Chapter 31: What Do You Mean By A Roaming Mid-Laner! [5k Two-in-One]

"Counter-kill!!!" Jide's voice was filled with disbelief.

"Player Ye has once again displayed magical mechanics! My goodness, how can you even pull off a counter-kill like that!?"

"LNG is suffering a massive loss here. The little dragon is gone, and a 1-for-2 trade under the tower is undoubtedly a huge win for Taliyah. You could even say this one play has completely clawed back all of the individual disadvantage from earlier!"

"And after finishing the little dragon, Poppy can even take advantage of the enemy mid and jungle being dead to invade the jungle again. Vi's level gap is now completely, utterly blown open!"

Compared to Jide's exclamation, Miller on the side was somewhat suspicious.

"That's so strange."

"I happen to be practicing the new version of Taliyah recently, but I remember the new Taliyah's ultimate has a restriction: it cannot be used after taking damage!"

The new Taliyah's ultimate, besides changes to values like {displacement distance} and {dash speed}.

There is also something very important: several new mechanics were added.

The most important of which is: [If Taliyah takes damage while riding the stone wall, she will no longer be forcibly "knocked off" her stone wall.]

And this mechanic is actually more powerful than the description, as it has a "hidden" function.

That is: "As long as the ultimate can be cast, you can definitely force your way onto the ride and travel the entire distance!"

Being unable to ride the wall when taking damage is a pain point for many veteran Taliyah players.

However, it is obvious that if it were just like this, the new Taliyah's ultimate would be a bit too powerful, almost equivalent to the existence of the former "Ryze's invincible golden body."

If you aren't instantly killed, you can just force your way out of the crowd!

Therefore, the designers also added another restriction: [Taking damage from enemy champions or structures will prevent Taliyah from casting "R - Weaver's Wall" for 3 seconds.]

This is why even Doinb, who knows Taliyah very well, was caught off guard.

So, how was Ye Bo able to cast it?

From the observer replay, someone already noticed that in the status bar in the bottom left corner, the R skill icon suddenly changed from gray to bright.

"Holy cow!!!" Jide's mouth was wide open.

"Taliyah didn't put a point in his ultimate! So he was holding the skill point and didn't add it, that's how it is!?"

"There's actually a detail like this!"

As long as you don't learn the ultimate first, the {damage taken} status judgment only starts calculating after you put a point into the ultimate, thereby "tricking the system" into forcing a cast.

In other words.

Through this little trick, Taliyah has one chance every game to use an "invincible golden body" escape technique.

It's just that in this game, Ye Bo used it for a counter-kill play.

The chat was flooded with: [Holy crap, learned something new!]

Doinb in the camera below looked ashen-faced.

He didn't quite know what to say.

The audience could know through the god's-eye view replay, but he didn't know yet!

This mechanic is a hidden hero mechanic that only appeared after Taliyah's rework; this setting didn't exist before, so Doinb naturally had no way of knowing.

And in Doinb's heart right now, he only feels that this newcomer on the opposite side is really a bit "scary"!

When they first met, no matter how much he solo-killed or outplayed him in ranked, he didn't take it to heart; after all, it was just ranked.

Later, hearing that the other party really came to play professionally and even "controlled the lightning" in the LDL secondary league, pulling off the famous scene of "one versus nine," he still didn't think much of it.

After all, he himself had done the same thing back in his QG days in the 2015 LSPL league.

But now.

In just over a month, he was truly facing the other party head-on in the LPL arena.

In the first game, he was beaten by an absolute lane gap, and his scalp went numb from all sorts of bizarre plays!

In the second game, he thought he had finally regained his form and successfully used his most proficient system to gain an advantage and take the upper hand.

As a result, the other party again used a series of understandings and plays he had never seen before, and he was beaten back in one wave!

Is this person not a one-trick pony?

Why does it feel like he's a master at everything now!

However, if Ye Bo could hear Doinb's inner thoughts right now, he would probably sincerely say: "No way, my Taliyah isn't a master-level pick yet."

The facts were indeed so.

Ye Bo's Taliyah clearly still had room for improvement.

After all, his number of games played is right there; the help the system gives only provides things that could be discovered if one spent the corresponding time and energy, but the final actual execution still depends on him.

Fortunately, this didn't matter that much for this match.

Although EDG was beaten 0-2 in the Spring Split, it was clear that there was no big difference in the strength of the two lineups.

