"Ahh, toplane. That island on the other side of the map from the rest of your team, where allies and enemies alike seemingly randomly either die repeatedly or not at all; a complete bloodbath or just a massive farming snoozefest. I mean, that's okay, right? To each their own, if someone wants to play top I'm glad because it means I don't have t-- wait, what? Autofill? Toplane? What do I even play...?"

If this resembled your thought process in the past, or is likely to do so in the future, then please do not worry, because this article is here to help. This is an article on which champions are currently demonstrating the most impact in their role of toplane... while remaining easily accessible for those who don't main top.

Before I delve into detail with the individual picks, I'd like to just preface this with explaining that a lot of the utility offered by these champions come from their abilities and innate tankiness, as well as their item builds. However, another factor introduced since preseason is the mastery Courage of The Colossus, a percentage health shield granted when hitting an enemy with hard crowd control, scaling with the amount of enemies surrounding you. This in turn makes the laning phase on these champions even smoother. They are relatively easy to pick up and bring a lot of indirect power to the playing field even when behind. The mastery itself also grants an insane amount of backline pressure, as your champion can just dive repeatedly (though not too recklessly, one would hope) and have massive survivability thanks to the shield offered.

Being high impact tanks that soak large amounts of damage for their team while also remaining sustained damage threats, these champions also are not particularly mechanically demanding. This is why I believe them to be accessible to anyone with solid decision making skills that needs a dependable option to win with when they play top. The champions in question are, of course, Maokai, Nautilus, and Poppy. I will go into detail for each of these picks, in order. They are also especially accessible for newer players, with Maokai having been gifted out at the end of last season to anyone with a rank of Gold or higher, Poppy costing only 450 IP, and Nautilus being free on a long-term basis (until this week, actually) as part of Riot's efforts to encourage players to practice support more often.

Maokai

Maokai is a mainstay of the toplane since the implementation of his rework in season 4, but the Twisted Treant had seen better days as far as last season was concerned. Falling out of favour in a meta very much dominated by carry tops towards the end of Season 6, his claim to the throne was all but dismissed. However, with tanks yet again becoming legitimate threats by themselves thanks to their high base damages and general invulnerability (thanks again, Courage of The Colossus), expect the tree to come out even or ahead in almost any lane. In the rare occasion that you do fall behind on him, you are still of use - peeling for your carries instead of diving the enemy backline. I personally expect Maokai to be the go-to toplaner of off-role players, as well as that of long-term top lane mains that favour tanks (I'm sure these kind of people exist somewhere!). The sustain granted by his passive is almost unmatched, especially with the Runic Armor mastery that increases healing and regeneration effects by 8%. His level 1 trading is strong, with most players choosing to skill his Q - Arcane Smash - now, for its low cooldown, mana cost, and relatively high base damage.

Of note is that if you cast this spell while the enemy champion targeted by it is within your immediate vicinity, you will briefly knock them back - allowing for a very, very strong level 1 trade with Courage of the Colossus. Short of this level 1 trade, his level 2 is also very strong - especially if you take Twisted Advance (W) and receive a gank, as Maokai is one of the greatest enablers for junglers in the game thanks to the plethora of crowd control at his fingertips... roots... things. However, do be aware that with your Q and E (Sapling Toss), you do push the wave rather fast, especially when building a Sunfire Cape as your first item - and while you can dodge skillshots and the ilk with your Twisted Advance, you are going to want to be careful as to how far you do shove up the lane. Make sure to use Saplings for vision, and be aware that your R (Vengeful Maelstrom) drains a large amount of mana, though this is often offset by picking up a Frozen Heart as early as your second or third item. Your role in teamfights is to lock down the enemy carry threats for your team, but also to peel anyone from your own carries that is looking to do the same to them. As such, I cannot emphasise any harder on the importance of decision making.

