League of Legends: League of Unknowns

“She went to gank Renekton earlier, now, could it be that she’s preparing to head to the jungle?”

She had slain the Champion at the bottom lane and had also ganked the top lane, killing the rest of the opponents once. She had basically turned herself into a walking Grim Reaper, bringing death wherever she went!

This time, she had appeared in her opponents’ jungle!

Right about now, the Mana recovering blue buff would have already been refreshed. Luocheng had seen this buff earlier when he was reanimated by Yorick, using it to renew his Vayne’s Q skill.

It was quite apparent that Team Sky’s Ahri and Jungler would head there to get the Mana recovering buff. Luocheng waltzed into the area alone while clearly seeing the two Champions from the bottom lane mobilizing to the jungle to aid their teammates.

As soon as he stepped into the area where the blue buff was located, Luocheng saw Ahri in the middle of acquiring the buff alone!

…

“This a**hole!” Xie Yi saw Luocheng’s Vayne almost immediately, and his mind began to burn with infurious rage!

Just what was he trying to do!? What business did this ADC have coming to their territory? To acquire the blue buff? Didn’t he know that Ahri was known as an ADC killer!?

No ADC could come and go as they pleased. He would need only 2 seconds to end any ADC that came his way, and that included even national treasures like Bai Feng!

Hence, when he saw the Fighting Hawk, Xie Yi immediately activated his Ultimate Skill – Spirit Rush!

In just mere seconds, Ahri was 500 yards away from Vayne, the Night Hunter!

Xie Yi did not cast his Charm skill yet. He knew just how quick the Fighting Hawk could react with his Vayne – much quicker than most Esport players in the industry. If you wanted to cast a skill at him, you’d have to do it before he moved, otherwise, you wouldn’t be able to land a hit. Why? Because he would have already anticipated the timing of when you were going to Charm him!

Every Esport player must possess this one skill – to anticipate the opponents’ moves before exchanging blows. What skill the opponent had under their sleeves, how they would mobilize their Champions, would they Flash, would the attacks penetrate their barriers, how would they make sure that their attacks hit their mark!

Why was Xie Yi one of the country’s top middle laners? It was because he tended to consider all of these factors more thoroughly than the other ordinary Esports players you could find in the industry!

Xie Yi knew that Vayne had not used her Flash or Cleanse earlier, thus, he had quickly bought himself an Abyssal Scepter. Even though this would not contribute much to his damage, if the attacks were to all land on Vayne, it was possible for Vayne to be slain due to her lack of magic resistance.

Ahri’s Spirit Rush had brought her closer toward Vayne. Xie Yi was careful to not get close to any walls nearby, lest he get pinned to the wall by Vayne.

His opponent was that Fighting Hawk! There was no room for error! He could Cleanse Fiddlestick’s Terror in just 0.2 seconds. If he were to release his Charm in that 500 yards range, it was close to impossible for the attack to land on Vayne. Fighting Hawk’s reaction time was incredible and his hand was probably already standing by on the Q key. If Ahri were to Charm his Vayne, he would probably roll away diagonally immediately!

Evading an attack from a range of 500 yards could be achieved by many LPL contestants, so of course, Fighting Hawk could too!

So, how would he make sure that his attack would land? By doing this ground-zero!

If he were to release the skill next to him, there was no way that Vayne could evade it. It wouldn’t even help if she tried to go invisible, nothing would stop the attack from landing!

That was the reason he was using his Spirit Rush to get closer to the Fighting Hawk. He would Charm Vayne before using the precise angle that the Spirit Rush would place Ahri in to unleash her Orbs of Deception, damaging Vayne. Then finally, he’d use another attack to deplete her final bit of HP, slaying her!

