Chapter 261: Extreme Targeting and Total Annihilation! Lightning Raid!

"Oh my god, how did JDG's level-one design end up sabotaging themselves!" Doinb exclaimed in shock.

"Not only did they burn an extra Flash, but the laning phase is bound to be affected, and it's affecting the mid, jungle, and bot lanes all at once!"

The streamer's own professional career relied on "match tempo," and the most positive term left from his career might be "self-contained system," which is why he could see the impact of such an opening so clearly.

As everyone knows, if you want to establish dominance in the laning phase, the first three levels are the most important!

According to JDG's original team composition, the mid lane was guaranteed to have the advantage; whether the Nautilus wanted to play mind games in the jungle or initiate a tempo gank, he could always use the mid lane's priority to launch an attack.

But since Cassiopeia and Lulu both learned pure combat skills at level one, they inevitably lost the initiative in the mid and bot lanes.

Especially Cassiopeia—because her laning relies on the two short-cooldown skills Q and E, and at level two, she can't fight regardless of whether she learns Q or E alone; she has to wait until level three to start laning, missing the best window to suppress Sylas.

This was bound to impact JDG's opening route and strategy.

When the minions arrived, Knight pressed Tab to check the opponent's equipment bar.

Only then did he realize that Sylas hadn't even bought a {Doran's Shield} or {Corrupting Potion} as his starting item.

He had still bought a {Doran's Ring}!

For a short-ranged champion like Sylas, when laning against a long-ranged hero like Cassiopeia who has frequent sustained damage, it was obvious that the pressure-relief combination of Doran's Shield and Second Wind should be the first choice.

"Is this guy looking down on me!?"

As this thought crossed Knight's mind, he couldn't help but feel a surge of anger.

However, his anger was only momentary.

The minion waves refreshed, and the jungle monsters spawned.

Due to the changes at the start, Kanavi's jungle path was indirectly affected, which also caught the attention of the commentary desk.

"JDG's bot lane should be helping the jungler leash... but won't Nautilus be very low on health clearing the jungle like this?"

Guan Zeyuan synchronized the information from the director: "The last time Nautilus appeared in the jungle was 3, 53 days ago, during the 2014 match between PE and OMG, picked by OMG's Pomelo; that was a full nine years ago!"

"However, as early as the 11. 1 patch in Season 11, Nautilus's E skill received a specific damage buff for jungle monsters, so he does indeed have jungle capability!"

"I can only say this is Kanavi's champion pool; JDG is truly a team with an unfathomable champion pool!"

The reason Nautilus became popular in the MSI patch was precisely because his E skill was buffed on the eve of the patch.

But that was only a buff aimed at "laning."

The change that truly allowed Nautilus to enter the jungle originated two years ago!

This is why other teams, including V5, hadn't developed Nautilus as a jungler—after all, there were no recent changes in that regard, and Ye Bo and Beryl were not junglers to begin with.

Besides his inherent utility, the more important aspect of Nautilus jungle is naturally the restriction of "taking instead of banning."

Even if this isn't a global ban-pick version, this niche research could give JDG a head start in the draft!

Kanavi's opening route also had deep meaning.

Neither jungler learned a standard jungle-clearing skill at level one.

Although you can clear the jungle without learning a skill if you are willing to use Smite, your health and efficiency will definitely be greatly compromised.

Therefore, according to conventional thinking, the best choice is to have the bot lane duo help leash at level one, reach level two quickly, and then enter a normal clearing state.

But Kanavi doesn't play by the rules!

He had the bot lane duo delay their arrival to the lane to feign a leash, while he started the Red Buff alone—and he did it almost entirely by relying on basic attacks!

In fact, this alone shows that Kanavi has seriously practiced Nautilus quite a bit, and didn't just pick him without understanding.

The reason is simple.

Nautilus's level-one Q base damage is only 85, which at most counts as 1. basic attacks, saving him only 1-2 seconds of jungle time.

And once the Q skill is used for clearing, it enters a cooldown of over ten seconds!

Conversely, although Nautilus's efficiency is low even with Smite when using basic attacks, he can use the Q skill for displacement to travel through the jungle after reaching level two, making up for some of the lost efficiency!

