Chapter 297: Single-Point Breakthrough? Chu Chu Chu Yuxun Beats the Monkey King!

Just as they entered the Summoner's Rift, the observer displayed the data at the bottom of the screen.

"Good heavens, the last time Darius appeared was 1,432 days ago! It was the very player who just left the stage, TheShy, who picked him against the peak FPX in Season 9!"

Guan Guan Guan Zeyuan was still excitedly popularizing the trivia to the audience: "Perhaps some viewers don't know, but Qingtian was a famous Darius specialist in the LDL while playing for the YM team. His in-game ID was even 'Great General Holding a Giant Axe'!"

"And using Darius to fight K'Sante actually feels like it could be a real thing!"

Among the top three top laners of the current version, Renekton and Jax—one lacks late-game power, the other lacks teamfight presence.

Only K'Sante feels relatively balanced; even after countless nerfs, it feels like there are almost no champions that can definitively counter him.

But the appearance of Darius, a champion who has almost vanished from the professional stage, truly made everyone's eyes light up.

Jiedie looked toward the opposite side jokingly: "V5's side is a bit strange—Kai'Sa and Draven are both JackeyLove's signature champions~"

Over at the DYS livestream, someone couldn't stay calm upon seeing the ID at the bottom.

"Holy crap, invincible! The gods have possessed him! This is the IG-era TheShy! This match is a 'grand reunion' of the IG Incheon Trio!!!" Xiaohai Xiaohai Xiaohai Youshen waved his arms excitedly upon seeing that ID.

He let out a super-hyped scream: "A tribute! This is definitely a tribute! TES will definitely win this match easily!!!"

"And I remember this match clearly! It's TheShy's super highlight moment with Darius! He was low health in the bottom lane, being ganked by Doinb and the jungler, but he turned around, Q-flashed, killed both of them, and his teammates pushed the mid lane high ground to end the game! It's the most terrifying Darius I've ever seen in a match!"

Xiaohai Xiaohai Xiaohai Youshen was speaking with utmost sincerity, pouring out his memories in a continuous stream.

But Sun Sun Sun Yalong, sitting next to him, had a sudden glint of light on his bald head and quietly started causing trouble on the secondary monitor.

Before long, a chuckle came through.

"That's not right, Brother Hai, why are you lying to us!"

Sun Sun Sun Yalong pulled the webpage from the secondary monitor onto the main stream, finding the match record the observer had provided for the last Darius appearance.

It was indeed TheShy, and the opponent was indeed Doinb—but the Darius's KDA in that match was 1-7!

With the picture as proof, Xiaohai Xiaohai Xiaohai Youshen was silenced instantly.

Xika also seemed to have his memory suddenly awakened: "Yeah! That match you mentioned seems to be from Doinb's RW era. Later, in Season 9, IG didn't seem to win against FPX even once the whole year~~~"

Xiaohai Xiaohai Xiaohai Youshen looked like he had been hit by a four-hit combo, unable to say a word.

In the end, he could only hang his head and play with his fingers, muttering under his breath: "Just you wait..."

Seeing the other person sulking, Xika turned his gaze back to the screen, looking for some fun.

"Wait! I caught one!"

"Ye Bo! He's definitely a super hater of Brother Jackey! He's playing Kai'Sa but not using Brother Jackey's skin!"

Sun Sun Sun Yalong immediately agreed: "Indeed! I'm telling you, I've never seen anyone in a professional match not use Brother Jackey's skin! That's a rule even stricter than having to write an application to play Vayne!"

"Especially this KDA skin; other than the model looking good, it's useless. There's absolutely no reason for it!"

【True, Ye is doing it on purpose!】

【Sun Yanzhi! Li Henshui! Waiting for Ye Ye Ye Chujun to join DYS!】

【I'm dying of laughter. A second ago I was listening to the Monkey blowing smoke in his stream, saying TheShy's Darius was crushed by him, and the next second I heard the filial son blowing him up like crazy. Hahaha.】

【Alas, there are no parents who are wrong in the world. For the filial son, his memories of Song Jiang will be automatically deleted. Understandable!】

【Too bad, since Ye chose Kai'Sa this match, we won't get to see Qingtian research i7 and pay tribute to the legendary top laner.】

Both sides had a peaceful Level 1, and the minion waves clashed normally.

