You actually want me to...

Seeing Leona following Iron Man with her pay item, ready to dive the tower at any moment, Gangplank wisely retreated to his own top lane's secluded bush.

unacceptable.

That's really too much!

If your bot lane can't beat our bot lane, then go find trouble with our bot lane instead of throwing a tantrum here.

But there was nothing he could do; no matter how unwilling he was, Xiao Xiang had to endure it.

Roland dared to play like this because he knew that EDG would almost certainly choose to abandon the top lane in this situation. As for EDG, aside from a few rare instances in their early days, if you see them playing a strategy focused on the top lane, you're either dreaming or reading some esports novel.

Yes, this guy's top laner is a sacrificial role in the club.

Do you think EDG is having a tough time right now?

In reality, they were practically laughing out loud.

EDG's most familiar tactic is to play around their two carries, and the fact that they picked Pantheon in the mid lane means that their strategy for this game is to nurture their AD carry, while Gangplank is just a tank and a late-game damage dealer.

Based on this, the Lucian who is currently fed in the bottom lane and the Pantheon who is developing steadily in the mid lane have successfully achieved their early-game goals.

Soon, EDG's lineup began to change.

Although they no longer revolve around the top lane, EDG's playstyle has completely changed since they brought in coach Nofe in S7. The old EDG was a team that specialized in playing the mid-to-late game, with an early game so stable it was almost despair-inducing.

EDG is now a team that focuses entirely on the early and mid-game, with no concept of the late game. In the first ten minutes of each match, EDG gains an advantage in almost half of their games.

What followed was a furious counterattack from EDG.

EDG, already a team focused on the early to mid-game, had sufficient damage output and the dual initiation capabilities of Thresh and Pantheon, resulting in an incredibly fierce offensive that once widened the gold gap between the two sides to 2000. If TES hadn't also had Jayce poking and pressuring their opponents' health in the early game, their disadvantage would have been even greater.

"How about I try starting a group?"

"Sure, if we can engage the mid AD carry, we can win." After glancing at their items, 369 and K both felt this wave was a good opportunity. Winning would be a huge win, losing wouldn't be a loss either, and there weren't many map resources available at this point.

"Should I go?"

"Okay, you can go without worry."

"???"

Although he always felt that his teammates had ill intentions, Roland still found an opportunity to turn around and use Flash + E skill to attack.

His idea was simple.

The coolest combo for the Japanese hero is Flash-E followed by an aerial ultimate. If the skill hits, this combo is incredibly cool. The key is that E followed by R allows you to predict and control Lucian who has mobility skills, as it's too easy for him to dodge if you just throw the ultimate directly.

However, he ultimately underestimated Meiko.

This guy was once the top support in the Chinese server, and is now one of the world's top supports. Why don't you control him first before trying to gank my AD carry?

Although Meiko has a good temper and a good impression of Roland, this moment of impulsiveness was still a rather basic mistake.

If that's the case, then stop now!

The button was pressed with a "whoosh".

Thresh, who was a short distance away from the AD carry one second ago, appeared right next to him the next second, and at the same time, [Pendulum of Doom] was released halfway. Leona, who had just pointed at Lucian, was forcibly intercepted before she could fly over, and a combo of ERQ locked her down and killed her on the spot.

EDG's Scout kills TES's Ban.

At this moment, the entire audience fell silent.

First Encounter: Chapter Twenty-Two: The First Jungle-Support Collaboration

"Holy crap, what kind of reaction speed is Meiko?" Seeing himself being intercepted in mid-air, Roland was dumbfounded and quickly typed the enemy Thresh's Flash time in the chat box.

That's how the subconscious actions of an assistant work. Regardless of whether you succeed or fail, you still need to keep track of the time.

"He's a top-tier support, after all. It's going to be difficult for you to initiate like this." It was just an attempt to initiate a team fight. Even if it failed, it wouldn't cause any loss to TES as a whole. This defeat is still within their control, since they don't have many map resources right now anyway.

In the eyes of veteran Casa, it doesn't matter if a newcomer fails; the important thing is that he has to dare to take the lead.

Don't be fooled by the seemingly friendly demeanor of the one or two veteran players on the other side. When they face newcomers in the game, they can be incredibly ruthless. A slight misstep can completely shatter a person's confidence, as exemplified by the famous case of Shyman beating 369.

However, Roland in front of him was obviously not someone he needed to worry about. Putting aside how crazy this guy's impulse to start a group was, the fact that he could live up to the title of "Han Yiban" already showed that he had a strong mental fortitude.

“Ah Ban.”

"What's wrong, Ka-bro?"

"Give me a signal when you're close to winning the Dragon Formation later."

!!!

"No problem!" Upon hearing Ka Ge's words, Roland instantly felt that the recent setback wasn't so bad after all.

Team cohesion is built step by step. Besides getting to know each other, you also need to demonstrate your abilities to your teammates. Especially for support players who will inevitably be in a leadership role, the trust of their teammates is crucial.

Although I don't know what happened.

But Casarte, at least now, has at least given him a preliminary and genuine approval.

After respawning, Roland upgraded his equipment and then spent all his remaining gold on control wards. This is typical for supports; in many games, a support might only have one or two items by the end of the match, resulting in a low gold income.

On the one hand, it's to spend money to light up necessary vision; on the other hand, roaming for a long time will result in no source of gold or experience. Even the little bit of gold you get from clearing wards has to be given to your teammates if there are any nearby.

