League of Legends: League of Unknowns

Over twenty minutes had passed, but the first tower still stood for either side, down in the Bottom lane. With the rapid pace of high-level games, this was a rather uncommon sight.

The Bottom-lane pairs of both teams could no longer remain farming in their lane. Part of this was because they had reached the point where whole-team assaults on enemy towers would be the key to victory, but another reason was the need to be ready to contest for Baron Nashor, which precluded the ADC from remaining in the Bottom lane.

(Translator’s Note: Baron Nashor is located in the Northwestern part of the map, while the Bottom lane spans the Southeastern corner, i.e. the opposite end of the map.

During the late game, when the time is ripe to slay Baron Nashor and claim his hearty boon, the presence of enemy champions down in the Bottom lane suggests that they won’t be able to make it in time to join a team fight in Baron Nashor’s pit—a mis-step which the opposing team is likely to take advantage of.)

Sure enough, a terrific storm was impending—just as Xiao Bei and Lin Dong had foreseen!

This game, both teams were full of formidable players. Independent of the clash between those two pinnacle-tier professionals, the fighting between both sides was incredibly fierce, while at the same time racing neck-and-neck for financial supremacy.

It felt for all the world like an honest-to-goodness tournament match—not just some Ranked game between random players.

At this tier of ability, everyone carried themselves with doubtless confidence, as though defeat was unthinkable. Ever since that battle at the sixth minute, all of Summoner’s Rift had been steeped in the non-stop carnage between these ten complete strangers.

(Translator’s Note: Actually, noobs are neither known for humility nor lack of self-esteem, either.)

Whatever their backgrounds in real life: students, salarymen, merchants, white-collar workers, business owners… all that was inconsequential here. Here in the Summoner’s Rift, they were the greatest champions, the mightiest warriors, the best of the best in the whole game!

Scouting, baiting, skirmishing, retreating, retaliating, and unleashing a whole variety of skills… with hardly a word to one another, they all knew exactly what each of them was supposed to do in order to bring their team victory!

Besieging the towers with their minions, finding blind spots from which to spring ambushes, and using the Baron Nashor and the Dragons to force a team fight… elite players don’t let themselves get dragged into a team fight over careless happenstance. Every move was planned and calculated.

On the red side, the mana-based equipment set had been completed for Ezreal. He would now be able to poke his enemies relentlessly!

Logan was exceedingly accurate with his Q-skill, ‘Mystic Shot’. As long as he scored a hit on anyone, it would take barely over a second to cool down. If he could use it to score a couple of hits on Orianna, Sona, or Vayne before a team fight began, it would improve his team’s chances of coming out on top.

The enemy’s strategy was similarly straightforward: Don’t let Ezreal poke them down—force the team fight as quickly as possible.

***

The enemy had an expert player on Shen. This had been evident from that moment, early in the game, when he’d used his ultimate skill to come to Vayne’s aid, opening with a Flash-Taunt the instant he arrived.

Once again, Shen used his Flash-Taunt technique, this time catching both Jarvan and Ryze.

Because Ryze had spent a lot of the game roaming around the map, his ‘Archangel’s Staff’ was not yet fully charged, and he didn’t have that much health on him just at that moment.

(Translator’s Note: Earlier, there was a lot of talk about a ‘Tear of the Goddess’, a mana-enhancing item which becomes progressively more powerful with each skill used by its owner. Even before the ‘Tear of the Goddess’ is fully charged, it can be assembled into either a ‘Manamune’ or an ‘Archangel’s Staff’.

Besides boosting its owner’s mana and Ability Power, once the ‘Tear of the Goddess’ component is fully charged up, an ‘Archangel’s Staff’ transforms into a ‘Seraph’s Embrace’, which grants its wielder the ability to occasionally throw up a brief but powerful shield, helping them to survive moments of dire peril.)

If they could insta-kill the enemy mage straight off the bat, it would be an ideal way to start off a team fight!

