Chapter 377: Civilian Ninjutsu! The Horror of the

"Although I don't know what G2 means, it's clear that their lineup's early-game lane swap is also very important, especially the level one lane swap!"

A Nidalee and Sett duo clearly struggles to contend with a double-marksman composition, or rather, even a standard bottom lane duo can barely beat a double-marksman setup.

And G2 clearly has their own ideas.

But just as the minion wave stepped out from in front of the base gate, a frost-formed hawk spirit shot out from the distant horizon at an angle, flying toward the lower-middle part of the map and illuminating the entire area.

It instantly revealed G2's opening intentions!

The blue side's bottom lane clearly only had a Galio, while the Nidalee and Sett were quietly standing behind the middle lane's first tower!

"Ashe's E skill actually discovered G2's lane swap intention! This way, the V5 bottom lane, standing in the middle of the river, can also rotate to the middle; the duo lane is facing off again!"

"So, this has turned into both sides' middle laners swapping to the bottom lane—it looks like they swapped, but it also looks like they didn't!"

The two sides' middle laners became bottom laners, and the duo remained against the duo.

This is bad news for G2.

What they most wanted to see was surely the top lane Renekton in a standard matchup, the middle lane duo suppressing Akali, and the bottom lane, which was already meant to absorb pressure, being handled by Galio.

Fortunately, G2 certainly didn't expect V5 to stand still and let them swap, and they didn't actually care that much about the result of the lane swap itself.

This is precisely one of the characteristics of this G2 lineup.

As an "all-warrior" lineup, aside from the top lane—which is also a warrior-versus-warrior environment where they likely have an advantageous lane—the other lanes are meant to suffer during the laning phase, only waiting for resource-focused team fights.

So, to put it bluntly, let alone failing the lane swap, even if the swap had been even more unsuccessful, it was still something this G2 lineup could accept.

This point alone shows that this system indeed has some unique aspects, forming a sharp contrast with the conventional system from the previous game that would immediately collapse if the lane swap failed.

The director's camera shifts to the bottom lane.

"Master Ye is using the Prestige skin this game!" Gugu's focus is uniquely angled: "Before Master Ye last used Akali, this 'Candle Dragon' Prestige FMVP skin actually had a higher appearance rate, but after that game, you can very clearly feel that the usage rate of the original 'Teng Snake' version has become higher."

Wang Duo smiled and said: "Master Ye is probably also wanting to seize this 'hard-won' opportunity to use them all at least once, but to be fair, the visual effects of the Prestige version are indeed more imposing."

During the first two levels of laning, the commentary desk still had leisure time to chat about skins.

But when both sides reached level three, the topic came to an abrupt end.

Simply because the laning in the bottom lane didn't look peaceful at all.

Caps is no longer the peak European Mage King from four years ago; his mechanics have clearly declined—but his "mentality" and "temper" haven't lowered much; he simply refuses to accept it!

But in Ye Bo's eyes.

He only felt that the opponent's movements were too slow.

Whether it was the kiting with micro-movements, the decisiveness of skill usage, or the smoothness of connecting combos, it all felt significantly different from the many top-tier middle laners he had faced.

In fact, although Galio is known to counter Akali, he mainly counters the W shroud invisibility and the restriction of assassins by protecting the carry in team fights.

If we talk about laning alone, especially in the early game, it's hard to say that Galio has any real counters to Akali.

At the very least, it only becomes easier to play after acquiring some tanky items.

And in a fierce exchange of health at close range, Akali was always able to grasp the kiting distance against Galio, constantly consuming Galio's health by relying on Q-A and the short-cooldown, no-mana-cost Q skill.

In the eyes of the onlookers.

The laning of two melee heroes was watched as if it were "Ranged vs. Melee"!

Caps was beaten until his head was full of bumps before he suddenly remembered he still had an important "mission" this game.

But at this moment, he also suddenly realized.

The few Q skills he had just used had all "precisely" hit the minion wave, and some had pushed the lane.

This would naturally be no problem in the middle lane, and in fact, that's how it should be played.

But in the situation and tactics of this lane-swapped game, it was a significant problem!

And the cause of this was that Akali had been deliberately giving up positioning, tricking the opponent into using Q on her, just like "physical guidance"!

The opponent's double-marksman held the middle lane priority, putting huge pressure on their own duo lane; both sides' junglers had to hover nearby at this time, unable to break away to help clear the wave.

"Caps, remember to watch the wave; there's still over a minute, my wave is already ready at any time."

BB's voice came from the top lane, but after switching his screen to see the laning situation, he spoke up with some nervousness.

"What? Don't get solo killed!"

Caps curled his lip: "Don't worry, impossible."

