Some champions excel at making the experience in the top lane easy, and some do not. While some champions will split push and dominate their lane up to the enemy base, some will focus on empowering their teammates, and some will aim to kill everyone.
Finding a champion that excels in one or many of these is the greatest responsibility a top laner has to do. When a player finds one, it most certainly will be called overpowered or broken.
Here, we list down some of the champions that can be considered broken due to their playstyle and game-breaking mechanics. Below are our top seven (7) most broken top lane champions in League of Legends
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7. Irelia
Most top players will agree that one of the most annoying and broken champions in the top lane is Irelia.
Irelia has great wave clear and skirmishing capabilities. Her passive Ionian Fervor with her ability Q – Bladesurge makes for an extremely hard matchup in maintaining the wave and getting lane priority.
Aside from being able to dash in and out of a fight, champions going against Irelia may get caught by her ability E – Flawless Duet which snares enemies in between her two blades. Even if two champions fight her, her abilities give her enough room to outplay enemies.
Damage that may burst her down can be mitigated using her ability W – Defiant Dance and in return, she can mark the attacking enemy to dash unto for a counterattack.
Champions running away may also get caught by her ultimate ability R – Vanguard’s Edge which essentially slows and traps enemies hit by her blades.
With the recent durability update, Irelia now lasts longer despite the nerfs placed on healing. Irelia can melt down tank champions with her Conqueror, a Blade of the Ruined King, and attack speeds from stacks.
Her incredible attack speed and mobility make her durable and hard to catch at the same time. When well-fed and ahead, Irelia can even take down a whole team by herself.
6. Fiora
Another champion that troubles most top lane players is Fiora. A great duelist with high amounts of damage and mobility, she shares not only traits with Irelia but also complaints by other top lane players.
Fiora does not necessarily have a great wave clear in the early lane. Instead, she takes the lead in the lane by threatening and forcing duels in the top lane.
She does this with her passive Duelist’s Dance and ability Q – Lunge. Her dash attack allows her to quickly hit a Vital that deals health percentage damage and gives her movement speed bonus to run away.
Trying to fight back could spell your end as she can deny any attack or skill with her ability W – Riposte. Getting hit back with a Riposte when she counters a crowd control skill will apply a stun unto you, allowing her to burst you down in return.
Fighting with basic attacks may not work out when she can reduce her enemy’s attack speed with her E – Bladework to give her the advantage.
Finishing off enemies or turning around supposedly losing duels is completely possible with her ultimate – Grand Challenge. Properly timing her Lunges and basic attacks to hit the four vitals will result in a quick death and heals her as well as her teammates in the ultimate’s area of effect.
While Fiora does not have as much wave clear as Irelia in the laning phase, she is just as much of a threat in team fights in duels as Irelia. A good example would be here where C9 Fudge manages to fend off EG alone in an LCS Summer 2022 match.
5. Camille
Dueling has been the pattern for broken champions in the top lane and we continue this with Camille. She is a bruiser champion with a Cho’gath Feast ultimate in her basic ability, and high mobility.
Camille has a laning phase that is moderately difficult. While Fiora and Irelia can win in extended trades when needed, Camille relies on her ability Q – Precision Protocol to deal true damage to an enemy. Catching enemies with her ability E – Hookshot ability will stun them, allowing her to then deal damage and walk away with her ability W – Tactical Sweep. Enemies hit will be damaged, and slow is applied to enemies caught on the outer half of the hitbox.
Effective management of her basic abilities makes it scary to walk up in the lane to get minions. When given the advantage, players may find themselves zoned out of the lane and denied both gold and experience.
When she wants to force a fight regardless if it is a one-on-one or skirmish with other champions, Camille can limit the movement of her enemies using her ultimate ability – Hextech Ultimatum.
The enemy targeted by this ability can only move around certain proximity and will receive bonus damage from Camille.
This playstyle can also be used during team fights by assassinating enemies and then running away or slowly killing enemies by waiting around her cooldowns to finish. Even when rotating around the map, players should take caution with Camille lurking around.
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4. Gwen
Just like Camille, another champion who deals large amounts of damage to even tanks is Gwen. In fact, Gwen is one of the choices in the top lane to counter tank champions.
Gwen’s abilities allow her to deal true damage and maximum health scaling damage to whittle down durable enemies and burst squishy ones.
The middle of her ability Q – Snip! Snip! deals the magic damage to a cone area in front of her, but will instead deal damage when enemies are hit in the middle. Her passive – Thousand Cuts buffs her basic attack and some of her abilities to deal bonus damage based on the maximum health of her enemy.
Her ability E – Skip ‘n Slash is used both as a repositioning tool or escape tool depending on the situation. To complicate things even more, she can become untargetable from sources outside an area she casts with her ability W – Hallowed Mist.
Her dueling and skirmishing capabilities do not end here as her ultimate – Needlework lets her deal magic damage and slow enemies.
Unlike Fiora and Camille, Gwen excels more than just fighting off enemies but also in clearing minion waves from the early moments of the game. This allows her effectively gain an advantage right from the start and snowball team fights when uninterrupted.
