Chapter 243: Sword Saint of Ten Thousand Flowers! So He Was the Shoo-maker All Along!

"We were just saying before that if we could see Neeko at this MSI, it would definitely be in the hands of Master Ye!"

Guan Zeyuan continued his analysis: "But one thing to say, the early-game stats of the new Neeko are really a bit too low; it feels like she's on the same level as the Emperor of the Sands now."

"Fortunately, she should be pretty good at fighting Galio."

"But honestly, it's hard to understand the designer's thinking. They just added a utility-oriented change, yet they directly nerfed the early-game damage of all four skills, Q, W, E, and R. The problem is, this hero doesn't seem like a late-game AP carry either."

Although her pick rate in ranked games is quite high thanks to the "fun factor" after the rework, other teams have unanimously concluded for the time being that this hero is not viable.

Of course, it might also be because the MSI patch release time was too rushed.

The reason for this conclusion is that compared to the old Neeko, the new Neeko seems to have changed from an "early-game burst" hero to a "mid-to-late-game teamfight" hero.

In other words, they moved a portion of the base stats from her early-game skills to her late-game AP scaling.

The problem is, even if she has damage in the late game, Neeko's most crucial ultimate hit is still very difficult to land—even with the addition of {not showing the animation for the first 0. seconds of the ultimate cast while disguised}!

Plus, if the team composition really needs a late-game hero, why not play the much more stable Emperor of the Sands or Orianna?

In short, her positioning in the mid lane looks awkward no matter how you look at it.

The entire T1 roster was clearly also worried about this unexpected hero.

Li Xianghe knew that since his opponent would bring her out, it meant he believed this hero had the capability to appear, which generally meant there was a viable possibility.

Then it was even more likely that there were strong points they hadn't discovered.

"But coming into this game, V5 actually didn't invade at level one. They didn't go to swap jungle sides?" Jide looked suspiciously at the quite different level-one setups of both sides.

"Logically speaking, with one early-game composition and one late-game composition in this match, it wouldn't be an exaggeration for V5 to look for any opportunity at level one."

The entire T1 roster was clearly nervous from the start, dropping two wards at the jungle entrances as soon as they left the base, standing ready for an enemy level-one invasion.

But strangely, V5, seen from the spectator's perspective, had no intention of invading; even the top and bottom lanes had ducked into the lane bushes in front of the minion waves, already preparing for the laning phase.

And there was a reason why V5 was doing this.

Invading at level one to swap jungle sides could certainly drive away Nocturne and force a jungle swap.

But in that case, V5's jungle path would actually be completely exposed; both sides would have equal information, and they would only have gained the right to invade one half of the map.

But a hero like Nocturne is supposed to keep his head down and farm the jungle normally in the early game anyway; exposing information to each other with Zhao Xin is not a loss at all—at worst, they just farm together.

Zhao Xin is different; he definitely has to find a way to make things happen in the early game.

However, when Oner saw that the opponent didn't come to swap jungle sides, he immediately got an idea: "Youqi, can you bait them a little at level one? I can come top at level two!"

"Feels like I can." Zeus, who had just arrived in lane, had just been poked by a cannon shot from Jayce, who was camping in the bush, and felt there was indeed an opportunity.

No one would think Nocturne would gank in the early game, especially at level two.

But T1 being able to pick this composition naturally meant they had practiced it specially.

Although Karma in the top lane looks like a "slacker hero," she is definitely a master at laning!

The significance of this hero, besides the most obvious "protect the carry" system, is the secondary role of securing lane priority in the early game to protect the jungle, or even counter-invading.

Furthermore, Karma is definitely a hero that is "easy to defend and hard to attack"; her Q, W, and E—slow, speed boost, and root—are very effective when paired with a gank, and she is not easy to catch herself.

The minion waves spawned.

The commentary desk began to pay attention to the mid lane.

