Bemoaned as the most coin flip lane, Top has a very polarizing player-base and perception. But, I’m here today to open the door to this lane for you and walk you through on what you need to know to get started with this snowballing lane!

1. The Core Classes and Subclasses

Core Class #1 - Fighters

A short-range bunch that excels at trading patterns that revolve around fancy spacing and medium length fights. Amongst this class, you’ll find your Champions that shine in 1v1 situations where the longer length of Top Lane benefits their kits. Top Lane is the natural habitat for this platsyle and it’s from their island that these Champions cause a flood that the enemy team must deal with.

Fighters tend to hold favorable matchups in Top against the native classes. Though Tanks tend to outscale Fighters, prior to certain item thresholds, Fighters run the lane. Against their own class, each matchup is unique and often boils down to skill expression.

In situations where they match against the occasional off-meta pick, they excel in fighting Assassins, like Qiyana or Akali, as Fighters can outplay their damage potential. But, against Mages and Marksmen, Fighters typically find themselves poked down and struggling against the range advantage these Champions hold over them. Lack of range makes them more susceptible to being kited out, and though this class prefers long-ish trades, they can’t activate their sustaining capabilities without getting in their opponents' faces.

Fighter Subclasses - Divers & Juggernauts

Divers, the first flavor of the Fighters, is a reckless class that holds home to Champions that love to get deep into the mix of things. Champions like Kled, Renekton, Pantheon, and Irelia call this class home.

Divers are quick Champions that excel at isolating single targets and focusing them down in fights, but thanks to their less sturdy stats, they can be focused and peeled off their targets. But, when left to their own devices, or when taking a successful flank, Divers are a nightmare to deal with.

Juggernauts, though not as flashy as their Diver cousins, are relentless Champions who soak up damage and march on through the fire and flames to fight their opponents. Champions like Illaoi, Darius, Sett, Mordekaiser, and Garen fall into the Juggernaut camp.

Juggernauts lack front-loaded damage and often their combos take longer to execute in comparison to their Diver counterparts. Thankfully, their lack of front end burst is mitigated by tankier stats. So, should you choose your fights wisely, you’ll get your combo off and get Conqueror procced and sustaining you through the stickiest of fights.



Core Class #2 - Tanks

Tanks are Champions that sacrifice damage in favor of crowd-control and stats. With this trade, Tanks look to secure kills for their team through disruption and excel at both initiating, disengaging, and peeling in teamfights. Additionally, they often have ways to sustain through damage dealt to them, or ways to boost their defensive stats to mitigate the damage coming their way.

Tanks possess below-average mobility and often falter against classes that are able to extend fights beyond their cooldowns. This is why Champions in the Fighter category typically hold favorable matchups against Tanks.

When against Champions like Assassins or Mages, especially those that focus on front-end burst damage, Tanks can fare better as their stat boosting and sustain based kits can allow the Tank to soak up or recover from the damage dealt to them.

Tank Subcalsses - Vanguards & Wardens

Vanguards are the offensive Tanks. Their goals revolve around initiating fights and their kits excel at quickly locking down out of position opponents. From the Top Lane, Champions like Sion, Ornn, Malphite, Maokai, and Gnar call this class home.

Wardens are the defensively minded Tanks. Their focus often lends itself towards disengage and peeling. They play a very much supportive playstyle and are often home to Champions that can flex into the Support role when needed. Champions that call this role home are Galio, Shen, Tahm Kench, Cho’Gath, and Poppy.


Core Class #3 - Mages

Just as Fighters can flex to the Mid Lane, so to can Mages flex to the Top Lane. Mages are Champions that have great range and crowd-control abilities and seek to dish out their damage from afar rather than up close.

In Top Lane, Mages typically match well against Fighters and Marksmen. Against Marksmen, their burst potential is always high, and against Fighters, Mages are easily able to disengage and kite out the class.

Against Assassins and Tanks though, Mages typically fall flat. Against Assassins, Mages get out-bursted and killed easily thanks to their low mobility. Against Tanks, their damage is often shrugged off through boosted defensives or restored through natural sustain.

Mage Subclasses - Battlemages

Though all Mages can reasonably find their way Top, I want to highlight the most meta of the classes here, Battlemages.

