Chapter 265: 《Wind Outside the Body》! Flight Path!

The Summoner's Rift has entered a brief period of peace, but undercurrents still surge in the laning phase of the three lanes.

Ahri was nearly chased down and killed by Yasuo at level three; after teleporting back to lane, she became much more cautious.

Her strategy is simple: give up the wave and deny Yasuo any chance to chase her down using the minion wave.

However, come to think of it, Ahri could have used the crowd control of her E ability to negate Yasuo's approach—but with Yasuo's 25-second W Wind Wall, a single misplay in their mind games would result in her being suppressed for the entire wave, unable to fight back.

Even with the "EQ into mid-air W" maneuver, there is still room for mind games where Ahri holds her E, waiting for Yasuo to dash into her face before choosing the right moment to cast it.

This is why Yasuo can never be called a "counter" to Ahri.

This is a matchup with extreme potential for mind games; it is fair to say that if both sides approach the lane with a competitive mindset, a solo kill is very likely.

And it is precisely because of this that Left Hand did not attempt to trade health again, choosing instead the most, most, most secure option of giving up the wave.

He is afraid!

Truly afraid!

One must know, this year Left Hand was able to secure a salary among LPL mid-laners second only to Ye Bo, and a major selling point his agency boasts to the public is that he is the mid-laner with the "lowest frequency of being solo-killed by Ye."

For Ye Bo, who averaged 1. solo kills per game last season, this is indeed an achievement!

With his salary at stake, Left Hand would rather lose out on farm and initiative than give any opportunity for a solo kill; coupled with the fact that he truly had no Flash, he naturally played extremely turtle-like.

The turtle-like play in the mid lane inevitably leads to a lack of offensive rights in the jungle.

If it weren't for the fact that Diana and Yasuo have zero synergy before level six, and Diana doesn't have an easy time against Vi in a 1v1, it is hard to say if Kanavi wouldn't have suffered again in the jungle this game, being crazily counter-jungled!

But in fact, Diana does not need to counter-jungle.

The crushing efficiency in jungle clearing, while not granting Diana extra growth out of thin air, allows her to have "extra time" to get things done during every jungle rotation.

Whether it is hovering side lanes to soak up experience or the experience gained from a successful gank, both can help Diana reach level six first!

Just as the commentators said, the experience in the jungle this game is of vital importance.

Kanavi is very clear that if he just farms peacefully against Diana, the opponent will definitely reach level six first, then come to the jungle to hunt him down or take the Dragon directly; if the early-game tempo falls behind, he might start to get snowballed.

After thinking for a while.

He can only make his Kindred top-laner suffer a bit.

"69, try to stack the wave, wait for me to finish clearing and I'll come by to soak up some experience over the wall, otherwise Diana's tempo will pick up too fast."

By picking Vi, his signature champion, compared to the restraint and execution of hero characteristics when picking Nautilus last game, Kanavi is clearly starting to return to his "true self."

And Kanavi's reasoning is simple—anyway, it is unlikely for Gragas to kill Gnar in the top lane, and both top-laners belong to the type of heroes who are not afraid of ganks and have limited combat power in the early game, so the war will not break out in the upper half of the map.

By the time the 8-minute Rift team fight requires the top-laner's combat power, the experience lost from the minion wave will not affect key levels, so the impact on combat power will not be obvious.

The jungle experience gap is being rapidly bridged.

But Xun is not just window-shopping either.

Seizing the moment he left the jungle first, Diana arrived in the bot lane early; Alistar decisively flashed Q mid-W on a minion to knock up two people, Tristana jumped in, and then Diana used her two-stage E to close the distance!

"Beryl's engage is extremely decisive! Although the JDG bot lane was on guard, they were still caught and knocked up!"

"Fortunately, Missing cast Exhaust on Tristana in time and then used his life to follow up with Grand Entrance, then flashed E to get close to Aphelios; this counts as saving Ruler's Flash, and they can escape together by using Heal!"

