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=== Pressure ===
'''Pressure''' represents a team's effective threat on a map -- for example, the risk of a fight breaking out, a gank on an enemy player, or the amount of farm available to safely claim. '''Pressure''' can be manipulated by player leads, hero rosters, or pushing and freezing lanes. By being aware of '''pressure''', you can anticipate what might happen next in a match, and have more objectives available to you and your team.

'''Creep/Troop denial''' is a crucial part of the game's laning phase and involves shooting the Souls of one's own trooper when they are killed. This prevents enemy laners from obtaining Soul Orbs by killing Troopers. Denying Souls is still effective after the laning phase, as Souls increase in value as the game continues. Denying Souls after the lane phase grants all Souls to the denier, which can be an effective way to individually gain more Souls if you are farming for an important item. 

Pushing up lanes by killing enemy Troopers spreads your team's area of control and removes farmable space from the enemy. If your team is able to control more of the map by pushing up Troopers, friendly Ziplines will extend and allow Trooper reinforcements to help push [[Guardian|Guardians]] and [[Walker|Walkers]], further pressing your advantage.

By carefully damaging enemy troopers to equalize the number of troopers on each team within a lane, it is possible to "freeze" a lane in place so that the troops neither advance nor fall back. By limiting your damage to the wave, it is possible to effectively keep it "frozen" indefinitely. 

This tactic is useful to keep troops close to your Guardian or Walker for your own safety. By preventing your troops from pushing forward, you can stay within the safe zones of your defenses.

It is also useful for denying your opponent's access to farm due to the distance from their defenses. Since your guardian or walker is the point furthest from their guardian or walker, freezing a lane on your side of the map can make retreat difficult for your opponent.

The healing from the medic pack dropped by a medic trooper can heal your minions and change the balance of the wave state, inadvertently causing your wave to push and breaking the freeze. You can prevent this from happening by keeping your distance from your own wave as it dies and collecting the medic pack only after a few of the minions in your wave have died.