You Call This Steady Stuff

As long as the nexus isn't lost, all other stuff can be sacrificed. The price for this is that while the enemy contests map resources, V5 quickly enters demolition mode, surrounding Ziggs.

If you dare to leave your turret to contest any map resources, your base is gone!

This is the difference between professional play and ranked games. With the same lineup, ordinary players can operate very well in the early game, so why is the final outcome so different from what happens in a match?

There are two major pitfalls:

1. When the team is ahead, disadvantaged teammates think they are also ahead and start playing recklessly!

2. When the team is behind, disadvantaged teammates think they are doing better than their teammates and continue to play recklessly.

To put it bluntly, it's like seeing a lewd picture – the pituitary gland can't control the corpus cavernosum, and impulse takes over.

However...

Just because your TES can't initiate a team fight doesn't mean we V5 can't.

Seizing a seemingly good opportunity, PPGOD decisively pointed his sword and hurled his R skill, Solar Flare, towards the enemy support Thresh, who was exposed in their vision.

"Bang!"

As a beam of intense sunlight descended from the sky, Leona's ultimate ability perfectly stunned the enemy support Zhuo.

What... is this for?

At this moment, let alone the TES players, even the LPL audience generally couldn't understand what V5's ultimate ability was intended for.

But soon, Luo Zhen's triumphant voice began to echo from V5's internal comms:

"You shall work together with me to secure the nation!"

"Listen to my orders."

"Archers, prepare to fire!"

R Scientific Hellfire Cannon

R Rocket Barrage

R Ultimate Bombardment

With no intention of contesting early game resources with the enemy, these ultimate abilities were going to be used anyway, so they might as well be used to secure some kills. As Leona's ultimate ability landed, it was like a salvo of cannon fire from V5's top, mid, and bot lanes.

Interspersed were a few minor skills, but to TES, these skills felt like a barrage of artillery fire.

"Holy crap! What kind of firepower is this?"

"Enemy firepower is like Li Yunlong, retreat, retreat!"

Support is already the lowest-level and least-experienced position on the field, let alone having resistance boots. Thresh, stunned by Leona's ultimate ability, had to face a full 1.75 seconds of crowd control. This duration was more than enough for V5 to unleash a complete barrage of firepower.

[V5's Rich has slain TES's Zhuo]

As the first round of bombardment ended, V5 successfully took down the enemy's most fragile support, Zhuo.

And then... the momentum shifted again.

The enemy team had no support and no vision. Our team had a support and vision. With a scan, the lineup was revealed, and in just a few dozen seconds, TES's jungle vision was once again shrouded in darkness. Without vision control, TES was hesitant to initiate fights, which in turn gave V5 over a minute of farming time.

[Poor Thresh.]

[For a moment, I even thought V5 was playing ARAM.]

[This was even before Corki got the Yordle Snap Trap. If he had it, this wave would have been even more explosive.]

[It's precisely because he didn't get it that TES didn't dare to force an engage. With Corki's TP and Yordle Snap Trap, TES could have turned the tables in minutes.]

Yes.

Poppy alone could only block engages, but if the enemy insisted on engaging, there wasn't much they could do, as V5 had used almost all their ultimate abilities in this bombardment.

But that's the key.

I have Corki's TP and Yordle Snap Trap at home. If you force an engage, I can definitely stall your first wave, then tie you down. Once your team fight doesn't go well, Corki can recall, get the Yordle Snap Trap, and TP back out to initiate a pincer attack from front and back, or a surrounding encirclement. What do you say, are you scared?

The margin for error was too high.

With just this initial display, V5's lineup had already shown the audience so much.

Does Leona's ultimate ability always need to be a stun?

Not necessarily, a slow would also work, because the three long-range damage dealers have a wide coverage area.

What if the three ultimate abilities miss?

No worries, whether it's Graves, Corki, or Ziggs, their sustained combat ability is very strong.

