The Road to Godhood in Honor of Kings

"Ye Da actually picked Zhang Liang; this game is in the bag," the fat man said.

"Tsk tsk." Xu Xiaomeng chuckled. "It seems you don't object to Ye Bing using whatever hero Fatty is willing to take?"

"Cough cough, where would he be? Besides, why would Ye Da pick those unreliable heroes? And even if Ye Da did pick an unreliable hero, he would play it very well..." the fat man muttered, his glib tongue like that of Sun Wukong. Even Ye Bing couldn't stand it anymore and hurriedly called for a stop: "Let's just focus on the game!"

The fat man nodded, "Roger!"

At the start of the game, the team invaded the enemy jungle as a whole. The enemy team's lineup was not very strong in the early game, while the TOL team was the opposite. Why not attack when you have an advantage? Strike first and you'll win.

The opposing Li Bai was currently attacking the red buff, but their target was the blue buff. It seems Yi Bing was quite clever, worried about having his blue buff stolen, so he chose to start with red. And indeed, starting with red is better for Li Bai in the early game than starting with blue. In many low-elo and even high-elo games, the marksman usually takes the first, or even all, red buffs at the start, which is a very wrong move. Junglers with high mobility, like Han Xin and Li Bai, don't have many skills at level one and don't lack mana, but they usually have to start with blue because the marksman has already taken the red. However, even if a marksman gets the red buff, the chances of getting first blood are not very high, even for marksmen like Hou Yi and Marco Polo who have strong sticking power. Since they lack mobility, even if you get the red buff, you're not guaranteed to kill the opponent.

However, it's different for junglers like Han Xin and Li Bai. Starting with the red buff at level one, as long as the opponent isn't too cowardly, ganking with teammates in lane is basically a guaranteed success, and getting first blood isn't too difficult. Moreover, the red buff should belong to the jungler. In the early game, the red buff is to increase the jungler's damage output so they can kill jungle monsters faster, while the blue buff is to replenish the jungler's mana. However, in many games nowadays, junglers without Smite are very vulnerable, and even if Smite isn't on cooldown, they might still be vulnerable.

In lower-ranked games, marksmen typically take the red buff, mages take the blue buff, but junglers also need to farm. Many junglers will take both the red and blue buffs at level one. Fortunately, junglers have Smite, allowing them to protect their buffs in the early game. However, once the jungler goes back to base to replenish their health or gank, the blue and red buffs are likely to be taken. This usually happens to mages or marksmen, but if you're playing a mana-intensive hero like Han Xin, having the blue buff could be crucial for killing the enemy or winning a team fight. But then a hero like Sun Wukong, Tachibana Ukyo, or even Cheng Yaojin, who doesn't lack mana, repeatedly steals your blue buff, which is incredibly frustrating.

After stealing the enemy's blue buff from the mage and support, Zhao Yun used his dash to pass through the wall, ready to kill. Xiao Qiao and Donghuang Taiyi naturally knew they had to run, since two people couldn't possibly defeat five. However, Zhang Liang blocked their path with his first skill, and the two of them crashed into the wall created by Zhang Liang's first skill without warning, getting stunned. The others swarmed in and took down the two enemies.

Yi Bing was somewhat helpless. He had just returned from taking the red buff, but when he went back to base, his own blue buff had been stolen, and two of his teammates had died...

So angry...

"Tsk tsk, Zhang Liang's first skill from Night School is so accurate, otherwise we probably wouldn't have been able to get those two kills," the fat guy said.

"Ahem, Fatty, there's a limit to how much you can flatter someone," Xu Xiaomeng said with a hint of helplessness.

"Ahem, what do you mean by flattery? I'm just stating the facts," the fat man said.

"Ahem, an explanation is just a cover-up," Han Cheng said calmly.

"Does the wife lead and the husband follow?" the fat man muttered.

"I'll beat you to death!" Xu Xiaomeng raised her hand, but Han Cheng quickly stopped her. The fat man looked touched, "It seems Little Orange still has a conscience..."

"Wrong, the competition comes first. We'll beat up the fat guy after the competition, even if we kill him." Han Cheng said calmly, while the fat guy made a face as if he was about to vomit blood.

The match continued, and TOL team gained an economic advantage at level one. The opposing Li Bai's power spike was after level four, since it's not easy for Li Bai to get a solo kill without his ultimate. However, Zhang Liang would also be around level four by then, and could freely use his ultimate to restrict Li Bai. Unless Li Bai's hand speed is fast enough and he doesn't participate in team fights, he can only use his ultimate to harass, which is no longer possible at the moment.

Li Bai's ultimate skill has been severely nerfed. For every additional hero unit within its range, the damage decreases by 15%, down to a minimum of 70%. This prevents Li Bai from using jungle monsters to farm his ultimate and harass the enemy carry. However, in team fights, if the carry is isolated, the damage will still be very high, but that seems unlikely...

Regarding the nerf to Li Bai's ultimate skill, many people believe that Li Bai is no longer viable in 1v1. However, they haven't paid attention to the skill's description. The reduced damage doesn't apply to all units, but only to hero units. Furthermore, the developers have slightly compensated by increasing Li Bai's base attack speed. Therefore, Li Bai is not only not weak in 1v1, but actually stronger. Although the duration of each stack of Li Bai's passive skill has been reduced by 50%, now stacking once every three seconds, even if you've already stacked four layers, you have to start stacking again after three seconds. However, in a 1v1 situation, at such close range, it's not easy to fail to stack the passive skill. Therefore, Li Bai is still viable in 1v1.

"Now that Li Bai's ultimate has been weakened, it's no longer realistic to think he can easily whittle down opponents like before. After all, in general, tanky heroes can withstand a hit from Li Bai's ultimate without much trouble, and squishy heroes usually don't always go it alone," Han Cheng analyzed. "That's why Ye Bing picked Zhang Liang, which can better protect Fatty's Lu Ban No. 7 and prevent him from being easily killed. Plus, with Zhang Liang's ultimate, the chances of a counter-kill are very high."

"Oh, Li Bai, if I could do it all over again, I wouldn't choose Li Bai. I'd choose this cutest little Lu Ban instead..." the fat man muttered.

“Great! Look at Fatty’s physique, if he became Lu Ban, no one would recognize him…” Xu Xiaomeng laughed.

The Tyrant has spawned, and at this time, the enemy Li Bai is still developing well and has already reached level four. He is hesitating whether to contest the Tyrant.

If you're at least level 4 Zhang Liang, it's fine, but if you're at least level 4 Zhang Liang, it's hard to say...