League of Legends: League of Unknowns

Chapter 91: A Beast with Killer Instinct

“Fizz got out from the Fountain with Mana and Health Potions. Logically speaking, Jayce would be the better Champion at Level 2 and 3 since he has six abilities to his expense. However, Jayce has failed to establish an advantage here due to Fizz’s larger regenerative supply as compared to his.”

In the mid-lane, Yang Ying’s Fizz farmed aggressively and confidently, never once backing down from the frequent exchanges with Jayce at Level 2 to 3.

Though Fizz had lost most of the early clashes, he was able to hold his own weight thanks to his sufficient supply of regenerative potions. Jayce, who had bought a Long Sword and only two Health Potions was unable to do much more than sustain himself.

***

The bottom-lane was rather quiet as both sides carried on with their CS peacefully with minimal contact between champions.

The support player was the only one free enough to take note of what was happening in the other lanes. When Yu Luocheng saw his teammate’s icon on the left-hand side of his screen beaming with the red attack signal, he knew a fight must have been broken out in the mid-lane.

“FIRST BLOOD!!!”

Soon, the first kill of the game was announced!

The champion icon that appeared on his screen was green, meaning it was his teammate that had obtained the first kill.

Yang Ying was taken down by Yu. Fizz had been over-aggressive and when he had overstepped his safe boundaries, he had gotten caught by Xiao Dao’s Jarvan who had come out from the fog.

As soon as Fizz was struck by the red buff, he knew his fate was sealed and gave up resisting. Yang Ying didn’t even bother to pop his Flash.

“Excellent play! Team Scarlet has obtained first blood! The 400 gold earned will be extremely important for Jayce’s development. Fizz from Team Dawn was a bit too careless in this play.”

Since Jayce had already bought a Long Sword at the beginning of the game, he could now upgrade it to a Brutalizer with the 400 gold once he returned to the base. The item would give Jayce a bigger advantage in battling Fizz.

“That’s not all. Let me gank him one more time and that Fizz is basically done for,” Xiao Dao said confidently.

If Fizz was oppressed during the early game and failed to get any kills until mid-game, this Champion was basically useless during late-game. Xiao Dao knew the opponent team’s AP was extremely skilled, so he decided to keep ganking him.

Yu Luocheng pressed the Tab key to check the CS count between the two teams when he heard what Xiao Dao had just said and immediately frowned upon seeing the scores.

‘Fizz’s CS is five more than Jayce’s?’

Now, Fizz is a melee hero. By right, the difficulty for a melee champion to CS is much higher as compared to a ranged champion like Jayce. Fizz had managed to surpass Jayce even though the disruption by the latter was considered quite effective.

It was hard to tell who would come out on top when a kill happened without warning during the laning phase. This would heavily influence both the jungler as well as the opponent champions’ early-game advantage. If a player still managed to stay ahead in CS despite the unfavorable circumstances, it spoke volumes about the player’s true strength.

“Yu, be mindful of your CS,” Yu Luocheng reminded Huang Yu.

Huang Yu’s CS was currently ten creeps behind his team’s ADC. Normally, the solo player at mid-lane should have more CS than the bottom-lane’s ADC. The fact that he was now behind could mean only one thing—His farm had actually been greatly affected by Fizz.

***

The bottom was still pretty quiet. Other than the first two wards, Yu Luocheng had not done much warding after that.

This was not because he was intentionally putting the bottom-lane at risk. On the contrary, he knew that unless Volibear tried to go round them from behind, they were well protected by the two early wards.

Lux’s Q-Light Binding and Caitlyn’s E-90 Caliber Net were good enough to hinder the Volibear’s ambush.

With less emphasis on warding, Yu Luocheng would be able to buy the Philosopher’s Stone earlier than the opponent’s support.

For his next item, Yu Luocheng quickly decided on Spellthief’s Edge. No matter what, his priority with Lux as a support was to buy these two farming items as quickly as possible.

