"An invade, huh?"
"Ganging up on the few with the many, huh?"
"You think you're tough? If you're out here mixing it up, you need influence and connections. Brothers, which crew are you from?"
"Die for me!!!"
Could this possibly have been part of your calculations too?
Leona's sudden appearance immediately dealt the TES members a Headshot Strike.
This surprise was like people with messy private lives demanding one thing from their significant other: you could be busy, you could stay out of the house, but you absolutely could not suddenly come home. Because the moment you did, the house would blow up.
TES was in exactly that situation now.
PPGOD was in no rush to use his skills. Since he had already cut off their escape route, he naturally wanted to get in close and brawl first. TES wasn't stupid either. With V5 pulling off a Pincer Movement, if they just stood there dumbly and took it, wouldn't that make them look idiotic?
So...
Gnar immediately used his unspent level-one skill point to learn E skill and flee, while Jarvan IV and Syndra were in a much worse spot. They could only Flash in different directions and gamble that the unlucky one would be on the other side.
Only then did PPGOD truly make his move.
"Whoosh!"
He Flashed into range, improving his Fault Tolerance for landing his skills.
Then he activated Q skill, Shield of Dawn.
He smashed Jarvan IV, who had just Flashed away, then applied Ignite and flashed an emote.
In a level-one fight, the biggest taboo was spreading out the damage. From the very beginning, V5 had set their sights on TES's Jungler Jarvan IV. With that crucial crowd control, V5's mid-top-jungle trio didn't even need to use Flash. They simply ran over and took turns slapping TES's jungler around.
In the end—
V5's Rookie had slain TES Tian.
First Blood secured.
They gave the kill to Corki, making it easier for Rookie to survive his weak early game.
"Nice, brothers! We're taking off this game!!!"
Before the Upper Area could even start celebrating, Luo Zhen, who had been left alone in bot lane, was already shouting first. Don't think this had nothing to do with him. Jarvan IV getting wrecked at level one meant he would have to make up for his farm early, making it far less likely that he would come bot. Leona would also have fewer opportunities to roam into the jungle early, indirectly making bot lane much safer.
"Alright, alright, I'm coming back. Be careful not to face-check the brush." PPGOD was in a great mood after getting the assist, though he didn't forget to remind Luo Zhen.
"Steady. I'll head back and walk down through lane. They won't dare mess with me!"
V5 had gotten a Heavenly Fat Start, so TES was naturally under immense pressure.
As the carry core for game one, JKL was feeling rather miserable against V5's Bot Lane Combo.
Originally...
He had heard that a new ADC had joined the LPL and even beaten Deng Huang and LWX. He had been curious, eager to test this newcomer out. But when they finally met, before they could even trade blows, the other side pulled out a Ziggs from his pants.
What kind of feeling was that?
It was like being a powerful swordsman who heard of a newcomer skilled in Iaido. Just as you prepared to compare notes, the moment you met, the other guy pulled out a Desert Eagle and proudly called it American Iaido.
How the hell were they supposed to fight that?
Watching the occasional bomb fly over from the minion wave, JKL nearly wanted to curse on the spot.
Bah! A guy with no ADC soul!
This was another method Hong Mi had devised to avoid directly clashing with TES bot lane. They would take an unconventional route. Ziggs was practically half a regular on the Pro Scene, but he needed to be picked around fourth or fifth. Otherwise, if the enemy picked a dive composition, he would be completely finished.
As for the playstyle...
Take Comet as your rune, pick Grasp of the Undying due to this game's special circumstances, and bring Teleport with a starting Sapphire Crystal.
Then came...
Bombs everywhere, but never the man himself—the soul of a master with Silver-tier mechanics.
Oh, right. Remember to equip the Snow Day skin. Wearing a skin gave you ten Attack Damage, after all.
As for Last Hits? That depended entirely on his fate with the Soldiers.
Ziggs's early damage wasn't high, he was squishy, and most importantly, his Mana ran out fast. A mage without Mana was less threatening than a Cannon Minion.
So for his first three levels, Luo Zhen's job was to serve Jail Time in bot lane with PPGOD, occasionally tossing out a few bombs to Last Hit and earn some gold, while keeping an eye on Thresh's hooks the entire time.
