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

Chapter 469 Kid, hand over your first blood!

Actually, it's not just the dragons; the Rift Herald this season is in the same predicament, which is quite awkward.

It's something that people do when they feel like it; no one designs a specific lineup or strategy to contest the Rift Herald.

There are only two neutral resources that are valued by both sides: Baron Nashor and Elder Dragon.

Of course, there are exceptions to this.

The exceptions are the earth dragon and the water dragon.

However, it will not have sufficient strategic value in all situations.

The Earth Dragon increases the speed at which you kill monsters in the jungle.

In this slower-paced version, the introduction of the Earth Dragon provides more opportunities to rush the Baron and end the game.

However, this is on the premise that there are two earth dragons.

The speed boost from a single Earth Dragon is often insufficient for taking down a Baron Nashor.

Therefore, only after one side has acquired an earth dragon will they go to great lengths to compete for the second earth dragon that appears later.

This brings us back to the previous question: when the first earth dragon appeared, neither side was very willing to fight.

No one can guarantee that there will be more Earth Dragons later, or that our side can secure them.

Therefore, the moment when both sides have the strongest desire to fight for the dragon is when the first dragon is a water dragon.

During the laning phase, the earlier you secure this water dragon, the more valuable it is.

The reply provided by a water dragon, while far from being a "mobile fountain," can certainly be described as a "mobile health potion."

Besides, health potions only restore health, and there are no blue potions available for sale now.

The water dragon restores both health and mana, which may not seem like much, but it's extremely useful during the early laning phase.

The battle for the dragon during the laning phase basically depends on which side's bot lane has the advantage.

In this game, LGD picked Caitlyn, the lane bully, in the bot lane, and coincidentally, the first dragon was a water dragon. Wasn't that pretty lucky?
"Our luck has turned around, brothers!" Wei Shen said with a smile.

"Take it slow, take it slow, don't think that far ahead," PYL quickly said.

The reason I say this is because PYL is a little panicked.

The main issue is Lulu, a support champion that PYL isn't very skilled at playing.

After all, Varus is also a formidable laner, and PYL was somewhat worried that his bot lane wouldn't be able to gain a significant advantage in this game.

PYL felt immense pressure, especially when he discovered that the first little dragon was a water dragon.

This requires them to gain an advantage in the bottom lane this game.

It doesn't require a huge advantage; just enough to secure the first dragon.

"I wish I could play Karma again this time," PYL thought to himself.

The bot lane duo of female police officer Karma is characterized by its lack of strategic thinking.

Even if the Heavenly King himself came, he would be suppressed when he came to my side.

But actually, the combination of Caitlyn and Lulu is absolutely top-tier in terms of lane dominance in this version.

The main issue was that PYL was somewhat uncertain about the outcome of the game and seemed less confident.

PYL picked up her water glass, took a sip, and shook her head to clear her mind of these distracting thoughts.

He knew very well that Lulu wasn't as effective as Karma in the top lane.

This time, Kalma is in Zhou Dian's hands, and he can play a greater role.

Amidst the continuous cheers and jeers from the audience, LGD and Samsung, facing off in the decisive game, opted for the safest starting formation.

The classic long, single-line formation.

The heroes from both sides lined up along the river from top to bottom, occupying every pass into the jungle.

With the minion waves not yet spawned and the jungle monsters not yet cleared, the commentators naturally focused on the keystone runes and starting items of the two heroes.

Miller glanced up and saw that Zhou Dian's keystone rune for top lane Karma was [Grasp of the Undying].

"The Undying Sona is really playing the same top lane Sona build as you do in solo queue!"

The doll added, "Not only Karma, but Lulu also brought Thunderlord's Decree this game. LGD's attitude is very clear: they're going to go head-to-head with you!"

Zhou Dian's Undying top lane Karma is really just a nuisance, nothing more than a disruptive and annoying character.

But LGD's bot lane duo is playing a style that leaves no room for survival.

PYL's Lulu chose Thunderlord's Decree as her keystone rune, and imp's Caitlyn surprisingly started with Doran's Shield.

A Caitlyn with Doran's Shield means it's impossible to lose the lane!

When Ruler saw the policewoman's Doran's Shield, he felt a chill run down his spine.

However, Ruler then realized that since his top laner was Shen, the bot lane might also have a chance.

For LGD, if Caitlyn is picked, she will definitely have to go to the lane and push the lane directly. If she helps the jungler clear the jungle, her effectiveness will be greatly reduced if she can't push the lane first.

