2013年3月14日 星期四

Lanning Set-Ups: WE in Season 3 (3/3)



Scouting Report: WE in StarsWar League Season 2


Current Roster: Weixiao(AD), Misaya(AP), Caomei(Top), ClearLove(Jungle), Fzzf(Support)

WE boasts one of strongest carry lineups known to LoL, with Misaya(mid as well as play-caller) and Wexiao at the top of their positions, and Caomei showing massive improvements from last year. Only TPA has a comparable line-up of laners that can win games solely through lanning. They manage minion waves very well, and have good coordination which is where I believe they are ahead of most pro teams. So far in Season 3 they have only dropped one game to iG's unconventional bruiser duo lane.

Many perceive of WE as a five man team, but they themselves always refer to themselves as a six man team, with "Aaron" as a strategist behind the scenes. He has been seen hitting Caomei on the head when he plays bad, and acts as a statistician and routine enforcer as well. His job includes setting exercises, watching foreign streams and scouring forums for interesting posts(reddit?). As scara has recently pointed out, a well prepped team will easily defeat a one that comes unprepared. Having the infrastructure for dedicated scouting will be one of the most crucial factors for any of the teams going forward. If the NA teams of LCS wish to have a fighting chance in Season 3 they will need this type of logistics.

China looks to become a very interesting scene as they utilize picks that are not seen anywhere else(Morgana Solo, Elise Sup), play different Lvl 1s(early blue invades, explorer ward baits etc.), and have a three strong teams in WE, iG and Royal.

Notes: This is meant to be an appendix of a series I was writing on Lanning Set-Ups, so some terminology comes from prior parts of the series. All game vods can be found here: GIGABYTE vod page.


**Abbreviations: SW=Sight Ward, VW=Vision Ward, EW=Explorer Ward. Bush terms come from the intro map. Bush Map as shown here.



GIGABYTE StarsWar Season 2 Round 2WE vs. iG Game 1

Roster:
WE: Weixiao(AD), Misaya(AP), Caomei(Top), ClearLove(Jungle), Fzzf(Support)
iG: XiaoXiao(Suport), kid(AD), illuSion(Jungle), Zz1tai(AP), Pdd(Top)

WE Bans
iG Bans
Cho'Gath
Blitzcrank
Kha'Zix
Shen
Evelynn
Twisted Fate

WE Picks
iG Picks
Ezreal
Lee Sin
Elise
Amumu
Kayle
Pantheon
Singed
Olaf
Jarvan IV
Xerath

Time
WE Play-by-Play
Time
iG Play-by-Play
00:00
Singed Flask, SW, HPs; Ez forgot to buy; Kayle Flask, SW, HPs, MP; Elise VW, 4SW, HP, MP, EW.
00:00
Olaf Flask, SW, HPs, MP; Pantheon, Flask, SW, HPs; Xerath Flask SW, HPs, MPs.
0:42
1-1-2-1, Singed at Blue ramp, Kayle drops ward into ML2, Elise drops SW into Bot tri, Jarvan E into MR1, Ezreal mid lane. All ramps secured.
0:42
5 man straight to bot River Bush.


1:10
Pantheon drops SW into bot tri, they back into their own jungle.
1:40
Ezreal and Singed takes Wolves, Jarvan, Elise and Kayle take Wraiths. EZ suddenly realizes he forgot to buy and goes home. Smiteless Red for Jarvan.
1:40
Xerath and Olaf take Wraiths, Lee, Panth and Amumu takes Wolves. Smiteless Blue for Amumu.
2:11
In the end WE counteracted the iG kill lane of Lee+Panth by sending Ezreal and Elise mid, and letting Kayle take bot lane, a 1-2-1 set-up. iG has Olaf at top, Xerath played by Xiaoxiao, their support player mid, and Lee+Panth bot. The game evolves into a peculiar "no jungler" game, as Amumu and Jarvan both stay in lanes to help their solos against 1v2s. iG comes out slightly ahead as Xerath farms easier than Kayle.
*Game was streamed in poor resolution on the Chinese stream, so exact pot numbers may be off. Note this was before Flask nerf.

Interesting lane set-ups coming from both sides, iG wanted to shut down Weixiao with a double bruiser mid. WE went with a double mid and sent Misaya bottom to counter this. NA teams would probably send bot duo to top to avoid this rather than doing double mid.

iG had the superior teamfight composition with Amumu and Xerath combo dealing ridiculous damage, WE were able to prolong the game with very intelligent split pushing. Kalye and Singed would push simultaneously, while the other three defended mid, as iG split to deal with two waves, WE grouped instantly to pin iG on the sidelines, dealing heavy damage to the sideline towers without actually being there. iG had trouble sieging against Weixiao on EZ, who built Iceborn second and with LW did heavy damage. However iG wiped the floor with WE once Baron dances started with Pantheon initiation and eventually won the game.

