Top Lane is the Hardest

Khabith·10/24/2018, 4:13:40 AM·20 votes·7,925 views

Alright bois before you ADC Mains, roast the hell out of me and downvote, give me a chance here.

Okie Dokie lets get this clear real quick, I have more experience (this is my alt-account)

TRIBUSH Ok so top lane is always revered as the easiest lane, and i've found myself not agreeing whatsoever. Ok so lets just do a clean overview of it all, so u know how each team has a tribush thing, one on the bottom, one on the top. The thing is for botside, is what i've seen is that since there are two of them, they usually have that stuff warded. But if you haven't done you first back yet as a toplaner, and you havent gotten the control ward yet. your dead if that jungler pulls a sneaky one on ya and pops up behind you.

ITEMS Ok so I play a lot of mid, and for someones who's played a lot of mages, getting mage items is pretty gosh darn easy, and super efficient with a bunch of kits. The thing is with toplaners, like bruisers and sometimes tanks the items cost so much. So like the average strong point of a champion is when they have three items (ik ik not all, talon and others have great early games), but the thing is if you want a triforce, a titanic, and idk like a steraks, those things cost more than 3000, mage items cost way less than that. And so like it makes it kinda hard for some toplaners to be that efficient in fights, because even if they have the same amount of gold, they wont be as strong.

OPPONENTS (So this is probably the part where people who just lost a game are going to show up and downvote me). Ok so from what I've seen, toplaners have the most crucial like champion select, because if the enemy is playing urgot and your playing idk someone melee. Its sometimes not even an option to play defensively, a bad match up usually results in one person getting absolutely rekted either in kills or cs. And I don't play all too much of bot, so this is where I need your guy's opinions. You can play almost ADC you want, like sure some do well against others, but it kinda just feels like your gonna do ok even in a bad match up because you have your support to get out of bad scenarios .

POSITIONING Ok so in top lane they have rift/baron, which are both harder obstacles to get because it will most likely take longer if its just the toplaner and jungler. AND both are usually only got once, but the thing is with bot, there's a drag up like every four minutes making it a great place to play around. Because of the easy chance for a four vs four. And if you as a toplaner want to get there you have to tele, but the thing is if the fight goes badly, you just wasted your teleport, and teleports are so crucial to a toplaner. And because there are two people in bot side on either side, if the junglers focus bot they can possibly get double kills/ and overall just get their botside fed, and a fed botside is much more important then a topside, because a toplaner is only one person. If you get your botlane fed, your effectively getting two(support and ADC) bot laners, yourself(jungler), and sometimes even the midlaner all fed. And then once you win the fight you can get the drake.

Ok I kinda ranted there, but as a person who plays a lot of jungle, and have a decent sense of macro, Ive just been seeing myself not really even worrying about topside. and no one else really either. So I thought I would try to speak on the behalf of some toplaners. Tell me what you think in the comment sections.

EDIT 1.): Someone brought up another great point that I forgot about, You can't carry as a toplaner, if you play well as idk like a Maolkai, and I end up getting kills because I set up a good gank, it doesn't matter. The ADC or jungle Yi can and will kill me. The only significance of beating the enemy laner, is solidifying the fact that your stronger than that one person. But sometimes THAT isn't even true because someone like Jax can powerfarm for five minutes and then be stronger than me despite being like two kills behind me

EDIT 2.) Looks like I got my first down vote, wow look no comment explaining why. This is the problem with league people just cant come to terms with certain things, and even when they disagree with it they don't explain it, all I had were for the most part FACTS, when the person who down voted realized they had no facts they just had a sissy fit and left

EDIT 3.) When I say its the hardest, Its a hyperbole, I just wanted to emphasize on the fact that it isn't just farming till your strong

36 Comments

Machigainashi10/24/2018, 4:19:12 AM5 votes

at least it was ambiguous, I hate those posts that are so one sided that it just turns into a hate fest into the comment section lmao

Haqid10/24/2018, 4:15:44 AM5 votes

The items cost way too much, especially since the chances of you getting kills aren't as high, so higher costing stuff, and the less chance of getting fed just makes for a bad match

saltran10/24/2018, 7:51:27 AM4 votes

Okie Dokie lets get this clear real quick, I have more experience (this is my alt-account)

And why dont you post it with your real account then?