Like Fighters, Battlemages excel at getting into the mix of fights and utilizing their naturally disruptive kits to gain advantage. This often comes in the form of wide zone-control style ultimates and abilities, which gives the Battlemages distinct advantage in teamfight situations. Rumble, Vladimir, Swain, Ryze, Cassiopeia, and Viktor all call this lane role their own, and can easily be flexed between Top and Mid depending on circumstance.


Core Class #4 - Slayers

Slayers are mobile Champions that are great single target damage. What they lack in resiliency, they make up for in mobility, and when considering this class in Top Lane, are monsters at utilizing their mobility in the longer lane.

This class typically matches well against Mages and Marksmen, but can struggle against the likes of Fighters and Tanks. And from the two Subclasses of Slayers, you’ll see one more than the other but both are worth consideration.

Slayer Subclasses - Assassins & Skirmishers

Assassins typically call the Mid Lane home due to their favored matchups being there. But there are a few odd-eggs that prefer the longer lane and can take the matchups their better than they can in the shorter lane of Mid. When playing this Subclass from Top, you’ll probably have your focus on Rengar and Akali.

Skirmishers, lack front-end damage and reliable ways of closing the distance on their opponents. But, they are instead giving unique defensive tools and natural power to sustain through longer exchanges that allow them to cut down Tanks and Fighters alike. Champions that call this Subclass home are Fiora, Jax, Sylas, Riven, Tryndamere, and Yasuo.


Core Class #5 - Marksmen

Marksmen are ranged Champions whose power revolves around basic-attacking/auto-attacking. They utilize their range to land consecutive hits against their opponents which, especially when well protected by their team, can allow for the Marksmen to smack down even the tankiest of opponents.

In Top Lane, Marksmen are often picked to hard counter Tanks and Fighters, who like Mages, they out range. But, where Mages may transition to more teamfight focused roles come late-game, Marksmen are capable of donning split-pushing or teamfighting roles depending on their team comps.

But, as far as Subclasses go, there isn’t much variation in the Marksmen class worth combing through as they all basically ‘do’ the same thing. So, instead, I’ll highlight which of the Marksmen can flex to Top! These Marksmen are: Vayne, Quinn, Kalista, Lucian, and Senna!


2. Wave Management - Freezing, Fast Pushing, Slow Pushing

Wave Management is a key skill to have down for whatever role you’re maining, but in Top, it’s probably THE most important skill to have mastered. Sure, you can get by hard-pushing and backing appropriately, but if you are able to set the waves appropriately you’ll master your pressure regardless of your class and strength.

How to Freeze

Freezing is best executed when you’ve established a lead over your opponent. Using this technique, you’ll be able to position yourself so that you can zone off the enemy from last hitting which will force them to over-extend if they want to get any farm. And if you’re in the lead during this over-extension, you’ll more than likely be able to close the gap and take a kill!

If you want to freeze the wave, all you need to do is last-hit the enemy minions at the last possible moment. But, if your opponent damages your minions, you’ll have to match that damage. Why? Because if your minions die quicker, the wave will start pushing towards you. But, if you match the damage, all the minions will die at nearly the same time which prevents the wave from pushing in either direction.

Managing your autos and damage is important when setting a freeze. Too much or too little and you won’t be able to successfully set the edge against your opponent!

How to Fast Push

Fast pushing, to put it plainly, creates a situation with the minion wave that needs to be answered by your enemies, or they’re allowing free pressure. Fast pushing basically forces the enemy to split, base, or show up to fights extremely late. Going into it, there are three primary situations where one would want to set a fast pushing, and that’s when your team is looking to contest a neutral objective, when you’re looking to recall, or when you’re looking to setup a turret dive.

When taking Dragon, having Bot and Mid wave pushed out creates a situation where you opponents can lag to catch those waves, allowing you time to claim the objective faster, or they generate free pressure while you take a fight near the Dragon. And depending on the outcome of your fight, you can follow up the pressure, or simply take solace that your waves did work on the turret while you fought. Either way, you’ve generated something in return for your wave setup.

When you’ve reached an item spike or are needing to recall for health before a big objective, getting the wave against your opponent is the most important thing you can do before backing. So, by utilizing your abilities, shoving the wave into your opponent forces them to slow down and last hit under turret to get the gold for themselves. During this time, they could use their own resources to catch the wave, recall later than you, and then show up to lane later than you, giving you free pressure before fights or allowing yourself a massive roam timer against your enemies as you’ll again be able to push and roam before they return.