GIGABYTE StarsWar Season 2 Round 2WE vs. iG Game 2 

iG Bans
WE Bans
Blitzcrank
Evelynn
Shen
Kha'Zix
Amumu
Twisted Fate

iG Picks
WE Picks
Ezreal
Nunu
Cho'Gath
Kayle
Elise
Olaf
Rumble
Caitlyn
Master Yi
Irelia

Time
iG Play-by-Play
Time
WE Play-by-Play
00:00
Elise Support, 2 SW, Cloth, 2 HP start with Explorer.
00:00
Nunu Support, 4 SW 1 VW, 2HP, EW. Irelia, Flask, SW, 5 pot. Kayle, Flask, SW, 4HP, 1MP.
0:35
Pings for River bush. 5 man into Bot tri bush. iG seems to have the Lvl 1, so the side ramp route seems a bit odd.
0:35
Team pings ML1 and enemy wraith bush, then pings for self Blue entrance. Kayle drops ward at ML1, rest of team goes into MR2.


0:44
Caitlyn trap at R3
0:55
Pings into Bot River bush, but then 5 man swings into both bot lane bushes, then upwards toward bot river bush.
0:55
5 man into RB2, 1:02 Nunu SW into RB3, swing around on red side EW into Wraith Bush 1:09.
1:20
5 man into enemy Blue Bush, Elise SWs it 1:23.

1:20
Different pings on which way to exit the enemy jungle, Nunu wins and leads the team through ML1. 1:23 Cait traps ML1.
1:38
Rumble B, rest of heads toward own wraiths.
1:38
Pings on Wolves and Blue.
2:10
Ezreal and Elise take bot golems, Cho gets help on Wraiths and then Elise helps with Red while Ezreal swings bot. Cho uses smite. Cross lanes.
2:10
Kayle and Irelia help Olaf with Wolves and Blue. Nunu Cait take top golems. Olaf saves smite. Cross lanes.


3:01
Irelia uses the pushed out wave to drop a ward at Blue entrance.
3:30
Cho route: Wolves, Blue. Shows himself at top tower.
3:30
Olaf route: Red(Smite), Wraiths, Wolves. Olaf helps to clear the bot wave out, axing the minions down.
4:05
Cho rotates mid to clear the wave out.
4:03
Kayle manages to solo kill Mater Yi while Meditate is on CD. Proceeds to push the lane in.
4:11
Elise drop a ward at dragon in response to Kayle's kill.
4:11
The ward is seen by Irelia's ward and pinged out.
4:40
Mater Yi rushes towards Red, sees Ezreal die and heads upwards.
4:29
Kalye and Olaf enter enemy jungle through Wraith Ward and then rush to bot, they manage to kill Ezreal.
iG lost the game because they bet on the wrong lanes, they expected a Standard set-up with Caitlyn Nunu bot lane and went with cloth armor on Elise support, limiting her to two wards. This would spiral out of control very fast. WE had a good reaction call, the split second Dragon ward was pinged both Olaf and Kayle ran through the enemy jungle to converge on a pushed Ezreal and Elise to net Second Blood. The game was effectively over by 7 minutes with a 4-0 lead plus dragon for World Elite. It is worthy to note however, that iG should have predicted this seeing Olaf walk upwards through river on their Dragon ward. The most tell tale sign of a good team is reaction on ward information.

Note that Fzzf chose to EW the Wraith Bush and SW R1, having two extra minutes on Wraiths seems much better than having vision on Red, which tells me they simply supposed iG was starting their own Blue upon Warding the Red side of their jungle. Another possible explanation is WE knew iG's aversion to the Wraith ward. Sometimes iG starts Golem, Red on their junglers and walks around the jungle simply to avoid the Wraith Ward, by putting SW in R1 they can have definitive read on the jungle route. Both Jungles showing to support the solo lane is quite common in Chinese games.

