You actually want me to...

Just two or three months ago, RNG played against TES with Neeko against Qiyana. But what no one expected was that Xiaohu rushed Ninja Tabi and Zhonya's Hourglass in the early game. As a result, Knight's full combo hit but didn't even take away half of Qiyana's health, leaving Xiaohu completely frustrated.

It was from then on that the Tiger three-piece suit gradually became famous.

"This game, the mid lane is all up to you, Aban."

"Okay, Ka-ge, you can go to the top lane for training without worry. I'll take care of the mid lane."

"So, what about my bot lane..."

"Just make do, what else can we do?"

In fact, TES is well aware of its weaknesses. To turn the tide, unless all members of the team suddenly improve their individual skills significantly in a short period of time, they can only free up Roland and let him assist Karsa in setting the pace.

Since the opponent has figured this out and is using lane pushing to disrupt his rhythm, why doesn't he just do the opposite? You want to lock me down and prevent me from roaming? Can I just stay in the bottom lane and still help my teammates in other lanes?

This is the question Roland has been researching all this time.

Finally, while browsing the list, he stumbled upon a familiar hero who perfectly fulfilled this function and requirement. Although he used to use this thing more for low-ranked games, he could actually use it to show off since others didn't know about it.

"Then I'll take it."

"Take it, there's no better choice anyway."

Roland chuckled upon hearing this, and then, from the list of heroes, pointed out the support hero who had only truly shone a few months later in his previous life.

Fear the unseen forces!

Strategist Commander - Swain

Selection successful!

"crow!?"

"Can this also be used as an auxiliary tool?"

【666666】

[Aban's classic "snake-playing" move, but it seems he actually has a very deep hero pool to begin with.]

[How could Han Yiban's hero pool not be deep? I've even seen my own support use this hero when we were smurfing.]

[So, how's the result upstairs?]

The enemy's Luna is extremely ruthless.

That's all.

At this point, the commentators and most players still found it difficult to understand why this hero was used as a support. It wasn't because the hero was bad, but because everyone hadn't yet successfully adapted their item build strategies for this hero.

During this period, most people's understanding of Swain is that the first item should be Rod of Ages and the second item should be Zhonya's Hourglass, or the first item should be Rylai's Crystal Scepter or Liandry's Torment. However, if you build those items as the first item when playing support, it will slow down Swain's pace.

Furthermore, Swain is actually quite fragile and heavily reliant on the accuracy of his E skill in lane, which means this champion is rarely seen in high-level games. It wasn't until about three months later that this champion suddenly rose to prominence, briefly climbing to the top of the support rankings.

What truly saved this hero wasn't a game patch, but a magical piece of equipment that had been neglected and almost fallen into the sewers: the Hextech GLP-800, or Ice Lance for short.

For 2800 gold, you get 80 ability power, 600 mana, 10% cooldown reduction, and a free area-of-effect damage skill with a slowing effect. Tell me, isn't that amazing? In a meta where the pace of the game is generally faster, and both sides value early game tempo and resource control, the earlier the carry gets their core items, the greater the advantage their team will have.

Imagine others are still building Luden's Echo, while you already have a Hextech GLP-800 in your hand. Wouldn't you be able to easily crush your opponent in the laning phase?

If the major overhaul of AD items in Season 10 sparked a craze for physical damage mid laners, then the resurgence of Hextech GLP-800 preserved the last vestige of dignity for mid lane mages.

Although they still had doubts about this hero, they thought it might be TES's trump card, so the two commentators remained silent for the time being and waited to see what would happen.

With this, the lineups for both sides are officially confirmed.

IG: Top lane Rumble, Jungle Jarvan IV, Mid lane Neeko, Bot lane Aphelios + Nautilus

TES: Top lane Renekton, Jungle Lee Sin, Mid lane Qiyana, Bot lane Miss Fortune + Swain

Game start.

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. . . . . .

. . . . . .