So, Eimy started with the red buff, and Zhou Dian helped him clear the jungle.

imp then took PYL and went straight to the lane to start pushing.

On the other hand, although they guessed that LGD's bot lane duo wouldn't help the jungler clear the jungle and would go straight to the lane to push.

However, Samsung's bot lane duo still managed to get the red buff for Lee Sin.

Samsung's choice of Ueno with Lee Sin and Shen was specifically aimed at Zhou Dian.

Even though Zhou Dian unexpectedly picked a "noob" top laner, Ambition still decided to execute the pre-determined strategy.

Samsung's extremely strict adherence to pre-match plans has the advantage of virtually eliminating mistakes.

As for the downsides, of course, it's the lack of adaptability and flashes of inspiration.

But in Samsung's gaming philosophy, these things don't matter.

After Zhou Dian helped Eimy's Gragas activate the red buff and returned to lane, the enemy Shen was already pushing the lane by last-hitting minions.

Cuvee knew that once Karma pushed the lane, he would face endless torment, so he wanted to take advantage of the moment and push as much as he could.

However, the torment of elderly women with strong, resilient bodies is everywhere.

Whether it's pushing the lane or being pushed, it doesn't matter.

Sa and Sa!!

Karma used her RQ combo and hit the backline minions of the blue team.

The enhanced mental flames (Q) from the mantra (R) had a huge impact, brushing against Shen at the edge.

Cuvee pressed Q in time, and Shen's passive gave him a shield. In addition, he moved out of Karma's RQ damage range and did not take the second part of the damage, so he did not lose much health.

However, Shen painstakingly farmed a lot of minions, only to have Karma push him back with a single RQ combo.

A hero who can severely torment their opponent in a solo lane generally has one of the following two characteristics.

They either have incredibly long reach or they can push lanes incredibly fast.

Unfortunately, Karma has both of those traits.

Shen, on the other hand, is the kind of clumsy hero who has short range and is incredibly slow at pushing lanes.

With one side gaining strength and the other losing strength, the laning phase between these two heroes is incredibly torturous!
Sa and Sa!!

Sa and Sa!!

After laning for less than two minutes, Cuvee already felt like Karma's line was all over his head.

Cuvee didn't specifically look into the meaning of this line.

He didn't want to know either.

He was puzzled by one thing: was this line cursed?

It was like a demonic voice entering his brain, impossible to shake off, constantly echoing in his head. (From the Samsung team's voice chat.)

"Bro, when are you going to come up and catch this B? Hurry up, I can't take it anymore!" Cuvee said anxiously.

This is the first time in this BO5 semifinals that Cuvee has proactively called for reinforcements during the laning phase.

Hearing Cuvee's call, Master An's expression remained unchanged, and he continued farming without slowing down, saying, "Don't worry, I'll definitely go when I have the chance."

Although the match between LGD and Samsung only lasted for this BO5.

However, after playing four games, Master An had come to a profound realization—

This thief Zhou is hard to catch!
After several games, Zhou Dian has been classified as one of the most difficult top laners to catch in An Zhangmen's mind.

However, in An Zhangmen's mind, the other top laners who were as difficult to catch as Zhou Dian were the type who were as steady as a rock.

Simply put, those players are hard to catch because they focus all their attention on preventing ganks during the laning phase and don't consider anything else.

Therefore, these "steady as a rock" top laners naturally have little to no dominance in the laning phase.

When they get a winning hero, these "steady as a rock" players will even give up lane dominance just to avoid being ganked.

Zhou Dian is naturally completely different from these types of players.

He never misses an opportunity to put pressure on people, yet he's surprisingly hard to completely control.

Master An pondered the difference between Zhou Dian and those other people.

Those who are "as steady as an old dog" are impossible to catch.

Zhou Dian is very difficult to catch and kill.

Yes, it's not that you can't catch him at all, it's just that it's very difficult to kill him!

There are even frequent instances where junglers are counter-killed by Zhou Dian.

This has happened many times in LGD's past matches.

Master An didn't want to make those pointless attempts; they would be a complete waste of time.

Because of the Roundhouse Kick, Lee Sin is actually a hero with a very high skill ceiling.

However, generally speaking, the blind man's growth curve tends to decline in the mid-to-late game.

It was in such an important BO5 deciding game again.

Therefore, Master An wants every gank by his Lee Sin, every time his position is revealed, to be purposeful and not a waste of effort.

Having just finished taking down the river crab, Anzhangmen knew that Zhou Dian's Karma had already placed a ward in the river bush in the top lane, so he controlled Lee Sin to turn around and return to his own jungle to farm, waiting for the next wave of attacks.

