Few champions have the ability to tilt the entire enemy team simply by getting ahead. In the case of these 3 top laners, their dominance and snowball potential in low Elo is such that each kill they get tends to send the enemy team over the edge. Fret not, for more often than not, the solution is simply to dodge, not the game, but certain abilities.

While there are some champions whose kits naturally allow them to do well against these terrors, a solid understanding of the terrors and playing towards their weaknesses is something that can be applied to every pick. In game, the only way this will be useful is if you have an understanding of your own pick’s playstyle and power spikes first. Without further ado, kicking of our list of terrors is non-other than the Space Jam enthusiast himself:

Darius

A third of the reason people start playing ranged top laners or stop playing top lane altogether, Darius is a low mobility, high damage bruiser that is one of the most banned champions in the game according to LeagueofGraphs.

Like the other 2 champions on this list, the source of Darius’s strength comes from his abilities. Decimate – Darius’s Q – applies his passive while healing him. This is the ability that makes him seemingly unkillable. His W, Crippling Strike, is an auto-attack reset that extends his auto-attack range while also slowing the enemy by 90% for a second. Apprehend – his E – passively provides 15-35% armor penetration while being a short-ranged AOE hook that slows enemies hit by 40% for a second. Finally, his passive is a bleed while his infamous ultimate is an execute with a fixed base damage that is increased from 0-100% based on his passive stacks, not your remaining HP!

The most common misconceptions people have when fighting Darius is that his ultimate is what is to be feared. In actuality, while his ultimate does mean he is never completely useless at any point in the game, it warrants the least amount of your attention when playing against him in lane. Throughout every stage in the game, the first thing you HAVE to watch out for are his passive stacks. They make Darius the monster that he is by giving him tonnes of damage, especially at 5 stacks, and enabling his ultimate. In lane, stay out of range of his E and do your best to dodge his Q. Remember that Darius is extremely strong in the early and mid-game but doesn’t fall off completely later on thanks to his passive and dunk. His main weakness is getting kited or not being able to get on top of his enemy which is why almost every Darius goes ghost and flash.

Spells to avoid at all cost:

Spells to keep in mind & watch out for:

Given your objectives of having to dodge his Q and E, playing top lane champions with some form of mobility would be a good first step. Champions with dashes can use them to dodge both these abilities. Remember that getting hit by the inner circle of Darius’s Q negates 65% of the damage, takes away the heal, and does not add stacks to you. Most of the times in 1v1s the difference between winning and losing a fight is dodging Darius’s Q. No really, dodge his Q. Once you have become a Q dodging monster, the rest is easy. Take short trades against him to avoid letting him stack his passive and watch out for his E. By poking him down, taking short trades, and denying him from healing off his Q, you create opportunities to kill him either solo or with the help of a jungler. Just remember, even when he seems low you have to dodge the Q.

Challenger level Q dodgers:

In some ways Darius is kind of like Nasus, both of them rely on stacks to be optimal, both can ignore armor, both are reliant on hitting Qs, and both have brothers who are their complete opposites! Speaking of which......

Renekton

The least likely champion in this list to be featured in pentakill montages, Renekton uses one of the most basic and beginner friendly kits in the game to absolutely dominate opposing laners. It is not uncommon to find Renektons proxying waves between towers, lulling the enemy laner and jungler into a false sense of security, before waddling away with 600 more gold.

Renekton’s strengths lie in his incredible early and mid-game kill potential from his AOE, healing Cull the Meek (Q), single target 0.75 – 1.1 second, unavoidable stun – Ruthless Predator (W), and his high mobility, armour shredding dash – Slice and Dice (E). His lumbering walking animation can mask the deceptive quickness of his E, combined with the damage and CC from his W, that allows him to even win lane against overconfident ranged matchups.

Fortunately, and while it may not seem like it at times, this champion does come with a few exploitable weaknesses. For starters, his extraordinary early and mid-game naturally leads into an average late game. As games go on, he becomes increasingly reliant on his Flash in order to consistently stick to targets and engage on enemies. This means that you should look to champions that scale well into the mid and late game, play respectfully around his early game dominance, and counter some of his key abilities. Abilities like Shen's W and Jax’s E block Renekton’s W, while high mobility spells like Kennen’s E keep him out of range of the stun altogether. Just keep in mind that any of the aforementioned champions still run a high risk of dying should they be hit by Renekton's stun.

