My buddy is actually a Cao Cao type top laner?

Chapter 353 A Familiar Encounter: The Swallows Return

"Welcome back."

"What is happening now is the LPL League of Legends Spring Split winners' bracket final, with a score of 2:1. The next match belongs to JDG on the blue side."

"In the previous three matches, the two sides had their share of wins and losses, but the blue team had a slight advantage in each one."

"The fourth one."

"Will JDG continue their winning streak on the blue side, or will V5 break the pattern and defeat blue on the red side? Let's wait and see!"

The commentary booth for the winners' bracket final.

The doll, responsible for creating a lively atmosphere, was explaining things in his deep, powerful voice.

Although he rarely appears on the commentary stage as he gets older, it is precisely because of his experience that he is worthy of being inducted into the commentary hall of fame (which he earned through sheer hard work).

This allows him to be easily placed in important matches whenever he wants.

Like today's game.

So he wasn't disappointed.

As the camera focused again on the players about to take the stage, unlike JDG's serious expressions, V5's players, while still having determined looks, had more smiles on their faces compared to JDG.

Seeing this, Miller couldn't help but speak up:

"I feel like V5 might make a move in the fourth game."

"Based on our impression of V5 last year, they should still have some hidden trump cards, but we don't know if they can be forced to reveal them today."

in discourse.

Both teams then took to the field.

During the break before going on stage, 369 took a quick look at the V5 players' seats.

Seemingly sensing his gaze, Luo Ji followed the line of sight and gently looked up. Upon seeing that it was 369 looking at him, he politely returned a smile.

just
That one smile made 369 feel as if he had seen a vast expanse of white, a world of ice and snow!

A round of ban:

JDG: Caitlyn, Xayah, Lucian

V5: Quesanti, Big Tree, Wei
obviously.

JDG has started to replicate V5's draft picks from the S12 era. Since this is a version that emphasizes bottom lane development to end the game, the draft picks will suppress Ruler as much as possible, forcing you to choose a late-game hero to farm against Xiao Yan in the early game.

This line of thinking is correct.

No matter how strong your individual strength is, if you pick a farming hero in the early game, at most you can whittle down Xiao Yan's health a bit more during the laning phase.

for exchange.

They released Annie, a champion that can be played in both mid and support, but JDG didn't try to pick her first, because they didn't want to limit Knight's performance.

then:

A round of PICK:

JDG: Ahri, Aphelios, Wukong

V5: Sion, Jinx, Annie

A sudden Sion.

This caught Redmi, which was prepared for Luo Ji's unexpected move, somewhat off guard.

Thane?

Is this the only hero you should play in the world?
Second round of bans: Nidalee, Thresh, Gragas, Malphite
The fourth hand.

V5 decisively picked Tahm Kench as support.

Now, Redmi was even more confused.

It's not that V5's lineup is abnormal; on the contrary, it's precisely because V5's lineup is too normal—so normal that they completely understand the opponent's intentions—that it seems somewhat abnormal.

There's nothing much to say about that.

If the enemy picks Sion in the top lane, the lane swap strategy is definitely not going to work. So let's lock Gwen for 369 and let Gwen farm hard in the top lane. Then let's pick Rakan with Wukong and Ahri as the team's engage composition.

A multi-core fighting lineup that looks very much like the LPL has been confirmed:
JDG: Top laner Gwen, Jungler Wukong, Mid laner Ahri, Bot lane Aphelios + Rakan

This is a lineup system that you can see most of the time in LPL matches.

But just then...

V5 started revealing their final hand.

Jungle Poppy!

This lineup clearly resembles a four-protect-one strategy.

The team consisted of Sion in the top lane, Poppy in the jungle, Annie in the mid lane, and Jinx and Tahm Kench in the bot lane, almost completely focusing on the bot lane.

【ah? ? ? 】

Ruler's tactical importance! Do any of your other AD carries have such a tactical importance?

[BLG vs. RNG? These two teams' lineups are just too amazing!]

[Got it. Anyway, there's one game left to let things slide. Let Ruler carry first, and if that doesn't work, we'll bring in Mebius (doge)]

"The version that V5 understands seems to be very similar to the version we understand."

off screen.

Bengi glanced at the BP on the screen with some surprise.

The current meta is all about the bot lane, everyone knows that, but only a few teams truly understand just how important the bot lane is in this meta.

At least this kind of lineup, which focuses entirely on protecting the bottom lane, is a good example.

Redmi simply can't quite replicate that.

Although he felt the bot lane was important, he didn't think it needed to be so important as to adopt a four-protect-one strategy, but T1 agreed with that.

Start.

Both sides went online normally at the beginning.

369 initially spotted Sion in the top half of the jungle and marked him. If Sion is in the top half of the jungle at the start of the game, the strategy is simply to coordinate with the jungler to invade my top jungle. As for whether that's actually how it's played, that's for Kanavi to decide.

Anyway, he provided the information, that's enough.

I don't know.

After only a brief appearance, Luo Ji had already manipulated Sion to quietly retreat to his own jungle and start flanking, forcibly supporting the bottom lane.

"Um!?"

"Mebius is starting to gank bot lane. Is Sion planning to invade JDG's bot jungle at level 1 with the jungler? Is this a level 1 strategy?" "It seems so! JDG reacted too slowly. This game, Wukong started with blue buff, and no one was defending red buff."