And for this LNG team, the most important thing is to rely on the mid-jungle to exert pressure and set the tempo, especially the mid-laner, whose tactical status in this LNG team can be called the sole core.

Once the mid lane is at a disadvantage, the tempo of the entire team will naturally plummet.

After this wave, Taliyah instantly reached 3-1, quickly passing through his transition period.

Poppy also held a huge level advantage and had already started forcing his way into Vi's jungle; with Taliyah's strong roaming attributes at this time, there was no need to worry about support.

Now the mid-jungle 2v2 is basically a guaranteed win.

And although Ye Bo hadn't had time to synergize with Jiejie on a "mid-jungle synergy" system that suited them both best.

But Ye Bo also had his own understanding of mid-jungle synergy.

"LNG is very anxious here. Taliyah's Flash is back up and he clears waves too fast; they can hardly find any flaws in Taliyah anymore, and now they can only look for other opportunities."

"But the aftereffects of targeting Taliyah earlier are starting to show. Vi is now in desperate need of levels, and the jungle is being invaded by Poppy. It's already almost eight minutes in and he still hasn't hit level six!"

"The jungler's level is almost the same as the support in the bot lane! It might even be a bit lower!"

"Vi doesn't have six; this lockdown combo simply can't exert any power!"

Miller was worried for LNG.

Jide's attention was entirely on Taliyah.

"Here it comes! Taliyah is starting to take revenge. The two are starting to surround Tarzan in the jungle. It seems it's the 'Revenge Bird's' turn to take the stage!"

"These two aren't even looking for a kill; they just want to hard-steal your jungle monsters and won't let you farm!"

"Tarzan is so miserable!"

Poppy, relying on Taliyah behind him, was exceptionally arrogant, entering openly from the entrance with vision.

It was clearly telling you: "Grandpa is here! Still not running?"

Ahri wanted to save him, but once he saw Vi's level, he shrank back.

How is this 2v2 supposed to be played?

Vi and Ahri both needed to guard against these two who could counter displacement, and now both of these people had huge individual advantages, and their own jungler still couldn't reach level six.

Resisting is just asking for death!

Poor Vi wanted to save the country by a roundabout way... hiding to farm is fine, right?

Sorry, no!

Taliyah's Q skill has bonus damage to jungle monsters, which is also a compensation for the nerf to jungle Taliyah after the Q skill rework.

So even as a mid-lane Taliyah without a jungle item, farming the jungle is super fast.

And with Taliyah's help, the two cleared the jungle monsters at an extremely fast speed and immediately followed the opponent to the bottom half of the map without stopping.

"How you treated me before, I'll treat you the same way now!"

It's just hard-forcing it!

"Oh my, why is he doing this? I can't play like this as a mid-laner!"

Tarzan even vaguely regretted targeting the mid lane in the early game.

Because this person's playstyle really was just like "taking revenge"!

"...Why don't you come to the mid lane first to soak up some experience to hit six? There should be experience compensation now. Once we hit six, we'll look for opportunities again."

Doinb also had unspeakable bitterness.

After Taliyah's items were up, the speed at which he pushed a wave was just too fast.

On the other hand, Ahri couldn't clear the full-health backline minions with one Q, and each backline minion required him to follow up with an auto-attack.

The three lanes of minions in League of Legends spawn at the same time and are all fixed to refresh every 30 seconds.

But only in the mid lane is "roaming" considered a "primary duty" of the position.

The reason lies in — "The intersection time of the minion waves"!

Simply put, the mid lane is the shortest in the Canyon terrain, and the speed at which the minion waves reach the lane to clash is naturally 5 seconds faster than the top and bottom lanes.

This is an advantage exclusive to the mid lane.

Assuming the normal pushing speed of a mid-lane hero, counting the time needed to roam and return to the mid lane, there would only be about 5-10 seconds left.

If you don't want to lose minions, that's all the roaming time left for a mid-lane hero.

And an increase in wave-clearing speed means an expansion of the "roamable range"!

Currently, Taliyah had already started to be able to push the wave as soon as he met it, and with the movement speed from the passive [Rock Surfing], he could further shorten the time to return to the mid lane.

It means that for every wave of minions, Taliyah has nearly 20 seconds of roaming time!

And because he helped Poppy successfully occupy the jungle, he could also easily walk through the jungle, which also put immense pressure on LNG's side lanes to defend against ganks.

