The mid-jungle-support roaming strategy is also a common tactic. Tianhuan's previous Illusionist system involved Ye Shaoyang, Chi Shuo, and Qu Jiang roaming together, with the support boosting speed for rapid guerrilla warfare, jokingly dubbed the "Disaster Trio" by netizens.
In this game, Jingzhe left their bot lane marksman alone to fend for himself, with the support sticking to the mid laner. Fang Zhengqing was set to become the fastest-growing point in the game. Five minutes into the match, Ye Shaoyang opened the scoreboard to check. Captain Fang's [Shadow Warlock] had the highest economy in the game, unknowingly leading Ye Shaoyang by more than 300 gold.
Don't underestimate this small amount; accumulation makes a difference. If he continued to farm like this, he would soon have an equipment lead.
Chi Shuo had already reached level 6, and Ye Shaoyang quickly cleared his minions and headed to the bot lane.
In the bot lane, Xie Yuan was fighting 1v2. Cheng Xing's marksman had a long attack range, and Qu Jiang's healer could restore health, so Xie Yuan was temporarily suppressed. Judging from his build path, he was indeed building physical damage equipment combined with attack speed items.
The hero [Curse Warlock] dealt magic damage every second with stacked curses. The higher the attack speed, the faster the curses stacked. With Xie Yuan building this way, his damage became a mix of basic attacks (physical) and curses (magic), clearing minions extremely fast.
Although Cheng Xing had beaten him down to about 70% health, his growth wasn't affected.
Chi Shuo arrived in the bot lane bush and pressed the in-game signal: Initiate Attack.
Ye Shaoyang shielded Chi Shuo, and Chi Shuo, carrying the shield, ulted directly, smashing Xie Yuan into the wall with a punch!
With the brief stun combined with the [Fighter]'s combo punches, Xie Yuan was quickly crippled. Cheng Xing hurriedly activated his Q skill's enhanced basic attacks to land a few arrows, securing Xie Yuan's kill.
——First Blood!
Cheng Xing excitedly said, "Ahhh, I got First Blood!"
Chi Shuo said, "Not bad, clear minions quickly."
Almost simultaneously, a kill occurred in the top lane as well.
——[I Am Very Square (Shadow Warlock) killed Tianhuan Zhuhuo (Paladin)]
Qin Yizhu said, "Four of them tower-dived me."
Ye Shaoyang quickly moved the camera to take a look. Sure enough, Tianhuan fought 4v1 in the bot lane, and Jingzhe fought 4v1 in the top lane. Although Old Qin very cautiously stayed under the tower, Jingzhe's White Bear summoned a big bear to tank the tower damage. The top laner and support initiated together, and Fang Zhengqing took Old Qin's head with a burst combo directly.
The [Paladin] Old Qin chose this game was thick-skinned, but tanks have very low magic resistance in the early game.
With four people attacking him, no matter how thick his skin was, he couldn't withstand it.
Trading kills between top and bot lanes in this wave wasn't a loss.
The Small Dragon in the bottom jungle spawned, and Chi Shuo immediately said, "Take the dragon."
Simultaneously, Jingzhe invaded Tianhuan's top jungle, looting resources like the blue buff and small monsters before retreating.
Ye Shaoyang opened the in-game panel again to check the information.
Fang Zhengqing's Shadow Warlock had the highest economy in the game, followed by Chi Shuo's Fighter, Cheng Xing's Archer, Xie Yuan's Curse Warlock, Jingzhe's Top Lane Warrior, with Ye Shaoyang ranking sixth.
Ye Shaoyang played a control-style mid laner this game, giving up part of his economy to Chi Shuo.
Captain Chi and Xiao Xing needed to grow quickly to fight team battles.
At 8 minutes into the match, Ye Shaoyang warned, "Mid and support miss."
The opposing mid laner [Shadow Warlock] disappeared from the map, and the support [Bounty Warlock], who had been following him to add gold, was also missing. Ye Shaoyang immediately retreated under the tower, and his top and bot lane teammates also retreated quickly upon hearing his warning.
Old Qin was tower-dived just now, so this time he retreated directly to the bush between the 2nd and 1st towers to observe the situation. He saw a huge white bear descending from the sky, tanking the defense tower's damage. The four members of Jingzhe grouped up to force a push, destroying the tower!
Qin Yizhu was helpless: "Can't hold the top lane!"
As the "Top Lane Orphan," he hadn't enjoyed such "focused attention" for a long time.
With three opponents grouping to force a push, not even a world-class top laner could hold it, let alone him.
Ye Shaoyang suggested, "Build a magic resistance cloak?"
Old Qin: "I think so too."
Tank heroes usually build physical defense items first, then supplement with magic defense in the mid-game, since they lane against physical damage heroes.