As long as they aren't flanked, with Poppy and Leona holding the front line, V5 can continuously poke and pressure the enemy, and this pressure will only increase as their equipment updates. In the end, TES might even lose the ability to trade blows with V5 in team fights.

Despite a seemingly unremarkable BP, it dealt a severe blow to TES at a critical moment.

JKL's Aphelios was already developing very well. He had almost no interference with his development throughout the game, and his second major item was almost ready. In a normal game, Bai Seyueya would be secretly smiling down below. But the problem is, he has no space to output right now.

All his skills are unusable, equivalent to having all the skills to woo girls but no girls to woo, rendering them meaningless.

The pressure, at this moment, had quietly shifted to the 200-pound Qing Tian.

Chapter 43: turn end!

"They need to flank. For TES to win this teamfight, they have to rely on Qing Tian flanking from behind."

"V5 chose to let the third dragon go again. That means it's down to Baron or the dragon soul. This time it's a wind dragon soul. I can only say TES's luck is truly terrible."

By this point, even the casters on stage were gradually seeing the situation clearly.

Because V5's poke was just too fierce.

The current version's Manamune and Luden's Corki, once scaled, had damage that was already ridiculously high, and combined with Ziggs's dual penetration poke, V5's two carries alone were already putting TES in a tough spot. And this wasn't even counting Rich's Graves.

TES had to force a fight, they had to initiate. If they dragged it out any longer, their front line wouldn't be able to withstand the enemy's poke.

"Be careful, their Gnar is definitely going to flank."

"No worries, there are only a few spots they can flank from. I've got a Control Ward, I can spot them. Caster, help lock down their Jarvan IV."

"Huh? I can only block his EQ engage. For his ultimate, they're probably prepared this time."

"It's fine, just single-target him. Use the Earth's core gravity, the universe's universal gravitation, plus twice your and the enemy's weight for Turbo. If you still can't lock him down with that, you come back and find me."

"???"

To be fair, TES wouldn't dare force a fight at Baron Nashor because Baron Nashor's attack would reduce resistances. If the enemy dared to be that bold, they could just poke from the side, and TES would naturally fall apart.

So, the rest was simple: they would definitely force a fight at the dragon soul.

Regardless, V5's main concern right now was Gnar's ultimate ability, because at this point in the dragon fight, Luo Zhen's Ziggs would likely not have his ultimate available, as he needed it to clear the minion wave.

Despite their strong poke, TES still held the initiative at this stage.

Four people would lock down the river, leaving one person, the ADC, to clear the minion wave mid. This way, TES would gain mid-game lane control. Even if both sides became stalemated in an Elemental Dragon fight, TES could still gain an advantage by pushing lanes when the minion waves were balanced top and bottom.

This meant:

Even if they were poked down and couldn't take the teamfight, they could immediately switch lanes to the mid tower, force a push on V5's second mid tower, and then retreat.

This was a question of whether the macro play was urgent or not.

So, what was V5's response?

Simple, Ziggs would throw his ultimate down bot lane!

If you send your mid lane minion wave to my base, I'll send my bot lane minion wave to your base. If both sides drag it out like this, V5 would definitely have the advantage.

Because after poking you down, you might go push my mid second tower, but I could directly go to Baron Nashor to continue kiting you. And because of the minion wave that went bot earlier, if you don't send someone to defend the lane, your bottom tower will fall. If you send someone to defend the lane, your teamfight will be doomed.

As the dragon's respawn time grew closer, the five players from both sides finally appeared at the ends of the river. Their ultimates had long since been used.

"Be careful, don't actually let Gnar flank and hit the wall," Rookie earnestly warned his teammates. Unlike Ziggs and Graves, he was currently by his base's Yordle Snap Trap, only taking the Yordle Snap Trap and using Teleport when the Elemental Dragon was about to respawn.

"Indeed, it's quite serious," Luo Zhen expressed understanding, as he had seen too many games where such small dragon pit flanks led to comebacks.

