Chapter 312: Throne Flying Thunder God

"This mid lane laning phase..."

As soon as the director's camera focused on the mid lane, one could see Chang Wei beating up Lai Fu.

However, to be fair, there really was no other way; whoever faced an opponent with a 3-0 start would find it hard to play.

The good news was that Viego wasn't a laning hero after all. Although being poked by Viego's blade every now and then was annoying, as long as Akali purely used Q to farm and accepted missing some minions, she could survive.

Come to think of it, Akali's current strength is definitely at the T1 level.

She shares a different fate from Sylas, who is frequently nerfed.

Also a hero who shone brightly at last year's Worlds, Akali has not only avoided nerfs since then, but has even received numerical buffs once or twice!

Of course, this is mainly because the mid lane has been the home turf for {utility} and {AP carry} heroes throughout the first half of the year.

Compared to Sylas, Akali's utility is indeed more singular, and her ceiling is also slightly lower.

So, the fact that Ye Bo's Akali is always banned has something to do with this, though it's mostly due to the intimidation factor of his ID.

And the only beneficiary of LNG's level-one invade, Kindred, trading her life for Rumble's head at the end also had a reason—Rumble had the 【Mark of the Kindred】 hanging over his head!

Kindred isn't considered Tarzan's signature champion; in his understanding, the passive skill acts more as a "scare tactic."

So, at the start, just like in the first game, he deliberately marked the top lane to "confuse" his opponents, playing a mind game to ensure his own jungle remained smooth.

He just didn't expect to hit the mark by accident.

They actually managed to get Rumble's head in the level-one fight!

This seemed like great news for Kindred.

But... in the eyes of Xun, who understands Kindred better, that might not be the case!

It could even be called bad news.

Because if the game developed normally, the first skirmish in the jungle should have happened over the Scuttle Crab mark—because Ivern needs to "plant his passive," he actually can't contest Smite and can't steal the Scuttle Crab!

And anyone who understands Kindred's mechanics knows that once Kindred gets a mark before 3 minutes, and if either the F6 or Gromp is still alive at 3:20, it will definitely refresh on one of those two camps.

Xun's Kindred once used this trick to gain insight into Wei's pathing.

Now the positions were swapped.

Xun naturally had a corresponding strategic approach.

The result of the level-one fight was undoubtedly bad news for LNG—after all, the most critical first step for this composition was to use its advantage to seize {control of the bottom half of the map}, and then quickly snowball the tempo around Draven.

But the start was unfavorable, and Ivern even used the momentum from the level-one fight to steal Kindred's red-side F6, forcing Kindred to abandon any early aggression toward the bottom lane.

When Kindred arrived at the top river early, hoping to gamble on "luck" to see where her first mark would spawn...

She was stunned to find the mark had already spawned on the opponent's F6!

This was the result of Xun deliberately saving his own F6, using the gold from the level-one assist to buy a Control Ward, and placing it directly in the brush at the entrance to his F6 to "lock the mark"!

With Viego starting 3-0, Akali could only take a beating early on. Even if Tarzan believed his mid-jungle duo was far stronger than the opponent's, he didn't dare to invade the jungle in the short term.

But when Tarzan walked into his blue buff area, he found that the Gromp had also fallen to the opponent's hands at some point...

He immediately began to enter "dizzy mode."

"Kindred grabbing people like this is just a waste of time~" Oner's expression showed he was quite familiar with V5's composition.

"It'll be fine once they hit level six and their power spike arrives. Doesn't their composition have a very fierce synergy?"

Gumayusi asked curiously with great interest: "Do you think V5 has a way to break this... Guess, is it the same as what we're thinking?"

"I guess, there's definitely a way, but it's definitely not what we're thinking!" Keria was full of confidence.

Although the members of LNG in the game couldn't hear the discussion...

They were also very clear that the most important thing for this composition was to "start fighting"—only by fighting and winning fights would Draven and Kindred have the chance to pick up key kills.

And this composition had another very comfortable power spike.

The first Dragon fight!

The key factor in this was Sion.

At level six, Sion possesses "global support" capabilities that almost no mainstream top laner has. Once a fight breaks out, he can quickly rush from the top lane to the Dragon pit to participate.

Once the opposing top laner uses TP to join the fight, Sion will have a key TP advantage during the 8-minute Rift Herald fight.

At that time, Sion could swap lanes with the bottom lane two minutes early, forcing the opponent to make a forced choice between two options during the 8-minute Herald fight!

This trick was also a tactic V5 had used before.

And at the time, including the commentary desk and many post-game analyses, it was stated that this handling was "almost unsolvable."

The only conditions that needed to be met were: a composition built for fierce early-game fighting, plus Sion, and minimizing conflict in the top lane early on to save TP—these three conditions were enough to implement it.

However, in reality... it was obviously not truly unsolvable.

