Best Top laners in League of Legends for patch 13.10 (2023)
Riot GamesTop lane is a fickle role, one in which the meta is constantly shifting. In Season 13, picking the right champion for the job is more important than ever if you want to win games. Here are the best top laners on LoL patch 13.10.
Top lane can be one of the hardest roles in League of Legends. It can feel like, no matter what, you’ve got no effect on the game. Full disclosure, top lane is not the role you should start with in League of Legends, and it certainly isn’t for the faint of heart.
There’s a lot you have to learn to be a good top laner, and it’s a very punishing role that has little comeback potential if you don’t know how to pry your way back into a game. Not to mention everything you have to learn about wave management, counter matchups, how and when to rotate, and when to take trades in lane.
That said, there are a number of top lane champions that will make your life much easier. From first pick weaksiders that are immovable in lane to hypercarries that can win lane hard enough to blow up the entire map, top lane boasts arguably the widest and most versatile pool of viable picks.
You’re signing up for one of the harder roles in League of Legends by playing top lane, but, if you’re someone who likes crushing your enemies in the 1v1, this is the role for you.
Here are the best top laners on League of Legends patch 13.10.
Who is the best top laner in League of Legends?
Going by win rate, Dr. Mundo is the best top laner on patch 13.10 with a 53.04% win rate. However, it’s important to keep in mind that counter matchups and one-trick players really offset the win rate charts. Going by highest win rate alone won’t always show you the best top laners. Meanwhile, Jax has dethroned Malphite at the top of the pick rate charts at 8.5%, with Kayle trailing closely at 8.3% and Malphite at 7.9%. Some recent Kayle changes have pushed her win rate up in lower MMR brackets, but that hasn’t yet translated to high level play. If that changes, she’s a shoo-in for the list.
It’s important to keep in mind that even the best top laners can be felled with ease in the wrong matchup. For example, Jax is great into auto-attack reliant champions and can scale extremely well into the late game. But, against an ability focused top laner like Singed, he really struggles. And, while there are rare instances of top laners being incredibly strong in any matchup for long periods of time (looking at you, Season 12 Aatrox), it’s rare.
As such, we’ll be including a quick matchup guide for each champion on the list to give you a little more direction as to when you should be picking certain champions. Keep that in mind going forward.
Table of Contents
Garen, the Might of Demacia
Riot GamesGaren isn’t the kind of champion you’ll see often in pro play, or someone that’ll allow you to strut your stuff and show off your mechanical skill as a player. He’s not at the top of the meta, but he’ll never be at the bottom. He’s been relatively untouched balance-wise for years, and is a consistent top lane rock. If you’re looking to learn top lane, or are trying to learn how to play League of Legends in general, Garen is the perfect place to start.
It’s easy to get poked out of lane or lose trades when learning the lane, but his passive will allow you to regen health and drastically mitigate the blow of losing a trade where other top laners would have to back. He may not have much range, but his high all-in potential and low skill floor will teach you how to look for openings and encourage you to all-in the opponent. His teamfighting might not be great, but his incredible split-push potential will reward you for learning how to sidelane and cross-map.
Garen’s kit is so simple that it’ll let you shed the weight and pressure of having to land abilities and free you up to learn the role itself, and it makes him a static champion as one of the best top lane choices for any player.
Garen counters and matchup guide
Garen is very resistant to bad matchups, making him a very strong blind pick. If you get stuck with first pick and no one on your team feels like swapping out the pick order, locking in Garen is almost always safe. That said, he struggles heavily with champions that either outrange him or outscale him.
Bad Matchups
Those willing to pick ADCs in top lane will immediately bully Garen out of lane, making it difficult to do anything in the matchup without either help from a jungler or an eye for when to all-in them. Champions like Rumble do well also, able to kite Garen and keep him at an arm’s length. Camille is a case of someone who outscales him if she gets through the early game, and can beat him in late-game sidelane 1v1s.