Compared to the Doinb model.

Ye Bo's approach was simple and brutal.

[Use the hero's wave-pushing advantage to create a roaming advantage] -> [Use the roaming advantage to choose to prioritize helping the jungler occupy the jungle] -> [Through breaking through the jungle, launch side-lane ganks that are harder to defend against]

And Ye Bo's first choice for subsequent roaming was the top lane.

"Brother Flandre, I'm coming! Look at my position! When it's about right, you can throw your grenade directly!"

"I understand what you mean!"

Because it was his first time coordinating with Ye Bo’s Taliyah, Shengqiang Ge quickly visualized the scenario after Ye Bo specifically explained the ultimate coordination.

Seeing Taliyah approaching, Gragas immediately used his E to dash forward and lock the target down.

Upon seeing Taliyah appear from the tri-bush, Gnar decisively used Flash + E double-jump to quickly create a large distance, avoiding being blasted back by Gragas’s ultimate grenade.

At this distance, even if Gragas flashed simultaneously, there was no angle to blast Gnar back.

However, there was actually no need to blast him back.

Gragas’s R ability has a cast range of 1000 yards, and the extreme edge detection range is another 400 yards, meaning that without considering the blast-back, he can hit someone from up to 1400 yards away.

Of course, throwing an R like this usually results in a "Hua Tuo Gragas" unless the target is already low on health!

This is why the "Gragas-Yasuo" combo is a timeless classic.

It is precisely because Yasuo can "follow up with his ultimate at a fixed point," allowing Gragas to easily coordinate with Yasuo to complete a "thousand-mile engagement" without needing to consider angles!

And clearly, the new version of Taliyah can do it too.

The alcohol-soaked Gnar was uncontrollably blasted toward the incoming Unraveled Earth!

Upon landing, he took the full 2-second stun from the [Unraveled Earth], Taliyah easily dealt all her damage, and then used her W to flip him back, cutting off any chance of survival!

"Nice play, Ye Bo!" Shengqiang Ge cheered.

"Ni-ice play, Ye Bo!" Jiejie, who wasn't on-site, also sent his congratulations.

Ye Bo didn't rush to respond, focusing instead on communicating his thoughts: "I feel like we can camp another wave. Jiejie, stop farming that for a second and come over. We can let the Rift Herald go and take the top tower directly; I feel like their top laner will give us another opening."

"Sure, I'll listen to you."

At 11 minutes, the respawned Ale Gnar TP'd out.

But Poppy had already circled around from the jungle; after the jungle was breached, the flaws in their vision were still taking effect.

This wave was initiated by Taliyah, who walked out openly to adjust her angle and threw the Unraveled Earth in front of Gnar.

Ale saw Poppy following behind the opponent and instinctively didn't want to stand near the wall; he even wanted to outplay them.

But Poppy didn't need a "wall slam" either.

Coordinating with Taliyah, Poppy only needed to push him mindlessly, forcing the opponent into a displacement that triggered the [Unraveled Earth], instantly dealing stun and high burst damage!

In the early game, it was because Taliyah was at a disadvantage and needed to keep her distance.

Otherwise, with this combo's ganking ability, it was simply mindless and straightforward!

And although Ye Bo’s W accuracy wasn't extremely high, he only needed to wait steadily for his teammates to help him trigger the Unraveled Earth before using Seismic Shove.

Poppy knocks him up.

Seismic Shove flips him back.

Gragas follows with a belly slam.

Little Gnar’s body jumped back and forth on the Unraveled Earth, as if he were being "kicked around" by three people three times.

[Are these three guys playing soccer here?!]

[This ball looks like it has good quality, should be worth about 50.]

[Holy crap, a new combo is born: Taliyah, Gragas, and Poppy. This feels like it has real potential!]

[Case closed, it must be another one of EDG’s secret weapons. I really feel like they prepared a lot for this match.]

[Who said this rookie only has a "Hero Spoon"? I think he’s actually a "Hero Sponge"; if you squeeze him, there might be more!]

"Taliyah’s roaming is creating huge pressure on all three lanes for LNG. Although Ahri and Vi are struggling to keep up, they are finding it hard to regain the initiative!"

"Both sides have interpreted what a roaming mid-laner is in this match!"

"But to be honest, it’s hard to imagine... EDG is actually playing the rhythm their opponents are best at?"