GIGABYTE StarsWar Season 2 Round 4SKT1 vs. WE Game 1 

Rosters
WE: Weixiao(AD), Misaya(AP), Caomei(Top), ClearLove(Jungle), Fzzf(Support)
SKT1: Reapered(Top), Beelzehan, (Jungle), MighTiLy(AP), Raven(AD), StarLast(Sup)

SKT1 Bans
WE Bans
Ryze
Evelynn
Elise
Miss Fortune
Kayle
Kha'Zix

SKT1 Picks
WE Picks
Twisted Fate
Zed
Nunu
Olaf
Shen
Sona
Caitlyn
Ezreal
Xin Zhao
Amumu

Time
SKT1 Play-by-Play
Time
WE Play-by-Play
00:00
Nunu 4SW, VW, EW, HPs. 1-2-1-1. Shen at ML3; TF+Nunu at mid tower, Cait bot tri, Xin R3.
00:00
Olaf Flask, SW, HPs; Sona 4SW, VW, EW, HPs. 5 man towards enemy Wraiths.
0:35
Nunu drops EW in MR 1. Upon seeing the 5 members of WE, Nunu and Shen counter ward WE's Wraith bush.
0:35
EZ enters MR 1, pings out the ward. 5 man march into EW into Wraith bush at 0: another ward into R2 at 0:54. Touch and go.
1:08
Shen and Nunu move back to ML 3. TF sees EZ exist their jungle.
1:08
WE exit enemy jungle, EZ Qs MR1 before existing through Wraith ramp.
1:17
Nunu moves into the Wraith Brush, puts down the VW to clear the ward, a misplay as Sona walked out of the jungle in MR1's sight.
1:15
Sona drops a SW at ML1, pings out Nunu, and Wraiths. Amumu walks around the second tower to avoid the Wraith Ward and Olaf walks through R3 to reach Golems.
1:40
Shen crosses the river into WE's R3, seems as if he is checking if WE really hasn't done Wraiths. TF helps Xin with Wraiths, bot duo takes Golems. Xin takes Red with help from Nunu.
1:40
Olaf takes Golems with Amumu undetected. Both CS goes to Amumu(hiding his jungle route), EZ and Sona take Wolves.
Nice opening from WE predicting the wraith ward coming from SKT1 and avoiding it completely, Caomei gains a lvl advantage against Reapeared from Golem exp, which he uses nicely to bully Shen. Overall every ward from WE served its purpose. The Wraith EW saw TF and Xin start Wriaths, and actually baited Nunu into wasting a VW(check your tabs supports!). The SW in ML 1 saw two Xin ganks, and the R2 ward made sure Nunu was headed bot doing Golems and Xin really was starting Red. Ezreal did suffer in the beginning as Golem exp was visibly stronger than Wolves.

Game ended when SKT1 forced themselves into a first pick Twisted Fate by not banning it on Blue side. Misaya destroyed the match up with Zed and despite a 51 armor start from Mightly. Weixiao stayed even in CS, even with the lane pushed into tower and being behind in experience from blue side Golems. Caomei was also massively ahead after a Reapered Stand United to save bot lane. WE simply won on too many fronts for SKT1 to handle. SKT1 has been abysmal in StarsWar League, going 0-6, and losing to the lowly AG. They have more games to play, but have no chance to advance from the group stages.

GIGABYTE StarsWar Season 2 Round 4SKT1 vs. WE Game 2


WE Bans
SKT1 Bans
Miss Fortune
Ryze
Olaf
Evelynn
Zed
Twisted Fate

WE Picks
SKT1 Picks
Kha'Zix
Kayle
Rumble
Xin Zhao
Sona
Lulu
Ezreal
Graves
Lee Sin
Elise

Time
WE Play-by-Play
Time
SKT1 Play-by-Play
00:00
Rumble SW, Rejuvenation Bead, SW; Kha'Zix SW, Flask, HPs, MP; Sona 4SW, VW, EW, HPs.
00:00
Elise Flask, SW, HPs; Kayle Flask SW, HP, MP; Lulu 4SW, VW, EW, HPs.
0:38
4-1, EZ goes straight down mid while the rest of team invades through ML2 into Wraiths.
0:38
1-2-1-1. Elise headed for bot River bush, Graves+Xin at mid tower, Kayle at MR2 Lulu at Wraiths.
1:06
Sona EW on Wraiths, SW on R1, exist jungle through Wraith ramp. EZ sits in midlane.
1:06
Lulu places EW into Wraith Ward,
1:15
Kha'Zix drops SW in top tri.
1:33
Elise drops SW in front of Dragon. 1:38 Kayle Wards at Wraith Ramp.
1:40
Sona, Lee and Rumble take Wraiths and then Red, EZ helps Kha'Zix take Blue, hits Lvl2 and goes back to buy. Lee saves smite.
1:40
Graves and Lulu take Golems, Xin solos Wraiths, Lulu then swings down to help him with Red, Xin uses smite.
2:20
Lanes for WE end up being Kha'Zix top, EZ Sona mid, Rumble bot.
2:20
Swapped lanes from SKT1.
2:30
Sona and Lee enter enemy jungle through MR 2, Blue. Sona and EZ follow up on the blue steal, Lee takes it.
2:30
Lulu heads to mid immediately upon seeing, Elise heads to blue. Xin with no smite finally backs off.
3:30
Lee Sin rotates top lane to help hold top while EZ and Sona chunk mid.


