Chapter 138: The Hero with the Strongest Snowballing Ability! A Dangerous Cliff-Edge Gamble

Before taking the stage, Ye Bo saw that there were significantly more support signs with his name in the audience, waving incessantly toward him, and his blood instantly began to boil.

However, glancing to the side, the T1 members who had just taken their seats looked even more relaxed than he did.

Clearly, the adjustments for this game had made the T1 squad feel they had regained their form; just as Little Lu Bu had said in the trash talk, they were all very confident in themselves.

Li Xianghe stretched his neck, his eyes fixed on the screen in front of him.

Six years ago, he was also at Madison Square Garden, sitting in this very spot, when he hoisted his third championship trophy.

Returning here once again, this brand-new T1 five-man roster held special significance for him this year.

The Korean commentary desk also noticed the composed and confident demeanor of the T1 members.

"Please try your best to win this game, T1, and show the whole world your strength!" the Roaring Emperor shouted with emotion: "T1 fighting!"

The guest commentator was the decorated T1 support, Wolf, who clearly held absolute confidence in his home team: "We are on the blue side this round, which gives us an absolute advantage in the draft; our chances of winning are definitely not small!"

A crisp, resonant sound rang out.

The draft interface appeared on the large screen at the venue.

The Haier Brothers at the LPL commentary desk took a breath: "The draft has begun, both sides have sent Akali and Sylas to the ban list!"

"Actually, looking back at the first game, it's clear that Faker likely feels his mastery of Akali isn't top-tier, but he doesn't intend to give this signature pick to Ye!"

"As for Sylas, this champion is a signature for both mid-laners, so it's no surprise the red side banned it themselves!"

"Huh? T1 has sent Taliyah to the ban list!?"

The blue side's second ban was somewhat unexpected.

Ever since the major nerfs in the playoff patch, although Taliyah retained her powerful post-rework mechanics, her base stats were gutted so heavily that her pick/ban rate had been quite low during the earlier stages of the World Championship.

T1 banning Taliyah was naturally because they had seen that first match between EDG and G2.

The first round of the duel made the T1 squad realize Ye Bo's ability to influence the game through laning advantages.

Since EDG had the counter-pick on the red side, this advantage was likely to be amplified even further.

Therefore, in the second round, they changed their approach, preparing to have Li Xianghe pick a major control mage like Azir, which he was most proficient with, to lock down the opponent's laning phase.

They had immense confidence in Li Xianghe's control mages, absolutely believing he could leave the opposing mid-lane helpless and unable to fire back!

But the Pyke from the first game today had suddenly reminded them—this person wasn't just someone who only knew how to play the lane.

As for banning Taliyah, it was because Bengi believed that if Ye Bo dared to pick Pyke or Akshan, their T1 mid-jungle duo was not G2's mid-jungle!

The first round of bans for both sides—

T1: Akali, Taliyah, Sejuani

EDG: Sylas, Caitlyn, Azir

EDG had already proven in the first round that they could bring out Caitlyn, but coming to the red side, they still had to ban it.

And the final pick for both sides was the true focal point of the draft game.

T1 banned the meta-strong Sejuani as expected, but EDG made a tactical shift, choosing to ban Azir at the very end.

This meant that Aatrox and Yuumi, the champions with the highest pick/ban rates in the meta, were both left open by the red side.

This was a self-service multiple-choice question for the blue side.

Yet, there was almost nothing to hesitate about.

Because Fiora, who could counter Aatrox, was still available, and Zeus's proficiency on Aatrox was only above average; there was no reason to force a pick against the red side's counter-pick, at least not without saving it for the second round of the draft.

Furthermore... T1 wasn't actually afraid of the opponent picking Aatrox at all!

"T1 snatches up Yuumi, a very correct choice!" the Roaring Emperor was pleasantly surprised: "It's worth mentioning that Yuumi's win rate previously reached as high as 85%! It's a terrifying eleven wins and two losses; EDG actually dared to leave it open!"

