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State of Top Lane & Bruiser Keystones

andr0id·2/2/2018, 3:18:53 AM·2 votes·698 views

A lot of you have probably watched Hashinshin's rants regarding the state of the game (specifically surrounding Top Lane). One thing that always stands out is that he claims that there isn't a bruiser keystone. As a quick side note, I personally think Hashinshin has a very large bias towards wanting bruisers to be the strongest champion type. He exclusively plays bruiser type champions like Jax, and wanting your main champion to be stronger is quite the incentive to use his popularity and stream to get support for a top lane overhaul.

So the main problem is that there isn't really such a thing as a bruiser in League of Legends. The closest we have by game definition are the Fighters, but the list of Fighters is so versatile that you can't exactly cater to any one type. Lee Sin, Riven, Gnar, Darius, and Jayce are all considered Fighters, and yet they're all completely different in their play style both in lane and in team fights.

Hashinshin makes a point to rework press the attack to be personal damage instead of damage from all sources and be two hits instead of three for melee, however if Riot implements these changes, champions that are auto attack heavy (Jax, Aatrox, Irelia to name a few) will get a significant boost to their damage.

This wouldn't particularly be a problem in their lanes, it would likely give them the boost they need to challenge lane bullies like Gnar and Gangplank in an all in engagement. However, by the mid to late game when small scale skirmishes and team fights start to break out, these champions will still retain that boost of damage, and will be significantly more lethal.

A few examples; Riven can buffer her Q and auto attack inbetween casts to proc press the attack for bonus damage on the third Q and third auto attack. Most Rivens already auto attack inbetween Q casts so there isn't exactly a change in mechanics, just more damage for practically free.

Both Jax and Aatrox can proc press the attack and cause their empowered auto attacks (from their ultimate or W respectively) to deal more damage. Again, this isn't a mechanical change because both champions are auto attack based anyway, so it's just more damage for free.

Bruiser type champions also tend to snowball off the smallest leads in the early game. This isn't particularly an issue, if someone gets a lead in lane they should have lane dominance. However, I don't think that a single kill should put you so far ahead that the lane becomes one-sided. This is an issue in other lanes as well, but it's specifically annoying in top lane because the match ups are almost exclusively melee vs melee, meaning just to get CS you put yourself in danger of getting all inned.

TL;DR, There are far too many champions that constitute as bruisers and most of them have a different play style than the last. This essentially means that a Bruiser Keystone cannot exist. If one did exist it would likely push bruisers into a carry position instead of a sustained DPS / Off Tank.

Feel free to post your thoughts, I'd be glad to read them.

5 Comments

VardenSalad2/2/2018, 4:20:25 AM2 votes

I was originally gonna post a huge comment defining what makes a bruiser a bruiser and why their traditional match-ups are poor, their items are too expensive, tank items being so cheap and tank base damage being so high that it's warped the metagame and bot lane, but I remembered I was on the boards and the post would have absolutely no impact at all on the direction this game takes.

If you want to figure out why a specific class of champs is having a hard time, imagine any particular champ at the top level of play laning against a gangplank. Which champs would be able to engage with him? Which would even be able to get close to the wave without getting barreled? Which would be able to not get Q'd on cooldown or to even try and trade back at that rate?

These are questions top lane players face every time they have to pick because Gangplank is one of the most popular, most coveted, most competitive champs in the game. Who can you play to even try and meet him on even footing? Which champs can both survive the laning phase and attempt to match his gold generation or midgame spike?

Ask yourself these questions and try and decide if there may be a larger problem in League than simply the idea that the champs that are melee offtanks may have the class designation a little bit out of date.

EbonyBladeJ882/2/2018, 3:58:58 AM1 votes

The thing is, people need to CLARIFY their meanings when they say "Bruiser" or so on.

As you say, that name of "Fighter" can apply to a VERY BROAD list of champions.

Now, I know that each class (Or subclass) has their own specific needs. Skirmishers like their builds (Can a Skirmisher player help me out here? I don't play them often enough to know their typical styles) Divers like their setups (Mix of Damage and Tankiness) and Juggernauts like their Setups (1 to 2 damage items then tank afterwards).

I think more than just one "One size fits all" Keystone will be needed. But, we're going to have to take what we can get, whenever this "Bruiser Keystone" is revealed.

Harden Stepback2/2/2018, 4:41:22 AM1 votes

Hashinshin loves too complain. I'm doing just fine playing fighter champs top lane this season.