As everyone knows, League of Legends is a tower-pushing game

[???]

[What kind of black technology is this again? A cancer hero with a cancer item, a purely cancerous strategy?]

[The slow ones are still doubting, the fast ones have already opened up ranked queue, Hullbreaker Graves, initiate!]

[True that, I already said it's the broken ship, are you the Croc-Dragon or what?]

Given the earlier appearance of the top lane Smite Janna and the top lane stat-check Kench, this time, everyone unexpectedly developed a tiny shred of trust in this Hullbreaker Graves strategy.

In fact.

This strategy wasn't invented in Season 12; it existed much earlier, but no one had dared to bring it onto the professional stage. It wasn't until the explosive popularity of top lane Smite Janna in Season 12 that this tactic was gradually uncovered and eventually entered the competitive meta as a standard strategy.

In his past life, the first person to use this strategy in a professional match was the top laner Breathe, and as the LPL used it more and more, it subsequently spread to the LCK regular season.

And in this lifetime.

This strategy was successfully sniped by the Summoner's Rift plagiarist, Luo Ji.

"Hullbreaker? You can actually build this item?"

"Sorry, you really can build this item."

Almost at the exact moment the item was built, the data analysts of major teams subconsciously pulled up its specific stats: solo bonus armor and magic resistance, 400 health, 150% base health regeneration, 50 attack damage, and it costs only a damn 2800 gold, which is significantly more cost-effective than Sterak's Gage.

Anyone who plays top lane can do the math.

Just the attack damage and health stats alone are worth the 2800 gold; the 150% base health regeneration is essentially free. Whether it's the stats, the price, or the passive that only activates when there are no allies within 1400 units, it fits the Season 12 top lane orphan lane to absolute perfection.

Especially Graves.

Graves is a champion meant for flanking and entering fights from behind enemy lines, naturally separating himself from the main group and maximizing the activation of Hullbreaker's effect.

When these two combined, it was like a blind turtle meeting a dead snake—a match made in heaven.

"Wait, the difference is really this big?"

If you ask who felt the impact of this strategy the most, it was undoubtedly Kennen, who was currently laning against Graves.

It was originally supposed to be an even matchup against Graves, but after one Rift Herald fight.

The opponent built Hullbreaker.

He hadn't even finished his Protobelt yet.

The main point was that the damage which used to chunk Graves noticeably dropped by a visible margin when executing the exact same combo now.

He could no longer win trades.

Moreover, once the wave was pushed in, the tower-pushing buff provided by Hullbreaker meant that Cube's Kennen didn't even dare to recall to base for items, even when he finally had enough gold.

The moment he left.

That top outer turret, already battered by the Herald, would likely be dismantled by Graves in the next second. But if he didn't recall, his wave-clear speed simply couldn't keep up with the enemy's.

And when he looked back.

The Graves he was laning against had already vanished from his sight.

Seeing this.

Cube swallowed hard and whispered in the team voice channel:

"Leyan."

"What? Need help? Hang on a second, I'll head up as soon as I finish clearing this camp."

Hearing his top laner's voice, Leyan merely glanced briefly at the minimap, spotting his teammate pinned under the tower desperately trying to farm under turret, and instantly understood what was going on.

"I didn't mean that."

Cube scratched his head, looking somewhat embarrassed: "You probably don't need to come top anymore; the laning pressure isn't that high right now."

"Isn't that great then?" Leyan looked over suspiciously.

"It's just... well, top doesn't really need help anymore, but your top jungle might have to pay a tiny little price."

"?"

Leyan paused for a moment.

What could possibly be wrong with the top jungle?

Karsa's Jarvan IV had clearly just been spotted in the bottom half of the map, and Rookie's Viktor was quietly and harmoniously trading farm with their own mid laner in the mid lane. Those jungle monsters weren't going to run away on their own; what assistance could they possibly need?

It's not like the jungle camps were going to suddenly fall sick and die in the jungle, right?

Wait?

Had it been...

A long time since he last saw the enemy Graves in the top lane?

Oh no! My jungle camps!!!

