So, about that setup... Vincent thought back on the flowchart of DragonMaster’s recent assault. That stun chain he used seems suspect to me. Now, that he was out of danger, his brain finally cooperated. He could now pursue the truth of the matter.

The stun duration of a fully charged Hurl Axe was about 1.2 seconds. And, if memory served, Barbarian Slam had to be charged for at least 1.2 seconds to gain a stunning effect. If so, DragonMaster’s setup shouldn't have worked. The numbers simply didn’t check out.

DragonMaster first stunned Vincent by hurling an axe. If that throw was fully charged, its stun should’ve lasted at most 1.2 seconds.

After that, DragonMaster charged up Barbarian Slam long enough for it to gain a stunning effect. In other words, it was charged up for at least 1.2 seconds as well.

By the numbers alone, it sounded as if chaining these two stuns was feasible given perfect execution. In fact, it surely was possible, but only from point-blank.

However, he had to pull me in first. Vincent recalled.

DragonMaster hurled the axe at him from quite the distance. Then, he activated Pull Axe to drag Vincent closer. The pull was very quick, it probably needed less than half a second to drag Vincent in. Nevertheless, it needed some time.

Vincent had no idea how to exactly measure the speed of Pull Axe, but that didn’t matter. Even if it were as fast as 0.1 seconds (which it surely wasn’t), it still wasted time. That 0.1 seconds should’ve been the factor to interrupt the stun-chain setup.

By the time Vincent was in front of DragonMaster, at most 1.1 seconds remained for his stun. Thus, he should’ve been able to dodge a Barbarian Slam that was charged up for over 1.2 seconds. At least, provided all of Vincent's data was on point.

"O, great Chessmaster," Vincent started. "Can you riddle me this? Say, a Berserker stuns you with a fully charged Hurl Axe. Then, he pulls you in as fast as humanly possible. And, finally, he slams you with a stunning Barbarian Slam. Can you break out of this setup anywhere along the way?" 

"Yes, but it’s difficult," Yuel answered instantly. He had a rough idea of what transpired in Top, so he has already analyzed that setup a few minutes earlier. "If he buffers in the pull right after the throw, you’ll barely get any breathing time. But, in theory, it's still possible.”

According to Yuel, Vincent was on point with the numbers. A fully charged Hurl Axe stunned for 1.2 seconds, and a Barbarian Slam had to be charged for 1.2 seconds to gain a stunning effect. As such, theory suggested that this setup wasn’t “real”.

However, depending on how perfect the Berserker’s execution was for buffering Pull Axe, the window for rolling away could be immensely small. And, on top of that, rolling away won’t even work every time.

The AoE of Barbarian Slam increased the longer the skill was charged. Once it went past 2 seconds, the AoE became so big it was effectively impossible to dodge the attack with a Dodge Roll from point-blank.

In short, DragonMaster caught Vincent with a difficult setup. It was a dodgeable one, but Vincent wasn’t confident he could actually dodge it every single time. What’s sure, he had no chance of dodging anything while panicking about the situation. This was all important information for him to process.

"Thank you kindly for the explanation." Vincent bowed. "For some reason, a part of me was whispering that this setup might be guaranteed. No idea why such wrong information would be stuck in my database." 

"It used to be guaranteed," Yuel said. "I read that, back when the class was released, it was possible to chain these two stuns. The timing was very precise and required buffering the pull, so it went unnoticed by the designers. However, they eventually patched it out. They left the buffering tech in, but they nerfed the stun duration of Hurl Axe."

"I see, I see," Vincent nodded. As he was listening to the details, he realized he read all that data at some point in his life.

Vincent researched the game from head to toe, so he surely came across this information at some point. However, it probably didn't strike him as particularly important at the time, so it was shelved away at the back of his head along with all the niche trivia he accumulated over the years.

I have to be at the top of my game here. Vincent scolded himself. I'm not just fighting DragonMaster as an individual player, I’m also wrestling against his class. As such, all relevant information about Berserker has to be unshelved at once! Unfortunately, his brain wasn't configured to draw out such technical information at a moment's notice.

If it were about data related to a player’s playstyle, Vincent could instantly pull out a 30-minutes essay from his head. He'd flawlessly recite every notable play that player made.

However, when it came to dry game knowledge, his reciting wasn't as smooth. He had lots of knowledge, he researched many things. Nevertheless, he couldn't pull that information out on the fly like Chessmaster. It was a disgrace to somebody who called himself Information Blackhole, but such was the reality of things.

Well, at least, now I’ve finally obtained the absolute knowledge. Vincent nodded to himself. DragonMaster’s setup is dodgeable. Next time, he will not catch me off-guard with it!