Dives are risky business in League and often boil down to how much CC you have to execute it properly, but one of the best ways to set yourself up for success on any dive is to do it with your minions! (Duh.) Minions taking the brunt of the turret damage is key when you’re looking to dive, and as an added bonus, if your enemy is unaware of their potential demise, they’ll be looking to last hit rather than prep for the dive. So, if you’re peppering them with damage while they’re focusing on the minions, you Diver is in a key position to be able to jump down their throats and secure you the kill. Which, of course, translate to more gold as you’ll have the wave against turret for additional plating during lane phase!

How to Slow Push

Slow Pushing is usually executed during the late game, however during the mid game it’s typically setup so that you can roam. For Champions like Kled, Camille, or Quinn, this tactic is excellent to have down since they possess the ability to roam, dive, and return to their lanes quickly thanks to their gap closers and general speed. Slow pushes create the biggest minion wave possible, and it forces your opponents to answer or risk losing out of all the gold and exp the minions provide, so it’ll take their focus while you can create advantage elsewhere. To set up a slow push, if the wave is pushing to your side, you’ll want to set it up where you have a two or three minion advantage over the enemy wave. If you’re pushing against your opponent, you’ll want a four to five minion advantage. Basically, if you want to have a three minion advantage if you can set it safely.

Slow Pushing, as mentioned, is great for roaming or making plays around the map. But, it also is great to set the wave this way if you’ve reached an item spike or if you’re wanting to generate massive pressure for a neutral objective. Setting a slow push, right before Dragon creates a situation where your opponents will have to decide if they want to contest your neutral objective play or clear the wave to stabilize their lanes.


3. The Mid to Late Game

Mid to Late as a Top Laner always depends on your Champion choice and what role you fulfill in across the map. Consider your Champion class and strength of your team and make the call on if you need to be split-pushing or looking to teamfight with your allies. The likes of Tryndamere, Nasus, or Jax might be better-served splitting away from the team generating pressure through their ability to crush towers quickly, while Sion, Poppy, or Maokai would be better utilized defending their team and looking to take fights against their opponents.

Typically, Mages and Tanks will be wanting to teamfight. While Fighters, Slayers, and Marksmen will be looking to primarily Split-Push. If you’re looking for a guide on that, I’ve got you covered right here.


4. Suggested Champions

Now for the easy bit! My suggestions here will be three tiered: Easy, Medium, and Hard. These difficulty ranges should give you an idea on what Champion you might want to pick-up for your climb!

Easy - Garen
Garen is one of those Champions that Riot will always keep leaning towards the stronger side. As the poster-boy for the game and for Top Lane, Garen comes with an easy to execute lane dominant style of play that serves as a great entry point for anyone trying to learn Top.

Easy - Maokai
With good lane sustain thanks to his passive, bush control from his saplings, wave control with his Q, point and click crowd-control, AND a massive teamfight disrupting ultimate, there’s little not to like about this massive trunk of a tank.

Medium - Vladimir
Vlad’s one of those Champions where at some point the Champion itself starts to carry you. He’s a hyper scaler that has a diverse set of builds and items he can utilize and his slipperiness in lane allows him to dodge even the most punishing of ganks and lane bullies.

Medium - Jax
Like Vlad, Jax is one of those hyper scaling Champions that eventually gets to the point of an unstoppable monster. Unlike Vlad, he’s a better split-pusher than teamfighter and holds a lot of focus around reaching certain item thresholds before he generates a massive amount of pressure through splitting before eventually 1v5ing.

Hard - Riven
Much of Riven’s kit comes through practice and knowing how to execute each precise animation cancel to get the most out of her passive. As a resourceless Champion, getting familiar with the time and output of each of her abilities is key and I’d say it takes more than 50 games on the Champion before you can even begin to feel comfortable. But, when you have her down she’s one of the most rewarding and snowbally Champions in League of Legends.

Hard - Gangplank
GP exists in this weird bubble where he’s a bit of every class put into one Champion. But, like Riven, when you master his barrel placement, power spikes, and overall play pattern, you’ll find yourself one shotting every carry in the League and watching your opponents cry before you.



4. Closing Out

This dive covers A LOT of what you'll need to get down, but even I'll admit it's very surface level as to what you can learn and master. As always, I simply suggest picking a Champion you resonate with and spamming games with them. Learn how they live in the culture of Top Lane and master the limits you can reach with the Champion. Every Normal game you feed in learning a new role, is one less ranked game that you feed in!