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Is it going to take a "Top Lane Tea Party" for Riot to even try to fix top lane?

AirKingNeo··31 votes·2,308 views

If you know anything about American history, you would know the Boston Tea Party is. A few revolutionaries dressed as Native Americans and threw heavily taxed tea into the Boston Harbor. Now, this was met with what American history calls the "Intolerable Acts", which shut down Boston Harbor, the current main trade port of the colonies, and removed self government from the Massachusetts colony.

Is this the type of thing that would need to happen to get Riot's attention to fix top lane instead of fucking around? Would it take high elo top laners to just both run down mid and int for about a week just for Riot to get their shit together? Now imagine if other people from other roles joined with them against this tyranny?

The worst part is you can see other parallels. There is not a single top lane bruiser player on the balance team, except for the Riven main and the Yasuo main, which is why, despite them being 'weak' for the same reasons as other bruisers, they got special treatment and were buffed. Bramble Vest was the Boston Massacre that completely fucked top lane.

Is it really going to take a revolution just for Riot to realize they fucked up? Or maybe they're delusional and can't handle the possibility of messing up that they believe they are doing the right thing?

87 Comments

Slythion17 votes

As much as I dislike to admit it, I would really love to watch this happen. Especially with the recent unbanning of Tyler1, it just seems so ironically perfect

Cunky16 votes

https://i.imgur.com/Zki6LEk.gif

Judge Steven3 votes

Oh, nice! You've been to top lane recently as well?

Salson6 votes

Top lane is suffering since Riot let Junglers hit level 3 with 3 camps. The removal of rune resistances has now exagereted the problem because good luck surviving the damage of 2 people, one of which is higher leveled and has the overpowered red buff.

Literally all Riot has to do to fix Top is nerf Jungle exp on item 1041 and item 1039 to make Junglers full clear > back to upgrade the item.

sanaru025 votes

This so much. Lv3 Lee right when I'm hitting 2 is so brutal. It makes champs who want to trade early in lane so much worse due to how you basically have to fear an early gank or waste f. 1v2s that early are almost impossible.

HaIlMonitor2 votes

I play a lot of Jungle and some top. Like tbh the only way a jungler is out leveling laners right now is they are Fed as fuck, or are leeching tons of farm. Outside of that level 3 power spike (which if you are top really shouldn't be dying to often anyways).

Top lane really has the issue of we have 2017 rework Cait champs Pantheon NasusYorick Gnar Jayce that if you pick a solid team fight champ you will get shit on in lane most likely to the point you wont be relevant anyways. OR they just pick some hyper tank and if you dont kill them at all they will just sit there farming for days and you wont be relevant because your bot went 0/7

Doozku5 votes

Every toplane streamer starts inting for a week?

I seriously wonder what riot would do about something like that happening even if the chances of that happening are near zero.

jadelink2 votes

More to the point, how would you tell the difference ? the game is now so snowbally that lanes are going 0/5 in 10 minutes so often that everyone expects it to happen, you just try to make sure it goes your teams way.

Yaśuo Main5 votes

which bruiser was weaker than Yasuo or Riven? Just wanna know, I play Darius a lot so I'm just wondering.

Oxyrotten2 votes

All of them.

Edit: Nobody get's my humor so I feel I should explain. Riven is kinda weak at the moment, but yeah. Some of the bruisers got indirect buffs like nasus is doing ok, gp isn't bad etc. But the majority of the bruisers have been in the shit can for the last 3 or 4 seasons.

Troll for Trump2 votes

Every bruiser that's not abusing a keystone. Which they are fixing by adding a new keystone for them sometime soon.

So the ones excluded from this: Shyv and udyr who cheese pta procs, and are jglers (so safer) Yorick with the weak turrets Nasus Klepto Illaoi Klepto GP Klepto Panth Aery Urgot PTA

Camille and Garen idk

Z3Sleeper5 votes

Bramble Vest ruined it? Aight we're talking about 2 entirely different top lane experiences then.

I'm on the fuck Gnar Jayce Pantheon GangplankNasus hypetrain.

