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Chapter 414 Top Lane Viktor? A Kill-Defying Black Technology Strategy!

"It's over, it's over. I just got annoyed by a tanky Viktor top laner last night. He was really one against all five of us, and we just couldn't kill him. His shield was thicker than my health bar!"

"No way? What was EDG thinking? What were Maokai's pre-match preparations like? How could they not be prepared for a top lane Viktor strategy that's been popular for so long?"

"If you don't understand, just ask: Is Viktor really that strong in the top lane? Then why was he almost never picked in the group stage?"

"Some team must have used this tactic in a scrim and completely exposed everyone's weaknesses."

"..."

It's uncommon in the group stage, but half of the surprising new techniques that suddenly appeared were those that had proven effective in scrims!

The lineups for both sides were thus officially finalized.

EDG (blue side) - Top lane Sion, Jungle Taliyah, Mid lane Irelia, Bot lane Xayah + Alistar.

FNC, on the red side, had Viktor in the top lane, Xin Zhao in the jungle, Syndra in the mid lane, and Sivir and Braum in the bot lane.

"To be fair, EDG's lineup is generally a bit too aggressive, while Fnatic has an extremely strong ability to counter-engage."

"With Braum's shield, Viktor's field of effect, and Syndra's crowd control ability, it's difficult for EDG to perform well in team fights, especially Kshine's Irelia. The opponent's Braum pick was just too brilliant."

Xiaosan shared her thoughts on the lineup.

In any case, based on his understanding of the game, Fnatic's lineup was clearly superior.

The laning phase is particularly comfortable in the top and bottom lanes, except that the mid lane is under a bit more pressure.

"In other words, the pressure is once again on Kshine. His Irelia needs to step up and lead the game in the early game."

"That's pretty much the gist of it, but Kshine has created so many miracles, we can totally trust him!"

On the field, the EDG players looked relaxed, not at all thinking their lineup was bad.

"They really did build Viktor on the other side." Wang Yao chuckled. "I knew it!"

"Alright, alright, you win."

Maokai laughed along, then patted Wang Yao's shoulder forcefully, "Then you should take care of him more this game. Our margin for error is indeed not high, so we must play well in the early and mid-game!"

"Don't worry!" Wang Yao grinned mischievously. "I'll definitely take good care of them."

After explaining all this, Maokai left the players' bench, took off his headphones, shook hands with the coach opposite him, and then turned and left.

The stage is completely handed over to the contestants.

Top lane Viktor!
EDG certainly knows this strategy; it's a strategy that's already become very popular in Korean solo queue games, so even without specifically looking into it, they would know about it.

But why didn't EDG take any precautions against this tactic? The reason is quite simple!
Top lane Viktor is indeed very strong, but this strategy is not invincible; it has a fatal flaw.

EDG is preparing to target this hero's fatal flaws!

"Gao Tianliang! Let's teach that enemy top laner a lesson and see if he dares to pick Viktor again next game!"

"OK!" Xiao Tian readily agreed.

This is such a powerful strategy, capable of taking on multiple opponents in the late game. Why didn't EDG use it? Because the top lane Kleptomancy Viktor build has a major weakness.

That means it was too weak in the early game.

Iceborn Gauntlet Viktor follows a tanky mage build, with core items being Iceborn Gauntlet, Archangel's Staff, and Abyssal Mask. With these three items, you get plenty of armor, magic resistance, ability power, and cooldown reduction.

The core skill build for Iceborn Gauntlet Viktor is to max Q. After evolving Q, its extremely short cooldown and high shield bonus, along with the ability to extend the shield's duration, make it incredibly powerful. In the late game, once cooldown reduction is maximized to 45%, seamless shield usage becomes virtually impossible.

This is one of the reasons why some people say that in the late game, Viktor's shield is longer than his health bar!

It seems like an impeccable strategy, but anyone who has played Viktor knows that there is a fatal flaw in it!
That is, the development cycle is too long. Even if you bring [Kleptomancy], it only slightly accelerates your development, but it is still not enough compared to the sky-high price required to complete the equipment.

That's secondary.

The real core reason lies in this.

Because the main focus is on Q, and Hextech items also require prioritizing the evolution of the Q skill, Viktor's wave clear ability becomes insufficient!

Without wave clear ability, it means the opponent can easily push the minion wave into the turret and then tower dive to kill!

Viktor's only survival skill is W, but before evolving, the effect of W is negligible!
EDG capitalized on this and launched a relentless attack on Viktor in the top lane.

The match officially entered Summoner's Rift. Fnatic had Braum, the king of level 1 team fights, but they did not choose to invade rashly. Both sides were very conservative at the start!

"Look! The key to this game is still in the mid lane. Let's see how Kshine sets the pace for the whole game!"

Miller laughed and said, "I'm not worried about that. Kshine never lets us down."

If you want to tower dive, lane control is very important!

On the top lane, don't be fooled by EDG's choice of Sion. Sion's wave clear ability is actually quite good, and the damage dealt by a fully charged Q is considerable.

Sion only loses lane control when facing agile fighter champions with crowd control abilities.

You don't need to worry about this when laning against Viktor.

As for the mid lane, Irelia can easily gain lane control even when facing a group of strong male warriors in the top lane, let alone in the mid lane against these mages with weak basic stats.

Syndra's greatest strength lies in casting while moving, with her Q skill having an extremely short cooldown and AOE damage.

Syndra ultimately lacks mobility, so once Irelia reaches level 2, Syndra has to be extra careful with her positioning.

If you get caught by the Twin Blades, you'll at least have to use Flash to escape.

Back in MSI, when Wang Yao first picked up the reworked Irelia, he ruthlessly crushed Syndra.

Under such immense laning pressure, Syndra dared not push the lane aggressively, while Irelia pushed the lane without any pressure, as long as there were minions to charge her Q.

In the early game, facing the mid-jungle duo of Xin Zhao and Syndra, 1v2 is not a difficult task.

In the jungle, Taliyah's jungle clearing and map traversal efficiency far surpasses Xin Zhao's.

In other words, EDG had already begun to intentionally target Viktor in the top lane from the draft phase.

Fnatic is also facing a lot of headaches.

At the start of the game, jungler broxah was planning his jungle clearing strategy. Xin Zhao is a tempo-oriented jungler, and this type of jungler must analyze their team composition at the beginning of the game.

Where should we catch it, and how should we catch it?

After glancing at the lineups of EDG and their own team, the bot lane does have a slight chance.

After all, Braum has a certain ability to keep enemies in place, and the mid lane is the best place to coordinate. Syndra has a strong ability to initiate and keep enemies in place, but her burst damage comes after level 6 and when she has her ultimate.

(End of this chapter)