LOL: I just turned 18, let me fight back and be reborn

Chapter 369 A Blade in My Arms, A Swift Wind!
"Why are they still playing this kind of top lane? It's a bit different from what we expected."

Listening to the chattering around him, Oner whispered to his teammates.

The nerfs to Quesant in the World Championship patch, with a host of QWER mechanics-wide nerfs implemented ahead of schedule, have almost completely stripped Quesant of his "fighting Quesant" attributes, turning him into a pure tank hero.

There is actually some credit to Ye Bo for making his work in the central unit so successful.

This hero's win rate in ranked games has plummeted to a paltry 40%, making him a purely mechanic-driven competitive hero. In casual games, even a dog wouldn't play him.

In the eyes of professional players, this hero's current image is similar to Sion's.

T1 initially thought that with the World Championship version, V5 would either fully implement the Asian Games' "top and mid lane swap" strategy and make it "normal"—or they would have to make the top lane follow the same meta.

No matter what they do, they will inevitably create new, undeniable gaps!

Therefore, T1 is actually very confident that they can achieve "revenge" in this World Championship.

The result was unexpected.

It seems that V5 is still choosing to continue using the same tactics as in the Summer Split?

However, the qualifying rounds have already proven that the strategies and systems used in the Summer Split are inherently limited in this version, which is itself a weakness.
"It might be a smokescreen. Let's wait and see." Lee Sang-hyeok pondered and hesitated, not jumping to conclusions.

Upon hearing his older brother's words, Oner immediately forgot his own thoughts, stretched his arms back, and turned to look at Zeus beside him: "Yuqi, is it easy for Oner to catch grasshoppers?"

"Huh? Choi Woo-gi?"

"Ah," Zeus finally snapped out of his daze after being called out twice, "I don't know, I don't play Yone mid."

Summoner's Rift has arrived.

Seeing that both sides had a normal start, the commentators were also broadcasting live.

"Malzac's E skill [Demon Illusion] was buffed in patch 12.22 last year, adding a 'execute low-health minions' mechanism, which actually improved his wave clear efficiency quite a bit."

After Guan Zeyuan finished speaking, he added his own understanding: "However, there must be a reason why this hero is still completely ignored. The main reason is that his direct combat strength is relatively weak. It can be said that all his abilities are for 'single-point restriction'."

To be honest, this hero was indeed a tactic specially prepared by Xu Xiu and DK.

It could even be said that it was a tactic specifically prepared "for V5".

After all, the rules of the Swiss system had been announced long ago, and DK already knew that they had a 1/4 chance of drawing V5. In addition, there was a little bit of chemistry between the two teams, so they came up with this tactic.

If we're just talking about pushing lanes, there are many functional mid-laners with high lane-pushing efficiency—Malzac's uniqueness lies in his {safety}!

Especially after leveling up, you only need one E skill to push the minion wave from afar by constantly "spreading" it. Enemy heroes even have to worry about being "spread" and dare not get too close to the minion wave!

It can achieve a complete "Avoidance of War"!
The core of this tactic and its underlying logic are quite clear: the well-known strategy of limiting V5's mid lane!

Malzahar's ultimate ability, [Netherworld Grip], is one of the most powerful fixed-point controls in the League of Legends. It possesses the noble and unique "Suppression" control, and it is also a "0-frame instant cast" control with "no pre-cast animation or warning"!

Even a champion like Yone, who can "control and cancel out" abilities, is helpless against Malzahar.

After all, Yone's control cancellation, regardless of what skill it is, requires him to act before the opponent. And the instant suppression with zero pre-cast delay means that Yone can only achieve this if he anticipates the opponent's move.

It's simply impossible to rely on reaction time to execute maneuvers!
Fast wave clear, safe wave clear, crowd control that cannot be countered by Mercury's Treads or Cleanse, and a single champion can make the opponent very difficult to control.
It looks like it's perfect for dealing with V5!
However, DK originally imagined that V5 would choose assassins like Talon, Qiyana, and LeBlanc, which Ye Bo used extensively at the end of the Summer Split—that way, Malzahar could directly disable the opponent's mid-lane carry in team fights!
Even if the grasshopper's role is really just that—a mid-lane swap—DK undoubtedly makes a huge profit!
Ye Bo wasn't very familiar with Malzahar's mechanics, after all, this hero was indeed too unpopular, and he didn't know anyone in the 'Void Family'.
It's definitely not a skill-related issue.

This thing hasn't undergone any major changes since its rework in Season 6. Everyone knows the skills; it's mainly about some tips and tricks for laning, or laning experience.

However, there are acquaintances in the team.

"Brother Gun, have you played Malzahar top lane before? Are there any things to be aware of when laning against this champion?"

Just as Li Xuanjun was about to start the laning phase, he began searching his mind.

He actually played top lane Malzahar in a match before, and due to V5's special tactical arrangements, he recently dug out a bunch of weird and wonderful heroes from the bottom of the box.

