Top Lane Tier list for Season 14

This is a Solo Queue Tier list for people in mid to high elo. Champion placements are considering skill required, matchups, overall winrates (in Diamond 2 and above) and their strengths (strength in lane and items they build). Champions in the top tiers (Best & S) define the overall placement of everyone below them. Consider the top tiers as the "meta", so this tier list looks at how every Top laner performs in the current meta.

Currently Vayne top is blind pickable into almost every champion. Her "worst matchups" (champions like Malphite, Akali or Jax) can only go even in lane. In the 1v1 Vayne will always win. This pick used to require a lot of skill from the player in order to work, but thanks to Fleet Footwork this isn't the case anymore; you just rush Tier 2 boots (Generally Boots of Swiftness but sometimes Berserker Grieves) and have infinite sustain on top of permanent lane priority.

Not only are his items INCREDIBLY strong (Liandry's Torment & Stormsurge) but you also have no bad matchups. You can play Rumble into anything. Even after nerfs this champion is consistently strong. Thanks to his low cooldowns and passive he will win any fight or trade against ANY top laner. This is the most obnoxious champion you can go against in the Top Lane because there's little to no windows to ever punish him; The only real weakness he has is getting ganked.

Really versatile champion and also a really good user of all the new and reworked bruiser items (such as Sundered Sky).

Even though there's a lot less Ability Haste in the game now, Aatrox LOVES the new bruiser items. Sundered Sky makes his passive auto crit and new passives, such as that of Spear of Shojin, synergize incredibly well making his winrate really high.

Riven is the most reliant on matchups from the champions in the S tier. However, she is also the one that snowballs the HARDEST. She is kind of a double edged sword since you'll probably have a handful of matchups that are either hard or annoying but if you manage to get a lead you'll snowball the hardest compared to the other champions in this tier. Compared to Season 13 you have less of an ability to solo carry now, but you should be looking to do a lot more teamfighing rather than playing side lanes. This change is due to all the item reworks and the builds that Riven has to go for this season.

The items you buy on Fiora haven't really changed this season so youre just as strong as you were before.

Thanks to the changes made to the map (obviously I'm talking about the Top lane itself) it's way easier to blind pick this champion, not to mention she does well against the current meta Top laners. HOWEVER, **Cassiopeia ** is VERY mechanically intensive so if you don't have the skills to back you up this champion is not strong at all. Currently she is able to side lane, teamfight and work as a counter pick kind of making her good at everything.

Singed LOVES all the item changes. He benefits from mythic removal, all the new items work amazing for him. In general all the Season 14 AP items are perfect for him. On top of that, he does well into every meta bruiser and even if you were to be in a bad matchup you can just proxy and avoid it entirely.

Rengar has the HIGHEST winrate from ALL Top lane champions. This is the perfect champion to pick up if you want to play someone niche that not a lot of people know how to play against. Pretty much every champion (at least in Top lane) got their sustain reduced or removed, but not Rengar. You still have infinite sustain with your W while also taking Fleet Footwork. He also seems to love the new lethality items such as Voltaic Cyclosword.

Darius simply can't keep up with the meta champions. They do everything they do, just better. He is also much harder to blind pick or be useful in drafts after lane, compared to them.

Gragas is very strong thanks to the current AP items. He is actually good into almost every meta champion. He should be able to go even against them as a minimum. While being a very skill expressive champion can be a good thing, that also makes it much harder to pull off; This is what keeps him below S tier since most players won't be able to make him work as much.

K'Sante is a great champion to blind pick. Definitely a strong pick. He is not S tier since you can't really win your matchups, or at least against the meta picks. Best case scenario you will go even.

Kennen is easily the strongest champion from everybody in the A tier, the only issue he has is simply how hard it is to be good on this champion, and you NEED to be good at him. AP items are incredibly strong so if you have the mechanics this would be a great pick up.

Thanks to the Season 14 item changes Kled can actually scale now, making him a MUCH stronger champion than before. Time will tell just how strong he actually is but removal of mythics and the rework of items such as Titanic Hydra can let him take over games easily once you get a lead.

Thanks to being a ranged champion, Quinn is one of the few Top laners that still has good sustain since she takes Fleet Footwork. On top of that all the lethality item changes directly buffed her. Cheaper items, better items, more damage.

Probably the most annoying ranged Top laner one could face is Teemo. As all the others you take Fleet Footwork giving you infinite sustain, you rush Tier 2 boots which stacked with your W give absurd movement speed. No skill required to play at all while also being able to benefit of stuff such as the Season 14 items which are just incredibly strong. Only reason he is not S tier is how he keeps getting nerfed CONSTANTLY (deserved).

Udyr is probably the most solid Top laner could pick while also being niche. He needs you to not only know how to play him VERY WELL but also you have to itemize almost perfectly. Very intensive mostly in knowledge but just your overall skill. If you meet that criteria this champion is incredibly strong.

Season 14 changes overall made Urgot a stronger champion. Urgot's sustain came from Fleet Footwork so not only does he keep that but the removal of Mythics BENEFITS him since he never had a good one. Overall the item changes put him in a much better position even in higher elos.

I wouldn't say people sleep on Poppy but people definitely aren't really playing her regardless of how strong she can be. She beats most champions in tiers above her but she is very reliant on the overall draft. Even if she has a bad matchup she can be an AMAZING champion because of how good she is against characters with dashes (which is almost everyboy nowadays, thank you Riot Games). She actually utilizes items such as Sundered Sky VERY well so you will probably have to play her more like a bruiser opposed to full tank.