Guan Zeyuan summarized nervously: "The loss isn't too much, fortunately, the JDG bot lane played the early laning phase well this game, a small loss is acceptable..."

In the corner of the bot lane that doesn't get much attention, the JDG bot duo might be playing their signature heroes, as they are quite energetic in the laning phase.

Picking Alistar late is a counter to Rakan; in front of Alistar, Rakan should never think about initiating with a W, and even a Flash RW is hard to break through the Alistar defense, as he will be knocked lame mid-air.

But as Missing's signature hero, he fully utilizes the advantage of Rakan having the characteristics of both a soft and hard support.

Although his active engage ability is poor, because Alistar also has to hold his W to interrupt, he cannot actively engage—relying on high mobility and long-range poke, Rakan actually pressured the V5 bot lane!

In fact, whether one can gain a laning advantage is not that mysterious.

Especially in top-tier matchups.

Many times, it is just a matter of getting two more auto-attacks in, or landing two more abilities!

For example, the hit rate of Missing's Rakan Q 【Gleaming Quill】 is quite high, the poke efficiency is almost like playing Lux, and after hitting a hero unit, it can heal both himself and the ADC, winning trades repeatedly, which is how he achieved some laning pressure.

However, until six minutes.

All was quiet in the Rift, with only some minor laning friction.

But everyone knows, this is just the prelude to the storm!

"Both junglers reached level six almost at the same time! It's clear that both sides are determined to take this Dragon!"

"Although JDG's jungle was a bit restricted due to the mid-lane laning disadvantage, Kanavi successfully made up for this gap through experience conversion from the top lane!"

"The combat power gap between the two sides is very small, V5 has at most a slight advantage in Summoner Spells, it all depends on how both sides perform!"

The V5 members, who thought the opponent wouldn't come to contest the fight, were also a bit puzzled when they saw the level six Vi.

One must know that Diana didn't get little experience from {drive-by ganks}, while Vi, apart from the time her level three invasion attempt was thwarted, had almost never shown her face.

Ye Bo panned his camera to the top lane, and only realized after seeing Gnar hadn't reached level six yet.

He directed the team fight strategy: "Vi must have soaked up top lane experience... If we can't engage on many people, try to focus fire to get a kill first, it's easy to play once we kill one."

Team fight strategy cannot be summarized by a single phrase like "Cut the AD."

It is certainly good if you can reach the carry.

But if you can't, or if the price to reach them is too high—for example, having to burn all your abilities just to reach them, which would also lead to a disorganized formation—then it is more direct to just burn your abilities to secure a kill.

Even if it is just killing a support, the key crowd control they provide is often more critical than the damage from a carry!

Before anyone has items in the early game, the combat power gap between heroes is not large, and the support is the easiest target to kill, regardless of their durability or positioning.

"The enemy support has no Flash."

Both sides were exchanging information in their voice comms.

But because neither side had a clear advantage, neither dared to actively touch the Dragon.

The hero on V5 most capable of a hard engage is actually the top-laner Gragas's long-range engage; the jungle-support duo, when in the front, will be restricted by Ahri and Vi.

Especially Diana; trying to enter from the front is very easily interrupted by Ahri's charm!

This time, Alistar still has to be the one to engage.

At this moment, the Scuttle Crab refreshed; V5, relying on mid-lane priority, positioned themselves in the center of the river, and Yasuo also took the opportunity to stack his Q.

JDG seemed to have the intention to come up and contest, with Rakan's positioning being particularly forward!

"I'm engaging!"

Beryl found a position and wanted to WQ onto Rakan—not necessarily to kill Rakan instantly, but to knock him up and control him in place, providing a "stepping stone" for Diana and blocking key interrupt abilities for her.

