my name's ATARAS and I'm a MASTERS PEAK in CHINA'S IONIA server. I started playing league recently at the end of s9 and have peaked MASTERS ELO mainly playing Irelia and Renekton in CN IONIA. (I had 5K hours in DOTA before playing league). I took a break back for about a year but am back currently playing to get high elo in different servers :) in s13, i've already made it to EUW masters and i'm currently playing s14 now! I hope this guide can help you out as I feel my knowledge of Renekton and top lane in general is more unique due to playing in a server not many people can say they've played in (the difference is very apparent between servers). it's gonna be a VERY detailed and hefty guide so take your time with it! i put a lot of effort into it. I also stream everyday for about 6+ hours and will answer any questions anyone has to ask. you can find me here or here for all my socials

Pros → easy to play, hard to master → limitless potential and high skill expression → can be played countless times → tower-dives are easier to perform on renekton than other divers thanks to his iconic W → flashy, fun, great design, character, skins → flex pick mid → one of the kings of 1v2'ing → safe pick. does well into many top laners, even ranged, is considered a bully's bully and has many flexible build options → is also an anti-carry carry. your W can decide to make many champs not able to play the game. your W/other combos also help your dive into enemy backline ensure a one-shotted squishy

Cons → you kind of get outscaled late game so some games you will feel so useless & it just feels awful → if you don't snowball early game or at least have good farm, you will sadly become a "stun bot" or have to build tank to remain somewhat relevant → can be quite Flash reliant → as of writing this, renekton is always a problem in terms of being picked too often in proplay. this means he will typically get nerfed even though in soloqueue he may "need" buffs → you're playing top, that means you'll win lane lose game a lot and that will be frustrating (not renekton specific)

** THIS GUIDE WILL BE CONSISTENTLY UPDATED DAY-BY-DAY UNTIL S14 CHANGES HAVE FULLY SETTLED. DON'T WORRY! I GOT YOU GUYS :)

this is how you're gonna always play the first 3 waves of top in every game.

you start by asking yourself 1 question;

can I cheater recall this game?

if the answer is yes, then please watch this quick 2 minute video
that shows LS coaching sanchovies on how to cheater recall.

Play Video

breakdown:

> match autos on the creep wave as your opponent, but stay about 1-3 autos ahead.

> do this for the first 1 and 2 waves. once the 3rd wave comes by, begin HARD-SHOVING it as fast as possible in order to fully shove it in under the enemy tower as seen in the video above.

> once this is done, recall and purchase that Long Sword+ Refillable Potion buy that was mentioned earlier in this guide.

if you can't purchase that then look for a Long Sword & Health Potion buy? maybe even a Cull? anything you see fit, but ideally a longsword+refillable buy is best.

if you think you will get ganked during your cheater recall

if you think you will get ganked during your cheater recall on the first 3 waves of the game, then put a Stealth Ward down on river brush (your pick on which brush) at about minute 1:35 and continue with the game-plan.

> if the jungler comes top you shouldn't be too annoyed because this means they're not invading YOUR jungler and/or at mid/bot. just back it off, play it cool and don't die to the gank.

> finish up the cheater recall if you can once it's safe. if the opportunity is missed and you can't finish it then just play the game out how it goes, that's just part of league! you have to adapt.

> finally, when you do back and your ward is still on cooldown? get a Oracle Lens if you want. you can get your Stealth Ward back on the next back, or not, it's up to you!

when you walk back to lane you have many options.

freeze the lane outside your turret, go for a kill with your item advantage, force them their Teleport, or create a slowpush for lane priority and/or for an upcoming TOWER-DIVE, ETC.

that is how you cheater recall.
> deciding whether or not you can cheater recall depends on matchup, who get's in lane first, if either player is brush-cheesing, if there was a level 1 invade, and much more. you'll come to learn the requirements do's and don't's soon enough with practice.

perfect 2 examples from my games with commentary.

first example. in this game (diamond china) i managed to kill Garen whilst performing a cheater recall (rule of thumb; when doing anything in league, if you can make a play to kill your opponent and that leads to a net positive, then go for the play, otherwise, don't). i commentate on everything i do most of the times so feel free to drop by the stream!


here's an example of me knowing i can perform a cheater recall AND go for the kill in this matchup and thus setting one up and executing the kill.

> again, i saw an opportunity to kill Garen. this opportunity came from the smart and appropriate trades i had inflicted during the first 3 waves against garen, but like i preach, i never over-did these trades, thus keeping AND prioritizing my cheater recall. it's really easy to rush a trade when you hit level 2, ruining your wave state, don't be a victim of that. anyways, after hard-shoving the 3rd wave i decided that i could tower dive Garen and get even more value from my cheater recall as it would lead to a kill for me. Garen didn't carry Teleport, he instead took Ignite, so killing him will ensure he misses a large portion of the slow pushed 3 waves i was stacking up. here's the example video below.

if you want to watch the video on twitch: click here

breakdown:

> note how i take free trades when i can, but not over-doing it so hard that i mess up the wave so badly and can't perform the cheater recall. with practice and limit testing, you'll be able to do the same. nothing is worse than messing up your wave management and being stuck in a bad spot in lane with no good back-timings available cause you butchered your cheater recall by playing too aggressive with 0 yield. top lane is VERY brutal in terms of wave management. if you mess up your wave you could legitimately go 5+ minutes not hitting a single minion and only XP soaking whilst watching out for ganks.

> as i always say, getting a kill throughout any point of the game is always valued as long as it yields a positive impact. in this case, it did. note how i totally didn't mind dying in that tower-dive as going 1-for-1 in situations like these (your minions are being denied by the enemy tower, garen loses all the xp/gold) is totally worth it.

