You promised a top lane tutorial, but you're just using Worlds as material for your videos?

Chapter 551 Zhou Dian's Prediction: On How to Deal with Four-Protect-One!

TES had anticipated and prepared for RNG choosing the blue side in the second game.

Viewers and fans tend to be quite emotional when watching a game.

Moreover, they often start from their own simplistic understanding of the game, which often leads to some very far-fetched conclusions.

However, from the perspective of a professional team, it was highly likely that RNG would choose the blue side in the second game.

If this were the third game of a best-of-five series, and RNG were already down 0-2 with the right to choose sides, then RNG would very likely choose the red side and take a gamble.

This is only the second game of a best-of-five series.

Although RNG really couldn't afford to lose this game, they weren't actually on the brink of elimination.

It's not time to be ruthless and take a gamble yet.

At this moment, on the TES player bench.

After the first three bans were completed, White Crescent walked behind Knight and said, "Then let's stick to what we agreed on before. This game, the fifth counter pick for the red side will still be you, mid lane!"

"Ah? Okay!"

Upon hearing White Crescent's words, Knight first instinctively expressed his doubts before remembering the team's established plan.

However, having won the previous game and earned the MVP award,

In this game, Knight didn't seem to mind taking on the counter-role mid lane again.

If you lose the first game even though you're in a counter position, and your performance isn't great either...

In the next game, Knight would definitely be unwilling to continue playing the counter role.

Even if they don't dare to express their opposition explicitly, their resistance is evident and cannot be hidden.

In Zhou Dian's view, Knight's personality problems are very real.

Fortunately, TES is currently in a favorable situation.

If you're winning, you don't need to worry too much about Knight.

Back to BP.
The selection of players in the first three rounds on both sides was not slow.

Because the content was mostly fairly standard, without any particularly surprising or unusual tricks.

Both sides picked heroes for the bottom, jungle, and support positions in their first three picks.

These are also the three positions that appear most frequently in the first round of ban/pick.

Generally, heroes from the top and middle lanes are reserved for the second round of gameplay.

Of course, this is also because there are no overpowered heroes in the top two lanes in the current version that greatly increase the win rate after being picked, so there is no need to desperately try to pick them in the first round of the draft.

Then there are some solo laners with shallow hero pools who are afraid of being targeted by their opponents in the second round and not being able to pick their favorite heroes.

Sometimes this means you can get the hero in the first round.

We've moved on to the second round of draft picks.

TES, on the red side, has the first ban and first pick.

When we saw RNG ban Fiora as their last ban pick.

From the players to the coaches, almost everyone on TES had a smile on their face.

The reason for this knowing smile is that RNG's ban was exactly what they had anticipated before the match.

Of course, this was mainly because Zhou Dian had anticipated it.

During the break between games, Zhou Dian said that RNG would definitely return to the most orthodox "four protect one" strategy in this game.

Therefore, Langx will definitely pick a tanky champion for the top lane in this game to withstand the pressure.

Xiaohu will also choose a mid-laner who is more utility-focused and not a hard carry.

RNG will definitely focus on team fights throughout the second game.

Therefore, RNG will most likely ban Fiora as their last pick.

Because Fiora is an exceptional split-pushing champion.

If Zhou Dian gets Fiora, he could very well neutralize RNG's teamfight offensives without much effort. If RNG fails to achieve their desired results in a few teamfights, they could be wiped out by Fiora in one fell swoop.

For RNG, banning Zhou Dian's Fiora at this point is absolutely necessary.

Zhou Dian had already come up with a countermeasure.

That means switching to Camille and continuing to split push.

Compared to Fiora, Camille's weakness is that she is currently very weak in the laning phase and has difficulty farming.

Furthermore, Camille's ability to take on multiple opponents is inferior to Fiora's.

Therefore, Camille is not as powerful as Fiora in split pushing.

However, Camille's advantages are also obvious compared to Fiora.

It has better flexibility and mobility.

And more stable and more powerful team fight capabilities.

Yes, Zhou Dian also plans to clash with RNG in team fights in this game.

He built Camille on the fourth floor of the red team, and against the tank hero Langx picked, he was likely to be able to farm normally.

Then let Knight, on the fifth floor of the red side, use his last move to fiercely counter Xiaohu and continuously suppress him.

Whether RNG plays the four-protect-one strategy or not, it doesn't change the fact that in the early and mid-game, the mid and jungle positions have a greater influence on the map.

After suppressing RNG's mid lane, it will be much easier for TES to either help Zhou Dian in the top lane or target Uzi in the bottom lane.

To put it simply, TES's strategy in this game was basically the same as in the first game.

It's about using your superior laning and mechanical abilities in the top and mid lanes to suppress RNG's two solo lanes.

Without your left and right arms, how will Uzbekistan carry the team?

Of course, this is different from RNG's hero selection in the mid and top lanes in the previous game.

Crocodiles and vampires that haven't developed are a drag on the team.

Since RNG was determined to play a four-protect-one strategy from the beginning, Langx and Xiaohu's hero selections, while not purely support roles, would definitely lean more towards functional roles.

Even if a hero with strong utility is underdeveloped, they can still be effective.

In any case, the heroes in RNG's top and mid lanes will definitely help Uzi in team fights.

This is also the significance of the "four protect one" strategy.

However, you will still have an effect no matter what.

Their effects also vary in degree!

TES's approach to targeting RNG's two solo lanes in this game was different from the previous game.

Knight countered in the mid lane, using stronger laning pressure to lock Xiaohu's utility champions in the mid lane, preventing him from supporting Uzi in the side lanes.

Zhou Dian, on the top lane, planned to use his split push to contain Langx.

In Zhou Dian's opinion, Camille is a much stronger champion than Fiora in terms of overall ability.

However, Fiora's theoretical potential is much higher than Camille's, and she is capable of playing game-changing and miraculous matches.

This is something Camille will find difficult to do.

However, similarly, it's very difficult for Fiora to defy fate and achieve that.

It is often the result of the combined effects of favorable timing, location, and human factors; none of these can be lacking.

Some top laners have never even made a name for themselves with Fiora throughout their entire professional careers.

Even in Zhou Dian's hands, there were very few instances where he could truly "defy fate" when playing Fiora.

In contrast, as long as you are skilled enough, you can consistently play a significant role after successfully navigating the laning phase with Camille.

Camille's tower-destroying speed is also very fast. In this game, she was able to keep Langx in a difficult position between defending the tower and participating in team fights, leaving him exhausted.

Reducing the number of times the enemy's tanky top laner, the most important front-line tank, participates in team fights can also significantly weaken the effectiveness of the four-protect-one strategy.

(End of this chapter)