League of Legends: League of Unknowns

Team Liaoning began to retreat, and in response, the other four members of Team Shanghai decided to go for the Baron Nashor decisively. But just as Team Liaoning vanished into the fog, the sky suddenly darkened.

Boom!

The sound of thunder rumbling came with a shade that robbed away Team Shanghai’s vision, and a pitch-black creature with a pair of sharp wings was seen gliding through the darkness and it struck right into the heart of the four members of Team Shanghai.

It was Nocturne who had charged in imposingly with his ultimate, and at the same time, all the members of Team Liaoning turned back abruptly. Instead of retreating, they were now lunging toward the pit assisted by the bonus speed granted by Shurelya’s Reverie.

“Team Liaoning is very cunning. They first pretended to retreat, but then used Nocturne’s ulti to force a team fight! Once again, they are at the 5 vs 4 number advantage!”

Team Liaoning’s sudden change of tactic staggered Team Shanghai and the latter retreated quickly. Unfortunately, Diana’s speed was not up to par, and she was caught and tethered by Nocturne’s Unspeakable Horror. Team Liaoning was also moving unbelievably fast thanks to Shurelya’s Reverie and Orianna’s Dissonance. This sudden ambush had caught Team Shanghai completely off guard.

“Fight!!” Just as Team Shanghai was caught in a predicament and couldn’t decide whether to fight or run, a simple sentence appeared on the chat window, sent out by none other than their ADC, Vayne, the Night Hunter!

“Then we fight!”

The other members of Team Shanghai answered his call with no hesitation. After the Flee effect on Diana had ended, she immediately released Pale Cascade.

Three spheres appeared abruptly, orbiting around Diana’s waist, turning her into a dangerous charging force! Diana swung her Crescent Moonblade and pulled out a symbolic radiance that was aimed at the opponent’s core hero, Orianna.

Lunar Rush!

Just as she was about to be stunned by Renekton, Diana, Scorn of the Moon, transformed into a lunar bolt and flew straight at Orianna. She was gorgeous and deadly at the same time. The heavily wounded champion turned into a ferocious beast and she used her last breath to launch one final retaliation.

Moonfall!

Dazzling silver lights turned into a light disc that pulled everyone nearby toward Diana. The blade in her hand struck out and triggered her innate skill, Moonsilver Blade, hitting three targets—Orianna, Varus, and Sona—all at once.

Following the CC and attack, Diana soon became the main target of the enemies’ firepower. However, it was impossible that a developed Diana did not have Zhonya’s Hourglass with her, and the overwhelming item allowed the melee sorcerer to quickly turn into gold—untouchable, with the drawback of being fixated on the spot.

By chance, Varus’s ulti, Chain of Corruption, managed to be evaded by Diana’s timely Stasis. The series of actions executed by Diana was impeccably smooth and as soon as the opponent’s positions were scrambled, Jax joined the fight with his weapon, Brass Lamppost.

The Grandmaster at Arms flashed a deadly stare from under the brim of his hat and Leap Strike-ed directly onto Diana’s spot. Jax’s Counter Strike took effect after 2 seconds, forcing Orianna and Sona to Flash away, but Varus was hit directly as his Summoner spell was still on cooldown.

The perfect counter orchestrated by Diana and Jax successfully shocked the enemy team. The battle had suddenly turned rather chaotic.

***

‘Great, all their ultis are gone now.’ A smile spread over Yu Luocheng’s face.

Varus’s ulti had missed Diana thanks to the stasis; Orianna’s ulti had been used to stop Jax from killing Varus; Sona’s ulti had been cast on Elise and Diana; while Nocturne’s ulti had been used much earlier to initiate the fight.

‘Now that all the ulti’s that could have threatened my Vayne is on cooldown, it’s time to showcase my real skills. Wait… More precisely, it’s time to hunt those strangled by the night!’

He smoothly guided Vayne to rush toward the Baron’s canyon from the enemy’s high ground. This time, he had started moving earlier than the previous fight, relocating as soon as Nocturne had released his ultimate.

