Chapter 386: v5's Blood-Boiling Combo! Sand-Falling Geese, Wall

The lightning-fast changes in the mid lane caught everyone off guard.

Everyone only saw the final scene: the Emperor of the Sands re-commanding his sand soldiers to step into the flames, landing a single strike to finish off Qiyana.

And the Emperor of the Sands didn't even have to use Flash at the end!

The director quickly pulled up the slow-motion replay—the shockwave spreading from the back looked as if it had almost overlapped with the Emperor of the Sands, yet it simply didn't hit!

"You say this is luck? He says this is calculation!" Wawa shouted, extremely excited.

His partner Miller deeply agreed: "This is definitely calculation. If it weren't precise calculation, how would he dare to EQ and turn back like this? You have to know that once you take the stun from the ultimate in this position, you're immediately going to be hit by Qiyana's full combo, and it's very likely you'd enter the execution range!"

"One can only say this is confidence; this is Master Ye's confidence in the Emperor of the Sands, and even more so, his confidence against the two heroes of Qiyana!"

[It really looks a bit like an Emperor personally leading his army into battle, especially this wave of charging through the gunfire—it feels right!]

[LCK likes playing the Emperor of the Sands? Is there anyone who plays it even half as well as Ye!]

[I can see the P-fans at the venue are about to burst; if you want to laugh, just laugh~]

[Oh my, students, how should the Emperor of the Sands fight Qiyana? You, that guy, just learn from this!]

[Does the director know what they're doing? They aren't even cutting to a backstage shot for me to enjoy.]

The on-site director actually did cut to a backstage shot, giving a view of the LNG backstage, which was actually "completely unrelated" to this match.

The camera clearly captured Scout's expression from the previous second: unable to contain himself, he stood up with his mouth wide open in astonishment.

And beneath that expression.

His inner shock was even deeper.

Why didn't I think of handling it that way back then?

Of course—even if he had thought of it, he wouldn't have done it that way.

It wasn't hard to see from the scene just now that if the Emperor of the Sands' turn-back had been off by even half a step, the outcome would have been exactly the opposite; without absolute confidence, one would never perform such a maneuver.

"Fortunately, Canyon's Widowmaker made a breakthrough in the top lane!" The Roaring Emperor, who had been somewhat speechless, shouted as the camera suddenly cut back.

"Even K'Sante can't withstand the tower-diving ability of Widowmaker and Alistar; HLE's lineup has started to exert its power!"

When it comes to the ranking of junglers with "strong tower-diving" ability, Widowmaker is at least a top-two choice.

Aside from the high execution damage of the ultimate, which can shed turret aggro, more importantly, the 2.5-second channel time of the W skill [Allure] can be perfectly utilized in situations where the opponent has nowhere to run while diving.

And after the effect triggers {reducing magic resist by up to 50%}, it can treat almost all tank heroes as squishies!

This is why, in the lane-swap meta, Widowmaker, this "sewer hero," has the possibility of appearing.

"But V5's bot lane also successfully dove Gnar; Jarvan IV's tower-diving ability combined with double marksmen is also not weak," Nuguri still had a stern expression.

For Jarvan IV to become a T0 jungler in the current meta, his {hidden functional features} are naturally numerous.

It's not just the strong engage of EQ and the terrain control of R; the Q skill [Dragon Strike] adds up to {26% armor penetration} to all units hit, which is almost equivalent to equipping all his AD teammates with a Last Whisper's worth of bonus damage!

The P-fans were already grinning: "If they trade like this, HLE is definitely the one losing out; V5's double marksmen are almost about to click the tower to pieces!"

"HLE's lineup hasn't even unleashed its early-game tempo at all this game!"

Although the Roaring Emperor didn't want to admit it, he could only nod in agreement.

"Actually, it's mainly because HLE invested too many gank resources into the mid lane early on, not hesitating to sacrifice the jungle, yet it didn't bring any results; conversely, V5's jungler hardly paid any attention to the mid lane, which is why their bot lane duo can play so comfortably!"

"We can even say that V5's mid lane this game is basically playing 1v2."

Yes.

In a sense, this is V5's other layer of understanding regarding the lane-swap meta.

When lane-swapping has become a routine tactic, then not swapping can itself become another interpretation.

To put it plainly: assuming the lane that is being swapped against can withstand the pressure and complete a 1v2—then without a doubt, their own bot lane that didn't swap can rely on the difference in {bot lane turret resistance} to gain an advantage unimaginable in previous versions!

After all, in previous versions, even if the bot lane was doing well, it was still 2v2; no matter how strong the double marksmen were, they couldn't stand in the opponent's face and hit the tower after the minion wave entered.

But if it's a 1v2 against a single melee, then they can just treat them like air!

"V5 won't really be able to push down the bot tier-one tower before the Rift Herald fight, right!? They have to save it!"

The Roaring Emperor was anxious, but Nuguri next to him shook his head.

"They can't save it; the duo lane swapping down now would just be getting beaten up. Widowmaker doesn't have her ultimate, and the mid and top TP must be saved for the Herald fight; giving up even one would mean handing over the Rift Herald, as there have already been several examples of this in the Swiss stage."

"HLE has bet everything on the Herald fight."

One can only say HLE's choice is still wise.

Canyon, who is calling the shots, has a clear mind; he knows that at the 8-minute mark, even if V5's bot lane duo gets the tier-one tower and Caitlyn and Ashe get five or six hundred more gold, it won't significantly improve the "Rift team-fighting power" of these two heroes.

