User blog:Contractas1/Solo Top - The lane that I cannot hold at all

WARNING: This is VERY VERY LONG AND YOU WON'T PROBOABLY READ IT ALL SO PLEASE JUST READ THE SECTIONS ON THE CHAMPIONS I ADDED (Someone type in the comments how to make a list of contents so I can make quicklinks.)

Hello, I am contractas1 a rather minor user of the LoL Wiki. I am making this blog to express my opinion on how I think solo top operates. I will feature every champion that I think is decent or better in solo top in an alphabetic order. I will also note why do I think these champions are viable there. I hope you help me and help me learn to go in this lane and win because I have had terrible games when I just picked something like Mordekaiser and failed horribly because my enemy would damage me (but I can't play Mordekaiser so that makes sense.) I have also had very amazing plays as Nidalee when I was simply dominating but that is normal for a player who mains Nidalee. The problem is I can't rock solo top unless I play champions that I'm more familiar with but I want to understand the basics of the solotop lane and realise how are you supposed to play it, I want to know how to play in the lane and not how to play the champion. So here it starts:

Ahri: I think Ahri is a viable choice for a solo top laner, she has good sustain and a long range, the problem is she is pretty squishy, but it's nice when you can outrange the enemy. I don't think that Ahri would hold a lane versus two enemies, but she would definetely hold a lane against one. Ahri's ultimate, Q and passive allow her to be in this lane. Her ultimate is an amazing spell allowing her to initiate on ganks and also escape from them. Her Q ability when utilized with her passive can heal her by a larger amount than another champion that is solo top could heal ( I think that Ahri would heal more than a Xin Zhao who gets healed every 3 attacks while Ahri most of the time gets healed every 4 spells.) And her passive is the main reason why Ahri can solo top. It grants so much Spell Vamp and Combined with Will of the Ancients you'll be surprised how much Ahri heals after her Orb of Deception.

Akail: Akali is pretty often seen in a top lane. Well at least more than in jungle or mid. She is a good solo top and turns into a good carry later. The thing that keeps her in this lane alive is the ability to endlessly sustain herself if she gets that bonus 9.5 AD. She also has pretty high burst damage so she deals damage similiar to other combo champions such as Jarvan IV or Volibear. Akali would be a perfect solo top if she was tankier and if she had harder CC than her slow ( though that would make her ridiculously powerful because she could apply hard CC that doesn't allow enemies to avoid her burst unless its something like a non-powerful blind that only stops attacks from damaging but allows them to escape)

Blitzcrank: Though a rare one, Blitzcrank is a champion that can go solo top and have a chance to win it. The problem is that he uses a lot of his mana with his spells that you use a lot. Blitzcrank also loses a portion of the protection his Mana Barrier provides by using spells so he is a mana reliant champion. The reason Blitzcrank can solo top is because he has a lot of crowd control that it allows him to continuosly keep enemies up in the air with Power Fist and also helps the jungler ganks a lot. Blitzcrank lacks sustain making it a must to buy some health potions and also a good choice to start with an item such as a Philosopher's Stone. Blitzcrank is also an amazing utility champion so he can be very useful later in the game by grabbing those unwary bad positioned carries like Ashe or Tristana who think they might be safe. I think if you pick Blitzcrank for a solo top champion you must play in Draft Mode because Blitzcrank can easily get outlaned by a lot of champions because they have higher damage and sustain also have a good set of abilties allowing them to survive him and kill him in the process. I just think you should play Blitzcrank against ability power champions or lower damage champions.

Cho'Gath: Cho'Gath has to be one of my favourite champions to see when we have a jungler and he is solo. He is very hard to kill and also has a better sense of humor than Blitzcrank. His Vorpal Spikes ability is very good since it adds the additional AoE damage and Cho'Gath is all AoE, except nomnomnom ofc. The best thing about Cho'Gath is that his passive is an improved version of Swain's passive and it is weird Riot didn't notice it :D Cho'Gath has the ability to heal at will just by last hitting allowing him to stay in lane forever. His CC is amazing so he can escape enemies and help allies with it. Also he is a deadly machine and no one will be able to easily kill a tankier Cho'Gath. What people don't understand is if you build a full tank then you deal more damage because you can stay longer in fights and able to deal more damage. So I would always do a full tank and get something like a Rod of Ages maybe for the mana issues or even a Zhonya's Hourglass for the amazing active and armor. Cho'Gath is one of my favourite champions so that is the reason I am writing so much about him.

Dr. Mundo: Short description: Mundo heals when he pleases! Detailed explanation:

Mundo has the best sustain in the game allowing him to stay in lane forever. The problem is that a lot of players like taking Ignites, Madreds Bloodrazor and even Deathfire Grasp just to destroy Mundo. And that is why he is very little seen. I think that Mundo is one of the better lane holders but a terrible damage dealer until he gets some damage and tanky items mixed. You should never build full tank or full AD mundo because he will never deal enough damage, survive respectively. So you should build him like your average tanky DPS. Mundo can hold a lane well but his damage isn't noticeable making him a not fully viable solo top unlike the above.