> if you can't kill your opponent, then don't! just simply recall instead as seen in the LS example video at the start of this guide section. most of the time i end up having to recall anyways too! i just used these examples where i killed my opponent because i haven't played Renekton recently as this guide was written in 11.18 (where renekton got infamously GUTTED to a 43% WR lol (but i'm STILL updating this guide every patch, don't worry HAHA))

here's the second example of cheater recalling and this time i had been able to kill Mordekaiser whilst performing the cheater recall, forcing his Teleport afterwards i still maintained the cheater recall and followed through completely.

if you want to watch the video on twitch: click here

breakdown:

> in this game, similar to last, i had taken appropriate trades and seized my opportunity to kill Mordekaiser. what did i do afterwards? maintain the cheater recall. and thanks to the minion advantage, lane priority and slow push that i've created, i was able to keep myself in full control of the lane and forced morde's Teleport. i pulled off the cheater recall, right? yes. but even better, with the lane priority (shoved in 3rd wave as i did), i noticed my jungler getting in a fight, i help out (morde can't help cause he's stuck CS'ing the wave i shoved in) and assist my jungler by helping kill theirs + killing their midlaner. and this was all possible thanks to lane priority gathered from my cheater recall. if there was no opportunity present, i would have just recalled normally and recalled with about 800g. meanwhile morde has exhausted his teleport and messed up his backtiming. once i return to lane i have plenty of ways to further abuse this lead

> once i walk back to lane -> i can walk back due to the wave pushing back after i shoved the 3rd wave -> i can freeze the wave. slow-push it for a tower-dive (which helps attract his jungler at top which means he's spending less time messing with your bot lane). have immense kill pressure thanks to my item advantage. have full lane priority to help my teammates at any point. use my Teleport to help my teammates knowing he can't follow through & so much more. the list goes on and on.

> this is the true power of learning and setting up a cheater recall, the power of lane priority, wave management, slow pushing, trading. i back with a comfortable Long Sword and Refillable Potion buy and walk to lane allowing me many options to freeze, slowpush back, trade and ultimately make a slowpush dive. stand your ground and have confidence in your minion advantage/lane priority. stand by your minions and fully control the wave as you should. they will have no choice but to back off, allowing you to manipulate the wave how you want to.

this strategy about keeping a slow-pushed wave for a cheater recall is going to be FUNDAMENTAL for the next section of the guide; TOWER DIVING. just quickly; it's always good to default the laning phase to slow pushing. taking favourable trades during your slow push in the laning phase AFTER you've done your cheater recall will allow you to set up insane lane priority and also TOWER-DIVES. we never sacrifice the wave unneccesarily unless it, 90% of the time, will lead to a net positive outcome. i get into it just after this section!


sometimes you'll be in a position where you can't shove the 3rd wave in for the cheater, but the wave is still in the middle and you still have lane priority (minion advantage). in this case, take a breather and slow push the 3rd to hard-shove the 4th wave instead. it's just as good and arguably better.

if you need to help your jungler secure scuttle instead of cheater recalling, whether that's after 3rd or 4th wave shove. do that instead. FIGHTING for scuttle with your jungler if needed instead of recalling is better. a happy jungler unironically means a better chance at winning the game (yes that role is way too strong). if there is no fight to be seen or you have time to go scuttle AFTER the recall and walk back to lane, you can opt to do that instead!

if the answer was NO, I CAN'T CHEATER RECALL. then simply allow yourself to get pushed in and play accordingly.

> "playing accordingly"
> meaning you look to seize opportunities you can seize eg; they use a crucial ability and thus you'll win the all-in, or they make a misplay/mistake like taking too many tower shots, or are playing over confident and you kill them out of the blue or simply waiting for your jungler to gank. as long as you don't die and lose out on XP, you'll be okay.

recall timer tips AFTER the cheater recall:

after lots of games i've realized the most optimal and best timing to back without losing as many minions would be to back when the NEXT upcoming wave is a cannon-wave.

the cheater recall strat calls for a back AFTER shoving the cannon-wave, but the best timings to back after that is when NEXT-UPCOMING-WAVE is the cannon-wave. this is because if your opponent shoves the wave back in toward you just as fast as you did, that cannon minion will end up tanking about 7 shots of tower damage- meaning it'll essentially "hold" the wave for you to come back to, at most you only lose a single minion.

of course, sometimes you can't wait for that next cannon-wave to back, and have to just shove out a normal wave or maybe the cannon wave itself, and that's okay too. if you shove any wave fast enough you'll probably make it back with minimal losses but just know that the wave BEFORE the UPCOMING-CANNON-WAVE is the most optimal wave to shove in as it guarantees 99% of the minions for you to come back to. PS: killing CASTER MINIONS first pushes a wave much faster than if you were to hit the melee creeps.

ps: when to back is dependant on you. getting your pickaxe? your double longsword? maybe you need to rush plated steelcaps this game? bork? you gotta make the call. my tip would be; don't get addicted to backing and backing every 2 mins. make it count, worthwhile and efficient. i know i've made the mistake of backing for no reason when i definitely could've made a play like helping my jungler @ scuttle with my prio or even backing at a bad time and losing a couple minions while im at it.

extra tip:

> IF THEY AUTO ATTACK YOU, YOU AUTO ATTACK THEM BACK. BUFFER YOUR AUTOS TO THEM.

this mainly applies to the very early laning phase of the game.

many times i've killed and straight up won lanes against opponents just by auto'ing them when i'm being auto'd. in top lane, ONE auto attack can genuinely decide who wins the lane or who takes lane priority.

understand that auto attacks have a "cooldown". abuse this concept and you will destroy your lane in most of your games. click here for a perfect example of what i'm talking about. it's only 40 seconds long. it's short and yet a piece of information that will help skyrocket your rank.

TP'ing back to make a large lead into a GIANT lead

here is a perfect example! click here to watch on stream instead:

(ps: ik the example is of me playing Irelia but just ignore it and pretend it's Renekton, this is important fundamentals you need to understand.)

as you can see; sometimes using your TP to quickly return to lane AFTER newly shoving in a wave that's bouncing back toward you can allow you to extend your lead into a larger one. you have to be able to decide when to do this strategy as it costs your TP which basically means it will cost you your opportunity to gank TP help mid/bot after the 10 minute mark as that's when Teleport becomes UNLEASHED TELEPORT

things to help you decide if you should do it:
> knowing that doing this means you can't help BOT/MID with your TP
> knowing that if you do this, you are sure in your ability to solo carry the game
> knowing you won't mess up after this TP as once it'll be on cooldown. so if you mess up in lane after this strat- you can't TP back.
> your bot is currently ahead and or your jungle is taking care of bot lane so it's fine to use it selfishly.
> it's still very early into the game, you know you won't mess up and you know bot is okay so you might as well make use of TP in an high-risk-high-reward way.

another extra tip:

> don't be afraid to miss a minion or two that's walking toward the tower, allowing you to control what you want to do with it after. to freeze or to slowpush.

video example here, much easier to show than explain (second 50 is exactly when it happens).

breakdown:

> the start of the vid shows a slow pushed wave getting fully shoved in for an easy recall. Garen has to stay and CS all of it to get gold and xp.

