You actually want me to...

"It's alright... just look at it for fun."

Pantheon's burst of power just now was so intense that even JKL himself didn't understand it, let alone JDG. The three auto-attacks triggered Press the Attack with the empowered W, plus the damage from the auto-attacks and Q skill, Bard's health bar disappeared almost visibly.

If he had picked an AD carry that could deal damage in the early game, he probably could have used Flash to kill the enemy Bardyan.

It's safe to say that this is truly an unconventional, underworld-level support ability; it's terrifyingly powerful.

"What's the big deal? If I had some background music during the match, I'd probably just dominate the whole field, you believe me?"

"That's ridiculous. If we followed your logic, if the professional players could have a cigarette during the match, LGD would be invincible." Taking advantage of the moment when he was standing under the tower in a daze, 369 chimed in.

There was nothing they could do. When Ornn played against Aatrox, he knew that the jungler was farming top, so 369 had already hidden in the bushes, ready to retreat back to the tower at any moment.

Playing a support role is a completely different experience from playing a carry role.

If he's playing a damage dealer, then no matter what, he has to risk the jungler coming to farm experience and minions at level two, because with damage dealers, once you start backing down, you've already mentally accepted that you can't beat the opponent.

However, functional top laners are different.

I'm just a casual player anyway. The minion wave will push over no matter what, so I'm not in a hurry. As long as I keep up with the level, that's fine.

If you dare, come and kill me. After that, I'll go back to the top lane and farm.

369 has now made a name for itself, and when the mood strikes, it even occasionally flashes its icon, looking like it's about to plant a flag and loudly taunt the other side: "Come on, come and kill me!"

If you actually fall for his trap and risk going to kill him, you might get the following reply: "Today, though I die, I am still the Rat-Sucking Tyrant!"

Faced with such an unyielding 369, Kanavi and the Duke were starting to lose their nerve.

Wait a minute, you weren't like this during the regular season!

In the regular season, TES employed a strategy of four players protecting one top laner and four players sacrificing the bottom laner, with 369 being their dominant carry.

In the playoffs, TES played a style where the entire team focused on protecting the bottom lane and sacrificing the top lane, reminiscent of RNG.

This is seriously giving AD a stepping stone to godhood?

Thanks to prior preparation, 369 also saw Olaf's approach through vision. It would have been better if he hadn't seen him, because he got even more excited when he did, and started flashing his taunts frantically in the top lane bushes, while being ready to use his E skill to retreat to the tower at any time.

Nothing.

Seeing that the opposing team had absolutely no desire to come over and farm minions, Kanavi had no choice but to give up on the top lane and instead rush into TES's jungle.

"The enemy jungler is in our upper jungle, and he just showed up in the top lane."

"I see, you're having a pretty leisurely time on the road, 369."

"That's right, we guys know exactly what's going on." In the second game, he had just used Aatrox to chase down Zoom's Ornn in team fights, dominating him like a god. Now that the roles are reversed, how stupid would he have to be to rush in and mess with the enemy?

He took the blame for the collapse, but became a legend after winning the game.

At that time, the online reviews will definitely be about how he used Ornn and Aatrox to teach the opponent a lesson. Anyone with a brain knows how to do this, right? Otherwise, do you really think 369 is so obedient and willing to sacrifice so much? He's very calculating in his heart.

"Alright, stop thinking about the top lane. We're counting on you guys to carry today." With that, 369 expertly cleared the minion wave that had just been pushed to the tower, then maneuvered his character to block the minion wave in front of the tower and continued to AFK.

"Come on, let the music continue, let the dance continue."

Roland: ......

Metamorphosis: Chapter 44: The Support's Achilles' Heel

The weakness of the top, mid, and jungle lanes actually puts TES in a relatively passive state in the early game, because Karsa doesn't dare to go to the top jungle to collect jungle monsters. As long as either JDG's top or mid laner disappears from their lane, Frog's position becomes very dangerous.

Conversely, if you let him invade JDG's jungle, he actually doesn't dare to go too deep.