Aside from the extra income, these two items actually suited Lux in other aspects too. The Philosopher’s Stone improved her mana regeneration while Spellthief’s Edge boosted her ability power and this provided Lux with more laning capability and slightly better burst damage.

It was best not to underestimate Lux’s damage even if she was just a support at the bottom-lane. A standard Lux combo could easily halve the HP of opponent’s ADC after all.

***

Xue Haiyang took advantage of the absence of Taric’s ability from his cooldown and pressed his skill keys hastily. That was when blood was spilled once again in the mid-lane.

Yu Luocheng immediately switched his vision to the mid-lane.

“DOUBLE KILL!!”

As soon as his camera focused on the mid-lane, the system immediately announced that Fizz had just achieved a double-kill!

Yu Luocheng furrowed his brows. From their positioning, he was quite sure that this must have been the result of a counter-gank by the opponent’s Volibear when Jarvan had attempted to take down Fizz for a second time.

Volibear was a very good champion for counter-ganking and his teammates must have released their skills or spells way too early, which subsequently allowed the bear to tank the damage from both of them and then counter-pursue them with Fizz.

The enemy jungler was rather smart too in giving both kills to Fizz. The double-kill at level 6 had immediately brought Fizz’s net worth up by a great margin.

Yu Luocheng took another peek at the CS count and realized Fizz’s score was still tied with Jayce. In other words, his team’s mid-lane would be playing from behind from this point onward.

***

The unfavorable development did not cease there and in less than half a minute, Xiao Tongtong at the top-lane was the next to fall, this time, slain by Riven and again, Volibear. The kill count had changed from 1 : 0 to 1 : 3 in the blink of an eye.

“Team Dawn’s jungler is playing extremely well. He has created three kills for his team in under one minute. This is a Bear with great killer instinct!” The host exclaimed.

Xiao Tongtong could only watch helplessly as a large mob of minions advanced under his tower.

“D*mn, I thought he was going to recall and didn’t see this coming. How absurd for him to come top and gank me with that small bit of HP left,” Xiao Tongtong muttered.

The jungler from Team Dawn had lost over two thirds of his HP after the mid-lane clash. Normally, any jungler would recall instantly to the Fountain to replenish and stock up on items after a successful kill. Not in this case though, as his sudden appearance at the top-lane caught Xiao Tongtong by surprise.

Volibear’s passive regeneration was equivalent to 1/3 of his maximum HP. Added to his remaining 1/3 HP, that would leave him with 2/3 HP. Thus, the jungler had no need to recall.

Xiao Tongtong had failed to anticipate that. Credit must be given to the enemy’s jungler as well, judging by how well he understood Volibear’s limit as well as his accurate decision to gank top regardless of his champion’s relatively low HP.

***

“Xue Haiyang, let find an opening at level 6. Our target is to take down Taric quickly. Be careful not to be rooted by Varus,” Yu Luocheng instructed.

“Alright, but please make sure that you can root Taric first,” Xue Haiyang replied.

Yu Luocheng nodded.

Up to this point, Yu Luocheng had not really used his Q-Light Binding. It was not because he had no confidence, but a successful binding before he had even obtained his ultimate skill would not lead to any meaningful development.

Things were different after level 6, though. Lux’s burst damage after level 6 was rather terrifying. True, Taric was a strong tank, however, his tankiness came from his armor that had minimal magic resistance.

Xue Haiyang quietly trimmed down Taric’s HP knowing that Lux would be targeting him.

Yu Luocheng purposely faked a missed-positioning when he felt that the timing was right.

As predicted, Taric was unable to resist the temptation, and being an attack-type support, he walked out from the bush to directly cast a stunning skill on Yu Luocheng’s Lux.

“Let’s take a look at the bottom-lane… Lux from Team Scarlet has just made a mistake in her positioning…” The host immediately dragged the screen to bottom lane.

Instantly, everyone in the viewing hall perked up.

The bottom-lane had been too quiet throughout the game. A lot of people had begun to wonder if the godlike Twisted Fate player was really playing in this grand final.

Their eyes were burned with excitement, eager to witness the fight that was imminent at the bottom-lane.