Chapter 417: I'll be back later

FireFox returned to the resting room with a heavy heart.

Bai Xing, guarding Quan Shui, saw FireFox enter with a worried frown, creased his brows, and asked:

"What's wrong? Our lineup isn't good for this game."

"Uh, no, no."

FireFox forced a smile and said,

"In terms of lineup we're still pretty good; each lane pairing with the jungle works fine, but……"

"?"

Bai Xing questioned with his eyes, displeased by FireFox's hesitation.

"It's just that the top lane might…… be a bit risky."

Although the barrel is hard to collapse and could even be called the most survivable hero in the current version, since the hero Kled was released last year, a saying has circulated in the martial world:

"Spider Kled, humans become dogs!"

Although such a scene has never yet appeared on the stage, Kled is after all still a new hero, and many tactics and playstyles are still in development.

And VG's jungler, Firrrrrre, is undoubtedly the jungler with the most varied style worldwide and the richest playbook; you cannot even pin him down to a particular style, for he can master any style and excel at all of them……

But the lineup has been locked, the coach's work is done; even if FireFox worries, it's useless, so he can only sit beside the boss, silently watch the match while secretly praying that Letme will perform as in previous matches—although his carry ability is weak, no matter how strong the opponent, he won't be collapsed.

Huh, being able to survive is sometimes a specialty.

Moreover, you know, in the LPL where AD and jungle are stronger, a top laner who can survive is indeed a scarce resource—for example, the widely circulated recruitment condition for EDG's top laner in the circle:

EDG recruits the big tree, requiring ability to play top lane.

"Both sides started with normal defense, neither invading for vision."

"Xiaohu actually brought Ignite on his Chronobreak? Interesting……"

"Wanting to solo kill the Marquis, ambitious."

"Uh…… I think wanting to solo kill the Marquis is overthinking; I probably brought Ignite specifically to counter the vampire's healing."

"Why say it's overthinking? Judging by the two players' laning strength, there's actually no obvious gap; I still think it's somewhat possible."

"The Marquis's average death rate per game this season is the lowest among all LPL mids…… If you say you'll surprise him with a solo kill, I think it's possible, but since you brought Ignite, the purpose is too obvious; given the Marquis's laning style, I feel he wouldn't give you such a chance."

In VG's team voice channel, Xiao Duan laughed hysterically, constantly teasing that the Marquis was looked down upon by the enemy, that he'd give them a taste of their own medicine, and that this game he needed to prove something.

The Marquis was also pretty speechless.

Bringing Ignite on Chronobreak is indeed over the top.

"Bug! Holy crap, a bug! So disgusting! Get lost! Don't chase me!"

Xiao Duan jumped in surprise, but everyone was already used to his erratic style and wasn't startled.

Liang Yan switched to the bottom lane and glanced; Xiao Duan's Tam was being chased out of the side brush by a bug released from Malzahar.

Why is the Locust support so hot now?

A very important reason is that early-game brush checking is too convenient.

When the jungle monsters respawned, Liang Yan solo started from the Magic Swamp Frog in the upper area; after clearing three monster groups in the upper area, he went to the lower area, ate the red buff, saw the Explosive Fruit still behind the dragon pit, judged that the Mantis likely hadn't invaded his jungle, so he directly smashed the Explosive Fruit and jumped into the dragon pit to flank the bottom lane.

Uzi's Frost Shot's E skill had already been used, but the new dog‑princess Ming's protective awareness is stronger than the former support Mata's. As expected, when Liang Yan arrived at the river entrance, his position barely crossing the river's midline caused the RNG duo to instantly retreat, showing the river entrance is warded.

But Liang Yan still rushed straight at the RNG duo's faces along the shortest path.

According to analyst Tabe's advice, there's a foolproof formula for beating RNG—just make the little dog's mindset explode, and RNG will collapse quickly.

How to do it?

Tabe also has specific advice——

Don't worry about whether you can catch him; just keep constantly harassing the bottom lane so Uzi can't exert lane pressure, and he'll get increasingly anxious, and soon he'll……

Uh……

Red warm.

This is Tabe's original words.

And this also coincides with Liang Yan's thinking; based on many later‑generation professionals—including former coaches of RNG and ex‑teammates of Uzi—Liang Yan's understanding of Uzi could even be deeper than Tabe's.

So he originally planned to start with red buff and gank bottom at level two.

But the enemy support's opening move made him abandon that idea.

Ming is called the "best dog‑princess" in later times and has won the most dog‑fan adoration precisely because his protection of Uzi is truly flawless—though not claiming 360° no blind spots, it can be described as meticulous.

Moreover, Ming also knows Uzi's biggest weakness; he certainly has preparations against a level‑two gank, so if Liang Yan insists on forcing it, he'll likely gain nothing, and might even lose jungle tempo, causing his jungle to be counter‑jungled by the carnivorous jungler Malaxiangguo.

Therefore Liang Yan chose the next best thing, first clearing a few jungle camps to shore up his economy before making a move.

The RNG duo reacted quickly, retreating in time; this Liang Yan gank obviously couldn't kill anyone, but he insisted on going through with it.

Ming saw Liang Yan's intention, closely followed Uzi's side, trying to use his body to block skills.

Liang Yan didn't need to just poke Uzi to feel satisfied; seeing the situation, he directly pinged Ming's head, Sima Laozei understood, charged an arrow that broke the Locust's magic‑immune shield, and Liang Yan's Cocoon Strike followed, hitting the Locust from an unavoidable odd angle.

Liang Yan then transformed into a spider and lunged forward.

The duo was a bit far out, unable to keep up the damage, so they likely couldn't kill anyone.

But if Uzi wants to maintain pressure, he must keep the support's health healthy and have flash, so he still gave the heal.

The heal was mainly for the attached speed boost; although brief, it was enough for Ming to create distance, otherwise he would have been licked by Tam.

Liang Yan wasn't greedy either; after landing the heal on Uzi, he immediately retreated, using his own small amount of health as the cost to complete this gank.

"Don't push, I'll be back later."

Sima Laozei heard that and immediately retreated, without moving the minion wave at all; the ensuing lane state remained Red side pushing Blue side.

Controlling the wave is impossible; Malaxiangguo probably also arrived in the lower area.

But Liang Yan's main purpose wasn't to counter‑gank or to catch someone.

The essence of guerrilla warfare lies in dealing little damage but being especially tormenting.