Ultimately, LeBlanc and Bard's support speed is too fast; once the invasion goes too deep, even Roland would have a hard time getting there to support him. At this point, in order to ensure his own development, Karsa had to come up with some unorthodox methods.

There's definitely no way to get through the mid lane. It's not that Crystal Maiden can't gank before level 6, but ganking isn't very effective as she doesn't deal much damage. So we can only try to find a solution from the bottom lane.

For example, slightly unleash the potential of the bot lane so they can keep Bard under control.

The time had come for both bot laners to reach level four, with the minion wave in the middle and both supports recalling. As most people had predicted, the supports from both sides began roaming in unison, each looking to see if there were any opportunities in the mid lane.

Because Bard's E skill allows for faster support, Kanavi decisively teamed up with his teammates to launch the first counterattack back into the lower jungle, attempting to capitalize on the temporary numerical advantage to test their damage against the enemy.

"I don't think we can fight this wave. I can't provide support as quickly as the enemy support."

"But I cleared F6 this time."

"Brother Ka, you need to know that the last jungler who was obsessed with F6 is now unable to even get a substitute position."

"..."

"Okay, I see."

Although he was very unwilling, there was no better way, so Karsa could only give up his F6 and turn to his own Golem with a tragic expression.

He's a veteran in the league, so stubbornness is relatively rare among him.

With Karsa giving up, Kanavi happily finished off a wave of F6 camps, successfully taking the lead on a group of neutral creeps.

If you say he lost money, he actually made a profit—he gained a set of F6 keys; but if you say he profited, he didn't fully profit either—it was far less than what they expected.

If this fight breaks out, JDG will most likely win.

Unfortunately, Olaf, having stolen a camp of F6, couldn't continue his reckless play. While they weren't too afraid of 3v3, 4v3 was a bit troublesome, especially since it was TES's jungle. With Olaf retreating, Roland and Green Hair had no choice but to return to their lanes. Unlike before, their actions this time were particularly confusing.

I have the line control, but if I don't push, I'm stuck in the middle.

Pantheon stood directly in the bush, ready to read his Hexflash at any moment.

Ultimately, Roland had thoroughly figured out Bard. Although it was Green Hair's specialty, the opposing team never expected Roland to be able to play it too. When both teams' bot lanes reached level four, Bard's team could relinquish lane priority and let the enemy push the lane in. As long as their AD carry had some self-defense capabilities, Bard could go out and scavenge for kills on his own.

This way, the AD can farm the entire minion wave and reach level six first, without losing too much for himself.

But with Pantheon blocking him like that, Bard was completely unable to leave.

If you roam, Pantheon can easily engage with Hexflash + W, two dashes in total, without any further interaction, and even speed up your experience to level six after the kill. If you don't roam, Bard becomes less useful in the early game, and you'll even have to worry about the enemy jungler ganking you.

The game here is much more complex.

In Season 10, the time when the bot lane reaches level 5 to 6 is usually around the time the Rift Herald spawns, which is around eight minutes. In many professional matches, you can see that when both teams are guarding the Rift Herald at eight minutes, the bot lane duo that come to support in advance are not yet level 6, but they are just a little bit short of reaching level 6.

This point in time involves many things.

Going forward, the support can roam ahead to set up vision, join the main team, and directly take the first Herald.

Moving forward, both supports can roam directly to the top lane, whether on the offensive or defensive side. The offensive side can coordinate with their jungler and support to release the Rift Herald and force a push on the top lane, while the defensive side can roam to the top lane to prevent the enemy from securing the Rift Herald and then tower diving for a kill.

With TES's roster, they definitely have no chance of getting the first Rift Herald.

However, even if there's no chance, Roland can't let Bard go out and cause trouble.

If he were to release the support hero and happen to run to the mid lane to help LeBlanc land a big ultimate or Flash on Lissandra, the Herald that was supposed to be placed in the top lane would actually be placed in the mid lane, and that would be a huge problem.

Karsa was very astute in recognizing this, and in order to better ensure the pressure on the bottom lane, he decided to add fuel to the fire.

