You call this thing stable?

A few days before the start of the regular season, a piece of transfer news quietly appeared in everyone's field of vision.

The news that TES, JDG, and V5 had all changed their top laners eventually came to light. When people saw that V5 had swapped out Rich and brought back 369, countless onlookers were stunned.

"Is this... are the top and jungle going to fight directly?"

["What kind of move is swapping Rich for 333? Is V5 crazy?"]

["LOL, 369 was really trying to kite, but after kiting for so long, the jungler is still Karsa."]

["V5, doomed! Won't this top lane become the opponent's breakthrough point?"]

["I heard 369 was personally scouted by Coach Homme. Trust Coach Homme, okay? Trust Coach Homme."]

Online, opinions on V5's move were mixed, but more people were pessimistic. After all, 369 in S11 was truly playing erratically. It wasn't really Bai Seyueya's fault; he was just temperamental and played poorly.

To be fair.

It's not entirely wrong to say that Bai Seyueya contributed to Coach Homme's successful coaching of 369 later on. This is because Bai Seyueya might have successfully weathered 369's rebellious phase, leaving Coach Homme with a partially "good hand."

The fermentation of public opinion is a terrifying thing because words can create imagery and easily leave a fixed impression on people's minds. You might not understand this right away, but it's okay. I only need to give an example, and you'll get the picture:

[When he plunged the knife into my abdomen]

[I realized this wasn't a joke]

[Watching his figure as he rode away on his electric bike]

[My body began to grow cold...]

See? It's like this.

Of course.

Regardless of how public opinion fermented online, Luo Zhen and his team had to move past it and face what was coming, which was more important.

Because the spring split was about to begin.

Author's Note

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Chapter 3: Advanced Directions for ADCs

With the arrival of the brand new S12 season, the entire Summoner's Rift had a chance for a major overhaul.

First, the emergence of new Elemental Dragons, the Chemtech Dragon and the Hextech Dragon. The Chemtech Dragon Soul could be understood as a resurrection dragon. After dying, you gain a passive similar to Karthus', and you can continue for a few more seconds. Its practical ability is incredibly strong. In comparison, although the Hextech Dragon is also strong, it's not as game-breaking. The Dragon Soul effect is probably a small Static Shiv that slows.

Mythic items were added, with the Crown of the Shattered Queen being the cornerstone of the new "Tiger" three-item build.

Runes were updated, with the addition and changes to First Strike, Lethal Tempo, and Glacial Augment.

TP was changed: before 14 minutes, you could only TP to turrets. Top lane has thus become an orphan lane, fundamentally cutting off the possibility of radiating advantages from top lane to other lanes.

Then there's the most outrageous thing – strategic points.

No matter how Coach Homme, the assistant coaches, and the data analysts calculated, they couldn't figure out the timing and factors for the appearance of strategic points. The only certainty was that when one side took more dragons, the other side seemed to trigger strategic points more easily.

This is a big problem.

You can say it's not important because it gives gold all over the map, or you can say it's important because you can't predict its trigger pattern, which is quite annoying.

Moreover, the new version's Dragon Soul effects are so overpowered. If you don't take dragons, your opponents will take the Dragon Soul and you won't be able to fight them. If you take dragons, and they trigger a strategic point and trade resources with you, you'll suffer heavy losses. You might even lose all your previously hard-earned advantages due to one lost team fight.

Looking at it all, there are only four words: it encourages fighting.

Coach Homme was lost.

Of course, it wasn't just him; almost all the LPL teams were in the same boat. Everyone couldn't understand what the designers had in their heads for the new version. After studying strategic points for a long time, they still couldn't figure anything out.

However, there wasn't a complete lack of gains.

The experience change for river crabs essentially forced junglers to GANK more in the early game, creating a typical tempo-oriented jungler environment. This was beneficial for Karsa.

As for other aspects, it seemed to test players' laning abilities more.

Seeing Coach Homme's increasingly grim expression, Luo Zhen quickly tried to lighten the mood: "It's okay, Coach. It's just laning, right? I won't brag about anything else, but I guarantee you, I'm definitely the ADC with the highest potential for improvement in the entire LPL."

The rest of V5: ...

Yeah, true.

Although it sounded strange, when you thought about it, it seemed to be the case.

You're the only rookie ADC to come up in the entire LPL. If you don't have the highest potential, who does? But the problem is, during the regular season, they would face many teams with strong laning players.

It's like a fight.

When no one is playing by the rules, the strongest moves are definitely things like poking eyes, kicking groins, stepping on toes, twisting fingers, and gouging eyeballs.

But once you step onto the formal path, these tricks can't be used. Usually, you'd use a mud truck or poison outside the arena to prevent the opponent from competing, or you'd pull out a gun inside the arena for an American Iaido. There would be no opportunity for you to play dirty tricks.

The current predicament for V5 is precisely this.

