From Twitch streamers to professional players to casual gamers, League of Legends is strategic, engaging, competitive, and at many times, a mixture of love and hate. Due to this, players in the LoL community have created a system referred to as META – Most Effective Tactics Available.
Today, we are going to introduce you to the 5 best off-meta top laners …
Kayn
First on the list, we have the melee hybrid assassin that many of us have grown to love – Kayn. Kayn is known for having the ability to transfer into the Shadow Assassin or Rhaast. While it’s possible for this champion to transform into either one of those forms, it’s possible to pick one of the forms faster, depending on the targets. If you’re going for ranged champions, you can pick his Shadow Assassin form, but if you’re targeting melee champs, you can pick Rhaast sooner. Shadow Assassin works more like a burst-oriented class, while Rhaast works like a mobile bruiser.
Why Pick Kayn?
Kayne is all about one thing – turning into Rhaast as fast as possible by killing melee top lane enemies. With Rhaast, you will have a nice balance of mobility, sustain, and damage. While in this form, he has a passive that will heal him for a portion of the damage he deals to enemy champions. You can use Q (Reaping Slash) and his Ultimate (Umbral Trespass) to deal damage that is equal to a portion of his enemy’s health.
Kayn is a major threat to his opponents, even the tanks because his damage is percentage-based.
Recommendations
We recommend picking Kayn alongside a Jungler that is capable of locking down his lane opponent during a gank.
Braum
Next on our list, we have a champion that is mostly played for those looking for a good tank – Braum. Braum has a kit that is designed to protect his teammates that are the most fragile.
Unlike some of the other defensive champions capable of shielding or healing teammates, Braum offers protection by being a physical wall that protects against enemy fire.
Using E (Unbreakable) will put out a mobile shield that protects champions from enemy projectiles. It will also reduce the damage that does manage to make its way through the shield.
W (Stand Behind Me) gives Braum the opportunity tor each his allies faster, while also increasing their magic and armor resistance.
Q (Winter Bite) is a useful skill-shot slow. Even better, Winter’s Bite can be stacked with the on-hit passive of Braum’s Concussive Blow passive. What does this mean? It means that when this skill is used, Braum will almost always stun his opponent.
This champion has an ultimate that is versatile – Glacial Fissure can be used to prevent the advance of pursuing enemies or to initiate team fights.
Why Pick Braum?
Braum runs off of trading and ganking synergy. There is no denying that Braun is a good Brawler champion. During trades, it’s almost guaranteed that his Concussive Blows passive will stun, and this will be followed by a nice amount of magic damage. To make this champion even better, his passive also stacks when a teammate attacks.
Recommendations
Braum top would work the best when combines with a jungler like Master Yi, Warwick, and Volibear. The extra damage from those concussive blows will secure those kills, and the additional armor bonus the champ gets from Stand Behind Me will make it easier to make those tower dives. We also recommend getting items that have on-hit effects such as Black Cleaver and Frozen Mallet.
Kai’Sa
After Kai’Sa was released, many LoL players chose Kai’Sa as their main. Her Q (Icathian Rain) ability is a good source of damage, and it is fairly spammable. Then, you have her W (Void Seeker) combines with her E (Supercharge), which does a great job of taking enemies down.
Her ultimate (Killer Instinct) comes in handy when she needs to chase down enemies that have escaped (or tried to escape).
Kai’Sa has three passives – the first two passives come in handy for adding a nice boost to her overall damage. The third passive is used to enhance Kai’Sa’s first three abilities.
Why Choose Kai’Sa?
Kai’Sa’s damage and versatility make her a great choice. This type of champion can do good in nearly every position, and this shines through when she’s in the top lane.
In meta, where tanky melee bruisers are dominating the top lane, a ranged champion will have an advantage early on in the game. However, Kai’Sa also does good in the late game; plus, she has both AD and AP scaling damage. This means that the enemy team isn’t going to have any other choice other than to check to see what items Kai’Sa is buying before they choose to build either magic resistance or build armor.
Recommendations
When you pick your fight on Kai’Sa, you’ll want to pick it away from the minion wave – Kai’Sa does have the range advantages, but she doesn’t really have a way to disengage.
Taric
Now, we have Taric, a good support meta-pick. His kit relies on playing with a nearby teammate because Taric’s abilities will also activate where the linked ally is.
Q (Starlight’s Touch) is a good lane sustain, while E (Dazzle) has an excellent AOE CC ability that proves useful during team fights. It also comes in handy for keeping enemies from getting to your team. Taric’s W (Bastion) offers the right amount of physical damage reduction. When teammates are near Taric, and he uses his ultimate ability, this will render them invincible.
Why Choose Taric?
Some people are under the impression that Taric does best in the bot lane because he will always have someone to link up with there. However, believe it or not, he is a good brawler that can do a decent amount of damage.
Having the ability to deal extra magic damage combined with those passive auto attacks makes a good meta top laner. With Taric on your site, even a Junger that doesn’t have crowd control, such as Hecarim, will have the ability to pin an enemy down.
Recommendations
When paired with Junglers that don’t have CC, Taric is a good off-metal top laner. Just keep in mind that most of the top lane enemies have a tendency to be on the tanky side, which means that your burst junglers might not have the damage required to eliminate the target.
Blitzcrank
Last on our list of the five best off-meta top laners; we have Blitzcrank. Blitzcrank is a good support champion that can take any match by storm. Q (Rocket Grab) is his signature move that grabs an enemy champion and snatches him/her closer to him. Once the enemy is within melee range, Blitzcrank can use E (Power Fist) to stun the target. He can use his offensive mobility tool, Overdrive, to get in range with the enemy to use his Rocket Grab. His ultimate (Static Field) deals a great deal of AOE burst damage.
Why Choose Blitzcrank?
Blitzcrank has the capabilities to go up against melee brawlers without blinking an eye. His Static Field passive does a good amount of magic damage, and Power Fist has a low cooldown – all of this combined with the attack speed from his Overdrive gives him a lot of sustained damage. His Mana Barrier passive makes him a hard champion to take down. Then, you have the fact that he can use Rocket Grab to take an enemy close to the tower, forcing them to get hit big time.
Recommendations
With Blitzcrank’s passive shield, we recommend Lifegrip and Malmortius’ Lifeline – combining these will make him an even bigger force to be reckoned with.
Conclusion
So there you have it – the top 5 best off-meta top laners. If you have some other off-meta picks that you feel deserves some spotlight, go ahead and tell us about them in the comment section below.
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