"However, in reality, EDG’s roaming rhythm is mainly reliant on Taliyah’s personal advantage, as well as LNG’s jungle being blown open early, which made it hard to implement effective countermeasures."

"But then again, wasn't it the level-two jungle arrest that indirectly led to the LNG jungle explosion? Wasn't it that brilliant counter-kill during the tower dive that led to Taliyah having this personal advantage and LNG’s rhythm being completely destroyed?"

The two commentators analyzed for a while and finally reached a conclusion.

These things really were changes brought about by this Taliyah!

Especially the other things Taliyah displayed in this match—those things "beyond the mechanics."

As a rookie, it was undoubtedly enough to earn everyone’s praise!

Of course, EDG’s two side lanes also gained significant advantages during the laning phase—though perhaps that was also thanks to the fact that the opponent’s mid-jungle focus was constantly being diverted by the mid lane.

And because of the kills, Ye Bo already had the [Unsealed Spellbook] in his hands by the 8-minute mark, so he wasn't afraid of being locked down.

There was even a moment when Vi anxiously tried to lock him down from a distance.

But Taliyah predicted it by half a step, successfully casting her ultimate, Weaver’s Wall, before taking damage, and used that "hidden mechanic" to force her way onto the ride.

Afterward, he performed an "aerial acrobat" show for the live audience.

The gold gap between the two sides continued to widen, approaching a slow death.

At 20 minutes, the dragon soul fight for EDG was about to refresh.

"We have to take this dragon; it’s hard if we don't!" Doinb’s voice was still loud, but his eyes were already looking a bit off.

"Wait for me to find an opportunity to lock the opponent... Ah, damn it!"

Before Tarzan could finish his sentence, he and the support Nautilus were suddenly knocked high into the air by a hammer swung from the shadows!

It was just like that hammer from the previous match with Poppy—it went around in a circle and flew back to hit himself.

At the same time, a loud boom echoed as the desperate Weaver’s Wall sealed off their retreat.

The opponents wanted to force a jump over the wall to escape, but a decisive Flash-Ultimate from Gragas successfully blasted all three back.

Seeing the opportunity, Taliyah flashed forward!

An aerial E-Flash, throwing out the Unraveled Earth horizontally against the three flying targets.

Dust erupted!

"Wow! What kind of god-tier coordination is this from EDG’s top, mid, and jungle!"

"Is Taliyah doing a 'porcelain-smashing' E? That looks so cool!"

"LNG has lost three members instantly; it feels like the overall situation is settled now..."

Jiejie initiated a great fight and shouted excitedly in the voice chat: "Brothers, this wave was good, right?"

The usually steady Shengqiang Ge also rarely joined in with a strange cry: "Wasn't my play cool?"

"Wuhu~~ Cool, cool, cool!" Ye Bo let out a dragon roar.

"Well, Ye Bo was even cooler this time. The Flash-porcelain-smashing Unraveled Earth wasn't even discussed with Xuanjun beforehand; the young man’s reaction is still fast," Meiko from the bottom lane said, offering a fair judgment.

"No issues there~ Master Ye is cool!" Jiejie acted as the straight man.

The lineup for the second game was completely different.

If in the first game, LNG could still drag things out with a late-game lineup and still had a chance and hope.

In this game, EDG’s lineup was not weaker than the opponent’s at any stage.

It was simply because those team-fighting cores of the opponent that looked very powerful—were actually all countered by this Taliyah!

The selection of this Taliyah completely restricted the opponent’s power points during the draft, and one could even say that the turning point of this match was completed before even stepping into the Rift.

EDG pushed steadily.

Finally, in a high-ground fight at 27 minutes, they achieved a second round of member reduction and initiation, pushing onto the high ground in one go.

The blue side crystal exploded into a sky full of fragments!

Two-in-one 5k words.

Although late, it’s a lot!

This match was written entirely with relatively basic techniques; after all, the protagonist’s Taliyah can be considered relatively basic.

So I simply wrote more and ended the match directly.

Taliyah has many flashy moves~~~ Let’s wait for our classmate Ye Bo to practice until level seven before performing them~

Please follow and read! Please vote!

[PS: I have a big recommendation PK the day after tomorrow on Monday. I might have to PK with platinum gods. I will add more chapters then. Brothers, please make sure to follow and read next Monday!]

Thanks to the brothers for the monthly tickets!

Thanks to the brothers for the support!





(End of chapter)