Once he had enough gold, he would go all-in to empty his resources, then B back to buy Goddess, before Teleporting back to lane.
Cheesy strategies were often just that plain, unadorned, and boring.
"Can you even play? Why are all your bombs hitting their ADC? He has Red Smite, Big Brother." Looking at the pitiful Last Hit count of their APC on the scoreboard, PPGOD could no longer hold it in.
"You think I wanted that? I threw them at the Soldiers! Who knew their ADC would stand there?"
"Hiss... could it be that the passive of Q-sniping dance triggered?"
"How would I know? If I knew he loved catching them so much, I'd have started with Doran's Ring. Wouldn't I have blown him to death?"
At this point, not just Luo Zhen—even the viewers watching from God's perspective were confused.
From their perspective, Ziggs's Q skill wasn't splashing onto Moon Man every single time, but it still maintained a hit rate of at least three out of five. On the Pro Scene, that was simply unbelievable.
Even XLB in the lounge was dumbfounded. Turning to Hong Mi, whose mouth was twitching, he asked, "Coach, could this possibly have been part of your calculations too?"
Calculations?
Calculate my ass.
All he had thought about at the time was avoiding the enemy's edge. This bot lane situation had gone far better than he expected, alright?
But...
"Ah, yes." Hong Mi nodded calmly. "I actually predicted early on that bot lane might end up like this. I just wasn't fully certain at first, but now, I believe I've confirmed it."
As soon as those words came out, the room was immediately filled with Hong Mi's overwhelming aura.
A top-tier coach was truly terrifying!?
The Pro Scene often saw plenty of incomprehensible things happen. JKL, for instance, had prior offenses. He even had a Famous Scene where he connected with five enemy Ezreal Q skills in a row and got Q'd to death.
But that wasn't important.
His HP had been chipped down, so he simply couldn't play as aggressively. He could still lane normally, though.
The core reason was that Leona had no Flash.
With a Ziggs and a support without Flash in bot lane, V5 was destined to be unable to Push Lane recklessly. No one could guarantee that the battered Jarvan IV wouldn't throw caution to the wind and come bot for a GANK.
One side was timid, while the other had no fear. Naturally, Lane Control fell into TES's hands.
Both sides farmed peacefully through the first three levels, then... PPGOD began preparing to roam.
"Wait, you're planning to abandon me this early?"
Luo Zhen was stunned.
What items did he have, and what support did the enemy have? If he got hooked, wouldn't the enemy bot lane duo pin him to the ground and rub his face in the dirt?
"Don't worry. I'll definitely be back before the wave goes under turret. Steady as hell." PPGOD turned around and gave Luo Zhen a thumbs-up, then walked toward mid lane without looking back.
"Wait, what if their support comes up and denies me the wave? What if they force a fight?"
"Oh, that's easy. If you break the rules, immediately draw a Mickey Mouse head on the ground, or yell that there's oil here. Someone will take you away."
"???"
"Looks like their support went roaming." In TES's Team Voice, Zhuo looked at Ziggs, who had come to lane alone, and reminded his team.
"Got it. How's their bot lane?"
"I underestimated him. He's very strong. I feel like every single one of his Q skills is deliberately predicting my position. His accuracy is absurdly high." Ah Shui thought for a moment before answering.
"Is there a possibility... that your Q-sniping passive is just ridiculously outrageous?" Zhuo was already too exhausted to mock him properly.
JKL and Zhuo constantly trashed each other in bot lane. One wanted to complain about how often the enemy caught Q skills, while the other wanted to complain about the lack of hooks. Of course, it wasn't that Zhuo didn't want to hook—it was just that the enemy ADC was far too steady.
He skipped dangerous Soldiers, immediately backed away whenever Thresh vanished into the brush, and once the wave went under turret, he stayed more than two Flash distances away while tossing bombs. His defensive playstyle was maxed out.
This playstyle did give Ziggs a relatively safe Damage Environment, but it also made his Last Hits utterly terrible. At the same time, TES was gradually getting a chance to eye the turret plates.
And then?
Then this approach was absolutely worth it for V5, because the pressure across mid-top-jungle, all Three Lanes, was completely maxed out.
