『You have killed an enemy!』

"Yes!" Nia pumped a little fist. Her Meteor flattened the Pyromancer like a pancake! She did a thing! Even though she was playing Mid in the MOBA mode, she got stuff done. Maybe this mode wasn't so terrible after all.

"You can push now," Yuel said. "The Jungler just went to clear the wolves near Top. He won't get here any time soon."

"Ok," Nia pushed forth along with her minions. As Yuel said, there was no Vampire gank this time. The path was clear.

This is some deep stuff. Nia nodded to herself. Figuring out when it was safe to push was so difficult in this mode. In Duel, it was always safe to push when the opponent was dead and it was semi-safe for a while after the opponent recalled.

But, in this mode, she had to constantly take the entire map into consideration. Unexpected ganks could come from anywhere and she always had to be on the lookout. Playing Mid was scary.

Nia damaged the Turret as much as possible until all her minions died, then she retreated. This push netted her 30% progress on the Turret. Not too shabby.

By now, she has earned enough gold to upgrade Necronomicon to Lv.3. It was best to do so as fast as possible to start collecting stacks so Nia recalled to base.

Good judgment. Yuel stayed silent throughout this play. He was about to suggest a recall but Nia figured it out herself. Her MP was running low and she had to get a Lv.3 Necronomicon as soon as possible. So, she had good reasons to recall and the Pyromancer was going to be dead for a while so this was a great time to recall. Good thing Nia could figure something this simple on her own.

"Can you please show me the situation in Top?" Yuel asked.

"Ok," Nia pressed L2 to go into X-ray mode. It made some walls semi-transparent and made it possible to see figures through them.

Despite how it looked, this wasn’t a wallhack. It was a nice quality-of-life feature which made it easier to see the situations on other lanes. The vision it granted was affected by fog of war so it only showed things that allies and wards could see.

Too bad it doesn’t show all enemies at all times. Nia thought. That would have made her life a thousand times easier. She would no longer have to worry about ganks every second.

Still, this X-ray-like mode was a great way to check what was going in faraway lanes. Unlike in MOBAs with RTS point-of-view, it was impossible to drag the camera toward another lane. So, this X-ray thingy was Classmancers’ alternative.

In Top, the X-ray view showed the allied Knight flashing in blue, indicating he was a friend. Meanwhile, his opponent, a Dark Knight, was glowing in mean red. Clearly a villain.

“Uh-oh,” Nia said. Things weren't looking so hot over there.

The evil Dark Knight erased the entire minion wave with a single blow. All the little blue figures vanished and there was nothing left behind. This wasn’t a battle, it was a slaughter. Dark Knight was a top-level bully like that.

Without any friends to help him, the Knight had no choice but to retreat. But, the Dark Knight wasn’t done, far from it. The villain aggressed on the poor Knight!

Fortunately, the Knight got away to his Turret. Needless to say, the poor guy was living through hell over there. Feels bad man.

“Can I see their stats please?” Yuel requested.

“Sure,” Nia opened the status screen of the match. It showed that Nia has already scored two kills this game and was at zero deaths. A top-level player, no doubt.

"The Knight isn’t doing so well," Yuel said.

"Yep," Nia nodded. "So, can I return to lane now?"

"Wait, it doesn’t bother you?" 

"It gave me some Vietnam flashbacks. DK is always a bully."

"He’s in a terrible position," Yuel said. "If things keep going like this, it's only a question of time before the Dark Knight scores a kill there."

"Feels bad," Nia knew that feeling very well. Every time she fought a Dark Knight in Duel, she had to brace herself for some guaranteed bullying during the first half of the fight. But, once she survived through that, it usually became ez. That is, provided she lived long enough to reach that point...

"Normally, it's the Jungler's job to defuse a Dark Knight," Yuel glanced at the mini-map. "But, he's hanging around Bot right now."

"Yeah, probably planning something," Nia turned her X-ray view toward Bot while moving sideways back to lane.

Their Jungler, the Lionfolk, was getting into a position to strike. The lion-man leaped across a wall and landed on Bot Lane, right on top of the enemy Ranger. It was a rather nice gank, especially for a Ranked Qualifier.

Alas, the allied Elf and Paladin were a bit too slow in following the Lionfolk's opening attack. It took the Paladin way too long to jam in his Justice Strike. This was a clear case of class unfamiliarity.

In the end, the gank didn't turn out that well. 

『An enemy has been killed!』

『An ally has been killed!』

The Lionfolk traded his life to kill the Ranger. Not a terrible trade but also not a particularly favorable one at this stage of the game.

During the mid/late game, trading a Jungler for a Carry was definitely favorable because the Carry was like the Queen, the strongest and most valuable piece of the team. However, early into the game, the Carry didn't have nearly the same value.

As such, the Jungler was arguably more important during this stage of the game. All laners were stuck in their lanes as they fought for lane advantage. Meanwhile, the Jungler was the only one who had the freedom to roam around and change the tides of battle wherever he visited.

Especially, in this match, the Jungler was of utmost importance. One of his primary jobs was to help the Knight at the lane to make sure that the enemy Dark Knight won’t snowball. Alas, now that the Lionfolk lost his life in that Bot gank, the Knight won't be getting backup anytime soon.