In European culture, there is almost no emphasis on "seniority," so even if BB is half a rookie, he can still shout at Caps, this "God of the Region."

However, Caps also knew he had an important mission this game and finally started to play honestly and cautiously.

But what he didn't know was.

Ye Bo on the opposite side had already noticed something was wrong.

As an assassin, one must always pay attention to every detail of their prey.

Ye Bo noticed that as they neared four minutes, Galio suddenly changed his previous laning movements.

The Q skill seemed somewhat deliberately thrown off-target, each time only grazing one or two minions; it looked like he wanted to let the wave push, but also as if he didn't want to let it be pushed into the tower immediately?

Ye Bo pressed the Tab scoreboard to observe both lineups and looked at the movements of both sides on the mini-map.

His brain raced.

"Xunzi, you go first."

A series of tactical arrangements.

Akali in the bottom lane suddenly moved forward to take the initiative, fiercely initiating a health exchange, using the maximum range Q and "Passive on the spot" to pick up the Covenant of the Assassin to threaten forward!

Caps immediately became fully focused, staring fixedly at the rotating gold-green ring blade in the opponent's hand.

That is the {signature movement} of Akali's passive [Covenant of the Assassin], which will continue to shake until the passive is triggered.

And just as he saw Akali raise her hand at close range.

Seeing the green ring blade disappear.

Caps immediately pressed the W he had been clutching tightly for survival!

He knew {Akali's passive-empowered auto-attack range is 250 yards, which would just exceed Galio's W initial range; a split-second W would be wasted if she kited away}.

But he also knew {Akali's passive strike is a "forced attack," meaning once the attack command is issued, she cannot "cancel the auto-attack" through S-keying or movement, and there is a forced stationary backswing—of course, the opponent also cannot dodge it through any displacement}.

So Caps only needed to wait for Akali to trigger this passive, and he would definitely be able to absorb it with a fully charged W, making it impossible for Akali to complete any follow-up pursuit!

But immediately after, Caps's eyes suddenly widened.

"WTF?"

He was clearly certain he saw Akali start the auto-attack, and the ring blade shaking in her hand did indeed disappear for an instant, which is why he pressed W instantly to start charging.

But as the blade was swung into mid-air, Akali suddenly performed a strange "in-place spin," canceling the auto-attack, and instantly pulled a bowl of "ramen" from behind her.

That's right.

Although the S-key or A-clicking movement cannot cancel Akali's forced passive auto-attack—the Ctrl+1 "Dance Taunt" key can!

And there is no "stiffness" backswing, nor any cost!

Aside from the movement being slightly comical, it is absolutely a "Civilian Ninjutsu" level technique!

The Stone Wings looked to be only half a step away from the assassin's body, but they only absorbed the surrounding air; the crucial survival skill landed on nothing.

"Galio seems to have been juked? The taunt missed!"

"And he tried to E back to create distance, but Akali used her body to block it with a Flash!"

"Caps, why aren't you running with such low health!"

Caps realized things were bad and immediately tried to E back to create distance, but was directly blocked by Akali's Flash-body-block, then closed in again to hit him with the passive A-E at point-blank range.

The perfect skill connection maximized all the damage the hero could produce!

At the same time, this E was also in the opposite direction, retreating toward the tower, directly sealing off Galio's path of retreat.

"It's over!!"

The bottom lane is different from the middle lane; you can't just take two steps back and be inside the tower, especially when the minion wave state is bad, it's very easy to be chased all the way to the end.

Because he was marked with Shuriken Flip, Galio couldn't create distance even with Flash.

Conqueror Akali grew stronger the more she fought.

The mistake in the early health exchange became a foreshadowing; his already unhealthy health bar dropped rapidly during the pursuit, and in the end, he met his demise in front of the tower!

"Bottom lane solo kill! First blood born in under five minutes!!!"

[Old Caps underestimated him, but it's fine, being solo killed by this Akali doesn't count as a real solo kill!]

[Wait, how did he even use Ctrl+1? Can you actually do that? How many games do you have to play to discover this?]

[I finally understand what it means to 'grind an iron rod into a needle'; Master Ye is definitely at the level of having studied Akali's underwear off; I dare say even the designers don't understand Akali as well as he does!]

[Tell me more about grinding the iron rod into a needle.]

[I'm on the scene; the European guy feels like he doesn't have enough self-awareness regarding Akali. He was still clamoring before the match; I suggest intensifying the pressure this game!]

The G2 voice comms were silent for a moment.

And an embarrassed Caps, looking at the bottom lane minion wave, suddenly spoke up quickly again: "No, BB! You can still TP; he's pushing the wave!"