"Ha, it's because Xianghe's Azir is too intimidating for the other side!" SKT war-wolf Wolf smiled, then specifically helped his opponents explain.

"But there really is no other way; the ban slots for this patch on the red side are very limited, something has to be left open~"

Yuumi had been almost a must-ban or must-pick in previous matches, and had hardly lost whenever picked, only losing two games to wildcard teams.

Looking at the data alone, it was far more terrifying than Aatrox!

"EDG has picked Aatrox + Renata! Those are both decent choices."

The Korean commentary desk didn't see any underlying issues.

But Bengi, behind T1, clearly sensed something was off.

"They picked the AD late; they want to force us to take Sivir first, and then pick one to restrict our top-jungle..."

After Zeri had completely disappeared and could no longer be played, the best "cat-climbing frame" for Yuumi was the highly survivable Sivir, followed by Miss Fortune.

If T1 didn't pick Sivir in their second or third slots, the opponent would inevitably snatch or ban it, forcing them to pick Miss Fortune to play against Sivir, which would not only increase laning pressure but also make them easier to gank, falling into the same predicament as the first game.

But if they snatched Sivir.

Then one of the top-jungle duo would inevitably be targeted by bans in the second round.

Outside the game, there were still Fiora for top lane and Maokai for jungle, the optimal solutions for both roles.

"No need to struggle, give it to the jungler, I have plenty of champions I can play top!" Zeus's voice was very confident.

"Hmm, then let's take Sivir and Maokai." Bengi didn't overthink it.

EDG picked Kalista in the third slot, entering the second round of the draft.

EDG: Fiora, Yone

T1: LeBlanc, Zoe

"Both teams have targeted bans for the top and mid lanes, but this Yone ban seems rare..." the Roaring Emperor's voice was slightly hesitant.

"I remember Youqi has played it, at MSI; it should be a ban targeting the top lane," Wolf recalled as if counting his family treasures: "As for Yone, should it be able to beat Aatrox?"

It was no wonder everyone was confused.

Because Yone's total appearances throughout S12 could be counted on one hand, and it was only ever played as a mid-laner.

The only record for top lane was when Zeus used it once during the mid-year MSI, putting on a quite dazzling performance.

But at that time, no one played Aatrox, so Yone wasn't laning against Aatrox.

Therefore, no one had a concept of the matchup between Yone and Aatrox at this moment.

And from the clearly shocked expressions of the T1 members and Zeus himself upon seeing Yone being banned, one could tell.

This ban was definitely beyond their expectations!

Because in fact, this was considered one of their "secret weapons."

Yone's suppression of Aatrox was even greater than that of Fiora, who could only split-push; it was an all-around suppression from laning → team fighting → split-pushing!

Of course.

Actually, they hadn't intended to hide it; they even deliberately left Aatrox open for G2 in the previous game, wanting to pick it to see the effect.

After all, actual combat on stage might be a different story.

But once successfully verified, T1 would create new draft pressure for any opponent on the red side who wanted to pick Aatrox!

Even if the opponent knew about this Yone counter-pick, it was highly unlikely they could squeeze out an extra ban slot during the first ban phase!

It was just that because G2 in the last match was playing recklessly, T1 naturally didn't feel the need to expose it in a hurry, so they saved it for this game.

However, they also forgot.

Within EDG, there was a Yone specialist whose understanding was in no way inferior to Zeus, and who was very clear about the difficulty of this matchup.

Although Ye Bo had practiced with Flandre, the counter-relationship between these two champions was unavoidable; unless there was a draft requirement, there was no need to ask for trouble.

Furthermore, EDG's focus in this game was destined not to be in the top half, so focusing on the top-lane draft was very important.

"EDG picks Viego; as expected, they left the counter-pick for their mid-laner!"

"T1 has picked Camille + Viktor for mid-top, a very solid lineup!"

The best choice to beat Aatrox in the top lane was gone.

Facing Aatrox, one absolutely could not pick a tank champion like Ornn to just stand there and get beaten.