"Hey, you better keep an eye on Bard in the bot lane."

"No problem, how could I possibly miss a mere Bard?"

"I'm just scared. Although we guys all have ways to survive, but... you didn't place that control ward while you were roaming. If the enemy gets going, you'll definitely lose that control ward. Look, there's a Bard passive right next to us." After saying that, Karsa marked the control ward in the river bush.

It would have been better if he hadn't mentioned it. As soon as he did, Roland only had to imagine the scene briefly before his anger flared up instantly.

"He dares!?"

At that moment, the obsessive-compulsive disorder of the support player was fully displayed.

No matter the skill level, support players always have only one belief: You can kill my AD carry if you want, he can respawn anyway, but if you want to clear my control wards? I'll fight you to the death first.

A true sight ward costs 75 gold. Do you understand how heavy a burden it is for a support to have a true sight ward costing 75 gold in the Rift?

After Roland's temper was completely provoked, Green Hair suddenly realized that the other person was acting a little differently.

Previously, this guy would force the AD carry to engage, even when poking, he'd always target Miss Fortune first. But now, he's like a mad dog, relentlessly targeting his enemy, especially since his Q skill hit rate has increased, it's just ridiculous.

"Can the bot lane come over?"

"It's not easy to walk, to be honest. As soon as I stepped back, the enemy Pantheon walked straight into the river. There was no way to fool him." Green Hair said this with some helplessness.

With this level of defense, why don't you go to the NBA and guard LeBron James?

"Alright then, just watch the support position on the other side, we'll go for the Vanguard."

"Go ahead, they probably won't leave." The top, mid, and jungle are strong anyway; if you keep ganking them, I just won't leave. Either way, I'll profit. Just as JDG started taking the Rift Herald, TES's bot lane also began pushing the lane and into the tower.

Despite being quiet for quite some time, Karsa was still the most amazing radar from fifteen minutes ago. Just after JDG's bot lane duo retreated to their tower, a Troll suddenly appeared from the bushes near the red side's bot lane jungle tower, cutting off their retreat.

Seeing the two trembling figures under the enemy tower, Roland simultaneously revealed a benevolent smile.

Kill them outright, that's the right thing to do.

Since you are alive, my true eye may suffer.

So once you're dead, my True Eye will surely be safe, right?

A murderous intent was surging forth.

Metamorphosis: Chapter 45: The "Resilient" Brother

TES's three-man gank on the bottom lane was a clear and decisive move to counter JDG's bot lane.

There was nothing they could do. Bard's protective abilities were good enough to only delay the enemy; turning the tables was really difficult. They originally had a chance to escape, but the troll could raise a pillar in mid-air, stopping them like a traffic cop stopping a car. They had no chance of running away.

What can we do?

All they could do was unleash a powerful move to show they'd put up a fight.

Here we need to mention Devil's unique ultimate ability mechanism. This kind of skill that grants you instant invulnerability is actually very difficult to execute. You'll find that every time you spot an opportunity, your teammates often spot it too. And trying to stop and communicate to decide who goes first is actually very impractical, because the opportunity is fleeting.

In other words, Bard players will often see their own ultimate ability overlap with their teammates' ultimate abilities, a situation commonly known as the "traitor moment".

For beginners playing Bard, it's recommended to only use his ultimate to coordinate with teammates to pick off isolated targets, prevent the enemy Rift Herald from crashing into towers, and lock down enemies during chases. Even if the ultimate fails in these three situations, it doesn't matter, as teammates will definitely have anticipated this.

What I fear most is...

The worst thing is seeing someone tower dive and confidently throwing your ultimate at your own tower, only to end up either only hitting the tower and the other side diving without any pressure, or trying to initiate a team fight but ending up catching your teammates who also rushed in to initiate.

In short, the line between a mole and a champion is very thin when it comes to Bard.

Green Hair played quite well; this time he managed to pin everyone under the turret and hold them off for a few seconds, but that was about it.

One tower dive, and everyone got a kill; the loot was split fairly evenly.