Chapter 264: Walking the Wall of Waves! Sigma Man!

"The top lane should be a fifty-fifty split, and the Yasuo versus Ahri matchup in the mid lane should be about the same."

"The bottom lane has a slight advantage for V5, while the jungle has a slight advantage for JDG."

After a simple and rough evaluation of the {paper strength} at the commentary desk, they turned their attention to the match.

Neither side had any champions at level one that they could particularly rely on, and whoever wanted to initiate would likely have to burn Flash to start, so they tacitly agreed not to fight a level-one skirmish.

The god's-eye view had just analyzed that both team compositions were "mid-game powerhouses"—especially the mid-jungle combinations!

One side had Yasuo and Diana, the other had Ahri and Vi; all of them were champions that could only show their true power after reaching level six.

No matter how you looked at it, there was no reason for any conflict to break out before level six.

But clearly.

Someone on JDG's side didn't think so.

"I can't out-farm Diana."

Kanavi understood Diana quite well; he had used her often back when she was popular in Season 11, and he would even pick her solo without pairing her with Yasuo, so he was very clear on the champion's characteristics.

"I have to go invade him. You can definitely push the wave in the mid lane early on, right?"

Diana as a jungler has almost zero gank capability before level six; she has no means of crowd control, and even her dash requires landing a Q first before E becomes meaningful, otherwise she can only use E to close the gap.

Yet, a champion with such attributes, having once been all the rage in the jungle, naturally had its own special strengths.

Farming efficiency!

It is no exaggeration to say that Diana's farming efficiency ranks at least in the top three among conventional junglers, and speed-farming is almost the only way to play this champion.

Kanavi absolutely could not let his opponent have his way; after all, as long as Diana farmed comfortably, his own jungle would naturally fall behind.

And the best way to contain a farming jungler is, naturally, to interrupt their pathing and interfere with their jungle development plan!

Although Vi cannot out-farm Diana, she is not the least bit afraid when it comes to fighting.

But this required cooperation from the mid lane.

Left-hand heard the jungler's plea for help, but didn't seem to dare give a definitive answer, only mumbling vaguely.

Kanavi, whose Chinese was already half-baked, couldn't understand what his mid-laner was saying at all, so he just assumed the other had agreed.

After all, this was the tactic the coach had formulated before the match anyway!

And just as the mid-lane minions clashed, the tension immediately flared up.

Yasuo has a point that might be considered counter-intuitive—his laning phase is actually quite strong.

The reason many people subconsciously feel this champion is trash in lane is simply because he is one of the most mechanically demanding champions in League of Legends, where the gap between the floor and the ceiling is truly worlds apart.

To say nothing else, the fact that his Q skill is cost-free, has AOE, and has a 3-second cooldown even when starting naked, already gives him far more melee combat power in the mid-lane ecosystem than those mages who rely on a single rotation of skills.

By comparison, his brother Yone, while possessing a similar Q skill, is significantly inferior in early-game laning and fighting ability.

The core point lies in the difference in the design of their basic skills.

Yone's W is a purely defensive skill; while the damage appears to be percentage-based, it has almost no damage early on, and its primary function is definitely the shield.

And while Yone's E is a skill with extremely strong mechanics, its cooldown is too long, and its core value lies in the ability to "return safely" rather than increasing damage; essentially, it is also a skill that leans toward defense.

Yasuo is different.

Compared to Yone's Spirit Cleave, Yasuo's Wind Wall is clearly a purely functional skill with zero damage, yet most of its usage scenarios involve blocking key skills during limit-testing duels, making it absolutely a more offensive-oriented skill.

Needless to say, his E is a purely offensive skill—as long as he is on the minion wave, Yasuo possesses the most absurd gap-closing ability in League of Legends!

Once combined, you will find that Yasuo's entire kit is almost entirely designed for "offense."

Compared to Yone's positioning between {fighter} and {assassin}, Yasuo is more like a cross between an {assassin} and a {melee ADC}.

Fortunately, although Left-hand suffered a blow in the last game, he was clearly more confident after getting a champion he was proficient with, and he began looking for opportunities to trade and kite Yasuo as soon as he reached the lane.

He had taken Kanavi's words to heart.

The mumbling he had just done was actually "I'll try my best."

But in reality, as one of the most dominant mages in the current version, Ahri's wave-clearing and laning ability rank at the very top.

Red-rice chose Ahri precisely for the sake of mid-lane priority.

And the reason Left-hand was hesitant... was because when Ahri plays against Yasuo, the standard approach is not to "push the wave" but to "control the wave"!

As a jungler, Kanavi naturally didn't know this.

Even if Red-rice, as the coach, knew it, he hadn't expected the opponent to pull out a champion like Yasuo before the match.

Left-hand never knew how to refuse.

Despite knowing that pushing the wave was dangerous, he had already begun to press forward.