Grasshoppers were among them.

"There doesn't seem to be anything particularly noteworthy about this hero. The main thing is to interrupt his passive shield as much as possible; the 30-second cooldown resets when he takes damage from a hero."

"Wait, it seems there really is one!"

I was disgusted by this.

Many heroes that seem simple have many little-known tricks—and most of them can only be discovered by playing them yourself and experiencing the frustration.

For example, there is a very "counterintuitive" way to deal with grasshoppers.

And this is something that only the person playing the grasshopper game can know; the person on the other side of the grasshopper game will be completely unaware of it.

The mid-lane laning phase has begun.

Xu Xiu was clearly in a great mood at the very beginning of the match, believing that he had finally caught the opponent's "information gap".

Although he didn't practice much, after all, not many teams rely so heavily on one position, and the grasshopper's performance is not versatile.

However, YE on the other side clearly has absolutely no experience fighting grasshoppers!

He discovered that Yone, perhaps because he was a melee champion, often seemed to misjudge distances and would stand next to minions with the Shadow Phantom and "foolishly" get hit by the E skill's contagion.

The "contagious" kill trait of the Grasshopper [Demon Illusion] is the essence of this skill:

If the Fiendish Illusion on a killed minion spreads multiple times, it's equivalent to Malzahar using only one skill to "push the lane while harassing the enemy."

One skill can produce N effects!
can.

It wasn't until the third E was "taken away" by Yong-eun that Xu Xiu finally realized something was wrong.
"In the mid lane matchup, Xu Ge actually seems to be taking the initiative? He even has a health advantage!"

Guan Zeyuan was also somewhat surprised when he saw the exchange of blows in the mid lane.

But I remember noticing something was wrong: "Something seems off, Brother Guan. Didn't you notice that the grasshopper's mana bar is almost empty even though he's not even level four yet? Yone hasn't even drunk any potions!"

"And why do I have this feeling that Master Ye deliberately went to pick up that E?"

Under normal circumstances, when anyone sees a low-health minion with the poison buff standing next to them, their first reaction will be to quickly move away to avoid secondary transmission.

But actually.

Especially in the early game, the grasshopper is actually very afraid of "disconnecting from E"!
This is because the grasshopper is very mana-hungry; a single QWE combo can consume more than a third of the mana bar.

The key to sustain lies in the passive effect of the E skill: {each unit killed by the Shadow Illusion restores mana to Malzahar}.

If Malzahar's E skill is "spread" to a hero beforehand and fails to clear the wave, then Malzahar essentially loses 90% of his wave-pushing ability!
Being able to clear a wave of minions with a single skill is a hero's advantage.

But it can also be a loophole to exploit!

Xu Xiu also noticed the problem, but found that she seemed to have no solution.

Because Malzahar's E only deals a mere 80 damage in the early game, Yone's W shield can negate most of it—Yone is also a champion with no mana cost!
Even if you keep using your body to absorb E, you won't lose much health at all!

It's important to know that there are two main purposes for picking Malzahar. One is to keep an eye on the opponent during the laning phase, as the jungler won't gank mid lane before level six.

But now, Malzahar's E skill can only clear one minion at most, and then Yone will immediately use "Body Take the Poison".
China's sovereignty over the Middle Route is in dire need of attention!
The key point is that even if Malzahar doesn't have a minion wave advantage, he doesn't dare to go too far forward. Once Yone gets close and hits him, he'll be in danger!
"Hey Xu, should I help you gank first?" Lucid, the young jungler, couldn't help but speak up when he saw his mid laner suffering.

"It's okay! Don't disrupt your rhythm!" Xu Xiu showed a determined look in her eyes.

Seeing his older brother speak, Lucid boldly headed to the bottom lane.

As the only bottom laner who doesn't know how to play with two marksmen, DK has been practicing hard in the region for a long time. The key to breaking the deadlock is to exploit the weak survivability of the two marksmen duo.

"The enemy jungler might be here too, don't worry."

Policewoman Verus boldly pushed her way across the line, and it didn't look like there was anyone behind her.

It's hard to say what will happen in a 3v3 match, but the side that attacks first will definitely be at a slight disadvantage. Besides, if they wait for a while, they might be able to ambush the enemy jungler.

Lucid was extremely patient, and the opposing bot lane duo still looked very aggressive, though they seemed to be a little more cautious in their positioning.

at last.

Lucid's patience ran out after squatting for almost twenty seconds.

"I can't do this anymore, can I even get there? If they keep ambushing me, my jungle clearing pace will be too slow!"

Delight glanced at their positions, then looked towards the bushes where the prince might be: "Sure, I can block the prince for you."

The two were about to carry it out.

But unexpectedly—a startled cry suddenly came from the middle lane!
"Hey, the prince's here!" Xu Xiu, who was unexpectedly caught off guard by a flanking EQ combo that forced him to flash, shouted as he looked at the spot where the enemy had emerged. "They should have already finished clearing our top red buff area!"