> coming back to lane (second :50 in the video), if i had chosen to auto the minion that's already been targetted by my turret, the rest of that wave crashes in too, so instead:

> i skip out a minion and even use my Renekton E upwards to hold the rest of that wave that WOULD have crashed

> after holding it, i try to freeze it but it messes up, so instead i slow push it

>> if i could have frozen it, the strat would be to aggressively trade with Garen if he walks up in order to eventually slow-push with a stacked wave and tower-dive him with it. if he doesn't walk up? then perma-freeze it until he does lol and if he still doesnt then congrats you've created a disgusting top gap and can push the wave in or slow push it for lane prio whenever you want (more explained about these concepts right after this section)

> thanks to my slow push, when Garen tries to walk up i do a hard-trade into him. i know with my lane prio with stacked wave, he cannot do much in return

> with the slow push completed, trade before the wave crash completed and a slow pushed wave we stacked up that's now under his turret, i am able to all-in Garen and kill him making him lose all those minions to his turret.

all of this literally started from sacrificing a minion to force a freeze/slowpush right outside my turret. league is decisive like that, so keep this valuable tip in mind.

and finally; fake backing

click here to watch on twitch.

again, i know this is Irelia but these fundamentals and tips are important and relevant even for Renekton. pay attention!

pretty self explanatory. sometimes, when you're disgustingly far ahead, you can shove out the wave as usual but instead of recalling you hide in brush/alcove to then wait for your opponent to walk up, and (decide if you wanna wait for them to use their abilities on the wave to make the fight easier) kill them THEN shove (again) and recall.

recalling is to buy items and regen HP/MANA so you're at a better advantage VS your opponent. so doing this strat means you don't actually need full hp/mana and/or more items to kill your opponents. meaning instead of "backing" like they think you are, you just stay hide for a sec and stay an extra upcoming wave to kill your opponent, THEN shove and recall after.

definitely a strat you can't use every game and a very situational one but nonetheless, i'm giving an example and explanation here!

TOWER-DIVING.

another piece of knowledge that helped me shoot to masters was making TOWER-DIVE plays. PS: riot has made it so tower-diving is more punishable by increasing tower damage. just keep in mind that it hurts a little more but that's about it. absolutely nothing changes about the fundamentals of it. we still make these plays. keep going for those beautiful dives, just keep in mind the turret hurts more!

now, if you manage to perform tower diving in your top lane games you will be rewarded with dopamine and LP. let me show you what it is.

you can sometimes pull this off during the first 3 waves of the game in combination with your cheater recall too, and definitely throughout the rest of the whole laning phase too.

an effective tower-dive at top lane requires a couple things.

1. slow pushing
2. HP lead
3. patience
4. understanding the risks.

[video examples of me performing this down below]


same regards as cheater recalling, we're abusing slow pushing. with a slow pushed wave stacked up and heading toward the enemy tower, you can crash this wave and TOWER-DIVE your opponent.

slow pushing is your best friend in the laning phase just like how shoving and roaming is your best friend in the mid-late game. get to know your best friends well.

tower-diving your opponent after slow pushing

doing this means your opponent will lose every single minion you had slow pushed toward them to their tower.

even if you die and go 1-for-1 it is completely worth it + you get to WALK BACK TO LANE not using Teleport while they HAVE to use TP. if they don't, they will miss out on an immense level of CS & XP whilst you're receiving it instead occurring in a large top diff.

before even committing to a tower-dive, obtaining a HP lead

in some games, you'll be able to literally tower-dive a full HP opponent because you're that disgustingly ahead. in most games though, you will need a HP lead. this is surprisingly easier to do than you'd think, and it'll only really be possible to do if you have lane priority, which is having a minion advantage, which is obtainable by; slow pushing.

> super important tip: aside from the first 3 waves of the game where you'll perform your cheater recall; after that always default the way you play your lane to slow pushing.

> this will help you slow the game down (which is good, league should never be rushed) and allow you to look for TP bot plays if needed, jungle fights, opportunities for trades which can lead to tower-dives as we're discussing or your jungler ganking you and many more things all thanks to minion advantage and lane priority (which occurs naturally when you're slow pushing). just trust me and slowly push your wave every time unless you have to shove it out to go help/tp somewhere.

on the other hand, if you fail to kill them you've doomed your own lane so becareful. if you're new to tower-diving i suggest to simply always go for it and test your limits!

>extra tip about tower damage/diving/tanking: ideally, the first and second tower shots are the ones you're able to easily tank during a tower-dive. anything past that and you should expect to either have to Flash out BEFORE the turret shot shoots it's killing blow at you or you have to use Dominus to tank the shot AFTER you've left turret range.

Triumph will help in these instances too. so be sure to know your limits with it.

remember: turret shots increase in damage per shot, so as mentioned 1 and 2 are relatively harmless. 3 onwards starts getting scary. this mechanic resets when a champion isn't struck by a tower for 3 seconds.

in some games, sometimes, when you commit a tower-dive, you will have to let your jungler be the one to secure the kill. in instances like this, it's a good idea to be the one tanking the turret to let your jungler get the kill with relative ease

here is an example. click here to watch it on twitch (example begins at 0:35)

> although riot buffed turret damage since this clip, the idea and fundamental of it is still extremely relevant, hence why i'm going to leave it here. even if it's minute 28, you might need to do this for your teammate down the line.

> note how i accepted that my jungler will be the one to get the kill? so i tanked the turret for him? limit-test and learn this throughout your games. it's very important the higher you climb.

> ps. note how i quickly traded with Aatrox (having a slow pushed stacked up wave behind me too (that's lane priority)) in order to get a HP lead and also make him use his cooldowns + put his Bone Plating on cooldown too? just extra tips and heads up incase you missed those mechanics and fundamentals i did. you will get the hang of them if you study this guide and implement all of this yourself!

now, back on-track on how to perform a tower-dive

here is an example of me slow pushing the wave to stack up as many minions as possible and then leading that into a tower dive in order to make my opponent lose out on farm.

click here to see the video on twitch

a lot to read, but i promise it's worth it. here's the breakdown:

> so, post cheater-recall, the way you default to playing your lane should be slow pushing

> notice how i get my Reign of Anger rage bar ready for the dive. i start the tower-dive by waiting out my cooldowns a bit and then bust out my Dominus in order for a quick empowered Ruthless Predator and Cull the Meek. this destroyed Rengar fast thanks to my earlier trade BEFORE the tower-dive which is what you're gonna have to do in some of your tower dives too.

