How To Play Top as a Beginner in League of Legends

Tired of playing the same champion over and over, but don’t know where to start? No worries, we’ll show you the most important objectives for support players switching to the top lane, items to buy and the best champions for beginners to keep your team happy.

What is your primary objective?

Focus on increasing your Creeper Score, help with objectives and win your lane by taking turrets and inhibitors. As top lane, your role is to pressure the enemy team to spend time and resources on dealing with you. You’ll need to roam to mid- or bot lane in between getting towers and defending your lane to help get objectives.

• After getting objectives with your allies, you can choose between roaming for a bit or going back to your lane to push towards the inhibitor tower. It is the most flexible role in the game, as being top lane allows you to tank or carry depending on your team and playstyle.
• You’ll need to focus on becoming efficient at wave management, knowing your matchup and understanding jungle presence. Learn the difference between slow- and fast pushing and get comfortable with freezing your waves near your turret. Learning the specific techniques to your champion is key to controlling the top lane in League of Legends.

What champions should you pick?

For top lane novices, we recommend using Malphite, Garen, Nasus, Renekton and Singed until you get familiar with your new role. Every one of these champions should be easy to get into and offer user-friendly abilities.

Has good base damage and he’ll have a clear advantage in the early game. He’s great against most melee enemies in the top lane and does serious damage to junglers. Still, Garen lacks mobility which means that enemies generally outrun him. Similarly, he has a hard time roaming efficiently due to his low movement speed.

How to play: For Garen, the trick to winning your lane is farming as much as possible. He’s a melee, attack-damage focused champion that excels at one-on-one skirmishes with enemy laners. You’ll want to setup ranged enemies for ganks by trading blows as much as possible. Use his Q ability, Decisive Strike, for a momentary boost in attack damage and movement speed to punish aggressive playstyles. 

Strong against Aatrox, Akali, Camille and Cho’Gath.

Meant for team fights and initiating enemies. He is a strong tank and deals heavy counters to most enemies on top lane. His abilities are great for engaging team fights and allows him to escape if done correctly. However, he suffers against AP-heavy teams and is somewhat weak against mages.

How to play: Beginners playing Malphite should focus on farming in the early game to prepare for team fights. Clear waves of minions with his E ability, Ground Slam, in the early game. With his somewhat lofty mana consumption, enemy top laners are more likely to have better sustain than you. However, with a bit of help from mid lane or jungle, you should be able to gank pushing enemies and get yourself in the lead for the late game. There, you’ll need to stick with your team as much as possible to engage in team fights. After charging team fights with R, Unstoppable Force, use his E ability to shield yourself from nearby enemies and focus on getting away as fast as possible. 

Strong against Fiora, Camille and Tryndamere.

Both a strength and a weakness, this champion is all about the late game. He deals a ton of damage all while being very tanky, allowing him to dominate team fights on his own if needed. He does, however, have his share of weaknesses as he is reliant on farming and vulnerable to crowd control.

How to play: Preparing for the late game is key to playing Nasus. You’ll want to max your Q ability, Siphoning Strike, as fast as possible while focusing on last hitting minions with it. Use your turret as a safe-zone for pushing enemies – the main thing is to stay alive. Once it’s time for the late game, you’re ready to dominate. Go for one-on-one fights and pressure turrets when your team is grouped away from you.

 Strong against Irelia, Fiora, Renekton and Pantheon.

Has a strong early game and an even stronger mid game. He’s great at crowd control and has high mobility to push lanes without risking being caught in ganks. Renekton struggles against ranged champions and somewhat loses his usefulness late game.

How to play: When playing Renekton, beginners should stick to farming minions in the early game. If it’s possible, use his strengths to rack up kills early on. Renekton is especially lethal when roaming and in early team fights, so this is where you should be concentrating on setting yourself up for the late game by getting kills. In the last part of the match, focus on helping your team as much as possible in team fights while avoiding getting caught in ganks or unwinnable one-on-one fights. 

Strong against Darius, Jax, Irealia and Pantheon.

Excels at bringing crowd control to team fights while having solid base damage. His Poison Trail is incredibly effective against pursuers and his taunting abilities are known to be especially efficient at making enemy teams experience “the tilt factor”. However, Singed is heavily reliant on his ultimate and is somewhat weak in the early game.

How to play: For Singed, farming minions is the way to go. Trap pursuing enemies with his Q ability, Poison Trail, to prevent them from chasing you. Once you get comfortable with his abilities, you should try proxy farming. For this, you’ll need to wait between the two enemy turrets on your lane and kill enemy minions before they reach your tower. Proxy farming makes it impossible for your enemy laner to destroy your turret, since they have no friendly minions to attack it.

 Strong against Jax, Nasus and Malphite.

How to keep your team happy

When in doubt, focus on staying alive. If you’re not dying, you’re not feeding, so watch out for ganks and keep your distance. It also helps to ignore the chat log and focusing on your actual goal. Staying alive for the early game is not only great for getting gold and increasing your Creeper Score, but also a huge morale booster, so play it safe when you need to.

Your allies made a great play? Let them know! Supporting your team helps you steer the course of the match in more ways than you’d think. Positive reinforcement is said to greatly increase your overall win rate, as it encourages your teammates to make great plays. They’re also less likely to be toxic towards someone who just applauded their play.

Need help with controlling your lane? Ask your allies to support you more often or let them know that you need them to gank your lane. Clear communication is key to preventing confusion and having coordinated callouts can mean the difference between losing or winning the game.