The 5 best top laners to climb in soloqueue

Top lane main and looking to climb in soloqueue this weekend? Let’s take a look at 5 of the most effective champions you can bring to the rift right now!

Before you decide what particular pony you want to one-trick, it’s important to realize that the top lane can be quite versatile. This means that there are different playstyles available in the top lane. It’s important to identify what role your team needs in pick and ban or maybe even more important, what role you feel most comfortable and most proficient in.

Darius – He axes the questions

Darius is one those champions that is almost impossible to straight up fight in lane. The high base damage in his kit combined with the true damage ultimate that resets on a kill means most junglers will actively try to avoid him. Going through the laning phase with Darius is mostly a breeze since he can gut melee matchups and has his apprehend ability to keep ranged matchups on their toes.

Try to get fed in lane by playing aggressive from level one and even more so when you have your Ultimate available. When you have your first item, which will probably be a goredrinker but stridebreaker is also an option, you can start roaming between the top lane and mid. Your job is to show dominance during the early and especially mid-game. The biggest concern Darius has is that he is susceptible to kiting so always try to force people to fight into you.

Gnar – Split Personality/Pusher

Gnar is a jack of all trades right now when it comes to top laners. His passive shows duality in playstyle but so does his actual gameplay. In the early game Gnar is great at neutralizing slow bruisers due to him being ranged. With his boomerang and mobility in his small form you can continuously poke people under turret and have great escape opportunities when getting ganked.
Regular Gnar is your friend and building damage as a first item is great to score a lead in the lane.

In later stages he will function more as a tank than a brawler and you not only want to switch up your playstyle but also your form. Always try to have the Mega-Gnar form available when decisive team fights are about to occur. A good Mega-Gnar engage can be even more powerful than a 5-man Oriana shockwave

Camille – Engage, Split Push, Damage

Camille mostly struggles in the early game but is great at acquiring gold through splitpushing. Try to play as much with the wave as possible. The great thing about her Q-ability is that while it’s an auto-attack reset and buff, it will also deal true damage to turrets. Your hookshot ability provides both safety and engage while giving you a great opportunity to look for flanks in the late game. Camille’s skill ceiling is insanely high but requires quite a lot of strong mechanics. At 3 items she is almost unstoppable in the hands of the right player.

Shen – The in-your-face Ninja

Shen has the innate ability to always be useful. His vorpal blade makes him a superior sparring partner against most matchups early on. Dishing out percentage damage and featuring a zone where he can deny auto attacks. Look for roams as soon as possible on Shen. Because of your ability to zone you can leave your wave a favourable lane state and roam alongside your jungler. Always remember that Shen goes great with meta picks like Kai’sa and Galio since his ultimate can not only save a life, but you can also use it for backline access to taunt those pesky adc’s.

Malphite – A Rock Solid Pick

Not really much to say about Malphite besides that one good ultimate can win you the game. Just like Malphite himself, his kit is quite straightforward. Has he Suffers from mana issues in lane, you might want to take up manaflow band alongside arcane comet and a corruption pot. Hitting that point and click Q and following it up with all that passive damage can make for an annoying laning phase. Normally you will be playing weak side but after two to three items this champion can peel in teamfights like monkeys can with bananas.

Do be careful in the early stages of the game since that is when you are at your most vulnerable. Besides using your ultimate you can also completely shut down any auto attack-based champion since you not only stack armor but massively lower attack speed as well.

Top laners right now can carry games on their own little island but always keep in mind that League of Legends is a team game. The best top laners are the ones that after losing a matchup can stop the adversary from snowballing or are able to use their own leads to extend the lead of the team.

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