Chapter 57: Clockwork’s R Flash
Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
"It's okay. The enemy's game is strong. I should have expected him to make such a play," said Chen Mu.
Chen Mu had gotten too used to playing casually and did not have enough experience to gauge his opponent's true ability. Tankard was quite skillful.
Chen Mu had thought of the possibility of Tankard's play. Chen Mu would have done the exact same if he were in Tankard's position. However, Chen Mu had yet met a gaming master like Tankard and thought that his opponent would end up making a mistake or react too slowly.
Nevertheless, Chen Mu would not have any more room to take things easy after Tankard's kill.
Tankard managed to secure double buffs with the death of Blind Monk, which meant that the former no longer needed to be worried about being suppressed.
He was stacked with a kill. Additionally, the buffs would now allow him to farm easier. All he had to do was to purchase a few health items and he would have a huge impact in the game.
Nevertheless, it was too late for him to catch up in CS because Chen Mu had a very big CS lead. It caused Chang Hao to panic slightly as Chen Mu never missed any CS!
Chen Mu's kiting was pretty impressive as well, with Tankard's barrel hitting him only once out of four or five times. It was quite the feat as Tankard's Q range was quite large.
However, Chang Hao only had to play cowardly until he reached level 6. When that time came, Clockwork would be forced to step back. Tankard's power spike at level 6 was a force to be reckoned with.
His Q ability scaling would increase to 1.0 while his ultimate skill ability scaling would increase to 0.9, they were considered quite high in League. All he had to do was mix in his skills with a few normal attacks and it would be enough to oneshot someone.
Besides that, Tankard had an extra kill which meant he could hit level 6 earlier than planned.
Tankard began looking for an opportunity, and Chen Mu noticed something different with his playstyle. It was obvious the player was looking for a chance to solo kill him.
Tankard had strong wave clear. In response to it, Chen Mu kept utilizing his basic attacks to hit as many minions as possible as the wave moved in a line toward him.
Under Chen Mu's turret, Tankard was capable of poking him with his Q each time Chen Mu last hit.
There was a flash and Tankard hit level 6. However, his total damage was still not enough, and he had to continue using his Q to poke Chen Mu. Before he was able to oneshot Clockwork, he had to exhaust half of her health bar.
Chen Mu looked at his exp bar and started calculating. He had to catch up to level-6.
By the time Chen Mu had reached level-6, his health bar had dropped to a dangerous point of being an easy kill. Tankard was quite accurate with his calculations. He knew that even if Clockwork put a shield on herself, it would still be certain death if he followed up with an additional attack since she had such a low health bar. Hence, the best Clockwork could do was to go out with a big bang.
Chen Mu would activate his ultimate right when his enemy let down his guard!
The moment presented itself, and it was time for him to attack!
Chen Mu assumed that the opponent was expecting him to retreat when the former raised his hands, calculating the range and final position of his ultimate.
However, Clockwork did the exact opposite. Instead of retreating, Chen Mu stepped forward toward Tankard, Gragas.
"F*ck, his ultimate skill is a diversion!" someone exclaimed. The turn of events was an eye-opener as Clockwork slipped right past the skillshot range.
Chen Mu came closer to Tankard. Clockwork's ball was on her head as she wound up a gigantic shockwave.
Chang Hao smiled. Clockwork's ultimate skill had a 0.5 seconds channel duration. He had time to react even without Flash.
He retreated by casting E, planning to let Clockwork's ultimate skill go to waste.
"He evaded it!" Chang Hao was highly experienced and knew he had enough space to escape from the range of Clockwork's ultimate. However, he was not expecting Clockwork to Flash right after, placing a full stop to his E!
"Damn it, what sort of play is this!" Tankard retreated madly. No minions were within turret range, and he had to suffer all the damage dealt by the turret.
Clockwork immediately cast her QW combo and used their collision with one another to pin down Tankard's fat body and make him suffer even more damage from the turret.
The buff from Clockwork's QW combo took effect on both Clockwork and Tankard. Clockwork increased in speed while Tankard decreased in speed. As a result, the turret attacked Tankard for as much as three times!
In the end, Tankard was chased down to his death with no opportunity to escape.