Very nice early 1-2-1 set up with Blue invade coming from WE. Starting Red with a lane swap, SKT1 was very aware of a late Blue steal from WE, however they did not expect it to be "that late". Lulu wastes some time trying to come mid, but then decides against it and heads back. Graves had trouble taking the tower down early after Lee Sin came to help, WE gains Dragon off the play in by the 10 minute mark as SKT1 has two members stuck top.

WE's game plan took down mid lane early, limiting Kayle to half the cs of Weixiao and giving Kha'Zix plenty of room to roam. However, WE failed to push the gold lead and gave up kills being a little too cute and lingering in fights. In the end they teamfought better and won the game off a fight where SKT1 failed to finish off low health Kha'Zix and EZ.

Some things to note:Weixiao took Exhaust on EZ, while Fzzf on Sona took Ignite. With the nerfs to ADs in season three this has become somewhat of a norm when facing multiple divers. Bebe from TPA does this quite often as well.

 GIGABYTE StarsWar Season 2 Round 4TPS vs. WE Game 1

WE: Weixiao(AD), Misaya(AP), Caomei(Top), ClearLove(Jungle), Fzzf(Support)
TPS: MiSTakE(Sup), NeXAbc(AP), GoDJJ(AD), Zonda(Top), OhReaL(Jungle)

WE Bans
TPS Bans
Sona
Evelynn
Amumu
Twisted Fate
Ryze
Kha'Zix

WE Picks
TPS Picks
Kayle
Shen
Jarvan IV
Lee Sin
Rumble
Zyra
Miss Fortune
Nunu
Elise
Twitch

Time
WE Play-by-Play
Time
TPS Play-by-Play
00:00
Kayle Blue Pot, 4HP, SW; Rumble, Rejuvenation Bead, SW, HPs. Elise 2 SW, Flask, HPs, EW.
00:00
Shen Cloth, SW, HPs; Nunu Faerie charm, 4 SW, EW; Zyra Flask, SW, HPs, MPs.
0:40
1-1-2-1 set up, Rumble at ML 3, Kayle at mid tower, Elise and Jarvan at Wraiths. Elise puts WE in MR 1 heads to put SW at R2 once they see TPS head in.
0:40
5 man dive into bot tri bush, Zyra places SW into MR2 along the way. Lee sin Q into brush, 5 man into golems, spots MF and then backs out.
1:05
Kayle puts SW into TPS Wraith Bush, Rumble drops SW into TPS R1.
1:05
Nunu drops a EW into bot Tri and


1:17
Nunu and Twitch back, head to top lane. Cross lanes.
1:40
Kayle and Rumble take Wolves; bot duo and Jarvan takes Golems, then smiteless red.
1:40
Top duo takes Golems, Lee, Zyra and Shen give a Smiteless Blue.


2:10
Nunu puts SW into R3, walks past a Rumbles R1 SW.
2:23
Misfortune reaches lane.
2:23
Twitch finally pops his head out of top bush after seeing the lane set-up.
2:50
Jarvan invades into TPS Red without taking wolves, he stands on Nunu's SW in R3
2:50
Lee sees Jarvan and starts Wraiths, Big wraith stolen by Jarvan smite.
3:30
Jarvan shows up with blue at top tower to push the wave out, mean while TPS's bot tower goes down to half


As is usually the case from TW teams, they didn't show themselves until WE showed their lanes. MiSTakE's SW in R3 shows the extent of mind games between the two teams, they obviously knew that WE had warded their Red-side jungle and by now knew Lee Sin's route, because he didn't show up at Wraiths or Red. Sure enough the SW in R3 spots Jarvan who came in for a Red steal, since he took red first vs. Lee's blue start and Kayle was pushing the wave into Zyra's tower. Lee gets away with only the Big Wraith stolen.