Without a moment’s hesitation, Orianna activated her ultimate skill just as the duration of Shen’s Taunt came to an end. The resulting Shockwave yanked Jarvan and Ryze back into the center of its effect. They were going for the kill on Ryze!

Although they were being subjected to this chain-CC, neither of them panicked like a common player might have done. If a team fight was to begin right now, then they would fight!

Using the momentum from the Shockwave, Jarvan brought down his battle standard and immediately followed up with a savage Dragon Strike, throwing himself into the enemies’ midst before Sona could continue the combo with her ulti. Three enemy champions were thrown up into the air!

Ryze, too, reacted with startling dexterity. Flashing to the side to avoid being disabled by Sona’s ‘Crescendo’, as well as to put him out of reach of some of the enemy champions, he activated his own ultimate skill straight away. Arcane runes flickered rapidly along his arms, and brilliant arcs of electricity danced wildly amongst his foes.

(Translator’s Note: Nowadays, Ryze is well-known for an iconic ultimate skill, ‘Realm Warp’, which can swiftly teleport even his entire team across the battlefield. However, previously his ultimate skill was a momentary self-buff called ‘Desperate Power’, which gave him a huge burst of movement speed, and allowed his spells to deal damage across an area while also restoring health to him.)

His ultimate skill included a Spell Vamp effect, so that this sudden burst of AoE damage also raised his health back up considerably!

For him to still be standing after taking so much punishment, this was why Ryze was considered a tank among mages, with astounding damage potential to boot!

Their team hadn’t been thrown into disarray despite the enemy’s skillful first strike. Now that Jarvan and Ryze had drawn out a round of the enemy’s control and damage skills, Riven dove into the fray with her ulti blazing, intent on cutting down none other than Vayne!

“Demacia!” Seeing Riven’s determined assault, Jarvan didn’t hesitate to pounce upon Vayne with his ulti as well, trapping her within a circle of stone!

Right away, Riven Flashed through the crater wall and into the killing zone, her mighty blade hurtling towards Vayne!

Riven was another champion who excelled at speedily dispatching foes. After the Flash, if Vayne got Stunned by her ‘Ki Burst’, a single skill combo would easily put paid to her.

However, Sona had wisely held on to her ulti, and unleashed it now upon Riven as she charged in for the kill, incapacitating both Riven and Jarvan together, and halting their bull-rush attack!

Two seconds, and Vayne’s ‘Tumble’ was ready again. With a deft somersault, she broke out of Jarvan’s ‘Cataclysm’ and made her escape, all the while firing her Silver Bolts at Riven!

One, two, three hits! The interval between each shot was miniscule now, and Riven’s health had dipped below the halfway point already.

Now that the perfect opportunity had gone to waste, Riven understood that if she mindlessly continued to give chase, Vayne would effortlessly kite her to death. It didn’t escape her that Vayne had yet to use her ‘Condemn’ skill: it would no longer be possible to get within reach of her again!

Since she couldn’t follow through, she opted to cut her way back out. Driving Vayne back was also a crucial service to her team, especially with Jarvan holding the front with a ‘Randuin’s Omen’!

Riven turned and unleashed a flurry of skills upon Lee Sin and Shen. Together with Ryze, Ezreal, and Zyra, they rained damage down upon these two enemy front-liners.

The sustained damage coming out of Ryze was clearly greater than Ezreal’s burst potential. The only problem was that he was taking more damage than he could withstand, so he was forced to retreat while the others tried to draw some fire away from him.

Unfortunately, that was when he got hit by Lee Sin’s ‘Sonic Wave’, which was followed immediately by a flying kick and a Dragon’s Rage ulti. That was the end of Ryze, who had already been at critical health.

And so, Ryze was the first to fall in this team fight.

True, Ryze mainly dealt sustained damage, but that brutal burst of damage he’d unleashed earlier had done substantial area-effect damage to the enemy team, and he’d also absorbed quite a bit of their firepower, which his teammates would otherwise have had to suffer. Hence, his demise at this point did not signify that the team fight had been lost.

He’d already done plenty—the rest would be up to his other four teammates!