Chapter 42 (1/2)

As his team’s top laner in the match, Chen Mu locked in Prince, a champion that was a standard Tiger Balm that could go top lane and mid lane. He could jungle; he could support—nothing short of the perfect champion.

Dash, slow, control, knock up, crowd control, deal damage; Prince had everything and was good at everything. His passive, Martial Cadence, alone was very relevant in the early, mid, and late game. Added with his flag that increased his attack speed, Prince could land assists and provide his team with very useful buffs during late game.

Taking Flash and Ignite, Prince played went up against the surgeon from the women’s hospital, Shen.

Firstly, Chen Mu hid in the brush. Every time they met, Chen Mu executed a QA combo. Exploiting the armor penetration effect from his passive and Q, Prince’s damage was higher than Shen’s QA combo. Moreover, each time Chen Mu landed a basic attack, he would turn around immediately and suffer only Shen’s Q.

Additionally, Chen Mu used his passive to farm CS. Among all the champions in League, Prince was one of the easiest champions to use to farm CS. With Martial Cadence that passively triggered every ten seconds, it was capable of inflicting a few dozen more attack damage points to the minions. If one could not farm CS properly while playing as Prince, then one had a problem with their basic League skills.

Chen Mu cast Q whenever his ability was off CD. On the opposite team, Shen, the Eye of Twilight, had a win rate of seventy percent in twenty matches—it was not a bad win rate. Similar to Chen Mu, Shen started to poke at him whenever his ability came off CD.

Nevertheless, the difference between both of them was that Prince’s Q was an AOE skill.[1] Prince’s Q could pierce through champions and minions at the same time. Before the seventh minion died, Chen Mu stepped up.

Shen obviously realized that Chen Mu was going to reach Level 2 before him and started to retreat. What he failed to realize was that Prince was not looking to kill the seventh minion. Prince closed in on the distance between Shen and him. While Shen was in the process of retreating, the minion was killed, and Prince knocked up Shen with his EQ combo that was cast at light speed.

“Eff me! How’s he so quick?!” Shen had been ready to give up his Flash but had not expected Prince to have such inhuman speed. Before the level up sign could even disappear, Prince cast his EQ combo.

Chen Mu aimed at the furthest point from him because it would obstruct Shen’s escape route. Additionally, he was able to land a few more basic attacks on Shen.

Using his Ignite, Prince moved forward as he blocked the direct path of Shen’s route to his tower. He increased the distance Shen had to travel. Thus, making him waste more time.

Shen, who had already used up his Flash at this point, was caught by Prince who continued to block his path while kiting. Eventually, Prince dived the turret and scored First Blood.

Looking at his grayscale screen, Shen was ridiculed by his teammates for having been solo killed while playing as the king of anti-suppression champions.

Shen typed in the chat and said: [I’m here to treat you. Why would you want to give up on your treatment?]

Chen Mu: [Because I brought Flash and Ignite.]

Shen: […]

It made a lot of sense. He had nothing to retaliate with.

After respawning, Shen could only buy two more Health Potions. On the other hand, after pushing the lane, Chen Mu went back to base before returning with The Brutalizer.

Pitching The Brutalizer against Doran’s Shield—needless to say—ten points of armor penetration were enough to turn Shen’s armor into very thin paper. Now, Shen could only stand at the furthest spot and use his Q to farm CS.

Each time Chen Mu obtained the upper hand, he would force the advantage of the system on his opponents, making them unable to land any last hits on minions. Whenever his minions were about to die, Chen Mu would chase away his enemy laner and only allow them to return after the minions had died. That was the way Chen Mu used to prolong the level up speed of his opponents.

It was the best opportunity for him. Chen Mu had to kill his opponent at Level 2. That was because after the jungler on Chen Mu’s team had taken Double Buff[2], it was most likely that the opposing team’s jungler would help him capture top lane. The minions had to take a long route to get to top lane. Once the jungler had circled to the back, the enemy became stuck. It was unlike mid lane that was connected to many potential escape routes.

It was hypothesized based on the typical jungling sequence in bot lane under normal circumstances.