WE showed very deep understanding in the way Cross Lanes work, sending Jarvan top negating TPS's top duo while putting heavy pressure bot lane. OhReal's jungle path would have been ineffective going top (3v2 no hard CC), so he backed early to help their own bot. The pushing power of Jarvan and Rumble was so great they managed to push the wave into GoDJJ's tower, while Lee Sin and Shen at bottom could not push out. Again WE takes dragon while TPS's duo is stuck top, since top tower was still there. WE also doesn't swap lanes until they've taken dragon. WE later wins the game through team fights and their early advantages. Elise with Warmogs proved to be a very tough support to deal with, as she could initiate, tank towers, and Repel out of danger.

In usual WE fashion, they also let Rumble die to achieve objectives on the other side of the map. Aaron has said that it is ok if Caomei dies, since his champion pool doesn't need much gold and as long he can ult, it's K. Sometimes I think they send him to lane without a ward on purpose. "Ditching private Caomei" seems to have worked very well for them though.

Some advanced tactics to look at is the push initiated by WE starting from ~19:00 to 22:00. What is really interesting to note that they time the top wave to push to coincide with their push at bottom. The play would gain a Dragon and some tier 2 tower HP as well. At first it's not apparent why the top lane would push as both waves were intact, and slightly puzzling why WE didn't push the wave when it was only one screen away, however notice that WE's wave is a cannon wave, and TPS's isn't. This is not accidental, in fact, you can see this being done in several other of WE games where they utilize the "slow minion push". The basics to building monster waves is to let your own wave push as slow as possible, while taking as little damage as possible. The reason for the former is to let your next waves catch up. The detail that makes it work is that minions reinforce faster on your side of the river, so letting the wave stay on your side as long as possible gives you a bigger wave. If WE had obliterated the incoming wave, they would have actually had a smaller wave when it reached enemy towers. By leaving the wave as it is, but with a cannon minion, WE's subsequent waves were able to catch up, while TPS's wave was still on route, and become a problem that needed addressing. This also prevents the enemy team from killing off the wave immediately since it builds up on your side of the river. Another way to achieve this is to only kill the ranged minions of the opposing wave, as they do the most damage, and leaving the melee minions to act as little speed bumps. 

GIGABYTE StarsWar Season 2 Round 4TPS vs. WE Game 2


TPS Bans
WE Bans
Twisted Fate
Evelynn
Kayle
Amumu
Elise
Olaf

TPS Picks
WE Picks
Kha'Zix
Sona
Nunu
Ezreal
Twitch
Ryze
Volibear
Xin Zhao
Shen
Singed

Time
TPS Play-by-Play
Time
WE Play-by-Play
00:00
Shen Rejuvenation Bead, HPs, SW; Volibear EW, Machete, HPs; Kha'Zix SW, Flask, HPs; Nunu 4SW, 1VW, EW, HP, MP.
00:00
Singed Flask, SW, 4HP, MP; Ryze Flask, SW, 4HP, MP; Sona 4SW, 1VW, EW, HP, MP.
0:34
Volibear EW into ML1, 1-1-3, Shen at Blue ramp, Volibear mid tower, Nunu and Twitch R2.
0:42
5 man into enemy wraiths. 0:55 EW into Wraith bush, walk around through R3 to R2, SW into R2.
1:06
Everyone collapses to the tower side of Wraith Bush, Nunu VWs Sona's EW.
1:26
WE backs out, Ryze SW into ML2, pinged by TPS.
1:40
Shen heads top, Nunu Twitch does Golems, Voli and Kha'Zix does Wraiths. Nunu, Twitch do a smiteless Red for Volibear as well and head mid. Kha'Zix heads bot.
1:40
EZ, Sona does Wolves; Ryze, Singed, Xin does Wraiths. Singed Xin take a smiteless Red. No swap from WE.
3:36
Voli takes a fast Lvl 3 at Blue and bush ganks Singed for first blood.
3:30
Xin takes a Blue and helps defend mid in plain sight, while bot pushes heavily.
TPS opened with an innovative strategy off duo mid with Nunu and Twitch, which shut down very Ryze's early cs very well, however their lack of escapes meant that Xin Zhao easily took out Twitch with a flash gank over the Wraith wall. OhReaL managed a First Blood on Singed. In the meantime, EZ and Sona managed to take out bot tower, and spotting Nunu backing for wards took a Dragon again the story of the early game was giving up Caomei's life to take objectives.

