The best early-game top laners in League of Legends (LoL) – ranked

The early game is extremely important in League of Legends. With a great start to the match, you can get significantly ahead and pressure enemies to the point where they’ll just surrender, or their Nexus is destroyed. But, winning the early game requires specific champions, communication, and game knowledge.

The easiest lane to win in the early game and actually have some influence afterward is the top lane. If you manage to smash your opponent and get a lead, you can aid other lanes in getting ahead, while also being able to maintain top lane dominance, thanks to certain items and spells like Teleport. This, eventually, should lead to some quick wins.

Nevertheless, not all top laners are made to win the early-game skirmishes. Some just don’t have the kits strong enough to outmaneuver your opponent in one-versus-one fights, others are just made for scaling.

Therefore, we’ve put up a list of some of the best early-game top laners in League, and included some tips on how to win both the early game and the match while playing them.

Renekton

Renekton is a stellar pick if you’re aiming for early fights and a quick finish to the game. His kit is made of three offensive abilities with low cooldown and high damage, with his Cull the Meek (Q) also providing some sustain if needed. Combine that with an empowering ultimate on level six, and you can easily win a lot of fights on your own.

When playing Renekton, you should aim to trade as much as possible with your top laner, and then roam to mid lane or enemy jungle to create advantages elsewhere. In teamfights, go for the enemies’ back line, which shouldn’t be too hard thanks to Slice and Dice (E). Make sure to build some bruiser items to provide yourself both damage and sustainability so you can actually make some impact in fights.

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Mordekaiser

Mordekaiser is another perfect example of a top laner that can snowball early and single-handedly take over the game around the 20-minute mark. When playing against your opponent, make sure to trade with him from time to time until you reach level six. Then, try going for solo kills with your overwhelming ultimate, or just ask your jungler for help.

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In the mid-game, Mordekaiser can easily take on the biggest threats in the enemy team by locking them in the Realm of Death (R). Given you haven’t fallen behind in the early game, naturally. This itself should be enough to tip the scales of a teamfight in your favor. Besides, you can still make some heavy impact with your other abilities on the remaining enemies.

Olaf

Olaf is also a fantastic pick when aiming to dominate the early game. His kit offers both ranged poke that slows down enemies and allows you to chase them down, and spells perfect for melee combat. On top of that, his Reckless Swing (E) deals true damage, so in most scenarios, you should be able to cut down tanks as well.

Thanks to Olaf’s Ragnarok (R), opponents won’t be able to put any crowd control on you, making you basically unstoppable. You also gain bonus movement speed for a second and additional attack damage over the course of the ultimate. As a result, you should use Ragnarok only when you’re in the middle of a teamfight and ready to chase enemy carry. With the rest of your tools, shutting them down won’t be tough, yet truly valuable for you and your team.

Darius

Everyone who has ever played top lane must’ve been annihilated by an enemy Darius at least once in their life. If you haven’t, you’re either incredibly lucky or you’re not a top laner at all. Darius’ abusing kit makes it a real pain in the neck to withstand the laning phase. If his enemy walks out of it unharmed, Darius has either been camped by a jungler, or his opponent is ranged, and didn’t fall into one of his easy baits.

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Darius’ strength lies in single-target damage, and with Apprehend (E), it’s really easy to lock down an enemy. While in the early game, he’ll have an advantage in most matchups, except against ranged enemies, teamfights get a bit tricky. Contrary to Olaf or Renekton, Darius doesn’t have a gap closer, so you’ll have to look for flanks to pin down valuable targets.

Kennen

Last but not least, we have a ranged champion in the form of Kennen. He may not be the first pick that comes to mind when you think about early-game top laners, but, hear me out. Kennen’s kit has some tools to easily harass your enemies at a safe distance. Once you poke your enemy a bit and don’t get ganked in the process, you may transition this small advantage into a kill with your Lighting Rush (E) and Slicing Maelstrom (R).

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Now, even if you don’t claim any early-game kills, you can still shake up the Summoner’s Rift in the mid-game. All you need to do is find smart flanks with your Teleport and E combo. Once you do, engage in a fight and unleash your ultimate alongside Zhonya’s Hourglass. This should cause enough damage and buy your team enough time to follow up and clean up. Make sure, though, to engage only when your teammates can follow your lead.