[EXTENDED] Transitioning from EARLY to MID/LATE game: Tactics and Priorities

Ganking/Strategic Plays vs Farming
Once you have your core items, you are ready to gank and make plays with the rest of your team. Some heroes require little farm to be effective while others require more. Your decision to gank should be based on how item-dependent your hero is and what level you are.

NO FARM
Examples: Glacius, Monarch, Voodoo Jester, Demented Shaman, Andromeda, Plague Rider,
Some heroes can be extremely effective with very few items, if any. These are usually the hard supports and second supports. They can start ganking at an early level/item set without sacrificing their effectiveness in the mid/late game stages as their skills are as useful as they can be from early in the game.

SOME FARM
Examples: Legionnaire, Flux, Moraxus, Tempest, Soul Stealer, Pollywog Priest, Bubbles
Some heroes require a small set of items to be effective. But after they get that item, their effectiveness plateaus. A lot of these heroes require only a PK or a single item to become EXTREMELY powerful. All items after their core set are secondary and allow them to maintain a presence for the rest of the game. These heroes can gank early, but you must remember that too many early ganks will come at the expense of other items.

FARM
Examples: The Dark Lady, Magebane, Draconis, Silhouette, Emerald Warden, Sand Wraith, Maliken, Flint Beastwood
Some heroes require an expensive item set to start making a big impact on the game. But once they get farmed, they play a huge role in their team's win. These are what we usually call 'hard carries' and they

Note: The examples provided are based on my opinion. The point is that some heroes require farm to be fulfill their purpose while others can start roaming early. Some heroes may be placed in different categories depending on team composition and individual playstyle. A lot of heroes I categorized can either be placed in a tier above or below depending on the situation.

For those who like visual representations of information, the chart below is a general overview of a hero's combat potential based on their level of item-dependency. Notice the positions of the peaks. Make sure you maximize your role in the game during periods of maximum effectiveness while making sure you reach your peak as soon as possible.

The main takeaway from this section is to realize that once you have your core item set, farming will do you no more good and you should be setting up ganks and strategic plays. NO FARM support and gankers can start to do this from extremely early points in the game while SOME FARM and FARM heroes should prioritize farming until they get their key items. Any farm after your peak effectiveness will show diminishing returns, as your farm means nothing. Be sure to know which farm category your hero falls under and play accordingly.

Make sure you also utilize this information to shut down the other team by focusing people who NEED farm rather than targeting those who are easy kills. Killing a NO FARM hero many times may allow you to get your items earlier, but is it worth allowing a FARM hero to live? It may take additional work to kill the other hero, but it will pay off later in the game.

Denying Enemy Objectives
In the game of HoN, the key objective is money. Make sure your opponent does not get any of it. When you are at maximum effectiveness, make money hard for the opposing team to get. Before you play another game, make your own list of ways you and your team can do this. By making your own list, you create something that is of your own logic and that you will truly follow. Below is an example list to get you started.

1. If Legion, push top lane and then rush into the jungle in hopes of getting a quick and easy pick off.
2. If Hellbourne, push bottom lane and then rush into the jungle in hopes of getting a quick and easy pick off.
3. If it's safe, quickly kill camps in the enemy jungle. Leave the smallest creep so they will get no gold next time they come to take it.
4. If the minimap reveals the enemy is nowhere near their ancients, rush it with a teammate or two and take theirs. Again, leave one of the smaller creeps.
5. If the opposing team leaves one of their lanes unoccupied, push that lane into their tower to force them to either defend it or lose the gold/exp. If they come to defend, TP to another lane for a free gank.
6. Use any gadgets to ward enemy medium/hard camps (Emerald Warden Overgrowth, Scout Electric Eye, Engineer Spider Mines, etc.)
7. Ward and counter-ward enemy jungle. This denies them vision while giving you a chance to gank them if they even attempt to enter the jungle. You can then proceed to farm their jungle while they put themselves in a dangerous position trying to reestablish control of their own jungle.
8. Constantly gank heroes that require farm.
9. ALWAYS be looking to pick a hero off safely. 5 versus 4 situations are all that are needed to get towers.
10. Use the runes as bait. Kill the enemy team as they come for the runes.

By planning all of these actions ahead of time, you will look for opportunities to make them happen. You will no longer waste time trying to think of what to do and your transition from early to mid/late game will be much smoother as a result. Also make a plan for when you are behind to avoid these things from happening to your own team.

Destroy the Turtler
Just like Denying Enemy Objectives, all you need to do is have a plan how to stop the turtlers in advance. When you have an enemy that is able to evade every attempt you make to pick them off and they stay in their base, superior strategy will win the game. I suggest making your own plan to fight against turtling teams, but here is my own.

1. Avoid lengthy siege operations. Standing outside of their base is a waste of time.
2. Get a bound eye or counter wards to destroy all outside wards the enemy team has. No vision will almost indefinitely keep them in their base.
3. Make sure all of the lanes are constantly warded and pushed so you have accountability of them at all times. If one tries to leave to ward or farm, that can be the potential pick-off that wins the game.
4. Solidify your lead. Take the enemy's entire jungle. Take the enemy's ancients. Take all of their gold income. Keep them in their base for as long as you can while stealing their money.
5. Ward the areas near Kongor, place a counterward near the pit to see any kongor steal attempts from invisible heroes. An hero with an invisibility rune may be all it takes to turn the game around. If they leave their base because your team is taking Kongor, your lead should be so significant that all it takes is a good teamfight. If they do not attempt to counter Kongor, the Token of Life and the bounty should be enough of a lead to push into their base.
6. When in team fights, heroes with AoE (area of effect) stuns should be doing their best to stun as many enemies as they can while the team uses their damage to focus key targets.

PLAN!

I talked with a friend in business about these problems people are having. He doesn't play HoN, but even he understood the root cause of their failure. With that, he provided me the 5 P's.

Proper

Planning

Prevents
Poor

Performance

Plan ahead and you will perform much better than you would without planning.