"Something about their mid seems familiar." Justin scratched his jaw line.
"What do you mean? Their mid laner is down here in bot." Kyle pointed out Kelly's Elementalist.
"I'm pretty sure they lane swapped." Francisco looked over the class compositions. "Elementalist is the best support on their team. Holy sh*t is that a legendary skin?" He had wandered out of the jungle and poked briefly into mid lane catching a glimpse of Miranda's shiny outfit and particle effects.
"Oh yeah, you're right." Justin frowned harder. He just couldn't place why his opponent felt so familiar.
"Fleeting Chance? That's their jungler right?"
"Was she? Oh, right. She was the Rhino Rider. Yeah, she was actually pretty good. I wonder why she's mid now. Jungle and mid are very different."
The first waves of minions finally arrived in lane and the game began in earnest. As a Rogue, Justin was a melee class and needed to move right up to his targets to hit them with attacks. He casually approached a minion to last hit it. Immediately particle effects filled his screen. The Gambler rushed forwards slashing at him with a sword and pelted him with a die.
Justin responded in kind. After all, they were in his minion wave. She would be taking more damage that him from minions. But to his surprise, she didn't back up. Even after being hit by his Short Stab and an attack.
Instead, the Gambler continued her attack. The skill she was using right now was the Swordmaster's Triple Slash. Every time after she hit him with a slash, she would follow up with an attack. Only after all three slashes had been used up did she retreat, the sword shrinking back into a card. Justin was really confused. Even though she hit him with all three slashes, she still ended up losing more health overall because of the minions. The trade favored him. He now had one third of his health remaining to her one quarter.
"She's really low in mid."
"Okay, I'll see there's an opportunity."
Neither Justin nor Francisco were using classes that had crowd control this early in the game. If she saw them coming, she could simply walk back under her Pillar for safety. If they caught her off guard however, they could kill her easily. Franciso had his path planned out perfectly.
"After taking this camp, I'll cut her off in mid."
"Got it."
Right now Francisco was clearing one of his camps near top lane. Afterward he would run down the river cutting the map in half and then sneak into her lane via one of the side paths and put himself between her and her Pillar. If she wanted to escape she would have to use the Void Walk on her amulet. Either they got a kill or her amulet would be on cooldown for five minutes and they could try for a kill later. He finished clearing his camp and headed for the river.
[An ally has been slain!]
Everyone on the team blinked in surprise and looked around to see who had been killed. Justin scratched his head looking extremely confused.
"What happened?" they asked.
Justin had a serious case of deja vu. A moment ago everything had been going to plan. He had been only last hitting minions, allowing her wave to grow a little bit larger and push back towards his Pillar. She had to move farther and farther away from her Pillar to stay in range to last hit his minions making it easier for Francisco to gank. Little did he expect her to suddenly appear behind him and then kill him with Triple Slash. His minion wave was smaller than it had been before and they had each gotten stronger by a level so she took less damage than their first trade. After killing him, she Void Walked past a wall to drop minion aggro and escaped with a sliver of health. If only he had hit her with an ability. Right, that was it.
"I misplayed because I wasn't expecting her to do that. I'll get her next time."
"Do you need me to camp for you?"
Justin shook his head. He didn't need Francisco's help. Next time he would be prepared and outplay her.
They traded evenly. She had staved off his attempt to kill her before using the Paladin's Lay On Hands to heal herself. But since she would most likely switch hotbars a couple seconds later, she wouldn't have access to it. Even if she happened to roll into the same hotbar, the ability would still be on cooldown.
After waiting another two seconds, Justin initiated with Cunning Action. He dashed forwards and then used Short Stab. But his stab only hit leaves. Ninja's Falling Leaves, that was most likely the ability she had used to appear behind him and kill him the first time. This time he was ready.
Justin didn't use his second half of Cunning Action to dash straight backwards, but to the side and then started running away. If she retreated to the Pillar it was regrettable but he'd have to try to kill her again later. If she didn't she would most likely appear right behind where he just was or right behind where he would be if he had dashed directly backwards. Either way she wouldn't be able to catch him in stealth and he could initiate again while Falling Leaves was on cooldown. Cunning Action and Short Stab were both low cooldown abilities and would be ready.
Right on cue, the Gambler appeared a short distance behind him. Justin eagerly turned around and pounced forwards with Cunning Action. All he had to do was attack and get the attack reset with Vital Strike guaranteeing his next attack was a crit. He hit with his first attack and immediately canceled the follow through animation by activating Vital Strike. But the follow up attack never hit.
[You have been slain by Fleeting Chance (Gambler)]
But how?!