Week 1 at Worlds: Top Lane Picks Examined

Overview

In the first week of Worlds 2016, 48 unique champions have been played with 10 unique toplaners being picked. I will be analyzing what has led some of these champions to rise to prominence and what to expect as the tournament goes on. The meta can only be expected to become even more diverse as Worlds continues and the Best of 5 series begin. Below I have included a table showing the toplaners picked at worlds so far and stats related to them.

Patch 6.18

Before I discuss the champions played, I must first talk about the patch Worlds is being played on, which is 6.18. In this patch, highly contested toplaners like Shen, Ekko, and Gnar all received nerfs. Shen received nerfs to the damage absorption of his passive Ki Barrier. He also received a damage nerf to his Q, Twilight Assault. Both of these nerfs put the nail in the coffin for Shen's already horrendous dueling. Ekko received rather small nerfs having his base attack damage reduced by 4 AD which not only hurts his early laning but also his powerspike of a Sheen item, which is part of his popular tank build. Gnar received minor nerfs to his W, Hyper, which only reduced the base damage by 5. The big nerf for Gnar this patch is the added 4 second cooldown unto his E, Hop/Crunch, which hurts his early laning and punishes him for maxing this ability last. While not seeing a lot of competitive play, it is important to note that this patch also eliminated Yasuo's tank build from the top lane through a base stat change and a change to how his ult, Last Breath, is used. These nerfs have led to the rise of Rumble and Kennen, while also bringing Poppy back as the premiere tank of the top lane.

Rumble

Rumble has always been a meta defining champion and it is no different at Worlds 2016 so far. Rumble received two major buffs earlier this year in Patch 6.8. The damage penalty to minions on his Q, Flamespitter, was removed which made Rumble a strong pushing champion, and he received a 10-second cooldown reduction on his ultimate, The Equalizer, which is his bread and butter skill. Rumble went under the radar in competitive until Worlds. The reason for this was Rumble has bad matchups against Gnar and Irelia, who can both abuse Rumble's early game. Now that both of these champions have fallen out of popularity Rumble is able to shine. At Worlds it seems players are split on what to build. Some go for the Hextech Protobelt as a first item for the strong wave clear and burst, while others prefer the classic Liandry's Torment build that synergises with his various damage over time abilities.

Kennen

Kennen and Rumble both fulfill the same niche on a team. They're both AP toplaners that do not rely on mana while also providing high damage area of effect game changing ultimates. Compared to Rumble, Kennen has a much stronger early game thanks to his ranged auto attacks and the nature of his kit allowing for stuns in almost every trade against his opponents. Kennen not only provides a high damage ultimate but also a high amount of hard crowd control in the form of his passive chain stunning enemies during his ultimate. Players have been mostly building Hextech Protobelt into a standard AP build on Kennen. The waveclear and added initiation is too good to pass up.

Poppy

Earlier this year Poppy was the go-to top lane tank. With her shield passive and W passive that gives her bonus magic resist and armor, Poppy is one of the tankiest champions in the game. Combined with her good laning phase and strong pick potential, Poppy is an all-around monster. However, she saw nerfs to her entire kit which shelved her for most the Summer Split in many regions. She also suffered from the unfavorable matchups versus carry champions like Irelia and Jax when trinity force was buffed. After receiving a couple of buffs and seeing her counters nerfed, Poppy is once again a strong pick on Summoner's rift. Poppy is built with a standard tank build with an Iceborn Gauntlet that works well with her low cooldowns and sticking power.

Gnar

Gnar dominated the Summer season through his abuse of Frozen Mallet and Black Cleaver which gave him incredible kill pressure on enemy laners. He boasts a strong laning phase which transitions to a game changing ultimate GNAR!, which can turn the tides of battle for his team in any situation. After nerfs to his escape and nerfs to his core item Frozen Mallet, Gnar has slightly fallen out of favor. Although the sample size is small, Gnar currently has only won 2 out of the 6 games he has been played during Worlds 2016. Gnar is built with his core items being Frozen Mallet and Black Cleaver. Some players skip Black Cleaver initially, if they need to get tanky quick or fall behind in the early game.

Jayce

Jayce has always been known as the "poor man's Varus", filling the same niche the aforementioned champion does as a long range poke champion. Varus has been favored due to his poke being able to hit multiple units and not get blocked by the tankier members of the enemy team. Jayce has found a home once again in the top lane with favorable matchups against the likes of Rumble, Kennen, and Gnar. On Patch 6.17 he received a mana reduction on his melee form E, Thundering Blow, which allows him to trade more often. The real important change however was the change on his ultimate that makes his first auto attacks in melee deal 40% bonus damage, scaling with attack damage, which gives a large boost to his burst. Jayce has been built with either a Tear of the Goddess into Youmuu's Ghostblade or skipping the Tear to go straight into Ghostblade. The divergence seems to fall on whether a player wants consistent poke damage later or a stronger powerspike mid game.

Trundle

Simply put Trundle is rarely meta, the champions he counter are. Trundle is the definition of a lane bully. With strong dueling and even stronger healing, he can never be pushed out of lane in a straight one versus one. With Poppy and Gnar seeing play, Trundle is able to abuse them in lane and later in the game through use of his R, Subjugate, which steals a large portion of their defenses. Trundle is usually built with Ravenous Hydra and Iceborn Gauntlet being his core items followed by a full tank build.

Irelia/Ekko/Shen

I have added these champions together because they all are closely related. Ekko and Irelia are both Trinity Force abusers, though Ekko is used more for his crowd control and situational tankiness while Irelia is a strong splitpusher with very high burst damage on backline targets. Shen's role is his ability to counter both of these champions. He is able to trade with them early game, though he slowly falls behind later due to his low damage and base stats. His ultimate allows him to keep up with any split pushing they do and his W, Spirit's Refuge, blocks so much of their damage by negating auto attacks for a short period of time. All of these champions are built fairly tanky, with Trinity Force being built on both Ekko and Irelia.

Kled

Kled is an oddball champion. He is an incredibly situationally strong champion but those situations rarely arise. The nature of his kit makes it hard for him to escape ganks and if he is poked out of lane he can fall behind very quickly. To be straightforward, I believe Kled is a weak champion with his only real strength being his ultimate "Chaaaaaaaarge!!!" which is a strong engage tool. Kled was only played once and was built with a Titanic Hydra into Black Cleaver along with tank items.

Expectations

I believe that this pool of champions will stay fairly consistent besides Kled who I doubt will see play again. I can foresee teams playing Gangplank for his strong area of effect damage and his decent matchups against Rumble, Kennen, and Poppy. Fiora may also see play as a strong split pushing champion against the likes of Poppy, Irelia, and Rumble. Though highly unlikely, I can possibly se Riven being picked for her strong matchup against Rumble and Kennen and her high area of effect damage output.

Conclusion

Even if the top lane pool fails to change, the diversity displayed so far will lead to a very exciting Worlds tournament this year. My name is Alex and if you have any feedback or questions you can add me on NA -Alexmanpersonguy. Thanks for reading this article!

Get your own AKRacing Chair here and support our players, all profit goes towards the teams!