Kosm1K3 votes

Dont forget Quinn

vincentwu1231 votes

Im a Jayce one trick with 2.5k games on him, 21 accounts with 19+ of those in plat+ and 6 of those in Diamond5-Diamond2 in Season 7 alone.

Since preseason started, ive been struggling in plat 5-3 elo now. Legit am a Jayce otp, D2 in September 2017. and now im struggling in plat elo. Top lane and new runes are fucked.

Z3Sleeper1 votes

As a person who despises Jayce, I'm glad that's the case.

But to you as an individual real person, I'm sorry this is the case that your main isn't as strong as before.

Pumping Iron5 votes

top lane in 2k18 lul

Penns4 votes

its going to take bruisers being actually weak hehe

Ahristocats8 votes

yes! bruisers are totally working as intended

IllaoiNasus klepto Camille Olaf were intended to poke you out of lane with comet Darius terrible Renekton terrible Aatrox Garen Yorick Trundle beyond terrible

i see nothing wrong guys /s

PopcornBunni2 votes

[{quoted}](name=I am Rubick Sama,realm=EUW,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=wJx9oMEx,comment-id=00070000,timestamp=2018-01-09T06:44:20.890+0000) Yorick beyond terrible

Yorick is literally capably of solo carrying a game to the point of needing to be hotfixed after his Q buff.

Ahristocats4 votes

it was hotfixed at a point where no one knew how to abuse toplane

put yorick against klepto abusers and tell me the news

https://www.leagueofgraphs.com/champions/stats/yorick/diamond

Penns1 votes

JarvanIV Jax Camille opie tho hehe

Isnt there also that Renek jungle stuff becoming popular? lul

Ahristocats3 votes

https://www.leagueofgraphs.com/champions/stats/jarvaniv/platinum

j4 1% pick rate top XD jax abuses klepto camille abuses comet

Penns1 votes

So iss just about top? Den i want to complain about mid lane assassins barely being viable since like season 5 heh

Ahristocats5 votes

ekko 3% pick rate 50% win rate same with talon fizz 6% pick rate 50% win rate katarina 9% pick rate 53% win rate zed 11% pick rate 49% win rate

YEAH barely viable xd

meanwhile toplane is a clown fiesta of POKE abusers or klepto abusers you're darius/renekton and can't use either? welcome to being unviable

Penns1 votes

Sure in plat or something, but do u ever see a Fizz player? Its been Syndra Taliyah Corki Lucian Cass Ryze Azir for so long now.

Kassadin is like the only assassin that I see often in high elo games but he is basically a tank xd And Fizz maybe at worlds because he has a safer and higher range Malzahar ult lel

Ahristocats4 votes

"basically a tank" u have an art of making my day friend

Fizz in my games? ye i do, and he carried me recently

lucian is never picked mid, stop living in 2017, same with cass and syndra

ryze is overrated azir needs to be olafed corki isn't picked that much since his last nerf in 7.24

the most picked mids are TF ori zed kat and 2 of them are assassins

NemeBro1 votes

[{quoted}](name=I am Rubick Sama,realm=EUW,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=wJx9oMEx,comment-id=00070000000100000000000000000000,timestamp=2018-01-09T08:59:58.680+0000)

"basically a tank" u have an art of making my day friend

Fizz in my games? ye i do, and he carried me recently

lucian is never picked mid, stop living in 2017, same with cass and syndra

ryze is overrated azir needs to be olafed corki isn't picked that much since his last nerf in 7.24

the most picked mids are TF ori zed kat and 2 of them are assassins

Ryze is picked more than those four in EUW Masters actually.

As is Xerath, but I hear Xerath support is becoming popular. Azir is also picked more.