When Leyan finally broke through layers of obstacles and returned to his loyal upper jungle, what awaited him was a scene of utter devastation, thoroughly plundered and left in ruins.

In just a single instant.

His gaze went blank.

He murmured:

"The wolves are dead, the gromp is gone, why am I still alive?"

"Hahahahaha→ha"

"Mebius, you↓ should↑ die↑."

He snapped!

He completely snapped!

League of Legends is a fascinating game that easily stirs human emotions.

For mid laners, if one fails to last-hit a cannon minion while the other flashes a mastery emote, war has begun; for supports, if one places a ward and the other immediately starts sweeping to clear it, battles can erupt simply over the ownership of a bush's vision trinket; and for junglers, the source of war lies entirely in the jungle camps.

The most classic example of this was Clearlove's F6.

You can lose the game, you can give away kills, but if you dare to touch my F6?

Dark-mode Clearlove—Initiate!

As far as Leyan was concerned.

Luo Ji's act of ransacking the jungle undeniably triggered his defense mechanism.

And so...

Over the next few minutes, Luo Ji once again experienced the exaggerated treatment he felt back when he first invented the top lane Smite Janna strategy and played scrims against other teams.

The jungler came, the jungler came, and right after the jungler left, the mid laner came.

The mid laner came, the mid laner came, and the mid laner and jungler came together.

Even with the armor and magic resistance from Hullbreaker, he simply couldn't withstand the onslaught of the enemy's tag-team tactics, and his KDA instantly plummeted from 0/0 to 0/2.

However...

As they looked at the 0/2 Graves, still fiercely aggressive, continuing to shoulder the pressure and invade RA's upper jungle.

Outside the screen.

Countless viewers were deeply captivated by this reckless (and greedy) martial valor.

What a real man!

This right here is a damn real man!

Many viewers cast looks of profound approval in his direction.

Willing to risk your life for a few jungle camps—only a fearless Graves like this deserves to study body odor and tax my minions!

"He's here again."

"How on earth does he keep doing that?"

beneath the stage.

RA's head coach Shine was so anxious he looked ready to jump out of his skin.

Indeed.

The constant roaming and ganks from the mid and jungle restricted the growth of V5's Herald-invested Graves, but the problem was that this tiny sliver of advantage was bought at the cost of the jungler staying permanently in the top half of the map and sacrificing all tempo in the bottom lane.

Cube's Kennen was certainly having a comfortable time.

But as dictated by the flaws of this patch, even if the top lane secured an advantage in the current version, it was extremely difficult to radiate that advantage to teammates; Kennen's advantage could only remain his own advantage.

Meanwhile, Graves's deficit had been converted into a team-wide advantage and radiated down to the bottom half of the map.

Iboy + Zorah's bottom lane was completely ruined.

Facing Iboy's immobile carry Jinx, Karsa brainlessly operated Jarvan IV down to the bottom lane to cooperate with teammates on endless tower dives, and by the time Leyan reacted.

The bottom lane was already—

"Boru, I am powerless to turn the tide~"

The most absurd part was.

Even after being helped to this extent, when Kennen and Graves were left to 1v1 in the top lane, Cube still couldn't do a single thing against Luo Ji's Graves.

Hullbreaker's stats + Mercury's Treads + Graves rushing Shieldbow for his second item.

While this build lacked burst damage, its greatest strength lay in its error margin and sustain. Against a champion like Kennen who lacked built-in sustain, he wasn't afraid in the slightest.

He was even contemplating picking up a Black Cleaver for his third item.

Specializing purely in edge-harassing tactics.

"Your build is getting a bit disgusting."

In the team voice channel.

Xiaoyan glanced at his own top laner's CS, then looked at his own, his eyes filled with admiration. No wonder he's the prisoner Graves's minion; despite dying twice, his CS was still on par with his own, and the most disgusting thing about Hullbreaker was the way it forced split-push tension.

If you ignore Graves, your tower is gone.

If you focus solely on Graves, your jungle is gone.

At this moment, Leyan had fallen into deep confusion.

If he kept camping Graves, the overall game situation would only get worse; but if he ignored Graves, Kennen in the top lane simply couldn't stop Graves from shoving waves. Kennen could use his ultimate to chunk him and temporarily zone him back.

