Poll on Arenas

What's everyone's favorite arena to play?

I have to say GrenADE III. I feel like it's the most balanced map of all. (Although I am sort of biased towards LaseRazor because it's such a good Assassin map. =D)

I have a pretty intense dislike for Steel Peel (thankfully it's getting vetoed pretty regularly now). Snipers being able to take out every turret while remaining inside their base and everyone else just deathmatching in the middle makes for an annoying experience. I like the other three, in varying degrees, for different reasons.

Grenade three is the most fun with the ease of movement between the lanes for a fast moving assassin, and for ringing out people who are camping the annihilator. Used to be my favorite, but as strategies have started to gel I think I'm beginning to prefer lazerazor.

LazeRazor is probably my favorite right now because I've seen the most teamwork and strategy take place on it (both by my team and opposing teams.) I've pressed hard and I've been pressed hard.

Ammo Mule I used to dislike, but it's growing on me. I find it incredibly annoying when everyone decides to just deathmatch in the middle covered area, but rather than letting it get to me I've started to just use that as an opportunity to destroy enemy bots and turrets. This isn't a problem with the map itself though, just in the mentality of certain players.

I'm not joking though, almost every time I play that map I see a support (OR TWO!) spawn their firebase next to the annihilator and then just camp there. Look, guy, I don't know what you're trying to do, but nobody even needs to go in there until the annihilator is ready several minutes from now. Plus you're a sitting duck anyway for an air raid from an opposing support. You are not a credit to team.

Ammo Mule seems to be the only map where I can really excel as a Gunner. Every other one, I need something that can move fast, with the Assault class.

I tend to like all the maps, but we could use more.

Anyone who votes steel peel is a dirtbag sniper spammer

There are a couple things I enjoy about steel peel playing as an assassin. If the other team isn't watching their back door it's so easy to sneak around and kill their turrets either from the back door or from on top of their spawn exits. Of course, if your snipers are doing their jobs this is pointless.

Overall the map is just too small and too open for a crossfire match. I build a ton of turrets on the other maps, but on steel peel I just feel like why bother? A sniper is just going to destroy them from his base anyway.

LaseRazor is definitely my favorite. The corners and walls everywhere make for some good smaller fights without having to worry about getting picked off from across the map or zerged down. Steel Peel is by far my least favorite for pretty much the opposite reasons. It's wide open and hectic, so you'll frequently get zerged down or earholed out of nowhere. I know the idea of getting zerged down in a team based game is a little flawed, it's just how I feel. Say I'm having a close battle with someone and then another guy starts peppering me from across the map and it makes the difference between me winning and losing the fight with the original guy. I'm not saying I shouldn't have died or the other guy didn't deserve it, but it's just what frustrates me the most about steel peel.

Grenade III is just great. Love how its laid out with the 3 bridges on each side and the island in the middle where Bullseye spawns. Best map in the game because the size is perfect and all classes seem to shine. Except the Tank ... he doesn't seem to shine on any map haha.

After about 400 wins I can say that Grenade III seems to be the most entertaining map.

Aside from its other problems, Steel Peel tends to turn into a camp fest. It is the easiest map to pin the enemy in their base.... which causes lots of rage quitting. Was it intentional for long shots and gap shots to largely fail on this map?

Ammo Mule also suffers greatly from super long range turret destruction. Generally speaking it is too wide open and it is far too easy to just run right into the enemy base. I think this map would be greatly improved by moving the side turrets so that you can't get los to them until you are in point blank range.

LaseRazor is the second best map in my opinion. The terrain seems well designed for intense smaller battles. My biggest gripe on this map is that there seem to be too many open windows to shoot down into the enemy base. Was it intentional for a gunner to be unable to shoot through these without jumping? Most of the turrets just don't shoot at enemies very well and this is why I feel it needs more work.

Grenade III has turret placement that makes sense. The bridges give each side of the map just enough terrain to keep things interesting. Strategic use of the central portion of the map really makes Grenade III shine.

Honestly I think every map would be improved by having 1 if not 2 more turrets. One option might be to have a center or forward neutral turret nub where either team can make a turret.

This is essentially my exact feelings. The only reason I really enjoy Ammo Mule is because a Gunner that knows how to use his mortar can essentially push both lanes by himself, although I feel pretty cheap when I just spam bombs into the enemy base.

Definitely Grenade III. I'm partial to large maps in any game, but this just has to be one of my favorite purpose-built maps ever. The overall design is simple, letting new players stand a chance, and it has a number of quirks that reward you for map control and intelligent positioning while still giving good opponents the ability to hit back hard and almost anywhere.

Unlike Steel or Laze where a competent Sniper or Assassin can wreck your turrets from across the map, Grenade III ensures that any turret attacks from long ranges are pretty much wasted time. Instead of attacking from across the map, Snipers on Grenade are given elevated catwalks to help them push their lane of choice, and the platform outside their base to let them effectively clear the catwalks across the whole map and k/d whore as much as they want.