WE was up 2K at the seven minute mark but TPS took the game back with 2 consecutive ganks on Weixiao that ruined his 22 KDA in SWL, and later took Baron while 5 WE players were chasing Shen in bot lane. TPS then derped rather hard and initiated under enemy tower with bad coordination, GoDJJ blew up instantly and Misaya survived Shen and Kha'Zix to mop up the game.

GIGABYTE StarsWar Season 2 Round 5WE vs. NJSH Game 1

WE: Weixiao(AD), Misaya(AP), Caomei(Top), ClearLove(Jungle), Fzzf(Support)
NJSH: Expression(Top), NoFe(Jungle), a Wolf(Support), Locodoco(AD), Yelloout(AP)
Vod: http://news.starswar.org/index.php?m=content&c=index&a=show&catid=11&id=112

WE Bans
NJSH Bans
Shen
Xin Zhao
Sona
Twisted Fate
Ryze
Kayle

WE Picks
NJSH Picks
Jarvan IV
Lulu
Rumble
Zed
Nami
Elise
Kog'Maw
Varus
Vladimir
Lee Sin

Time
WE Play-by-Play
Time
NJSH Play-by-Play
00:00
Rumble SW, HPs, Rejuvenation bead; Nami 4 SW 1 VW, HP, MP, EW.
00:00
Lulu 4 SW 1 VW, HP, MP, EW. Zed Fort pot, SW, HPs.
0:41
1-1-2-1, Rumble to ML3, Vlad mid, Nami and Jarvan Wraiths, J4 Es MR1, Upon seeing 4 NJSH Nami wards MR1 and is forced to mid tower, Kog moves from bot tri to R3.
0:41
1-4 set-up, Elise holds top tri, four man Wraith Ward. Touch and go Ward.
1:06
Rumble moves to ML1, Nami VW dewards the Wraith Ward. Kog stands in bot River bush.
1:06
Elise moves to mid, uses spider to scout ML1. Hi Rumble. Lee and Varus head to MR2, rest to Wraith Ramp.


1:23
Zed, Lulu and Elise ML2 Ward.
1:40
Vlad helps Jarvan with Wolves then Blue with smite, Rumble stands guard on Blue Ramp. Bot duo takes Golems. Standard EU lanes.
1:40
Zed and Elise take Wraiths, bot duo helps Lee gets smiteless blue. Lee then goes for Red and camps top as Rumble still had his SW on him. Standard EU lanes.
The game was Standard EU lanes with Najin giving up golem advantage, Weixiao pushed the lane early and was constantly 10-20 cs ahead of Locodoco form an early Jarvan gank. Mid lane Misaya was ahead of Yelloout as well, but Lee Sin gave up the Wraith camp for Zed so he wasn't as behind as the trades showed. Overall the both sides were probably happy with the lane set-ups, Lee Sin got to see lots of action top, and WE were happy to ditch Caomei as they usually do and win the other lanes. I like the NJSH's 1:23 ward at ML2, as WE was pinging the location and having Caomei stand guard rather than help with Blue, shows some concern of a Cross Lane with Blue Steal as WE already used their only VW to clear.

Some regional things to note about: Chinese casters consider Vlad a counter pick to Zed, as he can avoid the lvl 6 burst by pooling out. Interesting enough, they also view Lulu as a "NA and Korea pick", citing her lack of sustain and survivability as unfavorable. Out of 36 games Lulu was only picked 6 times, and 3 were Korean picks, in NA LCS she was picked 36.4% of the games. Also Chinese teams believe that kills should be giving to Jarvan, as getting him tanky early is very beneficial in teamfights, this might explain ClearLove's absurdly high KDA for a jungler at 6.7.

Najin was clearly the weaker teamfight team, but they orchestrated several good catches and showed impressive team movement. WE's team fight advantage never showed. Unfortunately NJSH also did most of the bad plays. Expression outsmarted himself and tried to enter a teamfight from behind, was late and did nothing. They came very close to winning the game when they were 5v1 at nexus and double towers, but Expression took far too much tower damage for nothing, then Loco derped and tried to back in range of Kog'maw, which turned a won game into two inhibitors and an eventual loss.

Several nice plays from from include:
13:40 After second blood on Rumble, Lee Sin pushes to tower, Elise went mid and Zed shifted bottom to do a three man gank, netting a third kill. Rumble heads mid due to dragon pressure and loses two waves top. This is a good display of coordination and shifting momentum from top to bottom and pulling laners away from farm.

