Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The defense of the world championâs throne had begun!
Xiao Bei watched Zhou Yan, Da Luo, and Lin Dong flanking Yu Luocheng. His heart felt so full it might burst.
However, he was still a newcomer to the world of professional gaming. It had taken all he had just to get into the LPL. He was still a far cry from a world-class player.
***
Zhang Aijing took center stage. âHi, everyone! Iâll be the one taking you through the solo exhibition match! According to the rules of the International E-Sports Federation, challenging the coach of Team Skycrown to a duel is not to be done directlyâfirst, one has to get past his honor guard, before they can be allowed to actually face him. As such, Blood Eagle will be taking on the three bodyguards of Team Skycrown, in the hopes of ultimately challenging the enigmatic coach himself!1â
Aijing didnât actually announce Luochengâs standing as the world champion of gaming, but instead used a roundabout fashion to hint to the audience that this series of solo duels would be considered an international matter.
Hearing this brought a smile to Zhao Tinghuaâs face.
Good. Someone had realized that this was a challenge for the crown of the world champion. And here heâd thought no one in China would have a clue about such matters.
Letâs get started, then. Heâd been waiting for this day for a long, long time!
***
A surge of cheering rose from the crowd.
Back-to-back duels⦠now youâre talking! However, some question marks had also begun to form.
âIs Team Skycrownâs coach really that amazing, for them to save him for the finale?â a university student with permed curls wondered aloud.
âWho knows? Maybe the coach is a better player than any of them. Maybe heâll take the field himself during the LPL. Didnât you hear when the MC mentioned that there are rules about challenging that guy to a duel? Something about a Federated E-Sports International Regulatory something-somethingâ¦â
âThis is so weird. Team Skycrown just won a major game, and now they have to get their asses kicked?â
The discussions raged on. Typically, the crowd would disperse soon after a tournament game endedâthis time around, no one had yet to rise from their seats. Everyone was looking forward to seeing Blood Eagle go up against Team Skycrown.
***
âIâll go first,â Da Luo suggested. He was already making for the computers they were setting up for the solo duels.
Tinghua was already there, waiting. He wasnât even going to swap in his own mouse and keyboard, just using whatever heâd been provided. It was as though he wanted to keep things as honest as possible.
Seeing this haughty display from Tinghua pissed Da Luo off.
Logging into his account swiftly, he was shown a selection of champions for purchase. He wasted no time making his choices, and then entered the designated custom game room.
Aijing explained a bit about how theyâd be doing things: âKeeping in mind that both players each specialize in different lanes, weâve put some restrictions into place: Lone Gull of Team Skycrown is a Solo Top player, so this duel will take place in the top lane, using only those champions most commonly picked for Solo Top during competitive play.â
Solo maps were only used for particular games, and typically any champion was allowed. However, when one sought to challenge the reigning world champion, there were no guarantees of fairness. Each member of the honor guard was entitled to set the terms of the duel: where they would play, which map they would play on, and even whichever game the world champion was known for playing.
Da Luo could have chosen DOTAâbut they were here now as LOL players. To change the game under these circumstances, it would be an admission of weakness.
Straight away, Da Luo selected the same champion heâd used last game, Kennen.
Tinghuaâs choice came even faster. As though he couldnât even be bothered to see which champion Da Luo selected, Tinghua picked Darius without hesitation!
âUh⦠Iâm sure this is the first time anyoneâs watching Blood Eagle play Top. Who would have guessed that heâd choose Darius, the Hand of Noxus!â
Darius, Executioner of Noxus!
This champion used to be the most feared character in the Top lane, and the easiest one to get a Penta Kill with. Once he got rolling with his brutal ultimate skill, âNoxian Guillotineâ, there would be heads rolling everywhere!
However, with the introduction of other mighty Top champions such as Renekton, Jax, Kennen, and Zac, Dariusâs short range became an increasingly evident drawback, and as a result he was seeing less use in serious games.
For Tinghua to insta-lock Darius was an incomparable show of arrogance! As Blood Eagle, he was mainly a Junglerâbut every pro gamer, as a matter of course, should be well-acquainted with all the roles in the game, albeit not to the absolute pinnacle of mastery.
âA first-class Jungler should know the Top lane like his own backyard, since thatâs the lane the Jungler looks after the most,â Aijing said. âAn elite player like Blood Eagle will undoubtedly prove an expert Top-laner as well.â
The crowd cheered as the view soared across the Summonerâs Rift.
The other two lanes had been closed off, so trying to farm there was basically conceding the game.
Both players purchased their starting equipment, and then strode into their lane, arriving at the mid-point simultaneously.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om
âLetâs see what each player got⦠Lone Gull is packing a Doranâs Blade, totally textbook. Kennen especially has to start with Doranâs Blade, not just for effective poking, but also for a leg up at farming.
