You promised a top lane tutorial, but you're just using Worlds as material for your videos?

Chapter 197 The Game of Summoner Spells
When the countdown to select champions reached its final second, the blue team's fifth player suddenly revealed Darius and locked him in.

This first pick of Darius naturally caused a stir among the audience.

"Wow, Zhou Shen really picked Darius! Unbelievable!" Miller exclaimed.

"Zhou Shen really does what he says!" Remember added, "He posted on D-site before the match that he wanted to play Darius today, and here he is!"

Upon hearing this, Rita added, "Uh, I originally thought that if LGD were to take a 2-0 lead, Zhou Shen might pick Darius."

"But LGD is currently trailing by a large margin, how dare they pick this?"

"All I can say is, this is Zhou Shen!" Miller said.

LGD's Darius lock-in move shocked not only the audience but also the commentators.

Online viewers were equally shocked.

In the official live stream room, the chat was practically going crazy with comments!
Wow, he's really playing Darius! That's Zhou Shen's integrity; he said he'd play today, so he played!

All I can say is respect. LGD is still lagging behind, and Zhou Shen actually dared to pick Darius. His courage is commendable!

Are you sure Zhou Chu wasn't just trying to show off by picking Darius? Is Darius even viable in a competitive match?

[Indeed, what's the point of losing a competition if you're just trying to show off?]

[Weren't 60E bragging about waiting for Zhou Shen to play Darius? Now that he actually picked it, you're saying Zhou Shen was just showing off. You've really run out of things to say!]

[Hehe, go for it! I'd love for Zhou Chu to pick Darius. At worst, LGD will be down 0-2, and I'd love to see that!]

[60e is making a scene! You think Darius is useless in competitive play? Who do you think you are?!]

[Exactly, if Darius is useless, then is top lane Tristana useful? Is top lane Lucian useful? Is top lane Yasuo useful? Is top lane Cassiopeia useful? Never question Zhou's champion picks!]

[Seriously, picking Darius was a good idea this game. With Rumble's short legs, he's going to get slaughtered by Darius!]

Darius also has short legs!

But Darius has Ghost!

This is a competitive match! Doesn't the top laner need to bring Teleport?

[What's the point of having Teleport? Darius is practically useless without Ghost.]

[Wuhu, my favorite Darius is here! I have to support LGD now!]

Actually, Rumble with Ignite has a better lane against Darius!

[Zhou Shen dares to not bring teleportation, would 957 dare to?]

【makes sense! 】

【.】

After LGD locked in Darius, the director immediately focused the camera on PYL, who had picked Darius, and Zhou Dian, who was about to play Darius.

On camera, PYL tilted his head, talking and laughing at the same time.

Zhou Dian was also smiling.

Seeing this, Miller said, "Oh my, Zhou looks very relaxed. I'm looking forward to his performance with Darius this game!"

The WE players' bench, in a spot not shown on camera.

When 957 saw that LGD had picked Darius, his expression immediately became serious.

"Damn it, I knew there was something dirty going on! I should have just refused to play Rambo!" 957 thought to himself.

Of course, Rumble can actually play against Darius in lane.

But as I said before, any top laner will inevitably feel a little bit of fear and apprehension when facing Darius.

Unless you get a champion that's the ultimate counter to Darius in lane, where you don't need to do anything but replay your skills to easily crush Darius.

Otherwise, even if you have an advantage against Darius, it's easy for Darius to find an opportunity.

Once you activate Sprint, just unleash a flurry of attacks and you'll be dead.

Rumble is clearly the kind of champion who, once Darius uses Ghost to charge at him, is completely unable to retaliate.

All I can say is that this is the intimidating power of Darius.

Anyone laning against Darius must always be extremely careful, always stay on edge, and never let their guard down for even a moment.

Otherwise, you'll get sprinted and killed.

Condi also noticed 957's unusual expression and quickly said:
"Wow, picking Darius in a match? That's just feeding! Leg Bro, wait for me to gank that Darius and we're done!"

Condi knew, of course, that Zhou Dian wasn't the type to give gifts.

But at times like this, all we can do is cheer on our top laner.

Subsequently, on the fifth floor of the red side, WE locked in LeBlanc as their last pick.

"Oh, it's still LeBlanc. Xiye's choice is the same as last game!"

Miller continued, "It seems that after the first game, WE's mid and jungle players have gained confidence, and in this game they directly pulled out the LeBlanc and Lee Sin mid-jungle combination!"

"How should I put it, this mid-jungle duo is just so ranked!" Remember added.

"Snowballing is invincible; once you have an advantage, you become incredibly powerful!"

"But correspondingly, once these two heroes lose their advantage, they become extremely skill-dependent if you want them to be effective!"

This concludes the business plan.

The two head coaches left the players' bench and walked to the center of the stage to shake hands.

Both of them wore calm and unhurried smiles.

the difference is.

Even after they entered the players' tunnel, Hongmi still had a smile on her face.

The smile on Dgc's face had long since vanished.

Instead, he looked apprehensive.

He really had no confidence at all in this game!

For the LGD team, this game was one they truly couldn't afford to lose.

If we lose this game, we'll be down 0-2.

How incredibly difficult it is to come back from a 0-2 deficit to win 3-2!
"Brothers, you have to give it your all!"

All Dgc can do now is pray for his teammates.

Especially Zhou Dian.