The three DK bot laners instantly looked grim.

Is the prince in the upper half of the bracket?

So we were just outsmarting the air for half a minute!?
The reason why DK's three players thought that the prince was below was because the enemy's bottom lane duo played too arrogantly. It can be said that if they had come out directly earlier, they could have forced at least two flashes.

How dare the enemy bot lane!
This is actually V5's understanding of the World Championship version.

While it may appear to be the same lineup, its core has undergone changes.

In the Summer Split, the bot lane was dominated by carry champions, but with the changing landscape of the World Championship, at least for V5, the bot lane is more suited to being a "tool".

The key point is "tools", not "functions".

The difference between the two is that "Function" is an attribute similar to Ashe, Jhin, and Ziggs, which mainly provides control and functionality. These heroes are generally weak in laning and fighting, and may even seem a bit "playing it safe".

However, the attribute of the "Tool" bot lane is not only to avoid picking such weak early-game utility heroes—but also to pick heroes that are strong in the early game as much as possible!

These heroes may be easy to kill, or they may not be strong enough in the late game.

What we need is the ability to replace advantages!
Just like this wave.

Even though this "life-risking restraint" resulted in V5's bot lane being caught out and forced to use two Flashes, or even dying—Vi's top half of the red buff area had been completely invaded, and the matchup in the jungle had been widened!

The strengths of the two marksmen were already evident in the Asian Games; even if they were caught out once or twice in the early game, they could still hold their own in the laning phase.

This is what is called "displacement advantage"!
Of course, Beryl dared to be so brazen in his cover-up to this extent because the opposing bot lane didn't have two equally strong marksmen in lane, and their support lacked strong engage potential.
"Can we just brute force it? I'm out of jungle camps to farm!" Lucid's tone was already getting anxious.

Delight stared intently at the policewoman.

Vi threw a punch directly, but even Beryl, with his slightly slower reaction time, could use Caitlyn's E skill to escape from such a long-range attack.
But the next moment.

Poppy suddenly moved in sync, using minions as a springboard to dash forward with [Heroic Charge], and activated her W skill in mid-air, creating a golden halo!
A crisp "clang!" sound rang out.

It seems that Poppy actually "caught up" with Caitlyn in sync, taking advantage of the slow projectile speed of Caitlyn's E skill, and then using W to catch her in the middle!

The most needed skill for a support player is actually the ability to seize that one moment of opportunity.

"What the heck!?" Guan Zeyuan, who was about to pop the champagne, widened his eyes: "It seems like the female police officer's E was interrupted at the very edge of the W distance!?"

"Fortunately, the policewoman used a double DF attack to escape, so there's no chance she'll be caught later."

I remember letting out a sigh of relief before smiling and saying, "Poppy's W is indeed hard to dodge, which shows how difficult it was for Master Ye's Yone to almost touch Poppy during the Asian Games."

"But V5 really came out ahead this time! The Prince essentially took control of three jungle areas and even managed to catch a mid laner using Flash!"

V5's mid and jungle players gained a significant advantage at the start of the game.

Unfortunately, this advantage did not expand rapidly.

The prince continued to attempt an invasion, but Quesanti, who came to support him, was outmaneuvered and became disoriented. Meanwhile, the crocodile, with its stable combat power, exerted maximum deterrence, so the prince opted for a safer approach and abandoned the idea of ​​attacking the upper half of the territory.

The reason is that the mid lane is a core position, and its fighting power is not enough in the early game. At the same time, Quesanti is a complete idiot before level six.

Fortunately, at 5 minutes, taking advantage of their jungle advantage and the fact that Malzahar was weak before reaching level 6, V5 secured the first dragon.

And immediately after.

The second wave of competition between the junglers from both sides also began simultaneously.

On one side, there's Malzahar, who has finally reached level six and has his ultimate ability to coordinate ganks, either counter-ganking or initiating attacks.

On one side, there's the bottom lane with two marksmen who are about to turn around and start dominating again if they don't catch them using Flash soon.

"The mid laners should all be heading back to base; both junglers are moving towards the bottom lane this wave."

The focus from God's perspective is on the 3v3 battle that seems poised to unfold in the bottom lane.

But just when it seemed a bloody melee was about to erupt in the bottom lane, and everyone was holding their breath in anticipation...

The director's view suddenly shifted back to the middle lane!

"Ok?"

I didn't see why it happened.

When everyone turned around, all they saw was Yone seemingly trying to split himself into a clone and rush into the tower!

The grasshopper under the tower, shielded by a purple magic immunity shield, reacted extremely quickly, turning its head and glaring as it used [Netherworld Grip] to pull the opponent towards it.
But suddenly, a burst of golden light appeared.

As Yone's figure flashed forward, his form also shifted in mid-air.

It was as if he pulled out a blade from his pocket and pierced the purple light shield first, while a gust of wind followed closely behind!

"what happened!?"

(End of this chapter)