EPIC have just released their latest blog post for Monolith detailing the mid lane. It sounds considerably different to that in Agora, but somewhat similar to DOTA 2. The river buffs sound particularly interesting and I have to say, the map looks absolutely gorgeous. Read on below. 

Hey Paragon people,

This week we dive into the Mid Lane on Monolith. This is part of our series previewing the new map for Paragon. You can read our previous blogs announcing the map, outlining the safe lane, and going over the art design.

Welcome to the Mid Lane - where you’re either here or feeding! The Mid Lane and Mid role have quite a legacy in the MOBA genre and we’re excited to talk about why we love this position and its importance to Monolith.

What’s the big deal with Mid?
At its heart, a MOBA is an economy game. When we look at Paragon, we see two primary resources: experience and card power. As we’ve discussed in the past, Monolith is an asymmetrical map and we’ve built the positions to best reflect this dynamic. The Safe Lane is card power rich, the Offlane is experience rich, the Jungle has a bit of both and the Mid Lane has it all! That’s why it's special. The Mid player is enabled to do more in the early and mid phases of the game due to the relative power of that role. Ability focused heroes are typically favored in this position due to the their high scaling with experience and card power.

The Mid position has no shortage of things that they can do in a match. A great Mid player can prioritize these things in a way that aligns best with team strategy. On Monolith, we’re leaning on enabling the Mid laner to ensure that a match is dynamic and never stagnant.

The Lane
A notable property of Mid Lane is its location: the middle of the map! Being in the middle carries certain truths that should bleed into strategy. Aside from the Jungler, the Mid player is the most likely to rotate into one of the other lanes. If we imagine the Jungler as a role that can tilt the balance of lane pressure slightly, Mid is the role that can shift the balance much more dramatically. A Mid rotation represents a stronger team commitment to an objective. It could be to try and score a gank on the Safe Lane or hunt down the Jungler in their own territory; maybe it’s just to play defense and allow their team to farm up. It’s up to you!

A River Runs Through It​
As you've probably noticed, we've added a river that cuts through the heart of Monolith. The river acts as a sunken road that splits the map, connecting players quickly to other lanes, both jungles, and the Orb Prime pit. The Mid player will need to use the river to make quick and undetected rotations around the map. Teams will need to keep good vision in this area as rotations from the middle lane are much harder to detect on Monolith. Be sure to keep those wards out!

So much to do!
As we’ve discussed, the Mid Lane is burdened with a wide range of objectives. It can be daunting to undertake some of these things, especially when they can be back to back, one right after the other. If MOBAs are truly a resource game, then we must also consider player health and mana another type of currency. Each action has a variable cost on a player's health and mana. With only one health and mana bar to work with, a Mid laner can feel stretched thin.

In order to help keep the Mid Lane in the action, we’ve added some new objectives, we’re calling them River Buffs (still not a good name…). The River Buffs are short duration, HIGH impact power-ups designed primarily for the Mid laner (though anyone can grab them if they so dare!). While we’re still working out the specific details, our intent is to reduce the “cost” of rotation actions by making them “faster,” “sneakier,” “more powerful” or “cheaper.” With the addition of these River Buffs, a Mid laner can be all over the map without a ton of down time.

That concludes a quick overview of how we’re thinking about the Mid Lane! It’s shaping up to be a very exciting position on Monolith and can’t wait for you to play it. See you next week, where we will take a look at the Offlane.

Kevin Abbott
Systems Designer