Out of Touch

"Passing through." Dan arrived in Bot shortly after ComboBreaker was killed.

"Yo, now you come?" Lars chuckled. "Where were ya when we needed to score some kills, dude. We had to do some crazy stuff to get this kill. Was pretty fun though."

"Not my fault you didn't wait for me" Dan shrugged.

"It wouldn't have worked if we waited," Yuel explained. Breaker was good at dealing with common situations, such as incoming ganks. If she were to spot Dan nearby, she'd retreat without a moment's hesitation and slip away. Besides, Beastmaster didn't have much impressive CC in the first place, so Dan's gank potential was rather low.

"Yeah, Beast is difficult like that," Dan nodded. "But hey, at least I brought you some dogs." He activated "Let the Dogs Out", summoning four jungle monsters he tamed: Hyena, Alpha Wolf, Ogre Leader and Griffin. The monsters invaded the lane and joined the allied minion wave. Together, they all advanced toward the enemy Turret.

It was an impressive army. Especially, the Ogre Leader and Griffin were much tougher than the average minion. Taming a Griffin was quite the feat, considering Griffins were located in neutral areas of the jungle, always contested by both sides. Yet, somehow, Dan secured one of them even with the Beastmaster's subpar camp clearing speed.

Yuel had been paying minimal attention to anything outside Bot, so he had no idea how Dan achieved all that. Some impressive strategy and decision-making must have been in play.

[Hmm, he bought Smite and Sprint.] Yuel examined Dan's build. Smite was a utility skill designed for Junglers. It dealt high damage to one monster, then released an AoE shockwave which dealt additional damage to nearby to monsters. Not all Junglers had to buy Smite to clear camps effectively, but Beastmaster definitely needed it.

Sprint was the more interesting choice here. It's a utility skill which granted a movement speed buff for a short time, as well as cleansed any slows. Beastmaster didn't have any mobility options, so covering more ground via Sprint was one solution.

Buying two utility skills so early into the game was very uncommon, but Dan clearly knew what he was doing. That's evident by the great collection of tamed monsters he brought along to push Bot. With the tankiness of the Ogre Leader and Griffin, they brought the enemy's Turret down to 50% HP in one push. Despite everything said about the Beastmaster's weak points, its push potential was nothing to sneeze at.

"They'll probably return soon," Dan said. "Mind helping me with the Dragon?"

"Nah, let's push some more!" Lars kept firing away at the Turret like a brat. "We can take it out before they return! Fastest Turret fall in history, yo!"

"We won't make it." Yuel retorted. All they had left were a nearly dead Griffin and two bowmen minions. There's no chance of bringing the Turret from 50% to 0% with just these.

But, at the same time, going for Dragon also sounded risky. Both Yuel and Lars were running low on HP. "You sure it's a good idea?" Yuel asked. "Their Mid or Jungler may gank us."

"Hm?" Dan blinked. "Yeah, I think it's safe enough. I mean, their Mid is turtling hard and their Jungler is around Top right now."

"Is that so." Yuel threw some glances at his mini-map, verifying Dan's words. Indeed, the Electromancer was hugging his Turret, so it's unlikely he'd leave Mid any time soon. There's no sign of the enemy Vampire, but there were some Wards in Top Jungle, so the Vampire was probably spotted by one of them a little while ago. "I guess you're right..."

"Wait, you didn't notice?" Dan asked. "You? Of all people? I always thought your map awareness is the shit."

"No, it's just... Well, I was in the middle of an intense fight just now..." Yuel mumbled excuses. Not having full map awareness was embarrassing, especially for a shot-caller. But, that's a sacrifice he had to make to let himself concentrate on Bot Lane. "Alright, let's do Dragon. You'll have to tank it, though. We're spent."

"No problem. I got a Supreme Wraith."

"Oh, that's great." Yuel was impressed. On top of the monsters Dan already unleashed in Bot, he still had one more in store. "Let the Dogs Out" didn't force the Beastmaster to release [all] his tamed monsters in one go, so Dan kept himself the Supreme Wraith, the boss of the Wraith Camp.