"Master Ye is playing the classic long-range against Galio again this game, starting directly with a Doran's Blade!"

"It's just a pity, there's no hero like Caitlyn from last time in this game; the other two ranged heroes on V5's side have very short range, so Neeko has actually become the longest-ranged one~"

Li Xianghe wasn't too surprised when he saw Neeko's starting items.

He had actually guessed that the opponent might buy AD items to start.

But considering that the opponent could very well invade at level one to get information and check Galio's runes, it might backfire, so he didn't bring armor shards.

Anyway, he was Galio, and the early-game pressure wasn't that great.

The minion waves clashed.

Galio threw out Winds of War and retreated very naturally, worried that Neeko had leveled her Q skill and not wanting to give the opponent a chance for an "extra bloom."

But Neeko didn't intend to hard-press Galio; she just leveled W and then quickly auto-attacked to push the wave.

And don't say, because the Q skill 【Blooming Burst】 is hard to trigger "multi-hit damage" in the early game, Neeko starting with a Doran's Blade and leveling W at level one actually pushes the wave faster.

1 minute and 50 seconds.

Nocturne, who was soloing the Blue Buff, deliberately didn't use Smite to farm, wanting to wait for the top lane minion wave to come a bit further, and waiting for both top laners to reach level two for a better opportunity.

"Nocturne is heading straight top after finishing the Blue Buff! Oner seems to want to change the tempo!?"

"Flandre's Jayce is playing very well at level one this game, having grabbed quite a health advantage—but there's usually no reason for a top laner to go ward at level two, otherwise there will inevitably be a vision vacuum in the river at level three or four!"

"How does it feel like this wave might be..."

"Eh? What's that sound?"

Just as the LPL commentary desk was nervously watching Nocturne walking out of the Blue Buff camp and heading toward the top lane.

In the live broadcast, a sound like whistling suddenly came from far to near.

Listening carefully, it seemed to be a somewhat clumsy vocal imitation of "shoo shoo shoo shoo shoo."

"Who's calling??" Rita asked with a face full of question marks.

"Uh, it's Master Ye!" Jide, with sharp eyes, caught a glimpse of a figure walking into the right jungle: "Neeko!?"

The director followed suit and shifted the perspective slightly to the bottom right.

They saw that "Neeko," who was "flying" in from the front of the mid-lane inner turret with her tail spinning like a helicopter propeller.

Li Xianghe, who was being pushed in, of course also saw Neeko using W toward his jungle, as well as the strange "shoo shoo shoo" sound ringing in his ears.

He didn't have any suspicions at first, just assuming the opponent was checking the surrounding vision after pushing the wave.

But immediately after, he suddenly remembered something: "Neeko... could the clone see your jungle path?"

Oner sounded a bit confused: "What do you mean, Xianghe-ge, what do you mean by seeing my path?"

And at this moment, Neeko, transformed into a flying policewoman, had already flown all the way to the front of the Blue Buff camp, revealing the empty jungle camp and the Gromp still alive next to it.

"How did he only take the Blue... Flandre, be careful!"

Jayce, who also saw the detected information, hurriedly retreated.

And Nocturne had already walked to the bottom of the river, suddenly seeing the pressing Jayce start to retreat.

He still wanted to come out and trade some health, but this wave was originally because Jayce wanted to hit level two first, so both top laners were still one minion away from leveling up.

Karma didn't have W and couldn't help keep him there.

"Wow!! Oner is so hurt by this!" The Roaring Emperor felt like he was going to faint watching from the spectator's perspective: "It clearly should have been a great opportunity!"

"How can Neeko do this? This..."

"Doesn't this mean the jungle start is going to be a loss again!"

Oner's tempo-changing assault in the top lane was fruitless.

And without information on Zhao Xin's jungle start, and with no minion waves in the top or mid lanes, he definitely didn't dare to head to the opponent's red side—otherwise, if Zhao Xin started Red, or if he saw him appear and immediately came to the top half of the map, that would be equivalent to seeking death!

