Chapter 17: Yo Ho, The Famous Founder of the Shockwave Theory!

A string of mysterious numbers flashed through Jiang Ming's mind, and the corners of his mouth turned up; it wasn't mockery. During the S3 era, Seven's Lee Sin still had its merits. The pig-farming mechanics of that period hadn't declined yet, and combined with his personal expertise in standard stream-of-consciousness play, the Lee Sin, whose early-game jungle confrontation was maxed out, was no less than a sharp weapon in his hands.

It was just that the current League of Legends players were still in the exploration stage and simply didn't understand many Lee Sin mechanics, such as Flash-R, Roundhouse Kick, and Flash-W.

"JM, do you need me to pick Zed?"

In the purple team's chat channel, the player in the first seat, being a shrewd person, spoke up immediately upon spotting the big leg.

In the game's lobby system, although most of the time it is divided by hidden MMR, there are occasional exceptions.

Like in this current game, Jiang Ming, who had the highest hidden MMR among the five, was assigned to the second seat.

Jiang Ming typed a reply, "No need, brothers, the support and I will just pick what we are good at first."

Seeing this, the first-seat jungler didn't decline and decisively picked the Imperial Prince, a jungler he excelled at.

The second-seat player, Juan Mao, considered it for a while and still picked Janna.

Originally, he had considered practicing the new hero Thresh in this game, feeling it was a support with a similar positioning to Blitzcrank but even more comprehensive.

However, since the blue team banned it, there was no way.

The pick power returned to the second and third seats of the blue team, and the double carry of Gnar and Caitlyn appeared on the selection screen.

"Picking Gnar first, very confident."

Seeing that the opponent had no intention of hiding further, Jiang Ming instantly locked in his hero.

"The invisible blade is the most deadly!"

After Jiang Ming locked in the Shadow Hunter, both teams' lineups were quickly confirmed.

Blue team: Top Lissandra, Jungle Lee Sin, Mid Gnar, Bot Caitlyn + Janna.

Purple team: Top Zac, Jungle Imperial Prince, Mid Zed, Bot Ezreal + Janna!

With the lineup confirmed, Jiang Ming's hands didn't stop; as a streamer, he still had to provide service for the viewers in the live room.

"For Zed, use the rune and talent setup from the tutorial video I posted earlier; it's quite universal. Talents 21-0-9. For runes, just fixed Attack Damage and Armor Penetration. There's no need to take Growth Cooldown Reduction for the Greater Mark of Attack Damage; the return is very low."

"In terms of lineup, neither side is better or worse than the other. The enemy mid-jungle is stronger early on, while we have more overall crowd control. However, Caitlyn and Janna have long range, making it difficult to approach the enemy in team fights. This combination is quite counter to Zed."

Jiang Ming did not look down on the current era's "King Emperor" due to his superior understanding of the game. As a bot lane player, being able to quickly come up with a long-range combination like Caitlyn and Janna to counter an assassin version showed that his gaming talent was naturally extraordinary.

【Feels like a hard match!】

【Gnar in the mid lane is super broken, plus he has sustain. Zed basically can't gain any advantage. I feel Brother Ming doesn't need to force Zed; it would be better to prioritize ranking up to King.】

【The enemy mid and jungle are both professional players. Mid Cool is from OMG, and the jungle is Clearlove from WE.】

【Oh ho, the bot lane also has Smile and Juan Mao. Streamer, I feel that as long as the mid lane holds steady and drags to late-game team fights, with the Great King there, it's a guaranteed win.】

"Smile!"

Entering the game loading screen, Jiang Ming watched the heroes selected by his own bot lane duo with interest.

Ezreal plus Janna can be considered the signature moves of these two veteran WE players.

After the Korea Dragon and Tiger Cup and IPL5 ended, Smile gained the title of World's Best AD, with praises like "Last Hit Robot," "Invincible Late Game," and "The Man Who Adds C to AD." The comments were actually right; with Smile's current competitive level, once Ezreal's items are complete in the mid-game, the blue team's Caitlyn player truly cannot compare in terms of damage output.

However, Jiang Ming had no such Human Thoughts about riding on big legs.

If the opponent sitting across was Faker, he would still worry about his teammates' situation, but facing Cool, the famous founder of the Shockwave Theory, he really felt no pressure.

In Jiang Ming's view, at present, he is just a rookie with a slight temper. The title of World's Best AD he will have in the future is certainly the result of capital blowing him up to the sky.

But the founder of the relevant theory right in front of him is the true World's Best Shockwave.

In the original trajectory, he became famous in the S3 World Championship by killing Faker in a 1v1 thanks to network lag, earning the title of World's Second Best Mid Laner. As a result, he truly believed he possessed the strength of the world's second best. After his Yasuo was hung up and beaten by Xerath, he played palace intrigue drama in OMG, got entangled with his jungler girlfriend, and caused a complete break, leading to the S5 Galaxy Battleship sinking right there.

His subsequent experiences were even more bizarre. He went to FPX and complained that LWX was bad, refused to practice heroes, and didn't play training matches, getting dissed by the coach. Even in the later Old Man Cup, he couldn't play properly, suffered various beatings, and could still blame the heroes. Having no honors and no strength, the shockwave's boomerang stuck in his own body; he was the type who couldn't even digest the black traffic.

Entering the game, the five people moved their hands at high speed. After buying their starting items, they each found their positions.

Ding! Ding! Ding!

Jiang Ming, starting with a Long Sword and three Health Potions, pinged a few signals on the map, indicating the Imperial Prince to place a defensive ward.

In an era where two buffs allowed for a quick level three, the early-game invasion capability of Lee Sin was simply too strong. At the same time, before level three, it was very difficult for him to fight for lane priority against Gnar in the mid lane.

Unlike the jungler Gnar in later eras, during the S3 period, Gragas's Q did not require a delay to release to deal maximum damage. W had no extra damage but provided damage reduction and an additional Attack Damage bonus, making it a very comfortable skill for early-game auto-attacks and last-hitting. Although the E skill didn't give him a stun effect, its displacement distance, slow effect, and damage were incomparable to those in later eras.

Seeing the flashing signal in the game, Juan Mao and Smile couldn't help but look at each other.

Their Human Thoughts were the same: "This person's playstyle feels even more professional than ours..."

Blue team.

"Ban Zed? How can you ban Zed? He's just a solo queue player."

Cool, controlling Gnar, was extremely disdainful. In his opinion, regarding the top three in ladder rankings, it was just that they usually spent more time on professional matches. If they really went all out to rank up, the top ten would be their professional players' private garden.

Time passed second by second, and neither side showed any intention of fighting a level one team fight.

Cool arrived in the mid lane with the minion wave. Seeing Zed, he raised his hand and cast Q, thinking to explode both the person and the minions.

However, since there was a certain distance between the two, just before the rolling Gnar reached its destination, the Shadow Hunter, holding dual blades, stepped his feet continuously and brushed past it.

"Face the shadow, seek the truth!"

Swish!

The Zed who dodged the rolling Gnar turned around and threw a shuriken— 【Shadow Art: Twin Shuriken】!

The sound effect of a sharp blade entering the body rang out, and a patch of snow was taken away from Gragas's head.