Once they arrived at the Dragon, Dan released the wraith with an attack order on the Dragon. Since the Supreme Wraith was the first and closest hostile presence, the Dragon focused its attacks on the wraith. The wraith wasn't too tanky, but it could withstand a couple of Dragon attacks.

In the meantime, the three of them assaulted the distracted Dragon. Once the Dragon started running low on HP, Dan used Smite to erase 15% in one hit. The Dragon's HP fell below the necessary threshold, so Dan wrapped it up with "Tame the Wild", adding the Dragon to his monster collection.

Then, Dan returned to farming in the Jungle, whereas Yuel and Lars recalled to base. Fortunately, nobody ambushed them this whole time. The Dragon was a highly contested objective, but they got away scot-free.

It's amazing how effective Dan's Beastmaster turned out to be. With his help, the enemy Bot Turret was down to 45% HP and they even secured the Dragon. Yuel always considered Beastmaster a borderline meme class, but Dan definitely knew how to make it shine.

It's no joke that Dan could play "any Jungler". He wasn't just some generalist, he really knew how to use the strengths of each and every Jungler class he played, even eccentric ones like Beastmaster.

During matches, he usually didn't stand out much because he didn't exhibit any mind-blowing techniques with any particular class. But, he definitely had one impressive off-screen skill: the ability to pick any Jungler class and play it well. Only now, after seeing him play Beastmaster with such excellence even in a competitive match, Yuel came to realize how amazing Dan's skill truly was.

"Hey, Mr. Shot-Caller," Roi called out. "It's nice to see you're doing great in Bot and all, but what about other lanes? You've been awfully quiet. Where are your usual batshit crazy shots? Lol."

"Oh, I just.." Yuel was taken aback. "Um, I needed more time to think." Now, that the team's morale was restored, everybody treated him differently. After they resisted everything he suggested last game, he was reluctant to make any new calls this game.

But, the team was fine now. His teammates even came asking for shot-calls of their own accords. It's great! If they keep playing like this, then winning two more games was very much possible!

But first, Yuel had to actually provide some good shot-calls for other lanes. He had been neglecting them to concentrate on taking down Breaker in Bot, but that's done with, With the team's morale restored, could he now expand his awareness to the whole map?

Like for everybody else on the team, much of the pressure he had been feeling throughout the game dispersed by now. Lars injected a huge dose of positivity into everybody by killing Breaker, so the load on Yuel's shoulder felt lighter. He was no longer haunted by a whirlpool of thoughts about restoring team morale and all that distracting nonsense. It's now much easier to concentrate on the actual events happening in front of his eyes. In this state, he could surely play full force again!

Mid Lane, Top Jungle and Top Lane. He gradually expanded his map awareness by analyzing each part of the map in order.

In Mid, Dan unleashed his tamed Dragon and attacked the Mid Turret together with Gilbert. Freezer was apparently forced to retreat, so they had the freedom to push without any interference.

When summoned as an allied minion, the Dragon was a powerful anti-tower tank. It couldn't be ordered to attack enemies, but instead, it automatically latched onto the nearest enemy tower, no matter whether it was a Turret, a Golem or even the Colossus. The Dragon held said tower hostage, preventing it from attacking nearby players regardless their actions in the tower's range. The Dragon soaked all of the tower's attacks and its thick scaled skin survived many shots. On top of that, it restlessly clawed away at the tower with its razor claws, rending the tower asunder.

With the Dragon's aid, Mid Turret fell down to... 25% HP? Wait, that couldn't be right. No matter how amazing the Dragon was for pushing objectives, there's no way it could single-handedly allow Gilbert and Dan reduce the Turret from 100% to 25% so early into the game. They didn't even have a DPS class to help them push, so how did this number come to be? What did Yuel miss while focusing on Bot?

"That's amazing progress in Mid," Yuel said as he turned to Gilbert. "You must've attacked the Turret a lot during laning."

"I sure did..." Gilbert raised an eyebrow. "You were sleeping or something?"

"N-No, of course not. I just paid more attention to other lanes." Yuel averted his eyes. "Anyway, that's impressive. Freezer was good at freezing the lane the last two times he played Mid, but I see you found a way through."

"Dunno what you've been looking at this whole time," Gilbert said. "But, he's like a totally different guy this game. I dunno why, but as Electro he's nowhere near the same level. He's been making some really weak plays.."