“I have to say,” Vincent started. “DragonMaster is much fiercer than I expected. It appears I haven’t analyzed him well enough.”

“I can’t blame you,” Yuel said. “I was lucky to get a few good reads on him early on. That discouraged him from trying anything funny against me, so he was lying low the last two games.”

“You were ‘lucky’, you say?” Vincent smiled meaningfully. “In other words, you’ve read him like a book!”

“He does play by-the-book quite often. That’s what makes him a strong player, but also a predictable one.”

“In other words, your favorite type of prey.”

“You could say so.” Yuel smiled.

“Unfortunately, I’m not confident I’ll be able to counter him the way you did,” Vincent admitted. “But, I’ll keep that information in mind.”

To counter somebody who played by-the-book, Vincent first had to own that book and fully memorize it. He skimmed over Berserker guides in the past, but it wasn’t a class he played or even met that often. As such, Vincent was lacking in data here, and there was no time to ask for one of Yuel’s in-depth lectures right now. An unfortunate reality indeed.

"Do you suggest I recall?" Vincent asked because having only 50% HP against a Berserker was no joke. The Grim Reaper was already hanging above his head.

"You'll get your ult soon, its presence should discourage any big attacks on you. But, with that said, you'll be in trouble if the guy goes berserk or if somebody ganks the lane. There's no correct answer here."

"Fair enough. Then, what would you do in my stead?" 

"If it were me, I'd probably stay in the lane for a little longer and try to bait DragonMaster into my ult. But, you have to judge for yourself whether you can pull that off.”

"Indeed.” Vincent knotted his brows.

Staying on lane with 50% HP, in order to bait out a blood-thirsty opponent, was a 200 IQ pro-level play. However, pulling it off also required a certain degree of mastery.

Can I actually do it? Against such an aggressive player? Judging by their last interaction, Vincent’s odds weren’t looking good. Chessmaster made DragonMaster look weak until now, but DragonMaster seemed to be quite stronger than Vincent when it came to 1v1 situations.

I'll play it safe. Vincent ended up recalling to base.

DragonMaster was a tough opponent, an adversary Vincent probably won't defeat on his own. Therefore, there was no reason to tackle this challenge alone.

"Luke, I'm once again asking for your ganking support.”

"Sure thing, dude," Luke said. "How do ya want this guy cooked?" 

"I’d like it well-done." Vincent smiled. "I’ll be very thankful if you can rotate over here during the next wave. I shall serve as bait." 

"Ya got it!" 

Unfortunately, that plan didn't come to pass.

Kai was losing badly in Mid, so Luke had to rotate over there to defend. He suffered heavy injuries in the process and had to recall, further delaying the operation.

Meanwhile, Vincent had to hold his ground all by himself. Frankly, it was easier than expected because the enemy didn’t dare to aggress a second time. DragonMaster must’ve been cautious of Vincent’s ult. Only a fool would approach a Viking who had his ult loaded and ready.

Instead of aggressing, DragonMaster focused on beating Vincent in farming speed.

After purchasing enough Attack Power, the damage of Berserker’s Barbarian Slam became truly oppressive. Especially, when fully charged, its damage and AoE reach were off the charts. And, DragonMaster made sure to fully charge the attack every time, for he had no reason to not do so.

Vincent tried to interrupt that routine a few times with Takedown, but unfortunately, he didn't possess the Vanishing Phantom ability. DragonMaster spotted him every time and smacked him down before he could reach the target.

These repeated attempts slowed down DragonMaster’s farming, but Vincent had to pay for that with his own HP every time. As such, it wasn’t a routine he could maintain for long. Having to recall to base every couple of waves wasn’t a solution.

So, in the end, Vincent required Luke’s aid after all. Thankfully, the issues in Mid blew over, so Luke was finally free to lend a hand.

However, this time, Luke met the request with some reluctance.

To be honest, I probably should be farming more. Luke was already lagging behind the enemy Jungler in terms of farm. It wasn’t a gap of 2 levels yet, but it was getting there. Welp, that's bound to happen with Knight.

Knight was too slow at camp-clearing, that's why he was considered ill-suited for jungling. In addition, his passive defensive aura was practically wasted because he barely hanged around allied minions.

But, everything was A-OK. Levels didn't matter much anyway as long as he thought of himself as a Support-Jungler hybrid thingy. He wasn't here to contest the enemy’s farming or to compete for kills. His job as a Jungler Knight was to help his teammates defend lanes, as well as set up kills for them. Basically, he was a “Setup Jungler”.

