It matters who pushes their golem farther, faster.  Don’t judge your success based on the size of your golem, judge it based on which team has pushed farther once the golems are dead.

Push vs Defend

Once the golems spawn, everyone will want to return to the lanes they were in prior to the mine phase.  This means that you should once again have four people pushing with your golem, while one person defends against theirs.  All too often, particularly in Quick Match, it seems as if the natural instinct for people is to defend against the golem.  This is simply not correct.  You are much better off to push with your golem as opposed to defending against theirs.  The exception to this is if their golem significantly stronger than yours.  Haunted Mines can be a very snowbally map, so you want to make sure that you get a strong push with the first golem and then keep that pressure up with the subsequent golems.

X Marks the Spot

A common strategy is to grab the Siege Giants while the Golems are spawning, so that they can help you defend.  This is a great idea, but many players don’t seem to realize that when you actually capture the giants can have a huge impact on how effective they are.  If you capture them too soon, they will end up running outside the walls of your keep and be easily killed by the opposing team.  In some cases, they can even move too far down the lane to even be able to attack the golem.  If you have ever been in a game and seen someone type, “Wait to cap!”, this is what they are talking about.  The proper strategy is to wait until the enemy golem is nearing the mine entrance before you capture the giants.  This will allow your giants to safely defend from behind your walls.

Excusing my crude Paint skills, the above image shows where the Red Team’s giants will end up if they wait until the Blue Team’s golem approaches the blue X before they capture them.  This is the ideal scenario.  I must warn you, if you are going to wait to capture the giants you will need to be very map aware.  It is a disaster if the enemy team swoops in and steals your camp while you are standing around waiting to cap it.  If you see the enemy team take the bruisers in the middle of the map assume they are coming for your Siege Giants next and go ahead and cap them.  You are much better off to capture the giants early than to risk losing them.

Anticipate Future Mines

As important as the first mine phase is, any advantage gained can easily be lost if you are not prepared for later mine phases.  The entrances to the mines remain open after the first mine phase, so you can enter the mines at any time after that.  When the countdown to the mine phase begins, you should immediately head into the mines.  Your goal is to be in position to gather skulls as soon as the camps spawn, following the same guidelines from the first mine phase.  If the other team gets into position first you can easily find yourself unable to gather many (if any) skulls, so be sure to avoid that mistake.  If you do find yourself unable to gather skulls then you should immediately start taking mercenary camps, starting with the bruisers.

MULE

One talent that can be especially effective on Haunted Mines is MULE.  Being able to repair structures not only mitigates incoming damage while the golem is active, it also allows you effectively back up where the next golem will start because any structures not completely destroyed can be repaired back to full health and ammo.  Some Heroes that have MULE and make excellent solo defenders include  Tassadar, Brightwing, Gazlowe, and Nazeebo.

In Conclusion

Haunted Mines is a very straightforward map with a clear basic strategy.  While it can be difficult, you should be able to get your team organized even in a Quick Match.  Communicate with them at the start of the game to get everyone in the proper lanes and remind them to go back to those lanes after the golems spawn.  If you can’t do anything else, just getting your team to a 4/1 lane comp will give you and edge over most random teams.  Hopefully these tips will lead to more success and enjoyment on Haunted Mines.  Good luck and have fun!