Stopping the Juggernaut: How to deal with tanky damage dealers in top lane

Juggernauts have always been a different foe to face in the top lane. A class of character that looks to win trades through attrition and early spikes of damage, they've long had trouble in the late game with their lackluster damage and mobility. While Juggernauts like Shyvana, Mundo, and Nasus have occasionally seen play, Juggernauts as a role have been marginalized by the growing ranks of Assassins and Bruisers who are better at eliminating the enemy carries.

With the recent update, however, Juggernauts got a lot of tools to scale well into the late game, and people's relative unfamiliarity of how to face a Juggernaut in lane have led to people complaining about their dominance early game. While the validity of this complaint is questionable, it's clear that a lot of people who didn't play against Garen/Nasus/Sion in Season 1 don't have the experience of how to deal with them in lane. 

Look at that smug smile. He knows you can't do anything about him in lane. (Art Credit: Dave Rapoza)

Champion Select

If you are picking into the Juggernaut you've really got two goals on the character you choose. You want the ability to harass the enemy from range and the ability to quickly disengage from the enemy in melee. In the early game, Juggernauts are invariably going to have the advantage in melee, with their high base damages and large health pools. Since you want to avoid fighting them in close-quarters early, ranged harassment is key.

Characters like Kayle, Nidalee, and Jayce who are able to constantly put out significant amounts of range damage are good choices, especially if they threaten execution if the enemy gets low. While Juggernauts often have ridiculous amounts of sustain, it comes over time. By putting them at risk of death when they come in to farm, you can limit their gold income (or more importantly with Nasus, his Q stacking).

While harassing the enemy from range is ideal, Juggernauts do have the tools to close the distance in slows and speed-ups. As dangerous as they are close, it's important to be able to get away as quickly as possible. Quick escapes and knockbacks are ideal, as the longer you stay near the Juggernaut, the more likely it is that they'll stick to you (or execute you). This is where ranged characters like Teemo struggle, as Move Quick doesn't allow him to create the distance fast enough to avoid the brunt of damage.

The other option you have in facing Juggernauts is to pick full Tanks like Maokai or Tahm Kench who can endure the damage output while farming. While this won't give you the option shutting the Juggernaut down in lane, it will allow you to lock them down away from your Carries in the late game. Outside of Tanks, Rumble and Yorick can also be strong picks, though one has to be careful in the early game due to their low damage and mana pool respectively. 

Understanding what levels the Juggernaut has the advantage is the difference between killing them at level 5 or being dragon chow at level 6 (Image Credit: tkpanther on DeviantArt)

Early Laning

The key of the early game is to stay as far away from the enemy as humanly possible while remaining in farm range. Juggernauts like Garen and Nasus can close the distance to you remarkably quick, so you want to stand back while farming. Use your mana to throw out constant harassment, once you get the enemy below 50% health, you can inch closer and try to force them out of the wave. Don't be afraid to exhaust your resources early, your Teleport will be back up before the delayed Dragon fights of Solo Queue.

Often, you'll see people get overzealous in their attempts to stop Nasus from stacking early and go into the lane in an attempt to rough him up. Avoid this sort of reckless abandon - while Nasus alone is fairly weak early, having him Wither you while the enemy Jungler comes out is a Flash at best. Your key should be to gain a 15 to 20 minion lead by around 10 minutes, by throwing out smart, safe harassment.

After 8-10 minutes, be mindful of the enemy's item pool. Phage and Sheen are large power spikes for Juggernauts and show that they plan to get aggressive in lane, while Cinder or a resistance item shows that they've resigned themselves to a much more passive early game. Aggressively ward the enemy tri-bush or river to nix any attempt by the Jungler to get the Juggernaut back into the lane.

One important thing to avoid is trading blow-for-blow with the Juggernaut, especially in the early game or at level 6. At the game's start, they have the aforementioned advantages but these grow at level 6, where Juggernauts either have ultimates that substantially increase their survivability (Shyvana's Dragon Descent, Mundo's Sadism, Nasus' Fury of the Sands) or execute the enemy at low Health (Garen's Justice and Darius' Guillotine). If you do need to blow for blow against them, try to force an experience advantage and attack them when you're a level up (preferably level 5 or 6).

Once you get into mid game, the Juggernaut's path to your Carries becomes the focus of every teamfight. (Art Credit: kse332 on DeviantArt)

Mid Game Laning and Teamfights

Once the game goes into the mid game, the objective of the Juggernaut changes. Wheras he was trying to bully you out and get a gold advantage early, he's now trying to kill your Carries and build up his gold in the lulls between teamfights (and heck, if he can bully you still, that's just swell). If you were able to stunt their growth early, they'll either have to avoid the first few team skirmishes or they'll be unable to actually penetrate your team's frontline. 

If you were unable to stunt their growth, the enemy Juggernaut is now a raid boss. Now, this isn't an unwinnable situation - plenty of people go on and live normal lives when the enemy Nasus is hitting turrets for 1.8k each Q. The goal in these cases is to quickly divide and conquer the enemy team. Try to prey on the enemy communication and goad the raid boss deep into your team. Concentrate your CC on them while falling back from the enemy carries, and hope that your team is able to take them out before he kills one or two foes. 

While teamfights against a raid boss are difficult, they're better than the enemy split-pushing with him. If they do send them back off to the top lane to split, either send your best wave clear towards the lane, or hold up on the high-ground of the inhibitor turret. Try to coax the enemy into regrouping with his team by pressuring the enemy vision control around objectives and playing for picks. The ideal situation is using the map to your advantage, using vision and pushes to pick fights were you either have a numerical or positional advantage.

Conclusion

While the recent resurgence of the Juggernaut might be a frustrating experience for those who haven't played against a Garen since 2012, it's an important part of a healthy metagame. For a long time, Bruisers have dominated the frontlines and Juggernauts punish early Bruiser picks while still offering the ability to threaten enemy carries. Laning against a Juggernaut is hard, they're tanky with tons of damage and their only disadvantage is their inability to instantly gap close - not remarkably relevant when they're smashing your face in under turret. But it's important to understand that you can restack the odds in your favor and make them completely impotent in the late game with good lane play. 

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