But looking at the team compositions, both junglers were champions that needed to reach Level 6, and both mid laners were champions that focused on farming.

Theoretically, there shouldn't be any major tempo points early on.

Although Kai'Sa is short-ranged in the bottom lane, it's actually fine in the mid lane.

One of the unique advantages of ADC champions in the mid lane is that they naturally possess advantages in {auto-attack wave clearing} and {trading}.

The same logic applies to the top lane—the classic "ranged vs. melee" matchup; marksmen naturally have high-intensity laning pressure.

As the old saying goes:

"Even if an ADC is trash, only those who stay in the bottom lane are called ADCs!"

However, Doinb, over at the Haixiantai livestream, seemed to have a different view on the early game situation.

"My goodness, brothers, I feel the early game jungler mind games are very critical!"

He explained his understanding: "Because it's likely very hard to gank the mid lane, but it's unlikely for the top and bottom lanes to farm peacefully. Darius and Draven are both champions that must produce results in the laning phase!"

"Little Wei's choice must be very cautious..."

Although Doinb was unemployed at home, he still had the experience; his game reading was still quite precise.

At this moment, Xun and Wei were both feeling nervous in their hearts.

They both realized that their responsibility in this match was heavy.

If we only look at laning, there's no doubt that both sides were even in the mid, bottom, and jungle, except for the top lane, where TES's Darius had a laning advantage.

It could even be said that it wasn't just a small advantage!

As a "national-level" champion, Darius's advantage against tanks needs no explanation: passive true damage + Bloodrage + high true damage ultimate, plus the high percentage armor penetration from his E passive—he is born with a tank-slaying constitution!

Not only that, Darius also possesses terrifying combat power in small-scale skirmishes.

Examples of "one Bloodrage leads the whole family to ascension" are countless—calling him a strengthened Renekton or a mid-lane-style Viego is no exaggeration!

Theoretically, he could even be seen as a strengthened Renekton!

This is the strategy TES prepared against V5.

You like to attack the half-lane?

We'll just pick a champion who is strong from Level 1 to 16 in skirmishes. Even if you pick Viego in the mid lane, we still have a massive advantage in small-scale half-lane combat!

In this way, even if the bottom half is invaded or attacked, the jungler can turn to rely on their own top laner to maneuver in the top half.

It can be said to be a "Single-Point Breakthrough" strategy!

However, Darius possesses so many powerful traits, yet he has been a rare guest on the professional bench for years, which naturally has its reasons.

He fears ganks!

And he is extremely clumsy!

He has no mobility means, and his only crowd control is his Apprehend, which also requires getting within at least 500 yards to have a chance of hitting—if he can walk within 500 yards in a teamfight, he's usually already being focused down! Not to mention if the E misses, or if the enemy flashes away after being pulled.

As long as the enemy has one more dash or crowd control, he'll never be able to touch them!

So, Darius has a consensus that almost all Darius players share.

Summoner spells: Must take {Ghost}!

Even in professional matches!

Just this point alone is the biggest obstacle to Darius entering the professional stage.

Knowing that not being able to carry Teleport means "low fault tolerance"—dying once to a gank could mean the lane is completely blown open, not to mention not being able to support side lanes.

That is to say—once the TES bottom lane is in trouble, they naturally lack one Teleport for rescue this match.

So, at this moment.

Substituting into Wei's perspective, the choice seemed very obvious.

Must protect the top lane's advantage!

On one hand, first, force the opponent's top laner to use their Teleport so there won't be a Teleport gap, which is very important for both laning and side lanes.

On the other hand, as long as the top lane's laning advantage is maintained, the jungle has a safety net.

However, Wei also had some ulterior motives.

At the start, he had Darius help him guard the river entrance, sacrificing the "Level 1 wave control" pressure Darius could have exerted, just to detect the opponent's jungle pathing. ===== CHAPTER 298 =====

He had the Sett help him stand in the river at the start, sacrificing the 'level 1 lane control' pressure that Sett could have exerted, in order to detect the opponent's jungler's opening path.