"Like what?"

"For one, he doesn't clear the wave right," Gilbert explained. Due to the way Electromancer's kit worked, it had to unleash its abilities on the minion wave in a very specific order to effectively clear.

First, it was mandatory to hit at least a couple of minions with basic attacks because those inflicted Electric Charges via the Electromancer's passive. This was a necessary preparation before unleashing Chain Lightning, a damage spell which bounced for additional hits when there were nearby targets with Electric Charges. Each hit of Chain Lightning also applied another Electric Charge on hit targets, charging them even further for what was coming next: Electrical Explosion, a spell which detonated all Electric Charges. The more charged the enemies were, the harder they blew up.

By following these precise instructions, Electromancer's clear speed was actually quite formidable. However, failure to execute these steps properly led to very weak performance. It's for this reason Electromancer was considered a difficult class to play.

Most mages in the game didn't require such elaborate preparations for something as simple as clearing a minion wave. So, to effectively execute the Electromancer's particular ritual - it's necessary to practice that routine a lot until it becomes natural. And, it's also necessary to regularly play the class to not lose touch.

Gilbert claimed he'd rust if he didn't play Electromancer at least once a week. It was simply too different from the straightforward way most other mages played their laning phase.

When playing correctly, Electromancer's clearing speed would definitely superior to Gilbert's Aeromancer. Yet, in this game, Gilbert somehow dominated the lane. According to him, the reason was Freezer's poor skill.

Freezer definitely knew the right moves for making the most out of Electromancer's kit, but his execution was terrible. Sometimes his Chain Lightning was fired at a minion positioned too far from those with Electric Charges, so the spell didn't make any additional bounces. Other times, he greedily stacked as many Electric Charges as he could with basic attacks before activating Electrical Explosion, but by the time he finally detonated the minions - the durations of many Electric Charges expired and only a few of the minions were actually were blown up.

"Maybe he's the type who needs time to warm up." Yuel wondered.

"Hard to say," Gilbert shrugged. "At least, he wasn't like that when he played Warlock."

"So, you think he's out of touch with Electro?"

"Sure looks like it. I even saw him miss Lighting Chain once when aiming at the minions. I know it's a thin skill-shot and everything, but damn man... so sad."

[Is he really not good with Electro? Or, maybe it's a trap?] Yuel couldn't judge from Gilbert's words alone. Freezer was a defensive and tricky player, who lured enemies and punished them for overextending. The enemy's last-second lineup switch during drafting was probably his idea too, it fit his playstyle well.

So, in theory, it's possible Freezer was only pretending to play poorly, to lure StormBlitz into overexerting. It sounded counterintuitive, but a certain "goddess" in their club regularly pulled stuff like that. Anything was possible.

Still, did it make sense to go as far as sacrificing a Turret for that kind of plan? And the Mid Turret, of all things. Would Ellen do that?

A pointless question. That snake would do anything to get the upper hand, no matter what she had to sacrifice in the process. She had no qualms pretending she was as weak as a Bronze player and feeding her brains out, just so she can turn the tables on the overconfident enemies later on. She's that bizarre.

Freezer and Ellen were both defensive players, but so far Freezer hadn't showcased the same level of otherworldly craftiness as Ellen. Therefore, it's safe to assume he was either rusty with Electromancer or needed more time to warm up. Either way, it was worth testing by sending Lars to Mid and see how he'll fare in a 1v1 against Freezer.

To arrange that 1v1, Gilbert first had to leave Mid. Was there any good rotation for him? Yuel analyzed the map for a while, then came up with a plan.

"I got an idea," Yuel announced.

"Oh!" Roi grinned. "Here it comes, boys!"

"Roi, can you let the Viking push you back a little? Then, pretend you're recalling to base. But instead of actually recalling, circle around Top and ride to the enemy Wolf Camp. If Gilbert heads there too, you'll get to 2v1 their Jungler."

"Lol, hella roundabout. Like always." Roi chuckled.

"What about defending Mid?" Gilbert asked. "The Electro will return any moment now."

"That's where Lars comes in," Yuel turned to Lars. "Go farm in Mid for a while. Try getting a kill on their Electro if you can."