"They're here! Poppy and Sion have invaded JDG's bottom jungle together. They're going to shit in the enemy jungle!"

in the screen.

Luo Ji directly chose to help Weiwei clear the field.

发育?
What kind of development is needed?
He's Sion, after all. Since he'll just get fed and farmed by Gwen anyway, he might as well make the most of his remaining strength and start by flashing a shot at Jiangdong Jerry!
Weiwei gets the red card and is promoted to level two.

After helping the jungler, Sion immediately went to the bottom lane to cut off JDG's bot lane duo's retreat.

Ruler learns Q-cannon form at level 1 to push lanes, while Aphelios, who can't level up his skills at level 1, can only watch helplessly.

By the time the second wave of minions arrives, they will be almost inside the tower.

Level 1, four packages, two!

Is this even something a human could pull off?!
"Go go go go go!"

"I'll take the hit! I'll take the hit! I have zombies, I have passive abilities!"

"Attack AD! Attack AD! Attack AD!"

"rush!"

It can only be said that JDG is making the same mistake every year.

The Sion level 1 strategy is already a very mature competitive strategy, but because 369 was playing Gwen in this game, even though he had guesses, he did not want to give up his level 1 development to go to the bottom lane to protect the enemy, of course, it would have been useless anyway.

If they don't go, it's 2 against 4; if they go, it's 3 against 4. They're still at a disadvantage.

But now.

However, one could take a different, subtle perspective and forcefully argue: "The bottom lane was being tower-dived by four people, and the jungler wasn't there, so how could I go?"

then.

That was Xiao Yan's first-level explosion.

Aphelios simply couldn't withstand the onslaught from the four giants of V5 at the start of the game. In particular, Sion managed to withstand two tower hits at level one, and even after turning into a zombie monkey, he could still withstand one more. Then, each of the other jungler and support could take turns withstanding one tower attack, providing a total of six tower attacks with the margin for error. He could also unlock a fearless zombie that could rise from a corpse.

How to fight this?
Luo Ji laughed. After deliberately sacrificing himself, the resurrected zombies possessed extremely formidable fighting power.

They relentlessly chased Aphelios down to near-death.

Then they gave all the kills to Ruler in the bottom lane.

V5's Ruler killed JDG's Photic.
V5's Ruler killed JDG's Missing.
Double Kill!

1 for 2
Good news: Xiao Yan got the first blood, and economically he was only one head behind Jinx.

Bad news: I died at level 1 and didn't have any TP (Teleport), so my experience points are completely gone.

After being revived from the spring.

Luo Ji teleported back to the top lane. The moment he landed, the top lane minion wave was pushed over by 369. With his back against the turret, Luo Ji continued to happily farm the wave.

Just the initial four-man gank on the bottom lane was enough to make Xiao Yan so disgusted that he wanted to put a sack over Luo Ji's neck and beat him up after the match.

That's disgusting!

Dude, you were my former teammate, my former teammate!
None of the strategies you came up with were specifically designed to counter your opponent 369. You just used all sorts of underhanded tricks on the bottom lane.

Is this reasonable?

"game over."

off screen.

Uzi immediately shut down the live stream.

During his peak, if he could get two kills in the bot lane early on, the game was practically over; he could take a nap and wake up to another victory.

The same applies to Emperor Ruler.

You give Ruler two kills at the start, or Jinx, and then you're facing Xiao Yan again.
That's over.

Hit the road.

Luo Ji, who had returned to the lane, looked at Gwen controlling 369, but his mind was surprisingly calm.

You can't beat him.

Gwen's W skill can block the damage of Sion's charged Q. Unless the opponent uses W first, her Q skill can only deal damage if it is cast immediately.

But let's just let things develop peacefully.

The further back in the game, the more useful Gwen will become to you.

of course.

This is based on the premise that other lanes have no advantage. Currently, the bottom lane has a significant advantage, so all you need to do is farm and increase your tankiness step by step, and not give the enemy Gwen any opportunities.

After thinking about this.

Luo Ji's laning phase focuses on farming, with Undying as a secondary strategy. He relies heavily on positioning himself back and forth to bait out Gwen's Q.

This style of play.

This also made 369, who was in the same position, feel very tired.

Because of the disadvantage in the bottom lane, the top lane, which originally had no offensive pressure, has instead become the one where the opposing Sion should be under pressure to farm, completely reversing the situation.

But that's not right.

Shouldn't the normal scenario be that the enemy picks a warrior, while you pick a utility tank like Ornn, Sion, Gragas, or Quesant, and let the enemy carry you?

He couldn't figure it out.

Unfortunately, he forgot that when Luo Ji first debuted, he played this very strategy of building tanky top laners and then flailing around. His main idea was to drag the enemy top laner down with him.

What do you mean by neglecting one's proper duties?
This is simply returning to one's comfort zone.

"Is it okay for one person to go on the road alone?"

"No problem at all. He doesn't need to come to the top half of the map this time. Let me take care of him by myself."

"OJBK!"

Although Weiwei knew he didn't need to go to the top lane this time, it's one thing to know you don't need to go, but it's another to show your attitude. It's like giving a gift; the leader doesn't care what you give, but he knows perfectly well who didn't give a gift.

just now.

The old man on the road has already spoken.

So all he needs to do is ensure the development of the second carry in the bottom lane!

Dad, I'm here!
(End of this chapter)