If the ground-zero Charm did not work, Ahri had to cease all attacks. There were a lot of walls in the area, and if things were to go south, she would definitely be pinned to her death by Vayne’s Condemn. Yes, if the Charm didn’t land, Ahri must then use another Spirit Rush to flee into a bush on the lower right. It really did not matter if he was able to kill Vayne by himself, for as long as he was able to deal enough damage to Vayne, Kha’zix was on his way – as soon as the gigantic mantis arrived, he could end her in an instant!

In that very short 1-second time frame which began the moment he had seen Vayne, Xie Yi had already run through a thorough simulation of how to slay Vayne once in his head – from the Spirit Rush, to ground-zero Charming, to the moment the Orb of Deception killed Vayne, and to the almost-impossible chance of Ahri’s Charm missing. Everything!

Most E-sport players only tend to consider how to perform the perfect kill. They would probably also consider their strategy two steps after the kill, yet, Xie Yi planned ahead much farther than that. He had even put his teammate, Kha’zix, who was still on the way, into the equation!

Remember how he completely played Lin Dong like a fiddle in the match earlier? How did he do it? This was how. Xie Yi would always think far ahead when engaging in a match, while Lin Dong only cared about the moment at present.

…

“Mercury has used his Spirit Rush! How gutsy! He intends to slay Vayne himself.”

The first Spirit Rush had sent Ahri 500 yards nearer to Vayne!

Under normal circumstances, Ahri could already utilize her skill and strike at the ADC by now. Yet, Xie Yi wouldn’t do it. He knew Fighting Hawk would be able to evade the skill at this range.

No, Xie Yi couldn’t risk missing his attack. Thus, he Spirit Rush-ed again!

Ground zero. Ground zero! He must Charm Vayne at an extremely close range. Now, unless Vayne Flashed away at the last second, there was absolutely no way she could evade what was coming!

“Voom!”

Suddenly, the strings on Vayne’s crossbow sounded loudly as she stretched it in her hand!

Xie Yi had anticipated that the Fighting Hawk would activate his Final Hour at this time, making his Vayne invisible to trick him. However, right now, Vayne was rushing straight toward Ahri. There was no use even if she Tumbled in that instant or even activated her invisibility. At this range, there was no way that you, Fighting Hawk, could evade the Charm!

The second Spirit Rush had sent Ahri straight at Vayne, and at the same time, Vayne used her Tumble to turn invisible!

Xie Yi did not hesitate at all as he quickly pressed the E key and cast his Charm! He had complete confidence that the Fighting Hawk would definitely be at this precise spot. At this range, there was no way that Vayne could Tumble away from his Charm!

The pink lip flew out from Ahri, bound to disappear halfway if it collided with something that was in its path. Xie Yi was very sure that this attack would collide with Vayne, and when that happened, all he needed to do next was to ensure that his Orb of Deception landed on her, and he quickly pressed the Q key in a smooth follow up.

However, something unthinkable happened – the pink kiss that was thrown forth by Ahri travelled a great distance in its path… not disappearing. There was nothing in its path for it to collide with!

Xie Yi was shocked!

How!?

Even if she was invisible, there was no way the Vayne could have evaded her Charm at such a range. She was there! At that spot! She had to be!

Yet, the fact remained that Ahri’s Charm had not hit.

Then, 1 second passed…

Xie Yi’s eyes widened as he saw where his opponent was – at his back. Fighting Hawk’s Vayne appeared right behind him!

“Did he Tumble toward me when I did the second Spirit Rush to get to my back? Could it be that he too, had the same idea… to hit me at a close range?” Xie Yi was shocked as he saw Vayne standing behind his Ahri!

Then came the bolts! In just two bolts, Ahri’s HP was depleted by a third! If the third bolt landed on Ahri, she would only have one fourth of her HP left!

In other words, Vayne only needed 5 bolts to kill her!

“Vayne’s way of mobilizing… that was so incredible! On the other hand, Mercury’s Charm and Orb of Deception had all missed their targets!” The commentator, Bao Jun’s excited voice could be heard from the speaker.

