general advice/thoughts/opinions/suggestions/etc:
early game:
- melee heroines which don't benefit from spending their mp on their enemies (for example, trying to lane as Tenshi, vs Minoriko) can alternatively buy two cakes for their regen, so you can stay in the lane for a longer time (if you play carefully enough) and avoiding losing exp from healing at the base (one of the cakes can either be turned into Bento/Reitaisai ticket later, or Scythe)
- you can start with bento if you feel you can harass your opponents (Tenshi feels better off with two cakes, though, if you start with Fissure and masochism passive) with your mp
- blue (movespeed up) cards are useful if you feel you're a squishy, gankable heroine, or if you want to be able to chase better for a low price (enemy heroines running towards their towers may not expect you to use one)
- if you're having difficulties to farm and lane exchange options aren't seemingly viable either, think about surviving for long enough for your team members to farm well enough without the other heroines on your lane feeding on you. You may die a couple times as a support heroine, but if your teammate manages to have more kills/levels/money than the person laning against you, you increase your team's chances in most cases
- sometimes purposefully not killing heroines early (around lvl 3, 4, somewhere) but effectively denying them exp from your damage potential threat is more effective. If they leave you no choice (regarding you denying them exp) and you can kill them.. check the minimap quickly for the other enemies
- when you're at the side lanes, you can buy tickets and the small/large hp/mp regen items (not consumables) -- cakes, provided that you're not against a nuker or against a dps or against a disabler+someone else, can make you stay in the lane for longer
- when you're at the mid lane, you can (with proper timing) bring the neutral creeps near the middle tower towards the middle tower (they don't stay at the middle tower, though). Like in DotA's scourge side, this earns you early exp and gold, and brings the enemy creep line towards your tower, which is good in early game since it keeps the laning opponent from trying to deny creeps, under the risk of a disable or being attacked by the tower if they attack your heroine (or if the tower's target dies and then the opponent's the nearest target). Speaking of bringing enemy creep lines nearer to your towers, you can try to block creeps while you go along with them to delay them (like in DotA, as well)
- if both you and your opponent are melee heroines (and neither of you are dual-laning), you can sometimes bait your opponent into hitting you if this will cause the allied creeps near him/her to aggro him and do more damage than the single attack you've taken
- watch out for heroines which are in the mid lane, since at times she has the mobility/disables/damage (which goes well if the one you're laning with is a disabler, for example) to try to assist the person at the nearest lane
- keep in mind how much damage the heroine laning against you can do, and also mind the extra safety hp you'll need if Tenshi's on the opponent team, or if you're laning against Komachi (over 50%) or Yugi (at least over 25% if she doesn't proc the horn; timing out her ult will still guarantee 25% damage, though)
- also keep in mind the opponent heroine's mp, if they can't combo and kill you, you can deny and last hit better
- heroines with escape mechanisms (blinks, movespeed, stuns, slows, etc) are safer to start learning how to play, though you still can die from ganks (being outdisabled, for example). For example, Alice, Reisen and Tewi are riskier to play in this aspect.
- finally, get used to spending money with Bus Tickets, not only can you switch lanes quickly for helping minimize damage on the towers there, but they can save you if you're caught far from your tower (against enemies who can't withstand tower damage well enough for killing you and getting out alive) if you try to use them while the opponent's disable is on cooldown, for example. (this also means that, if you and the opponent are in an inverse situation, you can wait for the opponent heroine to start teleporting and then use your disable to cancel it)
character specific advice:
- if you're using Tewi, it's very likely that someone on the opponent team will pick Tenshi for her harassment (fissure and ult), given Tewi's low hp. Have your team decide how to deal with this (by trying to babysit Tewi or by switching lanes on sight), or if Tewi is really worth picking in this scenario.
- same case with Kanako, where someone on the opponent team will likely try to pick Letty for outranging MoF and thus evening both team's siege potential (or likely shifting it towards Letty's side -- haven't seen Kanako's side trying to use Soy Sauce in this scenario, though)
- if you plan on using Cirno so that your ult disables your opponents' front line, keep in mind that Tenshi's passive rock will interrupt the chanelling
- Hina's ult is countered by Sanae's or Reimu's, and alternatively, Hina herself can be focused if she uses ult (so to minimize the amount of damage she reflects), but generally, if she's collecting damage done to creeps/summons/allies, especially through AoEs from your team, RUN.
- if you're using Rumia, the opponent team has the option to pick either Momiji or Wriggle since their anti-invisibility skills can make Rumia more disable-able (Momiji herself can reveal+shieldbash Rumia, for assisting or running away, until Rumia decides to switch lanes for easier heroines to kill, at least :p)
mid game:
- if you need to farm neutrals, you can try to farm neutrals which are near to the opponent's base for the sake of denying the opponent team; make sure that the opponents are visible on the minimap first, though, since being ganked can lead to a situation where not only you die, but some players trying to save you also do die by being outnumbered by the opposite team if they regroup first
- when enough players of the opponent team have died, your team has an opportunity to push. Don't try to inflict heavy damage to double towers, though, unless your team really can reach them with a good amount of hp/mp and has means of getting away alive (in some cases, teamfights at the towers don't occur, just the damage to towers before the defending team is regrouped)
- when enough players of the opponent team have died but your team's hp isn't enough to attempt a push, farm the lane or neutrals while pushing forward, you can even farm neutrals but try to stay near your teammates so that you can help them if the opponent team try to start a teamfight; leaving your team to be outnumbered is disadvantageous. Think of the exp and gold (equipments) the opponent heroines will gain faster, and the level gaps.
- start discussing with your teammates about who's getting which item (for example, if someone's getting Phoenix, you can try to get Parasol, or Reitaisai, or Moderators, or Myon, or ZUN glasses, or Inaba Stick if you have aspd, among other options)
character choices:
- think of how much disables you and the opponent team have (consider AoE disables such as stuns, slows, as well as single-target ones); having too much tankers on your team may mean they can't get in to the other team without taking severe damage, plus being outdisabled means it's safer for the opponent team to try to push, as well as saving themselves and punishing your teammembers for trying to attack them
- if the opponent team has strong magic damage potential, make use of healing skills and other support skills such as Nazrin's pendulum and magic-invincibility skills (Koakuma and Remilia are special cases, in which it's disadvantageous to try to get many people to try to attack them at once. Still, Sanae's ult, for example, can allow your team to fight without taking Koa's massive bouncing damage, provided that your team can kill someone before Sanae's ult ends)
- think of the opponent team's push potential (for example, heroines who can deal heavy damage against towers and heroines who can kill creeps faster). For example, Letty can blizzard creeps while Yuuka can ult and then melee towers while she casts sunflowers around herself. Rin can bring flaming zombies which both remove creeps and converts them into more flaming zombies which in turn deal damage to towers, Alice can rush towers, Kanako can defend towers, Hina can use her ult emergencially to help kill creeps while her teammates are arriving (or waiting for respawn). Reimu can duplex tanks being attacked by the towers, Nazrin can cast pendulum too.
- there are certain heroines which rely more on teamplay than others, and those using them should consider the teammates' character picks (examples that come to mind now are: Letty, Flandre and Alice. There are characters which are relatively safe to use due to defensive resources but don't have as much teamplay potential or their potential doesn't change much inside and outside teamfights, examples being imho Suika, Marisa and Kaguya)
