Made up of middle childs, mentally ill masochists, and some of the wisest people you’ve ever met, the Top Lane is inarguably the most unloved role in League of Legends for a number of reasons that are inherent to the lane. If you’re looking to become a Top Laner, understand that your main job is to not die. It’s fairly difficult to do while farming properly, if you fail you’ll be harrassed by your team to no end, and if you succeed you’ll be left thankless for your hard work.
Mid Laners are tasked with obtaining lane prio or setting up Junglers for scuttle contests, ADCs are either tasked with scaling up for the late game or using their great early game damage to obtain a huge lead, Supports have the most utility out of anyone in their team, and Junglers are always involved and, hopefully, will be using their unmatched influence to make 1000 decisions that change the course of the game. But top laners?
Just don’t die.
The top lane is punitive. A death is often the end of your laning phase and, if your opponent knows what they’re doing, the end of your game altogether. A Jungler cannot often come to the top lane to help break freezes or to gank overextended opponents without sacrificing a heap of pressure on more important parts of the map, which means top lane is a role that should be self-sufficient, unlike mid or bot which are roles that should be aided as much as possible.
All of this is to say that if you’re trying to learn to play in the top lane then you’re learning to be the steadiest, wisest player on the team that rarely gets moments to shine but is still required for reliable victories.
Step One: Pick a Champion (or three)to Main
This is the first and easiest part of playing any lane: Pick a “main”.
When you “main” a champion, you play that champion first and foremost. While team compositions do matter, the most important thing when learning how to play a role is to be consistent, and consistency comes from playing no more than a few champions throughout a split (season).
Main selection in the top lane, as is the case with all roles, decides what kind of player you’re going to develop as. If you’re a player who wants to aid their team in skirmishes and 5v5s by tying a composition together, you’re likely going to want to play a CC heavy tank like Sion, Ornn, or Malphite.
If you’re into the idea of being a bruiser who soaks up damage while dishing it out, you’re likely going to want to play a champion like Jax, Darius, or Garen.
If you’re into the idea of being a duelist who can effectively splitpush while representing an extreme threat to enemies of all kinds, you’ll likely want to consider champions like Fiora, Camille, or, if you’d like to develop into a mechanically gifted player, Irelia.
The core principles behind choosing a champion to main are as follows: You should enjoy playing the champion, you should be committed to playing it in its optimal role (adc Ornn will not result in many victories), and you should couple it with two other side champions that compliment your playstyle and help to avoid “counter picks”.
So if you’re learning to main a duelist like Camille, coupling her with a side pick champion like Fiora when your main gets banned will not only keep you playing roughly into the same duelist / splitpush tactics, but will also give you insight into the kind of opponent you’ll be playing against often. Adding a third option like Ornn or Malphite on rare occasions can give you easy access to tanks when all your team needs is CC and a front-line.
Some players play all of the champions, while some one-tricks only play one. For someone who’s learning to play the top lane, one main with one or two side picks is the optimal number for a consistent season.
Step Two: Don’t Die
Self-explanatory. Don’t die. Your team will probably have a hard time winning the game if your lane opponent is far ahead, and your team will almost certainly have an impossible task of winning if you feed the enemy Jungler. Don’t die.
Let the CS go. Let your opponent get priority if need be, but don’t die.
Step Three: Ward, Ward, Ward.
As mentioned, Junglers can’t often donate their time to help Top Laners without sacrificing a ton of pressure that could be used on other, more valuable parts of Summoner’s Rift.
Because of this, placing wards in ideal locations that can help spot enemy Junglers wasting their time serves two functions: First, it helps to stop you from DYING. Second, it helps to let your team know when they can apply pressure in their lanes. If an enemy Jungler is sitting in the Top Lane’s river bush or messing around in your lane and your team is aware of that, they gain a HUGE boost in pressure everywhere else on the map.
Ward river bush, ward enemy krugs/gromp, ward enemy blue/red buff, and do it all with the intention of spotting the enemy Jungler and giving the rest of your team valuable information.
Step 3: Apply Pressure
Applying pressure takes many forms. The easiest example of applying pressure early in the game is shoving your opponent in and harassing them under tower. This beckons the enemy Jungler to come waste time in protecting their Top Laner, it forces your opponent to sacrifice HP for CS, and slowly whittles down tower plates, giving you an eventual goal lead.
Another example of applying pressure includes freezing waves out to gain an XP and gold lead, killing your lane opponent, and positioning aggressively to bait the enemy Jungler into wasting time on your.
Applying pressure is a balancing act that takes outclassing your opponent mechanically and intellectually, and combines it with map knowledge, info gathering, macro game, and wave management. All of these facets, which are very, very difficult to get good at, will make up the sum of how much pressure you can apply at any given point. And although you’re main objective as a Top Laner is to not die, you still need to find a way to become a thorn in your opponent’s side lest your team be left without a paddle until team fights begin.
Step 4: Understand the Macro Game
Macro is a term in League of Legends that usually (although not always) encompasses everything not related to individual champion mechanics. “Game knowledge” is a similar term. For a Top Laner, the most important and common aspect of the macro game to understand is when to stack and push a wave into your opponent’s tower before roaming for an objective fight. No, seriously, that’s the most important thing.
When you’re playing in the Top Lane, you should most often be running teleport, which means you should be abusing teleport. This means if Baron Nashor is up, you should be the player pushing in the side waves in the Bot Lane.
Inversely, if Dragon is up, you should be the player pushing in waves in the Top Lane. Wherever the most pressing objective is, you should be on the opposite side of the map pushing in waves to tether your opponents to that side of the map.
Practice shoving in waves and promptly teleporting to an objective before fighting to get extra seconds on your opponents who are forced to fight 4v5 while their top laner counter pushes.
Inversely, if your opponents don’t match your shoves, you need to know when to teleport to a fight and when to continue pushing. If opponents opt to not match your splitpush, sometimes it’s better to just ping your teammates off of an objective and take your opponent’s towers/inhibitors. On rare occasions, this tactic can result in you solo-ending the game xPeke style.
Step 5: “Know Your Place” – Camille
Competent Top Laners are givers. You give your team space, breathing room, and time. You give your Jungler peace of mind. You give your Mid Laner a well-protected side lane to move into 20 minutes into the game. You give your Support a helping hand with control wards and red trinkets. You give your ADC time on opponents and all of the CS you can possibly afford to sacrifice. Top Laners give. Top Laners are not the stars of the show. Know your place and give more than you take.
Use all of this advice and combine it with a healthy sense of adventure and fun and you may become a competent Top Laner yet.
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