You Call This Steady

You Call This Steady? Author: Zuo Ge

Introduction:

"Player Luo Zhen, as one of the most dazzling ADCs of the new generation, what are your thoughts on the ADC position?"

"ADC, huh? ADCs are the ones who get blown up nine out of ten team fights but still refuse to give up the idea of making a play in the next one. ADCs are the ones who, even when the enemy top laner is a monster, still don't give up on kiting and auto-attacking. ADCs are the ones who, even when the team is way behind, still don't give up on farming a wave and buying another Long Sword. ADCs are the ones who, even after losing nine out of ten solo queue games, still believe they can carry the next one. If you ask me, an ADC who's afraid to make plays might as well go down bot lane and throw bombs."

"But your Bombslinger bot lane has an 87% win rate so far."

"Yeah, but that's APC, what does that have to do with the ADC you're asking me about?"

"???"

Chapter 1: Where Dreams Begin

"Duo queue, duo queue, what the hell are you talking about, duo queueing with your girl? Can't you guys just go bot lane and play ADC yourselves?"

"Picking some hot chick or whatever and messing around in the jungle, huh? You want me to take the early game pain for you? Am I your pure-blooded victim or a kindergarten teacher, raising this useless cat to be a monster and then watching it cling to the jungler to annoy me?"

"Can't you take care of your own girl? Why are you annoying me, a random player, with your carry clinging to daddy?"

"This is not good! What the hell am I playing for? Today, I'm going to turn into a demon!"

In a League of Legends stream on Douyu, Luo Zhen was furiously typing out a report complaint on his keyboard while shouting curses into his stream. It wasn't because he had a bad temper or anything, but because his negative emotions had accumulated too quickly and he couldn't handle it anymore. This wasn't the first time he'd encountered such a ridiculous duo; it was the third game in a row!

[2333, hating on people playing with their girlfriends so much, so real.]

[Classic EZ + Yuumi farming under tower.]

[Picking EZ already meant it's a free game, just didn't expect this Yuumi to be this broken, never seen it leave his side.]

[Support's actions, ADC pays the price. Honestly, I've been annoyed by this combo too.]

Although the stream didn't have many viewers, the chat was very active. As one of the few League streamers who played late at night, Luo Zhen earned money from the traffic that bigger streamers often overlooked.

He couldn't help it; he was poor.

If reality hadn't played a joke on him, he would never have believed that transmigration existed. But he encountered it, and just as he had ordered takeout and was about to watch the S11 finals, he went to the bathroom for a moment. When he walked out, everything had changed.

No...

Transmigrating is one thing, but couldn't you at least let me finish watching S11 to see who the champion is before sending me away?

This kind of cliffhanger is really uncomfortable for me.

When Luo Zhen first arrived in this world, all he had besides some complete identification documents was 200 yuan. To survive until now, he relied purely on his experience as an LDL professional player in his past life and the talent of his new body in this life. From living in internet cafes to making money through account boosting, to interviewing for professional teams, he had slowly made his way back to being a professional player.

However, others did it for fame, while he purely did it for free internet access and free food and lodging.

It was then that a very conspicuous comment suddenly floated across Luo Zhen's stream: [Stronger than anyone, why are you just a small streamer instead of going pro and making a name for yourself?]

This comment made Luo Zhen instantly emo.

"Is there a possibility... I'm just saying, maybe the streamer is actually a professional player, and you guys just don't usually pay attention to LDL?"

This was also one of his frustrating points.

After being reborn and discovering he had a body with even greater talent, he had thought about returning to the professional scene, dominating the bot lane with his skills, and reaching the pinnacle of ADCs. However, reality was cruel. Even though he had dominated almost all the ADCs in the LDL bot lane, he still regrettably missed out on the All-Star Weekend Rookie Challenge due to insufficient votes.

It wasn't because he wasn't strong enough, but because hardly anyone knew he existed.

After all... who watches LDL normally?

"Is it that the streamer doesn't want to play in the LPL? No, it's that the streamer simply doesn't have the opportunity. If even one club management had a discerning eye, with the streamer's skill and emotional intelligence, wouldn't he be the perfect second male lead in esports?"

While Luo Zhen was stubbornly holding his ground, he decisively clicked to start the next ranked game.

The team he was currently on was, strictly speaking, V5's second team, a team that in his eyes was almost completely giving up. Last season, they were filled with rookies, and they set an unprecedented record of not winning a single game all season.

Seriously.

Several times he had thought that the club would get tired of their record and promote him, giving him a scenario of a desperate call-up, a savior's arrival, and so on. But as the number of games decreased, Luo Zhen's hope gradually faded, and he finally chose to give up.

Let's give up, let's give up. Anyway, with his current state, he could still save up some money by leeching for a few more years, and then he could start a small business or something. It wasn't necessarily a dead end.

As his thoughts drifted, the next ranked game quickly began.

Due to the peak of "actors" and the characteristics of the Chinese server, there were always account buyers and players who brought their girlfriends in. For someone like Luo Zhen, who was climbing ranks at the beginning of the season, teammates like these were truly a headache.