After reaching level two, Nautilus immediately started on the Raptors; with the E skill, clearing them was incredibly easy, and then he headed straight for the bottom half of the map.

He didn't start on the "group monster" Wolves, nor did he take the Blue Buff—because {the Red + Raptors route doesn't grant level three, only the Gromp does}.

"Kanavi seems to want to hit level three quickly and gank bot! The target should be Annie, who has no Flash!"

From the god's-eye view, this route of Kanavi's has even deeper meaning.

Because once Nautilus ganks the bot lane, Wukong will likely go straight to invade his top half.

The reason Kanavi is so certain is that, strictly speaking, V5 only has an absolute combat advantage in the top lane with K'Sante vs. Ornn, so Wukong invading the top half is the lowest-risk move.

Kanavi believes that any jungler would choose this strategy that is most favorable to themselves.

Therefore, he chose to clear the two camps in the top half first.

Although this leads to an awkward path and slower clearing efficiency, it allows him to go for a gank with minimal "jungle loss"!

This not only demonstrates his seasoned jungle management but also once again showcases his playstyle characteristics.

Looking at this aspect alone, he is somewhat like the Chovy of the jungle role.

One treats everything they play as a main carry, and the other treats everything they play as a main jungle carry.

Neither can really accept their own personal growth being compromised!

At this moment, the bot lane priority is being dominated by V5.

"Neon Annie" is one of the best-fitting combinations in the new version, even more so than the new Yuumi, and their laning is not weak at all.

Both have extremely long range; Zeri's Q skill has a 700-yard range, while Annie has a 625-yard range, only 25 yards lower than Caitlyn, making their laning poke frequency almost second only to Caitlyn and Neeko.

More importantly, Lulu learned the W skill for fighting at level one, which is basically useless for laning, so the minion wave naturally pushed toward them.

Of course, Beryl went to the river to place a ward immediately.

But due to the information gap regarding Nautilus jungle, his clearing speed exceeded their expectations—they didn't realize that even if Nautilus was clearing alone, and even if he only used basic attacks at level one, he could reach level three at 2: 7!

Normally, the bot lane takes at least 3: 5 to reach level three.

Kanavi sneakily walked into the Dragon pit, hugged the wall to cast {Hexflash} to jump into the tri-bush, and activated his sweeper to confirm there was no vision!

Since the JDG bot duo only had two levels and Lulu had no Flash to follow up, they had to press forward in advance, which immediately made the V5 bot lane alert.

"Someone might be coming!"

"Let's back off first."

The highly disciplined V5 duo retreated conservatively, and Nautilus soon walked out from behind them.

The target was extremely clear: he was locked onto Annie, who had no Flash!

But the foreshadowing laid at level one was ultimately exposed.

If either Nautilus or Lulu had Flash, Flash combined with Nautilus's forced initiation to hold Annie would have been a guaranteed kill.

However, because the two retreated very decisively, and Lulu had no E-Q at level two to slow from a distance, the only way to hold someone was for Nautilus to walk right into their faces.

And as soon as he entered range, Annie immediately and clearly used 【Incinerate】 to stun Nautilus first!

It is worth mentioning that part of the reason support Annie became mainstream is that support Annie maxes E, so she basically doesn't need to cast Q or W.

Compared to mid-lane Annie, who has to use Q and W to push waves and farm, often leaving her passive window open for opponents to exploit.

Support Annie can always keep her passive in hand!

And Deft and Beryl clearly had a good understanding of this combination; Zeri didn't run forward blindly, but instead took a step back, blocking in front of the Flash-less Annie.

Nautilus broke the stun and immediately hooked, hitting Zeri and then stepping forward to apply a slow!

Jinx followed up with W, and Lulu wanted to come in to cast Polymorph, but she saw Zeri immediately use {Cleanse}.

At the same time, Annie's {Molten Shield} was applied.

Zeri's movement speed instantly soared to 625 yards!

In the current version, Zeri's passive skill is still: {Damage can convert the opponent's shield, and when gaining a shield, she has an additional movement speed bonus}—and Annie's E skill already has a high burst of acceleration.