> also note how patient i am. you can see in this almost-perfect example of how seriously i take my slow-pushing. i don't rush anything. the lane is genuinely in my control. allowing me to have lane priority, get a HP lead, stack up minion waves and force favourable trades and many more things.

> on the note of HP leads. again, look how i shaved off some of rengar's health before the tower-dive. this allows the door for properly killing them under tower to be open. in most games you'll need create a similar HP lead in order to commit the tower-dive but worry not, it's easier to do than you think and it all starts with slow pushing. some games if you're disgustingly ahead, you might be able to tower-dive them from 100 to 0, but again, that's only some games. you'll get know with trial and error and experience.

> extra note: in this example, i didn't bother auto'ing first before my W as rengar was really low already and the situation didn't need me to AA first but typically in tower-dives as Renekton, you'd want to AA first then bust out your W, follow up after that with another AA and Q and AA and E out. weaving in autos is important but in some occassions like my example, it won't be necessary. always have the habit of AA'ing in between your abilities though, it will make you a better player.

> extra extra note: i always try to pop their Bone Plating beforehand or force their defensive abilities eg; Riposte/ Counter Strike to name a few to be on cooldown during my tower-dive. again, HP leads before the dive is important and a large wave from your slow push is what will give you lane priority, map pressure and kill-pressure, giving you plenty of options to either roam, dive or recall.

final breakdown:

laning phase:

ideally cheater recall and then default to always slow pushing your lane to then execute tower-dives. help your jungler if you need to with your lane priority and lane control and make Teleport plays when you see fit. tip for those Teleport plays is to make sure you shove out your lane first before TP'ing otherwise you will lose a lot of minions/tower health over even a quick TP play. and goes without saying but if any opportunity shows to kill your opponent, then take that too, even if it's at the 1st wave of the game during your cheater recall play.

mid-late game:

shove and keep pushing and if you can't (99% of the time you won't be able to remember) then simply shove and roam instead.

what to do in teamfights:

dive their backline and blitz their squishies. utilize Flash if needed and if not, then doing so with your diver's kit.

what is lane priority?

lane priority means being able to roam first out of you and your opponent at top lane (any lane for that matter) meaning you get to help any fights/objective contests that's occurring elsewhere FIRST. this even includes using Teleport first.

a classic example: you have ZERO lane priority if you're CS'ing under tower as you can't roam from there since you need to collect CS. your opponent on the other hand, has full lane priority as he's the one that pushed it in under your tower & thus has nothing else to do in lane, meaning he can help out anywhere first

having lane priority can differ between many factors. from having a better wave-clearing kit to having a HP lead, kill-pressure, having minion advantage or finally, simply having jungle pressure.



more in depth about lane priority: let's say your opponent has lane priority in this example. this means he will get to roam first. whether that's going for scuttle crab, joining a fight elsewhere or ganking a lane/using Teleport to a lane, his lane priority has essentially bought himself time. your opponent has all those potential plays to make; while you're stuck CS'ing under tower. this is essentially what lane priority is.

also, if you try contest a roam whilst having ZERO lane priority, you will end up lose many minions. this is because your lane is pushing toward the enemy tower meaning your minions will kill their minions faster (since it's pushing remember!) equaling to you losing out a ton of CS/XP whilst your lane opponent loses minimal minions by the time they returns to lane.

there are many things about lane priority so if you want to, click here for a video the LEC youtube channel made about lane priority (6 mins only and timestamped) or find another youtube video that suits you! i gave you a simple rundown of it with an example. you'll understand and learn more and all about it the more you play top lane and experiment.

never forget: even during a freeze, lane priority can be yours in an instant by just quickly shoving out the wave, forcing the enemy top laner to catch the wave. that's the beautiy of playing Renekton. our Q and E helps us clear out waves really fast. lane priority is ESPECIALLY yours during a slow-push because at any point you can just shove it out and help your jungler/TP anywhere, or just finish the slow-push fully and force the enemy top laner to stay under turret to catch the wave.

LEARNING HOW TO APPROPRIATELY PROXY:

what is proxying?
> proxying is the act of standing in between two enemy towers and preventing the enemy from walking up to their wave whilst YOUR wave denies themselves to the enemy tower meaning your laner lose CS/XP. while you're standing in between the towers and preventing them from walking up, you are also wave clearing the upcoming waves that come up to you.

- proxying is an excellent tool for us top laners to abuse. it's definitely not a thing you can do every single game, but it's definitely a thing you take advantage of if you see an appropriate opportunity to do so.

here is a video example of proxying on Renekton. you can click here to watch on twitch

> as you can see, i've analyzed and determined that in this very game in particular, me proxying was the play and as you can see it pays off very well when done correctly. understand i phrased "this very game in particular" for a reason. sometimes proxying simply isn't the answer and it might be better to do other things like; back for items, or shove out your lane, back for items then look for a Teleport play elsewhere, or shove the lane in and roam to help your jungler, or go for a gank at mid, or straight up simply deciding that proxying is too dangerous as the enemy mid/jg is missing and you can't win that 1v2 or 1v3, ETC, you get it.

> proxying enables you to further your lead, and just as importantly, stunt the enemy laner from furthering theirs thus creating that beautiful top gap.

when proxying you must keep an eye on your minimap. a good rule of thumb in league is;

if you can't see X champion on the map, always assume they are coming for you.

> this tip is S-tier and is one of the many staple "rule of thumb" rule-fundamentals you must keep in your head at all times. credit to XFSN SABER for saying it in one of his videos.

> this means, if you're proxying but see their jungler and/or mid-laner missing, assume this to be them coming to gank you, and thus you must decide; can i win this potential 1v3? or should i take this farm and back? or should i just back right now now? can my jungler help me win this maybe? do i have flash up? do i have my R up?