That's the point of the Boards, if you want to be anonymus go to Reddit.

floo10/24/2018, 5:24:33 PM4 votes

The thing is for botlane, you are partly dependent on another player. If you're adc/supp doesn't know how to play their role properly and have the bad luck to play against a competent enemy duo, then you're basically screwed or at least at an disadvantage. To your other point about csing; just as you can have a bad matchup, the same applies for botlane. Imagine you'd play Vayne and get counterpicked by Draven. That wont be a fun game for you.

I'm sure both lanes have their easy and hard moments, however from own experience, a late game is decided by adcs, if one toplane isn't a fed bruiser/diver/juggernaut. They simply have the burden of being the biggest damage output on the team and being the most important target for thr enemy team.

BestPudgeNA10/24/2018, 5:30:51 AM4 votes

Role difficult based on my opinion

Highest skill floor JG

Top Mid Sup ADC

Highest skill celling Mid JG Top Sup ADC

Illabethe10/24/2018, 9:05:45 AM3 votes

Top lane plays the role of being a distraction or split pusher, and they DO carry games.

On that note, it's worth saying: The objective of a _**non split pushing top **_is to get the turret down as fast as possible so you no longer have to top lane. Convenient eh?

Oh. And most tops get Teleport not for getting to lane, but for getting from their lane to OTHER lanes so they can carry/snowball other lanes.

If you don't think you can carry as a split push Maoki, Win/Lose the lane and begin roaming, but coming back to prevent further lane pushes.

Nothing is keeping you top.

Baby Ghoul10/24/2018, 5:37:48 AM3 votes

The hardest lane is mid lane because of all the ganks. Junglers want to get their mid laner ahead as soon as possible because of their roam potential. Typically they'll go bot for the infamous 4 man bot lane and dragon, but sometimes they'll head top for an overextended lane if they see bot is doing fine on zoning on their own.

The most pressure is bot lane. Ganks are scarce, but match ups are so one sided. Supports are also quite powerful and can bully you out of lane easily. Staying under tower means the other ADC can easily and quickly scale which spells trouble for the whole entire match. If you're behind as and ADC there's not a lot of opportunity to catch up unless the enemy team starts throwing.

Top lane is isolated and is normally about who can freeze the wave. I agree that you can't carry in this meta, but you also can't bring your team down unless you picked something foolish that can't work well late game. Otherwise you'll make a comeback and not be useless. If all else fails most top laners are excellent split pushers too.

ADCs and mid laners are another story because they need to dominate their lane. If the midlaner dominates they can go bot and help get dragon. If they don't, then that's what their opponent is going to do. It is all or nothing for them. That sets off a chain reaction when the ADC gets fed because they're so difficult to shut down once they get going.

Faneseeker10/24/2018, 11:31:08 AM3 votes

Top is all about counter picking for the low elos. Op probably is a one trick top, and most likely not high Elo. Your analysis gave away too much secrets. Top is not hard, just annoying when you one trick and get counter picked often.

Bot is hardest because to start you already have an enemy by your side. Infamous Four man bot? Try 3 v 1 all game with a suicidal partner.

Mid is ok, two side ganks, but mages have good escape and shorter distance from mid point to turret.

XL BENCH PRESS10/24/2018, 12:09:14 PM3 votes

I find the core part of top lane rather easy. The challenging part, I find, is that players in top lane tend to get very scared very easily, and hug turrets, and then just hug until you leave, quickly push lane and damage your tower while you're roaming, rinse & repeat. For that reason, I'm out.

Thefrostyviking10/24/2018, 3:09:15 PM3 votes

OP i must disagree, there is one situation were botlane is by far the most difficult lane bar none and nothing.

When you and the other person dont agree on what´s to be done and how to play a lane, it becomes entirely impossible to win and you´ll end up dying nonstop or just accomplishing nothing, ever.

....or rather if i am to be like this then i suppose jungle is the worst because if all 3 lanes feed from early on then its kinda done,......yep jungle is the worst if things go south.

In toplane you are at least responsible for yourself only and you only have to worry about yourself not making any mistakes, in botlane you have to worry about your own mistakes and your partners mistakes because if you cant cover for them chances are they will snowball uncontrollably, right over you even if playing well.

