Dun, Feeling Good?

The Kai'Sa and Camille combination couldn't contest the wave against Miss Fortune and Neeko for the first few levels.

Unless they found an opportunity to commit to a fight, Miss Fortune and Neeko would have an easy time if they kept trading Poke.

Invictus Gaming knew that, of course, so Lin Heng played very aggressively.

At level two, he dodged Vampire's E while trading, slowed Neeko with his W, then landed an extremely fast, short-range E to stun her. He triggered Hail of Blades and forced out Neeko's Heal.

He and Kai'Sa took half of Neeko's health at level two, leaving her unable to play too aggressively.

Miss Fortune's Q and passive gave her very good damage early on, but her sustained damage was certainly somewhat inferior to Kai'Sa's.

With Neeko at half health, she couldn't afford to get caught by Camille's Hookshot again. If she got stunned by another kick, she would definitely be forced to use Flash, and Invictus Gaming's bot lane duo could kill her if they used their own Flashes.

Thus, starting at level two, Lin Heng's Camille mechanics allowed Invictus Gaming to keep the lane roughly even for a short while.

That was because Uzi had also been hit by Neeko's Q quite a few times. Otherwise, Invictus Gaming's bot lane would have had the advantage.

It wasn't because Uzi's movement had deteriorated that badly. The main reason was that Gala was playing Miss Fortune.

Miss Fortune always led with her E to slow him, then Neeko followed up with her Q for extra damage. The two of them made their little combo thoroughly obnoxious to deal with.

In mid, Akali was already at a disadvantage against Orianna for the first few levels. As long as she could keep up her last hits, she was doing well.

HongQ had some weaknesses in teamfights, but his laning was definitely good enough. At the very least, judging by the two games so far, he had had no problems in lane.

In top lane, however, Ambessa had gained a solid health advantage through mechanics and wave management.

This patch was very unfriendly to top laners whose laning wasn't strong enough. With lane swaps no longer possible, laning had become almost the most important qualification for a top laner.

To sum it up in one sentence: only when the tide goes out do you discover who's been swimming naked.

In top lane now, strong laners could easily build a 1k gold lead from minions and Plating. Before, when there was no Plating, top laners known for absorbing pressure and playing safely would have a very rough time on this patch.

You could say that TheShy's style made him feed, but his laning ability was beyond doubt.

Almost every top laner who could beat TheShy badly in the laning phase eventually came to be known as a super top laner.

But Xiaoxu was clearly not among them.

Just over two minutes in, he had been beaten down to a significant health disadvantage. The main reason was that Xiaoxu refused to admit defeat. TheShy's Morgana had suppressed him for the entirety of the previous game, making it miserable to play, and in the end he hadn't even been able to engage in teamfights. He had been stewing over it.

So he had taken the initiative to step up and trade health from the start, only to be thoroughly outplayed in the finer details of his mechanics.

All in all, in the opening laning phase, Invictus Gaming was at something of a disadvantage in both lanes apart from top.

Thus, JingDong Gaming's jungler, Junjia, who had been invaded by Little Wei's Dr. Mundo while playing Malphite in the previous game, wasn't going to put up with it this time. After clearing his own top-side jungle, he took advantage of his Orianna's lane priority and went straight to Invictus Gaming's Raptors to counterjungle.

Both junglers had come straight over after clearing three camps, and Nocturne had just reached the Raptors as well.

Normally, in this situation, the two junglers would contest the camp with Smite, and whoever lost out would simply have to accept it.

But what Junjia hadn't expected was that, because he had approached the blue side's Raptors openly through mid, bot lane's Camille had already started moving toward the camp the instant he appeared in mid.

Bot lane hurriedly called that Camille was missing, then sped up their push.

But the same problem remained: Neeko, an enchanter support, wasn't capable of diving the turret, lacking both reliable crowd control and burst damage.

As a result, Uzi would lose at most one or two minions.

Seeing that Lin Heng's Camille was almost on top of him, Junjia could only give up. But Lin Heng didn't seem inclined to let him off just like that.

After clearing the Raptors, Nocturne followed Lin Heng into Junjia's jungle. With that move, JingDong Gaming's bot lane duo, who had originally planned to recall after pushing the wave, had no choice but to come help in the jungle.

Neeko clearly wasn't enough to deal with them on her own. A level-two Camille and a level-two Neeko weren't even in the same league when it came to dictating the action in the jungle.

And once the level-three Rookie finished clearing his mid-lane wave, he could enter the jungle too, putting JingDong Gaming on the back foot instead.

On paper, it was four against three, but Hail of Blades and Ignite Camille plus Electrocute Akali dealt damage at this point that JingDong Gaming couldn't match. Meanwhile, Uzi was collecting the bot wave. If Gala insisted on following, he would lose the timing for the earlier recall he had just secured.

One little counterjungling move had plunged JingDong Gaming into another shot-calling dilemma.

Junjia said he could contest with Smite, and Gala said he could sacrifice some time on his recall, but "Akali's here!!!"

After the group dithered for a while, Wei and Junjia ultimately contested the camp with Smite.

Uzi, meanwhile, chose to recall as soon as he finished collecting the wave under his turret, prioritizing buying items.

Jarvan IV had held onto his Q, so the damage threshold for his Q and Smite was a little higher. As a result, Little Wei didn't win the Blue Buff.

But the instant the Blue Buff fell, Lin Heng decisively used his E to kick and stun Orianna, who had been harassing from the flank.

Rookie's Akali decisively used her W for the speed boost and followed up with her E. Her two E casts and a Q triggered Electrocute, and together with Lin Heng's Hail of Blades and Ignite, they brought Orianna, who had already been at two-thirds health, down to a sliver.

As soon as the crowd control ended, Orianna panicked and used Flash toward her side's mid-lane outer turret.

Lin Heng and Akali both flashed after her without coordinating. Lin Heng landed another basic attack and the outer edge of his W, then Akali finished Orianna off with her Q.

Gala, who had just seen the successful Smite and started recalling, interrupted his recall once again.

But because Jarvan IV had just used his Q, he had no E-Q combo to keep them there, and in this situation, the level-two Neeko had absolutely no way to Flash in and use her E to hold them either.

That left JingDong Gaming no choice but to swallow the loss.

Worse still, Uzi had already bought his items and was heading back out, while Gala, who had pushed his wave much earlier, still hadn't recalled. If Uzi quickly pushed the wave after returning to lane, bot lane would lose a huge wave of minions.

Gala had to recall this time, no matter what else happened in the jungle.

But Lin Heng and Nocturne didn't seem willing to let them off just yet, invading the enemy Gromp next.

Jarvan IV had used Smite just now, so he didn't have it for this Gromp. Wei, on the other hand, hadn't used his, so he was certain to get it.

Neeko couldn't help much either, so Jarvan IV could only go back and clear his own Wolves, then head straight to the top river for the Rift Scuttler. Wei took the Gromp.

Both sides had spent so much time there that the Rift Scuttlers had spawned by the time the two junglers finished clearing.

After taking the Rift Scuttler, Little Wei went back to clear his bot-side jungle. Lin Heng's Camille had used her early-game strength to help her teammates build an enormous advantage while still at level two.

Uzi had collected more minions and experience.

Rookie had gotten the kill on Orianna.

Wei had gotten an extra jungle camp.

"Fat Dun, feeling good?" Lin Heng asked Wei with a toothy grin.

"If you're talking about the game, it feels amazing, okay?" Wei replied.