Help the Team to Help Yourself

"Good," Yuel nodded in approval as Nia wiped out the enemy Ogre Camp without any interferences. "Now, you can push Mid even harder with the extra damage. It was a good idea, right?"

"I guess," Nia said. "Maybe you can suggest ok plays sometimes after all."

[This buff really helps, actually.] Nia nodded silently as she wiped out the entire enemy wave. The enemy swordsmen were beefy and have been surviving her spells recently, but with the power buff, these guys stood no chance. Nia deleted them from existence and advanced toward the enemy Turret.

"You better retreat now," Yuel said. "Their Vampire might be coming for a gank."

"Ah, right," Nia completely forgot that all sorts of randoms could gank her outta nowhere at any time in this mode. Scary.

She got out of there just as the Vampire arrived. Phew, bullet dodged. Sometimes, Yuel's advice was on point like that. It's like he saw the future or something. Illuminati confirmed.

While the enemy Vampire was busy cleaning up the lane, Yuel advised stealing both Griffins. Nia did so and outleveled all enemies as a result. This put her in a great position.

[I'm kinda rocking this game.] Nia stopped for a moment to appreciate this rare occurrence. She usually had a rough time playing any role other than Jungler but this game was easy. Almost [too] easy, even.

Half of it was thanks to the Pyromancer feeding her. However, the other half was undeniably thanks to Yuel's advice. If not for those, the Vampire would have ganked her to death at least twice by now. Also, she wouldn't have gotten ahead in farm because she wasn't paying enough attention to the Griffins.

[Maybe he's not just a nagging bully.] Nia had to hand him that much. Maybe, just maybe, Yuel didn't ask her to gank the Dark Knight with bad intentions. Maybe it was really a play that had to be done despite how scary it was.

[I almost died, though.] Nia shuddered at the image of the demonic knight breathing down her neck. That monster nearly caught her and ripped her apart. It was pure bullying.

[Even if it was supposed to be a good idea, I don't want to do it ever again.] Nia gulped. Just the thought of going up against that demon again gave her chills. There was no reason to put herself through such unnecessary danger. She'll just keep winning in her lane and eventually push all the way to the Colossus. Simple and easy, just like she liked.

Unfortunately, it turned out things were neither simple nor easy.

[Mid is ours but the other lanes are lagging behind.] Yuel analyzed the state of the map.

In Bot, the situation was almost even. Both sides got about the same amount of damage on each other's Turrets and held roughly the same KDA. However, the enemy Ranger was half a level higher than the allied Elf, probably due to being better at landing last-hits. This wasn't a concern for the immediate future, but there was no telling when the situation might turn for the worse. A gank on Bot will be needed sooner than later to turn the momentum around.

But first, there was the situation in Top. As expected, it was quite terrible. Ever since the Dark Knight returned to the lane, he has been pushing in full throttle. As soon as he wiped out the minion wave, he aggresses on the Knight with everything he got and even dived under tower.

It was a bold overextension but the Knight didn't punish it. Instead, he backed away from the dangerous invader and farmed from a safe distance under tower. That was a lot of wasted farm and it gave the Dark Knight a huge momentum, which was the last thing they wanted to give this lane bully

At this rate, the Top Turret will fall and the Dark Knight pick will pay off greatly for the enemy team.

Of course, the Dark Knight also ideally wanted to score some kills before mid-game. However, destroying a Turret gave the entire team a lot of gold and robbed the enemy of crucial map vision, so it was worth much more than plain kills. This Dark Knight had to be stopped at any cost.

Unfortunately, the allied Jungler wasn't too enthusiastic about ganking Top. He gave it a few shots and always retreated right away. The low effort ganks stalled the Dark Knight a little at a time but they didn't force him to leave the lane. There was a need for a harder and more decisive gank.

[Nia needs to gank.] Yuel concluded. At the moment, Nia had the most leeway with her lane control and she was a strong damage dealer to boot. She'll be able to scare away the Dark Knight with ease, just like last time.

["Last time", huh.] Yuel smiled wryly. Last time, the way Nia played nearly gave Yuel a heart attack. She choked in that situation and barely got away. Not to mention, this Dark Knight was bold enough to buy Blink and it should be out of cooldown by now.

[Do I tell her to go through with it again?] Yuel rubbed his temples. On one hand, this was a play that absolutely had to happen. On the other hand, Nia might fudge it up and die, thus losing the lane advantage she built up and feeding the Dark Knight. Worst of all, she'll blame Yuel for her death and conclude that his shot-calling was poop, not exactly the reputation he wanted to build here.

[With how this simpleton thinks, I bet she'll stay happy as long as she just keeps doing well in Mid. Even if her team loses, she'll probably think she played well and blame it on her allies. A classic amateur mentality. Sigh.]