The two combined were equivalent to an instant "second-gear start"!

"Zeri uses Cleanse to instantly break it, he's running so fast! Lulu still can't land the Polymorph!"

"However, although the V5 duo handled it calmly, Kanavi's unexpected tempo change still successfully helped the bot lane burn a Cleanse and also created a health advantage... uh, and he helped push a wave."

Seeing Kanavi eat two of Ruler's minions, Guan Zeyuan's tone suddenly became a bit strange.

Doinb didn't know Guan Zeyuan's feelings toward the latter, and wanting to show off his understanding of Nautilus, he said to himself: "No problem at all! Nautilus jungle definitely has to keep ganking; clearing the jungle is definitely not as useful as Wukong!"

"This hero Nautilus, he just has to keep playing tempo and ganking, he can't just farm minions and jungle monsters, I know this too well!"

Guan Zeyuan nodded happily, giving him face: "Indeed, indeed... wait! Kanavi seems to want to continue making trouble for the mid lane!"

Nautilus helped push the lane on the way to make up for his lost jungle experience, but he didn't return to his bottom half.

Instead, he continued to head toward the mid lane!

Kanavi's thinking was also very clear.

Although his understanding might not be as good as an old veteran like Doinb, a mid-lane player can understand, and a jungler can naturally understand too.

If Nautilus and Wukong honestly farm against each other, Wukong is definitely stronger!

And at this time, once Wukong sees Nautilus in the bot lane, he has likely already gone to his own Red buff to invade; this is the lowest-risk, advantageous choice.

As a Wukong specialist, Kanavi knows that this hero's ganking ability before level six is very poor, and he basically won't gank before level six.

This time, he actually had a window for a gank!

Just then, the perspective switched to the mid lane, and he noticed that the opposing mid-laner's positioning was quite aggressive, not playing timidly at all just because Nautilus had just appeared in the bot lane.

Because of the skill points at the start, the mid lane didn't gain any laning advantage in the first three levels, and was even frequently pressured and traded with by Sylas, even falling slightly behind in health!

Of course.

From the moment he reached level three, the situation reversed.

It was difficult for Sylas to initiate again.

The reason Cassiopeia is said to counter Sylas is because the {Grounding} effect of W 【Miasma】, which lasts for 5 seconds, can disable all of Sylas's W and E skills!

Both W and E are {displacement skills}!

And it's not just E1 that's disabled; even E2 is disabled!

Furthermore, it is very difficult for Sylas to kill Cassiopeia in one ability rotation; blindly using E to close the distance would only result in being chased by Cassiopeia and spat on the entire way, with the potential of being chased to death.

To put it simply.

When Sylas fights Cassiopeia, he is almost always on the receiving end, and it is very difficult to find an opportunity to initiate.

Therefore, Ye Bo changed his playstyle this game, opting for a Q-max Sylas; only by maxing Q can he barely manage to trade health.

"Does he have a ward?" Kanavi, crouching in the lower river bush, asked in confusion as he no longer had his Oracle Lens.

"No, he hasn't leaned toward that side," Knight repeated the intel he had just reported with certainty. But as Kanavi watched Sylas's repetitive back-and-forth movement, he felt like the opponent was baiting him, yet he had no evidence.

"Forget it, then."

Kanavi was unwilling to crouch for too long.

Although if Nautilus could land a hook on Sylas and follow up with Cassiopeia's Miasma, they could at least force a Flash, or perhaps even secure a kill from full health!

But the problem was that if Nautilus initiated first, Sylas, holding onto his E ability, would likely be able to dodge with a simple dash.

But just at this moment.

Seeing Cassiopeia use Q to poke, Sylas actually initiated with a forward E to dodge, dashing in from the side!

"He used E!"

Both the JDG mid and jungle were pleasantly surprised; Knight did not use W immediately and feigned a retreat, while Nautilus walked straight out of the bush!

Cassiopeia simultaneously turned and spat out her Miasma!

Once enveloped by the poison mist, Sylas would be unable to cast his W, E, or D abilities, and his movement would be slowed, making it difficult to dodge the hook.

But just as the poison mist was spat out—Sylas simultaneously threw his E2 toward the minion wave behind him to pull himself away!

