Can't win top lane with melee champions

FireBlossom·Nov 18, 2015·3 votes·1,446 views

Hi, I've been playing since season 2 i was bronze 2 then and have climbed to silver 3 in season 3, now i'm stuck at silver 2, silver 1 ever since. Every time i play top lane i can't seem to win the lane, i win trades early but suddenly the enemy jumps on me randomly when i have minions and kills me when i wasn't even that low. I just don't get it, like last game i was playing vs , what's supposed to be an easy lane for me but he just killed me lvl 2 in the middle of my minions with his jump and e. I build tank items and even started doran's shield that game. I also build to counter the enemy team. I can't even win top lane versus bronze 2 people. My main roles are support, adc and mid.

Anyone got any help/ tips? Sorry for my bad English.

12 Comments

BattleOxeNov 18, 20153 votes

Well, as malphite vs jax, you don't want to stay and autoattack. Go E, Q and then disengage untill his stun goes off. And tank up as soon as possible, and max E. It's not really difficult. You just need to learn powerspikes (just like any other lane), and exploit them.

FireBlossomNov 18, 20151 votes

I tried poking him with q but i ran out of mana fast and he just started to zone me from the minions. Problem is that he just lifesteals back up and my damage was for nothing. Didn't max e though i must try that. Thanks for the help.

Mecha MaIphiteNov 18, 20152 votes

Spamming Q is the worst thing you can do against someone who has either bought or built-in sustain. Especially when you max E, the Q damage becomes negligible and really only exists for the movespeed steal.

When Jax jumps on you, Q him, run away, go back in and E him, win the trade. If he starts charging the stun in advance, simply walk away. Jax is usually pretty squishy early game, you you'll be able to bully him hard enough to delay his powerspike.

FireBlossomNov 18, 20151 votes

Thanks for explaining. Is this generally how all top laners work? disengage with a slow or a jump of some sorts and poke back once they run away?

Mecha MaIphiteNov 18, 20151 votes

Against Jax, yes. Fighting Jax while he's spinning is pretty much giving up the trade unless you're ridiculously ahead. If he misuses his E in the early levels, punish him for it, because he's weak without it and it has a high cooldown at rank 1.

BattleOxeNov 19, 20151 votes

{quoted}

I tried poking him with q but i ran out of mana fast and he just started to zone me from the minions. Problem is that he just lifesteals back up and my damage was for nothing. Didn't max e though i must try that. Thanks for the help.

Jax has no lofesteal eary. Maybe he build dorans blade 2% from masteries, but that's 5% all together. And with ~80 DMG on basic, he was lifestealing 4 HP per AA. But idea is not to destroy him eatly. You just survive first few levels. Then on first back buy some armor and HP and you can win them. Malphite is not really an early game champ

UberAffeNov 18, 20152 votes

Without more info not really.

luckmalloryNov 18, 20152 votes

First of all Malphite vs jax isnt an "easy" matchup. You do well against him once you get some items but at level 2 you are just as easy to kill as any other champion. Jax does a ton of hybrid damage especially with guinsoo's now and malphite is good at stacking armor and scaling with it. Not MR. so his magic damage will still wreck you. This matchup has always been misunderstood as you have an attack speed slow but his passive negates it so he has normal attack speed still.

Also his E blocks all minions attacks as well and uses there attacks to amp his damage to you from his E. That is how he killed you. Also you would to have dueled him for a while if he took Q second and didnt take E as he wouldn't have enough damage so most likely that one is on you

Raging KittensNov 18, 20151 votes

I would disagree with Lucky with the 'Malphite vs Jax isnt an easy matchup' part. I always found maxing your E rapes jax. However, you CANNOT all-in a Jax as Malphite regardless of the situation because Malphite is more considered 'bursty' than consistent DPS. Malphite can easily win trades with Jax as long as you play on the defensive side and disengage when he engages. E when youre near, Q to get away.

Unless you're playing AP Malphite, then just whoop his ass with Q spams all laning phase :^)

FireBlossomNov 18, 20151 votes

I was playing tank malphite but i didn't disengage as well as you described, i'll try that and see how it goes. Thanks

RedTrinketGoneHaNov 18, 20151 votes

I've been taking Akali top lane instead of mid this patch, seems to be pretty good against annoying ranged champs post 6. And she's even better this patch with the removal of sweeper

Raging KittensNov 18, 20151 votes

Top lane is literally the most fun lane in this game because its like a game of chess. You watch your opponent closely and take advantage of their Cooldowns and power-spikes. You have to know what to play and when to play it.