Garen’s strength lies in his ability to completely shut down all-in champions that typically want to run over their lane opponent. If champions like Irelia and Yasuo are an unstoppable force for most champions, Garen is an immovable object.
Good Matchups
If you’re having a hard time against snowball-y, all-in style champions, Garen is a fantastic counter. So much so that there are some players who run Garen mid as well when playing against champs of this nature just to ruin their day. Where Irelia has to land a ton of different abilities and combo perfectly to kill a tanky target, Garen hits a few buttons and gets the kill. Even if you don’t plan on playing Garen often, having him around as a pocket pick is perfect when playing against these kinds of champs.
Garen best build and runes in League of Legends
Garen’s rune setup used to mainly consist of building around Conqueror for all-in potential, but that has since swapped around. Nowadays, Phase Rush is much more consistent. Garen already has a ton of movement speed in his kit with his Q, so amping up that movement speed allows him to quickly take trades and disengage or all-in his opponent and stick to them more effectively.
Celerity and Nimbus cloak only help his movement speed, while Gathering Storm helps mitigate Garen’s lackluster teamfighting by making him an unstoppable side-lane monster. Conditioning and Overgrowth pair well here, giving Garen even more scaling and 1v1 potential.
Resolve secondary to grab Conditioning and Overgrowth is your best bet. He doesn’t need Bone Plating/Second Wind because of his passive, so you’re better off going Conditioning to get that late game scaling.
Garen’s build has changed a bit after the recent Black Cleaver buffs. While Mortal Reminder is still strong on the champion, Black Cleaver is superior in most ways and has relegating a Mortal Reminder rush to only being useful against healing-dependent laners like Aatrox. Otherwise, going Stridebreaker into either Dead Man’s or Black Cleaver is the way to go. Sterak’s Gage adds some much needed survivability and damage, while Force of Nature helps Garen stack even more movement speed than he gets from his Q.
If you’re really committed to split pushing/sidelaning, Hullbreaker might be worth purchasing as your second item. It may not be the go-to in high MMR or the best item for winning fights with your team, being a near-unkillable annoyance that can decimate towers is something that players in lower skill brackets have a really difficult time dealing with.
Malphite, Shard of the Monolith
Riot GamesMalphite entering the meta is a distinct and loud signal of the end-times for the recent carry top laner meta. We’re headed into a tank meta winter where the most consistent top laners will be unkillable behemoths rather than carries who cleave their way through teamfights.
As a champion, Maphite exists as a literal brick wall. A champion that slowly but surely runs you down and pokes you into submission with unmissable poke damage. Mana issues aside, Malphite is the perfect tank champion for those who are willing to sacrifice early lane pressure for an incredibly strong presence in late game scenarios. If you’re a top laner who isn’t too concerned with winning lane, Malphite is for you.
Malphite counters and matchup guide
Malphite’s early game is less than stellar, and he’s potentially vulnerable to getting run over by his opposing laner if he runs out of mana or can’t manage to keep the wave where he wants it. However, there are many champions that have no way to kill Malphite once he gets tank items, especially when it comes to ADCs. You’re playing Malphite to make the enemy carry’s life hell, not to win lane.
Bad matchups
Malphite’s worst enemy is, for the most part, other tanks. He can’t shred other tanks due to his lack of percent HP damage, and is more meant to abuse squishy champions. Additionally, Malphite has a severe lack of sustain and often struggles in extended trades. In other words, Malphite is much more of a counter-pick champion than someone you’d first pick.
Good matchups
Malphite is strong against AD champions, particularly those who rely on auto attacks to do the majority of their damage. Even percent HP shredders like Vayne are no match for Malphite, and he’s one of the few tanks that isn’t outright countered by late game ADCs with strong kiting. If you’re willing to brave the storm of a tough lane matchup in top lane, Malphite’s ability to run down the enemy ADC or mid laner in some cases can be worth it.
