On top of things: Three strange top laners in China
Riot·12/12/2014, 9:57:31 PM·1 votes·31,217 views
In China, League of Legends never takes a vacation. After Worlds, teams immediately begin a gauntlet of third party Chinese tournaments, including Galaxy Esports Carnival, National Esports Open, and G League. Though competition is a little less rigorous than the LoL Pro League, and teams take it as a chance to experiment and find new strategies for the next season.
During the 2014 offseason, one lane in particular has been rife with experimentation. The end of Worlds saw the introduction of Gnar, the sometimes-ranged scaling bully. Chinese top laners have been trying out other ranged picks, including Lissandra and Nidalee, to contend with him. Some picks, however, are hard to find elsewhere, and top lane Morgana, Annie, and AD Leblanc are bound to raise eyebrows.
It’s hard to say what draws China to the Dark Child, but some popular players have been trying to find a place for her since the 2013 Annie support nerfs. World Elite Academy’s ex-mid laner, Su “xiye” Hanwei gained a reputation for playing her in the mid lane. Outside of xiye and the occasional support cameo, Annie has been seen a few times in the top lane. Wei “CaoMei” Handong and Zhao “Fireloli” Zhiming have both played her in 2013 LPL Spring with underwhelming results.
Patch 4.20’s removal of negatron cloak and increased cost of Chalice made Annie’s massive burst more effective. Add in her natural tankiness from Molten Shield, long range auto attack for harass, and ability to initiate a fight, and Annie becomes a solid stand-in for Lissandra, whose lane harass and AoE initiation makes her a coveted pick internationally. Most recently, she came out in the Demacia Cup Quarterfinals between Energy Pacemaker Carries and Star Horn Royal Club, the first all Chinese teams competitive game played on Patch 4.20.
Despite Energy Pacemaker Carries having disbanded, they played with a makeshift roster of SHRC subs and ex-EPC players and lost handily. Even so, GAME showed off Annie’s strengths and weaknesses. Despite giving up an early kill, GAME could outfarm Cola with long range auto attacks and Disintegrate, and the Teleport-Tibbers combo proved extremely valuable for cleaning up fights and turning ganks. The return of the Negatron Cloak might put top lane Annie’s high burst power back in the vault, but it certainly had potential.
It’s hard to say what Morgana, Annie, and Trinity Force Leblanc have as top lane picks in terms of longevity. If players can refine these selections, they may become a force in LPL. With the unpredictable Flandre in the mix, we’re sure to see some surprises. Even if every top lane experiment in the offseason hasn’t been the most practical, they’ve had undeniable niches to fill.
Shove and Zone Morgana
Morgana’s low mobility in the long lane has likely precluded her popularity in most regions, but she certainly isn’t a China-only pick. She has also been spotted in GPL and even NA Challenger, played by Team 8’s Steven “CaliforniaTrlolz” Kim. In China, she’s most recently been seen in the hands of Ke “957” Changyu, Team ME’s top laner, in their LSPL qualifying matches in the Tencent Games Arena Carnival. Morgana brings obvious team fighting utility to the table with her Soul Shackles creating zones and Black Shield blocking disables and magic damage. These two assets made her a powerful support pick for much of the 2014 regular season. Her utility effectively ensures that if Morgana has a tough time in the top lane, she only needs a Zhonya’s Hourglass to have an impact on the game. In their games against Chinese Korean Dragonz, which ME won effectively, 957 showed off another use: lane domination. Morgana’s Tormented Soil allowed 957 to constantly shove out the lane against the opposing Gnar. Dark Binding’s range is then long enough to catch an easy target trapped under turret and unleash another round of Tormented Soil for simple harass. After repeating the process, EterNal’s laning experience became more than a little untenable. Morgana top laners might not always be able to beat down Gnar so effectively, but her potential for trapping and whittling is obvious.Annie: The Makeshift Lissandra
It’s hard to say what draws China to the Dark Child, but some popular players have been trying to find a place for her since the 2013 Annie support nerfs. World Elite Academy’s ex-mid laner, Su “xiye” Hanwei gained a reputation for playing her in the mid lane. Outside of xiye and the occasional support cameo, Annie has been seen a few times in the top lane. Wei “CaoMei” Handong and Zhao “Fireloli” Zhiming have both played her in 2013 LPL Spring with underwhelming results.
Patch 4.20’s removal of negatron cloak and increased cost of Chalice made Annie’s massive burst more effective. Add in her natural tankiness from Molten Shield, long range auto attack for harass, and ability to initiate a fight, and Annie becomes a solid stand-in for Lissandra, whose lane harass and AoE initiation makes her a coveted pick internationally. Most recently, she came out in the Demacia Cup Quarterfinals between Energy Pacemaker Carries and Star Horn Royal Club, the first all Chinese teams competitive game played on Patch 4.20.
Despite Energy Pacemaker Carries having disbanded, they played with a makeshift roster of SHRC subs and ex-EPC players and lost handily. Even so, GAME showed off Annie’s strengths and weaknesses. Despite giving up an early kill, GAME could outfarm Cola with long range auto attacks and Disintegrate, and the Teleport-Tibbers combo proved extremely valuable for cleaning up fights and turning ganks. The return of the Negatron Cloak might put top lane Annie’s high burst power back in the vault, but it certainly had potential.
There’s Actually an AD Leblanc in This Game
LCS fans might remember the near painful period in which Leblanc top seemed like a good idea. It’s now come to China, but with a twist; she builds Trinity Force. Li “Flandre” Xuanjun is known for his strange top lane carry picks, but Trinity Force Leblanc appeared again in the hands of GAME in Demacia Cup. Both games went vastly different. Flandre had an underwhelming laning phase against ShowTime in G League, but still effectively changed the tides for his team once he managed to pick up components for a Statikk Shiv and start split-pushing. Leblanc’s high mobility and relatively low cooldowns makes her a reasonable candidate for shoving and escaping. With Zed also on the team, Snake.Q developed a 1-3-1 split-push strategy that kept them from fighting ShowTimes better team fighting composition and slowly whittled at their base. GAME, on the other hand, was able to pick up early kills against Jiang “Cola” Na, which allowed him to buy an early Brutalizer. This Brutalizer lowered Leblanc’s cooldowns, allowing him to get more bang for the Sheen he built next, maximizing the Distortion auto attack Sheen proc. As GAME picked up more gold overall, it became clear that his AD Leblanc would become even more of a hybrid damage-dealer. A Seeker’s Armguard spelled plans for a Zhonya’s Hourglass. With the mobility from Trinity Force and Youmuu’s GhostBlade as well as the juke potential of Zhonya’s, GAME’s version of AD Leblanc could have been played out as an annoyance designed to get teams to burn cooldowns on nothing. If this build shows up again in more serious hands, it will make for a highly entertaining match.
It’s hard to say what Morgana, Annie, and Trinity Force Leblanc have as top lane picks in terms of longevity. If players can refine these selections, they may become a force in LPL. With the unpredictable Flandre in the mix, we’re sure to see some surprises. Even if every top lane experiment in the offseason hasn’t been the most practical, they’ve had undeniable niches to fill.
Feget
