Your First Five Minutes

At start — keep heroes alive, leveled, and grouped — go to a realistic opening. Do this in a real game or against AI/bots by yourself.

The scenario

You've loaded in. You have a faction you barely know, several heroes, and teammates typing fast. The enemy team is already grouping up. What do you do in the first ~5 minutes?

Steps

1. Select your heroes and their abilities. Group them in group 1.
2. Find all your units. Group then in 2-6. Try to put melee and ranged in their own groups
3. Stack up with allies. Move your heroes and army toward wherever your teammates are massing. Do not run off alone.
4. Take safe experience (1–2 min). With the group, take an easy, winnable fight (weak enemies, a contested point, or a small skirmish where you outnumber). The goal is levels, not glory. Use a Spell Book ability at least once so it stops feeling scary.
5. Practice the retreat. In your first real skirmish, pick a health threshold in your head (say, one-third life). The instant a hero hits it, pull that hero back even if a kill looks close. Do this on purpose so it becomes a reflex.
6. Focus fire once. In a team fight, call or watch for the target everyone is hitting, and put your damage on the same enemy.

What success looks like

• All your heroes are still alive after the first engagement.
• At least one hero gained a level and you used an ability.
• You never fought alone — you were with teammates for every fight.
• You pulled a hero out before it died at least once (even if it felt too early).