Originally, their macro play and rotation abilities were very strong. Even if 369 hadn't improved much yet, as long as they followed Coach Homme's strategy, the overall changes wouldn't be too significant. However, with the version change, everything was disrupted, and they were now required to lane on all three paths. This exposed V5's weaknesses in the side lanes with their weaker top and bottom lanes.

With the major version changes, Coach Homme and the others were busy studying data and didn't have time for team meetings. However, they still set aside a small amount of time for Luo Zhen and 369, responsible for "brainwashing" them.

Well, or "psychological counseling" if you want to put it nicely.

Luo Zhen listened and summarized. It was like the deceptive talk in Xuanhuan novels: "I see you have the demeanor of an emperor, but you haven't fully unlocked your power yet, so you must work harder, blah blah blah."

Of course, Coach Homme also reminded Karsa and Rookie to reduce the frequency of certain things. Especially Rookie, he was told to look at what Rookie looked like in S5, then look at what Rookie looked like when they won the championship in S8, and then look at Rookie's current emaciated appearance.

Tsk tsk tsk.

One could only say – the world loves immortal caves, but doesn't know they're also called coffin seams.

Putting these aside, what Luo Zhen needed to practice was very simple, or rather, what any player aiming for a high rank needed to practice – kiting.

This needs to be discussed.

First, most ADCs' kiting can be divided into two types.

One is right-click kiting, and the other is floor-clicking kiting.

Then, the pros and cons of each: The advantage of right-click kiting is its simplicity of operation. The disadvantage is that it's easy to hit the wrong target, and last-hitting becomes uncomfortable, disrupting one's farming rhythm. It's also easy to walk too close to the enemy while attacking. If the opponent uses Zhonya's Hourglass or a skill that makes them untargetable, you might instinctively move your character forward and get melted by AOE.

For this type, a recreational self-use setting is recommended, prioritizing reduced operation or a "foolproof" method, suitable for lower ranks. This involves using the left mouse button to move and the right mouse button to attack. In the settings, there's an advanced keybind option that can be enabled.

To attack someone, press the "~" key, which automatically locks onto enemy heroes.

Easy and beginner-friendly.

As for floor-clicking kiting, its advantage lies in greater operational stability, while its disadvantage is that it's extremely taxing on the hands. If you're not aiming to climb the ranks, you can change the "attack move" hotkey to the "A" key. Using "A" and the right mouse button for floor-clicking kiting can reduce the use of the left mouse button, though you might occasionally lose your target.

Of course, it's best to master both, because right-click kiting is suitable for chasing, while floor-clicking kiting is suitable for counter-attacking when being chased. Mastering both makes it easier to climb ranks.

The above all discuss methods involving keybind modifications.

It won't make you instantly stronger, but it can make you more comfortable playing at your own pace. What Luo Zhen needs to practice is to improve his floor-clicking frequency without changing any keybinds, because modified keybinds sometimes display a range indicator, which he finds distracting when kiting.

Why is Uzi strong in lane?

Because he clicks the floor five times for each last hit. Because of this, his hands are more damaged than any other ADC in the LPL. Even when Xie Jian was still Crisp, he played like this, which is why a BO10 match combined with bloodletting therapy took him out of commission.

When Luo Zhen maintained his laning against professional players, he could only manage three clicks.

But it's okay, there's still time to practice.

As he himself said, he is the ADC with the greatest potential in the LPL at this stage.

Talent determines the platform, and effort determines your position on that platform.

As long as you can clearly realize that you need to change, then it's never too late!

Chapter 4: First Match and Shortcuts

The LPL Spring Split is divided into the regular season and playoffs.

The regular season consists of ten weeks. Based on the schedule, winning at least 8 major matches gives a chance to enter the playoffs. V5's goal this season is simple: to enter the playoffs and achieve a good ranking.

As for the championship?

Of course, they have to aim in that direction, but the team's top and bottom lanes are both weak points, and the mid and jungle states are also unpredictable. It all depends on how Coach Homme can train the team. At the very least, the management's goal is to make it to the playoffs in the spring split.

Therefore, winning eight major matches is V5's primary objective.

And their first opponent is RA, who has also undergone adjustments.

As for emphasizing the first match?

Because the match day is January 16th. On this historical date in 2015, the LPL Spring Split opened with Rookie playing for IG in the opening match and securing a victory. This was also his first LPL match representing IG. Later, Rookie played for IG alone for nearly seven years, earning him the title of "team soul" among fans. Seven years later, Rookie is now playing for V5 and stepping onto the official LPL stage for the first time after his transfer.

See, the hype is off the charts!

The people of Incheon are moved to tears.

Considering it's the first match of the new season, and although RA isn't as famous, they happen to have well-known players in both side lanes, so it's only natural to pay attention.