Filtered for challenger, Ryze is the most-picked mid laner in EUW.

http://euw.op.gg/statistics/champion/

NemeBro4 votes

[{quoted}](name=I am Rubick Sama,realm=EUW,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=wJx9oMEx,comment-id=00070000,timestamp=2018-01-09T06:44:20.890+0000)

yes! bruisers are totally working as intended

IllaoiNasus klepto Camille Olaf were intended to poke you out of lane with comet Darius terrible Renekton terrible Aatrox Garen Yorick Trundle beyond terrible

i see nothing wrong guys /s

I am happy that every single bruiser you listed as being terrible is terrible, with the exception of Darius and Yorick. I'm okay with them getting buffs. The others need reworks. One of them is confirmed to be getting a large-scope one, so whining about him is very silly.

I will agree that Camille, Olaf, Nasus , and Illaoi should have some access to a keystone that is more fitting for them though. Taking comet as Camille gives me a yeast infection.

edit: Oh, and delete Klepto.

Ahristocats2 votes

{quoted}

I am happy

good

Śhunpo4 votes

Yeah....something about an axe wielding viking throwing a magical comet out of his body doesn't make sense to me.

Serika Zero4 votes

Playable characters in top lane: Akali Ekko Talon Yasuo Rengar - assassins (or very similar to assassin play style) Fiora Camille Jax Tryndamere Trundle Aatrox Gnar Irelia Kled Renekton Riven - duelists (1v1) Maokai Malphite Nautilus Shen Sion TahmKench Urgot Ornn - tanks or very clos to tanks Volibear Mordekaiser Darius DrMundo Singed - juggernauts thing stuff Gangplank Gragas Gnar Kennen Poppy - team fight monsters Vayne Quinn Jayce Teemo Kayle - adcs Pantheon - pantheon

Top lane is one of the most versatile lanes out there. http://na.op.gg/champion/statistics There's like 50 champions being played top lane, out of like 150 heroes available in the game. The only ones with current issues are: Galio - which is better mid Ryze - which is better mid Tryndamere - which has keystones issues right now Nautilus - no clue why Trundle - because people don't play tanks in the preseason Ekko - which is better mid Rumble, Mundo and Renekton.

Out of which, Rumble, Mundo, Renekton and Nautilius might need some help to make them better toplaners. Everyone else is fine.... Heck, even Renekton despite having a 47% win rate overall in top, played by mains, he has over 50% win rate (57% - 54% win rate actually). which, btw, seems quite good. So, no, top lane is not the disaster you call it to be. Also, there's another 'tea party' going on in USA right now, or at least, they call themselves that way

Śhunpo5 votes

Akali - Broken when sent top lane. Jax - Extremely good with Kleptomancy (will likely decline in how good he is when Klepto is nerfed) Gangplank - Same as Jax. Should be ok after Klepto gets hit. Maokai Malphite Shen Ornn - They are all absolutely broken because they're overbuffed. Additionally the tank class as a whole is still universally flawed.

Singed - Likely needs a hit to his poison damage and some more utility buffs. This champion benefits immensely from the new runes.

Gnar - Needs a tone down to ranged form and a few good buffs to Mega Gnar. Vayne Quinn - These need to fuck right off back to bot lane where they belong. Teemo - Needs a rework as he's unhealthy to play against. Jayce - This champion is absolutely unfair when sent top lane. Pantheon - Desperately needs a rework to make him more healthy to play against.

There IS a 'tea party' going on in the top lane in the form of tanks dominating every other class sent top lane, ranged top laners bullying out bruisers and certain champions abusing Kleptomancy. It's a disaster in the sense that bruisers are simply not that great top lane when matched against tanks or ranged top laners.

Serika Zero4 votes

let me understand this right. The only time top lane is going to be 'good' or 'fine' or a 'healthy' state as far as you people are concerned is only when: Renekton, Riven and Irelia are the only top laners that are viable to be played?

because to me, this sounds like bullshit. about 33% out of the entire champion pool can play in the top lane successfully. There are 3 lanes, and a jungler. So, even 25% would be a balanced number, and how bot laners go in pair, even just 20% of the roster being viable top lane would be good balanced game. But its not that its 33%, that's A VERY VARIED AND BALANCED LANE WHERE YOU CAN PLAY ALMOST ANYTHING.