"Haha," Lars's eyes lit up. "Want me to go all in?"

"Yeah, go wild."

"Sick! I'mma score twenty kills off that dude, just ya watch!"

"Sure."

"Wait, is that a good idea?" Gilbert asked. "You know Freezer is good at punishing overextension, right?"

"Yes, normally he is." Yuel nodded. "But, it's clear he's not playing his usual game right now. How he deals with Lars will tell us a lot about how much of a threat he really is this match. If turns out he's weak with Electro - we'll feed on him."

"Whoo," Dan whistled. "Brutal."

"As for Bot," Yuel continued. "I'll freeze it until Lars returns."

"Got it," Gilbert nodded. "Sounds like a plan. Roi, tell me when you're ready to go for the Wolf Camp."

"Already working on it." Roi carefully poked the Viking and retreated, then again poked and retreated. That's his way of pretending he was pushed back. Not exactly an Oscar-worthy performance, but he didn't need to be a great actor to convince the enemy. He ran low on MP, so it made sense for him to switch to defense. That factor was part of what sparked Yuel's plan in the first place.

Once the Viking pushed Roi all the way back to the Turret, Roi retreated into the backside of the jungle, out of the Viking's field of vision. In this situation, it'd make perfect sense for Roi to return to base, heal up and then teleport back to lane. He had done so before, so the enemy already knew he had Teleport and that it was out of cooldown.

However, Roi headed into the jungle instead, as Yuel instructed. He activated the Knight's ult, Noble Steed, and mounted a white horse. While mounted, his movement speed was much greater, allowing him to invade deep into enemy's Top Jungle before they realize what happened.

At about the same time, Gilbert began his rotation from Mid to Top. He started off almost twice as close to the destination as Roi, but they'll still arrive at the enemy Wolf Camp at around the same time. That's how fast the Knight's Noble Steed was.

As Yuel predicted, they found the Vampire there, still busy farming the last wolf. They ganged on the unsuspecting enemy without delay. Gilbert slowed him with Jet Stream and Roi pushed him back into the camp Shield Bash, denying any chance of escape. The fight ended almost as suddenly as it began.

『An enemy has been killed!』

"Lol," Roi grinned and turned to Yuel. "He sure didn't see it coming. Good guess there, bro."

"Thanks." Except, it was no "guess". The enemy Jungler didn't change positions during the enemy's mixup, so he had been playing the same general playstyle all day. In other words, Yuel already had three games worth of data on that Jungler. Thus, predicting that Jungler's farming routine wasn't much of a brainer.

Like many players in the Leopards, their Jungler was quite orthodox. Before choosing his next destination, he examined the states of nearby lanes and decided where to head next based on that. If a nearby lane was at a standstill or the Leopards' laner was at a disadvantage, their Jungler would gank the lane about 80% of the time. On the other hand, when their laner was in lead and the enemy laner was pushed back to the Turret, the Jungler almost never ganked; he proceeded to farm the nearest camp instead.

That's all standard jungling theory and there's no real fault with it. Nevertheless, it was a pattern this Jungler closely stuck to. And, a pattern could be exploited.

When Roi allowed himself to be pushed back by the Viking, he indirectly prevented the Jungler's gank. The Jungler saw his team held the advantage in Top and that Roi was retreating, so ganking would be a waste of time according to standard theory. It's unlikely the Jungler would help to secure a kill or to push the lane much in this situation, so he headed to the nearby Wolf Camp instead. This sound, yet predictable, judgment was his undoing.

With the successful sneak attack on the enemy Jungler, Gilbert and Roi took out the only enemy who could help out the Viking against a gank. Not only that, but they were already grouped up and positioned behind the Viking. Dan was also farming nearby, so it could even easily turn into a 3v1 gank.

"Let's gank-"

"Gank the Viking next," Yuel ordered.

"Of course, of course." Gilbert smiled wryly. "We can at least figure out a simple play like that ourselves."

"Oh, right." Yuel frowned. Was he turning a tad too bossy? People sometimes told him he had the tendency to get carried away, but all he wanted was to ensure everybody was on the same page. Well, no matter. As long as they all play their parts and produce results, all will be well.

