What makes a Mid laner a Mid laner and a Top laner a Top laner?

DrProfVibeCheck·Jun 13, 2015·1 votes·4,346 views

I kinda understand whats needed for the other roles

ADC: -Ranged AA -Ability to stay safe in fights -Potential for high damage

Support: -CC -Utility -Wards

Jungler: -Jungle clear and survivability -Something to bring mid or lategame (CC, Tankiness, Damage, etc) -Gank potential

But I dont understand what makes a champ go mid and a champ go top. Because one day, people say that fighters and bruisers go top, but then I see shit like Teemo and Quinn. Another day, people say mages and assassins go mid, but then Yasuos and Jayces keep appearing.

And makes me confuzzeled.

7 Comments

On Your SideJun 13, 20152 votes

Mid is roam. You want to win your lane, take the turret and then roam the other lanes to help snowball the game. Mages and assassins thrive here because of that, but almost any champion can go mid.

Top is split push. You're too far away from any and all objectives, so you want to take teleport and then split push your lane and teleport into team fights. Because the lane is so long and isolated, bruisers and tankier mages usually dominate here due to their duel capability and survivability.

DrProfVibeCheckJun 13, 20151 votes

That makes alot of sense. Thanks.

I love WafflesJun 13, 20152 votes

Way back before the meta was established. We used to do stupid things like:

AP Champs top
ADC's Mid
Bruiser Bot, with a 0 cs 'support' that generally just roamed.

It was god awful. Then around Dreamhack everyone stopped being retarded and realized that:

AP's should go mid, since they scale well with LEVELS, and midlane gets the fastest cs/xp, its also the shortest lane so its safe, and it also an easy lane to roam from, and adjacent to blue buff for hand offs.

ADC's should go bot, not mid, where they can literally have another person babysit them, and since they scale with items, and not levels, they can safely farm, and also help control dragon.

And bruisers were left over, and can go top, because they are bulky enough and mobile enough (this was the era of Jax and Renekton) that they can survive being left alone on an island.

Thank god for Dreamhack.

Deceiving DeathJun 13, 20151 votes

mid laners usually excel at being the "champion killing" type. the ones that focus on taking down the competition. this is because of their prime location for roaming potential. they are able to outplay and win their lane while roaming and setting up plays with the jungler elsewhere.

top laners usually don't get a chance to roam because of their location. tp can be used but it takes so long to get back to lane you lose your tower or at least take a lot of damage on it. this is why bruisers and tanks go top usually cause they work well with tp and don't require much for ganks and can hold out till the late game. picking something like quinn or teemo often times is a counter pick to tanks in hopes to win earlier as tanks tend to outscale.

although the meta compliments these roles in this way that's not to say you can't take any champ top or mid. it just depends on what your champions strengths are and how you can utilize them best.

LuggJun 13, 20151 votes

The big thing you want in your mid laner is someone who can roam and get kills. Since they are in the middle of the map, it's easy for them to go top or bot to help gank and get the other lanes fed or ahead.

Top is an island. The champions up there are pretty much on their own during the laning phase because the important objective early (Dragon) is on the bottom side of the map. So the jungler needs to spend more time mid and bot. That is why teleport is so great for tops, most of the action takes place bottom. Since you are on your own, you want to have the sustain and/or tankyness to operate on your own and survive ganks on your own.

That is the main differences between the two roles.

DedriusJun 13, 20151 votes

The biggest difference between top and mid is that mid is the shortest lane giving it the most XP and it is closer to objectives. This means you will draw more jungle attention and don't need to be able to be on an island as much as you do top lane.