When to lock a flag: when someone else wants it

Shortest, most effective guide on the entire forums.

capping that 30% creep flag must be followed by a lock or youve just wasted your time...

mmm flag locks.

Remember though, this is a new game with new players and lockign isn't going to even make sense to most noobs so maybe try explaining instead of swearing at them.

I rarely find myself needing to lock our flags against the enemy, but conversely I *do* find that locking the enemy portal/valor flags is critical to winning.

I also generally carry one cap lock so that I can lock the flag in my lane as I am leaving the lane to heal. An even better strategy is to lock the flag in my lane, and then go cap and hold another lane. This gives me double the war score for my manpower.

If I've got my math right, caps being 250 gold...

A goldmine flag gives 4g per player, per second (I think.)

A cap lasts for 40 seconds. 4x4=160.

A cap on a gold mine works both ways. You get the money, and your enemy doesn't.

Thus, in a 1v1, 4x4x2=320, making it actually economically feasable to lock the flag every time it cools down.

Obviously, you wouldn't literally lock the gold mine that often. However, I maintain that keeping the mine or experience in 'semilockdown' by keeping an eye on it and a TP and Lock ready is quite possibly one of the easiest ways to win the game.

And war rank, if one team can get giants 5-10minutes before the other that might be an advantage.

okay... locking flags isn't a big deal, i don't know what all your guys are talking about....at least be more specific. 

Lock a creep flag early or mid game and its gg for you, why would u ever do that.  Aside from problems with gold and such you are now limiting your lvl.  With no creeps coming you can't level.

Locking a flag is not a big deal unless its the flag holding mode, or if its late game and you want to lock creep gates for more units since your plan on winning with cats or giants in the near future

This part is true... There is little use for starving yourself XP while you throw un-upgraded grunts into the opposing teams' towers.

But locking an XP/Valor/Goldmine flag long enough to switch lanes or hit your crystal can give you a great advantage in the early game.

I think flag locks are overrated... yes, if you know you're gonna lose a flag, use one. Hoever, use it too early on middle flags, and you're really wasting money. Your opponents will just farm creeps wether the flag is locked or not, and with the extra xp and gold they get, you're going to lose a lot of flag battles.

You want to be careful with flag locking.  Buying items to force enemies off flags or kill enemies is helping your team win the match just as much as increasing your war score is.  Especially early in the game, putting out 250 gold constantly to lock things is a big deal.  Items in this game are very important, so if you are down money due to flag locking, that can more than make up for the advantage you will have in war score.

That said, there are definitely times to lock flags.  If you are going to cap an enemy portal, you had better damn well be locking it when you leave.  There are some other cases too - health crystal flags can be unbelievably important for example.

So yeah, its not an automatic decision to lock flags, and I sometimes roll my eyes at zealots who go nuts because they think you should be locking all the time.

I don't start locking portals unless they are completely owning our base or we are about to push their base.  Otherwise, the most important flag to cap early game (considering the reinforcement flag is hard to get that early) is the life flag.  The life flag makes a HUGE difference on if you and your team can win some fights.

Of course the last game I tried the other team claimed I was hacking because "omg there's like 2 of us at the flag you just got and it isn't turning hacker"

Guildford,

I never realized how amazing cap locking is. I'm going to go cap those b******.

my rules on when to lock flags:

(1) At the beginning of the game on the +20% xp or the +10% DG damage flags. If I have a coordinated team on cataract, it's also really nice for everyone to buy one teleport and one lock and lock them all for the early war score advantage.

(2) Contested or contestable portal flags once catapults have been purchased

(3) Enemy valor flags, anytime I can grab them but especially late game.

(4) A gold mine flag if it controls more than one gold mine.

(5) If it will particularly frustrate or annoy somebody for me to have locked it and result in them standing around waiting instead of doing something else.

Any other circumstance, I save my money.