He was actually not really willing for Zhou Dian to choose Darius.

It's not that I have any prejudice against this hero.

The main issue is that Darius needs Ghost; without it, he's practically useless.

But in competitive matches, top laners can't do without teleport!
You can't bring Sprint and Teleport with you!

That's even worse. You absolutely must have the Flash skill.

Damn it, if only top laners could carry three summoner spells!

After the two head coaches stepped down, the game had reached the loading screen on the big screen.

The lineup for the second game of the final.

Blue side LGD:

Top lane Darius, jungle Graves, mid lane Karma, bot lane Varus and Braum.

Red Team WE:

Top lane Rumble, jungle Lee Sin, mid lane LeBlanc, bot lane Ashe and Thresh.

Soon, the scene changed.

The entire Summoner's Rift was displayed on the large screen at the event.

"Go WE!"

"LGD, keep it up!"

The fans at the scene also began to cheer loudly for their favorite team.

Of course, there were a lot of people at the finals, and the fans from both sides were seated rather scattered.

Unlike during the LPL regular season, when there are fewer people and the fans of each team are clearly divided.

There are also people specifically tasked with leading the chanting of slogans, so naturally they chant in unison.

In contrast, the cheering chants at the finals were a bit chaotic.

At times like this, you just have to shout and try to outdo each other in volume.

The number of WE fans at the scene was undoubtedly greater, and naturally, their cheers were also louder.

Amidst the chaos, certain things stand out even more.

As the OB interface appeared on the big screen, the chaotic cheering and shouting from the crowd gradually subsided.

The second game of the 2017 LPL Spring Split Finals has officially begun.

In the early stages, both sides lined up along the river, occupying various entrances to the jungle.

Since it was the final, both sides were playing it safe and adopted a more defensive opening formation.

Moreover, LGD has Braum on their side, so in a level 1 fight, WE definitely can't win.

Therefore, WE had no intention of invading LGD's jungle to gain vision.

LGD, on the other hand, is on the blue side, where intrusion is less convenient and the benefits of intrusion are not high.

There's no need to take risks; let's play it safe first.

However, when the OB interface appeared, no one paid attention to the starting positions on both sides.

Everyone immediately looked at Darius's Summoner Spells.

In the top left corner of the screen, below the ID LGDZhou, to the left of Darius's avatar.

It refers to the two Summoner Spells: Flash and Ghost.

"Oh, Zhou Shen didn't bring Teleport this game, but chose to bring Sprint instead!" Miller immediately said.

"Darius is a champion who really needs Ghost!"

Remember continued, "It's a trade-off, a choice between teleportation and sprint. Zhou Shen chose sprint and gave up teleportation!"

“Wei Shen’s Karma had Teleport in this game, maybe Zhou Shen took that into consideration!” Rita said.

If the mid laner doesn't bring Teleport, then Zhou Dian absolutely must bring Teleport in this game.

In a competition, a team can't be without a single teleport.

If you don't have a single teleport, you'll be completely outmatched by your opponent's minion waves in the mid-to-late game.

Of course, it's also because Wei Shen was playing Karma in this game, which allows him to bring teleport.

Only then will Zhou Dian feel comfortable choosing Darius.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have chosen it.

If you absolutely have to bring teleport, you might as well switch to another hero.

Darius is a champion that only truly shines when you use Flash and Ghost!
When Rita mentioned that LGD had a teleport in the mid lane, Miller nodded subconsciously.

"That's true. But Xiye's LeBlanc also had teleportation in this game!" Miller changed the subject.

"WE still has multiple teleports, so dealing with side lane minions in the mid-to-late game will be much easier for them than for LGD!"

Miller only considered WE's multiple Rumble teleports, which gave them an advantage in lane pushing.

But he clearly overlooked one thing.

Darius simply didn't bring Teleport, not that he's missing a Summoner Spell.

Even before the game started loading.

Zhou Dian's first action was to check what Summoner Spells Rumble was using.

When he saw that Rumble had Teleport and Flash, he breathed a slight sigh of relief.

They are now more confident of winning this game.

If Zhou Dian were playing Rumble, and his mid-lane LeBlanc was willing to take Teleport, he would definitely take Ignite.

957 didn't bring Ignite here, but brought Teleport, which clearly shows his weakness!

Rumble, with Ignite, has a real chance to crush Darius.

But if you don't ignite it, you'll have absolutely no initiative in the laning phase.

The only options are either getting completely destroyed by Darius or holding your own in lane; there's no such thing as completely destroying Darius.

957 didn't dare to take Ignite, which clearly shows that he just wanted to hold his own in the laning phase in this game.

After all, Darius is clumsy in team fights and can easily get killed.

Rumble can reliably deal damage in team fights.

However, when 957 thinks like that, things really go wrong.

This only shows that he doesn't understand Darius.

When facing a Darius with Ghost, you basically only have two options: either you crush Darius or you get crushed by Darius.

Do you want to maintain stability?

You can't stabilize things just because you want to!
Against a Darius with Ghost, that choice isn't yours.

This Rambo didn't have it lit.

Therefore, the option of defeating Darius in the weekly rankings is no longer available.

So, for 957's Rumble, the only option left is to get crushed by Zhou Dian's Darius!
Back to the game.

With the jungle monsters about to spawn, Zhou Dian, controlling Darius, headed straight for the red team's top lane tri-bush.

(End of this chapter)