The top 10 top laners currently (OPINION)
- AF Kiin A lot of people who don't actively watch LCK are going to be like ... huh? I present to you, the greatest top laner in the world, Kiin. I consistently watch Afreeca Freecs games and I'm constantly wowed by Kiin's prowess as a top laner. He does everything for Afreeca, absorbing pressure (he's amazing in 1v2 or even 1v3 situations), dominating his opposing laner, teamfighting, skirmishing, splitting... he does it all, all on a disgustingly large champ pool. Despite Afreeca's overall struggles in the 2019 season, Kiin has remained rock solid, proving time and time again that he's the best LCK top - and in my eyes, the best top laner in the world.
- FPX GimGoon I do seem to have a penchant for putting FPX players second on my lists, but GimGoon has been quietly outstanding on an FPX team that doesn't seem to give him any resources. GimGoon excels on carries that don't require many resources and are best left alone to grow - champs like Gangplank (his GP is insane), Sylas, Urgot and Renekton.
- DWG Nuguri Have I mentioned that Damwon Gaming is insane (by LCK standards)? Nuguri might be the most insane out of them all. There's no in-between with Nuguri (I mean, there is, but it sure seems like there isn't). He's either going to perform a sick 1v4 outplay like this https://clips.twitch.tv/TubularIronicMochaMVGame, or he's going to dive in in a similar fashion and feed (or, DWG puts him on a splitpusher, and lets one of their other 3 playmakers make plays). He can burst people disgustingly fast with his Ryze/Vlad, initiate/split for Damwon with his Camille, and dominate his lane with his Jayce. He's the flashiest of all the top laners, that's to be sure.
- SB Summit Nuguri is basically what all my solo queue top laners wish they could be like, winning lane hard, performing sick outplays, and carrying the game in general. What I want my solo queue top laners to be as a jungler is more like Summit. He's a steady presence that will never lose his team the game. He makes very few mistakes, absorbs pressure really well, does his job even when set behind, and is always at the right place at the right time. Summit is the reason that Sandbox can be as steady and macro-oriented as they are, well... because Summit is steady and macro-oriented.
- iG TheShy After worlds 2018, and throughout 2019 Spring going into MSI 2019, TheShy was heralded as the best top laner in the world. His prowess on champs like Jayce, Irelia, Ryze, Rumble and Vladimir is insane - he sometimes singlehandedly wins teamfights for IG with these champions. He also excels at splitting and absorbing pressure on his Neeko and Kennen. That being said, TheShy often overextends on these splitpushers, costing his team, and can also be inconsistent - he can look like a god one game and then just have no impact in the next. TheShy, however, is still one of the best toplaners in the world, leading iG through a tough summer split along with Jackeylove amidst iG's mid/jungle troubles.
- G2 Wunder Best toplaner EU? Best toplaner EU. Wunder is probably, along with Perkz, the progenitor for G2's identity for picking strange picks - and making them work (besides Garen). His Pyke top at MSI was the reason that SKT eventually lost the close series to G2 and started a somewhat fake trend of solo lane pyke, where every single team in every major region tried to recreate Wunder's pyke to no avail. That being said, Wunder also excels at standard champions like Camille and Kled, often initiating G2's fights and snowballing them to victory.
- TL Impact Another rock in the top lane, Impact is generally best left to his own resources. No toplaner in the west, imo, can match Impact's production with as few resources as he gets - I would compare Impact to GimGoon in the LPL. There's a large stigma that Impact can't play carries and can only play tanks, but that simply isn't true. Impact is good at tanks, yes, but he can also play carries that require few resources from other lanes and the jungler, champs like Gangplank, Aatrox, and Jayce.
- SPY Vizicsacsi And the award for most difficult pro IGN to spell goes to ... Vizi...uhhh Splyce's top laner. While a lot of Splyce's credit goes (rightfully) to Kobbe and their late game prowess, Csacsi still remains a beast on splitpushers like Gnar, GP, and the occasional Kennen/Neeko, and also really good at providing a frontline for Kobbe and Humanoid with his Poppy, Gnar and Shen.
- C9 Licorice Licorice is a third of C9's topside that can dominate early and then snowball the lead to botlane. An absolute unit that is best on lane bullies that transition into engaging divers later (Aatrox, Kled, Camille), Licorice seems to amass leads on basically every other NA toplaner besides Impact. He's no slouch internationally, either (although he lost pretty hard in lane to Kiin, he managed to come back and contribute to his team's sweep of Afreeca, and even performing well against RNG's Letme and Vitality's Cabochard.
- JDG Zoom Zoom is the best player on an otherwise mediocre JDG squad (Imp does have his moments, but it's clear he's mostly there for the money). Zoom hard carried JDG as the 8th seed in LPL Spring 2019 where JDG reached the finals(!), defeating foes like FPX with Doinb, Tian and GimGoon before ultimately falling to iG. Zoom played out of his mind, getting advantages over GimGoon in lane and then proceeding to wreak havoc for the rest of the game. Unfortunately, teams began to focus in on Zoom in LPL Summer, and with his team not progressing elsewhere, Zoom was unable to absorb some of the pressure and JDG finished 6-9, in 10th place. This isn't a knock against Zoom, however, as I believe that he can be a top-tier top laner on a good team.