30:10 Very well orchestrated teamfight. Lee Sin jumps the Dragon Pit and waits at Golems Varus comes in from behind Red buff, Zed from tri. The three of them converge and blow up Weixiao taking Red, then split different ways once the teamfight starts. negating Rumble and Vlad's AoE. Catalyst for the fight was Lulu clearing wards around Baron, luring WE into a false sense of security. They win the fight 2-0 even with 2 members late.

34:00 Elise waits in bot bush for over 2 minutes while WE is pushing mid as five, knowing that WE eventually needed to clear the wave. They rotate bot but do so scattered. Elise let's Jarvan pass, and only engages on Kogmaw, blowing him up almost instantly. The patience on this play is amazing.

GIGABYTE StarsWar Season 2 Round 5WE vs. NJSH Game 2


NJSH Bans
WE Bans
Rumble
Elise
Twisted Fate
Shen
Kayle
Ryze

NJSH Picks
WE Picks
Xin Zhao
Lulu
Ezreal
Jarvan IV
Leona
Oriana
Renekton
Graves
Kha'Zix
Singed

Time
Play-by-Play
Time
Play-by-Play
00:00
Renekton Rejuvenation bead, SW, HPs; Kha'Zix Faerie Charm,  SW, HPs MPs Leona 4SW,1 VW.
00:00
Lulu 4SW, 1 VW, 2HP EW.
0:42
1-1-2-1; Renekton ML3, Kha'Zix mid, Xin and Leona Wraiths, EZ river bush. Upon seeing WE's 5 man Renekton, Kha'zix and Xin head towards
0:42
5 man straight rush to enemy Wraiths, EW down in Wraith Bush (VW bait), then another SW at R1.
1:36
Kha'Zix wards Wraiths, they snake around through R3>R2>R1. EZ and Leona take golems. Standard lanes.
1:36
Oriana and Singed ponder entering the Wraith bush, rest of team starts Wolves and Blue. Ori Qs the bush, but over shoots a little, seeing no-one by Wraiths they go in to take it.
1:50
3 man moves in for First Blood on Caomei.



A fantastic start from NJSH and a slight misplay on Misaya's part, if his ball was in the Bush they could have avoided the kill. This is one of the few instances this season where a First Blood happens from a Lvl 1 play, and show cases a nice counter to the common 5 man ward. However, Xin Zhao later loses his double buff to a scuffle with ClearLove's Jarvan and the game shifts gradually in WE's favor.

The question here is did Shield read the Standard EU Lane from WE? Rejuvenation bead start on Renekton seems to suggest they were anticipating a swap from WE. The possible outcomes were Jarvan soloing Wraiths (WE Lane swap, Singed+Ori taking Wolves, Graves+Lulu taking Golems), nobody (WE Lane swap, Jarvan Blue start) or Singed+Ori at Wraiths(No swap, Jarvan Blue start, which is what happened) or the final Singed+Ori+Jarvan(No swap, Jarvan Red start). Shield would have had an advantage in 3 out of 4 scenarios, which means they didn't need a correct read necessarily. The 5 man from WE was too early for Fzzf to have warded their own Red, or even river, so Shield probably felt comfortable in doing an invade.

WE won the game on two early dragons, a puzzling 4-5 mid teamfight from Najin Shield, and then a troll bait from Singed, who acted as if he had back-up and ran into four enemies, suddenly trying to run away as if he didn't and baiting Najin into an ace and Baron. NJSH didn't seem as confident or coordinated this game and surrendered shortly after.


Summary of WE's opennings and Strategies


1. Start Variety

WE has only gone for Cross Lanes once out of their four games Purple, and went duo mid twice out of their four games Blue. Though these decisions were tailored to their specific circumstances, I believe a willingness to play unconventional and branch out to study specific strategies will make a team much stronger in the long run. Below are my own thoughts on these not swapping on Purple and the 2v1 mid.

Standard EU on Purple: Some factors that might have cause disdain for playing Cross Lanes, and instead opt for Standard EU lanes on Purple. Most notably is probably WE's go to duo of Sona+Ezreal does not make for a terribly good Purple side top. Sona has no escape, no hard CC, EZ has no AoE with an unreliable AS steroid, which means they don't push terribly fast, can't dive very well and are fragile enough where 2v2 ganks can be deadly. Swapping is not something they like doing often, and reserve as more of a 'Wild Card'. These are the my reasons, WE Game 1 against iG shows that the iG didn't expect the swap, and they're the team that has played WE the most extensively; b. WE punishes Purple side Cross Lanes very well, keeping the duo top lane for long periods of time with the jungle showing early to push the wave out top. It will be very interesting to see the clash of plays-styles between the dive heavy NA teams and the Chinese Junglers. The difference lies somewhat in the Junglers reaction to a pushed lane. NA Junglers tend to wait in the inner bush longer, while Chinese ones simply show up and push the wave out.