Malphite best build and runes in League of Legends
Malphite’s lack of health sustain means that Grasp of the Undying is essential for him in top lane, especially considering how easy it is for him to get that auto attack off with his bonus movement speed on Q. Comet is a common build path for him as well, but sustain is much more effective on this champ than additional poke when you’re building tank. Shield Bash works well with his passive shield, while Conditioning and Overgrowth enhance his strong late-game presence.
Malphite has eternal mana problems, so Manaflow Band is a must-have. No matter what rune page setup you’re running, find a place to slip Manaflow Band in there somewhere. Transcendence is another nice-to-have, but could be replaced with Gathering Storm based on personal preference.
Malphite’s build is all about armor, armor, and more armor. And maybe a little magic resistance if you really have to build it, but armor. His damage scales directly with the damage on his W, making it so that this champion gets a ton of direct benefit from armor stacking. Iceborn Gauntlet tends to be his best Mythic item with how the AoE slow scales with his protections.
From there, Sunfire Cape into Thornmail is ideal against AD opponents. Force of Nature is usually your best bet when it comes to magic protection, but Abyssal Mask is also very effective if you’re having a hard time with Malphite’s mana issues. It’s hard to go wrong with ending off the build with Gargoyle’s Stoneplate.
There’s also a one-trick Malphite player in Korea that’s had great success with a Press the Attack rune page that involves them going Iceborn Gauntlet right into Blade of the Ruined King. He hasn’t been meta for too long, so don’t be surprised to see a new build emerge on this champion.
Olaf, the Berserker
Riot GamesThere was a point in League of Legends where Olaf was known as a champion who has to win early on. He had some of the worst late game falloff in League of Legends, and he’d only get worse the longer the game went on. However, the Season 12 Olaf changes really shook up Olaf’s place in the game, making him a late game monster as well.
Olaf is almost impossible to trade with if he’s on top of you, and his low-cooldown, armor-shredding poke combined with consistent true damage, health sustain, and a ton of base stats make his kit incredibly strong at all points in the game.
He has his fair share of weaknesses, but Olaf is strong into most top laners and has some serious carry potential.
Olaf counters and matchup guide
In all honesty, Olaf doesn’t have that many bad matchups. He has matchups that are a little less good than others, but no lane is unwinnable for this champion. That makes him an incredibly appealing blind pick, and a champion that can be played in most scenarios.
The only champions that have good matchups into Olaf are those who can outdamage him, and that isn’t a very big list of champions. But they do exist.
Bad (ish) Matchups
Champions like Kled, Tryndamere, Garen, and Illaoi can survive Olaf’s all-in potential and outtrade him if they don’t get poked down by his axe. Even with these picks in hand, it’s still a very skill-reliant lane matchup where Olaf can take the win if he plays the matchup well.
Meanwhile, Olaf has an even/favorable matchup into most other top lane champions. The CC immunity on his ultimate combined with all that true damage makes him good into tanks, while his lifesteal, shield, and bonus attack speed allow him to outtrade bruisers and carry top laners.
Olaf is one of top lane’s best kept secrets when it comes to solo queue, and he’s got a great deal of potential in the hands of players willing to push their limits and show a level of aggression the enemy will never expect. Dexerto talked to Bwipo about Olaf while he was playing top lane for Team Liquid in 2022, and most of what he said back then about the Olaf still rings true: “Not being able to play him right now as a top laner is a detriment to your champion pool.”
Olaf best build and runes in League of Legends
Olaf’s runes are fairly standard bruiser fare, with Conqueror, Triumph, Alacrity, and Last Stand all being focused on allowing Olaf to stay in the fight as long as possible and do as much damage as he can while he’s there. For a champion that goes in and doesn’t leave until everything’s dead, it’s the perfect setup.
Inspiration is a bit different from other champions like Olaf, but Approach Velocity is a must-have with how often his axe throw is off cooldown. Having that constant movespeed buff is often the different between securing a kill and the enemy getting away.