However.

A Graves built with Shieldbow only needed to take a brief stroll deep into the jungle to easily heal his health bar back to full.

So...

Should he deal with him, or should he not?

"I wouldn't call it disgusting. If they forcefully drag you guys into teamfights, win every single teamfight, and then come back to gank me, well, I'd have nothing to say."

"Win every teamfight? Your demands aren't low at all."

Rookie and Karsa, the two veterans, chuckled.

To put it bluntly, they were playing a dragging game to stall the tempo; the later the game went, the harder it would be for Zoe and Viego to catch the Graves in the top lane. To catch Kennen, they'd have to commit ultimates, and without ultimates, RA's teamfighting composition would lose all its threat.

Seeming to sense that playing like this would eventually spell disaster.

Just as they managed to stall until the timing of the second Rift Herald fight, the members of RA finally decided to put all their eggs in one basket and engage in a head-on collision with V5.

And at this moment.

Graves had rotated to the bottom side to manage the side wave.

"What's the call? Do you guys want to contest this fight or give it up? My suggestion is don't fight, just stall and let me aggressively steal towers in the bottom lane."

In the voice chat, Luo Ji's obsession with RA's defensive towers echoed loud and clear.

"Alright, we'll listen to you. It's fine to give up one Herald anyway."

For the Season 12 Rift Herald, the first one was used to accelerate the mythic item of the team's carry, while the second was primarily used to break open the opponent's mid tower and accelerate tempo when the game was deadlocked.

If you got the first one, the second one could be delayed.

Because a single Herald wasn't quite enough to break a tower on its own; generally, you needed two, unless the other side had already lost members due to an initiate and you planned to force a fight immediately—that was a different story.

Coupled with the bounty system mechanics.

Just as mentioned earlier, sometimes letting go of a wave or two of objectives was actually a less costly strategy.

Besides.

Down in the bottom lane of the Rift, Kennen's shadow was nowhere to be seen at the moment.

After discussing it, V5 intended to completely abandon the Rift Herald, but in order to create breathing room for Graves to split-push in the bottom lane, they still had to put on an act of wanting to contest it with the enemy.

Simply put.

They wanted to sell their virtue while building a chastity arch, proving their purity to the world.

And yet, RA actually fell for it.

"They're coming, they're approaching."

"Get ready, we have to force a teamfight this time, or at the very least bait out Graves's Teleport. Of course, a clean team fight victory would be best."

"Should we look for an engage first or go for the Herald?"

"The Herald, their positioning is a bit scattered, and there are too few people for Cube to hit a good ultimate."

Seeing V5 slowly approach in their vision, the members of RA began to experience a mental climax right there in the voice chat.

Especially Cube.

He went into this fight under immense psychological pressure because he wasn't entering the fray as a late arrival via Teleport; instead, he had come ahead of time with his teammates to secure position in advance.

To him.

Every single basic attack Graves delivered to the defensive tower in the side lane felt like it was landing on his own heart rather than the tower~

He just wanted the fight to end quickly so he could immediately teleport back to save his tower.

The caster desk.

Although the two casters lacked strong analytical skills and their tones weren't as passionate as one might imagine, they understood the game state well enough to spot RA's massive macro trap:

"They're here, RA wants to engage, Kennen has already arrived in position."

"Where is Graves? Graves is still split-pushing in the bottom lane, V5 looks like they want to contest, the Herald is about to respawn, is Graves not planning to recall, update his items, and prepare his Teleport?"

"Wait, hold on?"

"Why do I feel like V5 is acting a bit weird? It looks like they don't really want to take this teamfight at all?"

Following PYL's puzzled exclamation, countless viewers also turned their attention toward V5's positioning.

As expected of someone who started as a support, PYL.

He didn't need to look at anything else; he only needed to look at V5's support positioning and vision setup. Their positioning was fine—PPGOD and the others were still doing a fine job acting.

But this vision?

Why on earth were they not placing a single aggressive ward, placing exclusively defensive ones instead?

At the same time.

