It’s been a couple of years so I decided to update this guide for 5v5. Instead of making this solely on one hero, I’m adding my preferred builds for some of my favorite heroes. When it comes down to it, playing smart and as a team is more important 9 times out of 10 than the actual build you incorporate.

Of course, different builds work better with different heroes dependent upon your style of play. You may also find that a build that worked well in one match may need to be altered on the fly during another match depending on how each match is progressing. If you find that you are dying too often, it may be time to build more defensively. On the other hand, if your team is ahead you may want to build more offensively and maintain your upper hand.

During a match, it can be frustrating to learn that I’m not only playing against the other team, but also playing against my own teammate(s). Here's my attempt at a little humor to poke fun at the know-it-alls, rage-pingers and downright clueless players in the Vainglory community.

The first and most obvious way to avoid helping your team is to just quit when you get frustrated and feel that your other teammates are to blame. Forget about learning something new or making a nice comeback, just sit there at your base and quit on your team.

You can even move around every so often so that the game cannot tell you have abandoned the match, but your teammates can easily see how much of a selfish jerk you are so by all means carry on.

I will tell you from my perspective; I am not a quitter so I will continue playing just so you will have to wait for the match to end in order to play another game. I mean now we might actually have a chance to win without you out there dying all the time and feeding gold to the other team.

It is good to see that the developers at Super Evil Megacorp (SEMC) have heard our complaints on this recently. They are cracking down more on those who dodge or quit matches, or consistently troll others during matches. Although these efforts help, it is still annoying to encounter toxic players on the Halcyon Fold or Sovereign’s Rise.

As I alluded to above, a great way to put your team at a disadvantage is to die as often as possible. When your deaths are in the double-digits, you are doing a great job helping your team lose. Not only are you leaving your other teammates at a disadvantage in team fights, you are feeding gold to the other team as well. You’re doing well team-player; give yourself a big pat on your own back for dying so often.

I played a match with a SAW recently who was trying his best, but still ended with 21 deaths. Has anyone seen more than 21 deaths from one player in a match? Other than someone intentionally dying, that has to be some kind of Guinness Book of Vainglory Records.

Without getting too complicated, let's just say that each time you die it's worth 150 gold on average to the other team. That is 1,500+ additional gold that you are providing the enemy with your 10 deaths. In terms of items, that would equate to giving the other team a Tension Bow to start out with while you are still sitting there with a Weapon Blade and a Swift Shooter.

Come on man! Quit dying so often and start thinking of ways to work better as a team. Here's a novel idea, build at least one freakin’ defensive item if you're dying every 20 seconds or at least play it safe as best you can. Dying early and often is a great way to lead your team toward a crushing defeat.

I know there are hard-fought matches with a number of deaths on each side, but if you are the one consistently dying 10+ times while everyone else has less than 5 deaths, well Copernicus, the problem is not your teammates it is YOU! Could it be about time to change your strategy?

Here's a perfect example of how double-digit deaths caused us to lose the game:
When your other teammates are consistently rushing out to face the entire enemy on their own there is only so much anyone else can do.

Speaking of facing multiple enemy players alone, that is a fantastic way to make dying a consistent part of your dreadful game-play. Once the match gets going, take as many opportunities as possible to engage multiple enemy players on your own. I mean now that you have that Swift Shooter you can certainly get in a couple more licks on the enemy before they melt you like soft butter.

Forget about joining your other teammates or waiting for them to join you so it is somewhat of a fair fight. Just abandon them while they are engaged in a team-fight 4v5 and head directly to the same spot where you just died 30 seconds earlier.

In 5v5 matches the map is much bigger so of course there are moments where you’ll need to be on your own pushing a lane or capturing objectives. Unfortunately, I see players all too often ignore their teammates’ pings to Stick Together. It’s incredibly hard to win 5v5 matches when one teammate continually heads off on their own without rhyme or reason.

In my experience, after about the 15 minute mark of a 5v5 match, the teams that stick together tend to come out on top. If you’re pushing the top lane all the way to the enemy’s base while the rest of your team is clear across the map, it’s only a matter of time before the enemy sees you out of position and a group of them show up to annihilate your dumbass.

Of course, this leads to the strategy of Split-Pushing. This can be a great strategy if played correctly. Map awareness and vision control is crucial in these moments though, especially when you are on your own. If you’re doing a good job pushing your lane, be well aware that the enemy will soon show up to deal with you. Understand that your time is limited so give yourself an out or at least keep an eye on the map and know when it’s time to retreat.

