Classmancers - A MOBA Esport Story

Vol.4 Ch.16: Preparation and Adaptation

The battle for StormBlitz's first string began. After clearing some jungle camps, everybody headed to their respective lanes. Yuel and Lars headed to Bot, where they'll face Howard and Ellen.

"Remember," Yuel said. "Don't get carried away against Ellen."

"I know, I know," Lars claimed so, but the glint in his eyes told a different story. "Don't worry, I'mma rek that Witch of Victory. Believe it, yo!"

That's exactly the mentality I'm worried about... Yuel sighed. Well, maybe that aggressive mentality will work out with this arrangement. After all, Lars got to play his godly Trickshooter this game and Yuel further supplemented that pick with his Alchemist.

Alchemist was a specialist class which revolved around crafting items. It was considered mid-tier, but mostly because it required very good game knowledge and decision-making skills. Even though most people treated Alchemist as C tier, in Yuel's hands it was easily a B tier.

It's not a class Yuel showed often, but today was the day to let it loose. Alchemist's versatility, combined with its surprise element, should work well against Howard.

"Say," Howard started. "You ever saw Yuel play Alchemist?"

"Hmm, don't think so," Ellen cocked her head. "Think he's experimenting?"

"I wouldn't put it past him, but that can't be all. No matter what absurd ideas he usually comes up with, he wouldn't gamble this match on a class he can't play."

"Oh, I know! He must've kept Alchemist as trump card this entire time, in preparation for this one match!"

"Only you would do something silly like that."

"Teehee~" Ellen playfully stuck out her tongue.

"Anyway, let's play it safe," Howard advised. "Alchemist has a stupid amount of options, so we'll need to figure out Yuel's exact plan for this match step-by-step. Try to poke him every now and then to make him leave lane and miss on materials."

"Aye aye, cap." Ellen saluted.

The two pairs clashed in the duo lane. As always, Ellen used her signature poke-and-run. She advanced just a little tiny bit toward Lars, shot him once and then immediately fled before he could counter.

Geh! Here we go again. Lars felt like Ellen slowly, but surely, sucked out his blood. It's like she was a flippin' mosquito!

Worst of all, Ellen always picked the most annoying timing to shoot him. Her shots struck in the brief moments after Lars finished an attack and was stuck in the recovery animation that followed. By the time he could attack again, Ellen has already snuck out of his range.

This was especially frustrating when Lars fired Trickshot, which had a longer animation than a basic attack. Ellen was gonna take every chance she could to poke him after a Trickshot.

"Duuuude!" Lars exclaimed. "Can I kill her already?"

"Stop," Yuel shook his head. "The game just started."

"C'mon, I just need to Trickshot her once and get in a few more hits after that. Easy peasy!"

"You know you'll be playing right into her hands by doing that, right?"

"Geh, but...!"

"Don't worry, I'll shut down her pokes after the first wave," Yuel promised. His Alchemist needed a little time to get going, but he definitely took Ellen's poke-and-run into consideration when picking Alchemist.

Alchemist was an amazing class because it offered tools for dealing with virtually every situation. Yuel could craft any consumables available in the shop, even Wards, which spoke volumes of the class's versatility. In addition, Alchemist could craft numerous "tools", which were unique consumables only the Alchemist could use. The tools effectively served as the Alchemist's kit, since his actual skills all revolved around crafting and using items.