Renekton is one of the strongest early-game top laners in League of Legends solo queue. He can annihilate his opponent and become a team-fighting beast with early leads.
His kit boasts sustain, a stun, dash, and plenty of base damage. He doesn’t require a lot to get going due to his high base damage, and his tankiness allows him to easily lane against most champions in the game, even ranged ADCs who might be easily able to deal with other top laners.
While Renekton is a powerful top laner, he can be controlled during the laning phase and stopped from snowballing. There are various champions who can put a stop to this early-game beast, but if you’ve found yourself in a bad matchup, there are various items to help you out in your journey to win the lane.
Here are the best counter picks to beat Renekton in the top lane.
General strategy
Renekton is a lane bully who has a unique resource generation mechanic via his Reign of Anger passive. By stacking the resource up, he gets access to improved versions of his basic abilities, which either deal more damage, heal more, or allow him to break shields against his opponents. He’s hard to play against since one misstep can give him enough time to jump in, stun you, deal a lot of damage, and back away.
To survive the laning phase against the crocodile, you need to closely pay attention to his Fury. When it’s over 50, it’s time to back away and let him waste it to clear minions. If you try to engage him with his resource bar full, he’ll get an upper edge in the trades and can even kill you if you’re not careful enough. Avoid fighting him in minion waves so he can’t get a lot of health back via Cull of the Meek (Q), since it gives him more health back for each minion hit. On top of that, if you have shields in your kit, be aware that his improved Ruthless Predator (W) can break, it so don’t rely on those abilities during your trades. The ability breaks the shield first before dealing the damage, so it will be wasted during trades.
Champions
Kled
Kled is one of the best counters against Renekton because he has a built-in healing-reduction effect, which allows you to stop his sustain through his Q.
Your kit allows you to use Jousting (E) to dash through minions to escape melee range if Renekton catches up to you, then Bear Trap on a Rope (Q) to follow up with some damage against him once at safe distance. Your attack speed steroid in Violent Tendencies (W) makes your trades powerful and capable of trading with Renekton.
By trying to keep Renekton under control, you can roam and use Chaaaaaaaarge!!! (R) to influence the rest of the map, while Renekton will look to push the top lane or try to help his team with Teleport. If he doesn’t have Teleport, you’re going to have a one-man advantage against his team, so you should be able to build a lead. By roaming and snowballing your team, you can ensure you have high chances of winning the game instead of just waiting in the top lane for something to happen.
If you make equal trades with Renekton early on and deny him an early lead, you’ll outscale him and have better teamfight presence and even better split-push potential. Look to use your lead to keep split pushing around the map and force Renekton to answer. When he does, look to join your team with your ultimate while he is stuck defending his tower.
Quinn
One of the best counterpicks to Renekton, Quinn excels at dealing with pesky top laners due to her range advantage on top of her blind from Blinding Assault (Q).
During the laning phase, all you have to do is keep attacking Renekton every time he tries to go for a last hit. If he tries to engage on you, use either the blind or Vault (E) to distance yourself from him and turn on him while he’s stuck without a dash. The matchup is highly favored towards Quinn and you shouldn’t lose the lane unless you overextend. But even if you overextend, you can keep him under control by keeping a safe distance and slowly withering his health pool down.
By keeping Renekton in check, you can look to start roaming around the map at level six once you get Behind Enemy Lines (R). The huge movement speed from the ultimate will allow you to cover wide distances around the map and will increase your pressure on the opposing team tenfold.
In the mid to late stages of the game, avoid grouping up and instead focus on solely split pushing. Even if you set Renekton behind, he will be a decent teamfight threat while you’ll be relegated to a subpar ADC position. It’s better to force the enemy team to react to your taking down their base instead of having mediocre impact in a teamfight.
Gnar
Gnar is one of the most popular top lane picks due to how easy it is to play him and how high his impact is. While he is pretty powerful during the laning phase due to his ranged form, he has some downsides you need to keep in mind, especially when facing a lane bully such as Renekton.
Use Gnar’s ranged form and poke Renekton down with Boomerang Throw (Q) to force him to play defensively. Don’t look for short trades since Renekton can jump on you and unleash a deadly combo, shutting down your poke attempt and forcing you to retreat. If you keep poking him down from a safe distance, you’ll fill up your rage bar, which can prove essential in an eventual skirmish. Once you have your melee form, look to get in close range and try to outtrade him. Once you return to your ranged form, look to retreat and build a safe distance once again. Repeat the process to keep Renekton under control.
The biggest downside of this matchup is that you’re squishy while in ranged form, so Renekton will most likely use that to engage on you repeatedly and look to kill you if you’re not careful. As a result, look to continue with a poking style and avoid getting too close.
By keeping up a poking playstyle, you should slowly outscale Renekton for the upcoming teamfights. Look for Teleport plays around the map if your resource bar is full to help your team win crucial mid-game teamfights. If Renekton looks to join you, try to avoid using your abilities on him since he’ll just heal back up. Instead, look to the backline of the opposing team and dive them to give your team much needed time to win the fight.
Avoid Teleporting without your resource bar full since you won’t be useful in ranged form. Your team will most likely rely on your kit’s melee form, especially the AoE stun from your ultimate which can win teamfights by itself.
Items to build into Renekton
Plated Steelcaps
This is the boots option when facing Renekton since his entire kit revolves around physical damage outside his ultimate. The early armor and flat damage reduction from attacks will prove handy against the crocodile.
Bramble Vest
This is a great anti-sustain item against Renekton if you want additional tankiness and are finding yourself in melee range against him too often. The armor granted by it is a nice addition to the anti-healing effect.
Executioner’s Calling
This is a great anti-sustain item if you’re ranged and can poke Renekton down. It’s cheap and has great build paths along the line, making it an amazing early-game investment, especially in the current sustain meta. You can upgrade it later to some nice items once you have your core items.
Sunfire Aegis
This Mythic tank item can shut down Renekton especially if combined with Bramble Vest. You will be doing a lot of damage while also stopping him from sustaining via his runes, items, and kit abilities. It quickly adds up and can be a huge source of damage in long-drawn skirmishes.
Goredrinker
Goredrinker is a great Mythic bruiser item, allowing you to match Renekton’s sustain. If he tries to all-in you, use this item to regain a huge chunk of health back, giving you enough time to turn the tides and attempt to either kill or escape the skirmish.
Stridebreaker
This Mythic item should help you escape Renekton if he tries to engage you due to its dash ability. On top of that, the movement speed granted by it should help you kite him efficiently and slowly wither his health pool down.
