Starting with Zaozi Ge, a dream lineup

Chapter 242 Version Malice, Champion's Curse

The tower plating mechanic was first introduced to all players after IG won the championship at the end of Season 8.

In the previous version, the last time Riot Games made changes to the turret mechanics was in Season 6.

Before the change, all three outer turrets had a damage reduction mechanism, providing a percentage-based damage reduction in the first few minutes of the game.

This was a nerf made to counter the poke-style fast push system developed by LCK and the lane swapping tactics prevalent in LPL.

And what was the biggest problem with the previous version?
In the first few minutes, the turrets only provide protection for the top and mid lanes; the turrets in the bottom lane receive zero protection from the start.

The appearance of the tower plate also means that all teams that rely on teleport to make plays in the bottom lane are in big trouble.

The reason is simple: now there is not only the existence of the first tower, but also the tower plate mechanism. If a solo laner dares to play some fancy tricks and has no lane priority, the most direct impact is that they will give away five tower plates and a first blood for free.

With the keen sense of professional players regarding the version, even without Li Luo's reminder, everyone noticed the deeper impact.

In professional matches, the protection of turrets allows some heroes who are weak in lane to develop relatively smoothly in the early game, but at the same time it makes it difficult for junglers to find opportunities in the early game.

But things are different now. Once a weak hero is pushed under the tower, a tower dive will result in more than just the loss of kills, minions, and experience; the stronger side will also lose the tower plates.

The ultimate nerf to herbivorous junglers and the rise of carnivorous junglers is one aspect.

Meanwhile, the battle for the tower plate will undoubtedly become the first resource point to be contested on the field. Consequently, the Vanguard, which is usually not highly regarded, will become a higher priority than the Dragon.

The key to team strategy will be in the top, mid, and jungle lanes.

Secondly, the core of the game returns to the top lane.

Finally, for ADCs in the bottom lane, the threat posed by a top laner with an advantage is devastating. The top lane is relatively long, and once a top laner gains an advantage, they can make plays using the minion wave at their own pace.

At this point, Nakano's task becomes even more challenging. Every decision and every support action, if taken outside the field, means a loss.

"My god, isn't this nerf way too obvious? Isn't this just bringing top lane fighters back to the competitive scene?"

Letme frowned, realizing that things were not so simple. With this change, all teams would probably have to fight tooth and nail in the top and mid lanes.

Once an advantage is established in one lane, this exaggerated rate of development will definitely radiate to all three lanes.

An early advantage can easily be converted into a winning position thanks to the unstoppable split-pushing of the top laner.

At the same time, teams with stronger early-game offensive capabilities are more likely to win the game, with IG as a prime example, giving rise to a new meta favorite.

This indirectly weakens the ADC's position in the team.
Xiangguo and Xiaohu observed from different perspectives and discovered that a small change in the fist had not a simple consequence.

The changes to the tower plates were supposed to be released alongside a series of other changes, but now that they're being released suddenly at this time, the impact is actually far more terrifying than the S9 preseason.

ADCs no longer possess the absolute team dominance they had in Season 7. The rise of enchanter supports in the bot lane in Season 7 meant that the top and mid lanes were now primarily responsible for functional roles.

Now, the positions on both sides are about to undergo a major shift, with the bot lane ADC taking on more functional roles in the early and mid-game.

During the Spring Split, RNG's "four-protect-one" strategy was a tactic that teams from all major regions, including their own LPL region, couldn't crack.

Furthermore, since the release of Irelia in this version, Li Luo has taken a different approach and brought Irelia to the bottom lane, where she has proven to be surprisingly effective.

Li Luo's move left the Riot designers, who originally intended to increase the mid-laner's say, completely baffled.

After the Ardent Censer was nerfed in S8, the influence of ADCs was greatly reduced in the early and mid-game. The reason why RNG was still able to maintain such a strong record is not only due to the individual strength of the players, but also because of RNG's unique tactical system.

For example, Xiangguo and Xiaotian both played team-oriented junglers throughout the Spring Split, focusing on champions like Sejuani, Jarvan IV, and Rek'Sai. Their builds were mostly tanky front-line champions, which led to RNG influencing the emergence of jungle carry champions like Elise, Graves, and Nidalee.