There's no way around it; that's just how humble the support role is.

It only contributes a small portion of the team's damage output, but it provides the majority of the team's vision control, making it a prime example of a "feeder-and-sell" player. However, at the 22-minute mark, Roland finally acquired his first and most crucial item: [Gargoyle Stoneplate].

This item is the most important reason why hard supports like Leona and Nautilus can become T0 supports in the current version.

The price is only 2500, with +40 to both physical and magical resistance. The passive effect is that if there are three enemy heroes nearby, it will add another 40 to both physical and magical resistance. The active effect is to increase health by 140% and size, reduce the damage dealt by the user for four seconds, and also gain an additional 40% health.

This attribute is so outrageous that it's ridiculously overpowered even in S11.

The 2500 gold price tag means it's affordable and easy to acquire. The Stopwatch in the crafting recipe can be surprisingly effective in many situations. Most importantly, if a support builds it as their second item, it can usually be completed around 22 minutes. (First item: Boots of Mobility)

Keep in mind that at this point, the team's damage dealers will at most have two items. A top laner or AD carry with two items will have difficulty dealing with a support who has +80 armor and magic resistance and significantly increased health. To put it bluntly, this item is a godsend for tank supports. Once they get this item, even a Leona who has fallen into a team fight can use it to slowly walk back.

The third dragon in this game is the Earth Dragon. In terms of the Earth Dragon Soul, it is obviously not suitable for either side's lineup, but since it is a version resource, it is still necessary to fight for it.

The two sides lined up around Xiaolong, constantly pulling and tugging at each other in the river.

This is where Jess's advantage comes into play.

This handsome and wealthy player, with his two-piece set, is incredibly skilled at using his cannon. Against EDG's squishy lineup, very few could withstand Jayce's cannon fire.

Compared to TES, EDG seems to be more eager to make a move.

"Should we engage or wait?" At this moment, a group of people in the EDG camp were also waiting for Meiko to give the order. Originally, they were thinking that it would be easier to fight if the opponent's Leona made the first move and they countered. But for some reason, Hope had clearly created many openings, but the opponent just wouldn't engage.

"Go ahead and open it; perhaps I'm jumping to conclusions too soon."

It's worth mentioning that Roland's inaction in this play directly caused his rating to rise by several points in Meiko's ranking. When playing support, you often need to see the situation clearly instead of blindly initiating. In this play, the opposing TES was on the offensive, while EDG was on the defensive. The more stable the opponent was, the more anxious they became. Leona not making any moves was actually the best approach.

After the new instructions were issued, EDG's lineup noticeably became more active.

"Get ready to engage, bro, this is our chance."

"I see."

As Karsa watched his opponents' increasingly disorganized positioning, his focus grew even stronger. Professional matches are a game of constantly finding each other's weaknesses. Meiko was using his ADC to bait his opponents, but wasn't he also using Karsa's ADC to bait the enemy team?

Everyone here is a fishing enthusiast, but this time it's obvious that Meiko got caught out.

Finally, just when EDG could no longer tolerate it...

The captain and Pantheon both unleashed their ultimate abilities at the same time!

A barrage of cannonballs rained down, slowing down the TES team. The lighting up of Pantheon's ultimate ability also spoke of EDG's determination to initiate this team fight.

only...

"Brother Ka, now's the time!" he said, marking the landing point.

"Here you are."

The tactical game is also a game between the two sides' points of engagement.

You're trying to ambush me from behind with Pantheon? Nice idea. But have you considered who my jungler is? It's Gragas! Do you think playing Gragas will give you a good team composition in team fights?

Living in a dream!

Unleash the ultimate move, [Exploding Barrel].

Karsa's goal this time was clear: to break up the opponent's front line. Unless Morgana was there, EDG had no choice but to accept Gragas's ultimate, no matter how unwilling they were. It was a classic case of either getting out of the way or having Karsa break it up for them – that's how aggressive they were.

The massive explosion, accompanied by a shockwave, scattered the EDG team. However, right in the EDG team's field of vision, the spot where their most crucial AD carry landed was faintly glowing with the Solar Flare magic circle belonging to the enemy support Leona.

"Oh!"

Seeing Lucian, who was immediately stunned upon landing, Roland and Casa both smiled broadly.

The jungler and support initiated a counter-team fight, and the coordination was successful!

First Encounter: Chapter Twenty-Three: What is a God of War?

【666666】

The synergy between these two is absolutely incredible.

[Was this a bluff or was there some prior communication?]

[They definitely communicated beforehand; from a first-person perspective, you can see that A-Ban was constantly marking the landing point.]

After Leona and Gragas perfectly coordinated to control Lucian, EDG's team fight had only one path left: defeat.

This is the early game lineup. The key players absolutely cannot die, because this lineup will concentrate most of the early game economy on these one or two people.

Putting Pantheon aside for now, Lucian is practically their core damage dealer.

After their main damage dealer was instantly killed, the remaining team had no way to deal with TES. They could only kill one ADC before leaving to stop the loss, and then decisively gave up on the dragon that was within their grasp.

In a 1-for-3 exchange, TES secured the first elemental dragon.

"Nice, bro, that was a great move."

"No, no, it's just that you threw your ultimate move so accurately, I was just helping out."

After winning the team and securing the dragon, the two immediately began a mutual praise session.

In fact, this is what a real competition should be like.