Before T1 now, there were only the two split-push choices of Camille and Jax, or the two team-fight choices of Jayce and Gnar.

And T1 ultimately picked Camille, a slightly split-push-oriented choice, making the lineup more comprehensive.

There was only one problem—Camille was the worst of these four champions at laning against Aatrox.

Clearly, this was Zeus and the T1 team's confidence in his mechanical skill.

But this had already achieved Ye Bo's goal of painstakingly designing the draft.

The top lane needed to be able to hold its own; it was the most important part of this game and also the key area where problems were most likely to occur.

In the first game, it was because the lineup was firing on all cylinders, plus the mid-lane changed the tempo early to gank and influence the top-lane laning, and later the Caitlyn system unfolded, causing Zeus to have no laning time and make no waves.

When they scrimmed against T1, the top-lane issues left a fresh memory, making Ye Bo very wary and attentive.

As for the mid-lane pick, it was exactly what he had hoped for!

Viktor was seen as a substitute for Azir, and in certain terrains, he was even stronger than Azir.

With Azir banned in the first round, this was an almost inevitable pick.

"In that case, it depends on what EDG will pick for the mid-lane to respond, but Ye's champion pool is pretty much banned out, right? I guess it'll be something like Akshan or Syndra, which can't pose any threat to Viktor!"

Wolf finished his serious analysis and then teased: "I don't believe he would dare to pick a 'water ghost' to lane against Xianghe; this kind of champion has no chance against a long-range mage..."

"What is this!?"

Immediately after, a portrait appeared and was locked in the fifth slot for EDG, making everyone's eyes light up, only to turn into stunned silence.

A round-faced little boy riding a chubby giant yeti.

【Holy crap! The little boy riding the yeti!】

【My god, they've already won; this is the champion with the strongest snowballing ability in this game!】

【The dung beetle is here~~~ I can't believe I'm seeing this thing in a match; if you hadn't told me, I would have thought this was a Western team~】

【Master Ye says nothing, just keeps on trolling.】

【It's a bit too happy... they won't throw the game, will they?】

【Believe in Master Ye, believe first, then believe again!】

The scene erupted in a wave of uproar and cheers; the atmosphere was instantly heated up by this single hero pick!

It was because this hero was absolutely obscure enough—so obscure that the vast majority of people had barely even seen it in the game—yet it was a hero that made everyone curious!

With the team formation clearly determined, this Nunu obviously could only play mid lane.

Both sides' lineups were confirmed.

《Blue Side: T1 || Red Side: EDG》

【Top: Camille vs. Aatrox】

【Jungle: Maokai vs. Viego】

【Mid: Viktor vs. Nunu & Willump】

【ADC: Sivir vs. Kalista】

【Support: Yuumi vs. Renata Glasc】

"Ye has picked a mid laner that no one has ever seen." Wolf's voice was clearly not as calm as it had been just a moment ago, but he quickly began to anxiously question: "But can this hero really play mid?"

"It's hard to say. After all, Ye has picked many such rare and obscure options; he really has a lot of research in this area," the Roaring Emperor said rationally.

"However, looking at the lineups, I still favor the T1 side more. They fully utilized their blue side draft advantage and picked a positional warfare lineup that fits their system perfectly!"

"And they successfully secured multiple heroes that have been strong for several patches, especially the pick of Yuumi!"

"EDG might have had a bit of initiative before the ten-minute mark, but as long as the levels drag on, there is no reason for this EDG lineup to be able to win a head-on team fight, or even manage side lanes!"

Yuumi has many strong points.

But the most important core is undoubtedly her terrifying mid-game "God-Making" ability.

It is almost equivalent to directly granting a carry the combat power of one and a half to two items, enough to instantly elevate a hero with average development into an unrivaled super-carry!

This is also why T1 dared to pick a slightly slower-tempo lineup in this match.

Ye Bo, of course, was also very clear about this.

Yet he still made the draft choice to leave Yuumi open; naturally, he had his own ideas.

Simply put.

