Overview
A guide that covers the fundamentals of joust
Intro
Hello everyone, this is my guide on the fundamentals of joust. This guide covers the basics of joust and some specific strategies that will help you get better in joust(Unless you are a joust god (if so, why are you still reading guides)).
Why should you listen to me?
I don’t know. I ended the last season diamond in joust so I suppose I can cover the basics. C’mon dude gimme a chance(or don’t, it’s fine. Don’t worry about me. I’ll just… I’ll just go cry in a corner or something.)
There will not be meta specific examples in this guide. I want this guide to be relevant even if the meta changes. Obviously, if they make changes to the joust, some of the things I say in this guide won’t be 100% accurate. But this guides covers the fundamentals. It should still be good unless they make really game changing changes to the joust.
The joust gamemode
Next to the center of the map is the red buff camps(the tiger dudes).There are 3 tiger dudes protecting the buff(attacking at melee range). It spawns at 10 secondes and respawns every 3 minutes. There are 2 blue buff camps, both protected by tortoises(they attack at range). Also spawn at 10 secondes and respawns every 3 minutes. There is an “orange buff” (the bull demon king). It spawns at 4 minutes and respawns every 5 minutes.
The red buff gives the player 20% increase power and 10 magical power or 5 physical power depending on the god type. The blue buff gives 10% cooldown reduction and 5 mana/sec. When the bull demon king is defeated, it gives all players of the killer team a buff that grants more power and more health and mana regen(I don’t have the exact numbers). On top of that, it disables the enemy tower or the phoenix if the tower is down when the demon king dies.
Like in every other gamemode, the phoenix respawns and gain life overtime. When the phoenix is up, the titan heals overtime.
This is a lot of information, you don’t need to know every little detail by heart but you should at least know what the buffs does.
Before the game starts
This is what I do during the loading. You look at your team comp and the enemy team comp. You estimate who as the best early game, the best late game, how a level 6 fight would go and what ult synergies together, and you look at the early wave clear of each team. This is important because it will help you know your win condition, if you can contest red buff during early, what relics to use and how you should play when near level 6. Then, think about the build you want in the matchup(this way, you don’t waste time in the game).
If you have a good early you should obviously exploit it, if you have a good late game you know that if you stall the game you have a good chance of winning.
If your team as a good early, look for fights and try to exploit it. If your team as a better late game try to resist until you get there. If your team isn’t as good at the other team at every part of the game, take risk and exploit every little advantage you can get. This way, you can try to grind faster and get a lead big enough to get the W.
The early game
During the early, you want to create a lead for your team. You do this gaining clearing waves, clearing camps, getting kills and denying XP and gold.
The game starts, hurry up, buy your items quickly the camps spawn at 10 seconds(you enter the game 45 seconds before the clock is at 0 seconds). Now your team as a choice to take. Either you try to contest the red or you go directly to your blue buff. Your decision should be influenced by the wave clear of each team and the early game of each team. If you think you can contest the red, go towards the red camp. If the enemies aren’t there just yet when it spawns kill the minions on the side of the big tiger to get free gold and XP. If the enemy team tries to contest and the buff is not guaranteed, you should probably drop the aggro and try to get it later.
In the early, you have to focus on the wave. If you clear first, you can get the red buff(if you are fast enough), poke the enemy for good damage trades or denied some gold by pushing minions undertower(if a minion get hit by the tower, it drops 25% less gold when it dies). If you think you can contest the red buff. You should try to clear, maybe take trades if that can help you to try to set it up. As long as it is up, stay in lane to contest it, don’t do your blue because the enemy gets a free red. When your opponents can no longer contest the red, get it.
Another strategy that is used in the early game is the blue buff invade. You go to their blue buff when it spawns. Sometimes they won’t contest it and just do the red thinking you are doing your blue. I don’t think I would recommend this strat because if they have abilities that go over walls they can steal it. And if you are confident in invading you probably are confident in contesting red. It can be a surprising strat, I don’t see that often, but I don’t think it’s great.
You want to do buffs or go back to wave mostly between the waves so that way you don’t lose XP or gold. When one of your teammates is going to base and the red buff is down(or you can’t contest) and the enemy team is not trying to poke, you can wait in front of the tower range to prevent the minions from entering the zone. This way you can let your ally get in the lane and the team doesn’t lose XP and gold.
When the red is down or you can’t contest it, do your blue. You do your blue every time you can if the red is down and the wave is cleared. If you have a good advantage over the enemy team, your team have cleared the wave and the enemy team didn’t clear yet, You can go for their blue. If they try to contest, they lose the wave XP and gold, if they don’t, they lose their blue camp XP, gold and buff.
Who gets the buffs?
When you clear a basic camp, a buff drop and you have to ask yourself who should get the buff?
For the blue buff, generally, you want the mage to take it. In some case, you will want your support to take it. By example it can be good on ares so that he has a lower cooldown on his ult. This way he is more likely to be able to ult someone before he gets back his purification beads. Otherwise some physical damage carry are mana hungry and can benefit from the buff. It’s your mage cannot take it because he is dead then it’s better that one takes it than wasting the buff.
The red is usually taken by the physical damage carry so that he has a chance during early to get picks. During the late, mana is usually not an issue so the mage is usually fine without the blue. At this point you want your best damage dealer to take the buff. I don’t need to explain to you complicated math, 20% of a big number is more than 20% of a smaller number.
The level 5
When the teams get to level 5, they get their ultimates. If your team as a better level 5 or you get 5 faster, you usually want to team fight. Else you should try to play on the defense.
The mid to late game
During the mid to late game, you want to play the objectives. You are looking to take the tower the phoenix. And your best way to take these(outside of a deicide) is the bull demon king buff.
vqn vqn! Ward that thing. You need vision on the enemy team. You need to know if they are trying to do the bull demon king. If you are ahead, you want to set up the demon king. Want to deward the camp so that they have no vision, you can bait them to come and get a pick. If they are not coming, you can do it and send your support to defend the zone(or the person that can defend). By defending the demon I mean going to the intersection that leads to the king and preventing the enemy from contesting the buff. This buff is really powerful so you really want to contest it.
If you manage to get the buff, if the enemies are defending the base. Go back to your base, buy some items, group up then push.This way you get to have time to buy and your team will be grouped up. If you are at advantage, which is very likely since you have the buff, you want to push the enemy structure.
If things go well, you will be able to keep your lead and take the next bull demon king and end the game with it.
Conclusion
This covers the fundamentals of joust. I hope this helps. Not everything is in the guide. If you want to win consistently, you need to know the gods well and fight well.
This is my first guide and English isn’t my first language. I’m sorry if you find mistakes.
If you want to point out mistakes or have suggestions, let me know in the comments.