When a player was doing well, it was their responsibility to aid the teammates who struggled. There was no point protecting an easily earned lane advantage while the rest of your team was clobbered. That's called winning the battle but losing the war.

It'd be one thing if Nia was playing in Bot. In that case, helping Top would be difficult. However, from Mid, she was in the right position to deliver this much-needed gank.

[She has to do it.] Enough mulling over it. If Yuel allows Nia to keep messing around in Mid without saving Top, he won't be able to forgive himself. Without that gank, Nia will assuredly lose the match and learn nothing. Even worse, she'll walk away from the game thinking she did great and that there was nothing wrong with how she played. That was unacceptable.

[She'll surely hate me for this, but...] Yuel took a deep breath and braced himself. "Nia, you need to gank Top."

"Again?" Nia twisted her lips.

"Yes, unfortunately. The Knight is getting clobbered over there. We'll lose the Turret at this rate."

"So it seems."

"It's a really bad situation there. I'm surprised he's not spamming 'Help!' macros. That's the classic."

"Who knows, maybe he does. I muted everybody."

"Wait, you also muted the macros and pings?"

"I used the global mute."

"That explains a lot..." Yuel facepalmed. No wonder her team was as vocal as a graveyard. Even for a Qualifier match filled with low ranks, it was way too quiet. Everybody here was an Lv.50 player, so at least some of them must have learned to use macros and pings by now.

"I understand muting the chat, but muting the pings and macros? That's criminal."

"I dunno. I just muted everything because I'm sick of all these online bullies."

"Yeah, I understand that feeling. But, you better keep macros and pings on. Well, there's no time to fix that now so just head to Top."

"Do I have to?" Nia pouted.

"Yes, you absolutely have to. In fact, I'd go as far as saying it's your responsibility."

"It's not my lane."

"Right, but it's still your team's lane. If he loses Top, it's going to affect the entire team."

"Yeah, but..." Nia twisted her lips.

"Imagine it was the opposite. Say, you had a rough matchup in Mid while the Top Laner had the easiest matchup of his life. Wouldn't you expect him to help you out?"

"If I'm losing the lane it's my fault."

"Perhaps. But, your team can't win all three lanes all the time. Some teammates will do better in their lanes and some will do worse. But, the ultimate goal is for the entire team to win."

"Duh, I know that."

"Then, what do you think would be better for the team in that hypothetical situation? For you to keep struggling in Mid alone, eventually lose the lane and bring ruin upon the entire team? Or, for the Top Laner to stop thinking only about his lane and come help you out so the team can win?"

"Winning is better, of course."

"Right? So, go gank Top. If you don't, you'll lose the whole match. A Dark Knight with momentum is a lot scarier than a Wizard with momentum. You might be thinking you're doing great right now but, if you don't help your teammates out, the enemy will kill them first and then gang on you. I wish you luck in that 1v5"

"1v5..." Nia shuddered. She never thought of it this way but it made sense. No matter how hard she wished to avoid confronting the Dark Knight, that bully won't remain in Top the entire game. Eventually, that he'll come after her as well.

"I know it's hard to care about the team when you're playing with randoms," Yuel said. "So, at least care about yourself. Help your teammates to help yourself."

"Help them to help myself..." Nia mumbled. If she can shut down the Dark Knight now, she'll make her own life easier later down the road. It was like attacking a baby dragon before it got a chance to mature into a monster that'll tear her apart. It sounded like a good plan, actually.

"Ok, I'll try," Nia took a deep breath and headed toward Top. It's ok, there was no point being scared of the Dark Knight now. She'll have to face that demon sooner or later anyway, so better do it now before he gains momentum.

[Sneaky as always.] Yuel smiled as he watched the irregular jungle route Nia took. She made many twists and turns in a blind attempt to dodge wards.

Normally, it was futile to try dodging all the wards and it was better to save time by taking the shortest route. But, Nia made it work, as the Dark Knight hasn't shown any signs of being aware of her incoming rotation.

With all his recent reckless pushing, the Dark Knight was down to 60% HP. However, the guy feared nobody and kept pushing as hard as he could. The Knight couldn't punish this overextension without getting closer and putting himself at risk, so he stayed back at the tower this entire time with his 50% HP. Most likely, he was waiting for an opportunity to recall to base and get out of this predicament.

"Don't forget to announce that you're attacking," Yuel said.

"Ok," Nia pinged Top with an "Attack!" emote. However, there was no reply from the Knight. Rather, they couldn't see the reply because Nia muted everything.

As such, it was impossible to tell what the Knight was planning to do with this situation. Was he willing to put his life on the line in order to strike back at the Dark Knight? Or, was he planning to use this opportunity in order to recall?

Either way, Nia had to initiate the attack.

[This better not turn out like last time.] Nia shuddered. Her small fingers trembled as she targeted her Quicksand...