Of all ranged Top laners Akshan is hands down the hardest one to play. Contrary to other ranged tops, a single death on him can render you useless for the rest of the game. Just being able to run stuff like Fleet Footwork makes him quite a strong meta champion but he will only be as good as whoever is playing him.

Don't let Warwick's winrate fool you, he is quite strong in the current meta; even in higher elos. Main problem one could find when playing Warwick is his correct itemization being quite difficult to figure out. Most players actually take wrong runes or buy the wrong items; you have to know your champion INCREDIBLY well to unlock his full potential.

Yone is probably one of the strongest laners in the Top lane while also being quite easy to actually pull off. The reason his winrate is not as high or why the champion is not as strong as he may seem is how HARD it is to carry with him in the mid to late game EVEN WHEN YOU HAVE A LEAD.

Akali is VERY dependant on the matchup she gets; her strength is usually based around how good of a matchup she managed to get. She does well into every meta Top laner but can end up countered so not an amazing blind pick. AP items are super strong and she uses them very well. AD builds might be possible as well. Even when Akali is a strong champion her winrate will not be high so don't be deceived by stats.

The least popular pick on this list (or in Top lane) is probably Azir. You can't really counter pick him making him virtually unbeatable. Any Top laner's worst nightmare is facing Azir. Now, why is he not broken? He is too hard to play. To actually carry and climb very high in the ladder you're going to need insane levels of skill. If you think you are going to be the Faker of Top lane you can lock this in.

The map changes are great for Camille but sadly she doesn't work in the current meta. Every strong champion simply beats her in lane.

Even after all the item changes, Gangplank still has the exact same build he did last season. On top of that, his items did not really get stronger while most other toplaners got buffed in some way. He is weak into meta champions due to these reasons.

It may seem that AP items being strong would make Gwen a good champ, but even with that she just loses to meta champions. She is still strong in lower elos, but the higher you climb the worse she gets.

As always a Jack of all trades and master of none. Even after item changes Gnar does not manage to shine in the Top lane.

It seems that the item changes might've helped Irelia, but nothing is concrete yet. You also do not want to play Irelia against the current meta champions.

Overall Ornn is a good champion, his problems lie in his matchups vs meta champions being bad while also being a tank; Tanks are not good in Solo Queue.

Jayce might be the most versatile Top laner, but he is also one of the hardest champions to play. Some item changes made him better and some were also nerfs, overall he is not at a great spot but with enough skill he can still work.

Kayle is not a good champ by any means, but AP items being so strong make it seem like it doesn't matter. Any elo this champion seems to be performing well even though she shouldn't. She doesn't want to lane vs meta Top laners and there doesn't seem to be an AD build anymore, yet her winrates stay up.

One of the few Top laners that got weaker from the item changes was Pantheon. Not only is his scaling worse now but he has poor synergy with almost every item he has to buy. Overall a weaker version of its competitors.

You can describe Tryndamere with one word: Okay. Nothing special going on, maybe if specific items get buffed he could become a monster.

Thanks to the item changes Shen became a stronger laner, but not by a lot. So far it looks kind of like a counterpick type of champ. If you don't have a good matchup/draft he will be super weak.

Every single one of Olaf's items got nerfed this season. He will need buffs to become a good champion.

Trundle does NOT work outside of low elo currently. He REQUIRES cheeses to do anything. Only real way to play him is via split pushing but you can't do that while behind. The higher you climb the more noticeably worse he gets.

Vladimir is TERRIBLE against the current meta Top laners. However he is very strong Mid lane, so just play him there.

Rock solid. Malphite is nothing more than a counter pick.

Cho'Gath has no good matchups, he is bad into everything.

Garen is terrible into every single meta champion. He is going to get a buff to his W giving him more Damage Reduction early game but is still not enough to improve his current state.

You can only do well with Mordekaiser in low elo, since he is a stat checker. This champion is terrible, not even AP items being strong can make him not lose against meta champions. You will not get high elo playing him.

Nasus has bad items, bad matchups, bad scaling, bad laning phase, is a bad champion just bad everything. If you can look past that maybe he could be good.

Renekton is a terrible champion currently. He can use the current bruiser items well, but every other champion that buys them synergizes better so just pick a different champion.

Sion only has 1 good matchup (Malphite). Not only are tanks bad in Solo Queue but he is also the worst tank in Top lane.

Tahm Kench is not a Top laner. You can do fine with him in low elo due to him being a stat checker tho.

Illaoi is a bad champion with bad items. Play something else.

Sett can only win games when played in low elo. Anyone who can spell the word stat checker will win against Sett. Mythics being removed was a huge nerf for him, taking him from bad to terrible. You are wintrading by locking this champion.

One of the most annoying champions to versus in low elo is Volibear. But he is also useless in high elo so nobody cares about him.

If you hate your life you play Yasuo Top lane.

You don't see people playing Wukong Top lane for a reason. His kit is very weak when compared to other bruisers in this role.

It is not possible to pick Yorick and say "this is going to be a good game for me". He doesn't work in any way currently.

You can't blind pick Dr. Mundo in any situation. However, in very rare scenarios this champion can actually be insanely strong. The conditions to pick Dr. Mundo are:

1. You have last pick.
2. Enemy team has no HP% damage in their kit nor can they buy it (Blade of the Ruined King or Liandry's Torment e.g)