Meanwhile, Master An reminded his own bottom lane to be careful.

LGD's jungler Gragas should have already taken down the river crab by now.

Upon hearing this, Ruler couldn't help but think to himself, "What am I supposed to be careful about? My support and I are already pinned under the tower. Am I supposed to be careful of Gragas diving the tower?"

Of course, the ruler could only keep these little complaints to himself and dared not say them out loud.

After being repeatedly pinned down by the policewoman and forced to randomly attack under the tower for two consecutive rounds, leaving Ruler with a head full of bumps, he was naturally a little indignant.

Ruler thought how great it would be if his own jungler were here right now.

With that kind of pressure, how could LGD's bot lane duo dare to push like that? Why would I be completely afraid to fight back?

It would be one thing if they faced Uzi like that when playing against RNG in the group stage.

After all, RNG's bot lane isn't a duo lane, it's a trio, quad, or even a quintuplet lane, so we have to be patient.

How did things get like this when we were playing against LGD?

Of course, Ruler is a very professional player, and he knows that the current situation is caused by the coaching staff's pre-match arrangements.

He will also strictly follow the pre-match instructions.

Samsung's coaching staff did not plan to focus their tactics on the bottom lane in the early and mid-game.

The reason for this situation is naturally because LGD's top laner is too good at attracting attention.

"I can't just ignore him!" Emperor Chi thought to himself.

The painful example of LCK's number one seed, Dragon Ball, is still fresh in our minds.

They didn't pay much attention to Zhou Dian's Dragon Ball in the early and mid-game, and were mercilessly swept 3-0 by LGD.

Ignoring Zhou Dian when beating LGD is just like ignoring Faker when beating SKT!

It boils down to two words: waiting to die!
Dragon Ball a week ago and RNG yesterday are living examples.

Snapped!
Varus, who was last-hitting minions under the tower, was shot in the head by Caitlyn's passive, causing him to lose a significant amount of health.

Startled, Ruler's movements slowed slightly, causing him to miss a tower strike.

Ruler quickly shook his head, clearing his mind of all distractions, and focused all his attention on finishing off each tower strike.

In the other half of the map, after clearing the jungle monsters in his own blue buff area, Master An turned around and controlled the Blind Monk to go to the river.

He mentally estimated that the wards in the river bushes on the top lane would be gone by the time they expired, so he headed straight for the top lane.

In the commentary box.

Seeing the blind man walk straight into the top lane river bush, and the ward in the bush had just disappeared a second ago, Miller couldn't help but say, "Wow, the ward was just in time. Master An is quite lucky!"

"Danger! Karma, I wonder if Zhou Shen has sensed the killing intent!"

The moment the vision disappeared from the bush, the blind man rushed through to gank, and Miller instinctively assumed it was just good luck.

Little do people know that calculating the duration of vision range is also a fundamental skill for professional junglers.

It's just that very few junglers can master this fundamental skill to such an extent as Master An.

As the blind man entered the top lane river bush, Zhou Dian's Karma took two steps back.

"Hey, did Zhou Shen sense it?" Miller said excitedly.

However, Karma only retreated slightly; her overall position still crossed the river line.

Master An showed no emotion when he saw Karma's actions.

He didn't think Zhou Dian had guessed that he had already begun his journey.

This is simply the reaction a top laner with excellent awareness should have.

Karma's retreat came too quickly.

It was so fast it was as if they had already seen the enemy jungler arrive.

When the enemy jungler's location is unknown and there is no vision around, any laner with good anti-gank awareness will choose to retreat a bit.

Whether the amount refunded varies from person to person.

If it were one of those "rock-solid" top laners, they would definitely back down far away at this point.

Of course, those people certainly wouldn't press forward that far.

Master An knew that Zhou Dian was the kind of person who would not let go of any opportunity to suppress others during the laning phase.

Karma's retreat was merely a subconscious action; she maintained a distance that allowed her to poke and harass Shen at any moment.

Okay, that's exactly what we want – you have to dominate people. If you don't dominate, we really can't catch you!
Master An glanced at the target and immediately felt that this gank was a sure thing.

Kid, hand over your first blood!

The Blind Monk walked to the edge of the top lane river grass and suddenly stopped.

Instead of walking out directly, Master An called for Cuvee to go first.

If someone else were playing Karma, Ambition would have charged out immediately, since Lee Sin still had the red buff and would definitely be able to keep the enemy in place.

However, the impression that Zhou Dian left on Ambition in the previous game with Fiora was really too deep.

(End of this chapter)