Winning Your Lane: Section 1 - Top Lane

Hello all, and welcome to the beginning of a four-part series that I will be creating on steps to take to ensure leads during the laning phase. In this one, as you can see from the title, we will be talking about Top Lane, which is probably my second favorite lane. Top has such a diverse number of picks that are viable and so many different strategies that can work and that just makes it so enjoyable. A lane win in Top Lane can be big, as some of the biggest snowballers in the game are Top Laners. First, let's look at what you have to do to win your lane, before the game starts.

The Importance of Your Champion Pick

Look, you can win lane with just about any champion, especially in lower rankings, because most lanes are simply decided by whoever makes more mistakes. So while you can end up on top while playing Singed or Shen, playing lane dominant champions is one of the best ways to start getting the advantage. This brings us to the two different kind of lane bullies.

Traders and Duelers

These are the types of champions that usually end up being more meta and see more competitive play due to their reliability and outplay potential. Traders and Duelers are essentially those champions who actively engage in small trades and brawls with you to whittle you down. Renekton, Fiora, Kled, Darius, and bruisers who build The Black Cleaver are pretty much the Traders and Duelers. These champions excel in winning lane because of their high early game damage and/or dashes that allow them to quickly engage and disengage trades in addition to having strong sustain. They are also very good at taking the First Tower gold to help them snowball their leads into a strong mid game. 

I highly recommend trying some of these champions out, namely Renekton, as he is simple due to his easy-to-learn trading patterns and effective at what he does. In lower rankings, these bruisers are great because they abuse mistakes and snowball well, so try picking these up. But maybe playing these bruisers isn't your style. Maybe you just like to be really annoying and poke out your opponent.

Snipers

I don't actually mean snipers like Caitlyn, but rather champions who bully the common melee top laner by constantly whittling away with long-range attacks and pushing power. There are many different variations of what a sniper could be. Teemo, Heimerdinger, Jayce, Pantheon, Kayle, Kennen, and any marksman Top Laner all fall into this category.  

Snipers tend to be susceptible to ganks, but incredibly annoying to deal with for the easily tilted, and that's where their strength is. Many people are greedy for farm while losing half their health for it, and get tilted when they can't farm safely. It is easy to abuse these kinds of players' mindsets. The higher in rank you go, the worse these champions become (with exception of a few such as Kennen). As a jungler. it is very important that you deal with these champions early or they will assume control of the lane and simply take over. Smarter junglers will know to take you down fast, so they become riskier and cheesier picks later on. But if you're in lower ranks, they're good and easy picks.

The Art of the Trade

There are so many intricate and advanced steps and mechanics to winning trades that I'm about to simply scratch the surface of taking smarter trades to help you gain small advantages in lane. The basic question you should be asking yourself before you engage a trade is, "Is my current potential damage output higher than my opponent's potential damage output?" Remember that potential damage output is taking into account every possible thing going wrong. Maybe their Ignite is up, maybe they crit two autos in a row. If you believe that you can quickly dish out the necessary hits and quickly dodge the opposing fire, then it would be good to engage the trade. 

A good way to make sure that you are going to be doing more damage than your opponent is looking at their abilities and cooldowns. If your opponent expends an ability to clear the wave, they can't use that to trade back with you, allowing you to come on top. It is also wise to make sure not to commit your gap closer ability while trading unless you know that there's no chance the jungler can come to help. Don't be afraid to call your jungler up for a gank when the enemy jungler shows bottom side or is taking Dragon. Always make sure you keep track of your opponent's Flash so you know how much you should expend on them. 

Jungle Pressure and Executing Tower Dives

Top Lane is where ganks really decide the course of the lane due to the laners being able to dive with the jungler, and well coordinated dives can help. Most champions have a gap closer ability, so if your jungler is nearby, getting them to expend that ability in a trade will force them to Flash or simply die to the incoming gank.

A 2-man tower dive has many factors, but at its core you need a few pieces in place. You want the wave to be shoving into the enemy, so maybe two waves of minions that are about to unload onto the enemy's tower. Your enemy wants that farm, so they're going to make sure to let the tower slowly take them down while they last hit. You want your Jungler to be behind the enemy (Blast Cone helps get you here while avoiding wards) while you charge towards them head-on.

Make sure the minions are taking the aggro before your jungler approaches then you can take down the enemy, while juggling the aggro so nobody dies. Make sure that before you do this, you have wards around the river and some idea where the enemy jungler might be. If he manages to show up, it could mean disaster, because you expended all resources on one when the other could easily clean up both of you. Be certain that it's a 1v2, and if you still think it's not safe, then maybe ask your Mid Laner to make it a clean 1v3.

Another great thing about Top Lane is that you can call your Mid Laner over if they are doing well. Don't hesitate to ask your Jungler or Mid Laner to break a freeze, push the lane, or take the tower. One of the easiest ways to win an even lane is getting your Mid + Jungle to just walk into Top Lane to take the tower. It sounds stupid and like it won't work, but more often than not it gets you out of a lane you may not want to be in anymore. 

Utilizing the Rift Herald

The many different iterations of the Rift Herald all have had the effect of making Top Lane more exciting to play and not feel like the "island" it was in Season 2 and Season 3. The current Herald is easily the best and the most frightening when used at the right moment. Although it takes a long time to kill, it can now be killed Solo and can take an entire lane of towers if ideal circumstances are met. Losing this objective to the enemy team will usually put you on the back foot and the loss might take a while to come back from. Some games the buff isn't taken at all, which makes no sense to me. It is better than any Dragon, so even if you have to trade one Dragon for it, you win the trade. Usually the Jungler can solo kill the Herald, but he may request your help, so lend him a hand. 

In the next four minutes, he's going to be summoning the Herald to help get some towers or maybe he gave it to you so you can take the towers yourself. Either way, summon it when your wave is about to crash into the tower, and you should easily be able to take one tower. If you manage to kill your opponent, then you can summon it and maybe take two. After you take these towers, your lane is pretty much done, and you can help your Jungler invade, roam mid, or split push. There's a lot of options when you win your lane very quickly. 

Making the Most of Your Teleport

Most Top Lane champions take Teleport as their second summoner spell to allow them to split push easier and arrive at fights that they otherwise wouldn't have. Unfortunately, what the average player uses his Teleport for is to save a few seconds and TP back to lane for some extra farm. Good uses of Teleport can turn the tide of an entire game, and if you benefit enough from it, it can also really help you out in your laning affairs.

Basically, you want to be always keeping your eyes on the map. I know you've heard that many times, but it really helps. If you see the enemy jungler go for a gank on your Mid Lane or your Bottom Lane, always look to see if your Teleport can help them. But before you start your channel, make sure that A) You are in a spot where you won't be interrupted, B) You can Teleport to a good spot so you can flank or engage, and C) The enemy is committed enough so that they can't simply walk away and lose nothing. 

A good way to make sure these factors are always in play is urging your bottom lane to keep the side brushes warded so you can easily TP to them. A good TP gank can not only win you the lane you TP to, but with your newfound advantage, you can win Top Lane as well.

Conclusion

Top Lane is such a versatile and complex lane and there's a lot of stuff I couldn't delve too deep into, but these are some general things that can help you while laning. Stay tuned for three more editions, for Mid Lane, ADC, and Support. Thank you for reading!

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