The turning point came in the top lane. From the start of the game until the minions arrived, Letme had worn an arrogant expression, paying no mind at all to the lane before him.
He had picked Renekton, the number-one OP top laner in this patch. What gave this guy on the other side the right to fight him?
Who was he?
A Worlds semifinalist top laner.
If Xu Junyan had not screwed them over, how could SKT possibly have been their match? They would have at least been runners-up, maybe even champions!
Perhaps because the internal conflict within RNG had been especially intense these past few days, Letme's long-standing dissatisfaction with Xu Junyan had finally erupted completely. RNG's frenzied self-promotion over the past half month had sent their popularity and status soaring across the LPL, until some things, some words, repeated often enough, had even made Letme believe them himself.
In short, Letme's heart was now filled with nothing but arrogance, superiority, and an overbearing sense of dominance.
But once the lane truly began, the Camille across from him actually walked straight into his face. Letme nearly laughed. Level-one Renekton might not have been as strong as level three, but one Q through a minion wave dealt considerable damage and restored plenty of health. How could Camille possibly dare challenge him?
This idiot really didn't know how to play!
Letme smugly thought as he stepped forward without fear, intending to auto-attack Camille first and seize the initiative. But just as he was about to trade autos with Camille, she suddenly turned away and widened the distance. He frowned and immediately backed off as well, only for Camille to turn around again. He hurriedly turned back, but Camille juked him once more. This time, when he turned around, Camille had already positioned herself at the perfect range and spun back to kick him.
Letme's heart inexplicably lurched, and he could not help blurting out a curse. Camille's spacing seemed a little absurd.
After landing that kick and gaining her physical shield from an auto-attack, Camille continued pressing forward.
Letme certainly was not going to fight a shielded Camille in that position. Even if he used Q there, he would only hit Camille, making it a losing trade. He could only retreat for now.
Camille refused to let up and kept advancing. Letme could only retreat again and again, completely leaving experience range, only to be struck by the outer edge of Camille's W, Tactical Sweep.
As a result, by the time he cautiously returned to experience range, all three melee minions had already died.
"Damn! I shouldn't have played so scared. At worst, I'd take a few extra autos. Why the hell was I afraid of him?"
Letme thought regretfully, unable to hide the embarrassment on his face. He subconsciously said, "This guy's probably a Camille one-trick."
Naturally, the viewers in Letme's stream believed whatever he said. Besides, they absolutely did not want to believe that this Camille was genuinely strong.
"A one-trick, everyone knows the type."
"That's just how level-one Renekton into Camille goes. Anyone would get pushed around a little."
"So what if he loses a bit of health at level one?"
Seeing the chat messages, Letme relaxed slightly and forced himself to step forward again. Camille unexpectedly did not stop him.
Yet having missed the experience from three minions, he had no choice but to play timidly. Just as Camille fully collected the first wave of minions, he began backing away.
In a solo lane, killing the first minion of the second wave got you to level two. He did not want Camille to use that level-two timing to harass him again.
Who would have thought that Camille hit level two early, right after the first wave died! Her Hookshot snapped decisively onto the wall. Letme cursed again, shouting, "Whose ward experience did he steal?" He hurriedly tried to dodge, but it was useless. Camille still kicked him with ease.
She kicked and stunned him, then auto-attacked once. Letme hurriedly answered with an auto and Q. Camille's passive shield had a twenty-second cooldown early on and had not come back yet, so he gritted his teeth and boldly traded back. But he ultimately could not win the exchange, because Camille outrageously dropped Ignite on him. After his auto-Q, he had no choice but to retreat in a hurry. Camille pursued him with Tactical Sweep, trying to land the slow. Letme clenched his teeth. He did not dare lose any more health and could only Flash to preserve it.
"Fucking disgusting. He got level two early because he soaked experience from a ward at level one. And bringing Ignite to top lane? This guy can't afford to play fair, can he?"
That combo had taken Letme straight down to half health. Somewhat embarrassed and angry, he sneered, "An Ignite top laner will never become a top-tier top laner in his life."
The chat in his stream believed him completely, mocking minnaaQAQ as an Ignite loser who could not play fair.
However, because of that wave, Letme missed the experience from several more minions. Camille then brazenly stood in front of the tower, refusing to let him gain experience from even a single minion. She was utterly domineering.
"What the hell is this?"
Letme felt humiliated inside, and he himself was both ashamed and furious.
It was one thing to be forced under tower in professional matches, because the people he laned against were pro players, and strong pro players at that. If they were some low-tier trash instead, he could throw heavy punches too.
But now? This was just a garbage ranked game. What gave this Camille the right? What qualifications did she have to make him play like this too?
The humiliation and anger went to his head, making Letme's face flush red. He cursed inwardly, Just you wait.
He ultimately could not hold the early wave perfectly. With the support of the third cannon wave, the fourth wave had barely arrived when the red-side minions pushed beneath the tower.
Only at this point did level-one Letme finally have the right to gain experience, starting to auto the minions beneath his tower.
Yet just as he had been shocked earlier by Camille's top-tier spacing, that had not changed at all.
Whenever he autoed a minion, Camille could perfectly stay at the edge of auto range and hit him! When he reacted quickly and struck back with Q, Camille was grazed, but then she backed away, and Tactical Sweep hit him again! It not only dealt damage but also restored her health. Back and forth, he lost another terrible trade. He kept losing terrible trades.
"No, no. This guy's Camille is actually pretty damn good. These one-tricks are fucking idiots. I have to get serious. I can't beat him without bringing out a professional attitude. If I throw this game, I'll be humiliating myself."
Cold sweat poured down Letme's back, yet he still could not understand why this Camille dared to play so aggressively.
Wasn't she afraid of my jungler?
Letme's gaze subconsciously swept over the minimap again. Their jungler indeed was not in the top-side jungle, but in a normal ranked game, after the sensitive 2:30 mark, no top laner should still have been this bold!
This one-trick could only be a reckless brute who had stumbled into luck. He was only able to pressure this hard because he had gotten lucky.
"If the jungler came earlier, he'd have died already! Can this jungler even play? What low-elo dog slipped in here?"
Letme cursed furiously inside, but then his entire body suddenly jolted. After Camille killed the first minion of the fourth wave, she hit level three! As she used her newly learned Q to kick another minion, she walked under the tower!
"She wants to dive me?"
This absurd thought immediately surfaced in Letme's mind. He was a professional player. Get tower-dived and killed?
What a joke! Did she deserve that?
He had not leveled a skill at level two, so he immediately put a point into W, Ruthless Predator. The instant Camille moved close and raised her leg, he used empowered W and chomped down!
But he had miscalculated one thing. Camille's kick had only been a feint; it had not actually landed on him. Her auto-attack animation had been canceled in advance!
That bite not only failed to hold Camille beneath the tower, it also caused Letme to draw the aggro of the red-side minions under the tower.
Letme's expression changed drastically. He wanted to leave, but it was already too late.
After recovering from the empowered W's control, Camille unleashed the true-damage second kick, triggering her Adaptive Defenses shield. At the same time, she auto-attacked and used E, Hookshot, onto the wall. The instant Tactical Sweep activated, the second cast of E launched her off the wall and out of tower range. While she was airborne, Tactical Sweep's delay ended, its outer edge perfectly striking Renekton. The health calculation was flawless.
First Blood!
She killed him and escaped, claiming first blood!
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