Vayne ran forward and used Tumble, aimed at a creep, Tumble was refreshed, she used it again, aimed once more at neutral units, Tumble was refreshed…

Vayne gained additional movement speed when she was near an enemy champion, and once her innate skill was triggered, it meant that the Night Hunter had legitimately entered the battlefield.

‘A Sona with Oracle’s Elixir? Great, you’re first!’

Yu Luocheng slid into the chaotic scene from from the side. One arrow, two arrows, Tumble, and then another arrow! Three arrow stacks brought out the Silver Bolts effect which instantly killed Sona with who had 2/5 of her HP left.

Vayne had focused her build on attack speed, but her attack power upon activating Final Hour was not to be looked down upon.

A third level ultimate provided her with an additional 55 attack power which was equivalent to the attack of a B. F. Sword and Long Sword combined. In other words, she possessed a skill that was comparable to a pure attack item worth 2000 golds.

A full level Tumble also gave her 50% bonus damage. If it was triggered along with her W-Skill, Silver Bolt, which granted 8% true damage, the damage dealt by her would be ridiculously high!

Sona was an SP champion and thus, did not have any extra defense after buying Shurelya’s Reverie. As expected, three arrows took her life with ease.

She stepped past Sona’s body like a cold-blooded assassin, not bothering to look at the deceased champion, and had her eyes secured on the next target—Varus.

Varus without his ulti was no match for Vayne. Renekton and Nocturne who were supposed to protect Varus were too busy attacking Jax, leaving the ADC vulnerable.

Flash!

Yu Luocheng used his Flash to avoid Orianna’s QW-combo gracefully and subsequently found a good spot to pin Varus down.

One arrow! Condemn! Varus was nailed to the wall. Tumble! Yet another arrow!

Varus’s HP dropped insanely quick and he was unable to fend off Vayne’s devastating attack even with his Barrier on. After being stunned for 1.5 seconds, Varus lost his will to fight and used Flash to escape with the tiny bit of his HP left.

Yu Luocheng decided to let Varus escape and moved on to his next target. Vayne turned her gaze upon Orianna, with the silver Wristbolt Launcher on her hand buzzing with a thirst for blood.

Orianna had been truly traumatized by Vayne and she gave up immediately, falling back as soon as Vayne began to rush toward her. In her panic, her skills were cast without properly aiming.

“How savage!!! Vayne is like an ultimate boss that charges into a bunch of neutral monsters. She has crushed the initially high spirits of Team Liaoning and turned them into fleeing rats. I reckon Team Liaoning must be kicking themselves now for not banning Vayne!” Qi Qiao announced excitedly.

ADCs would normally follow the team closely and join the battle from the start, not during the middle of a disorganized fight.

But at that moment, the audiences were looking at an unorthodox Vayne who jumped into the fray late with her ulti. It was as if a dragon had landed on a pack of wolves and stampeded through them with ease!

***

Zhang Aijing, Xiao Bei, and Lin Dong looked each other in the eyes, and then glanced back at the bloodthirsty Vayne on the screen.

Indeed, this fellow was taking this match into his own hands. A Vayne that danced on the edge of death.

He had first let his teammates bear the brunt of the opponents’ ultis and most of their damage, in which the enemies had also lost a lot of blood amidst the chaos. Only when his teammates had successfully shattered the enemies positioning did he take part in the chaos with his terrifying control and run over the enemies!

As an in-game analyst herself, Zhang Aijing had concluded that this strategy had a lot of flaws and was theoretically unsuitable to be used in an actual match.

But the ex-DOTA world-class player had shown Zhang Aijing a novel ADC perspective by using Vayne—An ADC that played the role of a death-defying finisher! It could only have been made possible with top-class mastery of the champion. Besides, while he might appear to be playing independently apart from his teammates, the fact was that this playstyle demanded a lot of trust from the team!

***

Players who excelled in the bottom lane knew this—a strong SP must also be a strong ADC.

A bottom lane Vayne happened to be one of the few strongest champions ever played by Yu Luocheng. He couldn’t deny that such a playstyle did not end particularly well on certain occasions. Bad teammates and operational errors were inevitable at times.

Nevertheless, this was the thrill he had been looking for when he was playing Vayne. Either you die as a zero, or farm long enough to be the hero!