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The Issue With Top Lane: What Is It's Role Early On?

Meep Man··6 votes·1,953 views

Every other role has a distinct identity for what it's goals should be and that shapes the champion pool that plays in that role. They are:

Jungle

  • Get good objective control to get Dragons and the Herald
  • Gank lanes to provide early advantages

Middle

  • Roam between lanes, usually to Bottom, in order to apply pressure early, similar to the Jungler
  • Poke the enemy out of lane in order to get good area control in the center of the map so that later roaming is safer by taking the towers in Middle Lane

Bottom Carry

  • Farm hard in order to obtain items so that you can shred the enemy later on (or right then sometimes)
  • Pick up kills your Support, Jungler, and Middle Lane set up for you

Bottom Support

  • Protect your Bottom Carry through wards, healing/shielding, buffs, and crowd control so that they can carry later on (or right then sometimes)
  • Complete your item quest or just take advantage of your support item to get gold for later on

Top

  • Teleport Bot (maybe)?
  • Push?
  • Farm?
  • Get a few kills?
  • Don't die?
  • Get Herald (maybe)?

Like, what is the goal here? You're just kind of this other lane that's there because there are three lanes. Are you just making sure your tower doesn't fall? Early on Top doesn't really have an objective like the other lanes. You just kind of... exist in case your team decides they want to push Top or something. Some games when I'm not playing Top, I sometimes forget it exists and then when all of a sudden a Singed pops up in a team fight 25 minutes down the line I'm just like, "Oh yeah, there's ten people in this game."

19 Comments

Sire Hippington12 votes

In the past, tops early was mostly farming up for the midgame, and depending on pick also pushing and/or getting some kills, with Tp bot beeing an opportunistic thing. The Objective prettymuch was winning(depending on the matchup, going even is winning) the 1v1 and getting as much advantage from it for mid/late as possible. Now Jungle has so much early impact that you can't really exert much preasure as solo top or you get you Ass ganked back to stoneage, and if you don't snowball really really hard you won't have a meaningfull impact anyway as most tops scale worse than ever compared to other positions. At the same time, getting value from TP in soloQ is pretty hard with the long channle time. Atleast at my MMR, the best you can hope for is forceing a retreat and maybe get a good position to push bot or take dragon once every 5min. In coordinated play you can plan around it, time the engage right or pull all guys together for a dive and get good value from it.

So right now, the best you can do(if not premade with jungle) is playing save and preventing your opponent from snowballing while keeping the tower save, and tanks simply are the best at doing so while also haveing some impact on teamfights even if they fall behind a bit. Mid to lategame, alot depends on the specific champ, but controlling sidelanes(minion waves) usually is an important task for toplaners.

Durzaka4 votes

You said mostly what I was gonna say, so im just gonna tag along here.

Like mentioned, Top lane was always "The Island." It was an isolated place, away from dragons, objectives, or your core carries.

Its one job was to scale to be a threat later in the game. How that happened varied. You could stomp the absolute shit out of your opponent. Or you could play a farming game because you know you contribute more to your team during fights than the enemy will, so why risk falling behind.

You also tried to draw as much jungle attention as possible. Because a jungler ganking top is leaving bot lane free to pressure (potentially to get dove 4v2) as well as not being there to contest dragon.

And while all of that is still true, the game is so incredibly snowbally right now, one gank from a jungler finishing their clear at 3:30 can literally end the lane right there. There is so much damage that even if you SURVIVE the gank, you likely took enough damage to either blow a summoner, need to base, or are just low enough the enemy can now zone you from like 3 waves of CS, and youre basically fucked from there on out.

Salron2 votes

Make the enemy top more useless than yourself

rawiazam11 votes

top has to be the most snowbally lane out there. if you are playing as a tank, and get ahead. imagine a tank dealing the same damage as an adc and is unkillable. if youre playing other champions, youre simply the cancer of the community, being able to oneshot everyone. since top gets one of the most kills, and usually the champions there are brusiers, they are the most snowbally champions out there.

im a top laner myself, and having alot fun playing top

Meep Man1 votes

So the objective of Top Lane is just to kill or be killed? Either kill the enemy a ton or survive till the end of laning? That sounds great. Very fun experience for one of the parties involved. Feel bad for the other guy though.

rawiazam12 votes

getting ahead isn't only using kills you know.

Meep Man1 votes

Yes, but usually you can't just farm safely in Top Lane. There's only about 4 champions in the whole cast that can do that.

When I was talking about what the role was, by the way, I was more talking it based on it's position on the map and the meta in general. What you described is more of the champions that currently go there. Snowbally champions go there because the only thing they can do is farm and kill the enemy lane, maybe once during the laning phase teleport Bot to help a Dragon or a large scale gank. They are also the least likely to get ganked by the enemy Jungle as ganking Top Lane often times is both the hardest and yields the least reward since it's a rather "island-ish" part of the map and the champions that go Top Lane are often very hard to kill for one reason or another.