For more details on Split-Pushing, I’d suggest watching this video from Excoudrel: https://youtu.be/xprSlhBHd5k or checkout this write-up from BrokenMyth.net: https://brokenmyth.net/vainglory-5v5-mid-game/

Obviously, my write-up includes a good amount of sarcasm, but I see players rage-quit, fight multiple enemies by themselves, push their lane too far by themselves and die all too often these days. I am by no means an expert, but I can certainly see how dying often, playing selfishly, and quitting on your teammates doesn't do much to help your team win. Chances are that rushing off to face the enemy on your own didn't work the first five times you tried it so it's not going to work this time either, Einstein.

When you fall behind in gold it becomes increasingly hard to make a comeback. The enemy now has an advantage in items and levels so how do you think you're all of a sudden going to take them down without your teammates?

Now is the time to play it safe until you can level up or catch up in gold to some degree. In my experience, it is far more important to stay alive than to chase kills and end up dying often in the process.

This is why the KDA (kills, deaths, assists) ratio is calculated by adding your kills plus assists and dividing by your deaths. So even if you had 8 kills and 2 assists, if you died 10 times your KDA is only 1.0. A 1.0 KDA ratio basically means that every time you assist in or kill an enemy you die. That’s not really what you want to strive for, is it?

If you are in the lower to mid skill tiers, I would say you want to aim for the 3-4 range for KDA. As you rank higher, kills don’t come as easily so I’d say a range of 2-3 for KDA is respectable.

Don’t get too wrapped up in the KDA ratio though. Use it as guide to help you improve. Head on over to https://VGPro.gg or www.VGMiner.com and look yourself up. Both sites will give you a recap of your past matches along with a wealth of other information that may help you to see areas where you can improve. You can also look up other players and compare builds for heroes that you enjoy playing.

I tend to play rather conservative especially at the beginning of a match. If I am playing the Captain role, I try to protect my other teammates as best I can. When playing the Jungle role, I look for opportunities to gank the enemy players while still farming for gold. With either of these roles, my mindset is to help my teammates in Top, Mid or Bot lanes as best I can with an eye on the map.

If I am in a Lane position, one of my focal points (aside from earning gold from last hits) is to protect that first turret as best I can. When you lose a turret within the first 5 to 10 minutes, you are putting yourself and your team at a big disadvantage. It is much harder to farm for gold in the lane when you don't have that extra protection from the first turret. You also lose vision on that part of the map so you are giving a huge advantage to the enemy. Remember to farm, try to gain a gold advantage and don’t focus too much on chasing kills especially early in a match.

Make Staying Alive a part of your Saturday Night Fever, John Travolta! I try to think of the center line in each lane as the halfway-line of a soccer field and stay on my side of it. It's usually when you see an enemy with low health and chase them looking for a kill that another enemy player jumps out to gank you.

Be happy with small victories especially early on. If you can force their lane hero back to base to recharge, you give yourself ample time to grab some extra gold, push your minions toward their turret, upgrade your items, or even rotate to help in another lane or with an objective. Try to maintain more of a “team-player” mindset and less of a “me-first” mindset.

If you do lose a turret and/or fall behind early on in a match it might be a good idea to play it safe and try to stick closer to your teammates.

If the enemy is playing aggressively, it is even more important to stay alive. Continue to farm as best you can and look for an opportunity to turn the tide. Hang back from chasing kills and hope that one of the enemy players pushes too far so you can pick him or her off for some additional gold.

One thing to keep in mind is that when an enemy player is on a kill streak they are worth more in gold to your team when you finally kill him or her. This helps to even out the gold for your team and can help to make a comeback if you play it smart.

There is usually a point later in the game where things can snowball in one direction or another. Sometimes it is better to retreat back and lose a turret than to die and lose several of them or risk an Ace for the other team. Oftentimes, a match is decided by the outcome of a team-fight late in the game so maintaining map awareness and keeping you and your teammates alive is a priority.

Another thing to think about when you are outnumbered and you know that the enemy is capturing Blackclaw is that this doesn’t mean you should rush out to try and steal it. Chances are that they will be looking for you to show up. It will be much easier to survive a Blackclaw onslaught with 5 teammates than if you die and leave the rest of your teammates to defend against Blackclaw plus 5 enemy players. Matches are often won or lost as a result of poor choices such as this.

Good luck and have fun most of all.