NOVEL NEXT Chapter 456
What caused the suddenly emerging lane swap meta with just one patch?
In Legends of League, the reason the EU meta established with one top, one jungle, one mid, and two at bot is multi-faceted.
One major factor was the dragon. At that time, it wasn’t the buff-giving object we know now, but instead gave gold, making it absolutely crucial in the early snowballing phase.
At the heart of the EU meta was a powerful mage champion who excelled at wave-clearing in mid, making it easier to protect the all-important mid turret, while a support was needed to grow the late-game ADC, who struggles to lane alone in the early game. Hence, both champions ended up at bot together because of the dragon’s significance.
In other words, if you didn’t need to push an advantage toward the dragon early on, there’s no hard rule that two champions have to be at bot.
This can be seen as the start of lane swaps, where top and bot began swapping their positions.
“Does the value of the void larva outweigh the early dragon’s value? Or is it not bad to trade one for the other?”
I had various thoughts about the emergence of this lane swap with just one patch, but now it was time to focus on the game.
Even though the first dragon was easily stolen, we hadn’t given away the larva yet.
Currently, our bot lane had two champions in top, while the enemy bot was still at dragon.
The enemy support was likely coming up, but we had enough time to secure the larva first.
“We must definitely get this larva.”
The object exchange rule: if the enemy takes the dragon, we’ll at least take the larva.
It was a straightforward rule, yet because our team was slow to react, it seemed unavoidable that we would have to fight the enemy.
– The blue team has slain the void larva!
By the time we secured one larva, the enemy team, except for their ADC, had gathered around the larva area.
[“The enemy is all here. We need to fight.”]
[“Yes. I’ll look for a good angle.”]
Our number was also four.
The difference being that the missing one was our top laner, while the enemy was missing their ADC.
Sejuani, Orianna, Kalista, Renata.
Rek’Sai, Xin Zhao, Taliyah, Tahm Kench.
It was uncertain who would win this fight, but it was clear that we had no way to dodge the battle now.
[“Rek’Sai is pushing from above. Be careful.”]
[“Got it.”]
Rek’Sai’s position was already behind us, and if she closed in with the enemy Taliyah, our damage dealers would inevitably be exposed.
[“What’s this? Coming? Wabab, wabab.”]
Kim Jae-min’s Kalista was dancing to bait Rek’Sai, trying to score a spear throw.
Since Rek’Sai had no flash, it felt like a play that could work.
A maneuver Kalista could usually pull off as an ADC.
However, today, Kim Jae-min seemed to be moving as if he was undervaluing the enemy top, exerting pressure on Rek’Sai far too aggressively.
And perhaps that’s why—
A slight opening appeared.
[“Uh-oh.”]
Suddenly, Rek’Sai burrowed and successfully knocked Kalista and Renata airborne.
[“Oh no.”]
At first, when Kalista got knocked into the air by Rek’Sai, it seemed manageable.
The enemy was already engaging, and I thought if we could bait them for a kiting setup, we would be fine.
However, once Tahm Kench’s knock-up and Taliyah’s skill combo followed, a bomb necklace was hastily placed around Kalista’s neck.
Of course, Kalista’s health was already at zero by then.
[“…Ah. I’m dead.”]
Kalista desperately threw a spear at Rek’Sai, but obviously could not take her down in such a short time.
– First blood!
– Our champion has been slain!
It was a mistake to catch two champions in the air without even a flash against Rek’Sai.
That led to Kalista’s death, and from there, our team fight was virtually doomed.
[“Fall back!”]
With Baek Seong-an’s scream mixed in panic, our champions hastily retreated.
But during the following pursuit, Renata got caught, and soon after, she also fell.
– Our champion has been slain!
Fortunately, during the chase, our team managed to deal enough damage to take down Rek’Sai, who was already low from our resistance.
– Enemy slain!
A 2:1 trade.
However, considering we only got one void larva before retreating, it was nearly a complete defeat.
Naturally, the remaining two void larvae fell to the enemy.
– The red team has slain the void larva!
We lost both early objects.
Sure, the dragon and larvae aren’t objects that exert overwhelming influence right from the start, so technically speaking, the balance hasn’t shifted significantly.