With the support roaming like this, Ziggs alone in bot lane was practically no different from putting another turret there.
"Thresh didn't follow you roaming. Also, didn't you say you'd come back before the wave went under turret? Where are you!"
"I misjudged the timing. There wasn't much opportunity in mid, so I went into their jungle with Brother Ka."
PPGOD was feeling great this game. Karsa's jungling Radar had started working again. After predicting the enemy jungler's location, they could coordinate jungle and support to chase the opposing jungler around his entire jungle and beat him up.
The jungler was getting hurt, top couldn't Push Lane against Graves, and mid lane Syndra didn't dare push Corki's wave. Didn't that mean they had seized the tempo in one go?
They even... wanted to dive top lane.
"Can bot lane hold?"
"Maybe, perhaps, probably, should be able to... I can't say for sure."
The Aphelios-Thresh combo didn't have much early aggression. As long as he didn't get hit by the enemy's hook, he would be fine. If Thresh Flashed in to engage, he would Flash away immediately. In theory, dying wouldn't be that easy.
If they were talking mechanics, he could do it too.
As the saying went, if you didn't dare to make plays, why play ADC? You might as well pick someone who threw bombs in bot lane.
Huh?
He was the one throwing bombs this game!?
Then never mind.
Still, even though he hadn't been thinking about the enemy bot lane at all, as the saying went, the Upper Area was so hard to play right now while the Lower Area had such an obvious opening. It was hard to say that the enemy jungle-support duo wouldn't decide to turn their blades on him.
Ziggs was still a carry, after all. Playing this conservatively would only worsen his farm; it wouldn't completely ruin him.
With the intention of letting Moon Man farm comfortably.
The instant Aphelios's white gun came up, a scheme against Ziggs quietly began. Just as Leona finished causing a huge mess in the Upper Area and returned to bot lane, Luo Zhen looked at another massive wave about to enter turret range and suddenly smiled.
"What are you smiling about?" PPGOD glanced at his ADC and asked curiously.
"I'm not laughing at anyone else. I'm only laughing at Fan Zhuo Wumou and Xiao Tian Shaozhi. If I were commanding, with this wave, their jungler would come bot immediately. If we can't eat this wave, wouldn't that mean we're finished?"
The moment Luo Zhen's voice fell, Thresh, who was about to follow the wave under turret, suddenly threw a lantern toward the Blind Spot behind him. The next second, a golden figure rode the glowing green light and instantly appeared not far from V5 bot lane duo.
That appearance scared Luo Zhen and PPGOD badly.
They immediately dropped W and E skill to dash away, retreating far from their bot lane outer turret.
Seriously.
If they forcibly stayed under turret to fight two versus three, they might have had a chance to trade one kill, but they would obviously lose far more that way.
"Holy shit, that crow mouth of yours!" PPGOD was about to accuse him, but when he turned around, he found his ADC smiling again. "No, you're still smiling after this? What the hell are you laughing at?"
"No, no, no. Don't just look at the disadvantage in front of us. I'm laughing because the enemy jungle-support duo lacks wisdom. Think about it: since they want to make a move on us, if their mid laner came down too, flanked us through the jungle, lay in ambush, waited at ease for the exhausted enemy, and suddenly struck, then even if neither of us died this time, they would at least force our Flashes. After that, we wouldn't even dare eat the wave."
"Um, Xiao Zhen..."
Rookie's voice carried a trace of hesitation. He didn't know whether he should say it, but since he was about to ping it anyway, there was no way to hide it, so...
"Although I think you make a lot of sense, Syndra really did disappear. I was heading top for a GANK and was just about to call missing."
"Nani!?"
Just as Luo Zhen had predicted, TES's mid lane Syndra made a huge flank after spotting Rookie roaming upward. She emerged from the jungle entrance beside Red Side's Blue Buff. There was a blockade in front and pursuers behind. When Syndra gathered Dark Energy and fiercely unleashed The Weak Shall Fear at them—
"Whoosh!" x2
Two Flashes were used in quick succession.
This time, Luo Zhen and PPGOD retreated all the way to their second turret. As for the wave that had just entered the outer turret, forget about eating it—they had already lost even the courage to look at it.
Before you continue