Chapter 718

At the same time bad news came from mid lane, IG's bot lane also started to feel the pressure.

Time entered past six minutes, Varus went home to craft a Serrated Dirk, his combat power underwent a qualitative change, and the pressure on IG's bot lane suddenly increased.

In patch 7.14, not only did common lethality items like Youmuu's Ghostblade and Duskblade get buffed, but even the Serrated Dirk received an update—this lethality early-game item was already strong, and this patch's new passive is even stronger: after killing an enemy, the next damage skill deals 40 extra physical damage to all enemies hit (30-second cooldown); and this 'enemy' is not limited to champions but includes enemy minions!

Moreover, skills can also trigger this effect!

Varus, with the Serrated Dirk passive active, after last-hitting a minion, his next Piercing Arrow or Rain of Arrows will gain a 40-point flat damage bonus!

This bonus applies to AoE skills, meaning all targets hit by the skill will receive the extra damage from the Serrated Dirk!

Therefore, this new passive is practically tailor-made for Varus; it not only greatly boosts Varus's wave clear, but also makes the lethality Varus's poke even more terrifying, and the power timing is moved up significantly!

Gangzi knows his own limits; after proccing the Serrated Dirk passive, he doesn't use the longer-range, higher-damage Q to poke, but instead reliably uses the easier-to-hit Rain of Arrows to poke the opponent, leaving Xihuang afraid to approach the minion wave!

"I'm having a hard time holding up, guys..."

Xihuang, who had just returned to lane less than two minutes ago, was drained of nearly half his health by two Rain of Arrows from Varus, forcing him to call for help from teammates.

VG's support is a Alistar with point‑and‑click crowd control; once he shows even a slight opening, he will be instantly killed by Alistar's two‑hit engage plus ignite combined with Varus's two abilities.

Ning, who had just respawned at the fountain, switched his view to check the bot lane and saw VG's duo accelerating their push, clearly intending to move on bot lane, so he canceled his plan to go take the red buff in the upper half and turned to run toward bot lane.

"Come on, come on, first take a potion to heal up, don't keep taking skill damage."

Ning finished speaking and then communicated with Rookie,

"Can mid lane come over? The enemy is likely to dive tower."

Although Rookie found it hard to push the lane first against the already level‑six Ahri, he made no excuses and replied with just one word:

"Can!"

"Also keep an eye on top lane; their Malphite might teleport down."

Theshy still doesn't understand Chinese, so Rookie had to translate Ning's words for Theshy.

Theshy just gave an "oh" after hearing it.

Ning arrived at the lower half of the map, first placing a control ward in front of the Dragon Pit, then he went back to wake up the Blue Buff, dragged it into the nearby brush to fight, and constantly switched his view to watch the bot lane.

As expected, within the time Ning anticipated, Ezreal emerged from the Dragon Pit with the Red Buff, clearly having come from taking the Explosive Fruit.

Ezreal didn't wait at the river entrance; instead he headed straight for the jungle where Ning was located.

The Blue Buff still had over 700 health, so Ning had to use his Smite, which he didn't want to, to take the Blue Buff—this Blue Buff was originally meant for Rookie, but Rookie had just walked into the side lane and was farther from Ning than Ezreal was. Ning couldn't gamble on whether Ezreal had Smite for the Red Buff; if Ezreal had Smite, the Blue Buff would likely be stolen by him, so to be safe Ning just took it himself.

After using Smite on the Blue Buff, Ning didn't dare hide in the brush to ambush with his W as usual; instead he retreated to the safer five‑way intersection and stood there.

"They clashed, and Jiao Shen walked up and hit Ning with a Q, forcing him back, then placed a ward in the brush."

"Placing a ward right in front of them, how arrogant, Jiao Shen!"

"But there's nothing you can do—his gear is better, his level is higher, and he has longer range!"

"Ning hasn't hit level six yet; I feel we still need to clear another jungle camp."

"Let's clear the Three Wolves first to get to level six!"

"But the minion wave is already about to crash into the tower; a big wave of minions—if he goes to clear the Three Wolves now, VG will probably just dive, Ahri is about to arrive, and Malphite has already found a spot to… huh?!"

Rita's analysis was suddenly cut off, and she widened her beautiful eyes in surprise,

"Did they just teleport in? VG is so fierce!"

Ning also didn't expect that, the very next second after Ezreal placed a ward, Malphite immediately teleported in!

Even Rookie, who had already walked behind the Blue Buff camp, exclaimed "holy shit", saying he'd never seen such arrogance in all his time playing professionally!

VG's intention is now very clear——

Actively entering IG's encirclement? No! VG is using a dagger tactic! Jiao Shen, leveraging his own advantage, forced Ning to retreat and then gave Sheng Qiang Ge a teleport position! Two daggers directly stabbed into IG's heart; in Go, this move is called……

VG is trying to split the battlefield, deliberately holding this position to make Ning and Rookie afraid to go down Xia Lu!

This move is called Lovesick Sever!

What do we do, Rookie and Ning have been separated!

Theshy also T-ed! The teleport target was the defensive tower!

Jiao Shen is moving down, obviously intending to pick the weaker duo in Xia Lu as the target to engage, but then he has to be careful not to lose connection with the big tree…… Ah?!

Not Xia Lu! The big tree came down and instantly unleashed his ultimate in the opposite direction!

IG was tricked! The duo was scared and hid in the tower awaiting rescue, while VG's real target was actually the two people behind them!

Rookie just used the Explosive Fruit to speed up and meet up with Ning! The tree roots created by Nature's Grasp surged forward like a myriad troops!!

Since the big tree's rework in 7.11, it received a buff in the 7.13 version, gaining 25 base health; at the same time, the cooldown of its R skill Nature's Grasp was reduced by 10 seconds, and its effect range increased from 2500 yards to 3000 yards!

It increased by a full 500 yards, more than the distance of a flash!

A super-large 3000-yard AOE control skill, Wang Duo Duo's description of it as 'a myriad troops' is not exaggerated at all!

The two were forced by the big tree's ultimate into the side path; Rookie directly used flash to go through the wall…… Oh no, Rookie! The wall was too thick, he actually couldn't flash through!!

It's over!!!

Ning also didn't have flash!!