And you people still complain. Its like you heavily dislike anything that's not one of your preferred champions. The ONLY PROBLEM WITH TOP LANE is that there are a few champions (rumble, renekton, etc) which are played almost exclusively top and they perform badly. THAT'S ALL. And its a very SMALL NUMBER OF THEM, which can be addressed with better keystones WHICH RIOT ALREADY SAID THEY WILL INTRODUCE ABOUT 5 MORE KEYSTONES AT LEAST (it might take them a year, but whatever, at least its not fully forgotten, they could get a buff before new keystones tho).

PS. I might have not played against diamond or challanger players. But Teemo is more less of a problem top lane than kennen is. Also, I don't find Jayce to be unfair. Do note, top lane I was mostly playing the likes of: Akali, Nocturne, Shyvana, Rengar. Aka: not meta picks

Śhunpo1 votes

No, the only time top lane is healthy is when tanks aren't oppressing every other class sent top lane and when ADCs fuck right off back to bot lane.

Renekton, Riven, Irelia wasn't and will never be a top lane trifecta. Renekton is usually really good when tanks aren't dominating though. Riven is far too situational to ever be THE go-to top lane pick, and Irelia is much the same.

Jayce is extremely unfair, he's a ranged champion sent top lane with arguably the highest range in the game with Q->E or E->Q (ranged form) AND if you even try to trade him in melee range he'll outdamage you with hammer form, E you away and it's back to playing the bitch until Jayce fucks up again.

Furthermore, a lane isn't balanced when an entire class is only good when taken against the same class in a matchup. 'Cause, bruisers lose to tanks, they lose to ranged top laners and they lose to lane bullies such as Singed.

Also, you really think laning against Maokai/Malphite/Ornn/Shen is interactive? They do MORE damage than you do, they have amazing CC, they block damage you do AND in the case of Maokai and Ornn they have immense sustain. What do bruisers have? Damage, damage and more damage, all of which is countered by a Bramble Vest.

Serika Zero1 votes

ehem, season 3 and some part of season 4 WAS the renekton, irelia and riven meta >.>

like wtf is wrong with you people? also, jayce is not extremly unfair. For fuck's sake, remember when Ryze could PERMENTLY SNARE YOU????????????????????????????? AND HIT YOU WITH HIS SKILLS FROM RANGE???????????? WHILE YOU CAN'T MOVE?????????????

Now that was fucking unfair, Jayce is just a normal ranged match-up. I also used to kill ornn and shens and malphites and maokais when playing akali top. Took a while to harass them down and then kill them, but very possible. Likewise with nocturne top, like wtf people? How about you learn to play your picks instead of complaining all the time.

Śhunpo1 votes

So...the CHALLENGER players who are agreeing that Jayce is unfair are all wrong?

Also, I never remember Irelia nor Riven being incredibly amazing during seasons 3-4. Renekton definitely was, but Irelia and Riven were always high B tier to A tier picks, not S tier. If we're talking season 4, we're talking like Rumble, Shyv, Mundo. Season 3 was most definitely still Shen, Olaf, Renekton as the top lane trifecta.

Serika Zero1 votes

right, 'better nerf irelia' meme is nothing but a lie.

Also, CHALLENGER PLAYERS PLAY AGAINST CHALLENGER LEVEL JAYCE, you do FUCKING NOT. You do NOT play against a Jayce that is going to punish you for every single cs you take, you do NOT play against a Jayce that can disengage every single attempt you have of jumping on him.

You people are pissed when riot balances around LCS or challanger or diamond level of play. BUT NOW ALL THAT IS FINE BECAUSE NERFING SOMEONE ONLY FOR THAT HIGH TIER OF PLAY FITS YOUR AGENDA. Right? This level of hypocrisy is quite disgusting.

When I was playing top Akali facing Kennen (who counters her btw, very hard, being ranged and having cc and can hit her while invisible and can see where she is when she is invisible with his lightning) and I had no issues in gold or plat. Why? BECAUSE I WASN'T PLAYING AGAINST FUCKING CHALLANGER KENNENS. While Akali players in Masters and higher hate the living hell out of Kennen.