And what was slightly strange was that at level one, Ahri didn't level up W, Fox-Fire, which is stronger and more stable for trading, but instead leveled up Q, 【Orb of Deception】.

Even a novice Ahri knows that for laning, you must level up W at level one.

This is common sense!

Yasuo didn't care; he leveled up E, 【Sweeping Blade】, and started stepping on the heads of the minions, sliding forward with a flurry!

He easily slid to Ahri's front, having passed through four minions to gain a total of 70% increased damage (17. % * 4).

An auto-attack followed by E dealt 75+121 damage, kicking Ahri squarely in the chest!

Although Ahri tried her best to kite and auto-attack back, Yasuo started with his passive Wind Shield, and the mobility of Sweeping Blade was simply too high, making it difficult for Ahri's Q to hit both passes.

A massive loss in the trade was inevitable!

"This trade..." Guan Zeyuan, who lacked understanding, couldn't help but break into a cold sweat.

"Actually, there's no problem," Scout commented, feigning composure.

Clearly, he could see Left-hand's true intentions and could also see the other's understanding of Ahri.

Even if Ahri leveled W, the trade would at best be a fifty-fifty split with Yasuo; at level one, she had no way to avoid Yasuo forcing a close-quarters trade like that.

But once Ahri used W to trade, she would have no wave-clearing ability, and might even be beaten to level two by Yasuo, only for him to do the same combo again!

Learning Q meant losing out on the trade.

But in reality, if you observe closely, you'll see that when Ahri used Q, she wasn't aiming at Yasuo at all; her true goal was to push the wave.

As long as she could secure level-one priority, she could secure level-two and level-three priority—only then could Ahri cooperate with the jungler's offensive intent!

Scout put himself in the other's shoes and thought that if he were sitting there, he would have at most thought of this solution; this was already the best answer.

Facts proved that this was correct.

Originally, Yasuo's wave-clearing efficiency with his 3. -second AOE Q was definitely higher than Ahri's.

But although learning E was a huge win for level-one trading, with a 10-second internal cooldown per unit, it was impossible to just blindly E to clear the wave, so he inevitably lost the first wave of priority.

At level two, Ahri continued to implement the push strategy, while also further demonstrating the depth of her level-one decision. At level two, Yasuo once again used his E to slide forward, wanting to repeat his old trick.

As a result, a red-lipped kiss flying from Ahri directly interrupted the 【Sweeping Blade】 that was in the middle of casting!

Because {Sweeping Blade must dash to the target to deal damage}.

Being interrupted halfway meant not only zero damage, but Ahri's 10-second internal cooldown still took effect as usual—and Ahri's kiss cooldown was only 12 seconds, with almost no window of vulnerability!

This is why Ahri had to level Q at level one, even if it meant losing the trade.

Because when Ahri plays against Yasuo, she almost must level E at level two; only this skill can counter his gap-closing means.

And if she had leveled W at level one, Ahri's entire kit would consist of single-target skills, and it would be entirely possible for Yasuo to force a wave push...

"Xun is hard-pushing; the opposing jungler might be looking for you," Ye Bo conveyed his observations about the jungle.

"Then I'll go trade his top half," Xun, who had just finished his red buff and was preparing to head to his bottom half, replied after some thought.

Actually, it wasn't that he couldn't hold his ground in the bottom half; theoretically, his own bottom lane still had the initiative in laning.

It was just that if the mid-laner didn't have priority, forcing a defense of the jungle would definitely cause the mid-laner to lose minions to assist, so even if the jungle was defended, it wouldn't necessarily be a win.

In Xun's view, it wasn't impossible for him to lose a little bit.

But the mid lane absolutely could not be affected because of him!

This is the biggest difference between the two junglers, both of whom are players who favor jungle-carry, aggressive playstyles.

"It's fine, you farm, I can reach..."

Kanavi had already speed-farmed his bottom half to reach level three and was charging blindly into Diana's bottom half.

This was a judgment based on Kanavi's jungle experience and his reading of the game.

He believed that neither side's top lane had any opportunity in the early game, and going there would be a pure waste of time, while V5's bottom lane Alistar and Tristana had a certain advantage in small-scale skirmishes.

Comprehensive analysis: Diana wanted to finish her jungle as safely as possible.

Starting Red and clearing downwards was the best choice.

"Wow, Kanavi is out for revenge from the last game! This time he's caught Xun, and it looks like he's caught him red-handed!"

Doinb's tone changed extremely quickly; upon discovering a good omen on the left, he immediately started speaking at light speed.

"Vi actually gains a huge advantage here just by being able to drive Diana away, even if Xun can trade for the equivalent jungle, it's still the same!"

"The speed at which both junglers reach level six this game is crucial; you have to know that whoever reaches level six first will be a super qualitative change for the combination! The first wave of momentum might just trigger a chain reaction..."