Fiora: Take Fiora if their team has one ability that enhances an attack and you'll be happy when they fail. Fiora is one of the most powerful damage dealers (IMO) but she is also one of the squishiest champions. It's amazing that Riot gave her 2 steroid abilities 1 gap closer an ultimate that deals a lot of damage grants the "Untargetable" status and also applies on hit effects. Not talking about the passive that sustains her. Fiora is squishier than most of the solo top champions but she is very rewarding aswell (or as well idk.)

Galio: Has decent sustain, amazing in teamfights. great chaser and escaper we present you Galio, the Sentinel's Sorrow. Galio is amazing in 4 lanes making him a good champion to buy. (Yes Galio is a jungler too) Galio has a great range. Why did i say he has decent sustain? Galio's ability Bulwark provides the target bonus armor and magic resistance for a short time and a bulwarked ally when hit will heal Galio making it a good choice to use it on the mostly focused minion. Why is Galio amazing at teamfights? All of his abilities have multiple uses in a teamfight most of the time you will see that Galio ults, but that's not what you should instantly expect. When I play Galio (free week) I usually wait for the enemy team to initiate on me trying to be the global taunt for them and trying to keep my allies safer. I try to use Resolute Smite after Idol of Durand and I keep using Righteous Gust whenever I want my team to initiate or to damage them or initiate myself if Flash is on cooldown. And I usually use Bulwark on the MVP of our team who is either the high damage AD carry or the high damage AP carry. The role of Galio begins and ends with support tank.

Gangplank: He's a pirate and he knows it. This guy is considered one of the best solo top champions and I can agree. While he is alone he can help any lane by using his ultimate. He can also continuosly slow and harass enemies with one of the most powerful non-ultimate abilties Parrley!. His oranges are very strong and a bit overpowered when I think about it. I mean it makes Gangplank a champion with 4 Summoner Spells. His E is useful for ganks and is also useful because it grants that passive bonus that increases his power without any items.

Garen: Spin2win guys! You should always pick Garen if you are sure the game will be a quick win. Garen can make anyone cry with his powerful abilities. Tired of killstealers? Pick Garen! Want to KS? Pick Garen! Want a champion that can easily sustain himself? Pick Mundo! Garen has amazing health regeneration when left alone in lane so try to avoid taking damage because it does stop the huge regen. Garen also has no mana making him better than a lot of others. I used to play Ignite Cleanse AD Bottom Lane Garen and I would get perfect scores. Then I tried the solo top and found that bruiser Ignite Flash Garen is way better.

Gragas: Whew this is hard work, but who cares I made it I finish it! Gragas has some sustain. Gragas has a beard. Gragas loves alcohol. Who wouldn't want to play Gragas? He is best when played with a premade team, but he is not so good when you have some retards who decide its good to pick an AoE ultimate (like Fiddlesticks's or Amumu's) when you pick Gragas. You shouldn't play Gragas if you aren't good at conserving your mana, because you will just not be able to damage them unless you are planning to be the more rare option AD Gragas. Gragas is a great champion to have because he just screws up any initiation the enemies might have. He might just reposition their team when Amumu snared all of you. In solo lane Gragas won't hold when spamming abilities and without higher health sustain. But he is a very good champion when played correctly and can beat several champions such as Nidalee or Udyr.

Irelia: Yeah one of the champions who was called very underpowered then asked to be buffed and gotten the huge buffs (I played the old Irelia) then the trolls (I hate trolls btw) who noticed Irelia is OP created the stupid Better Nerf Irelia memes. I never hated Irelia since she was one of the champions that got me a quadra. I think Irelia even after the nerfs holds an amazing spot in any team comp. She has amazing sustain, damage and CC. And when farmed up and snowballed, Irelia will carry the game easily granting your team an easy win and also less games with rage (unless the enemies rage.)

Jarvan IV: Jarvan IV is so annoying in solo top its not normal. You just have to wait for them to burn Flash then use your ultimate. I also ALWAYS recommend checking on the time they used Flash because then you will know when their next Flash will be ready. Jarvan IV is also one of my favourites because the first 2 games I played with Jarvan IV against people got me 2 quadra kills. Which is quite amusing for a very laggy player like me. I also think Jarvan is good because he has that huge slow and the shield can withstand a lot of damage with some tanky items. He also has a good passive and a very good Demacian Standard passive. Also he has a gapcloser built of 2 abilities. I think Jarvan's ultimate should disable use of summoner spells because now with the Flash meta people always (and I do mean ALWAYS) have Flash making Jarvan not so viable.

Jax: The new Jax brought us new capabilities. He can now easily solo top since he has that dodge that no other champion has! Jax is very good in solo top though he has no sustain his high burst damage at level 6 pays off. With the recent changes to his ultimate I think they made him more viable as now he can stay longer in fights, but deal less damage with abilties. I think it's the same damage because now Jax deals less damage after he has used his ultimate but he also lives longer dealing less damage with abilities but when thinking about it dealing more damage because you survive much longer than you used to. Jax is one of the best assassins because if he is near you he can just stun you then burst you down quickly and there is no primary resistance because Jax is a hybrid character specializing in dealing magical and physical damage.

Finishing it later (Fingers are tired!)