Midlane is tough becuase of all the ganking options....like seriously there are like 6 paths into the lane by default, unless you freeze the wave outside your own tower there is a constant risk of dying right off.

Toplane? As long as you dont shove in early and manage to reach a good spot for the first recall its going to be fine provided the matchup isnt terrible, that is the only really unique thing.

Toplane has more hardcounters going on than any other lane except jungle, but jungle does at least have more options.

Sorin Alucard10/24/2018, 5:11:15 PM3 votes

Maybe reword to "Top lane is harder than you think to climb in"

If I had to list position difficulty (and its just my opinion) it would break down like this: Most difficult to least

To learn the General Roles JG

ADC Mid Top Supp

To learn a character archetype

ADC Mage Assassin Bruiser Tank

Roles to carry from once learned: Most difficult to least

ADC - assuming your supp is doing bad Top Supp - assuming your ADC isn't useless Mid JG

Khabith10/24/2018, 5:33:02 AM2 votes

Looks like I got my first down vote, wow look no comment explaining why. This is the problem with league people just cant come to terms with certain things, and even when they disagree with it they don't explain it, all i had were for the most part FACTS, when the person who downvoted realized they had no facts they just had a sissy fit and left

DOUBLE TAPPED E10/24/2018, 4:22:11 AM2 votes

I agree that top lane is the hardest but for different reasons. It's just so hard to carry from toplane unless you are playing a heavy split pusher like Jax or Tryndamere.

Also on the mage items thing, I think they are cheaper because of the lower income in midlane (from the constant roaming / missing waves).

Idk just my 2 cents.

Gilgayu10/24/2018, 8:32:48 PM1 votes

Personally I think every lane has something hard about them

top lane : need to watch out for match ups, freezes, and high map awareness (especially if you have tp)

Jungle : also high map awareness, need to know if gank will be beneficial for team, watch for objectives

mid lane : usually mechanically challenging, easy gank for enemy jg, careful of getting outplayed (most mid have outplay literaly built into their kit) and dodging skill shots is always a minie game lol

Adc : need to play safe, need to know how to position, and always stay back (even it means you cant do dmg)

sup : basicly knows who to peel off and who to protect, knowing priorities will probably be the biggest challenge

I know because I played every role over my two years at league.

Alzon10/24/2018, 6:26:36 PM1 votes

Hoo boy, the “toughest role” argument. Here we go again.

I break apart role difficulty into two criteria: micro and macro. Seems fair, right? Micro includes champion mechanics and some global mechanics like positioning. Macro includes rotation, map awareness, and itemization, as well as wether you’re actually making these decisions or not.

I find that the role with the toughest micro is bot lane, because not only do you have to orbwalk at high speeds on a ranged champion (I still find this next to impossible), but you also have to watch for aggression from two lane opponents against not just yourself, but also your support. However, bot lane has the easiest macro, as their items are pretty straightforward, they don’t roam, and map awareness is done mostly by the navigator support.

Conversely, I believe junglers have the most difficult macro, as they have the most things to watch on the map, keep track of, and plan for. Their itemization varies wildly based on the situation, too, and often with less income to work with than a laner. The exception is their jungle item, which is pretty straightforward. However, junglers also tend to have the easiest micro, as they have ample time to plan out ganks before they happen. Exceptions include Scuttle fights and Smite wars for a contested camp.

Here’s my order of roles from toughest to easiest, based on micro and then macro:

Bot Top Mid Support Jungle

Jungle Mid Top Support Bot

Overall, I believe the toughest role is a tossup between Mid and Top, as both have to manage a solo lane in the face of jungle pressure, as well as knowing how to handle many tricky matchups. They also should be watching for potential roam opportunities to the other lanes (top only looks bot when TP is available) or the jungle.

The easiest role is Support, as supports don’t do as much macro work as other lanes (being chained to their bot laners and having a small subset of cheaper items dedicated to them) or as much micro as top/mid/bot, since they don’t have to manage a wave while under fire or orbwalk.

One thing to note is that these judgments are not standard for all champions. For example, you have Jhin, who doesn’t have to worry about high-speed orbwalking. Then there’s Nidalee, who has very specific mechanics for every single jungle camp. Others that break these norms exist.