Typically, going Stridebreaker is your best bet on Olaf. The additional slow and damage combined with the item’s raw stats and bonus movement speed on the Mythic passive make it a great all-rounder. Death’s Dance is almost always your best second buy. If you’re against magic damage in lane, you’ll often still want to go Death’s Dance first and just go Mercury Treads to gain some MR.
Sterak’s third pairs well with Olaf considering the in-your-face nature of the champion, and it’ll give him some much needed HP in an otherwise protection-heavy build. Maw of Malmortius and Guardian Angel are great semi-defensive options for Olaf. If you’re worried about winning 1v1s in lane, rushing Blade of the Ruined King first item is also a viable option.
Ornn, the Fire Below the Mountain
Riot GamesWhile Ornn’s win rate has fallen a bit below its ludicrous height of being at over 53% on patch 13.10, he’s still an incredibly strong top lane choice. Your teammates will love you, too, considering that he gives the entire team some massive benefits via Ornn items once he gets into the later stages of the game.
He’s a safe laner that scales well into the late game as an initiator, and he’s got tools to burst squishy champs and trade with tanky ones. In other words, he has pretty much everything you need.
As long as you’re able to hang in the lane, you’ll be able to carry the game. And, even then, Ornn has a surprising amount of burst damage that makes it fairly easy for him to solo kill his opponent in the right situation.
Ornn counters and matchup guide
Ornn is a relatively safe first pick, especially with how well he scales into the late game. There aren’t many champions who pressure him hard early without getting heavily outscaled in the late game, but that doesn’t mean he has no bad matchups.
Bad Matchups
These counters are split into two categories. Fiora and Camille both have a ton of potential to trade with Ornn early and outscale him late with their high true damage output and strong split push. Meanwhile, Mordekaiser and Dr. Mundo both abuse him early and arguably get outscaled by him later on. Be wary of these champions, but know that none of them make Ornn entirely unplayable.
Good Matchups
Ornn does extremely well into immobile champions. His high burst damage with his Q > E combo is almost impossible to escape if you walk too close, and his ultimate also excels at locking down immobile opponents for his team or to set up his own burst combo. Jayce and Rumble have an extremely hard time against this champion.
Additionally, the unstoppable status on Ornn’s W gives him the ability to buffer strong CC and have some serious outplay potential. This makes him difficult to lock down for champions like Renekton and Gnar that rely heavily on landing a big stun.
Ornn best build and runes in League of Legends
Grasp of the Undying is Ornn’s ideal keystone, even against ranged champions. The fact that he has so much gap close with his burst combo lets him take advantage of the keystone more often than not. Demolish should be your go-to for getting some tower push and perhaps early tower plates, and Overgrowth is ideal as your last Resolve choice.
However, Conditioning, Bone Plating, and Second Wind are all viable options for your second Resolve rune. Conditioning is strong if you’re in a comfortable matchup, Bone Plating is strong against all-in melee champs like Irelia and Fiora, and Second Wind is your best bet against poke champs like Jayce and Teemo.
Meanwhile, Inspiration is a pretty standard secondary choice for most champions. Magical Footwear and Biscuit Delivery are popular for a reason, and they’re great for saving some gold and staying in lane a bit longer. Not to mention, Footwear paired with Ornn’s passive can give him access to relatively cheap upgraded boots without even having to leave lane.
Ornn’s build path has a fair bit of flexibility. At most levels of play, grabbing Heartsteel for its scaling and trading potential will be your best bet. However, Sunfire Aegis into Jak’Sho is also a viable option if you’re looking to take trades early and become a teamfight monster. If you’re going to buy Heartsteel, just make sure you buy it first to get it stacking ASAP.
Magic resist items tend to be weaker than armor items, so grab Mercury Treads if you’re having trouble against magic damage. If you absolutely have to get MR, Force of Nature is your best bet. Frozen Heart and Gargoyle’s Stoneplate tend to be the best all-around tank items to finish your build off with on Ornn, but Thornmail, Randuin’s Omen, and Abyssal Mask are all situationally strong.
