Chapter 65: Life and Death Speed

Damn, I didn't bring Ignite, otherwise he'd definitely have died!

AP muttered a curse in his headset; fortunately he hadn't impulsively used his summoner skill to chase someone earlier, so both summoner spells were still available, and after respawning he directly used Teleport to return to lane.

Liang Yan smiled and didn't speak.

Saying he'd definitely die is just comforting myself; the enemy didn't even use Flash or Ghost, how could he die……

He raised his hand and pinged an attack signal on the blue side's upper half blue buff camp.

AP switched screens to take a look; Liang Yan's male gunner had finished the Stone Armor Beetle and reached level 2, and was now entering the river from our top lane's triangular grass.

AP immediately said: "I can't support."

It's fine, just keep an eye on Viktor; I'm just letting you know, I'm going myself. Lao Zhang, don't worry about crowd control, push the lane as fast as you can, and watch for my signal later.

Received!

Liang Yan alone rushed toward the H2K upper-half jungle shrouded in the thick fog of war.

What is he trying to do?

Ka Lao Si, who was watching the match backstage, immediately asked after seeing this.

Counter-jungle.

Tang Anna said, then added another sentence:

It's likely to counter the enemy.

But the enemy wheel mom didn't take any jungle at the start, just went straight to lane; how can we be sure they're starting from the upper half?

Put yourself in their shoes.

What?

If you were Kalista, your first mark would randomly appear on one of the two river crabs, and you'd surely be pushed in lane before level six top lane, while bottom lane would have lane advantage, and Bard even got first blood. Then how would you start your jungle?

Clear from top to bottom!

Correct.

In the current patch, Kalista's mark respawn mechanism follows a pattern.

When Kalista's mark stack is zero, the first mark will definitely spawn on a river crab, but the respawn is random; before it appears, nobody knows whether it will spawn in the upper river or the lower river.

So as a disadvantaged Kalista, to get the first mark the best method is to capitalize on the situation: at the start, see which lane can push, then clear jungle from the opposite direction toward that lane—for example, if bottom lane has lane advantage, clear from top to bottom; if the first mark happens to spawn on the lower river crab, you can basically secure it.

Both sides understand this mechanism; Jankos certainly knew the male gunner was likely to come invade, yet he still chose to clear from top to bottom.

Because he had calculated the timing.

If the male gunner were to come invade, the best timing would be when he clears his second jungle camp—the blue buff—at which point Kalista has no Smite, is only level 2, and her health is at its most dangerous.

If the male gunner really were to come at that time, the fastest route would be to start at the Stone Armor Beetle, keep Smite, finish the Beetle, hit level 2, and invade immediately.

According to Jankos's calculations, the male gunner, with Rumble's help, takes 14–16 seconds to kill the Stone Armor Beetle without using Smite, and from finishing the Beetle to appearing before Kalista takes 16–18 seconds.

Meanwhile, Jankos, with a centaur's help, uses Smite to eat the Magic Swamp Frog in only 8–9 seconds; with the Toxic Mushroom Blessing and no Smite, he solo‑clears the blue buff in 20–22 seconds to eat it; since the two monster camps are adjacent, after a little maneuvering there's virtually no travel time, so the total time is about 28–31 seconds, whereas the male gunner's invasion would take 30–34 seconds!

The designers gave just enough time!

By then the male gunner could at most counter‑jungle two blue‑buff little monsters; having wasted so much time trekking over hills and water just to take two small monsters is obviously a loss for him!

This is why Jankos, despite knowing the male gunner was likely to invade, still chose to start his jungle in the upper half.

But he miscalculated.

Jankos's calculation standard was the clearing efficiency of an average jungler.

But Liang Yan is no ordinary jungler.

To ensure this gank would land in one hit, Liang Yan refined his jungle clearing to near perfection—every action, from pulling the camp to dealing damage, was executed with extreme precision.

Moreover, he had Lao Zhang; Lao Zhang's Rumble, after spewing fire, would not hesitate to draw monster aggro and lose health, then rush forward to help with basic attacks to boost damage output.

Combined, they produced a one-plus-one-greater-than-two effect, ultimately causing Jankos's calculation to diverge vastly from reality—

Liang Yan killed the Stone Armor Beetle without Smite in just 11 seconds, and the travel time took 15 seconds!

At 2:06, the male gunner appeared before Kalista—this was a full 4 seconds earlier than Jankos had calculated as the earliest possible arrival!!

These 4 seconds can be called a matter of life and death at speed!

Male gunner's opening invasion route

When the male gunner, gun in hand, rounded the corner, Jankos felt as if struck by electricity!

Numb!

How is this possible???

How could he be this fast!!

In order to increase his own damage output, Jankos even went so far as to tank nearly every attack from the blue buff dad with his own body, just to snag that little bit of damage reflection from the Toxic Mushroom Blessing; he had already done everything he could—yet this male gunner……

Why is it so!! fast!!

No way!!!!

How did that happen!!!!

Jankos, Europe's strongest jungler, only dazed for a moment before snapping back, instantly deciding to flee the brush toward the second tower.

—This was originally his planned escape route, just executed earlier.

The blue buff still had over two hundred health.

And Jankos had no Smite.

So regardless of whether the male gunner has Smite, Jankos could absolutely not reclaim that blue buff, because the two champions' burst damage are on completely different levels.

But Liang Yan wouldn't let him off the hook just because he was in the right.

Rounding the corner, he saw the two blue buff little monsters facing the brush and attacking; Liang Yan calmly stepped forward, placed a ward in the brush, and pulled out the hidden Kalista and the blue buff.

He had also calculated it.

Everything before his eyes was exactly as expected: Kalista's health was near half, and the blue buff big monster had only a little over three hundred health left.

The opponent reacted quickly, made decisive decisions, and very decisively escaped from the bushes.

Liang Yan used Punishment to take down the blue father, then lifted his hand and with a basic attack took down a blue son with less than half health. Next, using Quick Draw, he stuck to Thresh's back and fired a shot at the sheep spirit (Thresh's true form)'s butt. Then, relentlessly, he continued the pursuit.

Jankos knew the male gunner definitely had a Q skill ready, but this was the only escape route, so he could only grit his teeth and enter the small path.

As expected, the male gunner pursued and fired another basic attack, and at the moment Thresh used Dance of Arrows to jump toward the wall edge, a Desperate Situation was directly unleashed.

Smack!

Flames burst forth!

At the same time, Jankos, clinging to the wall, used Flash.