New in 2016: Top Lane

Pro players and teams have been scrambling since the preseason to break down the new metagame and find advantages to exploit from the array of new features at their disposal. In this 'New in 2016' series, we're going to be looking at how the changes from the preseason and Patch 6.1, the first patch of the 2016 competitive LCS season, could impact the competitive scene.

First up are the changes to top lane!

Rift Herald

"There's this thing that stands between mid lane and top lane now -- it's called the Rift Herald. I'm not really sure what it does. I think we're supposed to fight for it," said Renegades top laner RF Legendary, jokingly.

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The giant purple crab-like Rift Herald was supposed to be an alternative pre-20 minute objective to the Dragon near bottom lane, granting the Doom's Eve buff to whomever picked up its shrine after killing it. The sole recipient gets extra damage, extra movement speed, faster recalls, and like with Baron Nashor's buff, nearby minions are empowered to mow down towers.

Yet...it's mostly been ignored. Even during the preseason, as Challenger teams fought in qualifiers, teams generally left the mutant scuttler alone. Why?

Riot's Player Relations Specialist Patrick "Scarizard" Scarborough sees two main problems keeping people from utilizing the new objective. "Rift Herald beats the [snot] out of you, and it's super new. It is more new than new champions -- there is zero context for this in the minds of players."

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Immortals top laner Huni agrees, citing the heavy damage the Rift Herald deals as a contributing factor to its lack of game impact. Although, he's still excited at the better top lane and jungle teamwork that the Herald provides, saying, "In 2015, if the jungler comes top and fails a gank once, it meant they just lost Dragon or map control. Now, if they come top, he can take the Rift Herald. But during all our games, the Rift Herald's too strong, so we can't actually take it."

"There is very much a possibility that Rift Herald is either overpowered or in a good balance state, but we don't know because people aren't committed to taking it yet," said Scarizard. Keep in mind that Patch 6.1 reduced some of the Rift Herald's power by lowering damage on it's basic attacks. This hopefully will make it a more desirable objective, and easier to fine-tune later.

Precision

The preseason patch brought a major restructuring to the Mastery system, including the addition of game-changing Keystone Masteries tailored to different playstyles. Except that instead of choosing between Windspeaker’s Blessing to help heals, Stormraider’s Surge for melee damage-dealers, or other keystones, everybody is taking Thunderlord's Decree -- even supports.

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"Because all other keystone masteries are weaker than Thunderlord's right now, everybody will be taking it no matter what," said TSM's top laner, Hauntzer. "Even tank champions are going to take it and try to kill the opponent."

"Top lane is very much a lane where tiny advantages -- a little bit of damage here, a little bit of healing there -- really matters. It is very much a snowball lane," explained Scarizard. But according to him, Thunderlord's Decree isn't necessarily why other keystones are ignored.

"We were seeing a lot of champions hanging out in Resolve and doing Grasp of the Undying," he claimed, before everybody started using Thunderlord's. But the fault seems to lie with another mastery in Thunderlord's shadow: Precision.

The Precision mastery comes just before Thunderlord's Decree is unlocked, giving armor and magic penetration to help make the Decree even more effective. But with Patch 6.1, its users are going to be a little less precise.

"Precision's gone back to the levels it used to be when very few people took it," said Patrick. He thinks that Thunderlord's will still be popular, especially as they make jungle ganks more likely to kill: the extra damage when triggering it is the difference the opponent walking away and dying. But, he says, "If you're playing Malphite versus Mundo, double Thunderlord's isn't very useful," so the indirect buff to tanks should encourage top laners to seek alternative keystones.

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Summoner Spells

Patch 5.22, launched weeks ago, nerfed summoner spell Teleport’s cooldown reduction when used on towers, and extended the duration it had to be channeled. Yet, regardless of which top laner you asked, they were in agreement: the best top lane Summoner Spells are still Flash and Teleport, citing the importance to have map-wide control, especially over the highly coveted Dragon objective. Scarizard, however, is keeping his eyes on Ignite instead.

"I can tell you for a fact that Ignite is better this season than last as a top lane ability," he claimed. "Teleport is nerfed in two ways, Rift Herald is very strong if you snowball, Dragon's relatively worse than it used to be. With all these factors together, if you were to take Irelia or a lane bully, you can just f--- a whole game up!"

With the changes in Patch 6.1, the most isolated lane in the game is shaping up to also be the most volatile. Let us know what you think of top lane in 2016, and stay tuned for more in the New in 2016 series coming this week, where we'll go over all the changes coming to every lane.