Clearing waves of minions fast is a very important aspect of the mid and late game. You will often find yourself in the situation where you need to shove the Lane as far back as you can and proceed to roam to other parts of the map. Naturally, some Champions do this better than others. Whether it be due to their fast attack speed/attack resets or AOE damage.
Wave clearing is a straightforward mechanic, and by the time everyone has a full build, everyone also gets good at wave clearing. But the Champions in this list do it well on the Top Lane even before the later parts of the game come.
This list will help you understand wave clearing a bit better, though it is, as I’ve said, fairly straightforward. It will also provide the best options to pick for utilizing pushing and wave clearing the Top Lane in the closing days of Season 12.
Let’s begin with the 5 Best Wave-Clear Top Laners in League of Legends!
5. Irelia
Irelia is one of the most notorious farming Champions both in the Top Lane and in the game generally. She has a lot of utility to use to clear the wave as fast as possible, with the main one being her Q. Whenever Irelia kills a minion with her Q, its cooldown resets, allowing her to use it instantly.
You can immediately figure out why she’s on the list, as a few quick casts of her Q can obliterate an entire wave in seconds. Playing Irelia, you will always have the farm in mind, and due to how powerful this tool is, you’ll likely stay on top of your opposing laner for the entirety of the Laning Phase.
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4. Illaoi
This tentacle hentai monster is a very intimidating one. With the use of her tentacles, she can do massive damage to Champions and minions alike. The wide AOE on them gives her enough to clear the entire minion wave in a few hits. She even has a tentacle slam of her own, meaning that she doesn’t have to rely on the spawns to utilize her clearing potential.
Illaoi is a great fighter, a team fighter, and her pushing capabilities allow her to quickly roam to other Lanes and areas and help her team. With her brutal Ultimate, she is one of the easiest Champions to get a Pentakill with, so keep that in mind when choosing a Champion with a good pusher/team fighter dynamic.
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3. Tryndamere
Trynda hits infamously hard, and he hits infamously fast. Trynda can really farm up fast and efficiently during the early game without compromising his position too much. He isn’t exactly a natural roamer, preferring to stay in Lane for a while until he hits his first power spikes. However, he is an avid pusher, and he will often clash the enemy tower with his minions during the Laning Phase.
When he gets a bit stronger, using nothing but his basic E and attacks, he can clear the entire wave in seconds. His E’s cooldown resets when he crits, and he will often crit, which will allow him to clear even faster. As one of the best split pushers around, Trynda’s wave clear is all but notorious, and if you want to play as a split pusher that isn’t Yorick, Trynda is among the best picks.
2. Jax
A couple of years ago, I watched Faker play Jax. When I saw just how fast he could clear a lane with this Champion – I was astonished. And I am a Jax main, so that tells you a lot. I mean, it tells you that I am either crap at the game or that Jax is a very capable wave clearer. I prefer to think the latter. Apart from having a passive that grants him a lot of Attack Speed with subsequent attacks, he also has a kit that gives him a lot of low cooldown damage that can help with pushing/clearing a wave.
Jax, like Trynda, is one of the best split pushers League has ever had. His Q, W, and E are all tools of killing minions as fast as possible. They can even be spammed to proc his Trinity/Sunderer for more damage against Turrets. Resetting attacks with his W is the best early game tool to clear minion waves, and you’ll be using it often. If you can’t exactly reach a minion you want to kill quickly, your Q is a great tool to do so. Jax’s kit is one of the most basic in the entire game and yet has so much depth and potential that it’s insane.
Just buy a Hullbreaker and pick up Demolish and end the game at 15.
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1. Gangplank
My favorite Champion of them all is also the best Champion to clear waves among Top Laners. Hell, he can even clear two lanes at once using his Ultimate. But let’s not rush it. Gangplank’s gameplay revolves around Laning until you have your first item. After that, shove the Lane and go roam as map presence is paramount for remaining on top of your game with this angry pirate.
After getting his first item, Gangplank will be able to one-shot ranged minions with a single barrel. If the barrel is a crit, it will one-shot the melee ones as well.
The recent updates to Gangplank’s barrels that let him hold 5 charges allow for a lot more liberal use. You can use barrels to push the Lane and clear waves as much as possible while still keeping one or two on yourself for safe measure. He can clear an entire wave or even multiple ones in a single barrel and clear a Lane on the other side of the map with his global Ultimate. His Ult can be used to prevent a push, i.e., killing the wave of minions the enemy uses to get around the backdoor protection.
Or you can use it to push, whatever the situation requires. Gangplank is the best on the Top Lane when it comes to clearing minion waves and is likely to remain so.
Conclusion
Wave clearing and pushing are very important in the late game. Most Champions in the game can efficiently perform this mechanic as the game progresses, but some can do it a lot better than others. We can see that the Top Lane has what it takes to perform great split pushing and wave clashing, and I dare say that it has some of the best split pushers in the game in general.
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