"Wait! What's happening in the mid lane!?"

The commentary desk was still bragging, but the director's view suddenly cut to the mid lane.

It was seen.

Ahri was actually being chased by Yasuo, fleeing for her life!

The steel blade, empowered by full-stack {Lethal Tempo}, swung at high speed; at a mere level three, he already had 1. 4% attack speed, and his Q skill cooldown had reached 1. seconds.

Two auto-attacks were enough to thrust out a 【Steel Tempest】!

It seemed like just a moment ago Ahri was at almost full health after popping a health potion, but now she looked like she was about to die!

"Ahri has been forced to burn Flash!" Guan Zeyuan hadn't reacted to what had happened yet: "Yasuo's damage is so high!"

"If she doesn't burn Flash, she's going to die," Scout was still feigning composure, but his puzzled expression gave him away.

"Oh my god! What happened!"

Doinb watched the mid-laner being driven away and once again performed a lightning-fast change of face: "Oh no! Kanavi sees the mid lane can't come to support and is heading home; it seems he can only retreat to farm his own upper jungle!"

"But it's just as I said before, while he isn't losing out on growth, he is losing time! Time is too important for this team composition!"

"Wow, Ye is still Ye!"

The director finally cut to the replay.

Only then did everyone see why the mid lane had clearly seized lane priority, yet in the blink of an eye, they were instead chased down and forced to burn their Flash!

It turned out Ahri had reached level three first and was clearly about to push the minion wave into the tower; this should have been a script where Yasuo was pinned under the tower unable to move, and Diana was forced to abandon the jungle.

But just as Yasuo arrived late to reach level three and the state of the minion wave seemed set in stone, he actually tanked a wave and E-slid forward again!

Knight's initial handling was already very detailed; he didn't rush to use E.

It wasn't just that a long-range E would likely be blocked by the Wind Wall; even if the Charm landed successfully, Yasuo could still force his way in after the crowd control ended, and at most, the trade wouldn't be as profitable.

The key to Ahri playing against Yasuo is that you must land {Charm} when the opponent locks onto you to use {Sweeping Blade}, so that you can interrupt the dash while forcing their E into its internal cooldown, completely stripping them of their ability to get close!

And Knight's reaction was fast; it was only when Yasuo was clearly sliding toward him with an E that he blew that hot kiss into the air.

But then.

Yasuo actually cast {Wind Wall} from back to front with a bizarre motion while in the air during his {Sweeping Blade} dash!

He intercepted and nullified the incoming kiss directly!

Ahri, who was about to push the wave into the tower, was positioned very far forward, and just like that, she was chased by Yasuo the whole way and nearly solo-killed!

"Wow, that was close! If he had been solo-killed at level three in this match, I feel like Knight's mental state would have collapsed, right?"

After Guan Zeyuan finished sighing, he looked to both sides with an expression of humble inquiry: "So, this?"

"I remember, isn't it impossible to use skills while Yasuo is in the middle of an E? You have to land first to use them!"

Scout shook his head.

This thing wasn't in his champion pool either; aside from following the trend to play Diana and Yasuo for a while during S11, the last time he picked it in a tournament was back in S8.

Unfortunately, Doinb, who supposedly has a "deep champion pool," didn't know much about Yasuo either, having only played him when he was young.

Doinb hadn't even played a single game during the S11 hype; by then, he had already fully "evolved" into a "Team Mid-laner" and had no interest in this thing.

【Is this all pro players have? It really feels worse than me! I knew this was a little Yasuo trick; you just need to use EQ to W mid-dash!】

【It's easy to say, but can you block Ahri's kiss 100% of the time and become a Sigma male?】

【That's enough; these two are currently one toxic blood-sucking solo-carry freak and one toxic blood-sucking non-carrying freak, you expect these two to study the Happy Wind Man?】

【Don't smear them; actually, it's because Knight has bad breath. The level 2 kiss almost knocked Master Ye out, which is why he got hit once—I bet from now on, he won't be able to land a single kiss!】

【Your mother's kiss, I suddenly have an image in my head of a body that is Ahri, but the face is Knight, and he's pouting red lips at me. I suddenly feel like Master Ye getting kissed once is worse than losing!】

【Good! Starting work immediately! I announce that after the match, the top-rated comment on Knight's Hupu will definitely be this picture!】

Actually, if you really want to talk about it.

This "Wind Wall Surfing" operation really isn't as simple as one might imagine.

Whether in practical execution or in principle.

In terms of practical execution, this technique only "lifts the ban" on the inability to use skills during an E dash, but casting it too early or too late results in a failure to block, which is a great test of on-the-spot reaction.

In terms of principle, it involves one of the most important core mechanisms for almost all of Yasuo's "advanced operations."

(End of chapter)