Ye Bo was planning for the subsequent quarterfinals, semifinals, and even further schedules.

He also discovered how great the red side draft disadvantage was in this patch; several heroes were fixed bans that had to be targeted.

And Yuumi was the problem that gave all teams the biggest headache on the red side.

Previously, they had already solved EDG's Caitlyn problem on the blue side.

In this match, he just wanted to try "solving the problem" to see if he could try to crack the Yuumi issue again.

As long as it was successfully verified, EDG could greatly alleviate the draft distress of the red side!

Becoming the second team currently on the surface to achieve "red side parity"!

The first was Gen. .

And they had even cracked Yuumi as early as the playoffs, forcing T1 to ban Yuumi themselves even when on the blue side, leading to their draft being completely blown out.

This was also an important reason why T1 suffered a 3-0 crushing defeat to them in the LCK finals!

The key was that Gen. 's method of cracking it was impossible for anyone to learn.

Because they relied on the foundation of their own support, Lehends, as the "No. 1 Singed on the Korean Server," developing and picking {Support Singed} to perform a desperate counter-pick, directly killing off Yuumi from the root!

Most support players, including Meiko, naturally could not pull out a Singed; this hero is not something one can just pick up after playing a dozen games.

And Ye Bo was thinking of another line of reasoning.

Of course, it was also mainly because EDG had already entered the quarterfinals and had no worries, so they dared to directly use this match to experiment.

The match finished loading.

When Li Xianghe stepped out of the fountain, he was still recalling memories about the snowman.

In fact, if one were to say who the second person who understood the snowman best in this match was—it was Li Xianghe himself!

Coincidentally, he liked the snowman hero very much and had even been addicted to it for a period of time, playing exactly mid-lane snowman!

He had even played against and crushed a B-surname big streamer!

But precisely because he understood it, after seeing this choice, he was even clearer on the significance and purpose of this hero playing mid.

Especially after seeing the Viktor he was controlling... he suddenly had a bad premonition.

"I definitely can't keep an eye on him with this hero. As soon as I report him missing, you guys must retreat immediately. We can give up resources in the early game for this match," Li Xianghe was giving commands.

"Do I need to come gank him?" Oner asked.

"It might be hard to gank. We don't have enough damage. Let's see how it goes."

Although Li Xianghe knew the playstyle of this hero in the mid lane.

But after all, he couldn't have practiced it too many times, and the time gap and patch differences were also quite significant.

He dared not be sure if the person on the opposite side had a level of mastery that included things he didn't know.

The facts were indeed as he had anticipated.

Just as they had left the base and the commentary desk was preparing to interpret the rune choices of both sides, they were immediately attracted by the director's panning view.

"Haha, player Ye is very happy. I'm now suspecting that the 1v1 was called by player Ye. This Nunu started pushing a snowball as soon as he left the base!" Wawa laughed happily.

"Eh?"

Miller happened to be staring at the item bar below.

And just as he was also preparing to shift his gaze, he suddenly felt as if someone's item bar "flashed."

But because it was fleeting and his eyesight wasn't particularly good, he didn't see it clearly, so he didn't continue to look further.

"Wow, Nunu's speed is so fast. He's pushing the ball all by himself from the bottom side..."

"Wait a minute!"

"Is there a level one design from EDG!?"

The commentary desk, which had thought it was just a casual move by Nunu, finally realized it belatedly.

The moment the fountain barrier fell, Nunu directly pushed his W skill, 【Biggest Snowball Ever!】, and headed straight toward the bottom of the map.

The other four teammates followed closely, taking a shortcut through the jungle and rushing in a straight line toward the opponent's bottom jungle.

When the T1 group conducted their failed review of the first round, their memory of the LeBlanc's "stealth vision" was still fresh; that vision could also be called the most important fulcrum of the entire match's tempo.

So this time, everyone was more careful and cautious, paying extreme attention to the opponent's possible level-one design.

But in this match, T1 had a new vulnerability.

Yuumi.

