Classmancers - A MOBA Esport Story

After clearing the griffins in Top Jungle, Fiona rotated to Top Lane. There, she helped Cornelia establish lane control against her opponent.1

Once they cleared the enemy wave together, Fiona immediately moved on to the next scheduled play. "Please ensure that the Knight stays under his tower for a while. I plan to invade their jungle."

"But, isn't it dangerous?" Cornelia asked. "I think their Jungler has respawned by now?" She opened up the menu to verify. "Yes, as I thought - their Jungler is back in commission. I knew that a noble such as myself wouldn't miss such a crucial detail, ohoho!" 

"Yes, I am aware that their Viking has respawned," Fiona said. "Nonetheless, I believe I can get away with a little more counter-jungling."

"Is that so? Very well. You're a noble, so I shall trust your judgment on this matter."

With that sorted out, Cornelia proceeded to preoccupy the enemy Knight with a strong push. She had many soldiers to spare, whereas the enemy's army was in ruins. Therefore, the peasant had no choice but to flee in terror against Cornelia's noble assault, ohoho!

Meanwhile, Fiona ventured into the enemy jungle. With the Knight busy protecting the tower, the only one who could possibly interfere with this counter-jungling attempt was the enemy Viking.

[From what I have seen of his playstyle thus far, there is a very high chance he will try to attack.] Fiona reasoned. [However, his combat skills did not impress me, so I do not believe he will pose a real threat.]

There was undeniably some risk in this play but the reward was too tempting to pass on. Counter-jungling earned spoils for the team while simultaneously denying these same resources to the enemy. It was an integral part of playing Jungler at a high level and some degree of risk always came with the territory.

[In any case, I have to make this quick.] Fiona assaulted the Wolf Camp on the enemy side of the jungle. [So far, our odds of winning this game look barely any better than 50-50. Therefore, I have to ensure my GPM remains above average as we transition into the team-fighting phase.]

Most roles in this game were stuck in their respective lanes and had to follow the standard gold-per-minute pace set by the game designers. There were a couple of ways to boost the pace, such as scoring kills, but such opportunities were not easy to come by.

On the other hand, the Jungler had the freedom to decide its own fate in that department. Though there were general guidelines for how to best traverse the jungle in order to maximize the farm, there was never a 100% fixed rotation the Jungler could follow in every game.

In addition to farming, the Jungler was expected to ambush lanes and fill in for missing laners even in the early-game. And, once the Jungler deviated from the recommended rotation even once, they were thrown into uncharted territory. From there onward, it was up to them to make adjustments to their jungling routine based on the situation at hand.

This made farming substantially more complicated for Jungler. However, in exchange, the Jungler had the freedom to travel to any part of the map and seek the best opportunities to capitalize on. This was the main quality that sold Fiona on the role.

With this much flexibility, she could help any lane on demand in order to improve the team's overall position. Furthermore, with swift decision-making, Fiona could boost her farming speed far beyond what was possible for any of the laning roles.

The calculated path she traveled from Bot to Top as she counter-jungled was an example of how these two aspects of the Jungler role could be combined into one advantageous line of play. Just by killing the enemy Jungler, Fiona managed to gain this much advantage for the team.

However, as Cornelia warned, the enemy Viking expressed dissatisfaction at this turn of events. One of the wards revealed him approaching Top Lane, possibly to assault Fiona.

[Will he seek vengeance?] Fiona wondered. [An opponent hellbent on payback is often prone to making mistakes. I do not think this should bother me.]

Fiona ignored the incoming threat for now and focused on finishing off the Wolf Camp. She estimated the Viking would not get here in time to stop her, therefore there was no need to retreat just yet.

And indeed, the Viking only showed up after she was already done. The fact he failed to stop Fiona in time must have further fueled his burning desire for vengeance.

[Hmm. We are both out of ultimates.] Fiona analyzed. [I can try to take him on, but this HP gap makes it difficult.]