"My goodness, that play alone is much more impressive than God Hao's Tankard!" someone exclaimed. Only avid players knew how complex the play had been. Evading an ultimate while attack moving, casting R Flash to interrupt Tankard's E, making use of animations to attack move and pin down Tankard, utilizing the turret to deal damages for him. It was the perfect solo kill!
If Chen Mu knew what this person was thinking, he would have thought the person's analysis as too simple. Even his Q had been cast on purpose, baiting Tankard into the play.
There was a certain risk in Chen Mu's play. If Tankard had not taken the bait and chose to Ignite Clockwork right when she was casting her ultimate, there would be no way of him avoiding the attack. That was because Tankard's ultimate was vert large. The shorter the distance, the harder it would be for him to react. Clockwork would have not managed to evade his ultimate then at with her current movement speed.
Nevertheless, if that scenario had presented itself, Chen Mu would have evaded the attack using his Flash. He would not be able to counterattack, but he would not die either. There was a need to take risks since he was facing such a skilled mid laner.
Tankard's defeat could only be attributed to the quick reaction speed of his opponent. Each generation of players exceeded the previous, and this rookie player had actually managed to plan such a play.
Clockwork's R Flash was truly incredible!
Tankard had only cast his E. If he had cast his E along with Flash, he would not have been solo killed like that.
Chen Mu continued to push as he prepared to recall and buy items.
With the death of Blind Monk, Mantis from the enemy team managed to not only gain a level advantage but also invade their jungle and steal a few buffs.
Junglers in tournaments were not the same as in solo queue who were slow to react to opportunities. One would immediately be at risk of losing if their opponent appeared within their jungle. They might even end up dying.
Blind Monk was having a difficult time in the Jungle. All he could do was get fed by stealing CS. If he was caught in an ambush, he would completely lose the game.
After Chen Mu's solo kill, he turned the tide by gaining a CS lead.
Chen Mu's attacks on Tankard continued as the former saw through all of Tankard's powerful attacks. Chen Mu knew the exact CDs of Tankard's Flash, Ignite, along with all his other abilities.
Chen Mu's opponent was hardly given the opportunity to defend, much less attack. In addition to that, Chen Mu had placed two Stealth Wards and one Vision Ward around the river, making him immune to ganks and completely suppressing Tankard.
Tankard had gone back to only being able to use his Q to CS. Clockwork continued to push and suppress Tankard. Meanwhile, Chen Mu's team had a slight upper hand in bot lane as they had a hundred ELO points more than their opponents. In addition to the twins' impeccable rapport, they had a slight CS advantage over their enemies.
On the other hand, they were at a great disadvantage in the jungle. Nevertheless, Chen Mu had managed to gain an advantage during his previous fight in mid lane. Hence, it discouraged Mantis from continuing his raid, buying time for Blind Monk to farm.
The game had evolved into one that was of competition level. Going live and jungling were closely connected. If one could not do anything by going live, its use was the same as jungling when one had been invaded.
There was a reason why Chen Mu wanted to get stronger teammates for the competition. There would be times whereby an enemy would start to snowball. Then, killing the enemy mid laner a few times would not help his team reconquer the jungle.
Tankard's health bar was very low, thanks to Clockwork's unique technique of commanding his ball. Tankard did not dare to do anything even though he had his ultimate. Mantis wanted to catch Clockwork but realized she was keeping as much distance from him as possible. Whenever he appeared, Clockwork always had enough time to escape.
Mantis suspected that there were wards in the river and decided to move in another direction. After going one whole round, he realized that Clockwork was now in the opposite direction to where he currently was. There was a large gap between them once again!
Mantis could not believe it. Was there a ward on the other side as well? He decided to stake out in an ambush. However, even after ten seconds, Clockwork did not path anywhere near his side of the river!
"It's warded. You'd better get fed quick. If you continue staying here, Blind Monk will soon catch up to your level," said Chang Hao.
"Okay. How cunning is this Clockwork? What is a mid laner doing buying so many wards?!" Mantis ranted as he returned to his jungle.
When he returned, Mantis found out that his jungle had been invaded. His Raptor camp was gone and so was Rockman.
In fact, when Chen Mu saw him, he immediately instructed Blind Monk to invade the enemy's jungle while he gave a performance, pretending to not have noticed anything. It looked coincidental that his locations were safe spots, making Mantis waste a huge amount of time.
-- Gift
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