Yuumi is a hero who does not carry Flash. Once hit by any hard crowd control from the opponent's Flash, her W attachment will immediately enter an extremely long cooldown, directly becoming a lamb waiting to be slaughtered!

Therefore, at level one, Yuumi cannot take on a "five-point" standing position alone like a normal support.

Either she just hangs on someone, or she must have friendly forces within close range so she can get on board at any time.

T1 was also clear about this point.

But they had long since deployed various standing positions based on picking Yuumi, choosing to have the mid laner stand at the entrance in front of the mid-lane tower to guard the "fake vision" blind spot that LeBlanc had once entered.

Yuumi was standing at the corner outside the Raptors pit, monitoring the tracks of the main entrance.

This way, if danger appeared, Yuumi could easily fly over the wall with W to attach and save her life, thereby safely protecting the bottom jungle.

The defense of the top jungle was relatively simple; the jungler and top laner each guarded one point. In this match, the opponent had no heroes capable of jumping over walls, so it was impossible to bypass the vision.

The ADC was guarding the bottom-lane tri-bush alone.

"Everyone stand in your positions. As soon as you see someone, retreat immediately. Just confirming their information is enough."

Li Xianghe was still deploying, and these words were mainly for the ADC.

Gumayusi understood and only stood at the edge of the tri-bush; as soon as he saw someone enter, he would definitely have enough time to retreat.

After all, EDG's lineup did not have long-range crowd control abilities like a "hook" or Amumu. Even if Nunu pushed a ball, he could use the corner wall of the tri-bush to dodge quickly.

It seemed there was no threat.

And immediately after, four people appeared in Sivir's vision, walking from the upper right!

"They are at the bottom!"

Gumayusi immediately turned to head down, simultaneously placing a ward in the bush, and turned to throw 【Boomerang Blade】 to trigger his passive 【Fleet of Foot】, gaining a 55 movement speed bonus.

Relying on the movement speed bonus from his passive, Sivir could easily widen the distance from the opponent; even the distance of Renata Glasc's Flash-Q was not quite enough.

But just at this moment... a "huge" snowball suddenly rolled out from the bottom, heading straight for Sivir!

It was truly huge!

Nunu's W snowball would gradually increase in size, damage, speed, and crowd control effect based on the "distance" it rolled.

It could roll for a total of ten seconds, but all the amplification effects would actually reach their maximum at the fifth second.

And it was very clear that this snowball rolling toward them from the back court was definitely one that had already been fully charged!

"Flash!" Li Xianghe, who was watching the screen, shouted quickly!

Gumayusi, who had been hesitating and judging whether he would be held by the opponent after being hit by the snowball, heard the sound and decisively flashed diagonally across the face at the moment before the snowball impact.

Seeing this, Li Xianghe breathed a sigh of relief.

After the snowball is fully charged, the knock-up time will increase from 0. seconds to 1. 5 seconds.

Once hit, the opponent's support would definitely have enough time to Flash and follow up with crowd control, and then Sivir might have directly given away First Blood!

"Beautiful!" Wawa shouted excitedly, waving his arms: "Sivir's starting position was arrested! To be hit by a snowball like this at level one and forced to use a Flash, this is too comfortable!"

"Although they couldn't get a kill, looking at T1's standing arrangement, it seems they weren't prepared to guard this bottom jungle. In that case, EDG should be able to easily complete the jungle swap!"

Miller pointed out his partner's mistake: "That doesn't seem like an ADC positioning error; it's the angle of Nunu's snowball!"

There were no more incidents at level one, and the director had already quickly cut to the replay.

Nunu detoured from the bottom lane minion wave; despite it clearly being a much longer path, he relied on the speed boost from his snowball to arrive nearly five seconds earlier than his teammates who took the shortcut!

Arriving first, Nunu's W was already off cooldown by the time he reached the neutral space in the bottom lane.

Nunu did not rush to strike, but instead began pushing the snowball in place.

To be precise, it was "spinning in place to push the ball"!