Dr. Mundo, the Madman of Zaun
Riot GamesDr. Mundo is a bit of a strange tank. He doesn’t have a big teamfight ultimate or heavy CC like Sion, Ornn, Cho’Gath, Malphite, and other tanks in the role. This champion has next to no CC, and he isn’t the most tanky either due to how accessible anti-heal is. So what does Mundo do?
Damage. Dr. Mundo does lots and lots of damage. Once he’s got his full build, he’s extremely hard to peel because of his passive and can easily kill a late game ADC with just a few auto attacks. His safe laning phase and high sustain combined with his ability to run through an entire team make him a monstrous pick in solo queue and a relatively safe pick early on in the draft.
Dr. Mundo counters and matchup guide
Mundo doesn’t have a negative win record into too many champions on the current patch. There are very few champions that have the potential to, on their own, carve through Mundo’s high health regen and CC immunity. However, there are a few picks that have emerged that can match this brick wall of a champion.
Bad Matchups
Kled is a strong fringe pick in the top lane right now, with dedicated Kled players boosting his win rate to be one of the highest in top lane even if he’s a fairly uncommon pick. Irelia has dive potential with similar strength to Kled’s so she’s a much more common counter that you’ll see against him. Illaoi has the potential to shove him out of lane completely and can out-DPS Mundo with ease if she lands her E.
Meanwhile, a champion like Ashe that’s focused on slows tends to do extremely well against Dr. Mundo. It’s not a lane counter as much as it is a counter in teamfights, as it makes it almost impossible for Mundo to walk through teamfights like he wants to. The same could be said of a slow-heavy mage like Anivia.
Good Matchups
Against champions who rely on a single source of hard crowd-control, Mundo does incredibly well. K’Sante, Kennen, Jayce, and Renekton are all great examples of champions that really struggle to set up for ganks against a Dr. Mundo and also struggle with keeping him at bay if he’s trying to run them down. Additionally, heavy poke and late-game scaling champions like Gangplank have a hard time killing Mundo.
Dr. Mundo best build and runes in League of Legends
Mundo will almost always want Grasp of the Undying and Demolish if you’re playing him in top lane, but there’s a ton of flexibility with the other two resolve options. Conditioning, Second Wind, and Bone Plating can all be viable in certain matchups and can be taken interchangably. Just make sure you don’t take Bone Plating into a poke champ. Overgrowth and Revitalize are both strong, but the extra max health tends to be useful more often than the bonus healing.
Inspiration is also pretty non-negotiable on Dr. Mundo. It’s difficult to think of a better rune on him than Approach Velocity when it comes to chasing down targets, and Magical Footwear is one of those nice-to-haves because of the gold it saves you.
Heartsteel is the item on Dr. Mundo. Considering how auto-attack focused he is as a champion and the fact that his damage scales directly off of his max HP, getting this item stacked up early on can pay dividends later on. Sunfire Aegis is great for some bonus damage, and Spirit Visage pairs extremely well with Mundo’s healing. You’ll want Sunfire first most of the time, however. If you’re against a big AP threat in lane, consider going Mercury Treads.
Titanic Hydra is where things change drastically. With your HP already granting bonus damage within Dr. Mundo’s kit via his E, Titanic Hydra takes that to the next level. Hitting late-game scenarios where a fed Mundo has upwards of 7000 HP with over 400 AD isn’t exactly uncommon. If you’re properly cancelling auto attacks with his Q and E, you can easily take out squishy targets with the speed of some of LoL’s strongest assassins.
For your last item, there are a few options. Gargoyle’s Stoneplate is your best option against teams that build heavy anti-heal, but something like Anathema’s Chains or Warmog’s can be very strong if you want to stack even more damage via HP.