Being enveloped by the poison mist indeed prevents the use of W and E.

However, the poison mist is a projectile ability and has a {travel time}, and the disable only applies upon contact.

Abilities cast in advance cannot be "interrupted"!

Sylas's figure flew backward using the minions, just barely escaping the range of the poison mist, while also hiding within the minion wave, leaving Nautilus with no angle to attempt a hook.

"Damn, I'll help you push the wave then."

Feeling annoyed at having wasted his time, Kanavi helped Cassiopeia clear two minions on the way, pushing the wave into the tower before preparing to return to the bottom half of the map.

And the characteristics of a Q-max Sylas were highlighted.

In truth, the damage of a Q-max Sylas is significantly higher than a W-max, and his wave-clearing efficiency is also on a noticeably higher level.

—The only drawback is that Q cannot be landed consistently, the margin for error is much lower, and he is certainly not as strong in sustain or hard trades as he would be with W.

But for pushing waves, as long as you group the minions to land both parts of the Q, three passive procs can quickly clear all the minions!

"Cassiopeia is already recalling... Nautilus doesn't seem to have realized it yet!"

"Sylas is also tailing him there after clearing the wave!"

In reality, Kanavi's feeling was correct.

His movement into the bush earlier had indeed been captured by a ward at the river entrance, which is why Sylas dared to stand so arrogantly forward.

Of course, such a low-level intel error wouldn't happen in the mid lane; Sylas had indeed never gone to that position, and at nearly 4 minutes in, even if there had been a ward at level one, it would have long since disappeared.

That was a ward Wukong had just placed.

Its purpose, besides protecting the mid lane, was mostly to protect himself!

Wukong, who started Red and was pathing upward, had already left his own bottom half of the map.

And when Xun had just walked halfway, he suddenly saw Nautilus appear in the bottom lane. After a closer look at the only Red buff on the opponent, he immediately and decisively turned back, heading straight for the opponent's Blue side!

He did not know the opponent's jungle path.

But by the fact that the opponent hadn't taken the Blue buff, it wasn't hard to deduce that Nautilus's Blue side was surely more lucrative—although compared to the risk-free invasion of the top half, going to the bottom half would certainly increase the chances of accidents; a normal person would go top.

But against an old rival like JDG, V5 had always had one incredibly clear tactical goal.

Target the jungler!

They knew very well that once Kanavi was silenced, not only would the entire JDG team's tempo slow down, but Kanavi himself would also become confused and start making mistakes.

Therefore, Xun's goal was not how many camps he could farm himself.

It was to make the opponent farm as few camps as possible!

Kanavi walked into the Blue side, used the Blast Cone to bounce into the Gromp pit, only to find it empty!

His heart sank instantly.

"There's someone in the jungle, can someone come!?"

Hearing the jungler's call, the bottom lane prepared to move.

But Jinx + Lulu's crowd control ability in the early game was clearly not very strong.

And Knight, who had just returned to base, originally wanted to wait for 20 gold to buy a {Ruby Crystal}, but seeing the situation, he could only grab the {Sapphire Crystal}, which was 50 gold cheaper, and TP directly to the mid tower.

But Kanavi was in a dilemma now.

It would take at least 10 seconds for the mid laner to land from TP and reach the jungle, and it would take even longer for the bottom lane to arrive, and the opponent's bottom lane would follow as well.

He didn't know when Wukong had entered the jungle, and with Flash and W, Wukong was hard to truly lock down—if he waited for his teammates to arrive, the opponent might have already finished his Blue buff and run away!

Kanavi could not accept the loss of the Blue buff for nothing; after calculating in his mind, he walked directly toward the Blue buff camp alone.

He turned into the bush.

The low-health Blue buff and the club-wielding Wukong were right before his eyes!

Kanavi seized the moment; he guessed that the invading Wukong had likely already used Smite, so he used his own Smite to cleanly steal the buff!

"He stole it! Nautilus can run now!"

"V5 didn't lose too much on this play, Wukong still got the Gromp, there shouldn't be a need to continue... Wait, Sylas!"

"He used Flash to interrupt it!!"

