Strongest Toplaners after the Durability Update.

LoL Patch 12.10 has been a long time coming. Riot has been trying to find a solution to LoL's power creep for a long time. One of League's biggest appeals was how exciting and intricate team fighting is, but that novelty had been lost slowly over the last few years as Riot made changes to the game. However 12.10 seems to have brought that magic back giving every champion increased health and resistances.

The meta shifts often, keeping the game fresh and enjoyable to play. Riot is very deliberate to change the game in small doses so the meta doesn't shift too much and make the game confusing and frustrating. However to accomplish their goal of returning those exciting team fights back to the game, Riot had no choice but to shift the meta in one big patch.

This means a few things, but mostly it means that nobody knows what the meta is right now. But we've done our research, played some games and checked winrates so we have a pretty good idea who is going to be good in this meta and we're here to share. So without further ado, here's the top 3 champions for top Lane in LoL Patch 12.10.

Best Toplane Champs in LoL Patch 12.10:

Number Three: Olaf

Olaf received a mid-scope last patch and has been an absolute menace ever since. A noticeable trend in the champions that excel in 12.10 are champions that enjoy long fights. Because of Olaf's mid scope update, his ult can now last indefinitely as long as he's in combat. So now that teamfights last longer, Olaf has been dominating the meta and not even from his main role in the jungle. Instead Olaf finds the toplane more to his liking because he can focus on farming, powering up, and dueling his opponent rather than running around the map trying to help his team. Olaf top is a simple and effective pick if you find yourself in the toplane and you don't know what to play.

To get the most out of Olaf in his current state, take Ghost/Ignite or Ghost/Teleport and build Goredrinker first item. From there you want to build Death's Dance and Maw of Malmortius. These items together make Olaf incredibly durable, and allows him to chain kills super easily. With a bit of practice any play can 1v5 a fight if given the opportunity. Your enemy can't just wait for your ult to end anymore to CC you, they simply have to kill you before you kill them, and when you have those items that can be very difficult.

As a side note, if you ever find yourself playing with an Olaf, enchanters synergize really well as he makes good use of the bonus stats they give him. Olaf is hard enough to run away from as it is, so when he has an enchantress speeding him up it feels nearly impossible to escape.

Number Two: Fiora

You can expect pretty much every champion that's good this patch to have % health damage of some kind. Fiora is no different, especially because she has true % max health damage. Only a few champions have this damage type (and they're ALL good this patch!). While Fiora is a lot harder than Olaf, she's definitely felt the changes this patch more. Because her damage is effectively unchanged Fiora only gained from the durability changes. She's not strong enough to just play for the first time in Ranked because she does require some prior knowledge of how to play her. But with a little bit of experience and some matchup knowledge any Fiora player will be making quick work of their opponents this patch.

Fiora has a wide variety of build paths so you might want to consult some more in-depth guides for specific information. But we do know that Fiora builds Sunderer into tankier enemies, Goredrinker when she wants to teamfight and Trinity force for a more flexible side lane playstyle. From there general fighter items like Death's Dance and Maw are really strong. Fiora doesn't need a ton of damage to kill people, she mostly just wants durability and sustain from items like Ravenous Hydra or Hullbreaker.

Number One: Kayle

Unlike the other champions on this list nothing stands out about Kayle being especially strong this patch. She doesn't excel in extremely long fights and she doesn't utilize % health damage, so what makes her the strongest toplaner?

It makes a lot more sense when you look at what makes or breaks Kayle's game: Laning Stage. Kayle is infamously known as the strongest late game champion, scaling harder than any other champion in the game, Kayle holds the title "Raid Boss" as soon as she hits level 16. Because of the increased resistances in the durability update, Kayle passed a breaking point where she became really hard to punish in lane. This means that as long as your team doesn't literally lose you the game by the time laning phase ends, you are on track to scale and achieve that 1v9 level 16 power fantasy that all Kayle's dream of. 

The increased durability making her strong makes even more sense when you look at her history in the mid lane. Kayle used to be an incredibly strong midlaner, so much so that she got nerfed out mid. What did they nerf you might ask? Her resistances. So now that Kayle has those back, who knows how Riot can nerf her now. Kayle was already nerfed once since LoL Patch 12.10 dropped. She was nerfed in a micropatch that released earlier today, and despite that she is still the strongest toplaner in the game. So make sure to pick her while you can, and rain fire on your enemies!