The true damage, mobility, and untargetability her abilities bring allow her to kill not just one enemy but multiple enemies when done right. Gwen’s laning, dueling, team fighting, and outplaying potential are definitely broken.
3. Kayle
A champion that can also melt down tank champions is Kayle.
While Kayle certainly has the potential to kill durable champions with ease, she first needs to get by the early phases of the game. Kayle relies on basic attacks and kiting to effectively use her full potential.
Kayle’s passive ability – Divine Ascent makes her basic attacks more powerful the longer the game goes. She starts the game with a basic melee ranged auto attack, then becomes a medium-ranged auto attack, then finally adds a splash on-hit effect that deals magic damage.
Aside from the added range and on-hit effect, her auto attack speed increases as she gains more ability power. This allows players to build both ability power and attack speed items to strengthen their auto attacks.
The basic abilities in her kit are understandably weak given how broken her late-game prowess is. Despite these, her skills can still make the difference between an outplay and a failed carry.
Her ability Q – Radiant Blast slows down and reduces the resistance of enemies hit, the ability W – heals and buffs the movement speed of Kayle and an allied champion, while the ability E – Starfire Spellblade empowers her next auto attack with a bonus on-hit magic damage and costs no mana.
The Starfire Spellblade also allows her to auto attack from a distance, helping her in the early stages of the game.
When Kayle or an ally is close to death, she may use her ultimate ability – Divine Judgment to grant temporary invulnerability to one of the two.
Enemies around her will also get damaged after the duration of this skill, making it possible to finish off champions under the tower safely.
Kayle can safely kite in team fights and kill the whole enemy team by simply auto attacking from afar.
2. Gangplank
Yet are there other ways of being broken aside from lane bullying or late-game heavy damage? Gangplank is a champion that is extremely hard to move in the top lane while being able to help teammates from across the map.
Even with the durability patch, Gangplank is capable of bursting champions down with a critical build buffing the damage in his skills.
Gangplank will place barrels down with his E ability – Powder Keg which can explode using his Q ability – Parrley. The barrels will damage physical damage to enemies surrounding it.
Additionally, the barrels can critically strike, ignores 40% of the enemies’ armor resistance, and slows down enemies that are hit. The barrels can be connected to extend the range, making it a great zoning ability.
Trading hits with the enemy top laner is also not a problem with these skills, along with his passive – Trial by Fire which burns enemies hit by his basic attack. Activating this ability also grants him movement speed and can reset by exploding a barrel.
Getting caught out by a crowd control skill is also not a problem when he can cleanse himself using his ability E – Remove Scurry. This ability also heals him based on his missing health which helps him stay relatively healthy in the lane as well.
Helping teammates out is also possible with his ultimate ability – Cannon Barrage. This skill sends an artillery fire in an area anywhere on the map damaging and slowing enemies caught up in the mayhem.
The ability can be used to zone enemies, set up fights or assassinations, and even help in a team fight or skirmish.
Gangplank can impact many factors in the game by a considerable amount and will not sacrifice any other gameplay mechanic in return. His resourcefulness and usefulness in every situation possible make him a broken champion.
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1. Ornn
No tanks have been named on the list so far, until now. A broken tank champion that can win lane and directly buff his allies is Ornn, the Frejlordian legend.
Not only will Ornn take the brunt of the enemy attack in the late game, but he will also upgrade the Mythic Items of his teammates.
Ornn is an insanely durable champion due to his stats and his passive – Living Forge. Living Forge provides him bonus armor, magic resistance, and health for each upgraded Mythic Item he makes.
Granted that he will already build tank items, the percent increase bonus makes him a nearly unkillable monster.
His basic abilities Volcanic Rupture, Bellows Breath, Searing Charge, and ultimate ability Call of the Forge, all provide some sort of crowd control to the enemy or enemy team.
Volcanic Rupture will create a pillar and slow enemies hit by the initial shockwave, Bellows Breath will afflict Brittle that can interrupt enemies for a moment, Searing Charge will knock enemies up in an area when it hits terrain, and Call of the Forge will knock up enemies when used correctly.
While his passive and active abilities lend great aid to team fighting, the damage Ornn deals are also surprisingly significant for a tank champion. Consuming the Brittle affliction on an enemy will deal percent maximum health damage to them.
The durability, damage, crowd controls, and teammate buffs he provides make him broken anywhere and anytime in the game.
Conclusion
There are different ways a top laner can win the game, and not everyone will be skilled to be able to choose all or any of these options whenever the situation calls for it.
A champion or playstyle at the right moment or team composition can win you the game from the get-go.
Some champions will stand out more than others in terms of controlling the game, so try to find out which of these will best fit your skill level. However, studying the mechanics, matchups, and game plans will be what matters the most in-game.
Playing a broken champion but not being able to play it due to ignorance or lack of skill will still make you lose. So keep on learning, and you may find yourself playing any champion as if it was overpoweringly broken.
(5 votes, average: 4.40 out of 5)
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