For example, Letme in the top lane often picks tanky champions and just plays passively against you, preventing you from gaining an advantage and waiting for team fights, thus shifting the responsibility of carrying to the mid and bot lanes.

However, the emergence of the tower plate mechanism has completely changed the trend of the game, making "carnivorous junglers the king" and "top lane as the core in the early game" the prevailing trend.

RNG's previous tactical system seems to have gone against the mainstream of the current version.

accidental?

Or is Riot Games deliberately targeting RNG, a team that currently seems unbeatable?

Although Xiangguo didn't complain, he was completely inclined to the latter's judgment.

The obstacles that champion teams face in their pursuit of victory are not only their long-term research against all other teams, the pressure and inertia of players after becoming champions, but also various team coordination issues, and most importantly, the targeting from Riot Games.

Therefore, let alone a three-peat, even a two-peat in League of Legends is extremely difficult.

Historically, the incredibly strong SKT team also fell short on their path to a three-peat, falling just one step away from the championship, but never having the chance to touch it again.

Given Riot Games' current track record, if RNG were to win the S8 championship again, there's no doubt that S9 would be the most distorted version in history. In that version, Riot Games would target whatever weaknesses RNG or the LPL has.

It's no exaggeration to say that at that time, it was uncertain whether the green jungle item would ever return.

The higher the expectations and the higher the demands, the harder it is to resolve the disappointment and anger when you fail.

Many fans believe that RNG's performance should be characterized by easy 3-0 victories in every game and not losing a single match.

Historically, when RNG was defeated by G2 in S8, the internet was flooded with trolls, because they carried huge expectations and were the face of LPL in S8.

In reality, players are not machines; their performance fluctuates, especially during a season with frequent, uninterrupted matches, making their form even more crucial.

In the first match after the Tower Plate version was implemented in the Chinese server, RNG faced IG, the runner-up of the Spring Split.

Unsurprisingly, IG won the match decisively with a 2-0 victory.

This match, which surprised everyone, also indicated that Riot's nerfs were finally taking effect.

Following their match against IG, RNG suffered their second defeat against RW, losing 2-1.

RNG's performance in the Summer Split has been rather dismal after two consecutive best-of-three matches.

RNG is ranked third from the bottom in the overall team standings, which is also related to the fact that RNG still has many matches to play.

But this undoubtedly proves that RNG is no longer the invincible team it was in the Spring Split and MSI.

The team that achieved a 19-game winning streak in the Spring Split suffered two consecutive losses at the start of the Summer Split. For all RNG fans, a word they didn't want to face suddenly came to mind:

"The Champion's Curse"!
After two consecutive losses, Li Luo returned to the locker room and, unusually, remained silent.

A completely different kind of effortless cold emerged, and in these two best-of-three series, judging solely by his performance, he was basically a carry. Even in the second game against IG, RNG brought out their signature four-protect-one composition.

Unfortunately, just like the battle record, the results were minimal.

If weakening ADC attributes across the board could be considered a targeted move, then adding the tower plating mechanic is clearly Riot's way of killing RNG.

"It's okay, it's okay. We have points from the Spring Split, so losing isn't a big deal. Just adjust your mindset."

Chris felt extremely distressed when he saw the usually lively group of people looking dejected after losing the match against Rw.

After a setback, it sounds simple to be able to adjust your mindset and correct your mistakes and weaknesses, but it's actually quite difficult.

After a brief post-match debriefing, everyone boarded the bus back to the base.

Everyone was silent the whole way, including Xiaotian and Xiangguo, who wanted to liven things up, but they sat in a corner and scrolled through their phones in a bad mood.

"On RNG's vulnerability to a single blow: A detailed look at RNG's major weaknesses"

One picture tells you the gap between RNG and SKT. Want a dynasty? Think about how to get into Worlds first!

"Four solo kills and two solo kills: Is Letme's championship level questionable?"

Are the S7 and MSI champion teams in poor form and likely to miss the S8 World Championship?

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In the era of big data, as long as you are interested in a certain area, you will receive more and more interest-related push notifications.

After numbly clearing out all notifications and messages, Li Luo breathed a sigh of relief.

