Chapter 5: Soaring Stabs and Whirling Thousand-Mile Dance! Wall and Mist Unite to Overturn Mountains! [Grateful to the Leader of "This Is Science!"]

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The match time was five and a half minutes, and the ninth wave of the mid-lane minions had arrived. Although Akali had secured first blood at level two and held a significant advantage, she still played cautiously, lacking Flash and opting for a steady development phase. The ninth wave was the typical minion wave by which a solo laner could normally reach level six.

However, Doinb kept strict track of the timing, knowing that Akali, having earned kill experience, would inevitably hit level six first. He prepared meticulously by retreating early, ceding lane priority to deny her any opportunity. Sure enough, Akali reached level six after killing the second melee minion. Had this been a less meticulous player, they would have been caught off guard and risked being punished at level six.

“Looks like Akali’s planning to roam this wave... jungler, go bot, go bot,” Doinb typed to his jungler while explaining to his viewers his understanding of the two champions. “The caster has Teleport, Akali won’t be roaming anywhere!” he continued. “This is exactly why many casual players have poor habits. Honestly, in matchups like Akali versus Sylas, it’s better to take Teleport and farm safely rather than risking Ignite when the level advantage is so crucial.”

Back in the preseason of Season 12, the design team made a controversial change to Teleport—a skill long considered a core team-play mechanic in League of Legends. Teleport allows a player to instantly join any lane across the map, embodying the essence of “team” in a team game. Since the earliest seasons, Teleport has been pivotal in countless plays and strategies and remains essential in competitive play.

But starting in Season 12, the designers shortened Teleport’s cooldown by one minute, at the cost of restricting Teleport usage before 14 minutes to only allied turrets. Their reasoning? “To emphasize laning phase more.”

Because of this, many mid-laners in ranked and professional play started taking Ignite to increase kill potential. Yet Doinb felt that Sylas had a clear advantage over Akali; if he were Akali and Ignite wouldn’t guarantee kills, then taking Teleport to improve survivability was preferable. Many veteran players like him still consider Teleport the orthodox choice. Ignite? That’s heresy.

Doinb rapidly sent a ping on the minimap indicating “Enemy missing.” River vision had been cleared. Observing the jungler following his instructions, he calmly continued farming. Top lane’s Ornn, played by Zoom, was slightly pressured by a random Camille, but both had full health and skills available, indicating no imminent threat. In contrast, the bottom lane, with JackeyLove’s Draven and Meiko’s Alistar, showed aggressive intent.

“Go over the wall! Go over the wall! Kill Kingen!” JackeyLove shouted, his typical energetic style even in a casual ranked game, deliberately loud enough for his teammate LeftHand to hear. “We can dive, Poppy’s coming too,” Meiko observed the jungler’s position, then suddenly frowned. “Hey, our mid... what’s he doing? Why did he just go in?”

As Meiko finished speaking, the enemy Poppy appeared from the red side’s triangular brush, revealing herself. At that moment, the red team’s bottom turret Teleport activated. Seeing the Teleport and Draven and Alistar entering, Poppy immediately engaged.

LeftHand’s Xayah was low on health, and her support was a melee Rakan with limited early protection. The Teleport took 4.5 seconds to channel. It appeared to be a quick kill. However, the best dive should ideally have been led by Alistar, who had all skills ready.

Poppy, lacking Flash, charged with Q, threw a W chain, aiming to hit Xayah. Given Xayah’s health, if Poppy’s Q and W connected, Draven only needed one more hit to secure the kill. Yet this straightforward combo was flawlessly countered by LeftHand, who spotted a major flaw.

Xayah didn’t immediately Flash. Instead, she locked her gaze on Poppy mid-air. As Poppy charged, her 600-unit W chain struck Xayah first. Xayah then precisely flashed back, taking only the lesser part of W’s damage. She dodged both Q and W, and Poppy was forced to tank the tower.

“Oh, calm down now,” Xayah taunted.

“Forget it, focus on them!” JackeyLove and Meiko could only hard commit.