But in this game, Qin Yizhu was heavily targeted by the opponents, so he could only build magic resistance first to withstand Fang Zhengqing's damage.
Ye Shaoyang said, "Opponent support isn't top; be careful bot."
Previously, the support had been following Fang Zhengqing. Just now, Fang Zhengqing and the support disappeared simultaneously. Ye Shaoyang originally thought they would go gank a lane together. However, the support didn't show up in the top lane, which meant he went to the bot lane.
Sure enough, Chi Shuo roamed to the bot lane hoping to catch Xie Yuan, but suddenly a golden wall rose in front of him, blocking his path. Xie Yuan flashed and retreated immediately.
The support had gone to the bot lane to assist.
The Bounty Warlock's W skill, called Gold Coin Wall, also known as the "Dissuasion Wall," erects a golden wall. Anyone touching the wall gets stunned for 1.5 seconds. Chi Shuo's ultimate was interrupted by this control, and the gank failed.
Ye Shaoyang also roamed to the bot lane and found Xie Yuan had already recalled.
When Xie Yuan returned to the lane, the support started clearing minions with him. Ye Shaoyang opened the match panel again and found that the economy gap Xie Yuan had fallen behind in earlier was quickly being closed.
The mid laner was fed, now the support was feeding the marksman?
If the marksman also got fed, late-game team fights would be even harder to handle.
Chi Shuo also thought of this point and said, "Force a team fight bot, kill their support."
The support's gold bonus only works while alive. Killing him sends him home, stopping the bonus.
At this time, the second dragon spawned in the bottom jungle. Tianhuan rushed over quickly, and Jingzhe wasn't far behind. The moment both sides met near the Small Dragon, Jingzhe initiated the team fight first!
A huge white bear suddenly descended from the sky, sitting on Tianhuan's back line. Cheng Xing and Qu Jiang were standing together and got stunned by the bear sitting on them. Jingzhe's top laner [Blade Will] immediately flashed in to cut and insta-kill Cheng Xing!
Fang Zhengqing's [Shadow Warlock] broke invisibility with a burst combo, and the three of them combined to kill Cheng Xing in less than 1 second.
Cheng Xing: "…"
Team fight marksman disappearance trick? Fang Zhengqing was targeting him!
Jingzhe's coordination in this wave was worthy of an S-group team's strength; skills connected seamlessly.
The jungler's White Bear descended from the sky, initiating unexpectedly. The top and mid laners followed up immediately with damage. Cheng Xing was killed almost instantly, without time to react.
Simultaneously, Ye Shaoyang flashed over the wall suddenly, rooting the opposing [Bounty Warlock] with a Holy Spirit Seal. Chi Shuo's jungler followed with a combo, insta-killing the Bounty Warlock as well.
Both sides lost one person first. Following that, Tianhuan's mid-jungle duo chased the opposing marksman, while Jingzhe's top-mid duo joined hands to kill the support. The battlefield was thoroughly cut into two pieces. Xie Yuan, beaten to critical health, suddenly used a soul flash directly to the area below the inner tower, escaping with a sliver of health! Our support didn't have flash and was chased to death by the opponents.
This 1-for-2 trade was a small loss for Tianhuan, but it interrupted the opponent support's gold-adding rhythm. Chi Shuo and Ye Shaoyang turned back to steal a blue buff, which counted as cutting losses in time.
Backstage, seeing this, Coach Lin couldn't help but worry: "If the [Shadow Warlock] point isn't dealt with, the late game will be troublesome too. An invisible mage assassin popping out who-knows-when in a team fight."
"Jingzhe's overall lineup is squishy this game, but the Shadow Warlock's burst is very high. On our side, the top laner was ganked and killed several times, so his equipment isn't good. Without equipment, the Paladin won't be able to tank in team fights," Xie Xiaotian analyzed in a low voice.
"Mn, this is also why they grouped up to gank the top laner and push the top tower repeatedly at the start—to prevent Tianhuan's frontline from rising and tanking, making team fights easier." Coach Lin looked at the kid from the second team with relief. "You know how to analyze lineups too?"
"Hehe, learned it from Brother Yang." Xie Xiaotian scratched his head, blushing, and continued, "The difficult part is that the opponent's mage assassin can turn invisible. Don't know when he'll suddenly turn invisible for a sneak attack. If Xiao Xing gets insta-killed, there won't be enough damage output in team fights. Our lineup's damage is still on the lower side."
"Analysis is correct. Jingzhe has an offensive lineup—high burst, weak defense; we have a defensive counter-attack lineup—low damage, strong sustain."
Tianhuan only had Chi Shuo and Cheng Xing as two damage points; top, mid, and support were all protective heroes. Jingzhe had Blade Will, Shadow Warlock, and Curse Warlock as three damage points, and the jungler and support weren't very tanky either.
