League of Legends: League of Unknowns

As the game began, a storm of cheering rose up.

As per the rules of this duel, after they’d gotten their starting items, both champions met up in the Middle lane.

In no time at all, both Lee Sins had assembled, staring each other down!

The moment they came into view of one another, they each immediately clicked on their opponent to take a look at what they’d started with.

Doran’s Blade!

… and Doran’s Blade!

The peculiarities continued: Both players had started with the exact same items!

They even had the same Summoner Spells: Barrier and Ignite!

No Smite, no Flash. First item Doran’s Blade.

Both players clearly intended to start the violence right away. What 40 CS? Forget about it!

The very sight of their starting items and Summoner Spells told everyone that there was going to be blood, and lots of it. The promise of violence electrified the air.

Reaching the one-minute mark would set things off. Both fighters stood ready in their corners. Ten seconds to go.

Yu Luocheng’s hands lay over his mouse and keyboard. His eyes were on the clock.

57

58

59

Start!

Both Lee Sins simultaneously made for the Red Buff!

Without Smite, fighting over the Red Buff was pointless. Their goal was not the monster itself—they were hurrying to meet in the first arena!

“Hah!” Zhao Tinghua abruptly made the first move, his ‘Sonic Wave’ slicing through the grass to hit Luocheng’s Lee Sin!

“Beautiful! That’s a hit!” squealed Qi Qiao. “You’d expect no less from Blood Eagle, the top player in the nation! To be able to land a Q from there… eh? Why isn’t he following up on that?”

After hitting someone with that skill, you should just go right ahead with a flying kick to the target. Many in the crowd were stumped as to why Blood Eagle declined to follow through with the second phase of Lee Sin’s Q-skill.

Zhang Aijing considered this a moment, and figured it out right away. Holding up the microphone, she declared: “Foregoing the flying kick is the right move, here.”

“Why’s that?” Qi Qiao asked.

“It’s true that if he goes flying over there, he’ll be able to deal further damage. However, when Team Skycrown’s coach retaliates, the first use of that skill will augment his next two basic attacks with 40% bonus attack speed. After two attacks, he can follow up with his own flying kick, and then another two enhanced attacks.

“That’s the benefit of Lee Sin’s innate skill: Each time he activates one of his skills, it also provides a 40% attack speed boost to his next two basic attacks. And that’s not all: Lee Sin’s ‘Resonating Strike’ does more damage based on how badly wounded his target is.

“Being the defender here means getting in two basic attacks beforehand—and if you go so far as to apply an Ignite for even more damage before you use that second-stage Q, you’ll deal that much more damage.”

It was an incisive analysis by Aijing. Qi Qiao—as well as the members of the audience—gaped in awe.

“Basically, whoever uses the flying kick first will lose out,” Aijing concluded.

“I hadn’t considered such details at all. Expert players are something else—they see things that never even occur to us,” Qi Qiao breathed.

It was as Aijing had said: When there were two Lee Sins, both at Level 1, whichever one of them followed up a Sonic Wave with a Resonating Strike, that was essentially performing a flying kick into your own coffin. The defender would be able to deal far more damage than the attacker.

Most people only thought about a champion’s active skills, along with a rough estimate of how much damage each one could deal. Eventually, it would be necessary to consider the effects of the innate skill as well, and perhaps any hidden effects and interactions. That included how best to use all of those skills.

“Pah, were you hoping I’d fly over there, and screw myself over?” Tinghua smirked. He could tell that he’d deliberately been allowed to land that hit, in order to lure him into a trap.

There was no way he’d be such a fool. He was well-acquainted with Luocheng’s craven tricks!

Tinghua pulled his Lee Sin away from Luocheng. Now his skills were fully on cooldown. If Luocheng hit him with his own Sonic Wave now, there was no doubt he’d come flying right over!

Both of them were making a full sprint from the Mid lane to the Red Buff, following a largely identical route, with one in the front and the other behind. Luocheng was the one following, at a distance of about 800 units.

Lee Sin’s Q-skill had a maximum range of 1,000 units. At a distance of 800, landing a hit would be nearly impossible for Luocheng. Although he was hot on Tinghua’s heels, he couldn’t quite find an ideal shot.

With such poor odds, Luocheng certainly wouldn’t be taking the gamble.

At its first tier, Lee Sin’s Q-skill had a cooldown of eleven seconds. If he missed with the Sonic Wave, he’d be dancing like a cat on a hot tin roof for the next eleven seconds!

“Hah!” All of a sudden, another Sonic Wave burst out from the brush up ahead, intersecting with Luocheng’s path of movement!

Just as he’d healed back most of the damage from the first hit earlier, this second hit brought him even lower.

Luocheng’s nerves were strung tight. In almost the same instant that Tinghua launched this attack against him, Luocheng replied with his own Sonic Wave!

“Hah!” Counter-attack to the source!

Although not actually able to see Tinghua’s champion, Luocheng’s retaliatory Sonic Wave had unerringly sought out its target where he hid amid the brush!