Oner thought about the game in his heart for a while, then decided to slink back to the blue side.

But the scene that was even more mentally taxing was...

Nocturne had just walked back to the blue side and started hitting the Gromp, when he turned his head and saw with his own eyes a "Neeko" spinning her tail, muttering "shoo shoo shoo shoo shoo" in her mouth, flying toward him!

It almost gave him a jolt!

Fortunately, the next moment, Neeko disappeared.

But after witnessing it with his own eyes, a terrifying fact seemed to be being revealed.

In fact.

In this rework, there is something that the vast majority of people would ignore—the rework of the Ctrl1-Ctrl4 animation and voice lines.

The time for each hero's {taunt} {dance} and other actions is different.

And the new Ctrl1 added in Neeko's rework, which is this "shoo shoo shoo" helicopter action, can last up to a full 11. seconds.

It's longer than the vast majority of heroes!

This is nothing for other heroes... but those who know Neeko's "extension mechanism" can understand the significance of it!

W 【Shapesplitter】 has a 16-second cooldown at level one, but the timer starts as soon as it's cast.

That is to say, through the technique of extreme delay, this skill can have a vacuum period of less than 4 seconds.

W is also a {no-cost} skill!

This resulted in a "Neeko" seamlessly connecting and wandering around the jungle and river almost "all the time"!

Oner, whose jungle information was always semi-transparent, was driven to misery!

Just like when he saw Nocturne re-enter his top half of the map, Zhao Xin immediately went to counter-jungle the opponent's bottom half—and Oner still wanted to go to the opponent's red side, only to bump into a flying Neeko in the river again and again!

The veins on Oner's forehead were faintly bulging.

No matter how his jungle went in the first two games, at least his mentality hadn't been too affected, and it didn't count for much.

But this...

Especially the "shoo shoo shoo" that kept coming to his ears always gave him an inexplicable, nameless fire!

Of course, it wasn't just him.

All the viewers in live broadcast rooms around the world were also listening to that "shoo shoo shoo" throughout the whole process.

【Pure mental attack! I'm getting a headache listening to it; is this the Slacker Sect re-emerging in the world?】

【To be honest, my head is full of shoo shoo shoo right now; it's a bit too funny 23333333】

【Damn it, this is like watching Sun Ce's first-person perspective of the Jie Yuji bewitchment; the whole time it's "Do you believe it~ Do you believe it~", how am I supposed to awaken the grudge on me?!】 【Hey? A balloon zombie in the jungle!】

【This thing is definitely another birth-level easter egg, following Nasus's high leg lift, Darius's axe swing, Xerath's head scratching, Alistar's bell ringing, and Sett's sit-ups!】

【I just saw it in Zzitai's live broadcast room; I kept thinking it was Erzi, that idiot, making those shoo shoo shoo sounds, so I scolded him a few times and ran here.】

【Oh my god! So he is the real "Shoo-maker"!】

Li Xianghe knew that continuing like this was very wrong.

If Nocturne's jungle continued to be invaded and counter-jungled like this, never mind the small dragon fight, he probably wouldn't even reach level six by the time the Rift Herald fight started!

If Nocturne didn't have level six, a 5v5 team fight would just make him a pure, incomparable super minion.

Fortunately, although T1 and Li Xianghe, like everyone else, did not value Neeko and had not practiced her—he had done a lot of research on Ye Bo.

Especially his match recordings.

This was also why he could vaguely guess what would happen in the first wave; it was because he had watched many of Ye Bo's recordings.

Neeko's "directional detection" technique required a {continuously visible enemy unit} as a target, which meant their own top or bottom tier-one towers, and to get the clone into the jungle, one had to turn in from the small path in front of the mid tower.

Therefore, Galio could contest lane priority, making it difficult for the opponent to release a clone along the way.