And unfortunately, he once again saw a few extremely familiar pre-selected champions in the game:

Top lane: Shen (pre-selected), Jungle: Lee Sin (pre-selected), Mid lane: Ahri (pre-selected), Support: Pyke (pre-selected). If he picked Yasuo for bot lane, they would have an unbeatable ranked team, covering everything from entering the grave to cremation. Unfortunately, he couldn't pick him.

As everyone knows, playing professionally has corresponding rank requirements every month.

To others, this was just an insignificant point difference, but to Luo Zhen, it was his life!

"Alright, alright, since you're all old viewers, I won't say much more. Old rules, first step for solo queue ADC: check the match history to see the support."

Luo Zhen very familiarly opened the Wegame software and entered his teammate's support ID. It seemed that even heaven couldn't bear his misery. This time, the support Pyke surprisingly turned out to be a player who mained support and was climbing ranks.

Well, good luck.

"See? I told you ADCs in solo queue don't have bad luck. You guys just don't want to trust your random supports. You know, when playing bot lane, ADC and support have a close cooperative relationship. If we don't even have the most basic trust, how can we play the game well?"

As he spoke, two sounds of "pa" were heard in the game. On the enemy team's first and second picks, the Lucian + Nami combination was quickly locked in. Looking back at their own random support, the player still had the Pyke option pre-selected.

It was a kind of composure that remained unfazed by honor or disgrace, like watching flowers bloom and fall in front of the courtyard.

Luo Zhen was starting to panic.

"Don't be nervous, don't be nervous. This support must be a Pyke main. We have to trust him completely. What if he lands every hook?"

As soon as he finished speaking, when it was the opponent's turn to pick heroes for the second time, the third and fourth picks for the red side were instant locks:

The tower-diving duo of Volibear and Akali appeared.

Luo Zhen: ...

Luo Zhen's stream viewers: ...

The V5 manager who had just clicked into Luo Zhen's stream: ...

Seriously, with the enemy team's composition, if this random support insisted on picking Pyke, he would have to dodge the game no matter what.

He just wanted to climb the ranks, not go to his grave! Could an ADC even face this kind of lineup?

With this composition, if Pyke actually showed up, he'd be feeding bot lane no matter what he played.

Originally, the Lucian and Nami combination was almost invincible this patch because all their counters had been nerfed. Ashe wasn't suited for the current tempo, Caitlyn had been nerfed back down, Senna and Tahm Kench were weakened, Kalista couldn't be played, Tristana was nerfed, Samira was nerfed. ADCs with long early-game range couldn't be played, and those with high burst damage had been nerfed. The only ADCs left that were still effective were Aphelios and Miss Fortune.

If you were going to fight, you absolutely had to pick the right combination.

Fortunately, this random support had some brains. He knew that picking Pyke would mean being stuck in bot lane, so in the last few seconds, he switched his pre-selected Pyke to one of the classic bot lane picks: Nautilus.

Even though Nautilus wasn't as effective against the enemy composition as Lulu, he was still much better than Pyke.

Since the game could still be played, Luo Zhen began to consider which hero he could pick.

"If we're facing a cancerous combo like Lucian and Nami, with Nautilus, this is the only choice." After a brief moment of hesitation, he moved the mouse on the screen to a certain hero in the ADC selection, and then...

[Who dares call me the night? I shall end his life—Kalista TGP 100% win rate S1 top-tier talent adapted!]

Chapter 2: See? It's simple enough.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the city.

In the V5 team's conference room, a group of people were staring intently at the computer screen. Among them was an extremely special individual: Rookie.

On the other end of the screen was Luo Zhen's live stream as the game loaded.

As a team that had suffered 16 consecutive losses across the spring and summer splits, V5 had undoubtedly been subjected to ridicule from all sides over the past year. The five players who had filled in last year had all been let go, except for the support who remained on the team as a lonely old man.

Expecting another year of tanking and waiting for death, they seemed to have had their fill of losing 16 games in a row and their luck began to turn around.

They found Rookie as a mid-lane pickup, and he brought along Rich. For jungle, they managed to snag Karsa, who no one else wanted. Now, the only thing the team was missing was an ADC.

Initially, they had considered poaching Xiao Yan, TES's substitute, to make do. But as they were discussing this move, the coach of the second team suddenly mentioned Luo Zhen.

Then they looked at his stats.

"Holy crap, what kind of monster is this?"

"Dominating the LDL bot lane, when did our second team produce such a beast?"

And so, The coaches and analysts turned their gaze to the second team coach, their intent to question him obvious.

"Why didn't you say anything about having a player like this sooner?"

Feeling the intense gazes in the room, the second team coach felt a bit wronged. "I did say something, but our team's record was so bad last year, the atmosphere was too chaotic, which made me feel chaotic too. You guys just didn't listen to anything I said, and you didn't give me any feedback. I didn't know what to do, my heart was constantly trembling, and after a long time, I just felt numb."

"..."