> you can see in the video example above i went and proxy'd versus Riven after killing her (btw i killed her after the good ol' slow push and tower-diving combo with that big wave that she now loses to her tower:). i know that if she tries to walk back to her tier 1 tower, i'll kill her again. so me proxying here is a valid opportunity that will further my lead and lower her chances of having any impact in this game. i ended up killing her again and made her lose so much more CS/XP but i made the mistake here not realizing the enemy Nidalee was just as fed as i was and she had her Flash up whilst i didn't, hence my death to her. but, that's something i should have paid more attention to and have learned from, so i'm okay about it.

> these decisions and deductions you make will always be different in every single game you play. so, learn, overcome, adapt and always ask yourself these questions first before committing to a proxy play otherwise you might risk throwing your lead and straight up losing the game.

limit-testing is important and understanding what you can and can't do is important too. good luck with proxying, when it goes well the dopamine your brain produces and the heavy lead you get is so worth.

BONUS TIP HERE:

looking out for TP plays bottom.

this should honestly have a section of it's own, but due to how short the information is, i'll simply make a section here in the guide as it kind of falls under the whole "slow pushing" and "lane priority" category we have discussed in this section of the guide.

using Teleport for bot lane and making plays appropriately is an easy way to impact the game so hard that it could possibly lead to a direct win from there. some TP plays as early as before the 10 minute mark can already insta-win you the game so always watch out for that.

TP'ing bot isn't so simple as simply TP'ing.

you need to have proper wave management as discussed. cheater recalling, slow-pushing, etc. slow pushing can lead to easier looks for bot TP plays as you have full lane control, lane priority and minion advantage. this means you can shove out the wave completely at your convenience, using your lane priority to your advantage & buying yourself time in order to commit to that TP.

this will lead to your opponent being stuck either staying and CS'ing the wave you shoved in or, if they decide to follow your TP, means they miss out on the slow-pushed wave you ended up hard shoving when you decided to commit to the TP play. either of these scenarios will end up resulting in a top gap. you end up helping bot/mid/jg whatever it is and when you return to top, you won't miss many minions if at all and as said, they're stuck CS'ing your shoved in wave. as long as you shoved in your wave before roaming. that's only possible if you have proper lane control, hence the importance and emphasis on me saying; SLOW PUSH please.

> again; minion advantage = lane priority = lane control = shoving it out to roam when you want which leads to: your opponent being at a lose-lose. they have to decide between not helping their team while you're helping yours or missing out on CS/XP.

> note that these bot TP plays won't happen every game and that you shouldn't force it either. this is simply me telling you to keep a lookout for it. forcing bot TP plays is an easy way to ruin the game for everyone, you included if it doesn't go well, so again, just be on the lookout for it.

[more about "shove and roam" down below]

extra extra tips;

1) use your toggle champions only button appropriately when you're tower-diving.

nothing will make you angrier than seeing an amazing tower-dive play and failing to execute it right at the end cause you hit the tower. make sure you get used to toggling that on or off or holding it if that's your preference. check the settings and start implementing it like your QWERFD buttons! better now/late than never, trust me!

and also; walking right next to your opponent under their tower to bait them into using an ability, and then all-inning.

no video example here but i'll put one if needed, but if you want to tower-dive someone who definitely dies to your combo under their turret, BUT they have a pesky defensive ability still up like Garen's Courage or Fiora's Riposte, sometimes simply walking up right next to them without even touching them, JUST walking up to them, is enough to force them to use their defensive ability early- allowing you to all-in and kill them under their turret, forcing them to lose cs/xp.

the threat of a slowpush and loads of minions stacked under your opponents tower will always raise the stakes of the lane and scare them into using it early to try and save their own lives. if they don't fall for it, it's up to you whether or not to RISK your combo under their turret with their defensive ability up, or to just walk away and accept that you couldn't get the kill right then.

a lot of reading but a valuable extra extra extra tip;

understanding armour.

look boys. it's gonna suck and it'll probably take you a while to truly grasp it but again the sooner you learn this the better.

you need to understand that armour is REALLY overpowered in the early and mid game. until your ADC gets Lord Dominik's Regards or you comfortably won your lane to a point where their early armour items like Bramble Vest does nothing, or it's just really late game when armour starts to have it's diminishing returns, understand that;

the enemy "tank" will always somehow out-duel you and you'll sit there tilted asf asking why a tank can out-duel you.

if your laner is building tank and you haven't established a solid lead yet? he WILL outduel you yes. that Malphite with 0 AD items will win a 1v1. unless he fights wrongly or takes a too extended fight, he will always win. and this applies to other champions too like a Darius with Bramble Vest. even a matchup that's potentially Renekton favoured may suddenly seem very darius-favoured just because you couldn't establish a solid lead before that dreaded Bramble Vest purchase.

the sooner you accept that tanks/tank items are just really overpowered in early-mid game the easier your climb will be. you need to switch up and play toward when their items aren't as effective since building more and more armour has diminishing returns. accept that they're strong mid-game and play pass their powerspike because in the late game tanks typically pop like a pimple from your ADC whilst YOU aim their backline (you don't aim tanks first in the teamfights anyways. your job is to dive their squishies in their backline).

my tip versus tanks would be to; keep with the slow push. tower-dive if it's free but it probably won't be since you don't really tower-dive tanks (they're too tanky wow) & play with your shove and roams appropriately. this means looking for scuttle fights with your jungler and things like that. ensure you have lane priority so you can be on the lookout for potential Teleport plays at bot. plus, with your cheater recall that you should've done against said tank, maybe consider a Cull purchase? tank lanes are usually passive since no one can really kill each other. again everything i've said is true but if there's a play you can make that will work 90% of the time that can give you a lead? then go for it!

(i just mentioned a very special 5 fundamentals here and you'll learn more about it at the very bottom of the guide when i give you final notes. they're super important along with some extra tips so be sure to go through this whole guide)

whatever you do, don't die to the tank. okay? it will just play into their whole "tank is good early-mid game" plan and boost their chances of winning. this also segways into another good point of; understanding your surroundings, opponent movements and your gut-feeling of knowing when you're about to be lured and/or baited into a gank.

too many times i've selfishly tried to kill my opponent just to end up being in a very unfavourable 1v2 cause i ended up getting baited. chances are; if the kill looks way too good to be true in a way that your opponent is also moving in a unorthodox and weird way, then it probably is. if every fibre in your body says "just back now and get a good reset cause the enemy jungler is right there", then just listen to it unless you see the enemy jungler present on the map elsewhere (and midlaner too if you want to be extra safe) confirming that it's gonna be an isolated favourable 1v1 between you and your opponent and no interruptions will occur.

okay, now move we can move onto mid-to-late-game macro; shoving and roaming.