Even when he had just transmigrated and faced a Samsung team at its peak, even when Samsung had already secured match point, he was never afraid.

But now, the version of the game has finally made him realize how naive his previous "bold words" were.

The two games that RNG lost exposed an important problem.

First, RNG's top laners, whether it's Letme or Xiaodongbei, both showed some unfamiliarity when picking warrior top laners.

But this problem is actually easy to solve.

The two players' warrior top lane skills are not as weak as the outside world has suggested.

The long-term use of other heroes has only made the two players less proficient with these warriors, not completely lost them. As long as they maintain high-intensity training for a period of time, they will soon no longer become a weakness for RNG.

At least when facing opponents other than top-tier laners like TheShy, they won't be at a disadvantage.

But the second problem is a bit more serious.

RNG's previous playstyle is no longer suitable for the current version.

Especially in this version, you have to focus on the top lane, and the jungler has to pick some very strong heroes, otherwise they will lose the initiative in the early game.

However, if the jungler chooses a jungle carry champion and the top laner chooses a fighter, the team will inevitably lack front-line tanks and crowd control, which must be filled by the bottom and mid laners. As a result, utility AD carries such as Sivir, Kalista, and Varus have made a comeback.

Playing these ADCs is certainly not a problem. Having inherited Uzi's strength, Li Luo will naturally play these utility ADCs to provide depth to the team's lineup.

Even if they play like this, there's nothing wrong with RNG still being a strong team, and securing a spot in S8 shouldn't be a problem. However, they're still far from regaining their former dominance and winning the S8 championship.

The team's biggest carry, once the biggest player, has been forced to play utility ADCs due to Riot's targeting and version changes, making a decline in the team's control inevitable.

Solving the team's systemic problems is RNG's top priority going forward.

In the training room, no one chose to rest or relax after losing the game, but at this moment, everyone looked at Li Luo, who was sitting in the first seat, with a puzzled look.

The reason he showed such an expression was because Li Luo's suggestion regarding RNG's future team system sounded rather unbelievable.

To put it bluntly, I don't understand.

"You mean we should play more casually?" Chris asked thoughtfully. "What exactly do you mean?"

If it were any other professional player trying to overstep their bounds and take over the coach's responsibilities, interfering with the tactical system and training core, Chris would most likely not have asked such a question.

Because not every professional player has this kind of keen sense of smell. Most professional players who are active on the field, including Faker, do not play the game with their "brains," but with their innate talent and thousands of hours of training.

Take Faker, for example. He has been a top mid-laner in League of Legends for so many years, but if you ask him what his secret is to staying so strong, he simply can't tell you what kind of training he uses to maintain his form.

Could it be that he really relied on those little games he played during the live stream?
Don't ask, it's just a mini-game.

Furthermore, Faker has basically not made any innovations in the mid-lane position. Instead, he has mastered the hero strategies developed by others and played them more skillfully and aggressively than the developers themselves.

However, a few professional players demonstrate inventive abilities and use their "brains" to play the game.

This type of player can often determine the team's style of play. Although they may not be the team's commander, they are definitely the core of the team.

Their understanding of the game is not only ahead of the version, but more importantly, it is extraordinary, allowing them to perceive things that others cannot see.

The most typical examples are, of course, Doinb, who is still playing mid lane for Rw, and Sofm, who has not yet become the dominant force in the game.

Of course, now that he's Uzi, with his precognitive abilities, Li Luo has built up this impression on everyone in just over half a year.

In Chris's view, he is now clearly a team player who not only has exceptional skills but also the brains to lead the team.

His advanced understanding of the game version, in particular, sometimes even puts him to shame. RNG's current status is inseparable from Li Luo's forward-thinking insights.

Therefore, as soon as Li Luo brought it up, the RNG members all put down what they were doing and began to think about it seriously.

"Are you sure that when you say 'let's be free,' you don't mean we should just mess around?"

Xiao Hu looked at the group of heroes that Li Luo had mentioned and said with a wry smile.

"No, it's not just messing around, we should call it—making a scene."

Looking at Xiao Hu, Li Luo said with a "sincere" expression.

(End of this chapter)