Of course the trade-off of not doing the swap is that you face a duo lane that has experience advantages over you. Even if you do Wolves the enemy bot still reaches 2 before you, and taking Wolves first limits jungle routes more severely than Golems. It's a testament to Weixiao's AD prowess that even faced with these disadvantages he doesn't fall behind in farm much.

The 2v1 Mid Lane: Played against iG and SKT1, with the first being a case of sacrificing the mid mid-laner to face the double bruiser of bot lane, and the second case(according to Chinese casters) of picking on SKT1's mid laner MighTly, whom they perceive to be their weakest player.

It's interesting to note how the farm was split in the WE vs. iG game. Since they sent Jarvan to hold bot lane most of the game Weixiao was free to take mid farm, Wolves and Wraiths, achieving 200 cs by the 17:30 minute mark. There could be some potential here for speeding the growth of AD's due to their farming potential of small camps.

The second game is a highlight of abusing ward information to gain early advantages, WE recognized the swap and Jungle Red start from SKT1 on Purple, and used it to steal a blue early with a roaming support, with no real chance of contest. A very clean play that should be reenacted: Blue side Double Mid counters swapped Red start Purple.



2. The bot duo is Never swapped top before Dragon is taken




This is becoming more and more common as Blue teams elect to have their bot duo stay there, pushing the wave forward or pressuring mid, only leaving bottom when the Dragon is taken. This means that Purple side has very few chances of taking a Dragon compared to Blue, and why I generally consider Blue side to be up a Dragon by default.



3. The Fzzf Ward Opening




WE starts with this opening pretty much every game, it's a clear-out with dual wards in the enemy Jungle that places an Explorer Ward at the Wraith Bush and an Sight Ward at R1 or R2, depending on the resistance you see enter the enemy jungle. There are several clever things about this opening and I think it definitely evolved in the context of the Chinese scene. iG has been adamant about not letting the Wraith Ward see anything, going around tier two mid tower, and even trying to solo Red with Jungler without taking wraiths(Note: illuSion almost died and had to back, against NJSH), to the extent that at times you don't know the jungle Route until their jungler is double-buffed.

This probably is the most efficient use of the Explorer Ward I've seen. It only lasts a minute, this Ward will spot if anyone is taking Wraiths. Here are some things I about the opening that work pretty well.

a. Vision Ward bait: General consent of pro teams from Korea and Asia is that it is worth placing the Vision Ward down to deward the Wraith Bush. The Explorer Ward here uses that mentality against itself and opens up 3v2 bush ganks at the bot lane. A counter to this is anticipating the clear-out and dropping a ward in MR1 for Blue or ML2 for Red, and checking the supports inventory on their way out.

b. Jungle Route Lock Down: The only route that would be 'invisible' to this is Vision Warding the R1 or R2 ward, and let Jungle+Bot duo taking Golems, and then Red. Not an uncommon route to avoid the Wraith Ward, however this requires you to know which bush the Sight Ward is in, as both R1 and R2 can spot Red, not something I would imagine teams wanting to guess at.

4. Coordinate pushes with minion waves in the opposite lane




This a very nice strategy that resembles a horizontal push across the map. First a team needs to recognize which side-lane will "slow push" towards enemy tower, group mid bringing the wave up, and then push the lane opposite of the slow pushed lane. To understand a "slow push", look up the game notes for WE vs.TPS game 1. You might not always succeed in taking tower, but it's close to guaranteed tower damage. 


P.S Thanks to all the redditors and scarra for supporting my last post. I want to give special thanks to Hemes @ Leaguepedia, aka to Tawianese LoL fans. She has spent a ridiculous amount of time updating the Asian scene on Leaguepedia giving a glimpse of these spectacular games to me as well the rest of the World.

3 則留言:

  1. amazing man.... thank you for the hard work..... im reading this all, right now.

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  2. Could I translate your postings into Korean? I think this elaborate and professional, fantastic effort should spread over many areas. I strongly believe that your analysis stimulates a lot of Korean game analysts. Of course, I notice who is the original author and make effort to maintain your original intention. if you permit my work, although I can't periodically translate postings, I'll try to translate steadily.

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    1. If you can provide the correct links and show authorship, than you have my permission. Thanks for asking! To my knowledge it's already been translated to Chinese without anyone asking me QQ.

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