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

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Photo by Michal Konkol/Riot Games. /

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

10. Xie “Langx” Zhen-Ying (Legacy Esports) – 78 OVR

Langx may be the Chinese Doran because I think he’s actually a weaker player than Broken Blade but is bouyed by having faced stronger opponents. Statistically, he is weaker than both of the above players, particularly in his damage output. His 360.5 aDPM is one of the lowest of top laners attending Worlds 2020 and is far below Doran’s (433.5 aDPM) and Broken Blade’s (474.5 aDPM).

An even bigger problem for Langx is how limited his champion pool is. His two most-played champions (Ornn and Renekton) made up 46 of his 102 games played this season (45%). He did not have more than 10 games on any other champion. He also had only six champions that he played more than five games on in 2020.

9. Andrei “Orome” Popa (MAD Lions) – 78 OVRL

Like Broken Blade, Orome has shown to be a bit more diverse in his champion pool, with more unique champions played (21) in 63 games than Langx did (17) in over 100 games. His champion pool is also far more balanced, with six champions of him having more than five games on and no champion having been picked more than 10 times.

8. Kim “Topoon” Ji-hoon (Legacy Esports) – 79 OVR

Topoon made my list of the top 10 players from wildcard regions to watch, because of his exceptional performance in the OPL. Topoon was not afraid to step up and be the main carry of his team, despite the fact that he was still willing to bust out the meta top lane picks (his most-played champions were Gangplank, Aatrox, and Ornn).

Topoon dominated enemy top laners in the OPL, averaging 1,100 gold, 18 CS, and 870 experience leads at 15 minutes. While that is likely not replicable at Worlds 2020, the fact that his fundamentals are so strong against weaker teams gives me reason to believe that he will have a chance. A lot of western teams looking for a top laner should keep their eyes on Topoon.

7. Finn “Finn” Wiestål (Rogue) – 79 OVR

Another weakside top laner who manages to limit his deaths, Finn actually has a big problem on display that Topoon actually could give him tips on: laning. Yes, he was playing against far tougher competition, but Finn averaged a -4 CSD at 15 during the regular season, along with small gold (+230) and experience (+23) leads.

However, in the playoffs he got absolutely smashed in lane, averaging gold/CS/XP differences at 15 of -751/-23/-584. In that time, he faced only one top laner – Wunder – who is ranked higher than him but still managed to get absolutely run over in lanes. That is not encouraging for Rogue’s chances.

6. Kim “Rascal” Kwang-hee (DRX) – 81 OVR

Rascal is truly the better version of Langx, with 53 games out of the 115 he played in 2020 on three champions – Ornn, Renekton, and Sett. Those were also the only champions on which he had 10 or more games played this year.

After those three, however, we do see that Rascal can play carries like Akali, Camille, and Rumble rounding out his top six. And every single champion in that top six has a KDA over 3.00, and five of six have a KDA over 3.50.

So although he prefers to play tanks, he has at least shown he can play carries competently. His damage is quite low (and his damage-to-gold ratio is also slightly below average) but he’s a solid laner and doesn’t give up needless deaths.

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