Sion, the Undead Juggernaut
Riot GamesWhen it comes to weakside tanks, Sion is the tankiest of the bunch. Between Heartsteel and his max HP stacking on W, killing Sion takes forever. If the enemy team’s draft isn’t equipped for health shred, there are some games you’ll win off the back of Sion being outright unkillable.
He takes some getting used to and can be easily peeled by certain champions, but it’s difficult to find a champion that can take more punishment than Sion while still dealing a ton of damage himself. He isn’t the most mobile or flashy champion in League of Legends, but he’s got some real carry potential and a ton of upsides if you’re willing to work around his quirks.
Sion counters and matchup guide
Sion’s biggest enemy is health shred. There are certain items that can be built against him as well like Lord Dominik’s Regards and Blade of the Ruined King that help out champions that don’t have kit-built shred, but there are a good few champions that excel at cutting Sion down to size.
Dr. Mundo and Gwen both have a good deal of health shred in lane and scale well late, while champions like Cho’Gath and Mordekaiser are poised to take advantage of the fact that Sion has to stand still to channel his biggest damage ability. None of these matchups are unplayable by any means, but they aren’t fun either.
What Sion has in high base damage and raw stats he lacks in sustain and mobility. Keep that in mind when trying to take trades.
Meanwhile, Sion does extremely well into champions that rely on big bursts of damage. Sion isn’t whittled down easily in lane game teamfights, and even the high poke damage of champions like Gangplank and Jayce won’t be able to cleave through Sion.
Don’t get tricked into picking Renekton, either. While this is a somewhat common matchup to take in higher levels of play partially due to Renekton’s ability to set up for ganks well and take away Sion’s shield with his W, the matchup is only decent if you’re working closely with your jungler and find a way to snowball the lane.
Sion best build and runes in League of Legends
Sion’s rune setup is meant mostly to help with his ability to trade during the lane phase and to augment his ability to scale late. Grasp of the Undying and Demolish both help him gain an early advantage in trades and via tower plates, while Conditioning and Overgrowth are excellent for scaling into the later stages of the game. Meanwhile, Approach Velocity gives him strong chase potential and Minion Dematerializer really helps if you’re getting zone off of the wave or if you want to try and push through a cannon wave, force the minions under the enemy tower, and nab a cheater recall.
Build-wise, you’re going to want Heartsteel almost 100% of the time. Jak’Sho was popular for a time while that item was busted at the start of Season 13, but Heartsteel has emerged as a real winner here considering how well it scales with Titanic Hydra. Sunfire Cape should be your go-to in most scenarios, even against magic damage. Just make sure to buy Merc Treads if you need magic resist. Titanic Hydra 3rd tends to be your best bet on Sion, but Force of Nature is a great option if you really need to live against magic damage threats. Thornmail and Gargoyle’s Stoneplate are great options as well, and which you should buy depends on if you need to counter healing or keep yourself alive in big teamfights.
While there are full AD builds that exist for Sion, it’s recommended you play him as a frontliner until you get the hang of how to play the champion. Plus, Sion’s full AD int playstyle isn’t nearly as effective as it used to be. You don’t want to end up getting banned like Baus.
Cho’Gath, the Terror of the Void
Riot GamesAfter his most recent set of buffs, Cho’Gath has become a top lane menace. Next to other top lane tanks like Sion and Ornn who are unkillable, Cho’Gath comes out on top in solo queue scenarios. His long-range CC/initiation with his Q, ability to secure objectives with his ultimate, strong late-game scaling, and built-in sustain all make him an incredibly strong pick.
He has his counters, sure, but Cho’Gath’s range and sustain give him a much bigger safety net than most other tanky top laners. First-picking him isn’t a bad idea if you’re forced into picking early on. Cho may not be the flashiest champion or the one who will be making highlight reels, but none of that matters if you’re winning games.