PS: Since the review process has been done manually for the past week starting yesterday, and each post takes several hours to review, all posts will be combined into one chapter until the ban is lifted.

PS2: If you find any typos, please tag me in the group so I can make a note of them.

First Encounter: Chapter 51: You Can't Handle This W Move of Mine~ (Two Chapters Combined)

A new game begins.

In this game, both junglers farmed from bottom to top.

Rumble is a champion that comes with a built-in taunt buff from the moment he's picked, so Ning can't ignore him. Plus, TES's usual strategy of protecting the top laner leaves IG with no other choice.

The situation in this game is actually quite clear: both sides' top, mid, and jungle players are having a chaotic brawl in the top lane, while the bot lane is left to its own devices.

Once online, Roland's level 1 Raven made the opposing duo somewhat wary. It wasn't that they hadn't heard of Raven as a support; League of Legends has been around for ten years, and in that time, almost any champion could be played as a support. There are countless examples of various champions being used as support, so it's become commonplace.

Even so, just because they've heard of them doesn't mean they've actually played against them. The Nanfu duo were genuinely confused by the opposing Raven.

Roland didn't hold back. He took advantage of Roland's lack of understanding of his gameplay, and immediately used a basic attack followed by his E skill to pull the enemy back and then another basic attack. Electrocute was triggered, and he dealt with the Titan who came to push the wave with his support item as soon as he entered the lane, while also lowering the minion wave's health.

It's about winning by a hair's breadth, those who know, know.

However, being able to hit enemies while securing second place makes Swain's E skill very convenient.

A level 1 Titan isn't the kind of tanky hero you see in the mid-to-late game. Being controlled in place, he could only take a full combo from the AD carry and support, losing a third of his health in one go. Startled, Nanfeng quickly retreated.

"How about that? Pretty awesome, right?"

"Awesome Plus, I'll give you a perfect score, don't get arrogant, keep going."

ADCs sometimes have a love-hate relationship with support champions who can pull enemies back. Generally, if the support champion pulls the enemy back accurately or lands a well-timed crowd control Q like Morgana, the game will be incredibly smooth.

Conversely, if a hero's skill accuracy is poor, then there's essentially no difference between playing one-on-two in lane and not playing one-on-two. This first E skill made P-King feel that Roland seemed to be in good form today.

Taking advantage of their first-strike E skill, the duo reached level two first. However, they didn't have many good opportunities to push forward, because shortly after they reached level two, the opposing duo also reached level two.

There's no way around it; with Green Blade's 650 range, as long as the support doesn't just stand behind and AFK at the start of the game, reaching level two won't be too late.

Of course, Roland and the others never aimed to suppress the opponent by rushing to level two, but rather to gain as much space as possible to move around. Then, they threw their W skill, "Imperial Vision," directly at the opponent's red buff location.

At this time, Raven had not yet undergone the major changes in July. The range of his W skill was a constant 3500 yards regardless of level. Although it was half the size of the global W skill that everyone was familiar with, this range was actually sufficient most of the time.

How far is 3500 yards?

If you think back to Principal Wang's famous Jhin play, you'll understand. Jhin's ultimate has a range of exactly 3500 yards, which is enough for Roland to pull off some fancy maneuvers.

As the Imperial Vision exploded at the enemy's red buff, the TES team realized that the enemy's red buff had been destroyed. With this information, Karsa was able to deduce Ning's location immediately, and Knight also began to pay attention to the movements in the upper jungle.

"Wow, this W skill is amazing for locating junglers in the early game."

"It has similar functions to Ashe, which explains why TES chose this hero as a support." Seeing this, the two commentators finally understood.

vision!

In the early game, whichever side can grasp the enemy jungler's movements first will gain an advantage. Moreover, this thing has a shorter cooldown than Ashe's E skill. Although the range isn't as far as Ashe's global reach, it's sufficient in most situations.

