Chapter 389: Sword Demon King? Who is the True Sword Demon King!

The battle in the jungle has come to an end.

However, both mid-laners had departed early; although the Viego gained a slight advantage after affecting the minion wave state, they failed to push directly into the tower, and in the end, both sides inevitably suffered some losses.

The respawned Zeka did not hesitate to aggressively teleport to the mid lane, using his physical body to block the wave in front of the tower.

If the Viego were to return to mid now, their poor condition would lead to being counter-pressured for a time; if they were to recall first and then use teleport, they would suffer additional minion losses, allowing the Sylas to make up for the losses incurred from his earlier roam.

As for the top lane, due to the Aatrox’s pre-roam push, the minion wave was currently pushing entirely toward the V5 side.

V5 quickly executed a formation change.

"V5 is sending the Viego to the top lane?" The Roaring Emperor keenly captured the movement, and after glancing at the minion wave, he immediately realized something: "Wow, they’re even giving up economy to the Viego on a hero like Renekton!?"

"Just as I said, this is Flandre’s playstyle," Nuguri shrugged, offering a deeper analysis.

"But this lane swap by V5 is very clever. Letting the Renekton, who is in better condition, go mid allows him to stay without recalling and face the Sylas who teleported in, while the Viego goes top to face the Aatrox who also hasn't recalled. It effectively saves an extra teleport. V5’s lane-swap handling is clearly much more proficient."

The Roaring Emperor dared not let the other side continue to talk down his own team, so he quickly interrupted: "Uh, Nuguri, Aatrox versus Viego, that should be a favorable matchup, right?"

Upon hearing this question.

Nuguri suddenly fell silent and did not provide an answer.

In the player booth, Kingen was also somewhat surprised to see the Viego come up, but he immediately canceled his recall.

The director’s camera locked onto the top lane.

Renekton versus Sylas is clearly a huge advantage, and the mid-lane matchup is without suspense, but this Aatrox versus Viego matchup is too niche; no one knows what the laning situation is like.

Kingen was fully focused, his expression more serious than it had ever been—after all, last year, the moment he almost had the chance to defy the heavens and save his team was lost to Ye Bo by a single move.

To this day, he still harbors resentment over that scene!

Both sides jockeyed for distance within the gaps of the minion wave.

The Aatrox took the initiative, seizing the gap when the Viego wanted to last-hit, and proactively tested the waters by slashing out a maximum-range Q [The Darkin Blade] to see the opponent's movement habits.

The Aatrox’s three-stage Q goes from far to near; although the first stage has the lowest coverage and damage, its casting range is the longest, reaching a full 625 yards, longer than the attack range of the vast majority of melee heroes.

However, the Viego is an exception.

The Viego’s Q ability also has a full 600 yards; although it is still 25 yards shorter than the Aatrox, it wins in terms of casting wind-up.

Just as the Aatrox raised his sword—the Viego immediately countered with a stab of [Blade of the Ruined King] to poke back.

But this was entirely within Kingen’s expectations.

Once the Aatrox’s first Q hits, the brief knock-up effect prevents the opponent from moving, and the 400-yard distance of the second Q combined with the 250-yard dash distance of the E ability means one EQ combo lands exactly at the distance of the first Q.

That is: if the first Q can "land naked" without using E, then the second Q can almost guarantee a 100% hit with the "sweet spot"!

In fact, veteran Aatrox players would never easily commit the 12-second cooldown E ability on Q1, as Q1 has the lowest damage, and even if it hits, it is very easy for the opponent to walk out of the second stage, making it very cost-inefficient.

But.

Just as the Viego’s blade stabbed out, his feet simultaneously lifted slightly backward, shifting half a step.

And that Darkin blade, with its brief casting delay, came crashing down, looking like it was clearly within reach.

Yet it was dodged by a hair’s breadth as he turned!

Not only that, after twisting past the first Q, the Viego immediately moved forward, looking as if he were going to continue the pressure—Kingen’s eyes narrowed as he feigned the second Q, and the moment the second Q was about to be released, he used the E ability "Umbral Dash" to close the distance for a skirmish!

But the Viego simultaneously countered with a W, thrusting forward!

Interestingly, the dash distance of the Aatrox’s E and the Viego’s W were not a single step apart.

The range that the Aatrox’s forward QE would have reached was exactly dodged by the Viego’s forward-thrusting heart-piercing maneuver.

The two were like a "synchronized close-quarters" encounter!

And the Viego’s W-thrust close-range stun was followed by black mist blooming beneath his feet; the blade struck fiercely, and the attack speed bonus and Conqueror stacks within the Hallowed Mist surged crazily!

The Aatrox had already missed two sweet spots; it was clear that standing and fighting would not lead to victory.

However, Kingen’s execution was meticulous; he first used his passive Deathbringer Stance at point-blank range, then landed the W Infernal Chains at point-blank, and then held onto Q3.

To escape the range of [Infernal Chains], one must "move laterally" at the first opportunity, moving across the shortest diameter in the middle to have a chance of not being pulled back—and the Aatrox can lock onto the fixed lateral movement, slam down Q3 to land it steadily, and then use the brief knock-up to delay the opponent’s pace, while also pulling them back with the W!