Spells to watch out for:

When fighting against Renekton, remember he is highly reliant on his cooldowns. His Q has an 8 second cooldown, his W starts off with a 13 second cooldown that is reduced to 9 seconds at max rank, his E starts at 18 seconds and goes down to 14 seconds, and his R has a fixed 120 second cooldown. More often than not, Renektons max Q first followed by E which means that every time Renekton uses W, there is a 13 second window for you to either look for a quick trade, kill him, or go in for CS, depending on your champion. Factoring in 20% CDR from Black Cleaver, 3 out of his 4 abilities have over 10 second cooldowns before level 14 (when he takes his second point in W). Play a little greedier when his W and E are on cooldown, and get to your power spike.

Champions with an edge over Renekton:

Power couple that destroys Renekton individually:

Applying the information above will give you a better understanding on how to counter Renekton with most champions. That being said, if you just hate Renekton players with a burning passion and want to torture them in lane with a simple counter, just pick Illaoi. Funny how the definitive solution to one bully is another.

Illaoi

If you took Davy Jones’s face, stuffed it into a lamp, and gave it to a tantrum throwing water priestess, you would get Illaoi. While Illaoi has never achieved the popularity of Darius or Renekton, she has the highest win rate amongst the 3 bruisers at 52.1% according to LeagueofGraphs.

Illaoi’s potency and power come from her passive that intermittently spawns tentacles on walls. These tentacles do damage when commanded by her W and heal her for 5% of her missing health. Her Q, while appearing as a simple line skill shot, actually buffs the damage of her passive tentacles by 10 – 30% based on levels. Her W, is an auto-attack resetting and extending ability that makes nearby tentacles slap whatever she just attacked. Her E, the most important spell of all to pay attention to, rips a Spirit out of enemy champions that are hit by it for 7 seconds. If the Spirit is killed or the enemy champion moves too far away, the enemy champion becomes a Vessel and is slowed by 80% for 1.5 seconds. For the next 10 seconds, Tentacles spawn around the Vessel and automatically try to slap it. Her R summons tentacles around each enemy champion in Illaoi’s vicinity and halves the cooldown of her W.

In essence, amongst the three bullies in the list, Illaoi is the easiest to counter. DODGE. HER. E. Which is made simpler by the fact that Illaoi’s E cannot go through minions. The only way she can actually reach you in lane is by pulling a Spirit out of you. By whatever means necessary, dodge her E. Other minute details to consider when playing against Illaoi include only asking your jungler to come before she is 6, disengaging after she uses her ultimate, and fighting her when she does not have tentacles nearby. In team fights, you want to engage on her team before she has had the time to spawn tentacles but remember to disengage if her ultimate hits more than 2 people. Also, buy Grievous Wounds and chain your CC on her to avoid letting her press W. But mainly:

DODGE HER "E"

Fair warning, anything you pick could into Illaoi in lane could lose to her if you do not dodge her E. That being said, picking a tank into Illaoi will almost definitely lose you the lane. The sustain she gets from her Q and passive make her unkillable 1v1 and the odds of you and your jungler 2v1ing her after she is 6 are not great. Champions that are annoying for Illaoi to face include Jax, whose E blocks her W from triggering tentacles, and Mordekaiser, who can R her after she uses her ultimate and teleport her into the shadow realm without all her tentacles. High mobility champions make hitting her E difficult while ranged champions may never get hit by her ultimate. Unlike Renekton – with his dashes and stun – and Darius – who takes Ghost and has a pull that slows – Illaoi is extremely immobile and has no way of getting on top of ranged champions. Finally, keep in mind that Illaoi’s E cooldown starts at 16 seconds and goes down to 12 seconds when she is level 9. Look for opportunities to trade when it is down and remember to take her passive tentacles into account!

Surviving Illaoi is definitely possible with most champions. It's no mystery, just dodge her E. That being said, these champions tend to thrive against her:

Hang in there!

By virtue of their dominance in lane, these terrors tend to fall off towards the late game. As such, having solid laning fundamentals will definitely help you weather the early game regardless of your pick. An essential fundamental is understanding how to control minion waves which you can learn from our Wave Managementguide. And hey, if you try your best against the terrors and can’t seem to beat 'em, there is no shame in simply joining 'em!