After exchanging hits, they now each had vision of the other—but neither one followed through with the Resonating Strike. They both understood that would be an act of folly.

“What… what terrifying reflexes!” Aijing gasped.

“Aijing, have you got another startling observation for us?” Qi Qiao seemed baffled, herself.

“That counter-attack from the Skycrown coach was a demonstration of skill at the highest level!”

Qi Qiao and the other MC, Su Mei, exchanged worried looks. Did they miss something amazing just now? Weren’t both players just trading blows with one another?

“An instant counter-attack to the source is a high-level technique originating from DOTA. When you have no vision of your opponent, and they launch a straight-line skillshot like Lee Sin’s ‘Sonic Wave’, you immediately gauge your opponent’s current position, and launch your own attack in reply. The result should most likely be a hit.

“Did everyone notice that while Blood Eagle’s Sonic Wave was still in the air, the Skycrown coach made a god-like instant response by firing his own Sonic Wave back down the path of the enemy skillshot, thus hitting Blood Eagle even while he was invisible?

“I can say with certainty that neither player will use their Resonating Strike yet; they’re just poking with Q for now. One supposes that if the Skycrown coach had been any slower with his response, Blood Eagle would already have moved away from there, getting in a second hit for free. Having poked his opponent twice like that, he’d have the upper hand in any exchange to follow.”

Aijing discussed details that most people wouldn’t have thought to examine closer. Who even stopped to ponder such things, normally? Most Lee Sin players, upon landing the first Q, would not be able to stop themselves from immediately going for the flying kick—a hard-wired compulsion!

The counter-attack back to source, in layman’s terms, meant that after Tinghua’s Q-skill was launched, Luocheng took a fraction of a second to ascertain his position, and then returned fire.

It sounds simple enough, but it’s not easy to pull off, unless you have an amazing response time and dexterity!

“Haaah!”

Suddenly, Luocheng’s Lee Sin gave a great shout, leaped into the air, and flew in a straight line towards Tinghua’s Lee Sin, a thousand units away!

“What… what’s going on!” Qi Qiao cried out. “Team Skycrown’s coach is going in? But then he’s going to lose the exchange!”

Luocheng soared like a shooting star across the screen, the grass swaying violently in his wake, as though whipped up by a sudden gale!

Luocheng was diving in!

Going by what Aijing had just discussed, everyone understood that the first player to do this would be the loser.

So why had Luocheng decided to use the flying kick, now?

Realization struck Aijing, leaving even her in awe. “Magnificent! The Skycrown coach has performed a feat of impeccable timing!”

After using his Q-skill, Lee Sin had three seconds to perform the second phase of the skill. If those three seconds elapsed without the skill being activated again, the whole thing would go on cooldown.

Luocheng was willing to dive in because he’d calculated exactly when Tinghua’s Q-skill would fully be on cooldown—while he himself still had it available for another fraction of a second!

Tinghua’s entire Q-skill set was now on cooldown; Luocheng could still do the flying kick!

Aijing hurriedly explained this to the audience, who stirred restlessly in their seats.

You could do that? You could exploit such a tiny gap in timing?

This coach of Team Skycrown was playing at an inhuman level of precision!

With all the ire of bitter rivals, as Luocheng came flying in with his Resonating Strike, both players simultaneously lit each other up with Ignite!

One punch. Sidestep. One kick. Move!

With deft grace, they flowed around each other in a deadly dance!

Each attack was dealt out the instant it became available, the rest of the animation immediately canceled with movement. Both fighters wreathed in fierce immolation, they became a whirling hurricane of kicks and punches. Both health bars were falling away with alarming speed!

“Both players use Ignite at the very first opportunity. This can only mean one thing: They’re both using the ‘Summoner’s Wrath’ Mastery, which increases AD by 5 after Ignite has been used!¹

“They’re both Level 1, with hardly any difference in health, so those five points of AD are massive! Neither player is missing out on even the tiniest detail! However, it’s obvious that the Skycrown coach has an advantage in health here, since he also got in a Resonating Strike! Are you telling me this duel is about to be settled, right here, right now?”

Indeed, Luocheng clearly had a little more health than his opponent. Both players were deploying their basic attacks flawlessly, and neither one was allowing the other to use the brush for concealment. If they continued dealing out attacks at the same rate, and if they’d both used Ignite at the same time, then ultimately the one with more health would be the last one standing.

Just Level 1, and they were fighting this viciously already. The crowd was going hysterical!

This Jungler duel was about to reach a conclusion within the next two seconds!

As Tinghua fell to his last eighty HP or so, he suddenly made an odd motion, and somehow shook off Luocheng!

He’d backed out of reach!

Luocheng still had a little over a hundred HP himself. Factoring in his health recovery as well, he could maybe take another two basic attacks. He just needed to close the distance to Tinghua, and the next strike would end it!

Alas, Tinghua was too cunning, and had managed to slip free.