I've always had a love for top-lane, and for hybrid champs. I main hybrid Malz top, which some people don't appreciate, but I've ran hybrid Malz since Season 2 and I still enjoy it. When I looked deeper into Ivern's kit, I liked the potential for an auto-attack based build. I know I'm not the only one who's thought of it, but unlike the people I see trying to make a full-AP Ivern and take him mid-lane, I figured top-lane was more his pace.

Mid-laning Ivern is extremely difficult because his wave-clear is minimal until you get higher in the levels, and AOE casters like Anivia, Xerath, or 90% of the other mid-laners, will force you to your turret and continually take pot-shots at you. And hey, you're Ivern, so you're slow, peaceful gait will get you killed over and over again.

Being able to freeze the lane in top match-ups is generally more advantageous. With Ivern, I routinely stand just at the edge where minions are hitting me/my shield/my minions, and the turret is shooting at them. Ivern's early-game lack of damage pairs perfectly with turret shots, letting me starve a Nasus, protect myself against aggressive opponents, and keeping myself a low-priority target for the enemy jungler.

I love experimenting, and this sounded like such a wonderful amount of lulz that I couldn't help it. Nashor's, Runaan's, and Rageblade. Let's do it! When the first time I tried it, I got an S-rank, I was surprised. When within a month I reached Mastery 6 with Ivern, I realized this actually had potential. Not only that, but dancing through the brush in-lane, popping around enemy attacks and repeatedly plinking them when they stepped too close... It's all turned Ivern into one of my favorite champs. I can't stand playing a tanky Ivern in the jungle, waltzing around, talking to Gromp, and helping champs make picks against their opponents. I want to Lorax a mother-f* in-lane, myself.

As the experiment continued, I realized that one of the absolute biggest flaws in a full hybrid-carry build was Ivern's lack of durability and escape vs. assassins. He could pump out damage, but as one player said, I was just "a bad Varus, and only when I was hiding in my bushes." Once I made Frozen Mallet a core part of my build, and I had just that much more health, games changed. The early-game became a lot easier, and the late-game became survivable.

I've been collecting video segments from my Ivern games with LoL's new replay features. As I find the time, I will upload those segments with additional notes on what I did and why it worked. I will also expand on the guide by writing laning phase and team fighting chapters.