Don't Throw a Lead; Don't Lose Heart When Behind

Mei Liu Team's Honor of Kings S44 Season Review

The biggest change this season was that we finally started playing like a five-player team. We used to queue together but often played separate games in our heads. We brought solo-queue habits into a five-stack. This season, we began to agree on how to divide gold, when to invade the enemy jungle, who would call the plays and where to stand late in a match. Our results were poor at the start, but our play became much more organised as the season went on.

How our play changed

At the start of the season we carried over last season's approach: play for the late game, follow the captain's calls and look for a comeback. We also kept using the "Jin-Ya" pairing of Jiang Ziya and Jinchan. The early results were poor, and that pairing did not deliver what we expected.

We then began to look at each match through time and gold. We put the ten-, fourteen- and sixteen-minute marks, and the question of how to close out according to the gold situation, into one model. That was the first step. At least our calls no longer had to rest entirely on feel.

The second step was invading the enemy jungle from the early game. An invasion isn't one person charging in alone. Several players have to move together; arrive a beat late and the whole attempt can fail.

Our lineup changed with the plan. The main composition still used Jiang Ziya and Jinchan, alongside Nezha and Cheng Yaojin in the clash lane. Those four would enter the enemy jungle early. If we could take a camp, we took it. If we couldn't, we held position around the camp and the red and blue buffs, then fought whoever came to help. It worked very well. We later tried Zhang Liang with Daji, Jinchan with Baili Shouyue as support, Sima Yi in place of Nezha, and Sun Ce in place of Cheng Yaojin. Those variations occasionally surprised the other team, but our main lineup was steadier overall.

Later in the season we added Ao Yin as support, mainly to play alongside Puff's Angela in mid lane. It worked better than expected and helped Puff contribute more again.

Our late-game positioning changed too. We used a three-pronged formation, a diamond, or a tight group in the middle, depending on the situation. A key player such as Cheng Yaojin cannot be the first to fall late in the game. Once he dies, the entire composition can come apart.

Everyone on the team

Cool Leopard improved a great deal this season. He used to go off on his own. Now he groups better, contests objectives more effectively and is much less inclined to get greedy for resources. He can still hesitate before carrying out a tactical call and needs time to catch up. His strategic reads are also often wrong; my estimate is that fewer than one in ten are right. Sometimes he makes a wrong call, everyone goes to save him, and we all die. He had improved by the end of the season on the important point that Cheng Yaojin must not fall first late in a match. He should keep working on it.

Old Zhao is still a strong jungler. His Nezha, Sima Yi and Nakoruru are all good. The problem is that he can get carried away late in a match. There were several crucial moments when he charged in and died. I don't think his Sun Wukong is working at the moment; the other three heroes are more reliable.

Sister Ka had several excellent games on Daji. Her Jinchan is decent, and she sometimes has a brilliant game on Su Lie. Give her a tactical job and she will carry it out firmly. The trouble is that some of her mechanical decisions are baffling, and her performances vary a lot. There is also a practical issue: she should consider replacing her device next season.

Dian Dian is much steadier than she was a season or two ago. She controls jungle resources well and can still deal damage late in a game. Her Garo is a real pick. Her hero pool is too narrow, though. If Garo is picked away or banned, her effectiveness drops sharply. She needs to practise a few more marksmen next season.

Puff mainly plays Angela in mid lane. Frankly, she did not make much overall progress this season. The earlier tactical system may not have suited her very well. Her hero pool is also narrow. Once Ao Yin support was paired with Angela near the end of the season, her effectiveness improved somewhat.

Wanshan Hongbian may have improved more than anyone else on the team. At the start he could barely play; by the end he could contribute, and he was following the team's tactics. He is still inconsistent. Playing a single marksman into a lane pairing such as Baili Shouyue and Mozi can be painful for him. Even so, the difference from the start of the season is substantial.

Pang Hu only needs a couple of lines. She has good fighting instincts and carries out tactical calls well. Her early-game farming still needs work.

Finally, myself. Most of my effort this season went into the time and gold model, the jungle-invasion approach, lineup design and in-game calls. My mechanics and resource management were unremarkable: no particular highlights, but not many problems either. I think the real reason we play better now is that we put five-stack play into a mathematical model. The others trusted me, and in the end we began to act together on the same judgments.

Next season we should keep refining the main lineup, broaden our hero pools and play patiently when the late game calls for it. Anyone who needs a new device should get one.

The individual ability radar charts for this season are attached below.