Granted, you arent gonna interrupt every one of your opponent's casts in a match due to lag spikes or just general latency. But I do feel that after the first time a Reg player starts dropping mines in a match, you will be more mentally prepared to anticipate it and not only see him pull his arm back to drop them, but also notice hes stopped shooting, or just outright guess when it would make the most sense to toss them.
So from my perspective, this is what mines really look like on this topic. Off the top of my head the ideal situations where I would drop mines offensively are:
Getting Rushed by a melee focused DG:
Against characters like Sedna, Oak, Erebus, or UB, I can not risk letting them get into melee before I drop mines. The chances of getting Silenced, Stunned, Penitenced, Pounced, or Misted are too high, and mines are my sole source of close range burst damage.
The main way an opponent can counter this is to immediately change direction once they see the Mine toss animation. Due to its cast time and somewhat shorter range, I usually have to guess the best direction and range to throw them. If the opponent is oblivious and continues forward as if nothing happened, yea hes gonna be eating some serious damage before he can open up on me.
If the enemy switches direction at the last minute however, they usually wont be in the full spread of mines and at least mitigate some of the damage, leaving me with a much lower chance of survival now that my mines are on cooldown and I cant really run him into the remaining active mines.
Assisting a DG already engaged with an ally:
This is also a good scenario to drop mines offensively if you are absolutely certain the fight will remain stationary long enough to get in range and drop them.
Against an opponent or average awareness, assisting with mines will usually only work at the fights onset, and only when both combatants are unlikely to run away from each other. This approach is unreliable in a 2v1 scenario because if the enemy DG has half a brain, he will not engage.
This will also not work well unless the combat area is flooded with creeps and other visual distractions; Because the mines are shorter range than your crossbow, Regulus has to stop his firing and walk towards the enemy. This movement makes it a bit obvious what you are planning and as a result, the fight might shift while you are in cast animation, especially if you have already done this a few times before in the same match.
This also doesn't work well if your ally has a great level advantage over the opponent. Once the opponent is psychologically dominated into permenantly disengaging from your ally, it will be unlikely you will ever be able to set up a good assist mine bomb.
Presently engaged by a melee focused DG:
This approach is a last ditch effort and something that needs to be timed when you are certain your opponent has no interrupt abilities off cooldown. Tanking melee DG's that have invested in HP and Lifesteal is almost certain doom for Regulus. To be totally honest though, this is a desperate measure that has a pretty uncertain success rate, depending on your opponent.
If the enemy survives, you have very few options short of trinkets and potions to win the damage race. The mines will put you ahead, but if the enemy DG is wearing the appropriate gear and is of comparable level, that lead will not last long.
I really have had a much greater margin of success with using mines in ways besides just dropping them in front of me. It only works vs. DGs with crap HP and/or poor offensive abilities.
