Malphite Press the Attack
Just a few days ago, we witnessed this playstyle being used by Bwipo in the LEC tournament; however, it had already appeared in Korean Challenger before, and in patch 10.8, this strategy is even stronger. The reason lies in the reduction of experience and benefits from early ganks, which significantly raises the importance of dueling capabilities for solo lane champions, and Malphite utilizing Press the Attack is one of them.
The most annoying aspect of this playstyle is that players max out their E ability – Ground Slam, which makes the already slow attack speed of Fighters even slower. Therefore, Malphite can sustain well through the laning phase, build heavy tank items, and still have a significant impact in team fights with his signature ultimate ability.
Blade of the Ruined King for Every Top Laner
The craze for Blade of the Ruined King has finally reached Fighters who seemed unlikely to use this item. Most recently, Fiora and Camille are the latest champions that top Korean players have applied Blade of the Ruined King to their builds, and of course, the results have been extremely effective.
Essentially, Blade of the Ruined King is the strongest single-target damage item in the game, and just acquiring it makes you strong. For top lane Fighters, it’s crucial to be strong early to push lanes alone and secure solo kills, which is why more and more top laners are using this item. It started with Renekton, Irelia, Sett, and in patch 10.8, we see Fiora and Camille join in, and soon names like Garen, Darius, or even Olaf will also be building this item.
Hail of Blades for Solo Lane Marksmen
While the top lane has the Blade of the Ruined King meta, in the solo lane Marksmen position, there is a meta called Hail of Blades emerging. The first champion to adopt this strategy was Kalista, played by The Shy, and then it became clear that Marksmen with high attack speed and the ability to deal continuous auto-attacks early on are incredibly powerful.
Champions currently utilizing this meta include Corki and Tristana in the mid lane, Draven in the top lane, and even Kai’Sa is adopting this build. The general trait of Marksmen is their long attack range and high-quality auto-attacks, and with the extreme attack speed from Hail of Blades, these champions can exchange abilities very effectively early in the game and snowball the match quickly.
Ashe with Phase Rush
Overall, Ashe is a typical Marksman with stable damage output but is notably lacking in mobility. While Mages have items like Zhonya’s Hourglass or Banshee’s Veil for self-protection, Marksmen like Ashe have few defensive items to escape pursuits. To create more opportunities to escape from chases, Korean players are using the Phase Rush rune to increase this champion’s movement speed.
Moreover, the secondary runes in the Sorcery tree like Nimbus Cloak, Absolute Focus, or Gathering Storm all complement Ashe’s late-game strength. In summary, Ashe with Phase Rush is the optimal playstyle for this Frost Archer, enhancing her movement speed, damage, and kiting ability to better position herself in team fights.