Or, he could be more proactive in trading health during the laning phase, forcing Neeko to use W for laning, which would also leave the opponent with no time to scout the jungle.

The latter was still quite simple to achieve.

In fact, as long as Galio used E to dash forward, it was very easy to bait Neeko into using W.

It was just obvious that this would cause the mid-lane laning situation to take a sudden turn for the worse—if Galio started with E and failed to lock Neeko down, he would definitely be counter-attacked severely!

Originally, Li Xianghe was thinking of slowly grinding out levels, but now, in order to protect the jungle, he was forced to trade health for lane priority like this.

"Xianghe has already been forced to use TP in less than 5 minutes." Bang's eyes revealed worry, and his tone was clearly disapproving: "This is simply using the mid lane to desperately protect the jungle!"

"Speaking of which, didn't Master Xingxiong teach Oner his ultimate techniques? This isn't right." Wolf clearly thought the same as his old partner.

The Roaring Emperor did not pick up on this T1 internal matter and focused on the state of the match: "But even with this desperate protection, Nocturne still has no combat power, his level is still behind, and they definitely won't be able to take the small dragon."

"Wait, Neeko didn't recall this wave!? Maybe she's short on gold!"

"Is there a possibility for Oner to spot an opportunity and come for a gank!"

The god's-eye view provided more thorough information.

After helping the team finish the small dragon, Neeko did not choose to recall on the spot but instead returned to the mid lane, clearly because she was short a bit of gold to buy items.

From Ye Bo's perspective.

Although he had lost some health trading with Galio earlier, he had all his skills up and had reached level six, so he wasn't very afraid of a gank.

However, from T1's perspective, this was a rare and precious opportunity!

"Because T1 openly gave up the small dragon, both bottom lanes didn't come at all; if two people are doing the dragon, Zhao Xin definitely has to recall!"

"Oner seems to have thought of this too! He is already rushing to the mid lane!"

"As long as they can liberate the mid lane, the jungle won't be so miserable; after all, the tempo capability of T1's mid-jungle duo at level six is something the opposing mid-jungle simply cannot compare to!"

Oner was actually planning to go counter-jungle to supplement some economy.

But Li Xianghe saw that the opponent hadn't recalled and immediately realized this was an opportunity.

Taking a step back, even if they didn't succeed in getting the kill, just forcing out the opponent's Flash and Teleport—without those two summoner spells, Neeko wouldn't dare to be so arrogant in lane!

Just as the commentary desk said.

T1 also believed that as long as their mid-jungle could safely reach level six, whether it was finding an opening or providing support, they were stronger than the opponent's mid-jungle combination!

"I'm here, Brother Xianghe!"

Oner seemed to be gritting his teeth, as if he couldn't wait to fight this Neeko to the death.

Li Xianghe began to act, repeating his old trick, straightforwardly using E to try and bait out the W!

But Ye Bo did not take the bait this time.

He of course knew that he was relatively fragile without having supplemented his items, so he held onto his skills tightly and was even more cautious with his spacing than before.

However, Nocturne had already walked out from behind!

Although Galio's E didn't hit, he had already charged to point-blank range—then he decisively flashed in and spread his wings to charge his W!

Here, one could see Li Xianghe's understanding and mastery of Galio.

It looked like Galio's W charge was also within range.

But in that case, Neeko could turn around and use W+E to potentially run away; at the very least, she could just Flash to pull away instantly without taking damage, resulting in at most a trade of Flashes.

But Galio flashing face-to-face to initiate ensured that even if Neeko immediately flashed or used her W clone, she would be unable to escape the charge range of his taunt!

"Hold your skills!"

"Got it!"

Oner's thought process was solid; he didn't need a reminder.

Nocturne was only level four this wave, while Neeko had already reached level six, so even without recalling to buy items, it was inevitably dangerous.

But Nocturne had his own reliance.

