Lakeside

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koth_lakeside is a King of the Hill map made by the mapmaker 3Dnj and made official by Valve on February 24, 2011. It is played frequently in Highlander, having been used by UGC for several seasons.

The objective of Lakeside is the control the middle point for three minutes. The two teams spawn on opposite sides of the map and rush toward the middle when the round begins. A round will continue into overtime if the timer is up but there is still enemy presence on the point.

History

The first season of UGC Highlander that ran Lakeside in its maplist was Season 4. It is typically played as an early season map because of its simplicity, and the fact that it was a Halloween event map in 2012 makes it recognizable to new competitive players, while being more competitively viable than a map such as Mann Manor.

Calls

The calls on Lakeside are very straightforward as long as you actually name things. Because of its wide open nature, calls of "left", "right", and "mid" are useful when being specific. The names themselves are not specifically important as long as you have unique names for all the listed locations, but the ones listed here are used to describe strategy.

At mid, the location just behind the point is called "tree", the point itself is referred to as "point", the large building on the side is "bathhouse", "bath", or "water', and the greater sandy area is split between "left yard" and "right yard" speaking as if your back was to your team's spawn. When someone is standing on the lip of the obelisk just behind the makeshift cover on the point, you refer to them as on "pillar". This call will likely only be used for spies and heavies.

Moving toward either spawn, many teams make the mistake of referring to the entire structure is "battlements". This is unhelpful, as the specific location of a Sniper on the battlements determines where it is safe to position yourself. You should split the battlements structure into its three parts. The wooden structure with the small health kit and a ramp is called "nest" or "battlements", the middle area with stone bricks is called "stone", and the low wooden bridge is called "bridge".

Beside the battlement structure is either "platform" or "plateau". This is the large, flat sandstone structure that leads to the bathhouse. There is a broken stone wall that is popular for snipers referred to as "wall". Leading down into spawn is "tunnel", containing two small health kits. Behind the battlements are two distinct areas. Behind the "bridge" is referred to a "backyard", while someone below or behind the "nest" or "battlements" is in the "shadow". Lastly, the small room on the ground in front of the "nest" with a medium health kit is simply referred to as "health" or "kit".

Strategy

The overall team strategy on this map is to simply kill enough of the opposing team that you can safely take the point. Once you have the point, your goal is to kill as many of the opposing team as you can with minimal deaths on your part. This is accomplished by good positioning and coordination.

Positioning

Midfight

When attempting to take an uncontrolled point, the best holding position is at tree, just behind the point. This puts your medic safely out of sight while allowing him to heal people that are pushing onto the point. There is an important high ground vs. low ground fight on this point giving the advantage to whoever actually walks onto the point, but doing so puts them more at risk to a Sniper or a brave Scout. The Engineer should have a mini sentry watching yard at this point to prevent ambitious rushers from picking someone you'd rather keep alive. When actually pushing the point the sentry should be moved so that it can shoot onto the point.

Once the ubiquitous Kritzkrieg charge is ready, take stock of their positioning in deciding how to respond. If the opposing team is on the point and you are not, you should use your charge to push onto it. If you are on the point and the opposing team is in the yard below, you should try to pick their medic with the charge to prevent a counter-push. If the other team has already lost the midfight and is in the backyard, then you should immediately take a forward hold on their plateau and attempt to shoot down into backyard. This will establish your forward hold for defending the point and running up the clock.

If you're not running a Kritzkrieg, you need to get your medic out of the fight while using someone expendable to force their charge. In doing so, you should probably be able to re-push with your Über and win the point. If it's a Quick-Fix, however, you have two options. First, you can rocket/sticky jump your medic away from the kritz as soon as you see it coming. Second, you can play aggressively and kill their medic before they can kritz yours. Most teams with Quick-Fix will get a charge before the Kritzkrieg, so this tactic should work if the other team doesn't get their medic out before you can kill him.

Defense

When defending the point when you control it, you should immediately consider a forward hold. You can do a forward hold if you have a significant number advantage and/or open ground that would allow you to do so. The typical forward hold consists of a combo holding the enemy plateau and a flank holding the battlements. This strategy works well with the stock Medigun because you can deny any incoming push with invincibility of your combo and scattering of your flank. With Kritz or Quick-Fix, you need to draw them out far enough that you can push into them, or you'll be sitting on a charge that will not save you from a kritz. A forward hold with Kritz typically involves the combo in the bathhouse, because your flank will be able to call any offensive push long before you're threatened by it.

If you're not doing a forward hold, your team is essentially controlling your yard and platform with your combo classes, while controlling their yard and platform with your flank classes. It's important to call the enemy Sniper at all times during a hold like this, because he can get a sightline on most of the map without having to fight anyone.

Offense

The offensive strategy on Lakeside is to build an Übercharge while bombing their team and taking advantage of your superior spawn times. Kritzkrieg is usually the best option for this situation, giving you the chance for that magical first crit sticky medic pick. A good play here is to pair up your Demo and Soldier for a tandem bomb while your Spy is somewhere on their side of the map. When executed well, this is the best way to force a charge or kill a medic. All the while, your Sniper is working to create some sort of advantage you can push off of.


Rollouts

Demoman

The Demoman rollout for Lakeside is very simple. He fires his first sticky in spawn to get as close to the doorway as possible, then he walks out of the main door and uses one sticky to jump to either the bathhouse or the main point.

Scout

The Scout should basically follow the Demoman in, emulating his rollout. If the Demoman wants to go to the bathhouse first, the Scout should walk through tunnel. If the Demoman wants to go to the point, the Scout should walk through main.

Soldier

The Soldier's typical rollout is simply whipping the medic and heavy to the point as quickly as possible. After you reach the yard, most Soldiers will rocket jump toward the bathhouse and try to spam the other team out of it.

Other

Your Engineer is going to want to get a mini sentry watching your yard ASAP. Pyro, Medic, and Heavy will be following the Demo in and attempting to beat out their combo. The combo classes should try to stay alive in preparation for the first Kritzkrieg or Übercharge. The Sniper should either watch through the bathhouse sightline or go for an early pick on someone peeking over the point hill without exposing himself to the enemy Sniper. The Spy should determine what medigun the opposing Medic is running, either via name or by looking at the medic.