Lock the f****** flag

good advice, needs some details.

its not always important to lock a flag. but when it is it REALLY FUCKING IS. someone should write up a guide about how to know when you should lock a flag, maybe i'll do it. 

When to lock a flag: when someone else wants it

Shortest, most effective guide on the entire forums.

Watching people wait 40 seconds to uncap a flag, me coming in and relocking right at there feet, and wacthingthem wait another 40 seconds, is ridiculously fun.

How early should there be locking of the flags, in a non-domination game?

capping that 30% creep flag must be followed by a lock or youve just wasted your time...

mmm flag locks.

Remember though, this is a new game with new players and lockign isn't going to even make sense to most noobs so maybe try explaining instead of swearing at them.

When the enemy is in our base capping our portals, and I'm screaming for someone to lock the portals, you might want to take that advice.

Hell, I've had allies congradgulate me on my locking, and still not get the idea to do it themselves. With some people, I think I might applaud if I see them lock.

I rarely find myself needing to lock our flags against the enemy, but conversely I *do* find that locking the enemy portal/valor flags is critical to winning.

I also generally carry one cap lock so that I can lock the flag in my lane as I am leaving the lane to heal. An even better strategy is to lock the flag in my lane, and then go cap and hold another lane. This gives me double the war score for my manpower.

I usually buy two locks and two teleports right off the bat. Need to hit the crystal because you're trying to hold your lane agaisnt two DGs at once? Lock that shit and TP home.

Also- as a rook- I am a big fan of locking, wandering off, and waiting for someone to come back to try to cap. Teleport back in, Boulder Roll him immediately, and smack him in the head with my hammer.

As others have said-- Locking the enemies' portals is sometimes the only way to shoehorn your giants into their base.

If I've got my math right, caps being 250 gold...

A goldmine flag gives 4g per player, per second (I think.)

A cap lasts for 40 seconds. 4x4=160.

A cap on a gold mine works both ways. You get the money, and your enemy doesn't.

Thus, in a 1v1, 4x4x2=320, making it actually economically feasable to lock the flag every time it cools down.

Obviously, you wouldn't literally lock the gold mine that often. However, I maintain that keeping the mine or experience in 'semilockdown' by keeping an eye on it and a TP and Lock ready is quite possibly one of the easiest ways to win the game.

There are three flags that are essential to have to win, Gold, Exp, and the Artifact Flag (mostly to make sure the other guy can't use it, but also because on most maps it is one of the first two as well).

And war rank, if one team can get giants 5-10minutes before the other that might be an advantage.

Flag locks win games.  That's all there is to it.  It's very frustrating when you're stuck on a team with prima donnas who save up thousands for artifacts but refuse to spend 250 on a capture lock.

okay... locking flags isn't a big deal, i don't know what all your guys are talking about....at least be more specific. 

Lock a creep flag early or mid game and its gg for you, why would u ever do that.  Aside from problems with gold and such you are now limiting your lvl.  With no creeps coming you can't level.

Locking a flag is not a big deal unless its the flag holding mode, or if its late game and you want to lock creep gates for more units since your plan on winning with cats or giants in the near future

mmm haven't thought that gold flag thing

ty

This part is true... There is little use for starving yourself XP while you throw un-upgraded grunts into the opposing teams' towers.

But locking an XP/Valor/Goldmine flag long enough to switch lanes or hit your crystal can give you a great advantage in the early game.

Can you lock an enemy flag for them?

eg: Hey nooblet! That portal is feeding me XP, pleae don't cap it and send the XP in the other direction.

I think flag locks are overrated... yes, if you know you're gonna lose a flag, use one. Hoever, use it too early on middle flags, and you're really wasting money. Your opponents will just farm creeps wether the flag is locked or not, and with the extra xp and gold they get, you're going to lose a lot of flag battles.

I would take a war score advantage over a slight level advantage any day.

You want to be careful with flag locking.  Buying items to force enemies off flags or kill enemies is helping your team win the match just as much as increasing your war score is.  Especially early in the game, putting out 250 gold constantly to lock things is a big deal.  Items in this game are very important, so if you are down money due to flag locking, that can more than make up for the advantage you will have in war score.

That said, there are definitely times to lock flags.  If you are going to cap an enemy portal, you had better damn well be locking it when you leave.  There are some other cases too - health crystal flags can be unbelievably important for example.

So yeah, its not an automatic decision to lock flags, and I sometimes roll my eyes at zealots who go nuts because they think you should be locking all the time.

I agree totally, I need to lock flags more often as well.

Concise guide, I like it

I don't start locking portals unless they are completely owning our base or we are about to push their base.  Otherwise, the most important flag to cap early game (considering the reinforcement flag is hard to get that early) is the life flag.  The life flag makes a HUGE difference on if you and your team can win some fights.

Of course the last game I tried the other team claimed I was hacking because "omg there's like 2 of us at the flag you just got and it isn't turning hacker"

Yeah, I was just using gold as an example

Guildford,

I never realized how amazing cap locking is. I'm going to go cap those b******.

You know strangler, I've been watching you post around the forums, and I gotta say, your not a very cuddly guy.

In all seriousness though, maybe if you were a little more polite/friendly about it instead of "after repeatedly screaming at my team to lock a flag they cap" they might consider it with a little more seriousness, instead of being offended/yelling back.

my rules on when to lock flags:

(1) At the beginning of the game on the +20% xp or the +10% DG damage flags. If I have a coordinated team on cataract, it's also really nice for everyone to buy one teleport and one lock and lock them all for the early war score advantage.

(2) Contested or contestable portal flags once catapults have been purchased

(3) Enemy valor flags, anytime I can grab them but especially late game.

(4) A gold mine flag if it controls more than one gold mine.

(5) If it will particularly frustrate or annoy somebody for me to have locked it and result in them standing around waiting instead of doing something else.

Any other circumstance, I save my money.

Trust me, I talk nice. But when I have to say the same thing 15 times and the team still doesn't get it, even after my repeated example, it gets... frustrating.