âBlood Eagle is also going with a common starting load-out: Cloth Armor and five Health Potions, thatâs playing safe. Kennen has an advantage against Dariusâas long as he can avoid getting hooked, heâll basically dominate the lane.â
Kennen juked tirelessly, taking pot-shots at Darius in between picking off minions. Darius just kept farming, guzzling potions as quickly as Kennen could damage him.
Soon, the minion wave was pushing in against Kennen!
âA solo duel is decided when one player gets a single champion kill, or one hundred minion kills. Blood Eagle hasnât used his hook even onceâheâs just been farming non-stop.â
Luocheng was frowning. Watching the duel play out on the main display, he could see that Da Luoâs poking wasnât doing very much. In fact, from the moment Kennenâs first attack hit Darius, he knew that Tinghua wasnât using damage Runesâheâd gone for double defense.
Darius was heavily dependent on gaining levels, with equipment as a secondary concern. It was obvious that Tinghuaâs plan was to weather the harassment with his defensive Runes, while using his skills to clear away the minions and push in the waves.
Early game, Kennen couldnât match Darius at farming. As the front-line was forced against his tower, Da Luo began to miss a few minions.
In this way, Darius soon pulled ahead by 5 CS.
It should have been the ranged champion bullying the melee fighter, and getting ahead in CSâhowever, thanks to the Armor and Magic Resist Runes, things were turning out the opposite way.
Worse still, even with those Runes, Darius still promised to deal a fearsome amount of damage, if he could get ahead in levels!
âHeâs almost Level 5.â Luocheng glanced at the state of the minions, and his heart sank.
A melee minion fell, providing the last few Experience Points Darius needed to reach the next level.
There, Tinghua did something in the moment just before Darius leveled up: taking one tiny step to the side, he slipped into the brush!
Having lost sight of him, Da Luo couldnât see him level up. As he moved Kennen forward to finish off another minion, Darius suddenly Flashed out from the brush!
First a basic attack, then his W-skill âCrippling Strikeâ, followed by another attack!
After suffering three hits in the blink of an eye, Kennen reacted quickly and retreated into his âLightning Rushâ form, pulling himself away from the action!
Decimate!
With one vicious sweep of his battle-axe, Darius hewed off yet another section of Kennenâs health bar.
No sooner had the axe blade flashed past, than it shot out again to Apprehend!
Darius had used his E-skill âApprehendâ last. It was psychological warfare: In solo duels, most people were accustomed to using Flash to dodge their opponentâs key control skills.
Tinghua hadnât used Apprehend at all, instead throwing out a skill combo, and then waiting until Kennen was just about to escape the reach of that skill before suddenly using it to pull him back again!
It was a play at the very limits of possibility. Kennen had hoped to escape via Lightning Rush, but when he saw that he was about to get caught by the wicked hook on the axe blade, he was forced to Flash!
If he got pulled back to eat another combo, with an Ignite laid on top of that, even if he didnât die, he would still be done for.
âWhat a breathtaking combo!â Aijing gasped.
Every champion in League of Legends had their own set of combat animations. Upon closer examination, one might notice that some elite players were much faster at stringing their moves together, and they were somehow more graceful about their movementsâas though they were using WSAD instead of a mouse cursor.
When it came to playing Darius, some people felt the champion was clumsy and ungainly to use, with terribly obvious cues telegraphing the use of each skill, as well as slowing down each attack.
However, Tinghua played Darius with the elegance of a ballet. Even while Kennenâs movement was being accelerated with Lightning Rush, Darius had still been able to unleash a jaw-dropping A-W-A-Q-E combo onto him. Typically, that second basic attack should have been too much to hope for.
Donât overlook the value of that one basic attackâin a Top-lane duel, especially prior to Level 6, each attack could be the difference between life and death!
***
With half his health gone, Kennen had to tread carefully now. If he got hooked now, considering Tinghuaâs APM, it was certainly possible that a single skill combo plus Ignite would be the end of him.
Darius resumed pushing in the minion wave, using the concealment of the brush to force Kennen away entirely. With the increased need for caution, Kennen only continued to fall behind on minions.
Little by little, the difference grew to 10 CS. The waters of anxiety were rising in Da Luoâs heart.
Kennen should be able to gain a dominating advantage against Darius. In Ranked play, Da Luo had never failed to win the lane when playing in such a match-up.
How was Tinghuaâs Darius able to exude such a frightening aura of menace? He couldnât even approach the shadow of his hooked axe. There was a zone of certain death with a radius of 600 units around himâbut âApprehendâ should only have a reach of 540 units!
Da Luo felt a monumental sense of pressure weighing down on him, and yet he still couldnât figure out exactly what was going on.