On the huge screen, everyone could see very clearly from the Blue Team’s point of view on how the half-invisible Vayne had rolled to Ahri’s back at the same moment the latter had cast her Charm skill.

These kinds of attacks couldn’t be evaded using diagonal movements. However, attacking at a close range also had a weakness – the opponent could very easily shift their steps and move toward the location that benefitted them instead. Just like how Ahri’s skills could only move in a straight line, when the opponent moved out of the attack range, all her advantages were lost!

…

After missing his attacks, Xie Yi did not panic. He had already planned where he would be fleeing toward when this exact scenario happened!

With no hesitation, he quickly pressed the R key and Spirit Rush-ed away!

Xie Yi was quick and careful, making sure that he did not get close to any walls while dashing forward. Then, he pressed his R again and did another dash of Spirit Rush, speeding into the bush that he had been targeting all along!

“Thud!”

Vayne fired her third bolt!

This time, her attack depleted yet another third of Ahri’s HP!

Now, after 3 bolts, Ahrii’s HP was depleted to a fourth of her total HP pool. How terrifying Vayne was when she was in Final Hour mode and possessed a Sword of the Occult!

If she were to use her Blade of the Ruined King right then and there or if one of her bolts landed a critical hit, he could very well be slain right away!

Terrified at the prospect, Xie Yi quickly threw a glance at Kha’zix.

“I’ll take him out!” Birch grunted.

This Fighting Hawk was really too much of a nuisance! Just what kind of match did he think this was? A ranking match? How dare he rush in recklessly like this!? He would pay dearly for this!

Right after pressing his E key, Birch’s Kha’zix leapt out from behind the walls!

Ahri’s Spirit Rush and Fox-fire had inflicted quite a bit of damage on Vayne earlier, making it possible for Kha’zix to slay Vayne with everything he had. Using his earlier leap, Kha’zix moved straight toward Vayne.

Before he landed on the ground, Birch had pressed his Q and W key – activating his Taste Their Fear and Void Spike!

If the player was quick enough, it was entirely possible for Kha’zix to slay his enemy before he even landed on the ground, and he could then leap out of the scene by pressing the E key again.

Unfortunately for him, Birch’s landing was slightly off, resulting in his Taste Their Fear not being able to reach Vayne. His Void Spike, on the other hand, did hit her. Now, all he needed to do was move a little closer.

“THUD!”

As soon as he landed on the ground, Vayne’s Condemn was fired right at Kha’zix.

Although his Void Spike had hit Vayne, he was not able to get close to her at all, instead getting pinned to the wall by Vayne!

Next, a bolt was fired. Then a second, and a third!

After being damaged by Vayne’s Condemn and three bolts, Birch saw that his Kha’zix’s HP had now been depleted to only one fourth of his HP pool.

Vayne’s Level 2 Final Hour would grant her another 40 damage while her Sword of the Occult would add on 8 points of damage for every stack. She had about 10 stacks now, and so, with 10 + 55… that was 65 points of damage! Even if one were to buy a B.F Sword and Pickaxe, the total damage they provided was a mere 25 damage!

On top of that, Vayne’s high level Tumble was able to buff her damage by about 40% to 50%. Now add that on to her devastating Silver Bolts…

If she wanted to slay someone, she only needed five bolts!

Ahri had received 3 bolts earlier, depleting her HP to a few pitiful drops. Kha’zix, who was being pinned to the wall, wasn’t faring any better.

Vayne had not even used her Blade of the Ruined King yet and she was able to deal over 1000 damage!

Birch had thought that he could instant-kill Vayne when he ambushed her. What he had not expected was that he would be the one who to get instant-killed.

This Fighting Hawk… how had he acquired this lightning-fast reflex?! How was he able to pin Birch to the wall without seeing him coming from the fog-of-war?

And just how devastating was his Vayne!?

She was so powerful that she needed only 5 bolts to end him!