Help me decide between these two champions. I need a top laner who can be tanky and do some damage if need be. Also, if you guys have any other suggestions throw them out there. I just dont want mao, hec, rumble. I see them every game and am tired of them lol Also, if you could gives a couple reasons why you suggested the champ you did! Thanks!
P.S. bonus points for a champ that also can beat riven!
Olaf. You can build him straight bulk and let your W and R be the damage for you. Also his R nullifies all CC! If you time it properly, you can easily take out a Riven. Without her knock-up or stun being of any use to her. Olaf also has a lot of ranged poke in his Q, which you level first.
Sion and Malphite both deal good damage and CC while building full tank. Both outscale Riven as long as you don't die to lv 2 cheese or something. Between the two you mentioned though I would lean towards Olaf more as he can really hard dive enemy carries during teamfights, plus Yorick is probably going to get a rework sooner or later.
'Tanky + Do Damage' pretty much describes the whole Bruiser class of champions. Olaf is fun, but he's definitely not the strongest choice in the meta right now. You might do well against some of the tanks people like to bring top lane nowadays, and he's not weak, but prepare to get counter picked by melee counters like 
and 
, and ranged harassers like 
, 
, or 
. Olaf would probably do well against people like 
, 
, 
, 
, etc.
You might want to give a try; his whole deal is that he is stupid strong early and makes the lives of melee top laners miserable. After you dominate your lane (and build an initial damage item) you can build straight tank and be a decent frontline.
don't forget these boys 
, 
i would say
tanky? beat riven? thats pretty much all of em!
and many more ;l
yorick is a sleeper op he shits on everyone
My go-to top laners are:
AP bruiser . build RoA, Rylai's, and Liandry's, and you have excellent mid game burst while your passive burns for ~75 DPS as well as 4% current HP per second. After that get FH, SV, and boots. this build often catches people off guard with his high damage output and huge durability. You have excellent sustain and can force people off of minions with your W, and you are very easy to gank for because of your W-Q combo. Late game, you act as either a team fight initiator or a personal bodyguard for your carries by knocking up/back anyone who comes near them, while spamming your heal to keep your passive's AoE up. When facing a Riven, You can out-sustain her with your E, and get free trades by W-ing her when she is about to CS. Your ult breaks her stun and then blocks the majority of her burst if she goes for an all in.
. He is a niche pick, but if the enemy team is mostly AD, top lane Taric can be a monster and a very powerful counter. Just rush and Iceborn Gauntlet and then build for the occasion (usually anything with Armor, health, or CDR is excellent on him, and you can get a magic resist item if you need to). Your strength as top lane Taric is building full tank and still dishing out scary damage, while peeling teammates. In team fights, cycle through your spells with AAs in between, so that you get your passive off for increased DPS and higher spell uptime. He isn't good if you have to pick first though, because he isn't that great against AP teams, which makes him easily counterable. He hard counters Riven because of his armor stacking, targeted stun, and high burst for such a durable laner. If she all-ins you, hold onto shatter to keep the higher armor, and stun when she gets in your face then try to either burst her with your Ult, passive, and W, or disengage while she's stunned and heal yourself.
. I love this guy. Just remember to always have a sheen item of some sort and a lifesteal item and then you can either go squishy melee carry mode or full tank. He is a strong lane bully, because he can sap the enemy's AD with his Q, and landing AA>Q>AA can be a very powerful burst trade tool. Just be sure to always keep you personal AD buff from Q up at all times for stronger trades and easier last-hitting. Mid-late game, you become one of the strongest melee split pushers in the whole (on par with master Yi), but also have excellent team fight presence by shredding the enemy tank's stats and disrupting enemy positioning with your E. When playing against Riven, you will want to build tankier to withstand her burst (usually start iceborn gauntlet, FH, or Randuin's). If she all-ins you, ult her to gain a ton of resistances and health to survive, and then start battering her down with Q and W. If she tries to run, E to pin her near a wall and you can wail on her even longer.
is also an excellent top laner. Usually, building either full tank or tank with a single attack speed item is the most efficient on him. Trinity force is my go-to damage item for Voli, since it synergizes with his Q and R and allows him to stick well, all while giving a nicely rounded set of stats that Voli loves. After that, go full tank, stacking health, armor, and MR. Voli can also run smite top and build Cinderhulk, which has excellent synergy with his W active effect. Voli is an exceptional duelist for a tank, and scales very well into the late game while being very durable. If fighting a Riven, your kit has several tools that allow you to survive easily, even if you won't be straight up winning early fights. Your passive is excellent for defending against her all-in, and you can run away from her easily if she blows her stun. Later in the game, you become a very strong, very tanky duelist, and she still won't be able to burst you, while you will have a very powerful execute, several steroids, and a lot of strong sticking power.
—Now for your options
. From my experience with him, he seems to be rather snowbally (he either takes over a match or becomes little more than a meat shield with poor CC). He is pretty team reliant to succeed outside of lane, and is better as a tanky duelist than a team fighter. He is mostly a pile of stats kind of champion, and works well with Ravenous hydra and/or Maw of malmortius and then full tank. He is great at sticking to a target and beating them to death, but he is pretty easily kited when ghost isn't up. Your let can be great in team fights, but you lose a ton of durability when you activate it, which is meh in my opinion. When facing Riven, you poke her really hard early game, and you can break her stun with your ult. Your only hope to not get bursted by her all-in is to AA the living daylights out of her and hope to lifesteal through her damage. You scale pretty well into late game if you get a lead, but not quite as well as her most of the time.
I honestly have no experience with 
outside a single match against him (since I don't own him and he isn't in free rotation). I have seen him played professionally and watched several pro VODs with him. He is an excellent lane bully because of his auto targeted ghoul harass, high sustain, and good mixed damage. He exists to force his opponent out of lane while charging up manamune for some better late game presence. Muramana and Trinity force are both excellent pickups on him and synergize well with his kit, after which point the standard idea is to build quite tanky and be a durable frontline. Late game, he kind of falls off if he doesn't have a fed carry to ult, which makes him rather team reliant late game. He can split push and team fight relatively well, and you will almost always have the advantage of him being a rare pick, meaning for the most part, people won't know how to play against you. When playing against Riven, you as a powerhouse lane bully should make it so she doesn't even have a chance to all-in you. If she does, ult yourself and kill her. Kiting around your Revenant allows you to avoid skillshots, and the double pressure of having 2 of you at lvl 6 can sometimes be enough to kill her entirely before she kills you, but at worst you can usually get a revenge kill with your revenant.
@junglerboy16 I actually like trundle a lot too! i just like having some kind of ranged poke, and trundle really only has one offensive ability. He is an absolute monster late game, but i can never seem to do well enough early game for some reason :-/ But thanks everyone for all the answers!!