Ashe mage AD1 votes

Plat 5 jgl/top main here. For me top it's all about wave management and denying my enemy farm/ creating leads. If you asked me it's not about the kills, kills just happen in the process. Also split pushing whenever viable but also being with the team when I know there's no other way, this can be from one of the two reasons, they're either bonobos and I need to be there either they're capable but split pushing isn't viable in that specific match. Or sometimes I'll have a team oriented pick then I'll have to join them by default in the big team fights. But if I had to put my finger on it top should be that one guy that's always looking to be in the side lanes when possible while the others group up and he has to work with the pressure the other 4 give him ideally cuz otherwise 5 man will collapse on him but yeah, it's about creating map pressure and forcing the enemy to pick what they want to defend or to send ppl to deal with the split push, for example Baron is up then you go split bot to drag ppl then maybe they'll have a Baron dance while you take a tower or a teleport is forced it can go many ways really but the essential is that you should constantly force the enemy team into making decisions and you should do it in a way that doesn't get you killed but if you die make it be worth it.

Meep Man1 votes

I'm more talking about what Top's role early on is, not in general/as a whole. I know that split pushers, snowbally fighters, and maybe a team oriented tank go Top Lane, but WHAT do they do before that part of their kit kicks in? You can't split push or help the team too much early game because you are so out of the way, and that only leaves snowballing, which is kind of sad thing to have an entire role based around as any role CAN snowball, making Top Lane still feel purposeless and just an extra character.

Ashe mage AD1 votes

You're creating the foundation for your mid and late game which will determine how relevant or not you'll be. As for snowballing that one is like taking a bet, good top laners will have more consistent ways for creating leads aside from snowballing at their disposal, in fact when we snowball it's off of a lead we created by other means rather then snowballing off of itself even tho it can still happen but you shouldn't overly rely on it.

OMGSoAnnoying1 votes

You farm, and you try and become a relevant enough map threat earlier so you draw jungle pressure. If you're not a split pusher, after first tower you roam and apply hard pressure to other lanes.

I get enough first blood turrets in top lane between 8:30-10 mins as Yorick that suddenly I have to be very careful... jg will be usually up there more after that. If I do it right, inner turret dead around three minutes later, and inhib down three to four minutes after that.

With that much jg or mid pressure brought top to stop me, my team works mid lane. I work the rest of the map.

Shahamut3 votes

Maybe if you are talking about season 6 or the beginning of season 7...

The state of top lane right now is nothing like what you describe (except for tanks dealing a lot of damage... that part is too true)

Top lane is the lane that only matters in the case of a tie breaker. If one team's bot lane wins hard, you dont matter. If mid and bot on the same team win even by a small margin, the overall advantage is enough to carry the game sans throws. If all things are equal, and there is no real lead, that is the only time your lane matters.

This game is SUPER snowbally. Not just in top lane, but in all lanes. Bot lane snowballs the harderst, because the ADC is the late game damage dealer. The sooner they get their items, the less time you have to make an impact in top lane.

Top lane used to be the snowball lane, because it was filled with bruisers, who fall off in the late game. It was their objective to get a lead early and snowball other lanes. Because of how fast bot lanes are reaching their item spikes, this window, where a bruiser top lane can snowball and push a lead is laughably small. That is why its better to play a tank. You aren't looking to snowball the game, you are looking to be useful when your adc gets their items and its time to team fight.

Of course, the events that lead up to this are simple:

RIOT adds first turret gold (bot lane tower doesn't get any starting bonus DR) EVERYONE goes bot lane to get that first tower gold LOL ADC 2017 ADC items get cheaper Ardent censor happens ADC can now survive the bot lane fiestas (because supports op)/and get their item spikes a lot sooner. RIOT gives bot lane tower starting DR Fiesta's bot lane lessen ADC's can now actually farm during the lane phase since its not constant ganks. ADC's items remain cheap, so they spike even faster.

All of this adds up to the bot lane remaining the most important lane to snowball, because the sooner the ADC gets his items, the sooner you can faceroll the enemy team with right clicks.

Top lane loses what little influence it has the faster everyone who scales gets to scale faster. Top lane carries are still typically melee, which means ranged will still win out in the end. Not only that, but with the current preseason changes, top lane carries are getting absolutely destroyed by tanks, so they aren't getting to scale. OR because they are melee, they are getting plagued by ranged poke, so that they can't farm, so no scaling. So whether its being poked out of lane or dying to tanks, melee bruisers and carries are not surviving long enough to matter.

The only way top lane gets to be something other than just another support lane, is for ranged ADC to take longer to reach their item spikes.

I think top tank is a fine strategy if you are building a team comp around protecting your late game carries and fighting as 5, but in solo queue specifically, you can't depend on your random teammates to always be on the same page. Having the option to try and carry the game yourself would be nice, and while I wont say it isn't there at all, I think by attempting to carry from top lane, unless you are just leagues better than your opponents, you put yourself (and ultimately your team) at a severe disadvantage in the game.

Sorry, I know that was a lot.

TLDR-

Tanks deal too much damage. Supports are still REALLY strong. Ranged ADC scales too fast.

= Top lane playing anything other than tank is a disadvantage. You COULD still win, you COULD carry, but your window to do so as a melee champion, especially a bruiser, is incredibly small. You have to be leagues better than your opponents.