Alistar flashed in with W-Q combo to knock up Xayah; Rakan’s heals were insufficient. Draven flashed aggressively, activating his passive and spinning his axes brutally. The crisp sound of coins dropping signaled passive procs.

Just before death, Xayah cast Q-AE combo, pulling out three hooked feathers that trapped the three enemies under tower fire. Suddenly, Jarvan IV appeared behind the tower’s vision.

“Whoa! Why is Jarvan camping here?” JackeyLove exclaimed.

Jarvan used his level two saved Flash to combo EQ, initiating on all three. The Teleport circle was shrinking. Everyone could imagine the level six Sylas sharpening his blades on the way.

But what they didn’t know was that Sylas was screaming in frustration in both Korean and Chinese.

“Damn it!! This guy! I rely on him, damn it, oh my god!!”

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From Doinb’s perspective, his screen was not fixed on the Teleport landing spot but switched back to himself as it flickered red at the edge. Then he noticed that Akali, who was expected to roam bot, had actually turned back—or rather, had never truly gone bot at all.

Twenty seconds earlier, when Poppy was preparing to roam bot, Ye Bo had instructed him to use Sweeper to clear vision near the enemy jungle entrance. Poppy, recognizing the mid laner as the team’s backbone, complied and even placed an extra Control Ward before moving bot.

Under this cover, Akali vanished from mid-lane and entered the enemy jungle brush, while the camera remained focused mid. Upon seeing Poppy leave, Ye Bo moved toward the enemy turret. Sure enough, Sylas at the turret instantly used Teleport.

Akali walked out confidently, not rushing to cast E, instead weaving Q-A-Q-A to proc Electrocute. With level three Q energy growth, she had enough power to unleash her full combo.

As the Teleport circle nearly closed—“My Style: Falcon Dance” was unleashed! Sylas landed his Teleport.

Meanwhile, on the ally map, Akali’s icon was flying over mountains and terrain toward bot lane—literally flying, physically flying!

“Wow, kill him fast!”

“Akali’s coming, oh my god!”

Though teammates couldn’t hear Doinb’s shout or understand what had happened, they wondered why Sylas landed with half health. The urgent red ping signaled the red team's counterattack.

Poppy, unable to Flash, was doomed under tower. Rakan cast a circular Q to slow Draven, and Jarvan activated his Golden Aegis to slow and chase.

Sylas immediately used E-Flash-R combo, stealing Alistar’s ultimate—“Their Way” which ignores enemy level.

Draven, seeing half-health Sylas, was ready to fight fiercely, but Sylas activated “Resolute Will,” gaining 55% damage reduction. Even Draven’s spinning axes barely chipped his health.

“Sell, sell, sell!” Draven yelled, accepting death to save Alistar, focusing fire on Sylas.

But it was obvious the red side wouldn’t let the Flashless Alistar escape—death was inevitable. After killing Draven, Sylas retreated behind the tower.

Doinb frantically pinged “Assist me” and typed “akl akl akl akl…” His teammates finally caught on. Jarvan and Rakan abandoned the chase to protect Sylas near the tower.

Doinb’s plan was clear: bring Akali to the tower to soak damage after Draven’s death, turning the fight around. Alistar’s ultimate had 7 seconds remaining, with 3 seconds left, and Akali’s E second activation damage wouldn’t be high. Doinb’s in-the-moment decision was precise.

Because Akali’s second E activation couldn’t be canceled, she would die here alongside the still-cooling-down Flash.

“Love playing flashy, huh? Love following with E, huh!” Doinb was ready to pop champagne.

At this moment, Akali, chasing the Falcon Dance afterimage, suddenly changed direction mid-air.

Her ultimate “My Style! Confounding Kill” hit Jarvan, who was positioned on the outer flank, interrupting his displacement with the first R hit and flipping her over a distance to the left side of the tower.

Akali then signaled Alistar, marking Sylas, who was cramped under tower and trying to escape in the opposite direction.

