I like to play Garen/Darius normally top, but if I have to pick first I just get counter picked with a range top like Quinn/teemo. So I was wondering what are some of my best options if I have to pick first top lane to not be countered so hard by ranged champs?
Keiaga2 votesMordekaiser has a very good pull. He plays like Darius but the only ranged champ that gave me issues was vayne
Fiora also has enough mobility to catch a ranged champ and has a kit with enough versatility to perform well against any type of champion.
edit: here's a short list of other champs I think are relatively safe first-picks
StonMon1 votesYa I think I’ll give mord a shot, I’ve played a few games with him and he seems pretty good
Keiaga2 voteshttps://na.op.gg/summoner/userName=Keiaga
One tricked morde and got from unranked to silver 4 to plat 4 in a couple months. Very effective, very easy to play, and still extremely satisfying and rewarding.
Not sure what the best rune will be on him since I didn't update myself on the changes to conquerer.
I always ran ghost ignite for kill pressure. Ghost is better than ignite on mordekaiser because he prefers prolonged fights over burst and has enough tankiness/self-peel to survive ganks without relying on flash.
He can function pretty well at every stage of the game. If you're able to land an EQ you can beat most champs in an all in by using your shield effectively.
I deviate from his normal build a bit and trade out a little damage for more survivability.
is the item you rush 100% of the time.
is only bought if I have the spare gold leftover after buying something else. I don't even upgrade them half the time until I'm at full build. But when I do it's usually 
if there's a lot of auto-attack damage or very rarely 
if I'm extremely ahead.
and/or 
are the next items you build. Lyandry's if you're against a tanky team, hextech if you're against mostly squishier, mobile targets.
After that, even if I'm ahead, I prioritize building resistances against whichever type of damage I have to look out for.
and 
. Sometimes 
.
For your runes, I always go Conquerer/triumph/tenacity/last stand in the Precision tree and Domination tree secondary with taste of blood and ravenous hunter. This is the most healing you can get with your runepage and it goes very well with Hextech and Spirit visage. I've had certain games where the entire enemy team didn't have enough damage to kill my sustain after I ult and kill their carry.
StonMon1 votesWhat champs did you have the most trouble against with mord?
Keiaga1 votes
are the only toplane champs I couldn't stand. Fiora needs the slightest advantage and her true%hp damage will kill you no matter what. And your e has enough of a delay that she can react with a parry. Tryndamere is pretty easy to stomp early but unless you get more than 6 kills in lane, you always have to be afraid of his ult and he will catch up to you in damage the closer he gets to full build. Other than that, any champion with %HP damage like 
are dangerous. But luckily, morde has a fair amount of burst with a EQaa+hextech active.
You also have to watch out for champs with any sort of cleanse in their kit like 
or 
. You just can't ever ult them unless you see them use their ult first. And always remember to check what other people are buying, since the minute they buy 
you might as well forget about ever ulting them.
edit: another fun thing about Morde is that no one seems to understand how much he heals. It's not often that anyone buys any sort of grievous wounds to deal with you.
LightswornLance2 votesI recommend . He's just overall an insanely good champion atm. Even into ranged he is pretty good. You just empowered W into a few autos and an empowered Q and they are at 70% hp and cant walk up to the wave or you can just do it again and kill them.
JoeMG2 votesYou could always pick something like 
so you can fight and cs safely.
Vlad is especially good right now.
could also work since he has some range and a little dash plus doesn't depend as much on auto attacks for damage.
If you wanna play 
you could take 
to help get on top of him since Temmo is squish.
CurS1VE2 votes
right so these 2 are really safe, Ornn because he loses gracefully you dont have to over commit and he also has a lil mini dash and unstoppable and can self peel when needed
heimer because he works in so many lanes it's tough to judge where he is going, so when u pick heimer ppl maybe think it's mid or even bot. Kind of a psyche out type of pick
Jesi Oni1 votesNasus... You just afk farm under turret and build armor 🤣
Keiaga1 votesTerrible advice. Nasus is even weaker against ranged top laners than Darius and garen.
The thigh guy1 votes 
I mean. Top lane has some of the most uninteractable champions in the game. And most physically can’t die to ganks unless you litteraly fell asleep.
Keiaga1 votesYou must not be very good at top lane if you're calling some of the statistically easiest champs to win against "uninteractable"
The thigh guy1 votesYou must not be very good at top lane if you're calling some of the statistically easiest champs to win against "uninteractable"
Oh really? What is the interaction with riven? Just don’t go near her? Plot twist. That’s the exact opposite of interactive.
Keiaga1 votesThe interaction with riven is to effectively kite her and go for quick trades rather than all-ins unless you can bait her into using a good portion of her dashes just to close in.
47% winrate, ranked 41/44 top laners.
32/44
29/44
28/44
And those are all the champs you listed that don't even break 50% winrate.
The thigh guy1 votesThe interaction with riven is to effectively kite her and go for quick trades rather than all-ins unless you can bait her into using a good portion of her dashes just to close in.
And those are all the champs you listed that don't even break 50% winrate.
So in your logic. Ezreal is somehow broken And uninteractive with a 47% winrate Yet none of these champion are because they have a low winrate (still higher than ezreals was at the time)
You sure are selective about when numbers matter aren’t you. -.-
Keiaga1 votesI never said ezreal was overpowered and I'm never selective with numbers. You just seem to be selective when it comes to reading
LightswornLance1 votesNah most top lane champs have some form of bs cheese mechanics in their kits. 
Keiaga1 votesNo one can stop you from having bad opinions.
LightswornLance1 votesNot even gonna try to counter arguement?
Keiaga1 votesWhat, and try to argue what is or is not "Bs cheese mechanics"? I can list every champs strengths and weaknesses and how effective they actually are but in the end it's all subjective. Not worth my time since I'm having the same discussion already in this same thread
Summoner SpeII1 voteskled, kayle, qiyanna, vlad, keenen, gangplank, renekton, pantheon
the only reason qiyanna is on this list is she is broken enough to be played anywhere, jg mid and top and if ur good u will 1v9 on her
rest all take skill
Pandemic Punch1 votesGangplank is likely the safest first pick right now. After an item, he can hold a lane vs pretty much any opponent due to being able to blow up waves with his barrels. Not to mention you are still able to help anywhere on the map with your ultimate while you sit under tower.
Buckeye20021 votesyou can pick darius, if they pick a range, just rush swifties…...and wreck them. you can also go Vlad/Panth
Subdue1 votesUnless you're playing in a very high elo, your individual ability on a champion far outweighs any advantages a champion may or may not have in a matchup. For the purposes of climbing, you're better off picking a champion you enjoy and playing that champion in every matchup.