This is the limitation of marksman hero performance.

And what is truly terrifying about V5's lineup is actually letting Caitlyn's tower-pushing tempo get going, helping the Emperor of the Sands safely farm until the mid-game to take over the match; by then, HLE will have lost all opportunities!

Therefore, this Rift Herald is, in their eyes, far more important than their own bot tier-one tower!

At 8 minutes, both teams gathered.

Most LCK teams, once at a disadvantage, will completely give up on contesting map resources and only perform resource trades, never fighting a head-on team fight until they have traded back to an even economy.

But LPL teams are different: if they have the advantage, they want to fight to kill the game; if it's even, they want to fight to expand the advantage; if they are at a disadvantage, they must fight even more to equalize.

And there is actually no distinction of superiority between these two.

After all, many times, even if there is an economic advantage of three or four thousand gold, when spread across five people, it's only a few hundred gold, equivalent to one small component per person—the effect is obvious in 1v1 laning, but once a team fight starts, it tests team coordination, the use of core skills, and the grasp of timing.

A few hundred gold worth of stats has no impact on team fights, so "fighting while at a disadvantage" can also be considered correct.

Of course.

If even the abilities of team coordination and timing are inferior to the opponent, then fighting while at a disadvantage is definitely just looking for death~

But everyone on HLE has a lot of confidence in themselves, especially the top, mid, and jungle trio, who are all famous "mechanical players" in the LCK.

"Look at Canyon's position; it seems he wants to pick someone off first!"

The stealthed Widowmaker secretly hangs a W heart on Ashe to threaten her positioning, and Jarvan IV and K'Sante immediately step up, not giving the opponent the slightest gap to attack from the front.

But the V5 members didn't expect this wave.

The opponent was actually behind them!

"Canyon used Hexflash to bypass the two control wards V5 placed at the entrance, using the camouflage effect to stay in the corner of the Gromp pit that had been cleared; three V5 members walked right past and no one noticed!"

"The opponent was caught off guard by this surprise attack!"

"Twitch has also stealthed to the front! Gnar and Qiyana's positions have formed an angle; HLE's positioning for this team fight looks very good!"

Seeing the direction indicator exposed in the last second of Widowmaker's W, BeryL realized that his old teammate was inside their own back jungle.

"The old rat is in the back!!"

But a [Hate Spike] had already been fired through the wall; the instant charm control meant Ashe couldn't even cast her ultimate!

And Alistar had already decisively flashed WQ to knock up the front line; Mega Gnar transformed, Twitch appeared in the front and pulled out his crossbow to [Spray and Pray] through the wall... even more terrifying was that by the Baron pit wall, a patch of grass element mark inexplicably shot out!

The battle was momentarily chaotic.

But Ye Bo understood that Qiyana in that position too well—what she wanted to do was QW to use the grass for stealth and displacement to press forward, and then, within the intricate jungle, wait for the opportunity to Flash-R into the wall!

But Qiyana didn't have Flash this time.

This was a gap.

"Don't worry about the back line! Xun, look at me!"

No matter what, Widowmaker could only threaten one person, and since she held her ultimate, the difficulty and cost of trying to stop her assassination by starting with a melee approach were very high.

After Ye Bo shouted, he summoned a sand soldier guard behind him and then flashed forward!

And the next moment, the figure obscured by the grass element stepped out of range and appeared; the shockwave of [Supreme Display of Talent] had already left her hands!

"Ah!?"

"The Emperor of the Sands flashes forward!!"

Explosive sounds erupted from the commentary booths on both sides.

Just because Qiyana's ultimate, which should have pushed across the entire jungle wall to complete the pincer maneuver—was actually "eaten on the spot" by the [Emperor's Divide] that the Emperor of the Sands flashed forward to "push in the opposite direction"!

The Emperor of the Sands even instantly followed up with an E, flying back to the wall behind him using the same old trick!

The reason for pushing in the opposite direction was that the collision volume of the Emperor of the Sands' ultimate is calculated from the "end," which is the principle of the "internal ghost shockwave"—if he had pushed R forward, it would have instead helped Qiyana's ultimate "connect and extend" in the jungle, successfully spreading to cover half the jungle!

But what if he changed the angle?

Since pushing R from the front would be calculated from the end, wouldn't pushing R in the opposite direction be able to make Qiyana's R "self-destruct on the spot"!?

The effect didn't stop there.

This Emperor's Divide, along with Qiyana and the Alistar who had charged into the back, were all pushed forward together; only Twitch reacted extremely quickly, flashing in sync to pull back.

But Jarvan IV followed up instantly; finding the position perfect, he directly flashed R to trap all four, then EQ'd out to avoid being focused, forming a perfect lockdown!

"We can fight! Look at me!" Kingen's Mega Gnar in the pit had a fierce look in his eyes.

Just because in this chaotic moment, he also discovered that V5's Caitlyn and K'Sante in the back were ignoring the front press; the two of them, plus the Jarvan IV who had EQ'd out, were only a step away from the [Emperor's Divide] pushed out by the Emperor of the Sands!

Gnar E'd out, instantly following up with a side-Flash R to slap out a "Tathagata Palm"!

The target was precisely the Emperor's Divide that was within arm's reach of the three!

"Kingen is here!! Hey!?"

"How did it pass through!"