LoL: Winner And Losers Of Preseason 11- Top Lane Edition

Which top laners should you be playing in the preseason?

Preseason has settled down and Riot doesn’t plan on making any big changes before Season 11. Get a head start on your competition by learning the meta and picking the champions that won the preseason.

S Tier – Champions that you should pick if they aren’t banned

Malphite – The rock in the top lane, a champion that is relatively easy to play and has a strong impact on the game.

• Malphite is a tank that benefits from the Season 11 item changes, with more ability haste built into his items, he comes online much faster.
• Point and click ultimate is easy to use and counters tons of champions with high mobility.
• Scaling, compared to his peers Malphite is a tank that scales better into the late-game. Malphite’s armor and shields only increase in strength as the game goes on thanks to his synergizing passives.

Kayle – The hard carry that can’t be nerfed, if you want to hard carry from top lane, Kayle is your champ.

• Kayle brings Ability Power to the table while being a ranged top laner that is hard to shutdown.
• Items only enhance Kayle’s scaling as she scales with levels that evolve her champion's capabilities.
• Kayle has been nerfed multiple times, but innate scaling and item synergies allow Kayle to maintain relevance in season 11.

Shen – Win games by influencing the map; Shen brings pressure to the game the moment he hits level six.

• Global ultimate that can change the outcome of the game with a click of a button.
• High utility, has a taunt, a shield from auto-attacks and a global shield that can act as a teleport.
• Despite being a tank Shen has a strong presence in lane with a built-in shield and enhanced auto-attack damage. This allows Shen to win matchups and snowball his lane and win the game.

A Tier – Champions that are strong, but require a little more work to pull off

Aatrox – The quintessential Goredrinker abuser

• Insane synergy with Goredrinker allows Aatrox to get in and deal massive amounts of damage while healing up back to full.
• Has decent matchups across the board allowing him to be picked early on without worrying too much about counter picks.

Camille – High skill cap top laner for those who want to show off their mechanical prowess

• Camille is a mechanical champion that takes a lot of skill to pull off, however, for those who can handle her, she has the ability to 1v9 games.
• Capability to kill both tanks and squishies with built-in True Damage to her Q.
• Synergizes well with champions due to her ultimate that lets her lockdown any target.

Maokai – A simple lockdown champion for those looking to bring utility from the top lane.

• The extra damage addition to Sunfire in season 11 has allowed Maokai to trade better in matchups that used to be harder for him in the past.
• The lockdown capability of his kit allows Maokai to negate the enemy carries and let his own teammates have room to work with.
• Like Malphite, having added ability haste to abilities make Maokai come online faster and bring more to the table.

B Tier – Viable, but have less impact than higher tiers

Fiora – One v One queen, insane side lane splitter

• Fiora is an extremely good side laner who can manage to outplay anyone with her outplay potential.
• While considered a tank killer she currently struggles against meta picks who build Sunfire.
• Synergizes well with new items along with the added ability to build grievous wounds from Chempunk Chainsword allowing her to one v one champions with heavy healing.

Wukong – Strong champion that struggles in lane versus meta picks

• Wukong is a beast outside of lane phase, with invisibility and two knock-ups he can make the game impossible to play for enemy carries.
• While powerful, Wukong struggles against meta tanks and loses kill pressure as the tanks scale into mid-late game.
• Needs to snowball lane to have an impact on the game.

Cho’Gath – Infinitely scaling tank that has good matchups into meta picks

• Cho’Gath is a tank top that performs well into other tank top laners making him a good blind pick for top lane.
• Lacks consistency compared to other top laners such as Shen or Malphite who both have point and click abilities to help their team win.
• Infinite scaling on Cho’Gath’s ultimate allows his team to always have the better frontline in the late-game.

Losers of the Preseason (Don’t play these champions)

Gangplank – The man crit items forgot about

• Itemization towards Infinity Edge’s cost efficiency point is much harder for Gangplank to obtain, forcing him to go towards Attack Damage builds.
• Comes online too late in the game to have any impact on the game’s outcome.
• No longer hyper scales into the late-game due to Critical Strike changes.

Jayce – The lane bully that can’t beat tanks

• Low outplay potential against tanks that lock him down.
• Easily campable and provides little to his team when behind.
• Weak itemization choices after his first two core items making him have trouble scaling.

Sett – The tank killer who has no itemization choices

• No synergy with mythic items forces Sett to choose between lackluster builds.
• Blade of the Ruined King second gives Sett decent side-laning but struggles in skirmishes outside of lane phase.
• Due to itemizing towards tankier builds in the late game, Sett only has a small window in the early game where he outshines his counterparts.