Meiko clearly understood the plan and immediately reversed course, waiting for refreshed W to knock Sylas away. Ye Bo timed it perfectly, following up with a mid-air spear stab—a "mid-air relay."

“Whoa!?”

“Damn!”

“Wow, that’s pretty slick!”

Four players in the stream simultaneously expressed amazement, except for LeftHand, whose language was unintelligible.

But the display wasn’t over yet.

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Alistar, too low on health to tank the tower, forced Akali, even after adjusting her second R dash angle, to take two tower shots. The massive preloaded tower damage quickly dropped her health.

Now, the red side’s remaining two players faced a choice: Jarvan, nearly full health and with Rakan’s support, could decide the fate of both opponents.

There was no hesitation—they had to go for Akali, who held two kills and a bounty.

“Should I save her...?” Meiko hesitated.

Akali frantically signaled “Retreat,” deciding for him.

She hugged the wall outside the tower, casting W—“Shadow Dance” smoke bomb—to cling to life and buy Alistar escape time.

Jarvan reset his EQ combo, and given Akali’s position, escape was impossible.

Everyone thought so, including Akali’s teammates and these three top-tier mid laners from the LPL.

Because that smoke bomb was placed right against the thickest wall in bot lane—and in all of Summoner’s Rift!

No Flash could cross it. Akali’s E backward dash was only 250 units, insufficient even to wait for the second E cooldown to cross the wall.

This was obvious even to these three pros, all top Akali players.

But... was that really the case?

Obviously not!

Meiko quickly noticed something strange.

“Wait, how is the smoke bomb inside the wall?”

Three seconds later, as the smoke faded, the second Falcon Dance was ready.

Akali’s figure vanished in the smoke, briefly appearing before disappearing without a trace.

From the ally perspective, everyone shouted in shock.

“What the hell?” JackeyLove was baffled but amazed.

“Really? You can do that?” Meiko was confused. “That wall... you can actually pass through it?”

“But I thought W can’t be placed inside walls…”

“What do you mean, OldSong? Even you don’t know? This guy’s insane!”

“I’ve only played about a hundred Akali games, but this feels like... a W mechanic thing,” Meiko guessed.

Akali’s W allows casting at a selected point, not just at her feet.

By cleverly using “wall-borrowing” to pick a target on the opposite side, tricking the system into thinking the skill is cast on the far side of the wall and finding a precise spot, she could achieve the “smoke inside wall” effect.

She could still gain invisibility from Shadow Dance while hugging the wall.

So what’s the purpose?

Remember, Ye Bo just taught the “Shadow Dance exit” technique, exploiting that E can mark not only champions but also the smoke bomb.

The smoke bomb can reasonably linger inside the wall...

But Akali herself cannot be stuck inside!

Therefore, as Akali flew mid-air, the wall forcibly “pushed” her out to the other side.

Thus, she crossed the thickest wall on Summoner’s Rift—at least 1,000 units away—in shadows.

After Meiko shared his theory, chat exploded.

“Unidirectional smoke, huh!”

“Kayn: ‘Huh???’”

“Ninjas can jump mountains and ridges, it makes sense—they’re ninjas. Not climbing your walls at midnight is already nice!”

“Akali’s definitely the flashiest assassin in my heart!”

“That was nuts! Flying Thunder God, mid-air lane switch, mid-air relay, then wall smoke slip—all in one smooth combo!”

“Shook Poppy: ‘Come on, you can fly? You’re the real plane! Compared to you, my Valkyrie dive is like paragliding!’”

“This mid laner’s crazy, top Akali in the server for sure!”

A bot lane dive that should have been a 1-for-3 blowout was instantly reversed.

Keep in mind, this was a tower dive with minions, Xayah was already low, Draven died after a delay, no big deal.

Sylas’s timely Teleport caused him to miss many minions under tower and cost him a Teleport and Flash.

Mid and bot lanes both lost heavily.

Doinb’s stream exploded, but his expression was no longer gleeful.

The champagne had barely been uncorked... and was already shattered!