Diana's engage range is very long, she just needs a target for her QEE double Lunar Rush to enter the fray, otherwise, she can only rely on Flash ER to force her way in. If Diana can QE Rakan and then E2 deep into the backline, she can provide a "Flight Path" for Yasuo!

But just as the bull horns savagely rammed out

Rakan's feet left the ground almost simultaneously; he drifted away after his Battle Dance, flying toward his jungler teammate!

The bull horns lost their target, but the bull's body continued forward without a moment's pause, ramming into the W target location and hitting nothing but air—and also arriving right in front of the JDG members!

Beryl's pupils flashed; fortunately, he tightly held back his Q ability and didn't get baited into the combo.

"Missing used his body to lure the enemy deep, dodging Alistar's engage!" Guan Zeyuan shouted, slapping the table: "It looks like they want to counter-engage!"

Rakan just turned back and immediately counter-engaged with a W 【Grand Entrance】 to jump back in!

Alistar smashed his fists into the ground with Q 【Pulverize】, wanting to interrupt.

However, theoretically, Alistar's QW crowd control can indeed interrupt Rakan...

But in reality, usually only W can interrupt!

This is because Rakan's W {is forced to cast after the first half of the animation}, while Alistar's W, which takes effect instantly, can easily interrupt it immediately, no matter how slow the reaction is.

But Alistar's Q ability has a fixed 0. -second cast time, so even if he Qs in place the moment he sees Rakan's W, he cannot interrupt the W cast!

Alistar and Rakan both took each other's {knock-up}!

But don't forget, Alistar's position at this moment was extremely awkward; he originally wanted to engage but instead sent himself behind enemy lines.

Vi was already charging her Q, Ahri beside her held onto her E, ready to watch for Diana's entry, and Aphelios, with his Red-White weapons, prepared to feast on beef.

"This fight... oh, how did Yasuo follow up with his ultimate!!"

"He's feeding!"

The situation changes in an instant.

Yasuo was originally prepared to wait for an opportunity to enter; as long as Diana could hit two or more people, he could follow up with R, and securing a kill first would help Tristana's second entry.

In terms of front-line combat power, they were not afraid of the opponent at all.

But seeing Alistar deep in danger and somewhat disconnected, with only a mere dashed line in the air, Yasuo actually flew in against the wind to follow up with 【Last Breath】!

This is simply like courting death!

"Kill Yasuo!"

Vi, with her charge fully loaded, turned directly to aim her punch at Yasuo; Ahri continued to hold her heart, throwing QW at him, and Aphelios's chakram also switched targets.

Don't look at Yasuo being level six; his survival time while being focused by four people won't be much longer than Alistar's.

At this distance, the Wind Wall can't save him either!

But in the next moment, gasps were heard throughout the Copper Box Arena.

"Ah!?"

They saw that Yasuo, who had flown into the crowd and was still swinging his sword in the air, had another tornado strangely fly out from "behind" him!

The tornado, starting from Yasuo in the air, flew toward the rear!

It was like a scroll of "Wind Outside the Body"!

Vi, who came charging with a punch, was knocked up and interrupted, and Ahri was also sent flying along with her!

Ahri, who was no longer watching him.

Diana, who had long been prepared to follow up on Alistar's crowd control, had already QE'd into the fray, instantly following up with a Flash R ultimate 【Moonfall】, dragging the three knocked-up people back into the center!

"Ruler, run quickly!!!!" Guan Zeyuan shouted hoarsely and excitedly at the commentary desk.

It was as if Ruler heard his cry; when the distance for Diana's Q-E was clearly insufficient and it was highly probable she would R-Flash, he decisively burned his Flash to retreat, dodging the pull of Moonfall.

This play was considered wise.

Because once pulled by Diana's ultimate and then flashing, one could at most flash to the edge of the ultimate's range and would still be hit with a heavy slow, making it impossible to escape.

Diana used Q-E-Flash-R to engage, rather than greedily using Q-E-E, so she was still fully capable of continuing the pursuit!