The massive snowball accumulated in place reached the corner and "turned" at an almost perfectly flush angle—so when Nunu pushed the max-speed snowball into the pit, the bottom defensive tower only then spotted the opponent!

But it was already too late!

If Nunu had started his W and turned in directly, the defensive tower would have seen him at least one second earlier because his speed hadn't ramped up yet; Sivir might have had time to react, or even held onto her skill points.

Although they failed to kill Sivir, EDG's level-one strategic goal had already been achieved.

In this game, they were targeting the champion Yuumi in every possible way.

Yuumi had another problem—she was extremely weak at level one!

As long as there was even a single form of crowd control, Yuumi would never dare to come down to auto-attack, which meant that once she threw a Q or E, she was effectively non-existent!

If T1 insisted on defending this bottom half of the jungle.

Setting aside the team composition, the fight would be a 4v5 anyway!

It was precisely by exploiting this flaw of Yuumi that EDG was able to smoothly implement their favorite "forcing a lane swap" tactic from the Summer Split.

They forced the opposing jungler to avoid the bottom half of the jungle, at least until the second jungle respawn.

Because the bottom half would constantly be devoid of jungle monsters; if the jungler came down and failed to catch anyone, it could very well cause their game to collapse instantly!

Li Xianghe's unease grew increasingly intense.

He already sensed that the opponent was extremely well-prepared for this game, perhaps even with an entirely new, systematic design.

At 1 minute and 30 seconds, the minions met.

Seeing the empty mid lane before him, Li Xianghe seemed to have already guessed what would happen next.

He didn't contest the auto-attacks, but instead retreated in advance to behind the ranged minions.

Sure enough.

Three seconds later, a giant snowball started from in front of the mid inner tower, pushing all the way toward the intersection of the mid lane minion waves.

The snowball first rolled over them, then exploded.

In an instant, the three blue-side backline minions disappeared while at full health!

"This! He one-shot them!?" The Roaring Emperor, seeing this scene for the first time, was stunned.

"Meeting at level one... did he one-shot the minion wave in a second!?"

Remember that Ye Bo once used the Zoe + Flash Q trick to perform a level-one wave-pushing strategy.

Zoe's level-one Q with a {Doran's Ring} start reached a terrifying 160 points of damage.

But Nunu's fully charged level-one W dealt 234 points.

However, anyone familiar with minion stats knows that the health of the first three waves of ranged minions is 296 points, so these two numbers don't seem to add up.

But in reality, one only needs to "roll" over the minions with W first, then detonate it the moment the roll ends—this allows for two instances of W damage!

A similar damage principle applies to Anivia's Q.

By using this method, Nunu can easily kill backline minions at full health.

Furthermore, as long as one can hoard and pull the minion wave, it is even possible to "one-shot the wave"!

Li Xianghe was no stranger to this move; he used it himself when playing Nunu mid, as it was the foundation of the viability of the Nunu mid strategy.

But he was playing Viktor in this game—he was completely helpless!

The methods to counter this wave-pushing move were simple, with three options.

First, use {Silence}, {Root}, {Stun}, or any other hard crowd control to interrupt the snowball's charging process from a distance.

Unfortunately, Viktor possessed none of these.

Viktor's only crowd control skill was W {Gravity Field}, which did indeed have a stun.

However, it required the opponent to remain in the field for 1. 5 seconds to take effect; otherwise, it only provided a {Slow}.

But Nunu is {Immune to Slows} while pushing the snowball.

Second, use one's body to tank the snowball for the minions.

But Viktor only had 600 health at level one, and a snowball rolling over dealt 234 damage... that would be literally risking his life!

Don't think that Nunu has no damage without his snowball.

On the contrary, if the E skill {Snowball Barrage} hits all 3 times, a level-one E deals a full 241 points of damage!

That's even more painful than the big snowball from W!

And if one had already been knocked up by the big snowball, how could those three stages of E possibly miss?

Third, which could be considered the only viable method.

While Nunu is using W to push the wave and his other skills are hard to use against the opponent, leaving him unable to fight back and forced to take damage, one should harass the opponent to death.