At the top of the screen, another system notification sound began to ring out. When everyone followed the prompt and looked downward again, what met their eyes was the ruined wreckage of RA's bottom outer turret and a massive wave of minions being led further forward by Graves.

This?

They did it on purpose!?

Once this realization dawned on them, combined with the vision setup by V5, their transparent intentions suddenly became glaringly obvious.

[Wait, did V5 never intend to take this fight in the first place?]

[Seems like it. Karsa's movement was pure psychological fraud; he had a few windows to engage on the enemy and didn't take them, and I was confused for ages. Turns out they were acting the whole time.]

[Did RA realize it yet? Nope, Kennen hasn't gone back, and Graves is still pushing!]

[As everyone knows, League of Legends is a tower-destruction game.]

In the side lane.

The smile on the corner of Luo Ji's mouth hadn't stopped from start to finish.

The new patch was like this; not every team had figured out the bounty system mechanics yet, so naturally, they didn't understand the significance behind V5's actions.

Besides.

He had built Hullbreaker Graves.

If you have towers to destroy and you don't take them, how are you ever going to become a grandmaster?

From the god-eye perspective, it was obvious because onlookers see the whole game, but what about RA who were in the thick of it? At this moment, their minds were entirely consumed by the thought that the enemy's positioning was getting slightly better—just a little better, and Cube would decisively pull the trigger and engage.

At times like this, the advantage of a veteran team shined through.

The V5 team.

Four members on the front line, three of whom were old veterans who had spent years wandering the professional scene. The three of them joined forces to project the feeling of wanting to start a fight yet hesitating, perfectly executing little stepping and pacing movements to portray the emotions so vividly that they almost convinced themselves.

Until...

The Outlaw of the Piltover destroyed the defensive tower.

In just that brief moment, boosted by Hullbreaker, RA's tier-2 bottom turret also began a simultaneous demolition, and at that point, they finally woke up to reality.

Something's wrong!

We've been utterly tricked!!!

"Engage! Hurry up and engage! Start the fight right now, our base is disappearing!"

"Coming, coming."

Cube's mind went numb.

From start to finish, he had always felt that laning against the enemy top laner felt somewhat off.

The first two games were fine, at most making him feel slippery, but this third-game Hullbreaker Graves, once paired with his teammates, had directly evolved to a level that made him feel sick to his stomach.

"Zzzzt~"

Urged on by his teammates, Cube held back no longer, chaining together his E and Protobelt, resulting in the heroic entrance of the purple rat!

At the same time, Leona, the support not far away, pointed her ultimate.

However.

V5's reaction was even faster than they anticipated.

EQ combo—that was Jarvan IV's escape movement.

Flash over the wall—that was Aphelios's survival route.

As for Rookie, he hadn't even dropped down into the river, continually skirmishing on the flank, and that ultimate wasn't aimed at him anyway.

The only one who didn't run was PPGOD's Thresh.

Ult activated, flay whipped, hook thrown at random—he gave his life right there~

Didn't expect that, did you?

I don't have an escape route, I'm not running at all, I'm just standing right here to block you guys.

Don't ask.

To ask is to realize that all charges in this match are paid for by the slowest runner.

When Cube's Kennen descended with the fury of thunder, wherever his eyes landed, only a single V5 support was being electrocuted.

Even that support.

Using a full kit of crowd control skills to stubbornly drag out the duration of their pursuit.

Without a doubt.

RA's teamfight initiation had failed.

In the distance.

Leyan cursed under his breath internally.

Since this teamfight failed to initiate, the only option left for them was to rush down the Herald as quickly as possible and recall to minimize their losses.

Yet they still seemed to have underestimated Graves's speed. As they rushed the Herald, the Graves in the bottom lane had already successfully pushed the wave and crashed right onto their base inhibitor turret.

On one side.

A Herald that was being hit quite fast, yet felt achingly slow.

On the other side.

An inhibitor turret that had plenty of health on paper, yet couldn't actually withstand many shots from Graves.

At this moment.

The members of RA finally understood the saying: "Salaries are dead, rules are dead, channels for upward mobility are dead, and only the eight hundred hidden tricks of your peers are alive."

How on earth can there be such a scummy tower-stealing strategy?!