Chapter 297: Single-Pole Breakthrough? Chu Yuxun Beats the Great Sage of Qitian to a Pulp!

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

"Good heavens, the last time Darius appeared was 1, 32 days ago! It was selected by player thehsy, who just left the stage in the previous match, during the S9 season against the peak FPX!"

Guan Zeyuan was still excitedly explaining to the audience: "Some viewers might not know, but when player Qingtian was on the YM team in the LDL, he was a famous Darius specialist in the league; his in-game ID was even 'The Grand General Holding a Giant Axe'!"

"And using Darius to counter K'Sante actually feels like it might have some merit!"

Among the three top-lane tigers of the current patch, the Crocodile and the Weapon Master—one is weak in the late game, the other is weak in team fights.

Only K'Sante is relatively balanced; even after being nerfed countless times, it still feels like there is almost no hero that can absolutely counter him.

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

Jide then looked at the opposing side jokingly: "V5 is a bit strange here; Kai'Sa and Draven are both Jack's signature heroes~"

Meanwhile, in the DYS livestream room, someone became restless the moment they saw that ID at the bottom.

"Holy crap, invincible! The gods have possessed him! It's the IG-era TheShy; this match is a 'remote reunion' of the IG Incheon Three Carries!!!" Seeing that ID, Kid gesticulated with extreme excitement.

He let out an ultra-hyped scream: "A tribute! This is definitely a tribute! TES is absolutely going to win this game easily!"

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

Kid was wearing a sincere expression, gushing endlessly about the memories in his mind.

But Sun Yelong, sitting next to him, had a glint on his bald head as he quietly did something mischievous on his secondary monitor.

Before long, a "hehe" chuckle could be heard.

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

Sun Yelong pulled the webpage from his secondary monitor onto the main stream, finding the match the director had cited as the last time Darius was played.

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

With the image as proof, Kid was silenced instantly.

Xika also spoke as if his memory had been suddenly awakened: "Right! The match you're talking about seems to be from even earlier, during Doinb's RW era; later, during that S9 year, IG didn't seem to win much against FPX all year long~~~"

Kid looked as if he had been hit by a one-second-four-break combo, left speechless.

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

Seeing the other party retreat into his shell, Xika glanced back at the screen to find some fun.

"Wait a minute! I caught him!"

"Wai Yi! He is definitely a super hater of Brother! Playing Kai'Sa and not using Brother's skin!"

Sun Yelong immediately agreed: "True! I tell you, I've never seen anyone on the professional stage not use Brother's skin! This is a stricter rule than writing an application to pick Vayne!"

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

【It really is, Ye is doing it on purpose!】

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

【I'm dying of laughter; just a second ago I was listening to the monkey brag in the stream, saying he crushed TS's Darius, and the next second I hear the filial son bragging like crazy, hahahahaha】

【Sigh, there are no bad parents in the world; for the filial son, he automatically deletes memories regarding Song Jiang, understandable!】

【What a pity, Master Ye picked a Kai'Sa this time, can't see Qingtian study i7 and pay tribute to the legendary top laner】

Both sides had a peaceful level-one skirmish, and the minion waves clashed normally.

However, looking at the team compositions, both junglers were heroes who needed to farm to level six, and the two mid-lane heroes were also the type to just farm against each other.

Theoretically, it was unlikely for a rhythm-breaking point to erupt early on.

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

One of the unique advantages of ADC heroes standing in the mid lane is that they can naturally possess an edge in "auto-attack wave clearing" and "trading health" due to their hero attributes.

The same logic applies to the top lane; the classic long-range versus short-range matchup, where marksman heroes naturally carry 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 on the Seafood Platform seemed to have a different view on the early-game situation.

"Maya, brothers, I feel like the early-game maneuvering between the two junglers is very critical!"

He shared his understanding: "Because it's highly likely that the mid lane is hard to gank, but it's unlikely for the top and bottom lanes on both sides to farm peacefully; Darius and Draven are both heroes who must produce results in lane!"

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

Although Doinb was currently unemployed at home, his experience was there, and his reading of the game was still very precise.

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

They had both realized that their responsibility in this match was significant.

If we only talk about laning, there is no doubt that the mid, bottom, and jungle lanes on both sides are evenly matched, with the only exception being TES's top-lane Darius, which has a laning advantage.

One could even say it's not just a small advantage!

As a "universal" hero, Darius's advantage against tank heroes goes without saying: passive true damage + Bloodrage + ultra-high true damage from the ultimate, plus the high percentage armor penetration inherent in the E-skill passive, makes him a natural meat-cutter!

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

The examples of "one person gets Bloodrage, the whole family ascends to heaven" are countless—it is no exaggeration to call him the top-lane version of the mid-lane Viego!

Theoretically, he could even be viewed as an enhanced version of the Crocodile!

This was also what TES had prepared against V5.

Don't you guys like to play half-map aggression?

We'll just bring out a skirmish hero who is strong from level 1 to level 16; even if you pick Viego in the mid lane, they still have a massive advantage in small-scale half-map combat!

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

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

But, despite Darius having so many powerful points, he has been a rare guest on the bench for years, which naturally has its reasons.

He fears being ganked!

And he is extremely clumsy!

He has no mobility tools, and his only crowd control is a "King's Pull" that also requires getting within at least 500 yards to potentially hit—if you can walk within 500 yards in a team fight, you're usually already about to be focused down and killed!

Not to mention that once the E-skill misses, or if the enemy flashes away after being pulled.

As long as the enemy has even one more dash or crowd control, he will never touch them in his life!

Therefore, there is a consensus that almost all Darius players have.

Summoner spells: Must bring {Ghost}!

Even in professional matches!

This point alone is the biggest obstacle for Darius to enter the professional stage.

You must know that not being able to carry Teleport means the "error tolerance" is extremely low; getting killed once by a gank can cause the lane to explode instantly, not to mention the inability to support side lanes with Teleport.

This means—once TES's bottom lane is in an emergency, they are naturally missing one Teleport for rescue.

So, at this moment.

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

He must protect the top lane's advantage!

On one hand, he must first force out the opponent's top-lane Teleport so that there won't be a Teleport disparity, which is very important for both laning and side-lane play.

On the other hand, as long as he can maintain the laning advantage in the top lane, his own jungle has a safety net.

However, Wei also had some small ulterior motives.

At the start of the game, he had Darius help him guard the river, sacrificing the potential "level-one wave control" pressure opportunity Darius could have had, in order to scout the opponent's jungle pathing.