Li Xianghe was indeed doing exactly that.

Since Viktor could never out-push the wave, he simply stopped auto-attacking minions and frantically harassed Nunu.

But Li Xianghe knew that this was also difficult to make effective.

"Faker is laning very successfully! He's already whittled down a lot of Nunu's health at level one!" The Roaring Emperor couldn't help but point out the positive.

"But Nunu letting himself be harassed like that is clearly just body-blocking the wave to wait for the second wave to arrive..." Wolf, being a former pro, had already seen the reason.

Relying on the protection of minion aggro, Nunu almost ignored Viktor, letting him kite as he pleased.

Li Xianghe also wanted to use the "minion aggro manipulation" technique.

But he wasn't truly proficient with this move and inevitably made mistakes; of course, it might also have been related to Viktor's incredibly slow {projectile speed}.

And Nunu gathered the first wave and the second wave together—then immediately started spinning in place!

The snowball first turned counter-clockwise to the back, rolling over a circle of minions wasn't enough... he had to turn a second circle!

The big snowball crashed down, and the two waves of minions were almost instantly melted!

With a final Q skill to devour a minion, he recovered health equivalent to a health potion!

This was why Li Xianghe knew that harassment was hard to be effective.

Viktor's early-game damage was quite lacking, especially before his key E skill laser was evolved; he could be described as having neither damage nor wave-clearing ability.

Nunu's super-strong Q skill recovery was simply not something the current Viktor could wear down!

Of course.

It was obvious that Nunu actually had no way to deal with Viktor either, otherwise he wouldn't have been content to act as a punching bag.

But picking Nunu was never for the sake of laning.

"Level two roam!?" The Roaring Emperor finally noticed something was wrong.

"Viktor is facing nearly two waves of minions crashing into the tower! Faker can't possibly move in this situation!"

Li Xianghe scanned all three lanes rapidly while last-hitting under the tower.

But the completely empty vision information made him feel an invisible pressure looming over him.

Mid lane roaming is all about timing.

If you have ten seconds less time to push and roam than your opponent every single wave, it almost means the total loss of roaming priority!

Most importantly, it was too early.

Nunu's gank relies on the high movement speed of W to arrive at the battlefield quickly, so he even possesses gank capability at level one.

This is a point that no other roaming hero possesses.

And due to the mechanics of W, Nunu usually starts pushing the ball from the middle of the river; by the time the river ward spots Nunu, his movement speed is already too fast to defend against.

"Be extremely careful... I don't know where he's going; it might be the bottom lane."

"But it's uncertain, you all in the top and bottom lanes should be careful and retreat, don't trade health."

Li Xianghe could only make a vague guess.

After all, the bottom lane had no Flash.

But as the saying goes—the timing was simply too early!

At this moment, the bottom lane was only level one, the top lane had just both hit level two, and the jungle had just finished the second camp.

Furthermore, this EDG lineup was clearly well-trained; from level one, both top and bottom lanes were very careful to protect the minion waves, maintaining them at the midline distance.

Not only that.

EDG's top and bottom lanes suddenly started acting "arrogant" at this moment!

Both top and bottom started crossing the minion wave to apply pressure, not even letting the opponent smell the experience, directly setting up a "Lucky Two-Choice" stance!

T1's top and bottom lanes were also in a difficult spot.

How were they supposed to retreat?

Should they retreat to the tower, and if Nunu doesn't show up, not even smell the experience!?

If that were really the case, then Nunu would have already completed the gank effect "from afar."

This is the disgusting part about Nunu mid.

You know he's going to run, but his long-range gank method is difficult to defend against; it's not something a simple ward can prevent, and once he goes missing, you will feel constant pressure!

"Zeus!!"

The god's-eye view had already revealed Nunu's target.

Camille!

Why Ye Bo chose to gank Camille, the reason was actually very simple—because he guessed that Camille hadn't learned E.

Don't forget, Ye Bo also had mastery-level control over Camille.

