Worlds 2020: Ranking and Rating the Best Top Laners at Worlds

We break down the best top laners that you will see at Worlds 2020.

15. Su “Hanabi” Chia-Hsiang (PSG Talon) – 74 OVR

Hanabi is the perfect, balanced top laner you want to see, with his three most-played champions being Renekton, Ornn, and Gangplank, boasting a KDA over 5.00 on all three. He has some warts to his game, including a slightly lower than average kill participation on the year (60.4%) and low damage counts (his aDPM is just above 405). His biggest advantage, though, is that he has shown to be a very good laner (he averaged a +20 CSD at 15 during the regular season) in a competitive region.

One big concern, though, is the fact that his performance fell off a cliff in the PCS playoffs. For a veteran player who went to Worlds and MSI twice with the Flash Wolves, you would expect better composure in clutch situations.

14. Colin “Solo” Earnest (FlyQuest) – 74 OVR

Solo slides a bit more towards the tank playstyle but unlike most of the weak-side top laners he actually tends to output a decent (though still below-average) amount of damage. His aDPM of 417.3 is impressive for a guy who played mostly Ornn, Sett, and Aatrox in 2020.

What’s even more impressive, to me, is that he managed to improve his damage output during the playoffs despite the fact that his overall performance took a hit (he can thank TSM’s camping for annihilating his laning stats). That’s the sign of a true team player.

13. Gabriël “Bwipo” Rau (Fnatic) – 76 OVR

Bwipo is maybe my favorite top laner to watch in the world, and definitely in the LEC. His champion pool is diverse and eclectic, with him able to pull out wacky picks like Singed, Rengar, and Zac. He’s also able to play multiple styles, with his two most-played champions being Ornn and GP.

This diversity, however, masks the fact that Bwipo hasn’t really shown to be consistently good on any of his picks. He tends to die a lot, averaging over 3.5 deaths in 2020 (compared to the role average of 2.75) and for a guy who played 22 unique champions this year he has more champions (5) with a KDA under 1.00 than champions (4) with a KDA over 4.00.  Combine that with the fact that his average CSD at 15 is -10.0 and you start to realize that maybe conflips aren’t just Hylissang’s specialty.

12. Sergen “Broken Blade” Çelik (TSM) – 77 OVR

The highest-rated top laner coming from the LCS, Broken Blade gets a lot of flak from the fan community despite the fact that he’s shown to have a very diverse champion pool. In fact, his three most-played champions in 2020 were Aatrox, Ornn, and Sett (Shen and GP rounded out his top five). On none of those champions did he have a KDA of 3.00 or lower.

Broken Blade’s only real problem is that he tends to give up a lot of bad deaths, even though he doesn’t die that often overall. And for all the notions that he “doesn’t play weakside” his gold share is around the average for his role, but his damage counts are way up. That gives him a staggering 1.23 gold-to-damage ratio, making him one of the most efficient top laners in the world.

11. Choi “Doran” Hyeon-joon (DRX) – 78 OVR

While Doran spent most of 2019 as the whipping boy and weak point for the LCK’s most dominant team, Griffin, he has returned in 2020 with a strong performance on a new team. For DRX, Doran has played mainly those front-liners like Aatrox, Ornn, and Renekton, but he has also thrown a wrinkle into the DRX drafts with his ability to play AP top laners like Kennen.

I think Doran’s performance has been comparable to Broken Blade’s stat-wise, except for the fact that Doran tends to be a bit more gold-dependent  (his 23% gold share was higher than BB’s, as was his overall GPM) but does less damage. He edges out Broken Blade because he played against stronger competition, but I would say BB is overall a better player even if he hasn’t proven it as much.