"Kindred completely ignored the mark on the opponent's F6, and Ivern seems to be just calmly cycling through his jungle advantage, not in a hurry to expand his lead..."

"Eh? Did they just say it's coming?"

"Ivern seems to want to rely on the mid lane's lane priority to actively invade Kindred's blue side!"

Seeing Viego push the minion wave and disappear, Kindred was also somewhat vigilant, her steps into the blue side slightly slow and cautious.

Sure enough, at the corner by the Gromp, she saw Ivern's figure!

Unfortunately, Ivern didn't pay her any mind at all.

Ivern raised his hands to hypnotize and stroke the Gromp. After 3 seconds, he planted a patch of flowers around it, and then Smite fell, sending it back to the forest.

It was a direct "open robbery"!

There were two reasons for choosing Ivern.

First, naturally, was the jungle invasion!

When it comes to invading the jungle, if Ivern says he's second, no one dares to say they're first!

As long as he holds Smite, Ivern can instantly kill jungle monsters at full health; it can be said to be an impossible-to-defend jungle invasion.

But Tarzan didn't want to, and couldn't, swallow this insult: "Can you come and fight!? We should be able to win a 3v3!"

"Coming!" Breathe in the top lane immediately retreated and rushed over.

Although the opponent had a very fed Viego, Kindred also held two kills.

Mainly, no matter how you looked at it—Ivern was a "useless person" in a fight!

Plus, Sion could sacrifice himself to become a zombie if necessary; no matter how you looked at it, the 3v3 confrontation in the jungle was an advantage for LNG.

Scout didn't care about missing minions either, quickly clearing the wave and rushing over from the shortcut in the jungle.

And strangely... Ivern, knowing that the three opponents were already on their way, didn't retreat as if he didn't know death was coming.

"V5's mid-jungle positioning isn't too good! Looking at this position, it might be that Sion is going to flank!"

"Kindred initiates with QE to slow and keep them!"

Ivern, slowed by the mark, didn't turn around to use Q to keep Kindred.

Instead, he aimed at Sion, who was rushing from the top lane, and threw his Q skill 【Rootcaller】!

Three ropes of grass and wood emerged.

Rumble, who was chasing from behind, Ivern, and Viego beside him, all three rode the ropes and flew directly into Sion's face, then laid down a 【Brush】 at their feet!

But the members of LNG who saw this scene were not panicked; instead, they all showed joy.

V5 looked like they wanted to use Sion to escape, but because Ivern wanted to ensure the hit rate of his Q skill, he didn't fire from a long distance, so they didn't actually pull much distance.

Kindred and Akali arrived in two steps, and had even attached Shuriken Flip to close in quickly!

As for focusing fire on Sion, there was obviously even less need to worry.

The time it would take for these three to kill Sion would definitely be slower than the speed at which they could turn around and focus fire on the opponent...

"Is V5 trying to kill Sion first? But it's too... for these three to kill Sion..."

"!?"

"This is too fast!!!"

"Whose damage is it!?"

Everyone just wanted to question the decision to focus fire on Sion.

But they immediately discovered that Sion's health was dropping at an outrageous speed!

Even though the two opponents only had two combatants, that thick health bar looked like it was made of paper, plummeting at an incomprehensible speed!

"Is it Viego!?"

Viego's Q skill 【Blade of the Ruined King】 passive: {After the skill hits a target, basic attacks will perform "two strikes" on the target and add percentage health damage. }

Just look, Viego was currently in the "brush."

The king's blade in his hand was stabbing at extreme speed!

The scene was extremely unscientific, as if he had activated Blood Rage and was playing "dual-blade style" infinitely!

Every basic attack was a dual-blade strike, and all carried percentage damage!

Akali's "infinite Q" just now had already left everyone stunned; it was only thanks to the director's reminder in the earpiece that the commentary desk was able to explain it.

But at this moment, an even more outrageous scene appeared!

This had already exceeded everyone's cognition.

"Is it Viego's mechanics again!? Sion has already fallen rapidly under Viego's output!"

"Terrifying stationary output capability!"

"Akali retreated after finishing a combo under the cover of the Twilight Shroud, and Kindred could only jump over the wall with Q to pull away. I never expected this 3v3 in the jungle to end like this!"

"Is V5's mid-jungle combat power this strong!?"

Everyone was baffled.

And clearly, the only "suspicious point" could only be on Ivern's W brush!

Everyone had clearly underestimated the 【Viego + Ivern】 combination.

This was also the second reason for choosing Ivern.

The two have a very strange "linkage" in the current version.

Ivern's W 【Brushmaker】 passive effect after the rework: {Allied heroes who enter the brush will have their basic attacks add magic damage attack effects, which can persist for 3 seconds after leaving the brush. }

This is the most critical change in Ivern's rework, greatly enhancing his support capability.

It's equivalent to carrying an 【Ardent Censer】.