He knew very well that for Camille to trade health profitably against a melee champion like Aatrox at levels one or two, she could only poke with Q and W.

And this was precisely something Li Xianghe did not know.

Because he did not play Camille.

By the time Nunu disappeared, Camille had already reached level two; hearing the noise in the mid lane, she could only pull back slightly, yet she was unwilling to stay too far from the minion wave.

He thought he was already far enough from the minion wave.

But the moment he saw that speeding snowball, it was already too late!

Facing the incoming snowball, Zeus could only make a split-second decision and use Flash to dodge.

"Ah, it seems Zeus didn't level E at level two," the Roaring Emperor wailed: "Was he really forced to burn a Flash just like that?"

"Not even three minutes in, and this Yeti has already forced out two Flashes!"

"He had to use Flash; if he didn't, he would have taken a full rotation of damage from both of them. Even if he didn't die, he would have at least had to use Teleport, which wouldn't be worth it," Wolf offered a more rational assessment.

"Wait! Look at Nunu's position, it looks like he wants to push another ball!"

Nunu retreated after one strike, walking to the center line of the upper river to wait.

At this moment, Viktor had just finished farming under the tower and was walking out to prepare for the third wave.

Li Xianghe checked the top lane and hurriedly shouted: "Don't go out! He might have a second wave, your wave will push back to you, just take the small loss!"

As an aggressive top laner focused on laning, Zeus watched the minion wave disappear behind him and felt his heart bleeding.

It felt like ants were crawling all over him!

It must be said, if someone else had said this, he definitely would have gone to soak up that experience.

Li Xianghe thought rapidly while fast-pushing the third wave, trying to force Nunu back.

But just at this moment.

Oner, having just finished clearing the upper jungle and preparing to head toward the opponent's upper jungle, suddenly saw a big fatty pushing a snowball rushing toward the mid lane as he stepped out of his own jungle entrance!

"Brother Xianghe! Nunu!!"

Maokai followed closely behind with a stumbling gait.

And just as Viktor wanted to retreat, a Viego walked out from the direction of the Raptors, rushing toward him with his Spectral Maw charged!

Both junglers had similar clearing efficiency, and both had just hit level three as they exited the jungle.

The giant snowball made a practiced "right-angle turn" and crashed toward Viktor!

Fortunately, Li Xianghe was calm enough and had always been stingy with his use of Flash.

Viktor cast E toward his rear while moving, killing the two melee minions he had just weakened with an auto-attack to instantly reach level three, leveled W, and then dropped a Gravity Field in Viego's path!

The snowball, which seemed to be able to turn corners, hit Viktor and knocked him high into the air.

Viego's Spectral Maw also lunged forward.

But Viktor had already neared the tower, only being chased and bitten twice by Nunu, and Viego, trapped deep in the slow of the Gravity Field, could not complete the pursuit.

Logically speaking.

This play should have ended here.

Viktor had only lost some health and hadn't had his summoner spells forced, and Viego had no further opportunity to gank and had to leave.

But Li Xianghe's consciousness suddenly flashed with light.

He suddenly realized something!

Li Xianghe had once again discovered EDG's formation in time.

It seemed that this gank on the mid lane was clearly difficult to secure a kill; the best-case scenario was forcing a Flash, and most likely just dealing some damage.

But why would Viego still come out to gank at this time?

Examining the situation.

Viktor had been pressured to low health, and the top lane had just been forced into a disadvantageous minion wave position.

So, what would happen next?

Maokai was going to enter EDG's red jungle to trade jungle camps, but waiting for him would be Aatrox, who had come alone, and Nunu, who had also come alone!

His own top and mid laners could hardly come to support!

And if Maokai did not enter this red jungle, his own lower jungle was already empty, and he would have nowhere to go!

No matter what, it could be a fatal blow to Maokai's jungle!

If he hadn't noticed.

This play was almost an extremely hidden, desperate trap!

The danger involved made Li Xianghe feel his heart pounding, with a sense of having nearly stepped into an abyss.

(End of chapter)