What truly interested him was the situation in Mid: Lars vs. Freezer. This was the first time Yuel got to closely examine Freezer's performance as an Electromancer. Fortunately, Lars's monitor was right next to his, so it's like he had a front seat in the cinema. He could see every move, every twitch, Freezer made.

Just like Gilbert informed, Freezer's wave clearing lacked polish. He definitely knew it was best to land a couple of basic attacks on minions before following up with Chain Lightning and Electrical Explosion, but he forced it too much. Even at the expense of putting himself in Lars's firing range, Freezer advanced toward the clashing minions so he could land some basics on them.

Unsurprisingly, Lars used this opportunity to fire away at Freezer. As a result, enemy minions focused on Lars and broke out of formation. In turn, allied minions broke their formation as well in order to pursue enemy minions.

Both waves became a mess. That's the last thing an Electromancer wanted to deal with. The swordsmen and bowmen strayed too far from each other, so Chain Lightning couldn't bounce through all of them at once. It's probably best to wait for a little until order was restored to the lane, then proceed with Chain Lightning.

But, Freezer disagreed. He fired Chain Lightning anyway and it bounced between the minions, even hitting Lars who stood nearby and had one Electric Charge on him. Right after, Freezer followed up with Electrical Explosion, blowing up all the Electric Charges on the minions and Lars.

All of that combined erased 25% of Lars's HP. Nothing to sneeze at, but it didn't feel like hurting Lars was Freezer's main goal here. His actions felt forced and rushed. He knew the perfect routine the Electromancer should strive for and tried to follow it to a T, regardless of the unfavorable circumstances. These were all misplays.

Freezer earned himself temporarily lane advantage in both health and minions, but it left him effectively naked against Lars. From this range, a single Trickslide would easily close the dist-

"I'm going in!" Lars announced.

"Wha, already?!" Yuel was taken aback. He didn't even finish evaluating the situation, but Lars already jumped into the fray, like a predator sensing a weakened prey.

Lars slid forward and fired a Trickshot at a nearby jungle wall. A ballsy move, since missing this opening shot could screw over the whole assault and Electromancer had the option dodge by blinking away with Thunderclap. But, the high risk paid off.

The bouncing shot instantly reduced Freezer's HP to 60%. On top of that, since the shot was fired from a Trickslide, it granted Lars a stack of Attention Grabber, boosting his attack power and speed. Thanks to this high-risk high-reward opening, Lars set himself in a great position for converting this assault into a kill.

It's the kind of play only he could come up with on the spot because he unconditionally trusted his otherworldly mechanical skill. Once he locked on his target, things such as chance or risk became secondary. He instinctively made the most aggressive plays possible, disregarding everything else.

Admittedly, Lars had a bad habit of taking his aggression to the point of recklessness and Yuel often had to intervene. However, this time, he let Lars run loose. How well was the "overextension punisher" going to deal with this raw aggression? Yuel was curious.

What options did Freezer have here? He wasn't even Lv.5 yet, because he was pushed back by Gilbert the whole game and was forced to farm under tower. So, his ult wasn't available yet. Both his Chain Lightning and Electric Explosion were on cooldown because he spent them on the minion wave without thinking twice.

Thus, the only tool he had available right now was Thunderclap, a blinking ability. If he was his usual self, Freezer would probably blink away to lure Lars further in. However, if Yuel's estimation was correct...

[Seriously? What a pain.] Alex frowned as an impossibly accurate Trickshot bounced from a wall and pierced through his shoulder. That was 30% of his HP gone in one fell swoop. In just one hit. In one. Damn. Hit. What's with this Trickshooter? Wasn't he supposed to be some rookie? StormBlitz's second string was supposed to be filled with just juniors and freshman from what he heard.

He made fun of Jennifer when she died against this rookie, but it's no longer funny. What's with this bullshit accuracy? It was no damn joke. 30% HP in a single shot. C'mon, seriously?

Anyway, he had just to retreat. It'll be fine as long as he creates some distance. 1v1-ing a marksman as a mage was asking for trouble, especially when all his damage spells were on cooldown.