STEP 1:

GO TO THE APPROPRIATE SIDELANE

STEP 2:

START SHOVING OUT THE SIDELANE

STEP 3:

IF YOU CAN PUSH (MEANING NO ONE IS CONTESTING YOU), KEEP PUSHING. TOWERS > KILLS. IF YOU CAN NOT PUSH (SOMEONE IS DEFENDING (THIS WILL BE THE LIKELY SCENARIO IN 99% OF YOUR GAMES)) THEN SHOVE OUT THE LANE AS SAID AND ROAM

ROAMING?
ROAMING MEANS:
JUNGLE FARM, OBJECTIVE FARM LIKE SCUTTLE, RIFT HERALD, DRAGON, BARON OR OTHER LANE FARM? GANKING MID? Teleport TO BOT FOR A PLAY, SEARCHING FOR A PICK, GOING TO A JUNGLE FIGHT, RECALLING FOR AN ITEM, ETC. ROAMING IS EVERYTHING.


quick side note: taking down your top opponent's tier 1 tower allows you to shove the lane in much deeper resulting in more time for your roams.

think of their tier 1 tower as your timer to roam effectively. if it's still standing, roaming will be much tougher to accomplish compared to if it wasn't. this is why pinging for rift herald (or in some situations doing it yourself) or getting in tower damage to bring down tier 1 tower before mid-game comes is important.

i'd say the earlier you bring down tier 1, the better but strats to purposefully keep tier 1 up for longer than you could do exist. mainly, keeping their turret alive to DENY enemy top laner experience (their tower kills your minions = they lose gold/xp).

ultimately, depending on the game, it's a call you must make, but the facts are; taking down their tier 1 turret = much more effective roams to do whatever you need to do (as discussed earlier it could range from taking enemy jungle farm, taking second herald, tp plays bot, ganking mid, jungle fight, etc.)

now, let's move onto the mid-late-game macro, shoving and roaming.

ESSENTIALLY:

shove and keep pushing (if you're lucky, you can do this) OR
shove and roam (which is what you're gonna end up doing 99% of the time)


here's an example of shoving and roaming from one of my games. note that yes i'm sidelane pressuring by being on that lane, but as a DIVER- i prioritize being a part of these teamfights via shove and roam rather than prioritizing ending the game through split pushing as shoving and roaming has more value for my champion, in this case; Renekton. i had (appropriately) chosen to shove out mid lane, then roamed to contest baron. the video doesn't show me shoving out mid-lane, but just picture me Cull the Meek and using Goredrinker active to shove out mid lane.

after the baron fight, thanks to my priority that i had made earlier (shoving out mid-lane), i was able to Teleport mid and end the game then and there. no more "ah the game's gonna go on for another 10 minutes even tho the game's basically over now man" if you start implementing everything i'm saying in this guide.

> this is one of the many benefits of lane priority. just simply shoving out a lane first AND THEN roaming can do so much. lane priority is such an important thing in league of legends and i really hope i've explained it well here. if not, you can always come by my stream and ask me. i'm live everyday.

click here if you want to watch it on twitch instead.

> note how i killed Qiyana first as she was their most important squishy (idk why yuumi wasn't on her LOL). i completely ignored the Jarvan IV that was infront of me and didn't bother aiming Jinx first since, as i just said, qiyana was their most important squishy that I HAD TO get rid of ASAP.

extra tip.

> Renekton is NOT a front-liner. he's a diver. if you play renekton as a front-liner, you might as well have chosen a real tank. a real tank will do what you're trying to do with renekton but even better with the plus side of providing EVEN MORE utility for your team.

again, Renekton is a diver. yes, some games you might have to end up building tank cause you fell too far behind or so and so, but in 99% of your games, you have to build him as what he is, a diver. that means more items like Goredrinker, Sterak's Gage, Titanic Hydra, Blade of the Ruined King even, Wit's End, Death's Dance, etcetera, etcetera.

> some games you will have to go Thornmail, Spirit Visage and such just like any other diver that's shoe-horned into that position, but only do that if you must. do not default into those kinds of builds. i promise you that prioritizing building Renekton like the diving-bruiser he is similar to the lines of Irelia and Camille, will yield you more satisfying plays, more skillful expression, better plays in general and a true understanding of what it's like to truly play renekton, rather than delegating him to a boring ol' tank that a lot of people fall bait into doing.


> another thing shoving first and roaming can do for you is give you better entry way opportunities to enter the teamfight. whether that's coming in at a sweet time or flanking, shoving first and roaming can help you time your entries better as a lot of diver's that don't know macro/micro well always end up front-lining, entering first when they shouldn't be and dying first, wondering how and why it happened.

click here to watch it on twitch

> again, note the well time i entered the fight, and note how i instantly prioritized using my Flash to insta-kill their most important squishy; Tristana, pretty much winning us the fight and the entire game.

> your "kill the squishies first" targets will always depend on which squishy is fed and should be taken out first, and which aren't as high of a priority.

note about divers

as you know, champions like Irelia, Renekton, Camille all can sidelane and exert pressure whilst being able to duel most champs that defend against them. but at the end of the day they can't do it as well as Fiora, Jax, Tryndamere, right?

this is because divers are very different from skirmishers. although we divers can sidelane,

we are so much more effective at shoving and roaming in order to be a part of these teamfights so we can blitz and nuke the backline squishies.

again, we can obviously sidelane and splitpush to contest the opposite side objective, but at the end of the day our champions have more value by attending these teamfights after shoving out whatever sidelane they're in, even if it's midlane.

skirmishers like Fiora on the other hand, don't do as well in teamfights as their kits are more suited for sidelane 1v1s, hence why those champs are so awful to lose to. but worry not! if played correctly, us divers have just as good of a 1v1 game and definitely a better teamfight kit. the difference between divers and skirmishers is important to make in order to further your understanding of league so keep all this in mind.

this is why i say "shoving and roaming" is your best friend as a diver player in the mid-to-late-game. but, let me explain to you on how to know which sidelane to put pressure on.

how to know which sidelane to put pressure on?

typically, the easiest way to tell which lane is the "appropriate side lane to go to" is the lane that is opposite to the current/upcoming objective.

