Hey all, I am Lord Drek and I love to play champions that are beast at Solo top lane, which will be my main theme in this guide.

I decided to write this guide, as i feel that after about 500 games at solo top lane, i am fairly experianced and so I felt like writing a guide on theme that isn't explained really great on MOBAfire. I mean, there are some guides about lanes, but not many, so you can't compare information and can't take the most out of it.

So, enjoy, solo laners :)

Well, its a path, road, lane, w/e you wanna call it in 5v5 Summoner's Rift.

Its the lane at north of the map, that is usually cut of anythign that is happening untill like 20 minutes, where teamfights and scrimishes start.
Its home of champions that must farm and then become beast and go 1v3 and win. The main purpose of solo top champions is to farm like 150 cs before coming into fights and have 2-3 levels advantege over thier ad carry, possibly jungler and 3-4 levels advantege oevr support of opposing team.

I will rate how good the atributte is by Green +. More there is, better and mroe important the stat is.

Sustain : ++++++++++(10)

Survivability* : +++++++ (7)

Burst Damage : +++++(5)

Sustained Damage : +++++++(7)

Harass : ++++++++(8)

Mobility : ++++++(6)

Farming : ++++(4) ***

Reach : ++(2)

*: As of how much damage can you take in one load. IT means how
**: Farming depends on skill, so it doesnt matter which champ you have. Some are better than others, however. ( Parrrley by GP is great farming tool.)

As you can see, my opinion is that sustainability is great, and that it is a MUST-NEED for any solo top laners, but there is one way to evade the need of it. It can be executed by few champions. That thing is that your laning is soo strong, that the other chamion cant harass you. Its very tricky to do that, but chamions that excell at early game strenght can do it (eg. Darius, Pantheon)

What is difference between sustained and burst damage? Well, Nidalee has high sustained damage, while Talon excells at burst damage... I think sustained damage is much much more important for top lane, as you litterary cant burst down an bruiser, which 90% of solo top champions are.

When you play LoL you may wonder what does it mean when some one tells you that you picked T2 or T3 solo top champion and that its not good. Well, heres the answer on what Tiers mean and what tier is which champion.

Tier isnt something taht Riot created, but is what players think of certain champions. Like, one of best solo toppers is Irelia and is T1 solotop champion, while some really bad champ to solotop with, like Sona is a T3 solo topper, meaning you shouldnt solo top with her unless there are extreme reasons.

So, lets see what champions are T1, what are T2. T3 is for ones that really arent suited for solotp and shouldnt be there.

--- Shes definatley one of beat solotops if not in best 2 or so.
To be honest, I always loved Irelia and i plaid 400 fo those 500 solotop gaes with her. The thing was i was unmatched a long time untill some rivens and olaf's beated me.(after nerfs tho). Her sustain got almoast halved with the nerfs, which is very bad for her. Her farm and harass ability is immense though.

--- This guy is very tanky and outharasses many other champs. His ultimate usually spells death if you get ganked when he ults, as it means no movement for a long time or use flash. He even has shield so he can deflect harass with ease. He does lack ability to farm and damage tho, so hes one of the worst of the best, if you know what I mean :P

Olaf.. solo laner i presonally hate. He's one bad counter for Irelia and thats why I hate him. He has really nice kit for solotop, however. He has: Nasty range poke and slow, great sustain and 340 true dmg /3 sec. And thats the ability that tears evrey solo laner apart, even though some can heal fast, no one outheals that. He's strong, but he is doomed vs rangers and mages.

Ahh, this is oen of 'super laners' like Irelia meaning he has all he needs. But his nasties habbit is healing while harassing.. Healing alot. He is also almoast ubteatable 1v1.. or should i say 1v2? Maybe even 1v5 but ok xD So, he qualifies for top 3 best solotppers, he's a pain for any other sololaner.

This guy is different. Solotops become beasts if you let them farm. Nasus however, doesn't become beast, he becomes allmighty 1v5solo game winner beast.

Beware all other! You MUST NOT I repeat MUST NOT let him farm up his SS. If he does, just surr at 20, he has 1k dmg on 2 sec cd. You don't want that, that I can guarantee. So, what you must do against him, let your cs go low. You must make him use his SS on you. Or he WILL rip you apart later.

Well, hes good, but hes not one of best 5 i guess. He is evry powerfull at start, btu his power fades later.. THough, he has an 1.5 sec on hit stun taht deals about 400 dmg and is VERY nasty when you're gonna eb ganked, as it stuns you and dmges, leaving his jungler ****load of time to take ur opponent out.

Shen was recently buffed (and nerfed shortly after) and the buff made him a very large threat in solo top lane. His Q is GREAT harass skill and requires practically no cost, as energy recovers extremely fast. He has a nice taunt so if you get ganked near his turret, you're pretty much dead meat. And always note that he can be across map in 3 sec when he is outa sight, so tell your teammates when he goes unvisiable and when he gets his ult.

She's so annoying, but she is very powerfull.. Fast move and knockup, dash and shield, stun and finisher AND no mana.. sounds pretty cool eh? Well, if you are playing againist jer, make sure you buy quite some armour ( Chain Vest reccomended) and try to harass her alot, because she has no sustain. She is VERY dangerous at lvl 6, however, as she gets epic empower and finisher move, the lower your hp is the more it hits...

Ryze is great solotop champion, used in high ELO, as he can kite so well, and can harass like nothing. His trick is he is build tanky but he gets damage.. You can build Frozen Heart and not lose damage (i mean spot waste) but gain ALOT of damage and alot of survivability. He isn't played at low ELO much, though.

This guy is usually a pain in the head for players who don't know how to counter him. Many, inclouding me consider him OP, as his ultimate can deal up to 400-450 true damage ON LEVEL 6! Pretty sick if you ask me, as non-tanky players have about 800 hp by that time... He also has a pull in and 1.2 ad scalining (not sure about this 1) on a AoE move with 3 sec CD. His passive is prectically an Ignite for free.. Only thing he lacks is stun.. but he has a boss slow, so, I think he is considered OP with a great reason.

This guy could very well be T1, but his only big flaw is that he is hopeless against and AP guy, as Ryze which will steamroll him down, whitout taking any damage, as Malph can't really do **** against Ap, since he is AD counter. His suatain is low also, but his passive saves him there, making him an VERY hard guy to beat in AD trades.

Great solotop champion must have mix of : Damage, survivability, movement, cc and of course, sustain. Great example is Irelia, she has :

• Damage : All her spells, Hiten Style comes to mind.
• Survibaility : She is naturally tanky.
• Movenent : Trought Bladesurge wihich offers pretty extreme mobility (she also ahs 320 base ms)
• CC : Equilibrium Strike is a very powerfull cc, if u know how to use it.
• sustain : You all know this, but Hiten Style and Tredascent Blades.

You can see what is the difference between Irelia and lets say, Talon.

Talon however, has different attributes, lacking the most important one : sustain.
He has great burst damage, but he lacks sustained damage. He has great mobility, yet he lacks survivability, making him T2 instead of T1.