So, retreat all the way. That's the only option. If he's lucky, he'll lure the Trickshooter toward the Turret and turn the situation around.

62%. 54%. 46%.

[Damn, he's sticking to me. What a pain.] Alex frowned as his HP plummeted. What was going on? Each shot hit like a truck. Oh, was it the Trickshooter's passive? Um, what was it again? It was some convoluted buff effect if memory served.

30%. 22%.

[This is getting bad.] At this point, Alex had trouble distracting himself from the gravity of the situation. He already retreated back to his Turret, but theTrickshooter refused to let go. Was that scum going to invade? If so, there's nothing Alex could do...

No, wait. He still had Thunderclap! Right. How did he forget about it? He could blink away! This sort of mobility was so rare among mages that it completely slipped his mind. Electromancer and Lumimancer were about the only mages with a blinking ability in their kits.

14%.

Two more hits and he's done for. As hard as he tried to maintain composure, his heart beat faster and faster. He was ready to give up at first, but Thunderclap opened up a possibility. He could still get away! He had to blink! Right now! As fast as possible! NOW!!!

"Ack!" He shrieked as he hastily clicked. His Electromancer dissolved into a cloud of electricity and shot toward the sky, then came down crashing some distance away. He successfully used Thunderclap, but the direction he teleported in was far from optimal. He misclicked in hurry. What a dumb mistake.

Still, even at this distance, maybe he could-

『You have been killed!』

"Ah." He just sat there, unsure how to react. He just died to the most straightforward frontal attack ever. That Trickshooter just literally chased and shot him down, without missing a single shot. He was supposed to be good at punishing overly aggressive players, but it felt like nothing could be done in that situation. Why? It's weird. He should have been better than this.

"The hell you doing!?" Jennifer roared. "Why you didn't blink right away!?"

[Ugh, she saw that? Awkward.] Alex averted his eyes. "I planned to lure him to the Turret at first, but turned out his attacks were a bit too much to handle."

"Yeah, sure. Because that explains why you blinked like a millimeter away once you actually blinked."

"Ugh." Alex didn't have a good excuse for this one. He really messed up. "As if you have the right to talk. You also got killed by him because you didn't retreat in time."

"Wha!?" Jennifer slammed on the table. "At least I didn't fuck up a basic blink! You could totally get away there!"

"Misclicks happen, okay?"

"Misclicks?" Jennifer's face contorted. "Right, right. Of course you'd misclick. Because you don't practice for shit! When was even the last time you played Electro? You're playing like trash!"

"Can it already." Alex exhaled and dropped on his chair. Jennifer shot some more rants his way, but who cared.

Jennifer was a pain. That Trickshooter was a pain. This game was a pain. Everything was a pain.

So, she asked when was the last time he played Electromancer? Why, of course it was... when was it again? Um, a month ago? Maybe two? Huh, it's been a while...

Still, Electromancer was one of his best Mid classes, so that bitch should get off his case already. Nobody was perfect. Forgetting details and misclicking in the heat of the moment was normal. He was a little surprised by that Trickshooter's intense aggression, that's all. It was just a little hiccup. Not his fault.

"This kill confirms it," Yuel announced. "Freezer doesn't pilot Electro well. I thought he may be faking it at first, but giving us a kill on purpose in that situation sounds like a stretching."

"Lol," Roi chuckled. "Wouldn't put that kinda shit past Elly, though."

"I agree." Yuel nodded. "Thankfully, we're not playing her right now. I'm pretty sure Freezer didn't plan on dying there. His plays just feel rusty. He may get a better hang of it as the game goes on, so don't let this opportunity slip - feed on him every chance you get"

"Got it," Gilbert nodded. "We're also done in here."

『An enemy has been killed!』

Through combined effort, Gilbert and Roi took down the fleeing Viking in Top Lane. That's three kills in a row. First the Vampire, then Freezer and now the Viking. The situation transformed from 5v5 to 5v2 in a blink of an eye. Both Top and Mid were completely open for pushing. There's a good chance StormBlitz will take out at least one Turret this early into the game.

This domino effect was amazing. After Lars generated momentum for the team by slaying Breaker, the momentum rippled throughout the team and brought one positive development after another. At this rate, this game was as good as settled!