Poppy

Poppy, Poppy, Poppy, Poppy. Where do we begin? Another dark horse thrown into the spotlight with a mid-season rework, the little yordle that could is another super tank with an actually disgusting amount of base damage available to her, provided she hits the conditional parts of her abilities. The Keeper of The Hammer can proc Courage of The Colossus on all of her abilities except her Q (Hammer Shock), providing she appropriately uses her W (Steadfast Presence) and manages to interrupt an enemy ability. The mastery also procs on her E - Heroic Charge - from the start of the animation, as the knockback itself is what triggers it regardless of you manage to land the stun or not. Again, the champion goes even or better in almost every matchup, often looking to build Sunfire Cape into Iceborn Gauntlet almost immediately for the large amount of tankiness and damage that these items bring. Do note, however, that she can offset these and delay them in her item build if she is against an AP laner and needs a Spectre's Cowl to help her through the lane phase.

A lot of the champion's power comes from her R (Keeper's Verdict), with which she can both disengage from, though conversely also enable, sieging or even engage with it - a mighty swing of her hammer that knocks enemies further towards their summoner platform the longer you charge it. She has very favourable matchups thanks to her basic abilities when versus typical toplane carry picks like Riven and Yasuo, and is able to shut these champions down and keep them out of the game entirely in some cases because correct use of her crowd control abilities completely denies their attempts to pick and choose when and when not to engage. A lot of this champion's power comes from limiting the options your opponents have due to the sheer power your kit brings to the table. In both lane and teamfights, you should be looking to lockdown priority targets with your W (denying them any escape attempts short of a Flash) into a wallstun with E and hitting both parts of your Q. You can either use R for additional damage, or to disengage and peel for your carries, or to knock some priority targets away and force an engage onto the rest of their team. You are granted your shield from Courage of the Colossus from the onset, and you have a lot of staying power in the middle of a fight thanks to your innate durability. Her passive is also a very strong shield and decent amount of damage in the laning phase. Look to trade with it as often as possible in lane, and try to play around it when possible. Again, her lockdown and complete removal of her opponents' options makes her a prime candidate to gank for.

Nautilus

Perhaps the champion that has been out of the spotlight for the longest. He hasn't received a rework or anything similar, having only been seen in the toplane when Zz'Rot meta was a thing in Season 5. The greatest gank enabler of them all, his low cooldown and high utility kit offers a snare (his passive, this also procs Courage of The Colossus for some insane level 1 trading), a hook (strong engage, strong peel), a shield that increases his area of effect damage dealt while it is active and synergises insanely well with Courage of The Colossus, an AoE slow that does decent damage on an incredibly short cooldown, and a targeted ranged knockup for an ultimate ability that also knocks up anyone it passes through. Often overlooked due to his lack of innate sustain outside of his W shield (Titan's Wrath), the fact that he can take it level 1 and yet also proc Courage of The Colossus with his autoattacks means the Titan of the Depths is a force to be reckoned with.

With constant, oppressive crowd control and a very forgiving hook hitbox (seriously, go try it! Dredge Line is pretty disgusting sometimes), your role in teamfights is to lock down not only priority targets, but also peel for your carries while being an unkillable monster. But the really disgusting thing about Nautilus is that he can do both at the same time, using his R (Depth Charge) to knock up a priority target, and then using his Q on whomever he wants while slowing everyone with his E (Riptide), occasionally snaring with his passive (Staggering Blow). Nautilus can actually hook himself to terrain at a reduced cooldown, therefore he can escape ganks with varying amounts of success if he shoves the lane - but again, anyone that ganks a Nautilus is allowing his team to run rampant, especially since this champion offers the same amount of utility when behind as he does when ahead.

In Conclusion

Essentially, when it comes to all of these champions, you need to trade appropriately, though the same can be said for every champion. However, the innate tankiness and shields offered by their kits, item choices, and masteries allow their playstyles to be a lot more forgiving of mistakes and shortcomings. As long as you don't end the laning phase with too many deaths (we've all been there...), you will still find yourself being a legitimate teamfight threat and genuine asset to your team. Remember to ward appropriately (especially key as these champions shove very fast; don't be afraid to invest in a Control Ward on almost every return to base; the utility offered by vision alone offsets any drawbacks of delaying your item build as a tank more often than not), and to focus on improving - you'll get the hang of these champions in no time. Thanks for reading, and best of luck with your climbing/learning experience.

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