Meanwhile in Top Lane?

NightStalker9·8/29/2019, 9:10:44 PM·17 votes·12,480 views

As a person that mostly plays tanks and bruisers (mele champs in general) i noticed there are so many viable ranged champions that can be played top Gnar,Kennen,Vladimir,Swain and so many more. Maybe not all of them are OP but they are extremely hard to deal with as a mele champ.

Imagine Darius against one of those , or for example against Kayle (now gets ranged AA at lv 6 ). She beats u early bcs of the range and in late game she becomes a monster and beats ur entire team.

Only thing u can actually do is giving up on farm and hopeing ur jg will gank cuz if not ur lane is ruined

Any other strategy?

EDIT: Ik there are champs like renekton that have a good engage against ranged champs but lets not forget u might get first or second pick in champ select so u dont know if the enemy top will be ranged

82 Comments

Cind3rkick8/29/2019, 9:15:05 PM12 votes

The way ranged vs melee matchups go:

Passively ranged will win trades and bully you out of lane.

If you can all-in them early on. (Before they get too mobile and have infinite poke) and force them out of lane, there is nothing they can do.

LFT His Support8/29/2019, 9:39:10 PM7 votes

I mean almost every lane has some kind of cancer to deal with, but Top is by far the worst one, I've gotta admit.

I hear Toplaner scream for help about this for like 1 year now and Riot seems to give 0 fucks, at least that's what I'm seeing.

But again, maybe I missed smth, so don't take my word for that lol.

Crowgutter8/29/2019, 9:19:37 PM6 votes

another problem is that ranged champs are generally better early (some exceptions, Skill,Counters,and situation) but usually if you play safe and farm under turret or go make impacts somewhere else in map then you can easily beat them. Most of toplane meta right now is counterpick (which riot does need to change and balance) but if you can outplay an opponent it should generally be easy to win lane. All about game knowledge and how you take your battles

JackMcCarry8/30/2019, 1:54:16 PM3 votes

or for example against Kayle

until level 6 Kayle should not be able to touch a single minion without using Q and E if you're Darius, you literally burn her flash every time you grab her with E. After that you just have to play around your pull, and wait for her to ult, she cant duel you 1v1 after you pull her, her only option is to escape as fast as possible.

metroman4508/29/2019, 11:12:38 PM3 votes

In what way does kayle beat Darius? In early Darius should win and should prevent kayle from farming. If you failed to those then of course you would lose to a kayle.

DeathBurst8/30/2019, 7:48:48 AM3 votes

I play mostly Juggernauts (Garen/Illaoi/etc.), not exactly Tanks, but I have to deal with Melee vs Ranged match-ups all the same.

And basically, yes, you have to give up some farm. In such a match-up, your goal is not to win laning phase, it's to stay even. Because in most cases, these ranged picks Top are a bet to win the game early, and time is playing for you. Picking a ranged Top laner usually means that the overall team-comp lacks either utility or durability, and your team will have a better shot at winning full 5v5 team-fights.

So the strategy is (trying to) staying even, most of all not dying, and playing for late game.

Also, in some match-ups, you have a power-spike around level 6-10 when you finally get enough damage to kill your opponent in one rotation and you can all-in them. But this you have to learn on a case-by-case basis, there is no general rule. For instance, Garen vs Teemo is around level 7-8, whereas Garen vs Vlad is after one full MR item+one damage component (Phage or Sheen), and so around level 10. Just remember the possibility might be there and try and look for it.

Vlada Cut8/30/2019, 12:21:11 AM2 votes

Um.

Kayle used to beat Darius's ass with melee lvl 6 before mini-rework.

The thigh guy8/29/2019, 9:45:58 PM2 votes

That’s why melee champions get kits that auto win once in melee with a ranged champion.

KlydeFrog8/30/2019, 12:27:19 AM1 votes

Take exhaust and flash or play renekton . Point being is you need engages. I play Olaf shen or voli

Jayce Account 388/30/2019, 12:44:01 AM1 votes

As a jayce main smurf, git gud.

Divin1ty8/29/2019, 9:33:23 PM1 votes

Eh. I play mostly Darius recently (am an OG Gangplank Onetrick) and with Ghost you can punish mistakes way earlier, without having to rush Mobility Items to catch up.

While I do agree that Ranged Top (with no mana costs) are cancer, I usually tend to win lane/Game against them. But then a random Kennen/Vlad appears and I want to off myself. :)