The elevated catwalks on the lanes provide an area to control for access to ejectors, giving you the ability to make large pushes extremely quickly with any pro. They also give the more mobile pros (Assassins, Assaults) good vantage points for laning while offering minor cover from sniper fire. Multiple jump pads per section means there's always a way to get behind someone for a grapple/ringout/death blossom/airstrike/whatever.

A fair bit of map awareness lets you use the jump pads in the lanes and on the center platform to quickly cover large distances, or prevent the other team from doing the same. The annihilator/juice vendors is/are on the center platform, which is absolutely the most exposed position of any map in the game. On top of an ejector, I might add.

Oh yeah, and planting Assault bombs at the end of jump pad channels is pretty much the greatest tactic since launching Redeemers into the tubes on Hall of Giants.

dystopia are you saying you can make air strikes jump away on jump pads i just tried this and it didnt work???????

I was typing something but it was basically a copy of this post. Couldn't possibly agree more

Grenade III is simply genius and well thought trough, you have to run with the attack and can't just dodge the action and go in the back door, wreck some turrets/spawnrape while you wait for your bots, it really adds to a better game and accentuates that DOTA feeling more.
The battles are also much more fair in most cases, without to much flanking and certain class dominance.

Voted for LazeRazor. It's like a big ol' maze of fun. :mrgreen:
I enjoy all the arenas, except for Steel Peel, even though I have a bit of a soft spot for it, but snipers just ruin it.

Steel Peel definitely gets my big thumbs down. It may be sniper heaven, but it's everyone else's nightmare. :evil:

Steel Peel is just brutal to take control back on since the top ring provides so much cover.

Out of all of them i have to say LazerRazor because its the most complex and not straightforward, alot of places to go and help push/defend.

I like AmmoMule because its a very easy straight forward map but thats just it. I like the atmosphere of AmmoMule the best though, and tanks spamming the rail gun under the floor is annoying too.

GreNadeIII is my second favorite, very big map and easy to get into. Idk what's so awesome about it but it just is XD.

SteePeel is fun, but with the ammount of glitches in that map it tends to get annoying. Also not fond of a support and a sniper able to easily camp up above enemy spawns.

My "best-to-worst" ranking:

1. AmmoMule
2. GrenadeIII
3. Lazerazor
4. Steel Peel

I really love the AmmoMule arena. There's plenty of ways to get to the enemy base, and it provides all classes a way to utilize their skills. Also, gotta love that funky intro song.

My least favorite would certainly have to be Steel Peel. Snipers reign supreme on the top area, and god forbid should they have a Firebase-toting Support buddy with them...

LaseRazor i find the most balanced for all classes so its my favorite.

1) LazeRazor
2) Ammo Mule
3) Grenade III
4) Steel Peel

LazeRazor is probably the best, it has an interesting 2 floor layout, lots of corners, flows well, and feels really balanced for all classes.

Ammo Mule is underrated. Yes, you can attack turrets from a distance. However, all classes have a pretty equal shot at the long range attack in this arena and attacking and killing the people doing the long range attack is reasonably achieved. Momentum feels like it can shift really rapidly in this arena and you have a lot of freedom of movement without too much sniper dominance. I feel this arena flows really well. A good, open arena without snipers completely dominating can be hard to do, but I feel this one is rather good.

Grenade III is pretty good, I dislike how a RoF sniper standing in the center (the platform extending from their base) can really only be dealt with by another sniper. The fight seems to revolve a little too much around the 2nd level also. If a smart opponent secures the second level (assaults drop bombs, snipers drop traps, level 3 firebase) it can be very difficult to dislodge them.

Steel Peel kind of sucks. Snipers can snipe clear into your base from their base, attacking turrets with no risk. It is very difficult for a team on the defensive to break back out.

1) LazeRazor. It's a great map with good ground cover and nice amount of walls.

2) GrenADE III. Love the setting of the map (atmosphere). But dislike how Ring-Out friendly it is (mainly due to so many times I've been Ringed-Out myself). Only suggestion I'd make is have glass walls in the insides of the map near the jump pads.

3) AmmoMule. A bit too open for my taste, gives spammers (grenade launcher, mortor, etc) an easy place to spam halfway across the map. Sides have good cover. Only suggestion I'd like is a wall where the ejectors are on the floor.

4) Steel Peel. Camp fest, to uneven once a team traps the other in their base, favors to Snipers the most. Only suggestion, take it out of rotation (lol...?)


Anyway, I don't know about anyone else but every map besides LazeRazor seems to favor the Sniper the most as most of the maps are widely open. Not to mention the arches are perfect for them because they can set up freeze traps and camp spawns. I'd like to see a bit more wall cover, but not too much as to make the Sniper pointless.