Its the same thing with Jayce. Sure, Jayce can be opressive and very difficult to fight against IF THE JAYCE PLAYER IS GOOD ENOUGH TO DO EVERYTHING PERFECTLY, AND THEY FUCKING WON'T OTHERWISE THEY WILL BE CHALLANGER, NOT diamond, plat, gold, silver, bronze. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAND, Jayce's is just the 3rd more popular toplaner in challanger, at least for euw. Where it goes like: camille (twice as many games as jayce), gnar (200 games) and jayce (180 games), this is not counting stuff like shen or jarvan or ryze which might go top or other roles. With ban rate of about 2%.

Meaaaaaaaaaanwhile Camille, which almost all of you say she's bad since she's from the 'fighter' class or 'bruisers' lets just say her ban numbers are far greater.

Jayce might be 'unfair', but he isn't the only 'unfair' champion. And if Jayce is unfair, what the fuck are Ryze and Gnar? non existent imaginary characters that i don't know about? Do you even know how fucking disgusting is to play against a gnar that has just one of his 2 'core' items completed (black cleaver or frozen mallet) ? And unlike jayce, this fucker doesn't run out of mana and has an escape as well.

Śhunpo1 votes

[{quoted}](name=Serika Zero,realm=EUW,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=wJx9oMEx,comment-id=000d000000000000000000000000,timestamp=2018-01-10T22:11:54.624+0000)

right, 'better nerf irelia' meme is nothing but a lie.

Also, CHALLENGER PLAYERS PLAY AGAINST CHALLENGER LEVEL JAYCE, you do FUCKING NOT. You do NOT play against a Jayce that is going to punish you for every single cs you take, you do NOT play against a Jayce that can disengage every single attempt you have of jumping on him.

You people are pissed when riot balances around LCS or challanger or diamond level of play. BUT NOW ALL THAT IS FINE BECAUSE NERFING SOMEONE ONLY FOR THAT HIGH TIER OF PLAY FITS YOUR AGENDA. Right? This level of hypocrisy is quite disgusting.

When I was playing top Akali facing Kennen (who counters her btw, very hard, being ranged and having cc and can hit her while invisible and can see where she is when she is invisible with his lightning) and I had no issues in gold or plat. Why? BECAUSE I WASN'T PLAYING AGAINST FUCKING CHALLANGER KENNENS. While Akali players in Masters and higher hate the living hell out of Kennen.

Its the same thing with Jayce. Sure, Jayce can be opressive and very difficult to fight against IF THE JAYCE PLAYER IS GOOD ENOUGH TO DO EVERYTHING PERFECTLY, AND THEY FUCKING WON'T OTHERWISE THEY WILL BE CHALLANGER, NOT diamond, plat, gold, silver, bronze. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAND, Jayce's is just the 3rd more popular toplaner in challanger, at least for euw. Where it goes like: camille (twice as many games as jayce), gnar (200 games) and jayce (180 games), this is not counting stuff like shen or jarvan or ryze which might go top or other roles. With ban rate of about 2%.

Meaaaaaaaaaanwhile Camille, which almost all of you say she's bad since she's from the 'fighter' class or 'bruisers' lets just say her ban numbers are far greater.

Jayce might be 'unfair', but he isn't the only 'unfair' champion. And if Jayce is unfair, what the fuck are Ryze and Gnar? non existent imaginary characters that i don't know about? Do you even know how fucking disgusting is to play against a gnar that has just one of his 2 'core' items completed (black cleaver or frozen mallet) ? And unlike jayce, this fucker doesn't run out of mana and has an escape as well.

Gnar doesn't have the range nor damage that Jayce has, nor does he have a "get the fuck off me" spell other than his Mega form's ult.

We don't want a champion nerfed for just one tier, we want a champion nerfed across ALL tiers, because some champions are just universally broken, such as Jayce.

As for your Akali vs Kennen argument, that is irrelevant.

The issue with Jayce is that he doesn't even have to play everything perfectly because the damage he outputs with the new runes and in general is disgusting. You simply lose any trade with him unless you kill him.

