League of Legends: Top five top laners on Patch 10.1

Ranked League of Legends is back! Top laners, take a look at this list of the best Patch 10.1 champions to climb the solo queue ladder early in Season 10!

Season 10 is here! League of Legends entered its tenth season after the introduction of Patch 10.1 last week and players have already started to complete their placements and climb up the solo queue rankings.

The top lane landscape has changed significantly over the course of preseason with experience changes, a new alcove, and a Rift Herald update, but the S tier champions have remained constant during the last few months.

Darius, Garen, and Mordekaiser have become the all too familiar faces dominating champion select across solo queue worldwide recently, but with four top lane champion changes on Patch 10.1, is it time for a change at the top?

5) Kled

The Cantankerous Cavalier is often overlooked when it comes to the S tier of top lane despite consistently boasting relatively high win rates for the majority of the last six months. Kled’s kit is perfect for the current state of top lane and that’s being illustrated by his impressive 52.74% win rate on Patch 10.1 so far.

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Despite the clear benefits of picking Kled early on in Season 10, he currently only has a 4.0% pick rate and 3.9% ban rate, suggesting that perhaps solo queue players are underestimating the champion right now. It would be wise to take advantage of this before more catch on by locking him in in your solo queue games and adding Kled to your top lane champion pool.

Focus on dueling your opposition number early on, closing gaps with Jousting plus Bear Trap on a Rope, then using Violent Tendencies to rapidly burst them down. Kled has the potential to take over games if he picks up one or two early kills or a significant gold lead through a CS lead, so it’s important to make an aggressive start if the match-up allows.

In the later stages of the game, look to split push if you’re ahead and constantly threaten an engage against the opposing top laner, dipping into the fog of war to keep the flank option open. If you’re behind, opt to group up with your team and find the right opportunity to Chaaaaaaaarge!!! into the enemy team and force a fight.

4) Malphite

Malphite was, is, and will always be a rock-solid top lane pick purely due to his hugely impactful team fight ultimate, Unstoppable Force. Whether you’re building full AP or full tank, Malph can carry games and is the ideal choice for someone struggling to find their feet in the top lane.

You may be questioning how impactful Malphite can be when compared to the likes of Darius, Fiora, and Jax who can seemingly 1v9 games after just one early game kill. Well, if you know when and where to use your ultimate effectively then Malph can undoubtedly have a much bigger impact on a game than his top lane counterparts.

Just under a week into Patch 10.1 and Malphite has already reached a massive 53.14% win rate proving how potent this champion can be in the right hands. He has a relatively low skill floor, so picking him up quickly is a piece of cake, so make use of his high win rate before it’s too late!

3) Fiora

Despite efforts to welcome top lane back to the 5v5 fold during preseason, the island remains pretty isolated and, as a result, duellists rule over the meta. So, it goes without saying that the Grand Duelist would have a place in the top five top laners on Patch 10.1.

As mentioned earlier, the secret to unlocking the true potential of Fiora is relatively straightforward: Get a kill, take over the game.

That being said, if you’ve never played Fiora before it’s definitely worth learning the champion outside of ranked as she has a high skill floor compared to other champions on this list. Duelist’s Dance is a unique skill in League of Legends and frequently proc’ing it in lane a difficult skill to master. Riposte can also take some time to pick up.

However, if you have the time and patience to learn Fiora then you can reap the rewards in solo queue by patiently looking for openings in lane, establishing an early gold lead, and using it to split-push your way to victory in the late game.

2) Mordekaiser

Following months and months of Mordekaiser dominating in the top lane, the balance team finally acted on Patch 10.1 by nerfing his Passive – Darkness Rise. While this definitely had an impact, it wasn’t enough to drop him from S tier and he will retain his high priority for the foreseeable future.

If you haven’t added the Iron Revenant to your top lane champion pool by now, why not? His kit grants him excellent trading and gank set up in the early game, as well as a very effective team fight ultimate in Realm of Death.

Not only that, but his numbers are pretty busted right now, as evidenced by his 50.49% win rate and 40.4% ban rate. If he’s open, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to lock him in and grab your free win!

1) Darius

Trading, gank set-up, snowball potential, huge presence in team fights, Darius truly has it all and has risen to the top of the top lane tier list on Patch 10.1 with an impressive 51.44% win rate.

E-W-Q, applying stacks of Hemorrhage and your opponent is dead. No other top laner currently has the stats and damage numbers available to contest the Hand of Noxus right now and thus, it’s the perfect time to add him to your champion pool.

Pick up early kills by catching your enemy laner out with Apprehend, grab your Trinity Force and Sterak’s Gage and run riot on the Rift for the rest of the game. Split pushing is an option, but Darius is the master of team fights, running down squishy opponents and quickly bursting them down before dealing the killing blow with Noxian Guillotine.

If you’re a top laner looking for 10-0 placements or just want to climb the ladder early on in Season 10, Darius is the answer.

Next. Seven Tips for Overcoming Ranked Anxiety. dark

What top laners would you like to see buffed on Patch 10.2? Have you found a counter to Darius? Let us know in the comments, on Facebook, or on Twitter!

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