Chapter 289: Bewildered Players and Players (Requesting Subscriptions, Monthly Pass)

Chapter 289: Bewildered Players and Players (Requesting Subscriptions, Monthly Pass)

Inside Shark TV, in Chen Xu's live stream room, the bullet comments had already exploded.

Even with a time-limited comment filter enabled, the screen was packed so densely that it was impossible to read.

All the players were utterly bewildered.

Before this, they had imagined many possible scenarios, but they truly hadn't anticipated anything like this.

It felt as if Chen Xu had completely toyed with the professional player at will!

Especially those who had watched Shu Ben's previous matches— they could hardly believe that the one fighting Chen Xu was actually Shu Ben.

If it weren't for the Wolf Rider's still-flashy positioning, they'd have assumed this was a 500-rank Warcraft player. How else could someone be beaten so thoroughly by Chen Xu?

'Could this be match-fixing!? It feels like Shu Ben just randomly lost!'

'Bro, anyone with half a brain wouldn't say match-fixing. Cut down on the conspiracy theories. Honestly, Mr. Chen's gameplay here is already at a veteran player's level.'

'To be honest, I still don't get it— how exactly did Shu Ben lose? It felt like he was harassed by the Beastmaster early on, and then just collapsed.'

'Yeah, Mr. Chen had so much gold. I wasn't paying attention to the minimap on the main stage earlier, but I saw Shu Ben wipe out Chen Xu's first batch of Huntresses, then completely destroy his main base. I thought he was going to win!'

'Superpower tactics! Did Mr. Chen secretly open a recharge channel for himself!? No wonder I dropped from initial 500 rank to 100. I even bought a new account! Turns out I just didn't have the recharge channel!'

'Honestly, this tactic has some merit. Early game, using the Night Elf's Ancient of War to quickly creep large neutral camps, then rapidly expanding. Plus, Mr. Chen used only a single hero from start to finish!'

'After all, Huntresses are unarmored units. Only after upgrading to "Green Skin" tech can they stand and fight Wolf Riders and Grunts head-on.'

'Can Night Elves actually play against Orcs like this? Is the game balance really okay?'

'Reasonably speaking, Beastmaster is still an Orc unit, right? So in the end, didn't the Orcs still win?'

'Damn it, I'm actually nothing to say!'

Not only were players heatedly discussing it, but within an RTS Group Chat, a group of professional players were also having intense conversations.

The Grandmaster: "Damn it, Mr. Chen's got some skill! I thought it'd be a straightforward stomp."

Satellite: "Yeah, this Night Elf's multi-expansion strategy, combined with a distant spawn point and a large map, is genuinely tough to deal with."

Guadi: "But the flaws are obvious too. Early game, since heavy forces are committed to expanding, you must ensure you can mass Huntresses before the Orc's Wolf Riders arrive. Otherwise, you'll just get run down and killed."

"That's why Chen Xu opened with the neutral hero Beastmaster, using Piglets for harassment. Still, this tactic demands skill—you must manage both harassment and development simultaneously. Mainly, Shu Ben got a bit relaxed and underestimated his opponent. He didn't complete full scouting and just went for Single Burrows Fast Tech based on experience. Having two unfinished Burrows harassed for so long was seriously damaging."

As a professional player, and one who mainly played Orcs, he quickly identified some characteristics of this tactic

and even proposed several counter-strategies.

Other Night Elf players in the chat also shared their thoughts: "It mostly comes down to early to mid-game pressure. If the Orcs can reach Tier 2 quickly and get Wolf Riders out early, it'll be tough."

"But if you handle early pressure and harassment well, once you establish your expansion base, it's basically game over—宣告 victory for the Night Elf." Many Night Elf players now felt as if a new world had opened before them.

Previously, for players who mainly played Night Elves, the standard was fast Tier 3 Bears and Dryads. Similarly, Human players typically started with Arch-Mage, followed by Mountain King at Tier 2, then Snipers and Sorceresses.

The downside, though, was that during the Tier 2 phase, before their forces were fully developed, they couldn't withstand the Orcs. Spirit Breaker's dispel and Spirit Link, combined with Wolf Riders, could easily push and destroy the base before Tier 3.

Meanwhile, the multi-expansion strategy, while also requiring early harassment and pressure from the opponent for development, directly relied on multiple Ancients of War to mass Huntresses.

In terms of combat effectiveness, the power spike came earlier.

Because early game didn't require prolonged suppression—once the dual Ancients of War at the large neutral camp and the Tree of Life at the expansion base were built—it only mattered whether your harassment delayed the opponent's Wolf Riders enough. At that point, both sides were essentially on equal footing. The rest came down to whether the opponent's Wolf Rider positioning was stronger, or whether your Huntress guerrilla warfare was superior.

..................

After exchanging a few ceremonial pleasantries with Shu Ben following the match, Chen Xu exited the game. Seeing the dense flood of bullet comments, he couldn't help but smile.

"This is one of Night Elf's viable playstyles. That's why I say Warcraft's balance isn't flawed—because each race has its own unique playstyle."

"Currently, Orcs typically open with Blademaster, go for Single Burrow Fast Tech to Tier 2, then rush Wolf Riders. But why don't other races have such standardized strategies? The Night Elf tactic I just used simply maximizes the race's inherent strengths. Early game, the neutral shop's Ancient of War allows the hero to level up quickly while expanding, something no other race can do."

Chen Xu briefly explained the Night Elf's characteristics to the audience, though he didn't delve deeper into advanced tactical nuances.

What he had just executed was a classic Night Elf strategy in Warcraft: the multi-expansion strategy.

Its core revolved around anti-harassment and counter-harassment—constantly avoiding the opponent's expansions, and even when the enemy attacked your base, you'd strike back at theirs, forcing them to burn Town Portal scrolls in a direct exchange.

A key feature of the multi-expansion strategy is that, if desired, it can prolong the game indefinitely—never commit to an all-in push.

Because the longer it drags on, the more your economy dominates, increasing your chances of winning.

In his previous life, players joked that SKY popularized the Tower Rush (TR) all-in push strategy—so much so that it was nicknamed 'SKY's All-in Push'—because as a kid, he was poor and could only afford one hour at the internet cafe. So SKY perfected the TR tactic, aiming to finish games within 10 minutes, allowing him to play six matches per hour.

Meanwhile, Moon, who popularized the multi-expansion strategy, supposedly did so because his family was strict, allowing him only one Warcraft match per day. Thus, he invented the multi-expansion strategy so that a single game could last a full hour.

Though just a joke, it perfectly captured the essence of these two strategies.

As for Chen Xu, his main goal was to showcase each race's unique characteristics.

After all, there's no such thing as an invincible tactic—only invincible players.

Right now, he was mainly exploiting the fact that these professional players hadn't yet grasped the intricacies of such tactics. Otherwise, if it came down purely to mechanics, Chen Xu knew he'd be at a disadvantage.

Meanwhile, at the main commentary stage, one of the commentators was feeling overwhelmed.

(End of Chapter) <>