Fiona was at 70% HP after all the recent fights and counter-jungling. Meanwhile, the Viking came here straight from his base, so he was sitting at 100%.

Based on the data so far, Fiona's combat skill was superior to the Viking's. However, was it superior enough to compensate for the 30% HP difference? Debatable.

[I should not take more risks than necessary.] Fiona thought. [With that said, I have no plans of losing HP without a fight, either.]

The Viking advanced on her without thinking twice. He must have believed he had full control of the situation in this territory.

In Fiona's experience, this sort of attitude was quite common in Ranked matches. It seemed players tended to believe they held some sort of innate advantage when they were in "their" area of the jungle.

In reality, both sides of the jungle were neutral zones. The Viking had no allied structures here, nor did he receive any buffs in this region.

The only actual risk in this region was the possibility of getting ganged up on by multiple enemies. However, Cornelia was currently pushing Top, forcing the enemy Top Laner to defend. And, for now, the enemy Mid Laner was still back in his lane as well, as could be clearly seen thanks to Andria's field of view.

In short, nobody was free to land the Viking a hand in this attack. Therefore, despite this incident taking place in "enemy territory", Fiona had no qualms about engaging in combat.

The Viking swung his axe at Fiona but she easily sidestepped it. It was a thoughtless, barbarian attack, befitting a Viking. The man simply launched an attack at the first opportunity that presented itself without even bothering to get closer. Such base offense would not work.

Unfortunately, Fiona could not counterattack after backstepping. The Viking's axe was slower than Fiona's claws but it had a longer reach. She would have to get right in the enemy's face in order to properly fight back.

However, she was not interested in any of that. Her top priority here was to safely escape the area. As such, she backpedaled farther away from her opponent while keeping a close eye on every move he made.

Lionfolk was a bit faster than a Viking by default, and Fiona also bought plenty of Movement Speed to optimize her rotations. As such, she had no problem beating her opponent in a sheer contest of speed.

However, her current position was not optimal for simply dashing away. The jungle had many twists and turns that would slow Fiona down. Furthermore, the Viking had Axe Blitz for closing the distance in the blink of an eye. The man will surely make use of it when the time is right, so Fiona had to make her escape in a way that would render that idea impossible.

The greatest escape tool she had at her disposal was Majestic Leap, which she made sure to not spend during her recent plays. She had been fully aware that a situation like this might occur, so she made sure to prepare for it.

Majestic Leap allowed her to jump over a jungle wall, which was perfect for escaping from a predator in these parts. But first, Fiona had to get close enough to such a jungle wall.

Furthermore, it had to be a wall that would be hard for the Viking to circle around. Only then, Majestic Leap would fully secure Fiona a clean escape with no chances of enemy pursuit.

In order to get into that optimal position, Fiona had to entertain her opponent for a while. And so, she stared the man down as she slowly backpedaled toward her destination.

[As long as I do not turn my back to him, he would have to stay on his toes.] Fiona reasoned. She purposely made it look as if she accepted the invitation for a fight, which put her opponent on guard. The Viking must have felt that he could not simply lash out attacks without thinking, or else he would get punished for overextending.

[A cautious predator is a slow predator.] Fiona asserted as she continued her slow backpedaling. At this rate, she would achieve her goal of retreating from the area without a single hit.

It might have seemed excessive to put so much thought and effort into making one seemingly "simple" escape. Most players would have likely settled on turning around and making a break for it right away without sparing the situation a second thought.

A naive approach like that would definitely work, but it would likely cost the player somewhere between 5% to 20% HP depending on how things develop. Fiona saw no reason to pay such a cost if she could get away unscratched. After all, losing any amount of HP could always lead to grave consequences later down the line. 

And so, instead of turning her back on her foe, Fiona continued backpedaling toward the wall. The entire time, she kept her attention on the assailant to ensure she would be able to step out of any incoming attack.