That is the direction!

Seeing the direction the Viego was heading, the Aatrox decisively slammed down the center of the blade.

But immediately after, Kingen’s pupils shrank violently.

Because the Viego had, once again, moved his feet with eerie anticipation, shifting slightly upward by half a step.

Once again "twisting" past the center point of Q3!

And this half-step delay was also successfully offset by the movement speed bonus from [Hallowed Mist], allowing him to walk out of range at the very last moment before the Infernal Chains took effect, avoiding being pulled back!

The Viego even continued to pursue under the speed bonus of the Hallowed Mist!

Just the first exchange.

The expression on Kingen’s face beneath the camera was already a bit off.

Also off was Nuguri on the stage.

Nuguri’s expression was clearly one of extreme shock: "Ye’s Aatrox... how does he seem to understand Aatrox so well? He shouldn't have picked mid-lane Aatrox in his career, right!?"

"How can you tell that?" the young player P next to him asked, puzzled: "Just because he dodged the blade? It doesn't feel that hard; it looks more like Kingen didn't place it well himself."

Nuguri couldn't help himself, giving him a sideways glance with a look reserved for fools, and retorted.

"Can’t you see that this is clearly Ye guessing exactly how Kingen was going to release all three of his Qs in a row?"

"Every step he took was a half-step of anticipation! Otherwise, how could he have walked out of it!"

Nuguri didn't know if this person was truly blinded by hatred or if he really couldn't see it.

If you were talking about Kingen’s other heroes, like the Gnar play in the last game being a mistake, that would be understandable.

But this is the guy’s ultimate signature trump card!

As a top laner, Nuguri knows very well Kingen’s understanding of Aatrox.

In that quarterfinal match of S12 last year, EDG discovered the secret hidden by Danny, realizing the truth that Nuguri actually "didn't know how to play" Aatrox, thereby gaining a massive advantage in the pick-and-ban phase.

Aatrox is a hero who looks simple, with almost no "combos," only a single EQ-two-hit.

But the real Aatrox should be described as "The Great Dao is Simple."

The damage of the skill set is all in the three-stage Q—in reality, hitting one extra Q or one less Q, hitting one extra sweet spot or one less sweet spot, the damage difference is worlds apart!

Because the damage of the {edge sweet spot} is double that of the {other areas}.

So, to put it bluntly: Aatrox’s Q looks like 3 hits, but it should actually be 6 hits—hitting the sweet spot counts as 2 hits, hitting the other areas counts as 1 hit; missing entirely is equivalent to missing 6 skills!

Not to mention that all three stages of Q are AOE damage!

Yet, every stage of Aatrox’s Q has an incredibly obvious {casting delay} + {range indicator}; the grasp of the rhythm of the wind-up, the mastery of skill distance, and the prediction of the opponent’s movement mentality—every slash is full of details and experience!

Aatrox is not only easy to learn and hard to master, but it is also the hero where the "gap between the upper and lower limits" is most easily played out among top laners!

The brilliance of Kingen’s Aatrox lies in his deep understanding of the sweet spot delay and his grasp of the rhythm of the delayed Q-skill release, which seems as if he is naturally gifted.

These are actually very difficult to "practice" into existence.

At the very least, Nuguri tried, and failed.

So, seeing this health exchange in the top lane, especially seeing the Viego’s anticipatory movements that seemed to "see through" the opponent’s thoughts every time, he was almost 100% certain that Ye Bo had a deep understanding of Aatrox.

—That is definitely not something that can be achieved by "reaction"; it must be an equally deep understanding of this hero!

As for the facts, of course, that is the case.

Although Ye Bo hasn't picked mid-lane Aatrox in a tournament, he and Mr. Aatrox are truly very familiar~

And although Kingen also felt that something was wrong, he didn't see it as clearly as the bystanders.

Or perhaps he was unwilling to admit in his heart that the opponent’s understanding of Aatrox could compare to his own, or even surpass it.

Time neared 5 minutes.

Although the early jungle confrontation was a major failure, the Lee Sin took the opportunity to run to his own bottom red jungle, grabbing the opponent’s offensive gap to frantically eat the leftovers, and after reaching level three, he barely had the confidence to maneuver in the jungle.

But V5 directly executed the mid-top lane swap, and with the big Renekton sitting in the mid lane, the deterrent power for the dragon fight was simply too strong!

HLE could only let the jungler Lee Sin attempt to steal the dragon.

It’s just that the momentum of the four V5 members gathering didn't look like they were just going to take a small dragon.

At the same time, the director’s camera cut sharply.

"Why are they still fighting in the top lane? Both top laners haven't recalled yet, and when did the Sylas go up there!"

"No! If the Sylas goes top, if the bottom lane gets killed while stealing the dragon, the HLE duo is going to be bullied under the tower by four people!"

Just as the director’s camera was still focused on the dragon pit where a battle might break out, the top lane was suddenly filled with crisis.