> this means that if baron is spawning in 2 minutes and the current drake is spawning in 4 minutes, then the correct lane to sidelane onto is bot lane. this works the other way around. so if drake is spawning in 2 minutes and baron is spawning in 5 minutes, go ahead and pressure top side. ideally, your Teleport will be up for these sidelane adventures and if they're not, you will just have to utilize and time your shove and roams accordingly so you're not late to any important baron/drake fights.

choosing which sidelanes to go to as a top laner allows you to exert a lot of pressure. this is because if the enemy team tries to commit a stop to your sidelaning, your teammates can then contest whatever objective is up with much less pressure because;

1. if the enemy team goes for you, that means your team ideally takes baron/dragon "for free".

2. if the enemy team doesn't go for you, you can take towers/inhibs and/or shove lanes in "for free" (which means they miss out on cs/xp (which is important)

and plus,

3. you have options. at the end of the day you have Teleport. this means that regardless if they pursue you or not, you have the ability to Teleport to the baron/dragon fight anyways. if you're smart, you'll shove your lane in first as mentioned in this guide and then help your team. doing that will allow you to Teleport to the fight in a more favourable position potentially make it a 5v4 to your side. more about teleports later on in the guide.

extra note: Stealth Ward and Teleport synergy:

when shoving and roaming, look for good Stealth Ward spots. yellow trinket is great as a top laner with Teleport as you can ward down the sidelanes you're at and create extra space and or pressure when necessary. if the opportunity arises, you can use Teleport on those wards for either split pushing or for pressure, even if it's a ward by their inhibitor, allows us to play-make. these potential plays have won me countless games thanks to the pressure. some games i quite literally ended it by back dooring and inhib for all 3 inhibs destroyed, or just flat out destroyed nexus.

champs like Irelia, Renekton and Camille (divers) may not split as well as Fiora, Tryndamere or Jax (skirmishers), but we are DEFINITELY threats on the sidelane if left unattended and can ravage structures if left alone long enough. if you make a good call on split pushing, teleport or not, they will have to answer to that and send 1 or 2 people at you, creating tons of space, especially effective if you're split pushing on the other side of the map when baron or a dragon is spawning as discussed earlier. it's up to you to either 1v1, 1v2, keep pushing, TP to help your team or float around for pressure so they can't commit to objectives. if you don't do this properly you risk your team getting 4v5'd and you will have costed your team the objective and potentially the entire game.

shoving and roaming may be our best friend in the mid-to-late-game, however we divers have our options open for other plays too and this is one of them, we're just flexible like that. 99% of games, the standard AND BEST play you will end up doing is shoving and roaming with some split pushing here and there as usual, but in that 1% of games, you'll be map-pressuring way more than shoving and roaming and that's just the beauty of league. no two games will be the same. keep all this in mind and use the Stealth Ward and Teleport (or just teleport on it's own) trinket synergy well as TP cooldown can be quite punishing if misused.

with practice, limit testing, more games and experience, you'll learn what not to do and what to definitely do.

your job is to nuke squishies.

that's what champions like Renekton (classified as divers) are supposed to do.

with Flash, you're almost always guaranteed to BLITZ to the enemy backline and nuke them, but without it, you'll have to be extra mindful and skillful about it.

here is a perfect example of me using my empowered Ruthless Predator + Flash in order to gap close and pretty much take their most important player, Vayne completely out the fight thus letting us win the teamfight and look to end the game from that point on.


click here for twitch link.

> > in that fight i had engaged first. but, as previously mentioned, some games that'll be okay to do, whilst in others it's best to wait your turn as again; you're NOT a front-liner. with trial and error, practice, experience and many games, you'll be able to tell when you'll be able to go in first like this example here, and when you won't be able to.

extra tip: how to dive to their backline without Flash?

Flash makes life a lot easier for us divers but sometimes it'll be on cooldown. and when it's on cooldown you might find yourself to be in a position where you have to make a play and do your job as a diver regardless if it's up, coming up, not up at all or just fresh on it's 5 minute cooldown. let me give you some an extra tip here.

with practice, limit-testing, trial and error, playing a lot of games, watching others and maybe even VOD-reviewing some of your games/plays/attempts, you will start to see opportunities that will present themselves when it comes to diving their backline without flash.

take this as an example (click here to watch on twitch)

> note here i had no Flash. i had to figure out another way to dive and kill their most important squishy, in this case; Caitlyn

a good tactic for Renekton is making smart use of his Slice and Dice. think of it like Irelia. she uses her Bladesurge from target to target, eventually gap closing and diving to her intended target she wants. it's the same here with our croc.

in that clip, i was "aiming" their frontline. this happens often when your flash is on cooldown, cause there's no reliable way to reach their backline without them reacting and just kiting you, right?

> my true intentions were to kill Caitlyn the whole time, don't let me messing around with their frontline make you think otherwise. again, our goals as divers is to always, always, always prioritize nuking their squishies and killing them. DIVING them.

so, that whole "aiming frontline" is essentially me just bullsh#tting as i used their frontline to get 2 dashes on my Slice and Dice ability which allowed me to gap-close and kill Caitlyn.

again, with more games and genuine limit testing, you will see opportunities like this arise in your own games too. this includes in those games where you DON'T aim their backline- you'll begin to see how pointless it is to aim their frontliners as Renekton, and how quickly and often you die in teamfights when you get nuked by the backline you should've killed. one way or another you'll come to realize how divers need to dive their backline and that wasting any more time than needed hitting their frontline is what will lose you games and cut your potential as a player.


> small rule of thumb in league: if you don't need to use X ability. then don't.

example. if you Slice and Dice (E1) and end up not getting your E2 dash-reset, how are you going to gap-close that extra distance since your Slice and Dice is on cooldown and didn't end up resetting?

a note to always remember is if you don't need to use it, then don't. hold on to your abilities unless you actually need to use them. so if someone is nearby and you can afford to walk up to them first (or walk somewhere that allows your E2 to come up), then do so! that way your E2 Slice and Dice comes up and you can gap close to your intended target Flash included or not, securing the kill.

this goes for everything else in league including using Flash, Teleport, even something like using Ruthless Predator on a wave.

Flash usage

LOTS of players end up WASTING Flash for a single kill when it's already late-mid to late-game.