If the Dark Knight player was smart, he'll push hard in the upcoming wave. Granted, it was hard to find a "smart" Dark Knight at low ranks. Many played the class at low ranks because they thought it was OP.

Still, if the Dark Knight decides to push hard for whatever reason, there won't be anybody to stop him.

"Rotate to Top after you're done with the wave," Yuel said. "Somebody has to keep that Dark Knight in check."

"Eh? You want me to gank DK?" 

"Yes, we have to bully the lane bully out of the lane. With the Jungler dead, you're the only one who can do it. Your lane is the closet to Top."

"But, it's dangerous," Nia twisted her lips. "Even Tipmancer warns against it."

"You and your Tipmancer again," Yuel sighed. "Yes, there's always some risk involved when ganking a Dark Knight. But, it'll be fine. You got range. Worst case, you can always escape."

"Hm, I guess. But, I don't think I can kill him from that much HP."

"It's fine. This gank isn't for killing. You only need to stop his offense and discourage him from pushing for a while. Bonus points if you can make him recall."

"But, if it’s a waste if I don't get a kill. I could be farming instead."

"True, you'll be sacrificing some farm and maybe even some lane advantage for this rotation. But, it's not a waste. Your team will gain a tactical advantage from this. It's like sacrificing a piece to get a better position."

"Not sure I get it," Nia pressed her legs against her body and curled into a ball. This gank was scary. She has been doing so well thus far in the game, so why throw herself into danger like this? She might lose all the advantage she worked so hard to get. And, she won't even get a kill from this. What a total waste.

"Remember yesterday's match with the Orc?" Yuel asked. "You refused to gank him and he ended up snowballing to the point of no return. While you were out there 'maximizing your farm', the Orc was running amok and the team lost. Do you want that to happen here with the Dark Knight?" 

"Ah, um," Nia didn't have a retort. It was all true. Despite how well Nia thought she played yesterday, the team suffered a terrible defeat and it was all the fault of that bully, the Orc. Even though Nia managed to score one kill on him during the mid-game, it was already too late at that point. That Orc single-handedly took the entire game. Somebody had to stop that madman earlier.

But, was it really Nia's responsibility? Couldn't Yuel just play a little better back then and stop the Orc from snowballing to that point? How hard could it be?

Well, maybe that wasn't exactly fair. After all, Dark Knight and Orc were infamous bullies. So, it was normal to have a hard time against them in lane. Nia knew first-hand how stressful these matches could get.

"O-Ok," Nia gulped. "I'll give it a try. But, not my fault if I die."

"Don't worry, you won't die as long as you don't do anything stupid. But, if you do mess up and die, that's on you."

"Then I'm not going, hmph" Nia puffed her cheeks.

"Just do it already. Even if you fail, think of it as a learning experience for next time."

“Ok, I guess,” Nia gave up and followed the nagger’s commands. If I die, it’s totally your fault.

And so, Nia rotated toward Top instead of returning to Mid. She had the option to cut straight through the jungle to reach Top quickly. But, instead, she took a roundabout path by zigzagging all over the place. Every time she was about to pass through an intersection, she circled around it instead.

“What are you doing?” Yuel asked.

“Dodging wards,” Nia explained.

“You’re guessing where they placed wards?”

“Nope. Tipmancer lists the best warding spots, so...”

“I see,” Yuel nodded. Despite the wasted time, this was a good way to rotate toward a lane. Avoiding wards along the way was the 101 of scoring kills with ganks.s

But, that was only relevant when the goal was to actually score a kill. In these scenarios, the ganker sacrificed speed for a higher chance to secure the kill. It was something Junglers often had to do to get value from ganks, especially if they were assassins.

However, Nia’s gank was different. The goal wasn’t to assassinate the Dark Knight. Of course, it’d be great if she manages to score a kill on the guy but that shouldn’t be the focus. The goal was to intimidate the Dark Knight into retreating. To that end, it was crucial to get to the lane as quickly as possible.

Compared to that urgency, getting revealed by a ward along the way was merely an inconvenience. Either the Dark Knight will anticipate Nia and choose to fight in an unfavorable 1v2 situation, or he’ll begin his retreat early. In the first scenario, Nia might get a kill on him. In the other scenario, the Dark Knight will get away scot-free. BUt, removing him from lane was the entire purpose of this gank in the first place.

So, it was like a win-win situation. Even if a Ward spots Nia, it won’t interfere with her gank much. In fact, it might even help her out by instilling fear into the Dark Knight.

Showing herself to the enemy via a ward could be used as a high-level mind game. For example, it might make the enemy retreat without Nia actually lifting a finger. She could let a ward expose her, scare the enemy into retreating, and then return to Mid. This could have achieved the desired result without making Nia lose anything.

Alas, while Yuel was busy thinking about all these angles and tried to come up with a way to impart this knowledge to Nia, she already made it all the way to Top. Despite all her roundabout running, she still got to Top relatively fast. It seemed she was quite familiar with this route so she took all the optimal cuts and corners. Quite the trained assassin.

So, I’ve arrived. Nia gulped. Was she really going to jump into the lion’s den by attacking the Dark Knight? Scary.