The Most important Flags

i see things differently. this is sort of an academic debate though because certain maps only have certain flags on them so what we should really do is talk about the maps themselves. 

in general principle

1. Experience Flga

2. Gold Mines flag

3. +15% health flag

4. everything else

but thats not especially useful. lets talk about the maps, just gonna do the 2 most frequently played ones. actually, Prison is more played than Leviathan but is so small there's not much flag capping strategy other than to deny the artifact shop if you can.

Cataract

1. Experience Flag

2. Health Flag

3. the gold mine flag in the shallow part of the side lane 

 - its easy to take it from your opponent without even destroying those towers. can create big gold gaps if left unattended.

4. Creep Portal Flags

 - only worth going for later in the game, suicidal and pointless early on

5. Mana Flag

Leviathan

1. Debilitating Flag

2. Artifact Shop Flag

3. Neutral Portal Flags

4. the rest of the flags are behind alot of towers so aren't readily accessible, but if you have the option of pushing down a side lane i'd go for the Mana Regen flag with preference. 

Yeah Cataract is a little different with that XP flag, since it is the only unattended flag.  Capping it, and keeping it locked, can be pretty nice. And yet later in the game, when people can choke point at it, it suddenly becomes the easiest to keep.  Very weird layout to be sure.

in this order:

1.gold

2. -15% cooldown

3. +15% mana

4. +15% HP

other flags are less important.

portal flags: undecided, their effects are too negative(giving more xp)

edit: this is wrong. sorry

old post below

--------

actr, you actually gain exp everytime a creep spawns at a Neutral Portal you control. they don't do this from your home portals, just the neutral ones. so generally its pure benefit to hold neutral portals. you get the exp no matter what happens but your opponents only get it if they kill the creeps. 

I have three lists: in general, for early game (first ten levels), for late game (levels 15-20). I'm leaving off health crystal flags because they're not on most maps, but in general they're extremely effective if you know when and how to use them and not at all effective if you don't.

In general

1. +20% xp

2. Debilitating (+10% damage taken by enemy)

3. Gold

4. Valor (+30% rein strength) (once cats or better are purchased)

5. +15% hp (or hp regen)

6. -15% cooldowns

7. +15% mana (or mana regen)

8. Enemy portals

9. Neutral/middle portals

Early game (lvls 1-10):

1. +20% xp

2. Debilitating

3. Gold

4. +15% hp (or hp regen)

5. -15% cooldowns

6. +15% mana (or mana regen)

7. Neutral portals

8. Valor

9. Enemy Portals

Late game (lvls 15-20):

1. Valor

2. Enemy Portals

3. Debilitating

4. Neutral Portals

5. Gold

6. +15% hp (or hp regen)

7. -15% cooldowns

8. +15% mana (or mana regen)

9. +20% xp

where did you hear this? if true, this will pretty much change how I manage neutral portals entirely.

Source for neutral portals and XP please.

I'll test it.

Anyway, why is 10% extra damage worth more to you people than 15% extra health? The second one allows you to win a lot easier (the only negatives are that the fights take longer and you might need to spend more on health potions).

Anyway, my order:

As Ooze UB:

Enemy portals with catas or giants

Health (any kind)

Gold.

Cooldown (so I can grasp more).

Valor Flag

EXP (It gives you a max of like one level advantage. If it's got creeps going to it, it's a good idea, but on maps like cataract, you get more EXP just by creeping it).

Mana (I don't use)

Portals before catas/giants.

As anybody else, bump mana up above EXP.

Just tested: No EXP from the portal flag (on Leviathan, anyway).

yea, i tested it too. i was mistaken. sorry. must have read it from an article somewhere that had bad info. 

I did notice that I got 4 unexplainable EXP though.

On the way to the flag, I got 2 EXP. I got 8 exp for the first four flag ticks, and then 2 exp for the fifth + 100 EXP. Then I got another inexplainable 2 exp, for a total of 114.

1. +15% HP flags/Late game portals

2. EXP flags and Gold flags

While cooldown flags are pretty nice too, they're usually harder to get to or are easily retakeable.

oh good, i was starting to get worried

1. Gold Flags - If you got more gold income than your opponent allows for a large gap to develop. Best to get very early and hold.

2. Exp Flags - You dont want to be outleveled but it isnt as important as the gold flags, since you can deny exp by forcing out the other teams demigod from your lane (hopefully since you have a gold advantage)

3. HP - Harder to kill, all round nice flag. Also have to factor in if you dont control it, your opponent does and his got a good bit more hp than you (if all else equal).

4. Cooldown - Amazing for some characters, for others very lackluster. Rook tower, TB, and characters with a lot of use skills  this benefits more, auto-attack with passives such as UB, Rag, oak; less useful

5. Mana - less useful than  the healing one, since it doesnt increase your life.

6. Neutral Portals - lackluster, unless as someone mentioned they give exp also. Then it should be in 2nd spot.

7. Artifact shop - only need it to get an item. Better to just take it when you need to shop

HP>Gold>Exp>Cooldown>Mana

Once you get cats though, portal flags take priority.

Of course, why prioritize when you can get them all? The magic of flag locks.

I know flag locks are great, but I always find it kind of dumb when my enemies are locking every flag in sight. In one game my enemies were chain-locking the mana and EXP flags on cataract, and got way behind on items in the early-game, which just made them get more behind on items from creep gold. it was pretty funny, really. They could run in and lock the flags, but they couldn't actually hold the lanes so the extra EXP really didn't matter to them.

I can see locking gold flags, HP flags, and cooldown flags (plus the always nice valor flag), but locking anything else (except maybe the EXP flag, if it isn't like cataract and doesn't have no creeps near it) generally seems to be pointless since they only really matter for warscore.

Denying the warscore can be and often is a valid tactic.

I usually don't pay much attention. As long as I have more than the opponent I switch my focus to farming gold, taking down towers and killing DGs. No point getting to high war rank if you don't have the gear/$ to buy cats and giants and be able to push into their spawns.

There's certainly such a thing as wasting a lock, yes, but if I'm getting pushed out of a lane irreversibly and I've got a lock, I'll pop the lock and run. At worst I was going to die anyways but they get denied the flag. At best I get the lock off and hit my crystal and tele back to what is hopefully a kill, and regain my lane without losing the flag.

You don't have to lock them all. Just the ones that are a bitch to keep. Lock the flag in the middle of nowhere, and sit on the flag smack dab in the middle of the creep wave. Everybody wins.... except your opponents...

Interestingly, the user manual actually states that you gain XP every time a creep comes through the portal on your side. However, it doesn't appear to work in-game. I'm not sure if it's a bug, or was just taken out. Strange.

It only works when you have captured enemy starting portals. Then I'm pretty sure you get XP when guys come out of them. This is part of why catapult rush + flag lock at level 8 can be so devestating. Someone correct me if I'm wrong though.

Yep, if you cap an enemy portal, you get XP per *your* unit that comes out of an *enemy* portal. Neutral portals and your portals don't count.

I suppose if neutrals or your own portals counted, it would cause people to level up too fast and add too much of an advantage to early-game harassment... As it is though, portal flags are pretty iffy.