Best Toplaners in LoL Patch 13.23

The Best Toplaners in LoL turned out to be (roughly) the same as last patch, as it’s the year of the bruisers – and who can counter them.

League of Legends’ latest update, Patch 13.23 released this Wednesday! The patch nerfed and buffed 10 champions, while adjusting Azir, the Emperor of Shurima, who can now be taken as an ADC (or preferably not, but he should have more build variety now). The best toplaners also changed, with some bruisers and a marksman taking the top spots from Poppy, K’Sante and Olaf, who were featured in last Patch’s list. Let’s look at the strongest this time around!

Best Toplaners in LoL

Akshan

The Rogue Sentinel crept up to the top of the leaderboards, sitting at rank one on the list of toplaners according to stats site Lolalytics. Even though he hasn’t received buffs in the past, he’s still a very difficult champion to deal with, and with some tanks like K’Sante nerfed, he has a bit of an easier time poking down his opponents.

Strengths: Great trading potential, good at roaming, good engage and disengage, can get multiple resets.

Weaknesses: Squishy, vulnerable to dive compositions, reliant on his E, hard to play when behind.

Akshan Runes

Primary: Press the Attack, Presence of Mind, Legend: Alacrity, Coup de Grace

Secondary: Shield Bash, Bone Plating

PTA and Shield bash works great with Akshan’s passive, as the multishot and the shield he gets synergizes well with the runes. Alacrity and Coup de Grace is great for any damage dealer relying on their autos, while Bone Plating and Presence of Mind helps Akshan’s laning phase. If you play against a poke champion, consider swapping out Bone Plating for Second Wind.

Akshan Abilities

Priority: R>Q>E>W

Avengarang is your main poking tool as well as your waveclear, so get it maxed as soon as possible. You can even delay levelling W until level 8 if you want to spike earlier, putting points into your Q and E only. Heroic Swing’s cooldown gets pretty low by the time laning phase is over, so it can be used more often even without resets.

Try to poke your opponents down with autos and Q’s before engaging with E to deliver the finishing shots. Don’t forget that you can E during your R’s windup, and don’t be afraid to dive with Heroic Swing, as it’s CD gets reset when you score a takedown!

Akshan Build

Core: Kraken Slayer – Blade of the Ruined King – Wit’s End

After starting out with a Doran’s Blade and a Healing Potion, your first item should be a Kraken Slayer, then a boots depending on the matchup, with a Blade of the Ruined King rounding out your core. These items are great because of the double auto of Akshan’s passive, who doesn’t really need a Mythic item (and should have a great time next season). If you want to get a Mythic, Guinsoo’s Rageblade is a great choice. Then you can get items like Wit’s End, Lord Dominik’s Regards and Guardian Angel, but that’s largely up to who your enemies are – and who you have to take revenge on!

Camille

If you want to get a bit closer to your opponents, Camille is an incredibly strong pick on this patch. The Steel Shadow has crept up to a 53% winrate and among the best toplaners currently. While she takes some matches to get used to, she can get out of most situations – provided you can get out of the early game and hit her power spikes!

Strengths: Great duel potential, can isolate targets, good against tanks, very mobile

Weaknesses: Struggles early and when behind, harder mechanics, using your E wrong can mean death

Camille Runes

Primary: Grasp of the Undying, Shield Bash, Bone Plating/Second Wind, Unflinching

Secondary: Magical Footwear, Biscuit Delivery

Grasp of the Undying synergizes with Camille’s Q and AA-heavy playstyle, while Shield Bash works great with her passive. The other runes are their to help Camille through her weaker laning phase – where she can put up a good fight as well, but she scales insanely well. Unflinching is good against any comp for bruisers as CC is rampant this season.

Camille Abilities

Priority: R>Q>E>W

Of course, Camille’s bread and butter is the Cho’Gath ult on a basic ability she calls a Q, so max that as soon as you can – but always start with W as it helps you poke your opponent and sustain in lane. However, you can max this last, as R, Q and E are much more important than the little damage and healing boost you get by levelling W.

When you play Camille, you should keep some things in mind. You can trade easily by Q1-ing a minion, then E-ing into your opponent when Q2 is almost ready, getting free damage if your enemy can’t follow up. Don’t forget that you can wind your W up during your W, even while travelling in the air, so try and get the timing down. Camille is also capable of E-Flashing unsuspecting enemies just like Shen, which can really surprise some people if used correctly.

Camille Build

Core: Divine Sunderer – Ravenous Hydra – Death’s Dance

Divine Sunderer is still a broken item, but with Ravenous Hydra, you can push the survivability of Camille to the next level. The Steel Shadow is a diver, so she will need some extra help, with Death’s Dance rounding out her core. You can finish things off with a Spear of Shojin, a Guardian Angel and a Sterak’s Gage, or a Maw of Malmortius if the enemy team has heavy AP damage.

Jax

Even though the Grandmaster-at-Arms got some new outfits, he’s still the same old fighter as before. Auto-attackers are huge this patch, with some ADC’s running rampant, with Akshan and Camille being top picks – why don’t we counter them with a lamppost?

Strengths: Strong 1v1 potential, mixed damage, can tank the whole enemy team, great scaling.

Weaknesses: Weak if behind, weaker early game, can be kited after Q, reliance on hitting Ult.

Jax Runes

Primary: Lethal Tempo, Triumph, Legend: Alacrity, Last Stand

Secondary: Biscuit Delivery, Cosmic Insight

While Grasp of the Undying is getting more popular, Lethal Tempo works great with Jax, as it helps him stack his passive faster – and with a fully stacked passive and Tempo, he becomes unstoppable. Alacrity plays into this as well, with Cosmic Insight factoring in a bit too with the CDR it gives especially for his W. Biscuit Delivery is an all around great rune, helping Jax hit his first powerspikes – but he can get aggressive in lane as well.

Jax Abilities

Priority: R>W>E>Q

Empower is the most important ability Jax has, even if Counter-Strike has a bigger impact (so you should start with it). You max W first, but get it last as Leap Strike is a great tool for last hitting in the early levels. After you get your ultimate, you become much stronger, as the active portion makes you unkillable if you hit enough enemies.

When playing Jax, try to trade with your full combo in lane. Using your E prematurely can help you land your stun easier, but don’t be afraid to use it early to block some damage against AA-heavy opponents. After level 6, you can get short trades in by stacking your ult on minions, then leaping in to bonk them with an ult and W empowered auto-attack. Also don’t forget that you can Leap Strike to allies to get to safety – even on minions and wards!

Jax Build

Core: Divine Sunderer – Spear of Shojin – Zhonya’s Hourglass

As with Camille, Divine Sunderer works great with Jax’s AA-reset and high attack speed, but Spear of Shojin is more essential on him as on the Steel Shadow – you should get it after Divine and Boots. Jax’s mini ability rework gave him some good AP scalings, so he can make use of Zhonya’s Hourglass – a bruisers dream. After your core, Sterak and Death’s Dance can help you against burstier comps, but you can also get tank items as your kit and core should be enough to take on almost any challenge.

While they weren’t talked about in detail, picks such as Poppy, Aatrox and Riven are also great this patch. As with the entire second half of Season 13, bruisers dominate the meta, so don’t be afraid to pick one up and dive right into the fray!