Although his words sounded strangely familiar, they understood what he meant. The entire V5 headquarters had been focused on the mobile game last year and hadn't paid much attention to League of Legends. As a result, the mobile game failed, and they lost 16 consecutive games in the LPL. The entire esports scene was filled with mockery, which had indeed messed with their mentality.

"So, what do you think of this AD?" The V5 manager turned his gaze back to Rookie. They were indeed short on an AD player at this stage, but the team's core strategy still revolved around the two veteran players in mid and jungle. Rookie's opinion in the mid lane was particularly crucial.

For a moment, all eyes in the room turned to Rookie. With his somewhat shy personality, he felt a bit exposed under the scrutiny. However, considering this was a choice for his future teammate, he decided to observe further.

"I might need to watch a bit more."

"Alright, but I can tell you this: we don't really have many options left for you to choose from. It's basically a two-for-one situation. If we want to sign that person, then the best option we have left is him."

After picking up three great bargains, V5's available salary budget was not high.

It was impossible to pick up another well-known ADC. Furthermore, if they were to sign Xiao Yan, the coaching staff would face significant financial pressure, as Xiao Yan was, at the very least, a recognized ADC player. However, this newly discovered second-team ADC had reignited their hopes.

Three great bargains, one prospect, one veteran support. With the remaining money, they could go all-in on signing a renowned coach, and V5's lineup would take off this year!

Although they had quietly decided to promote Luo Zhen to the main team, as this was their first time interacting with him, they still wanted to see his actual skill level in-game.

Meanwhile, Once the ranked match entered the game, Luo Zhen unhesitatingly thrust a spear fiercely into Nautilus's head.

Passive ability, it's best to use it right at the start. It's easy to run into enemy invasions in the jungle, and their team composition was already chaotic enough. If they gave up first blood, they might as well just forfeit.

While adjusting his position, he also started bantering with his chat viewers during the brief interval before the minions spawned.

"Honestly, I don't know why so many masochists come to watch my stream in the middle of the night."

"Coming here late at night to learn AD? Is AD even fun this patch? Don't believe me, try filling and playing support in solo queue. You'll get this role eight out of ten times. It's pure misery."

"The most common encounters in daily ranked games are soul-reaping requiems all over the map, wild Rengar sightings, small patches of terrain with mushrooms, weather changing from clear to a meteor shower, Nocturne turning off the lights and plunging everything into darkness at any moment. Young ADCs are advised not to even leave the fountain without their support daddy or mommy accompanying them."

"Huh? You're asking why I play AD? I'll see if I have a chance to explain it properly to you guys later."

At level one, Luo Zhen didn't choose to help his jungler with the initial clear. Instead, he and his support went to the minion wave early to prepare for experience advantage. In the nearly two months since the World Championship, many strategies for the Lucian-Nami combination have been developed. There was the Alistar-Tristana from the wildcard regions, the Kalista-Titan he was using this game, or the late-game focused Aphelios-Lulu. Of course, the best option was always to pair two fighters or two mages.

But that wasn't important.

As soon as they entered the lane, Luo Zhen immediately began controlling Kalista, engaging in a "hop-and-skip" dance. He circled the semi-circle near the river, auto-attacking minions while frantically hopping back and forth.

"I'm not holding back on the good stuff for you guys. Watch closely, this is how you play against Lucian-Nami."

One forward, one back, one forward, one back, one forward.

On the fifth hop, as Luo Zhen's Kalista was facing downwards, seemingly about to jump back towards the minions, the enemy Lucian raised his dual guns, and holy light shot out. This time, however, Luo Zhen's Kalista didn't perform the simple downward hop as before. Instead, she lunged forward, and as Lucian began to cast his Q skill, she unleashed a fierce auto-attack towards the enemy support, Nami.

Bone Plating triggered.

When an ADC is paired with a melee engage support, against the enemy bot lane duo, you must pay attention to whether the enemy support has Bone Plating. If they do, and you can break it with an auto-attack, you absolutely should. This helps with subsequent trades and is a small point to note.

It was at this moment that Luo Zhen began to ping the enemy ADC's position. Titan, understanding the intention, moved up almost in sync with the ADC.

"The key to Kalista against Lucian-Nami is to bait the Q. If you dodge the Q, you can fight this wave. If you can't, then don't get greedy." While speaking, Luo Zhen's Kalista had already hopped in front of Lucian, applying Exhaust.

"Whoosh~"

This was the high elo of the Summoner's Rift, after all. While there were many actors and players carrying their girlfriends, there were also plenty of true masters. Within 0.5 seconds of the Exhaust being applied, the enemy had already used their Cleanse to remove it.

Following this, both supports arrived, and Ignites were cast upon the enemy ADCs' heads.

The strength of the Lucian-Nami combination lies in their level two E. If they hit their Q, they can reliably trigger Electrocute and Lethal Tempo, allowing them to potentially kill someone at level two. At level three, their margin for error is even higher.

So, the question arises.

If you know they are so strong at levels two and three, why not look for an opportunity to trade at level one?

It's just like watching anime.