Classmancers - A MOBA Esport Story

Vol.3 Ch.12: Out of Touch

"Passing through." Dan arrived in Bot shortly after ComboBreaker was killed.

"Yo, now you come?" Lars chuckled. "Where were ya when we needed to score some kills, dude. We had to do some crazy stuff to get this kill. Was pretty fun though."

"Not my fault you didn't wait for me" Dan shrugged.

"It wouldn't have worked if we waited," Yuel explained. Breaker was good at dealing with common situations, such as incoming ganks. If she were to spot Dan nearby, she'd retreat without a moment's hesitation and slip away. Besides, Beastmaster didn't have much impressive CC in the first place, so Dan's gank potential was rather low.

"Yeah, Beast is difficult like that," Dan nodded. "But hey, at least I brought you some dogs." He activated "Let the Dogs Out", summoning four jungle monsters he tamed: Hyena, Alpha Wolf, Ogre Leader and Griffin. The monsters invaded the lane and joined the allied minion wave. Together, they all advanced toward the enemy Turret.

It was an impressive army. Especially, the Ogre Leader and Griffin were much tougher than the average minion. Taming a Griffin was quite the feat, considering Griffins were located in neutral areas of the jungle, always contested by both sides. Yet, somehow, Dan secured one of them even with the Beastmaster's subpar camp clearing speed.

Yuel had been paying minimal attention to anything outside Bot, so he had no idea how Dan achieved all that. Some impressive strategy and decision-making must have been in play.

Hmm, he bought Smite and Sprint. Yuel examined Dan's build. Smite was a utility skill designed for Junglers. It dealt high damage to one monster, then released an AoE shockwave which dealt additional damage to nearby to monsters. Not all Junglers had to buy Smite to clear camps effectively, but Beastmaster definitely needed it.

Sprint was the more interesting choice here. It's a utility skill which granted a movement speed buff for a short time, as well as cleansed any slows. Beastmaster didn't have any mobility options, so covering more ground via Sprint was one solution.

Buying two utility skills so early into the game was very uncommon, but Dan clearly knew what he was doing. That's evident by the great collection of tamed monsters he brought along to push Bot. With the tankiness of the Ogre Leader and Griffin, they brought the enemy's Turret down to 50% HP in one push. Despite everything said about the Beastmaster's weak points, its push potential was nothing to sneeze at.

"They'll probably return soon," Dan said. "Mind helping me with the Dragon?"

"Nah, let's push some more!" Lars kept firing away at the Turret like a brat. "We can take it out before they return! Fastest Turret fall in history, yo!"

"We won't make it." Yuel retorted. All they had left were a nearly dead Griffin and two bowmen minions. There's no chance of bringing the Turret from 50% to 0% with just these.

But, at the same time, going for Dragon also sounded risky. Both Yuel and Lars were running low on HP. "You sure it's a good idea?" Yuel asked. "Their Mid or Jungler may gank us."

"Hm?" Dan blinked. "Yeah, I think it's safe enough. I mean, their Mid is turtling hard and their Jungler is around Top right now."

"Is that so." Yuel threw some glances at his mini-map, verifying Dan's words. Indeed, the Electromancer was hugging his Turret, so it's unlikely he'd leave Mid any time soon. There's no sign of the enemy Vampire, but there were some Wards in Top Jungle, so the Vampire was probably spotted by one of them a little while ago. "I guess you're right..."

"Wait, you didn't notice?" Dan asked. "You? Of all people? I always thought your map awareness is the shit."

"No, it's just... Well, I was in the middle of an intense fight just now..." Yuel mumbled excuses. Not having full map awareness was embarrassing, especially for a shot-caller. But, that's a sacrifice he had to make to let himself concentrate on Bot Lane. "Alright, let's do Dragon. You'll have to tank it, though. We're spent."