It seemed the Viking realized that rushing in blindly would not do him any favors, so he did not launch a second attack right away. He was smart enough to understand that Fiona would easily step out of any predictable attack from this range.

As the predator in this position, the Viking's goal was to deal as much damage as possible in the shortest amount of time. As such, he dashed forward. Clearly, his plan was to unleash a flurry at Fiona from point-blank!

However, this was yet another example of amateurish rashness. The moment the man stepped in too close - Fiona lashed out at him with her claws! SLASH!

Most likely, the man assumed Fiona would not retaliate at all, seeing as she was the "prey" in this situation. [But, that is a misconception on your end.] Fiona asserted. [There is nothing about this situation that truly paints me as a "helpless prey". I have every legitimation to retaliate.]

Fiona's attack probably surprised the Viking, maybe even angered him. So, his response came out immediately. WHISH!

At this distance, the axe had no trouble reaching Fiona. However, that alone did not mean the attack would connect.

[Predictable.] Fiona rolled underneath the incoming attack. She saw that retaliation coming from a mile away, so she calculated the best response in advance.

After she finished rolling, she turned to face the Viking once again and continued backpedaling to safety. Shortly, she reached the position she was aiming for. She activated her Majestic Leap and jumped over the jungle wall.

And so, Fiona slipped away from the so-called "hunter". However, it seemed the man did not realize this was over. He tried to give chase as if that was an endeavor worth investing in.

But, naturally, the Viking failed to catch up. As the Jungler, he should have understood the layout of the map better than that.

Fiona had many different escape routes to choose from in this part of the map, so it was impossible for the Viking to track her down even if he had the speed to catch up. In essence, what he had just done was a total waste of time.

[He seems like the eager type.] Fiona analyzed. [I should keep that in mind.]

After making that mental note, Fiona went on to attack Mid. That was the closest point of interest to her current position, so she went there without wasting any time idling. Every second counted for the Jungler, and Fiona was fully intent on utilizing every fraction of a second.

In terms of camp rotation, her next destination should have been the Hyena Camp in Bot Jungle. However, heading over there straight away would be a missed opportunity to shake things up in Mid. So, she chose to slowly get closer to that destination while lending a hand to Andria.

After the two of them successfully overwhelmed the enemy laner, Fiona finally rotated to the Hyena Camp. Then, she went to the Ogre Camp, then the Wolf Camp, and finally, she attacked Bot Lane. She chained all these plays seamlessly without wasting any time in between.

During the attack on Bot Lane, Fiona first chased the enemy Carry into their side of the jungle. However, as soon as she realized she would not be able to score a kill here, she shifted her focus toward the enemy's Ogre Camp. With Karen's aid, they took down the camp within moments.

Fiona took the red buff for herself in order to boost her jungling capabilities and save up even more time in the jungle. This was not an easy choice to make because giving the buff to the Carry offered its own set of advantages, but nonetheless, Fiona chose to prioritize herself this time. Karen did not complain about this and neither did the rest of the team.

With the red buff in hand, Fiona was able to rotate even faster through the jungle objectives. Next, she went to the Griffin Camp in Bot Jungle. Then, she attacked Mid again. After that, she rotated to the camps in Top Jungle.

Fiona directly chained each of her moves into the next. She did not permit herself to waste even a split second at any point along the way.

Alas, despite Fiona's efficient rotations, the team found itself in quite the peril. Cornelia was unable to match her lane opponent in strength, which led to a gradual deterioration of the lane situation there.

Of course, Fiona did what she could to help with the lane situation. She passed through Top Lane at every good opportunity that presented itself.

Alas, it was impossible to babysit Top the entire game. Fiona constantly had to keep moving across the jungle in order to secure objectives, so Cornelia had to handle the situation on her own most of the time.

When Fiona was not present on the lane, she provided advice and instructions. Unfortunately, from afar, she was unable to handle every problem that emerged over there…