Among the standout top lane champions in League of Legends, some are extremely strong in certain aspects such as split pushing or team fighting. However, with some unique item builds, the community has uncovered the hidden power of many champions, allowing them to excel in both split pushing and team fighting effectively.
Below is a list of these formidable top lane champions:
Kennen
In the laning phase, you can build items like Blade of the Ruined King and Guinsoo’s Rageblade or Hextech Gunblade for split pushing. With Kennen’s champion kit and such items, this champion can dominate many short-range and immobile champions in the top lane. Kennen will split push incredibly effectively with this playstyle.
By the mid-game, most of Kennen’s opponents will build armor, which is 100% guaranteed. At this point, Kennen’s third major item will be Liandry’s Anguish – which provides Kennen with a significant amount of magic damage when using his ultimate, Slicing Maelstrom. Therefore, Kennen is not only strong in split pushing but also poses a significant threat during 5v5 team fights; with a well-timed Teleport, Kennen can dominate any engagement.
Wukong
In the laning phase, Wukong can utilize his Warrior Trickster (W) to deceive enemies, exchanging abilities to gain an advantage. Wukong’s E+Q skill combo consumes very little energy, allowing him to harass opponents as they attempt to last-hit and retreat with W if attacked. In the split pushing phase, Wukong can still excel in 1v1 duels with these tricks.
As the game progresses, Wukong’s pure damage playstyle creates immense pressure on the enemy team during team fights. A slight mistake from the enemy formation can lead to 3-4 members being knocked up, with their health continuously dwindling. Even when focusing on damage, Wukong can stall for a long time with his W, plus the two knock-ups from his ultimate, Cyclone, ensuring he won’t be burst down quickly. If combined with crowd control champions like Orianna, Nami, or Galio, team fights will be even stronger.
Ryze
In the early stages of the game, Ryze is somewhat weaker compared to the top meta champions. This is because Ryze needs to stack Tear of the Goddess and Rod of Ages. If you need to power up as quickly as possible, you can skip Rod of Ages; Ryze’s item build order will be Boots, Archangel’s Staff, Morellonomicon, Zhonya’s Hourglass (or Banshee’s Veil), Rylai’s Crystal Scepter, and Void Staff.
In the later stages of the game, if you have mastered the combo of his three skills QWE, you can solo kill many champions ranging from tanks, fighters, mages, to assassins or marksmen. With enough stacks on Archangel’s Staff, Ryze’s power greatly improves from damage to survivability. To split push effectively, Ryze requires a player with decent skills to utilize the mobility from Spell Flux + Overload (Q) to dodge enemy abilities.
Furthermore, in team fights, Ryze’s area damage from his skills is not to be underestimated. Notably, Ryze’s strength also lies in how he uses his ultimate to open up countless winning opportunities. For example, Ryze can teleport someone straight into the middle of the enemy team to initiate a fight, safely return the entire team home, or even take the entire team to push towers in the blink of an eye…
