LPL History

Chapter 291 Sion's Clever Battle Against Maokai, Clearlove's Two-Level Breakthrough in the Bottom Lane

In the live stream, netizens were still discussing Zhou Li's incredible draft picks.

[What a talent! Picking Sion to take down a Maokai.]

[Hilarious! This kid even tried to steal the pick/ban privileges from Chris.]

[I have a question: How do you play Sion against Maokai? Maokai's WQ combo can easily interrupt Sion's Q.]

All I can say is that this kid has a good understanding of the game.

[It seems like LGD has already submitted their draft picks.]

EDG's lineup is too solid; I can't imagine how they could lose.

At this point, both sides had entered the game.

As the team's commander, pyl sent a signal towards EDG's lower jungle.

"Let's launch a level one invasion. We have Sion."

However, Zhou Li seemed to have completely ignored Hirano Aya's words and ran straight towards the top lane after leaving the fountain.

"Zhou Li! Where are you going? Come join the level 1 guild!"

Upon hearing Hirano Aya's call again, Zhou Li couldn't help but speak up;

"Dude, why is your mind so focused on level 1 team fights? You want to fight Sion at level 1 every time? Don't you even look at the other useless guys on the team?"

Zhou Li's words made Hirano Aya pause for a moment, but she still said:
"Sion is invincible in level 1 team fights. As long as you can land your Q on two or three people, we can fight them however we want."

"Sorry, I've already pressed the Q key."

Seeing that Zhou Li was determined not to join the team, Hirano Aya had no choice but to give up.

But what everyone thought was Zhou Li's joke about pressing the Q key was actually true.

This is also the main reason why Zhou Li refused to join the first-level regiment.

Because his Undead Warrior doesn't have Q.

In a conventional sense, Sion is actually at a disadvantage in the laning phase against Maokai.

Because the tree can easily interrupt Sion's key skill, Q.

Sion's Q skill requires a long charging time to achieve higher damage and knock-up effect, while Maokai's Q and W can easily interrupt it.

It's fair to say that when facing a large tree, Sion is essentially missing a skill.

So Zhou Li's idea was simple: since he was missing a skill, he might as well not learn it!

Why not just use WE's two skills to attack each other?
He picked Sion in this game, clearly determined to play a split-push strategy.

However, this single-strap technique also requires a high level of technical skill.

First and foremost, you absolutely cannot lose the lane!

The "suicide Sion" strategy that became widely popular later on is basically ineffective in professional matches.

If you dare to play the suicide strategy, given a professional player's understanding of minion waves and teamwork, you might die before the minion wave even pushes the tower.

Furthermore, the current version of the defensive towers does not have plating, so the suicide strategy cannot supplement development through plating.

Does that mean the suicide strategy can't be played anymore?
It's playable!

Especially in this version when no one has any concept of the suicide strategy, you can definitely catch them off guard, but you can only enjoy it once.

Moreover, you can't just send someone to their death right away.

Zhou Li must win the lane first!

If they feed right away, not only will they probably not even see the enemy's turrets, but it will also give EDG a speed boost, causing the other two lanes to collapse as well.

Professional teams have a snowballing ability unlike casual players.

Winning the lane and dying are seemingly contradictory concepts, and both are extremely difficult to execute.

First, you can't solo kill your opponent while winning the lane. Because once you kill an enemy champion, you gain a bounty. This means that if you die later, it will provide EDG with extra gold.

Furthermore, this version includes an item that can greatly enhance Sion's tower-pushing capabilities.

That is the flag of command!
The Banner of Command can empower an allied minion to help you push towers quickly.

This item is actually an ancient item, which was introduced at the end of Season 2. It was originally designed to replace the Summoner Spell "Promotion".

However, just like the Summoner Spell called Promotion which has been largely ignored, the Banner of Command has also been largely removed since its release.

However, this item received an epic buff in the last version!
Riot Games added an extra mechanic to the Banner of Command item—

"Immune to magic damage!"
The so-called immunity to magic damage means that no amount of magic damage can harm this enhanced minion.

If you want to clear this buffed minion, you can only rely on AD damage, which will be a huge headache for AP heroes.

Looking at EDG's lineup, Maokai, Nunu, LeBlanc, Kog'Maw, and Janna are all AP damage champions except for Kog'Maw. Even Kog'Maw deals mixed damage!
This is simply a heavenly game where you issue the flag of command!

Zhou Li arrived online, paused in the bushes, and then stopped moving.

Before he can quickly clear waves with Tiamat, his only task right now is to ensure his own development.

With both sides' minions reaching their lanes, the top laners on both sides started farming minions.

With Sion on one side and Maokai on the other, it's highly unlikely that there will be any intense battles between these two tanks in the top lane.

After all, it's unlikely that anyone could solo kill the opponent.

The braised pork belly wielded by the large tree did not exhibit excessive aggressiveness.

He actually wanted to attack.

However, he couldn't figure out the routines of Zhou rituals.

Since Zhou Li was released, he hasn't used any skills. As for Kou Rou Da Shu's skills, they're definitely going to be saved for a follow-up interrupt.

And so, amidst Kou Rou's suspicions and probing, the two sides reached level two.

From level one to level two, Zhou Li's Sion clearly became more aggressive.

He started using his skills to whittle down Koro1's health.

Sion's E skill can reach a very long distance by colliding with minions.

After being hit by two skills in a row, Kou Rou was naturally unwilling to just passively take the beating, so he took the initiative to push forward.

When the big tree approached, Sion walked away, clearly not wanting to exchange blood and only wanting to get free blood.

Kou Rou simply handed over the Asian bondage and relied on the passive ability to recover some health, then turned around and left as well.

He always had his Q skill ready, and as soon as he saw Sion use Q, he would immediately interrupt it, thus making the trade very profitable for him.

What Kou Rou clearly didn't know was that the Sion who was following behind him and attacking him hadn't even learned the Q skill!
Kou Rou retreated while being chased and attacked by Sion.

Seeing that the opponent hadn't used Q even after fighting for so long, Koro1 couldn't hold back any longer and turned around to slap the ground.

But the next moment, a blood-red dome enveloped Sion!

"He didn't even learn Q!"

The braised pork belly was stunned for a moment.

Sion's shield perfectly negated the damage from Maokai, and at the same time, Sion's E skill cooldown had been refreshed!
Zhou Li slowed down to the tree, then walked forward and blasted the shield away with a bang. Before Koro could retaliate, he had already retreated.

After the exchange of blows, Sion only had his clothes slightly dirty, while Maokai was left somewhat disoriented.

Kou Rou quickly regained his composure and decided to wait until level three before seeking revenge.

Zhou Li was very satisfied with his blood exchange. Just when he thought he could live a peaceful laning life, imp, who had just been shouting "I'll kill Daipute!" with great ambition, changed his target to I'm only two minutes into the game.

"Damn it, Factory Director Ba! Why are you being investigated by both levels of management?!"

(End of this chapter)