"How serious?"

"In real life, it's probably equivalent to drugging someone, causing them to faint, losing a kidney, or bleeding from the anus."

"???"

Due to the narrowness of the river, their mutual ward clearing, and the limited vision that could be gained in a single teamfight, apart from a few wards placed to secure vision of the dragon pit, the remaining wards were almost all placed in the bushes on the back routes.

While it couldn't guarantee absolute safety, they were satisfied with achieving relative safety at this moment.

After all... there was no such thing as perfection in competitive matches.

As the Elemental Dragon's respawn time ticked down into the single digits, Luo Zhen's heart tightened. At this moment, he began to put himself in the situation.

In his past life, he had seen many wild engages.

In this life, he had also relied on vision control as a mid-lane assassin to make kills.

Of course, when he finally chose to play ADC, he had also been instantly killed by many such assassins or fighters who flanked him.

When he put himself in the situation and recalled past experiences, and shifted his perspective to the enemy's position, the possible locations for Gnar were narrowed down to just three or four options.

The blue side's tri-bush, above the Elemental Dragon pit, the red side's frog bush, and the ward on the bottom lane.

These four locations were the most likely to be breached by wards.

So, where would it be?

Time flowed, tension mounted, and just as the Elemental Dragon was about to respawn, Luo Zhen's Control Ward quietly dropped from above the canyon, landing directly in the fog of war on the bottom lane.

[Okay, this spot is safe.]

[Eliminating the possibility of coming from the bottom lane ward, and eliminating the possibility of jumping out from above the dragon pit into the lower dragon pit (since he'd likely encounter Poppy with W up), then the only two possible places are the blue side tri-bush and the red side frog bush?]

[If it were me, I couldn't stop the enemy's flank.]

[But if I could just delay for a moment to let my teammates react... it seems I can try.]

With this thought, Luo Zhen's mind gradually made a decision.

Meanwhile, at the caster's desk.

"Qing Tian is flanking, Qing Tian is flanking! V5's Control Ward didn't spot him this time, there's an opportunity!"

"There's a V5 ward in the tri-bush, but Gnar activated his scanner. This might actually be an opportunity."

"Here they come! TES couldn't hold back, Tian's going in!"

Just as the Elemental Dragon spawned and the teams engaged in a 3000+ HP poke and pull war, Tian finally couldn't contain his bloodlust and charged forward. As TES's engage specialist, he had to step up immediately to draw the enemy's attention.

The team fight was about to erupt.

Karsa activated his W, directly blocking Jarvan IV's entry, and then slammed him into the wall with a powerful E skill. Nearby, Knight's Syndra kept a close eye on Rookie's Corki. In this narrow river position, letting Corki unleash a good empowered W would have unthinkable consequences.

As for JKL, he had to wait for a relatively good opening to deal damage.

At this moment, everyone was waiting for Qing Tian to engage, and Qing Tian, with his nearly full Fury Gnar, finally appeared in the blue side's bottom lane tri-bush.

From this position... with just a Flash + E, he could easily reach Ziggs and Graves.

All it would take was one good ultimate ability.

Just one!

Holding onto the belief that this would be his moment of fame, Gnar suddenly used his Flash.

But just as the white light landed and he prepared to follow up with his E skill for displacement, the feeling of his feet touching the riverbed seemed slightly different from his usual flanking approach.

"Why does it feel a bit rough underfoot?"

Upon closer inspection, he realized it was none other than Ziggs's only displacement skill, [Point Target Demolition]!

"Holy crap! A mine!"

Sensing something was wrong, he quickly tried to activate his E skill, his fingers frantically pressing the E key on the keyboard, but... it all seemed too late.

From the moment Luo Zhen gambled his life on the Duelist's Plate and laid down the trap card, TES's team fight was destined to fail.

"Come on! Try to defeat me!"

"turn end!"