Nautilus didn't wait for his teammates, and seeing Sylas had missed, while Cassiopeia hadn't even landed yet, he knew he couldn't get into a stalemate with Wukong.

After stealing the buff, Kanavi used a detail: he first auto-attacked Wukong to trigger his passive {Staggering Blow} so the opponent couldn't use his body to block, then adjusted his position by half a step and decisively hooked the wall.

He was aiming for the side wall of his own inner bottom tower.

He could instantly put over 1000 yards of distance between himself and Wukong!

But just as the hook left his hand and Nautilus was frozen in place... a golden light suddenly flashed over the wall!

Ye Bo was too familiar with the timing of Nautilus's hook.

Sylas's E dash forward + Flash over the wall + E2 aim; the chain locked onto Nautilus exactly as his feet left the ground, pulling his just-rising figure back to the original spot!

A lightning-fast ambush over the wall!

Nautilus had no Flash and his Q had been interrupted.

In the end, he could only die first under the beating of the two!

"Before the bottom lane could arrive, Nautilus's First Blood was already beaten out by Wukong!" Guan Zeyuan said anxiously.

"In that case, the JDG bottom lane can't go up either! The duo behind them has also followed over!"

Although the JDG bottom lane had already entered the jungle, seeing their jungler fall first, they immediately turned back from the entrance to the bottom lane to avoid being surrounded themselves.

Seeing this, Cassiopeia, who had landed from TP, naturally didn't come over either and went straight to push the newly arrived mid wave.

【Look at that!!!】

【Isn't this play just straight-up feeding? He dared to go in alone, wanting to eat leftovers, right!】

【That's Kanavi for you, never willing to take even the slightest loss~】

【Isn't this a mid lane problem? I'm asking, why is our mid laner not there despite having the lane advantage, is he invisible?】

【Oh my god! What is this, Uncle Xun is here!】

In fact, this play hadn't ended yet.

"What are Xun and Master Ye trying to do!?"

It could be seen that neither Sylas nor Wukong had recalled; the two continued to move toward the mid lane together.

Or more accurately.

Toward the direction of the {Mid Inner Tower}!

Wukong took a step forward to the middle of the tower, tanked one tower shot, and immediately used his W clone to dash forward, using the clone to attract the tower's subsequent aggro so Sylas could pass through together.

The two took the fastest "shortcut" and entered the opponent's top half of the map!

Kanavi, soaking in the fountain, and Knight in the mid lane were both stunned for a moment.

Not cool, man.

What are you doing!?

But in an instant, they understood the opponent's intention.

If Sylas hadn't followed, Cassiopeia could certainly have helped Nautilus defend the top half; Wukong, not having recalled and in poor condition, naturally couldn't beat Cassiopeia.

But with Sylas following along.

Without a jungler, Cassiopeia would have to be out of her mind to try a 1v2!

There was no choice; Knight could only continue to push the wave in the mid lane, forcing Sylas to return first.

However, before Sylas used his TP, Knight didn't dare to lean toward the F6 camp.

By the time Sylas recalled and TP'd out, Wukong had almost finished the F6 and was even continuing to walk toward the Krugs in the top half!

At this time, Nautilus had just respawned.

Even if Kanavi vaguely guessed Wukong's possible movement, he was powerless to do anything!

Ornn in the top lane had no lane priority against K'Sante, so he couldn't count on Ornn to do anything.

"Kanavi has completely lost his mind in the jungle in the early game this match!" Guan Zeyuan said, clenching his fists nervously.

"With such a jungle disadvantage, Nautilus must spend time farming the jungle next, and there's a high probability he won't reach level six by five minutes; they won't be able to contest the first dragon either!"

"V5's early game is completely focused on extreme targeting of the jungle, it's practically a scorched-earth policy!"

Scout looked at the mid lane and chimed in: "But playing like this gives the mid lane a huge advantage; Sylas is going to have a very hard time in lane."

Doinb also noncommittally added: "Indeed, Cassiopeia coming out with this item already allows her to suppress Sylas. Nautilus can at least still manage to defend the jungle later on, so it shouldn't collapse."

"Now it just depends on how much effect this mid lane advantage can actually produce."

(End of chapter)