It was a fun way to play, way more engaging than the usual routine of simply farming camps and aggressively ganking. Of course, the standard jungling routine was fun in its own way, but Luke didn’t want to be a slave of the meta every time. Jungler picks like Knight offered a completely different kind of playstyle, so it was like a breath of fresh air.

“Alrighty, I’m coming for that ass,” Luke answered the gank request. “So, how ya gonna bait that boi?”

“Well, about that...” Vincent knotted his brows. “I haven’t quite figured that part yet. Ever since I got my ult, he hasn’t been aggressing nearly as much. I suppose we’ll have to do this the classic way. You’ll need to rotate around him and CC him from behind.”

“Okey-dokey.” Luke nodded.

“This gank will only work if you can avoid DragonMaster’s wards,” Yuel interjected. “Same as his offense, his warding is also by-the-book. So, you can trust him to ward the best spots for countering ganks.”

“It gonna be a gamble, huh.” Luke smiled wryly. “Welp, it’s not like he got any good escape tools anyway.”

“If he exhales, he’ll get more than enough Movement Speed to get away.”

“Yeah, true dat.”

Berserker didn’t have any good escape tools in his base kit. However, he had Relaxing Exhale, a skill that traded Rage for buffs.

By trading 10% of his Rage, the Berserker gained a decent Movement Speed buff for a short time. That’ll be more than enough to let him flee the scene. Not to mention, by sacrificing 20% Rage, Relaxing Exhale also granted a temporary CC immunity, which will negate Knight’s taunt.

There wasn't much danger in trying the gank anyway, but it might waste Luke’s precious farming time. He was already lagging behind the rest by almost two levels, so every extra second of farming was important. The more farm he missed, the more he fell behind.

Not to mention, one failed gank attempt would be enough to put DragonMaster on guard for the rest of the game. That guy always acted mighty at first, but he was quick to crawl into his shell the moment things went south. He was cocky but not stupid. He knew when to switch from offense to defense.

Therefore, it'd be optimal to kill him with a gank on the very first attempt. That’ll have a much higher chance of working out, and it will shake the guy that much more for the rest of the game.

But, of course, the problem was nailing this one gank. As long as Vincent had his ult, DragonMaster won't dare to overextend, not even a little.

"So, do we give up the gank for now?" Luke asked.

"Hmm." Yuel knotted his brows. A tough question. At a glance, there wasn't any good way to approach this situation.

With all that said, we can't surrender Top. Yuel reasoned.

The situation in Mid was already bad, with Kai underperforming and Nirvana exhibiting more strength than ever before. If Stratus loses advantage in Top as well, then 2/3 of the map will be under the enemy's control. Against opponents of this caliber, that’ll spell imminent doom.

As much as Yuel wanted to fix the situation in Mid, that was difficult to achieve. He didn't have enough firsthand data about Nirvana, and the guy was playing differently than usual anyway. As such, it was difficult to come up with an effective plan to seize control over Mid.

On the other hand, Top was a different story. DragonMaster was a very familiar face to Yuel, they’ve faced each other four games in a row. Yuel had plenty of time to study the guy.

Therefore, he was convinced it’s possible to regain control in Top. It just required careful consideration of what type of player DragonMaster was and preparing the fitting bait for him.

"I have an idea," Yuel said.

"Oh! This is my favorite part!" Vincent exclaimed. "The time has come! You will bestow the wisdom of gods upon us, will you not!?" 

"It's nothing that impressive," Yuel said. "We just have to eliminate one problem at a time. We can't make DragonMaster overextend right now because of your ult, so let's remove that threat."

"How can I make that threat vanish? It sounds like I’d have to leave the lane or such."

"You can just spend it."

"Spend...? My ult?" Vincent blinked. 

"Yes, just use it," Yuel said. "Pull a surprise attack with your ult. I doubt it'll convert into a kill, but it'll annoy the enemy and will grant you temporary lane control."

"Haha!” Luke laughed. “Are ya telling him to waste his ult? That's some 4D chess right there! I'm telling ya, you always come with the wildest ideas. Love it!"

"Indeed." Vincent nodded. "It’s an unconventional play, but I can see its benefits. Very well. It should be easy enough to make this assault appear genuine. DragonMaster is definitely waiting for me to crack under pressure, so I can easily pretend it happened"

"Exactly." Yuel nodded. "He is also rather prideful, so I’m sure he’ll seek revenge later." 

"Oh, and that's how we make him overextend! Brilliant strategy!" 

And so, the plan was set in motion. Yuel gave Vincent a few pointers for the upcoming attack, and then the operation began.