Lesson 6 of 6 · 7 min
Thirty Seconds Before the Objective
and 
are not won at the pit. They are won in the minute before the timer, by whichever team did the four boring things first.
// What you will be able to do
- Name the four things that have to happen before an objective timer, and their order
- Start the setup a minute early instead of walking to the pit on zero
- Recognise a setup you have already lost, and take the trade instead of the fight
Watch a pro game with the sound off and you will notice something strange: nothing happens for forty seconds, and then a dies uncontested. The fight you were expecting never took place, because it was decided before the timer hit zero by two teams doing setup, one of them better. Your solo queue games have the same structure. Almost nobody plays them that way.
| Clock | What is happening | Why it is that order |
|---|---|---|
| -60s | Waves get shoved in the two nearest lanes | So nobody is farming when it starts, and nothing crashes into your  mid-fight |
| -45s |  walks their approach | Their vision has to die before yours goes up, or they just watch you place it |
| -30s | Your  go on their route in | This is the that decides whether you start or back off |
| -15s | Everyone stands on the objective side, together | A pick in the last fifteen seconds is the objective, not a kill |
Put the last minute before a attempt in order. Each step is only worth doing if the one before it has happened.
- 1Place your on their route in
- 2Shove the waves in the nearest lanes
- 3Gather on the objective side, together
- 4Walk their approach with the on
The order is not arbitrary. Warding before sweeping means placing your vision in front of an audience, they see the go down, they know exactly what you are doing, and they get to plan around it. Sweeping before the waves are cleared means your carries are still farming when the window opens. Every one of these four steps exists because the step before it makes it work.
// The rest of this lesson is Pro
Thirty Seconds Before the Objective: the practical half
Everything above is the concept. Behind the gate: the situations where it applies, the mistake that costs the most, the interactive drills, and a field assignment measured against your own ranked games.