One side was a sharp spear, the other a solid shield.
It was hard to say who would win.
The match gradually dragged to 15 minutes.
Chi Shuo and Ye Shaoyang kept looking for opportunities to catch the opposing marksman.
Xie Yuan was killed twice consecutively by this mid-jungle Demon King duo.
Xie Yuan: "Damn! These two are targeting me for kills. Should I change my name to: I Am Also Very Square?"
Fang Zhengqing laughed, "Don't go out. Farm in the jungle. Support stick with marksman, farm money as fast as possible."
Xie Yuan simply didn't show his face, running to his own jungle to farm. Since Jingzhe had a tool man jungler who only initiated fights and didn't need economy, all jungle resources were given to Xie Yuan.
With the support adding gold, even though Xie Yuan died twice, he slowly farmed up.
Both sides grouped to push mid.
In a mid-lane team fight, due to the presence of the defense tower, forcefully initiating required tanking tower damage. But Jingzhe had [White Bear] this game, able to summon a bear to tank the tower. With an offensive lineup, they still initiated forcefully without hesitation!
However, this time Cheng Xing's positioning was very careful and didn't get sat on by the White Bear.
He hid in the side bush, exploding his hand speed to shoot arrows. The opposing top laner and jungler rushed under the tower and were quickly whittled down by Cheng Xing.
Xie Yuan's hand speed was flying, stacking curses on Old Qin and Qu Jiang—magic damage from curses, physical damage from basic attacks. The frontline really couldn't withstand this "hybrid damage" curse flow playstyle.
Old Qin had built magic resistance items by now, but his physical defense equipment wasn't complete. Being continuously shot by basic attacks, the thick-skinned Paladin was at critical health in the blink of an eye.
Old Qin turned to run, but a black shadow suddenly darted out of the bush, quickly taking his head.
Fang Zhengqing had been squatting on the flank for a long time, seizing the opportunity to insta-kill Tianhuan's frontline. Immediately following, Jingzhe's top laner flanked to cut Cheng Xing. Qu Jiang activated his ultimate to heal Cheng Xing.
Ye Shaoyang opened the equipment panel and saw the opposing marksman had just finished a new item, [Chain Lightning]. The effect of this item was triggering chain damage every 3 basic attacks, splashing onto nearby enemy targets.
Xie Yuan couldn't hit Cheng Xing, but he could hit Old Qin and Qu Jiang.
The curse mark on Cheng Xing would chain over from Qu Jiang. If this continued, black curse marks would appear on all 5 members of Tianhuan!
They absolutely couldn't let Xie Yuan stack too many curse marks, or they wouldn't be able to tank it.
Chi Shuo also noticed this and said, "Don't let the opposing marksman stack marks, I'll go insta-kill him."
Ye Shaoyang immediately coordinated with Chi Shuo to kill Xie Yuan.
At this time, Xie Yuan's attack speed equipment was fully stacked, and curses stacked extremely fast.
Cheng Xing had no magic resistance items, and his health dropped rapidly. Qu Jiang's healing ultimate barely brought his health back up, but Jingzhe's top laner was also an experienced veteran who had played in world tournaments. Seizing the opportunity, he flashed to flank the rear. Holding a saber in his left hand and a sword in his right, snowy white blade lights and sword shadows surrounded Cheng Xing completely!
Cheng Xing persisted for a few seconds but failed to escape.
Meanwhile, Chi Shuo and Ye Shaoyang's linkage this time wasn't smooth. Ye Shaoyang sealed and controlled Xie Yuan, but the [Bounty Warlock] who had been protecting by the side suddenly ulted, an RW combo—
Overwhelming gold coins rained down, and a golden glittering wall erected in front of the marksman!
Entering the range of the gold coin rain caused rapid health loss.
After building two defense items at the start, [Bounty Warlock] followed up with a Burst Wand. This wand could trigger the "magic stacking" effect of multi-hit damage. With the gold coin rain constantly falling, magic damage stacked rapidly. Even with only this one offensive item, he could deal decent damage.
Although Chi Shuo killed the marksman with a burst combo, he was also beaten to critical health.
Ye Shaoyang immediately shielded Chi Shuo to assist his retreat. Originally, as long as Chi Shuo could retreat, Tianhuan wouldn't lose too much. However, Fang Zhengqing, who had circled back from the flank after killing someone, blocked Chi Shuo's retreat route. Using the QW combo that had just finished cooling down, he added a wave of damage and took Chi Shuo's head.
1-for-3, this was a bit of a loss!
The opposing marksman was insta-killed by Chi Shuo, but 4 people were still alive. Ye Shaoyang's mid laner had little damage output ability. The White Bear ran over to tank the tower, and the 4 forcibly pushed down the mid tower.