Since the IG team didn't have any wards at their own red buff, they didn't realize immediately that their jungler's jungle route had been exposed. They just thought that Swain had placed a ward in the river and simply marked it as a warning.

"Alright, let's get out of here for a bit."

OK,

Raven, who levels up W at level 2 and uses it for scouting, also has an obvious weakness: he's completely defenseless at level 2. The level 1 W skill has a 22-second cooldown, making it one of the longest-cooldown skills available.

Fortunately, the two intended to play cautiously and farm. When the crow had its skills, it would try using E to see the effect. When it didn't have its skills, it would retreat and start playing defensively. Then, whenever it pushed back the lane, it would frantically throw W into the jungle, analyzing the enemy Jarvan IV's position bit by bit.

Gradually, Ning, who was in hot form, suddenly realized that his position seemed to be completely known by the enemy, and no matter where he went, Karsa could successfully counter-gank him.

"Strange, is that radar on the other side a paid membership? How come I keep running into this blind monk no matter where I go?"

"You might not believe it, but I feel like the crow gave you your position. I've seen him frequently heading towards the jungle."

"what???"

If the opponents couldn't figure out what Raven was up to in the first couple of times, then as Roland used this tactic more often, the Nanfu duo finally discovered this unconventional strategy.

However, they had no way to deal with it.

TES's bot lane duo is shrewd; they'd rather farm less minions than push the lane, unless you push the wave in. The problem is, even if the wave comes in, Aphelios doesn't dare to go up and poke. A Swain under the tower can easily pull him back if he's not careful, and then the bot lane will completely collapse.

Here's an extra point: for most ADCs, Swain's hook is actually relatively easy to dodge, like Nautilus's Q, Thresh's Q, or Blitzcrank's Q. Moreover, many ADCs don't even have time to react to Swain's E skill, which can hit minions as well.

Because in normal thinking, standing behind a soldier is always safe.

Then, they fell into the crow's trap.

EWQ triple trigger Electrocute + auto-attack, ADC can easily add some damage, and if the opponent doesn't have both summoner spells, they're doomed. That's how powerful magic support is these days.

If the pre-rework Raven was a tank disguised as a mage, then the current Raven is definitely a mage disguised as a tank, and its damage should not be underestimated.

This Raven support is interesting.

[This is a specific strategy for certain team compositions. No wonder Pantheon was banned; they were probably worried the opponent would pick Leona, since Pantheon can't beat Leona either.]

[The cancer-segmentation expert is here; I'll ban Morgana every single game.]

If this had been paired with Ashe a few patches ago, wouldn't supports have even needed to bring wards in the early game?

Heavenly Fire Flows Like Crows.

The core idea lies in his W skill. However, the conventional Skyfire build is to go for the mid lane with full damage items, while Roland's pseudo Skyfire build in this game focuses on support.

Since the most crucial skill adjustment for Swain hasn't arrived yet, this version of Swain's passive still restores mana, and with the Biscuit Delivery rune, he can barely maintain sustain in lane. In order to stay alive as long as possible, he doesn't even want to use his Q skill unless absolutely necessary.

Lack of mana is another fatal weakness of Raven in the early game.

If you use the W skill too frequently, your mana will be depleted after five or six uses, and abusing the Q skill is extremely inefficient. This version of Q isn't the kind that can pass through heroes and hit from behind; it's literally dead once it hits. Its only advantage is that its range is slightly larger than after the buff.

"I'll go, you better behave yourself."

"Huh? So sudden."

"Go and annoy the enemy mid laner. If you succeed, it will have a big impact on both of us."

"Oh, then go ahead."

Since he'd already said that, P-Er couldn't say much more. Anyway, he was under the tower, and the enemy wasn't level six yet, so defending the tower carefully wouldn't be a problem. What he hadn't expected was that Roland's significant influence meant that once he successfully annoyed the enemy, the enraged Rookie would treat the bottom lane like their own and gank relentlessly.

At that time, the first one to die will definitely be P-Emperor, who has no ability to protect himself.