FLASHING for a kill when an objective like DRAKE or BARON is not up,

means that WHEN THAT OBJECTIVE DOES COME UP, YOU ARE FLASHLESS

Flash is the most broken ability in the game. to have it down when an objective is up (objectives wins games) is to handicap yourself from winning.

flashing for a kill in the early game, relatively mid-game, is totally fine. kills means a lead which means you're stronger which means you can do more things like taking camps, securing objectives and going for kills and having lane priority (complete lane control).

but when it's reaching late game... to waste a flash for a kill that DOESN'T at least lead to; TOWERS, DRAKE, BARON, INHIBITORS AND/OR NEXUS...

...is to int the game away. Flash genuinely wins/loses games. ESPECIALLY when playing Renekton.

same idea goes for Teleport

unless it leads to a strong-play to help you win the game, you shouldn't ever use Teleport post 20-minutes unless it's to teleport to the drake or baron fight to help your team, or in other cases, TELEPORTING to a sidelane/midlane to take towers. with more practice and games you'll be able to make that shot-call to push when appropriate! (you should be on the opposite side of the map, remember we're top laners)

having it up when DRAKE or BARON is up is VITAL for opening up the map to avoid the typical annoying ARAMs that occur in soloqueue. do not waste Teleport on anything else. again, UNLESS it's a play that'll actually help you win the game whether that's to push and take tower/inhibs or a spontaneous team fight you have to win. otherwise, KEEP it to open up the map and split push so you can TP to the appropriate objective fights when needed.

just a few tips about our important summoner spells.

final notes

what has kept me into competitively playing in MASTERS ELO china ionia *AND CLIMBING are these 5 fundamentals, small micro tip and a few mental tips all put together:

1. cheater recalling
2. perma default to slow pushing
3. looking at bot for good TP plays
4. tower-diving
5. shoving and roaming

all together these 5 macro tips have allowed me to consistently play in MASTERS+ china ionia.


another thing i should note is the consistent plays. i always love going for guaranteed plays rather than coinflip plays. basically; risk-aversion. if you were to ping me to join a 3v5 drake fight when our jungler is dead, i'm going to push the other lane in instead and maybe take the enemy's jungle farm while i'm at it. see, that's GUARANTEED money and xp and a shoved in wave that makes the enemy lose money and xp.

consistent, safe, risk-aversion plays like that all add up to a win. always go for the guaranteed plays when you know the other play is just a coin-flip/loss. that's how you'll CONSISTENTLY climb. take coin-flip fights as you will as some may work out, but just know to be consistent and to climb consistently, the guaranteed plays are what will make you a better player.

nobody likes being ahead just to take a coinflip fight out of desperation and losing your shutdown gold that snowballs the enemy team into a loss.


the one special one micro tip;
1. to always dive backline and aim their most important squishies first.

as a diver, you can never go wrong with this play. it will help you with knowing what to do and keeping your mind straight in those messy teamfights thus becoming a better player.

and honestly, league is just as much if MUCH MORE of a mental game than a mechanical game so let me include some mental tips too;
1. always say it's winnable. it really does help.
2. keep playing to win. don't simply tilt queue and don't play "for LP". play to WIN and try your hardest.
3. (works for me) stay cold, don't talk unless it's helpful like "im slow pushing to dive" (that will help you tbh) and focus.

ensure you're doing these 5 fundamentals, doing the important micro play and keeping the mental game strong in your games & soon you'll create your own unique way of playing top lane and be able to enjoy league instead of letting it negatively affect you since this game can really do some serious damage if you're not careful.


bonus bonus tip if you made it this far :)

> don't underestimate the ability of having an alt account to play on!

i genuinely believe that if you play to win and you DON'T mess around on your alt account (even if you are playing in games that is up to 400 LP lower than your main account), you can overall improve DRASTICALLY in league. ensure you're;

1. playing to win
2. playing the game as if your opponent is at your peak/better than you
3. not making mistakes and if you do, KNOWING what mistakes you made and LEARNING from them

these things can help you brush up on mechanics and help you get in-form for your main account games. i've recently been noticing that the games i play my BEST on main account just so happen to be the days where a day prior, i finished the day off playing on my alt account (that's 800 LP lower than my main). i believe that that's no coincidence! it really matters that you take the games on your alt as serious as you do on your main.

DO NOT play as if "you're better" and start making plays you'd never do on your main account. this just cements bad habits and makes you worse. play with heart and with purpose to win and learn and i promise you it'll help your main account games go smoother, more consistent and better.

just my two cents on what works for me! also helps that eventually the alt account will climb to the same elo as your main which means two accounts at your peak instead of 1 which is great for lessening the tilt on those tilting days.

that's all for my guide!

i worked really hard on this and i hope it helped! it wasn't JUST an Renekton guide as i hopefully sufficiently taught enough about the usage of slow pushes, cheater recalls, tower dives, lane priority and mid-late game macro and what to do in teamfights with top lane fighters (specifically divers)for you to get started on your journey to playing Renekton and top lane in general!

if you want to play other champs that are like Renekton, whether it's for your 2nd/3rd picks or just back-up picks if he's banned or anything like that, i highly recommend playing either; Irelia or Camille. i have a similar guide for irelia right here.

as i mentioned, i'm a two-trick Irelia & Renekton main, so i hope these examples in this guide and this guide in general helped you! irelia and renekton have REALLY similar playstyles both in lane and out of lane and in general so if you want to again, check out the irelia guide. the guide is similar but the examples are of irelia instead.

if you'd like to support me!

again, if you'd like to support my stream or just come by and ask questions then please do @ twitch.tv/at_tar_ras
i also have youtube, tiktok and twitter! i'm very active on all of them (except youtube SORRY) so there are the links :)

TOP MECHANICS - strongly recommend watching this one, it's a must for top laners as it shows you the whole tower-diving mechanic i spoke about in this guide.

MY STREAM - come by my stream :D i stream and play Irelia and Renekton everyday and can answer any questions you might have whether it's about irelia (since this is an irelia guide) or top lane in general!

- video showing how to/what is cheater recall is already on the top-ish page of the guide (the VOD from sanchovies and LS stream)

- renekton combo videos? i didn't bother adding any here because there's A LOT of content out there with a simple youtube search for it. i've never really watched any in my entirety of playing renekton, including right now HAHA but feel free to check search and find some! don't fall for the annoying 10 minute filled with fluff videos tho, they're just there to take your viewership for money

- bwipo trading the whole concept of trading harshly with the opponent before a dive or (in some cases) a recall