As for Camille, she's only good because she's played in a poke-esque style right now, so honestly I wouldn't consider to be an actual pick since she's so far gone off of her original laning pattern due to Comet.

I never said Gnar wasn't unfair. However, Jayce is much more overbearing than Gnar to face and he doesn't really have any windows where you can consistently punish him.

Serika Zero1 votes

the akali argument was very simple and easy to understand: not all players can abuse a champion (ie: kennen) the way it can be abused.

Yes, Gnar doesn't have a 'get the fuck off me' spell, he has a "cya sucker spell", which is more effective in creating distance between you are the attackerS AS IN, ITS A BETTER DEFENSIVE TOOL AS IT CAN BE USED AGAINST MULTIPLE ATTACKERS, NOT ONLY AGAINST ONE.

And i honestly don't care if 'camille is only good because she is played as poke', or 'this pick is only good because teleport exists' or 'this pick can jungle because spellbook exists'. They can do it? they can handle the early game and it works? Great, you got to do what you got to do to get farm and gold in the early game.

Its not like you'll play camille poke style in the mid or late game looooool. And no, Gnar is more overbearing than Jayce. And even worst than these two is phanteon. And there are other picks against which is difficult to play. But that doesn't mean such picks need to be nerfed. Its kind of stupid to gut everything besides your favorites. And that's what a lot of people these days are demanding

GayFluffyUnicorn5 votes

Playable doesn't mean they are fucking good. Three champs who pretty much invalidate the entire roster is not good design.

Btw i don't know if people get this: It's not only or majorily about who is playable. I want to be able to fucking DO something from toplane when my team intfeeds. Give me old TP back, lower the cost of trinity, buff hydra idk ANYTHING to make me not want to commit sudoku every single fucking game.

How to fix toplane: Step 1) Nerf cheese and cancer, give us a decent rune tree or ATLEAST keystone. Step 2) Make toplane a high impact role again. You know the midgame carry as it was supposed to be or if ritato doesn't want that because muh counterplay actually give them good lategame items. Or even fucking better and this is the ultimate solution to a big chunk of problems in league

NERF FUCKING BOTLANE FOR CHRIST SAKE. NERF BOTLANE. NERF BOTLANE. NERF BOTLANE. NO DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT SOMETHING ELSE JUST DO THIS NERF BOTLANE. MAKE THEM NOT POWERSPIKE TEN MINUTES INTO THE GAME BECAUSE THEY GOT ONE DOUBLE AND FB TOWER.

The JigSAW1 votes

AMEN.

AirKingNeo2 votes

Most top laners are shit. Maybe you don't play top lane, but if you aren't playing Riot's forced meta, it feels like shit. You can be fucking 2 kills and 15 CS over your opponent, a large lead for top lane as a bruiser, and then get full comboed by Maokai or Ornn.

And don't compare my historical, revolutionary tea party with the American Taliban.

Serika Zero1 votes

I used to play top lane and mid lane from s3 all the way to s7 inclusive. The past 2 months or so, I've been trying to move towards jungle (mainly, eve, since i like the stealth mechanic and how sounds change when she enters stealth).

Needless to say, I was able to make nocturne top work a week or two in the pre season and like a month before (since i only picked him up for that long). I highly doubt things changes that massively since like the second week of the preseason until now.

And as you could probably tell, nocturne top is not something 'riot's meta enforce'.....

Invidie3 votes

nah we need some greasy fat burger party

AirKingNeo3 votes

I feel like this is a reference that I do not understand.

D3m37r15 votes

I think it's a reference to the american stereotype

Punkkee3 votes

wait lol this would be so good

Dasdi963 votes

I think we should spam reddit and in game with “toplane 2k18 lul”. It worked with adcs last year.

Altiverse2 votes

Yeah, I'm a top main. Since preseason hit I'm playing on an alt account whenever I want to play ranked (currently D3) and I swear to god that getting into a game is basically flipping a coin on which bot lane won the first 5min of lane phase. Leggo Legenz 2k18.

Power Cosmic2 votes

In anything resembling a decent matchup, jungle matters more to top lane than the laner.

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