And as for why he could perform "infinite dual blades"—it's because the attack effects applied to allies by Ivern's W are treated as "damage sources from the ally's own skills."

Understood mechanically: Dual blades -> Brush damage -> Trigger Blade of the Ruined King passive -> Dual blades -> Brush damage -> Trigger Blade of the Ruined King passive -> -> -> Infinite loop.

It's equivalent to Viego himself having a continuous damage skill in his left hand that can continuously trigger the Q skill passive, while every blade in his right hand also gains high magic damage bonuses from the brush; the two can trigger each other!

Looking at the effect, it's outrageous, but mechanically, it's completely reasonable!

【I get it, this is the "Ge-Weng Combination"! Aren't dual blades just scissors!】

【Are they playing twin martial souls here? Clear Sky Sword and Blue Silver Grass, right!】

【Master Yi: "Is... is this Wuju Style!?"】

【My god! Flow: Li Gui!】

【I told you long ago, dual blades don't count as colorless! Dual blades don't count as colorless!! Look at whether there is any colorless in Lord Buddha's equipment bar!】

【Looking a bit invincible, now I have to give Viego the brush, isn't this fiercer than Rengar?】

"You..."

Scout looked at Viego getting another kill, his lips unable to help but tremble.

But thinking of his current situation, and then thinking of his bonus, he finally swallowed the words he had hidden in his heart.

"It's okay..." Tarzan barely lifted his spirits to comfort him.

"This, it should only be useful for standing and fighting; just don't actively fight in the jungle."

"Wait for the team fight, we still have the advantage, wait for our tempo point!"

Everyone was immersed in this strange mechanical synergy for a while.

No one discovered V5's true intention.

And the members of LNG only realized near the 6-minute mark that they seemed to have been tricked!

Because Kindred, who had been wanting to start the Dragon and force a fight until 6 minutes—discovered that their top laner Sion hadn't reached level six yet!

You have to know, Sion's level-one ultimate has a full 140-second CD.

This means that Sion must ensure this plan is launched before 6 minutes, otherwise, the ultimate definitely won't be ready by 8 minutes!

A solo laner normally reaches level six between 5:15 and 5:30.

So generally speaking, before six minutes, the opposing jungler will actively go to start the Dragon, guaranteeing a free Dragon, and then force a fight as much as possible.

And the solution to breaking Sion's offensive: actually, the simplest way is "Sion's level six."

Just delay Sion from reaching level six.

Or force out the opponent's TP early.

—This offensive naturally falls apart!

LNG remembered the tactical execution during that jungle skirmish, even letting Sion lose quite a few minions without letting him use TP to catch up, fearing they would be found by the opponent.

This led to Sion missing a full wave and a half of experience.

He hadn't even reached level six just past six minutes!

By this point, no matter what, the members of LNG already felt...

They seemed to be completely led by the nose by the opponent; from the start until now, all the key composition tempo points were being neutralized one by one!

Now, this composition almost only had one key tempo point left.

The Rift Herald fight.

Although V5's composition also had visibly impressive combat power, the members of LNG all knew that this Rift Herald fight had to be contested, and this was also likely the best opportunity.

The good news was that the kill ratio between the two sides was actually only 4-2.

"Both sides clearly want to have a 5v5 in the Rift Herald fight!"

"For LNG, this fight can be said to be crucial. If I remember correctly, usually when V5 plays this composition, they already have a 2-3k gold lead by 8 minutes..."

The two sides stood on opposite sides of the river.

The battle seemed to be temporarily deadlocked—but this was also the deadlock V5 wanted.

Because Samira was still one wave of minions away from level six, V5 actually wanted to wait another dozen seconds for the mid-lane wave to arrive, then let Samira eat the wave alone to reach level six, and then come to participate in the fight.

The reason why LNG viewed this as their biggest opportunity was right here.

In terms of level-five combat power, Draven is definitely stronger than Samira.

But once they reach level six, it's hard to say!

LNG obviously knew what the opponent wanted to do, but for a moment, they couldn't find a perfect opportunity, appearing somewhat hesitant.

Alistar could only initiate from close range, mainly relying on Sion to initiate.

But if Sion directly initiated with his ultimate without thinking, not only would it be easy for teammates to fail to follow up, but the most daunting thing was that they had already verified that Sion couldn't withstand Viego's damage at all!

Viego, combined with Ivern, dismantled the front line too quickly.

Sion had to ensure the efficiency of the initiation and that the position was good enough!

However, Sion didn't even have a position to flank with TP at this time—V5's vision was very well done, even leaving wards on their own advantageous mid-lane wave, just to not give Sion a chance to sandwich the mid-lane first tower.

"We have to initiate! Samira is almost six!" Hang appeared extremely anxious, wishing he could flash and initiate hard immediately.

"Brothers! If we don't initiate now, we'll have to prepare to go home!!"

And at this moment.