Ashe mage AD1 votes

It might have to do with the champs I play. Mostly Shen, Tankali (Akali w/ Gunblade + full or mostly tank), Garen, + some Yorick, Malph, J4 or Vlad. With Akali for example I can wall hop with W or R on camps if I have a ward or R on the enemy wave or scuttle crab depending on my position and it's my favorite thing to do when ppl come to give me a chase, I can run for miles before they give up or eventually catch me or when I have a GA build I can bait them real hard that way, they chase me and I die but I shroud asap on revival and my team colapses on them as they wait for me to spawn and we mop them. With Shen I always try to be in the side lanes while my ult is up. I play Garen with minion dematerializer to shove and push faster, he already clears super fast with E and some AD and his W's active is real good for splitpushing to deny them any CC when they try to catch you. If it's Yorick I'll have 3 towers by 25 min even if I int 6 deaths in the process. I have very good warding revolving around allowing me to split push also.

Pinkaj1 votes

I agree. I see it as the lane where you farm, push, and try to get a kill when possible, maybe jg will gank because it's literally super uneventful at top. Top laners used to tp to bot often for kills but that's disappeared completely for some apparent reason. I forget top lane exists as well. Even 25 minutes into the game, both top laners are still 0/0/0 while mid/jg/bot lane has some numbers.

Troll for Trump1 votes

Top, Mid, and Jg have different goals based on the champ, compared to the rigidness of ADC. Supports (carry supports) can have some varying goals, but generally it's always "ADC slave"

Mid assassins for instance, want to (generally) focus on staying safe early and roaming mid-game, though picking up kills would be nice. Mid mages also would like to pick up kills, but generally prefer staying safe and farming

Jg champs like Yi and Shyv AFK farm Jg champs like Kayn, J4, or Lee constantly gank, and may often transition into carries/assassins. They gank easy targets. Jg champs like Sej and Amumu focus on getting specifically carries ahead to help supplement them lategame

Top tanks should be playing safely and passively, entering in as many group fights as possible whenever they start Top bruisers should generally be bullying and harassing, to transition into teamfight carries Top lane "assassins" (Talon, Lethality Wukong/J4/Panth) focus on stomping the lane or risk becoming obsolete. Rather than focusing more on farming in lane and transitioning to late-game carries, they plan to roam and snowball other lanes before they fall off. Top skirmishers can get kills, but prefer to play passively/defensively so they can carry lategame. They scale better than bruisers, so can afford to be less aggressive in lane for better lategame reward Top ranged champs harass in lane

Key word here is should be.

Top has the most diversity out of all the roles (Jg is either 2nd or 1st), so there's less rigidness in the Top "role"

The feeling of "top doesn't exist" is the "top is an island" thing which used to be the main attractive part about playing Top. As riot pushes more and more team play (and LCSish playstyles), the Top Lane Island strategy just doesn't work anymore

ProfDrDeath1 votes

There is no issue with top lane itself. Rather, top lane being in the state it is in right now is more of a symptom of the game's overall changes.

Riot focused the game more towards its teamplay aspects. That's generally good, but also means that a balanced team composition is more important than ever. And a balanced team composition, in general, is one with a solid front line to protect your own damage dealers.

At the same time, the jungle role evolved to become a lot more proactive earlier in the game, switching from being a secondary support/tank (S2, S3, part of S4) towards a more damage-focused role (Kha'Zix, Evelynn, Kayn, Shyvana, Xin). This damage focus makes somewhat sense, as ganks are more likely to succeed if there is suddenly a lot more damage in a lane, rather than if there is more tankiness.

Moreover, the ADC role changed to be even more offense focused than back in the day (typical ADC build in S2-S4 was four main offensive items and one defensive item, compared to 4.5 offensive items nowadays). That means that their status as the least negatively affected class when duo laning and thus their dominance over bot lane, essentially accounts for a good part of the sustained damage requirements of a balanced team comp.

So, if there is sustained damage from the bot lane and burst damage from jungle and the mid lane, would it make sense to add even more damage + tankiness from the top lane by picking a fighter? Or is the team, as a whole, going to be more efficient by picking utility + tankiness in their top laner?

Basically, to "fix" top lane (have damage+tankiness top laners have a place in the game again), Riot needs to design a few non-Marksmen bot laners (mages that are not as negatively affected by sharing XP), have multiple tanks viable in the jungle (remember the last time that happened, and how the Boards, Reddit and certain pros erupted to fight for jungle being a place for damage types?), and maybe shift ADCs back towards 1 main defensive item.

1Maza1 votes

Your role early is wait until shit goes down bot and tp. Then go back to afking the lane until tp is back up. By that time laning phase is over.

JustARivenMain1 votes

Top has always been a fiesta of different champs being there, having to win lane or you pretty much stall, it's a mess up there, always has, but after S6 it's been downhill.

Need Gold 4 Tent1 votes

Your ADC's bitch #3 (mid lane is #2 and his own support is #1). Jungler is a dragon/baron bot.

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