Jingzhe was very extreme this game; even the support built an offensive item.
Was this carrying damage output to the end?
Jingzhe's choice was correct; these top professional players understood equipment very thoroughly.
Xie Yuan built Chain Lightning, stacking curses on all 5 members of Tianhuan. Fang Zhengqing had pure burst items, insta-killing the frontline with one combo. The support's Burst Wand, with the multi-hit damage of the gold coin rain magic crit stacking, could break shields at maximum speed.
S-group teams were relatively well-rounded in ability. Ye Shaoyang was convinced by this lost team fight.
Jingzhe's five players hadn't changed, having honed their synergy for two seasons. Their tacit understanding in initiating team fights was indeed better than the current Tianhuan. Tianhuan's team fight just now was actually played well, but the key was still the equipment issue.
Old Qin couldn't tank it!
Jingzhe targeted the top lane this game. Old Qin failed to develop well, had poor equipment, and the frontline fell too fast. Could Cheng Xing, a squishy little thing, stand and trade blows with the opposing well-fed warrior? He could only lie flat after persisting for a few seconds.
The flaw of Tianhuan's weak damage output this game was exposed at this time. With only Cheng Xing + Chi Shuo as two damage points, team fight damage wasn't enough.
The opponent's [Bounty Warlock] system farmed economy extremely fast. Although Ye Shaoyang and Chi Shuo interrupted their rhythm several times, they still managed to snowball.
Xie Yuan frantically farmed the jungle with the support, and his economy actually surpassed Cheng Xing's.
Fang Zhengqing led Ye Shaoyang by a whole major item.
When Xie Yuan finished his 6-god items (full build), Xiao Xing only had a 4-item set.
With professional players at similar skill levels, it's normal to lose under equipment suppression.
Jingzhe had three damage points, and Fang Zhengqing could turn invisible. Chi Shuo couldn't deal with the invisible Fang Zhengqing. In the final high ground team fight, Fang Zhengqing and the top laner flashed to the back row together, instantly killing Cheng Xing.
Cheng Xing lowered his head and said, "Sorry…"
Ye Shaoyang said, "It's okay, not your fault alone."
Any marksman would be dead meat if forcefully targeted by Jingzhe's top and mid laners together.
Ye Shaoyang thought calmly for a moment.
The key to losing this game was actually that Tianhuan's defensive counter-attack lineup was broken through by Jingzhe at maximum speed before their defensive items were completed. The spear was too sharp, while the shield wasn't strong enough.
Jingzhe played a fast-paced early game and won the match relying on equipment advantage.
Looking at the grayed-out screen, Ye Shaoyang took off his headphones and looked back at Chi Shuo: "My fault this game."
Chi Shuo also took off his headphones and said, "My fault."
The two spoke almost simultaneously.
Teammates: "??"
Does your tacit understanding also include fighting to take the blame when losing a match?
Cheng Xing looked blank: "This… shouldn't it be my fault?"
Old Qin scratched his head: "I feel it's my fault?"
Qu Jiang laughed out loud beside them: "How many pots (blames) are enough for you guys to carry! It's fine, it's fine, just 1:1. I think Jingzhe's team fight coordination was very good this game, and their rhythm was also good. Worth learning from. Let's review it when we go back."
Old Qin nodded: "True, Jingzhe has always ranked second in Group S. Losing to them isn't shameful."
Chi Shuo said lightly, "We haven't lost yet."
Ye Shaoyang smiled and said, "Right, there's still a third game, don't rush!"
Old Qin made a gesture of slapping his own mouth: "Wrong, wrong. I meant, losing one small game isn't shameful!"
Ye Shaoyang felt warm in his heart. After losing a match, everyone didn't blame each other but fought to take the blame. Such a team atmosphere was really quite good. Although the current Tianhuan still had some shortcomings, wasn't it everyone's joint effort?
Coach Lin walked quickly into the soundproof booth and said, "There were many problems this game. We'll review the specifics after the match. Everyone don't think about it for now, let's prepare well for the third game."
He looked at Ye Shaoyang and whispered, "Third game, Shaoyang commands, okay?"
Ye Shaoyang nodded simply: "No problem!"
Author's Note:
The Bounty Warlock system references the Jiang Ziya support system that was once very popular in Honor of Kings, relying on support adding experience (gold coins) to establish an advantage quickly and play the early game.
This is a typical early-game fast-paced lineup.
If dragged to the late game, Jingzhe would definitely collapse as their system is very squishy. But they didn't give Tianhuan the chance to drag it out and ended the match quickly.
Tianhuan wanted to drag it to the late game but couldn't hold on, so losing is normal~~