But since it was equivalent to instantly engaging three people, the combat power on JDG's front line was still clearly unequal; Rakan was about to be killed the moment he landed, and Tristana had already refreshed her W jump after getting a kill!

The remaining two could only try to save their lives.

"Left Hand is running away fast with his three-stage ultimate! But Kanavi isn't so lucky; Tristana can refresh her W, but he can't run, so he simply doesn't use anything!"

"In the end, V5 successfully pulled off a zero-for-two."

As he spoke, Guan Zeyuan's tone grew increasingly annoyed: "Yasuo should have actually been killed the moment he went in; if Vi and Ahri hadn't been engaged together, Diana would never have had the chance to enter!"

Doinb nodded in deep agreement: "Oh, yeah, yeah, even if Diana had E-Flashed in, she definitely would have been charmed by Ahri at point-blank range; her displacement would have been interrupted in mid-air!"

"Just now, even the junior thought Yasuo was throwing!"

Scout, who had just been earnestly shouting "He's throwing," had a face that turned slightly green.

But to be fair, JDG's support play had been prepared to trap Alistar, and no matter how you looked at it, Yasuo really did look like he was throwing.

Who would have thought that after flying in with his R, he could continue to chain his own crowd control, interrupting Vi's charging Q in mid-air, while simultaneously restricting Ahri's zoning and clearing the defensive line!

Everyone thought that Diana would definitely be the one providing the entry flight for Yasuo.

Unexpectedly, it was the other way around!

The key point naturally lay in that "Wind Outside the Body."

However, although the visual effect was absurd, the operational principle was actually very simple—because Q 【Steel Tempest】 has a 0. -second cast animation, as long as you pre-aim the direction the moment you connect the R, and execute the Last Breath the instant you raise your hand, you can achieve this effect!

And since Yasuo's ultimate clears the Q stacks on his body, if it weren't for this casting effect, the Q3 would effectively disappear.

In short, even regardless of the situation in this wave, Yasuo should be using this "Pre-emptive Reverse Q" technique every time he connects an R to maximize his damage.

【Hard to watch, looks like he was farted to death by Brother Suo!】

【The Thief Saint is getting anxious~~~ He really doesn't know how to play Yasuo~】

【Don't say that, this move looks flashy, but it seems really useful!】

【That's what I'm saying, doesn't Master Ye only use practical techniques?】

【Indeed, this kind of thing is only considered showing off against noobs; for him, it's definitely a basic move, just something he does casually~】

【Yasuo: "Little Moon, the other Suos all call you Foster Mother, so what should you call me?"】

As the replay just ended, the director immediately looked at the top lane footage that had been missed earlier.

"Flandre confirmed there was no one behind the opponent and initiated early upon hitting level six, nearly blowing Gnar back!"

"The cost of 369 sharing the minion wave earlier is still showing; for the sake of safety, he could only be forced to burn his Flash!"

"There is also one piece of news, good or bad: all the kills in this wave were taken by Yasuo."

V5 was deliberately letting Yasuo take the kills.

Because it was very clear in this game that Yasuo was V5's "Big Carry," the absolute core of the lineup.

Besides that, Yasuo's early-game economy had a higher priority; only by saving up enough attack speed items to reach the daily 1. 3-second Q cooldown sooner could Yasuo be considered to have reached his power spike.

But this also seemed to be an opportunity for JDG.

After all, since he also carried a bounty, Yasuo seemed to be the type easiest to kill in everyone's impression.

The mid-jungle combination of Ahri and Vi's lock-on was originally a combination chosen to target the mid lane.

This combination isn't necessarily strong in a 5v5 team fight, but its burst damage for catching someone out is absolutely top-tier!

Vi's lock-on provides a hard stun, Ahri follows up with control; the two can dish out a 3-second hard CC combo and reliably land all their damage—not many heroes can withstand that.

(End of chapter)