As long as Oner held onto his W 【Darkness Shield】 and used the magic shield to block Neeko's R skill, which had an extremely obvious wind-up, there was no way the opponent could counter-kill him no matter what!

But when Neeko saw the charging Galio in her face, her first reaction was not to Flash.

She first turned and threw her E 【Tangle-Barbs】 at Nocturne—Nocturne decisively flashed to dodge and close the distance!

Oner had a clear head; he knew his W had to be saved for the ultimate!

Seeing this, Neeko seemed to have reached a dead end, still not flashing as if trying to save her skills, only using W to turn invisible and move forward.

But Galio's wings were already wide open, and he was sucking in with all his might!

The "invisible" main body was instantly sucked out!

Nocturne poured all his Q and E skills in, locking on with his trail, waiting only for the fear from his E to trigger; there was a very high chance of a kill here!

But.

After a brief pause, the low-health Neeko suddenly "vanished into thin air" from where she stood.

"Where is she!?"

She didn't appear under the tower, nor was she in sight.

No one knew where Neeko had gone.

According to the mechanics of the "old version of Neeko," a clone would instantly disappear if hit by hard crowd control, which was why the two of them had initially concluded they had caught the real body.

Could it be that she flashed into the river bush while invisible just now?

As the two were confused.

Nocturne's health seemed to be dropping rapidly due to tanking the minion wave's focus fire.

"Help me push the lane, you should level up faster too."

Although Li Xianghe was also losing lane and experience, and hadn't reached level six yet, he knew the importance of the jungler's level better.

But immediately after.

Both of them seemed to notice something strange.

"Wait, that's not right... something is wrong!"

"Hey, why is my health dropping so fast???"

"Damn these minions!!"

The blooming 【Pop Blossom】 guidance aura bloomed to reveal itself.

It was centered on a {melee minion}!

Fortunately, Oner had been holding his W and hadn't used it recklessly, immediately pressing his magic shield!

{But during the wind-up time of Neeko's ultimate, one can use other skills.

Ye Bo waited for the precise moment before his R landed to throw out his Q 【Blooming Burst】 to bloom on the spot—the two were competing in "timing."

And clearly, Ye Bo was a step ahead.

The Darkness Shield was broken first, and the garden of blossoms instantly knocked both of them up before slamming down!

At the same time, the second and third stages of the Blooming Burst exploded repeatedly, and through the binding effect of the "RQ" combo, it hit Nocturne for full damage!

Before "revealing her true form," Nocturne was already at less than half health.

Eating this full combo caused him to die on the spot!

"Wow!!!" Jide raised his hands, incomparably excited.

"This was using W invisibility to mask the transformation, releasing a fake clone to confuse them, and then transforming into a minion herself... dodging Galio's fatal taunt!"

"My goodness! This is Master Ye's understanding! I knew there was a reason he chose her!"

The text for Galio's W skill was very clear: "Taunts nearby 'enemy champions'."

And although Neeko hadn't recalled to buy items, her main attribute was {Attack Damage}, but by transforming into a "melee minion," she instantly gained the melee minion's high 1. 5% attack speed.

Although the new version of Neeko removed the "bonus movement speed" Ye Bo had used before, only inheriting the "base movement speed" of the imitated unit—it also added a new setting that inherited "attack speed."

{Attack speed} was more than double that of her original form, yet she possessed her own attack damage attribute!

At the same time, she could also add the three-ring bonus damage from her W passive!

It was almost like she had transformed into the 【Ten Thousand Flower Sword Saint】!

Those few times Nocturne mistakenly thought he was being "focused" by a pile of minions were exactly because of this!

"Nocturne dying here is a huge loss! He could have taken back some of the jungle while Zhao Xin was recalling, but now he's recalling along with him!"

"And Master Ye's condition is actually quite good; after all, the opponent barely hit him! There was absolutely no risk of being killed, and he didn't even need to use Flash!"

"Huh??"

"What is Master Ye trying to do now!?"

(End of chapter)