It’s just that the groundwork for imbalance has been laid.
“Let’s focus and try again.”
[“…Okay.”]
[“It’s alright. We can still do this.”]
Baek Seong-an was right.
It was still doable.
That is true, but the game of Legends of League is particularly fickle in unfavorable scenarios.
Especially for our team, who had been riding high recently, it became more pronounced.
Though we had faced difficult games before, with our recent momentum, this strenuous start had become unfamiliar.
After a round of stabilizing, the lanes began to get shuffled again.
One thing was certain: in this chaotic lane state, our team was a step behind the enemy.
From the initial snowballing onwards, the enemy had taken control.
Normally, the team with the advantage typically holds the choices.
The turret defense situation wasn’t ideal.
Especially the bot turret defense had taken a significant amount of damage, meaning it wouldn’t be surprising if it were to crumble when the Rift Herald timing came around.
This was a loss incurred while trying to keep up with the enemy’s lane swap tempo.
[“We can give up to two dragons. But we can’t give away the next larva.”]
Baek Seong-an established a strategy.
Even if the dragon is secured until 2 stacks, it won’t lead to any impactful early snowballing.
It merely makes our mid-game operation quite challenging.
However, letting the enemy consume four or more larvae changes the game entirely.
That would quickly collapse our already disadvantaged turrets, and then the snowballing would become uncontrollable.
Before we knew it, the time for the second larva was approaching.
If we give the next larva to the enemy, then the game would really start to tip in their favor.
It was a messy lane swap early on, but this time, all our top and mid champs had teleport, so we prepared to engage properly.
[“Yeon-woo, be at bot then join with teleport.”]
[“Got it. I’ll push out the wave first.”]
In the Twisted Fate vs Rek’Sai standoff, the one with wave push advantage was Twisted Fate’s side.
Thus, we held momentum in this upcoming larva fight.
5:5 void larva team fight.
It’s rare for all five champions to come together for such a small object, but our team decided we couldn’t afford to get pushed further, while the enemy insisted they wouldn’t stop snowballing.
[“The enemy will hit it first.”]
The enemy team started taking the larva.
Going for the object first usually puts you at a positional disadvantage, so it wasn’t a bad situation for us.
Let’s keep calm.
If we flip it here, turning the game around is a breeze.
While observing the enemy champions, I realized one thing.
One, two, three, four…
One is missing.
“I don’t see Rek’Sai’s position.”
Not seeing Rek’Sai can be quite a threat.
Before the patch, Rek’Sai was more of an assassin-type champion instead of a team fight specialist, but with the new champion structure after this patch, she can now do multiple knock-ups.
Yeah, just like how Rek’Sai was when she first launched.
Therefore, losing track of Rek’Sai holds considerable risk in this team fight.
[“We need to find Rek’Sai.”]
Though Baek Seong-an heard me, it was already a step too late.
Sssss—
Rek’Sai suddenly burrowed from a blind spot and popped up to ambush Orianna.
And then the follow-up knock-up from Tahm Kench came as if he were waiting.
[“I’m caught!”]
Baek Seong-an shouted urgently as he used his ultimate.
However, Rek’Sai effortlessly dodged with her ultimate, while Tahm Kench, being inherently tanky, barely flinched from Orianna’s ultimate.
And then came Taliyah’s skills in succession.
Renata’s bomb necklace urgently latched onto Orianna’s neck, but to be honest, it was pretty useless.
– Our champion has been slain!
In an instant, Orianna was blown up.
It went from a 5:4 to a frantic scramble as Renata landed a huge ultimate on the enemy to buy us some time to retaliate.
We also unleashed skills on the enemy during the window while their skills were on cooldown.
Especially Tahm Kench, who dove deep, became a porcupine for Kalista before making a graceful escape with his flash.
There’s no doubt that this was a clear glimpse of why the Sejuani-Tahm Kench combo was so insane.
Having gobbled up minions, Tahm Kench was immensely tanky.
[“Ah, can’t catch that!”]
Our formation was falling apart.
No, to be fair, the formation had already shattered the moment Orianna got caught.
“We need to retreat.”
In the end, we had no choice but to fall back, leaving the void larva behind.