Cho’Gath counters and matchup guide
Cho’Gath’s worst enemy is kiting and health shred. Someone like Vayne is built to ruin Cho’Gath’s day and keep him from playing the game in any capacity. Having 7000 health late game won’t matter against Champions who cleave through massive portions of your health bar.
Bad Matchups
Vayne isn’t all that common in either ADC or top lane, but she’ll make your life awful if someone’s willing to pick it and manages to claw their way out of the early game. It’s not fun. Fiora is much the same and is almost impossible to 1v1 as Cho’Gath unless she makes some huge mistakes. She may be worth banning if you’re going into a lobby determined to pick Cho.
Gwen and Shen aren’t nearly as bad to play against, but both of them have late-game scaling that rivals your own and the ability to outtrade you without having to put in too much effort.
Good Matchups
Meanwhile, Cho does extremely well into most other champions. Anyone who doesn’t have health shred is going to have an extremely hard time killing him, even if they’ve got poke. He has a great matchup into both Gnar and Jayce because they can’t poke him out of lane hard enough to consistently win, and champions like Jax and Tryndamere have a hard time winning all-ins due to Cho’s high burst damage on his ultimate.
Additionally, Cho’Gath has a great matchup into other top lane tanks like Malphite, Sion, and Ornn due to his true damage, silence, and ranged poke. He’s incredibly strong on the current patch.
Cho’Gath best build and runes in League of Legends
Like many of the more mechanically simple champions in League of Legends, Cho’Gath gains a lot of value from taking the right runes. You’ll see Grasp of the Undying most of the time on this champion, but that isn’t always the way to go.
Runes for melee matchups
Against melee champions, Grasp of the Undying should be your go-to every game. It helps Cho immensely with early trades, and has more use for Grasp than he does any other keystone rune in the game if he’s consistently auto attacking. Conditioning and Overgrowth are strong scaling options to make Cho as tanky as he can get, although Bone Plating could be worth taking into an all-in champion and Second Wind could be worth into heavy poke.
Meanwhile, Inspiration is worth specing into because of how useful Approach Velocity is for sticking to targets. Magical Footwear is generally good, but it could be worth taking something else like Biscuits or Future’s Market based on personal preference.
Runes in ranged/counter matchups
In matchups where you can’t take advantage of Grasp for trading (or into a champion like Fiora where you just don’t win trades at all), Phase Rush is a fantastic option. Cho’Gath severely lacks mobility, so having the slow reduction and movement speed from PR is really nice to have. Manaflow Band gives him a bit more mana to use as well when it comes to killing minions from a distance.
Transcendence is a nice-to-have for the CDR, and it’s better than other options on that part of the rune page. Meanwhile, Gathering Storm tends to grant a lot more value than Scorch due to the fact that, if you’re opting into this rune page, you’re probably not playing a matchup where you win trades. Second Wind and Overgrowth are good options here into ranged matchups, and Second Wind should be swapped for Bone Plating against carries.
Cho’Gath eventually becomes one of the biggest and hardest to kill tanks in the game, and his build reflects that. While you can build damage, he scales so well with tank stats that it isn’t worth building damage most of the time.
Heartsteel should be your go-to on Cho’Gath. He’s got great gap close if he lands his Q, and the bonus health scales so well on Cho that it’s hard to justify other Mythics. Sunfire next is the way to go. If you’re against heavy AP damage, going into Merc Treads is the way to go rather than picking up a full MR item. From there, it really depends on what you need. Tank items are fairly versatile.
Against high healing, Thornmail is great. Against heavy poke, maybe you’ll want Warmog’s. Gargoyle’s Stoneplate is great for teamfighting, while something like Dead Man’s Plate can be great for sidelaning and catching up to champions that easily kite you. Tank items have a lot of variation, so think about what you’re buying and why you’re buying it.
There you have it, the best top laners on patch 13.8. The meta is ever-changing, so check back after the next patch to see what changes on 13.9. For more guide content, see our League of Legends guides below:
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