While Coach Homme gathered the team for a meeting, he also briefly introduced the opposing lineup:

Top laner Cube, honorary master of the Nasus forum, enemy of the Kayle forum. He has a similar substitute to 369. With jungle assistance, he can gain an advantage, but he also likes to feed when playing erratically. In S11, he, 369, and Bin were known as the "three erratic players," with him being the leader. His skill level is quite unpredictable.

Jungler Leyan, the spokesperson for unpaid league wages. It's rumored he's the ex-boyfriend of the VTuber Mikuya. He's the sole user of the Grass Element Qiyana and the only "lord" type player in the LPL. He single-handedly overturned the LPL's jungle system. To this day, this domineering "lord," though he has forgiven Bao Sang, still hasn't forgiven the LPL!

Mid laner Strive, a rookie mid laner. At the beginning of his career, his best stat was 9.2 CS per minute, ranking first among all LPL mid laners. A professional-level farmer, but otherwise, he hasn't shown any special performance.

Bot lane iBoy + Zorah. This one is a bit hard to describe. Back in 2017, there was talk of the "new generation of three ADCs" in the LPL, and at that time, iBoy was directly praised as the foremost among them (the other two being JKL and the kiter). The result? One rushed to become a world champion, one plummeted to the secondary league, and he's left stuck in the middle.

As for this support, I can only say he's even worse than Yuyanjia. Can you believe that Yuyanjia joining RA later was considered an upgrade?

This lineup, compared to V5, isn't too outstanding, but it can't be said to pose no threat. At least in this version that emphasizes laning, their side lanes cannot be said to stably suppress the opponent's development.

"So, tomorrow's match is free play?"

After listening for a long time without hearing Coach Homme's plan, Luo Zhen gradually felt confused.

"Something like that. Because we haven't figured out the trigger conditions for the new version's strategic points yet. Plus, although RA looks decent, their raw strength should be weaker than ours. So, we want to let you guys try it out first. If we lose, we'll make immediate changes."

Simply put, the deduction process requires sample data, and they currently have too little.

Although there are many regular ranked games, the pace of ranked games and official matches are completely different. They still need further data support to conclude how the strategic points will be triggered in matches.

What else could they do? They could only send their own players to compete first.

The V5 players looked at their respective lane opponents and felt no psychological pressure. Only Luo Zhen looked at iBoy, who was in his lane, and pondered the opponent's true strength.

JKL in the Demacia Cup was just a reference because his support was too bad, so it couldn't confirm the actual level of LPL's bot lane strength.

With that thought, he couldn't help but think of the new hero that had just been released in League of Legends a few days ago – Zeri.

On January 20th, Zeri officially launched on the Chinese servers in version 12.2. Since new ADCs in LoL have always been overpowered, V5 had already sent people to gather information on this hero during those initial days.

The conclusion they reached was: it was hard to say.

Her data showed a wild swing between being more 'poke' than Ashe and more 'flashy' than Vayne. Due to her unique mechanics, her auto-attacks and Q skill could drive countless players who used traditional ADCs crazy. Yet, she possessed high mobility, a trait rarely seen in other ADCs, which meant she would likely appear in matches.

Therefore, Luo Zhen had been practicing relentlessly during this period, sensing a golden opportunity.

No matter how hard he tried with traditional ADCs that had already been released, he would never be as good as professional players who had played thousands upon thousands of games. But with a new hero, everyone was on the same starting line. As long as he put in enough effort, this could very well become a signature pick unique to him in the future, much like Draven was to JKL.

"I told you, this hero has flaws," Coach Homme said, watching Luo Zhen's screen, a rare hint of hesitation in his eyes.

"I know, Coach, but this might be one of my few opportunities."

Luo Zhen understood his coach's meaning perfectly. Zeri's Q skill had a range of 800 yards, while her auto-attack only had 500 yards. Furthermore, her damage in the early laning phase was very low, so when needing to burst down an opponent, she had to weave auto-attacks and Qs to supplement damage. Accounting for kiting with auto-attacks, playing Zeri well required two things: a clear understanding of distance and precise control over her damage output rhythm.

The second was that it was incredibly taxing on the hands.

With traditional ADCs, hands might start to feel tired by the fourth or fifth game, but playing Zeri, you might already feel the strain by the second game.

Without a clear understanding of future patch trends, Coach Homme was reluctant for him to start practicing so early. However, he also knew that this hero might become a stabilizing force for Luo Zhen, allowing him to be more confident and active in the LPL's bottom lane. Thus, he found himself in a dilemma.

"Is it worth it?" Coach Homme asked.

"It's absolutely worth it. As long as this hero has even a ten percent chance of being played in matches, I believe it's worth it. Because compared to the veterans on the stage, I need to put in significantly more effort to catch up to them."

"And Zeri is a shortcut."

Chapter Five: Don't Ask, Just Assume My Idol Taught Me