Chapter 277: I Mid
With the hero [Jungle God], which uses Malfurion's model and has a relatively clear role—providing crowd control and healing—it's a very strong support.
This design is relatively successful because it borrows some skill concepts from Warcraft III and fits the hero's appearance well.
But [Dark Ranger] is a different story.
Her skills are Silence, Dark Arrow, Marksman's Talent, and Charm.
Silence, Dark Arrow, and Charm are all directly copied from Warcraft III, while Life Drain has been replaced with Marksman's Talent, a passive skill that permanently increases the Dark Ranger's attack range and critical strike chance upon leveling up.
Clearly, COG's designer, Raman Clive, realized that Life Drain conflicted with the Dark Ranger's hero identity, so he changed it to this skill more suited for a marksman.
However, in Chen Mo's view, it's obvious that the Dark Ranger hero on this map is a bit too overpowered.
First, the Dark Ranger can use Dark Arrow to summon skeletons infinitely, allowing her to push the lane aggressively in the early game, overwhelming her opponent.
Moreover, whether intentional or an oversight by the designer, killing those skeletons gives no gold, only a minimal amount of experience.
In other words, with just this skill, the Dark Ranger can gain an absolute advantage during the laning phase, using minions to tank tower aggro and relentlessly chip away at the enemy's health.
Additionally, with Marksman's Talent, the Dark Ranger can permanently increase her attack range and critical strike chance, effectively moving forward the power spike of a hero normally meant to carry in the late game.
At level 6, the Dark Ranger can lead a group of skeletons and charmed jungle creeps to aggressively invade the enemy jungle. Even if she can't kill anyone, she can steal jungle resources, greatly boosting her own development.
So, in the hands of a skilled player, the Dark Ranger will snowball into a hero strong in the early, mid, and late game. This is clearly too powerful and contradicts the hero's intended role.
If she already has strong late-game carry potential, she shouldn't have such dominant lane pressure.
Of course, this is likely because COG's designer, Raman Clive, is still in the exploratory phase and doesn't understand these nuances.
And players haven't realized this design flaw either; they just have a vague feeling that the Dark Ranger is a very strong hero.
Chen Mo immediately saw how broken this hero was, so he chose her without hesitation.
Chen Mo's Dark Ranger arrived at the middle lane tower.
COG's map is similar to Chaos 3C, with three lanes running left to right. The middle lane is the shortest, while the top and bottom lanes are longer.
However, COG already has a jungle concept, with many neutral creeps in the jungle, ranging from low-level Murlocs and Turtles to high-level Red Dragons and Mountain Giants.
In terms of tower placement, COG is also more scientific. Each lane has three towers, ensuring the safety of late-game heroes during the laning phase, preventing them from being ganked into despair.
At this moment, the enemy player typed in all-chat: "A high imitation of S God?"
A moment later, Chen Mo's teammate also typed: "Doesn't seem like a high imitation; it's really S God. Not a single letter off."
"Holy crap, Chen Mo?"
"Chen Mo is playing this map too?"
"It really is Chen Mo! Not a high imitation! Oh my god!"
Three teammates and five opponents all got excited. They double-checked, and indeed, the Dark Ranger in the middle lane was being played by Chen Mo.
These people immediately started chatting away in all-chat.
"I've already taken a screenshot. Playing a game with S God—I can brag about this for a week!"
"It's really Chen Mo! I want to ask, when are you releasing a new RPG map?"
"Please give me a friend slot, big shot!"
Chen Mo was a bit speechless. He really couldn't keep a low profile even if he wanted to.
No way. Even though I'm trying to be discreet, I'm still such a flashy guy. That melancholic gaze, the stubble, the godlike skills, and that weird dancing under the tower—they all give me away.
Dark Ranger (All Chat): "Play well. If you feed, I'll ban your account."
Everyone: "..."
All the players gave up on the idea of crowding around Chen Mo and quickly returned to their positions.
A teammate asked, "S God, want me to come to your lane and heal you?"
Dark Ranger: "No need. I mid."
Although players in this world weren't familiar with the term "mid," they understood its literal meaning well enough.
Considering Chen Mo was the designer of Warcraft III, everyone suppressed their urge to teach him how to play. These people wanted to tell Chen Mo that the Dark Ranger usually goes bottom lane, paired with a support hero.
Chen Mo's lane opponent was [Blood Mage], which is Kael'thas from Warcraft III. Of course, his skills were completely different from the spell-spamming Invoker in Dota.
The Blood Mage's skills are Flame Strike, Banish, Blood Sacrifice, and Phoenix.
They're also very similar to the skills in Warcraft III, except Mana Siphon has been replaced with Blood Sacrifice. This skill's passive effect permanently increases the Blood Mage's maximum health. When activated, it allows the Blood Mage to cast spells using health instead of mana.
Additionally, Phoenix first deals damage in an area before summoning the Phoenix, similar to Infernal.
The Blood Mage is a high-burst mage. The combo of Banish, Flame Strike, and Phoenix can instantly kill most squishy heroes. Although his skills are very mana-intensive, he can use health to cast in emergencies, partially compensating for the mana issue.
The enemy Blood Mage played very aggressively, immediately using Flame Strike to burn down Chen Mo's minions and pushing the lane hard, trying to pin Chen Mo under his tower.
Chen Mo wasn't flustered. He waited for the enemy minions to reach his tower, activated Dark Arrow, and last-hit them one by one. Soon, six neat little skeletons stood up.
With Chen Mo's current reaction speed and mechanics, missing a last hit was impossible.
While the enemy Blood Mage was still marveling at Chen Mo's last-hitting skills, the six little skeletons had already started helping the Dark Ranger push the lane.
Zou Zhuo was on the top lane, playing while keeping an eye on Chen Mo. "Boss, can you handle it? The Blood Mage has area damage, which seems to counter the Dark Ranger. You'll need Silence to fight him properly. Maybe play safe and wait for me to gank later."
Before Zou Zhuo could finish, the system announced: "Dark Ranger has slain Blood Mage!"
Zou Zhuo: "...!!"