From the pre-season of 2020, Riot Games has published lengthy articles akin to “The Kitchen God” regarding the updates to Elemental Dragons. Features like the elemental map, dragon souls, and the Elder Dragon that Riot highlighted underscore the significance of Elemental Dragons. This inadvertently created a mindset among League of Legends players that winning requires prioritizing as many Dragons as possible.
This has created a tremendously negative trend for League of Legends, especially in solo queue, where junglers often neglect the top lane, skewing the balance of the map heavily towards the bottom. This is also a contributing factor to the rise of Support champions in the top lane, as they can lane comfortably without being ganked, turning champions like Soraka and Sona into “mobile health bars” later in the game.
However, is it true that Dragons and the bottom lane are the only win conditions as we currently believe? Can the top lane be completely disregarded without concern? The answer is no; in fact, the top lane remains incredibly sensitive and prone to snowballing. If leveraged correctly, securing the Rift Herald and pushing the top lane can provide greater advantages than simply securing Dragons.
The first reason stems from the importance of major objectives. Elemental Dragons are powerful, but they are only strong when they provide a Dragon soul. Meanwhile, the stats they offer are significantly weaker than before; for instance, the Fire Dragon now only provides an additional 5% AD and AP, compared to 8% previously. With three stacks of the old Fire Dragon, the additional power is still greater than four stacks of the new Fire Dragon.
Furthermore, the first three Dragons no longer share elemental types, which significantly reduces the snowballing potential through this objective. Previously, you could choose to secure an objective (if there was an Earth Dragon), engage in skirmishes (Fire Dragon), or roam for ganks (Wind and Water Dragons) to enhance pressure on the opponents. Now, the stats from Elemental Dragons hold little meaning before you have the Dragon soul, meaning the effort spent contesting these objectives in the first 20 minutes of the game yields very low results.
In contrast, securing the Rift Herald is much easier, with immediate benefits that can tremendously accelerate snowballing. Remember that there is only one player in the top lane; attacking a lone opponent is always easier than a duo in the bottom lane. You don’t even need to secure kills on the enemy; having a slight advantage in minion control at the top can allow you to take the Rift Herald early on.
The benefits that the Rift Herald brings are far more direct; you will gain gold from turret plates, from destroying turrets, and a significant vision advantage. Having more gold than your opponents and exerting map pressure grants you a massive equipment advantage, independent of the stats from Elemental Dragons. Even if the enemy secures 2 or 3 Dragons, just preventing them from getting the fourth is sufficient.
A prime example is Invictus Gaming, who have a 100% win rate in the 2020 LPL Spring Split, despite being one of the teams that secured the fewest Dragons, averaging only 1.71 per game. They have an exceptionally strong top laner in The Shy; Ning doesn’t need to focus too much on Dragons, as helping his top lane win and split-push effectively is enough for victory.
Ultimately, the top lane has returned to its original order, with Fighters dominating; tanks remain strong in certain situations, but they are no longer the go-to picks for guaranteed wins. As such, the snowball potential in this area remains very strong, and given the nature of Fighter champions, just a slight advantage can tilt the entire top half of the map in favor of your team.
With the resurgence of carry-oriented champions in the top lane, it’s time for players to abandon the mindset of neglecting this area. Champions like Irelia, Kalista, and Fiora are incredibly strong right now; they require a certain level of attention from teammates to dominate opponents and fulfill their carry potential.
