5 Worst Top Laners in League of Legends Patch 11.9

Bruisers and tanks will remain relevant for the upcoming League of Legends Patch 11.9, which is desired for a lot of the top lane cast with buffs on Death’s Dance and Wits End. 

Though some top laners may relish in the item changes, as to who will remain an outcast and stranded in the top lane island, these are the five worst top laners in League of Legends Patch 11.9.

5 Worst Top Laners in League of Legends Patch 11.9

1. Gangplank

The pirate will continue to lack in impact for the next patch as well. With no buffs for him and a minor nerf to his biggest counter at the moment, Vladimir, he will remain beached in the top lane unless a majority of bruisers are banned against him. Even if his scaling will not be as bad as Yone or Akali, as long as there are mobile champions that can weave around Gangplank’s setups, he will provide little impact for a team unless it is to keep the enemy team away from engaging.

2. Akali

Akali can prove to be very slippery in fights and a nuisance in the laning phase. However, Akali as a top laner will be strong primarily in the early game, and unless the player can convert that advantage towards the later minutes of the match, she will fall off to the bruisers who can scale better and render her damage useless. Mid lane may be a better choice to lane with Akali as her kit can punish the immobile AP casters, however, as a top laner, she has an uphill battle to fight if the lane phase turns stale.

3. Gragas

Gragas will remain to be just a passive tank for the upcoming patch. His kit does have excellent tools to mitigate focus onto the carry, unfortunately, his role in the game will be to not die and remain difficult to kill, but his abilities will have disappointing damage outputs. 

The patch does not necessarily take away the power of AP items, however, due to Gragas being solely a body to block for the carries, the rest of the viable top lane picks can be of more use to teams than what Gragas has to offer.

4. Yone

The champion that everyone loves to hate has even more reason to be hated in the top lane.

A nerf on Dead Man’s Plate may give Yone a slight edge in fights early on, however as the bruisers begin to gather more HP, Yone faces the same issues as well with little to do against the bruisers who can deal considerable amounts of damage right back to him.

Players will have to rely on roaming constantly to try and get easy kills in order for Yone to remain relevant in the game as the bruisers and tanks will tend to outlast the damage that his kit will put out. As the buff to Death’s Dance in the upcoming patch may have some impact early on for Yone, it will be a judgment call to see whether players want to prioritize buying Death’s Dance or Infinity Edge in order to stay as a threat in the game.

5. Gwen

As if the newest addition to the cast could have an even more tragic story for top laners, Gwen just can't catch a break in this patch either. With items buffs benefitting tanks and bruisers moving forward, Gwen top laners will need constant jungle pressure help. Gwen's aggressive play style will not be rewarded when bruisers like Riven simply punish Gwen for any engagement and can run away with little-to-no consequences.

Gwen can have the advantage in a 1 vs. 1 setting and is equipped with a fundamentally sound kit, but she currently has the worst win rate at all rank, and will unlikely see a tremendous increase until players understand how to play her well.