Best Beginner LoL Champions to Learn the Top Lane With

The lane where champions can both take and dish out damage, the top lane is, according to Tyler1, the hardest role to climb with, in League of Legends. This, of course, depends on which champions you play. For new players just joining the game, here are the best champion picks to learn how to play the top lane role.

Garen

Mechanically, Garen belongs to the old school champions, with all of his abilities being point-and-click. Do not let this dissuade you from playing him, as not only does Garen have enough damage to make everyone shake in their boots, but his tankiness is legendary as well.

Garen’s abilities consist of an auto-attack enhancement on his Q, which also gives him movement speed and removes all slowing effects on him, allowing you to run away from a bad fight. And new players will be taking a lot of those.

His Q also applies a Silence debuff on the enemy hit, making it easy to deal damage with Garen, and take minimal damage in return.

His W ability gives him a shield, and passively increases his armor and resistance to magic damage, while his E is an excellent waveclear ability. The best of all is his ultimate, which is an execute and deals more damage the lower health your enemies are.

For new players, that struggle with learning how to play against all the champions in the game, Garen is a perfect pick. With the Ignite summoner spell, there are few champions that Garen cannot kill early, giving himself a good lead.

Dr. Mundo

Mundo, the Madman of Zaun, goes wherever he pleases. Even in the hands of a new and inexperienced player, this is a true statement. Dr. Mundo is one of the game’s oldest champions, that only recently got his own rework, bringing him into a more modern light.

Just like Garen, Dr. Mundo’s kit is a simple one. Unlike Garen though, this champion teaches players the value of resources such as mana and health, as Dr. Mundo’s abilities use health as a cost.

Trades with Dr. Mundo work a little differently than they do on Garen, as his Q is a ranged skill shot, which refunds its cost if it hits an enemy champion or kills a minion.

The rest of his abilities have one, and one focus only, making Dr. Mundo a rampaging beast, with incredible healing.

With the most recent rework, Riot Games have also given Dr. Mundo a spell shield with his passive, allowing new players to tank some crowd control abilities head-on, without feeling the pain they bring for most other League of Legends champions, such as those found in the mid lane, for example.

Jax

Some overlap between the best top lane champions in the game, and those that beginners can effectively play is to be expected.

Jax, for example, is precisely overpowered because of the strength in his simplicity. Very few, if any League of Legends champions, outright beat Jax once he reaches level three, due to his simple but powerful engage, and the ability to negate enemy damage with his E.

Jax’s E ability, the one that negates enemy damage, is also an Area of Effect stun, that can easily encompass three enemy champions. For new players, this will always cause a panic in the ranks, and give Jax just what he needs to wipe the enemy with his incredible damage.

Of course, Jax is not the only top laner with high damage and survivability in both early and late-game.

However, he is the one that is the hardest to peel due to the fact that his engage is a point-and-click ability and his scaling, make it that even beginners can play Jax relatively well, as jumping into a group of enemies as Jax is rarely a bad call.

Nasus

When it comes to scaling in the top lane, there is no better League of Legends champion for that job than Nasus. His Q ability, similarly to Veigar’s, collects stacks that give it more damage. Should the game last a bit longer than average, the team with Nasus on it wins.

Carrying games from the top lane can be a difficult task for beginners, as it requires deep knowledge of the game and good decision-making. With Nasus, this becomes very simple, though the process cannot be categorized as fun gameplay at all.

If you’ve survived the early game and managed to farm and stack enough with Nasus, you've become an unkillable monstrosity, one which can only be brought down by a fed ADC and support duo.

Even then, it’s extremely hard to do so. However, Nasus is at his weakest in the early game. For new players, this means learning to play with a disadvantage from the very beginning. For the feeling of a late-game Nasus, though, it’s very much worth it.

Malphite

The sapient rock is an iconic top lane champion.

Where players choose to play Rammus in the jungle, when they see the enemy team only has physical damage, they do the same with Malphite in the top lane.

As you can infer, Malphite is a champion that builds armor whenever he can, as his W ability increases his armor, and, based on his armor, his damage follows suit.

This way, new players can rarely make a mistake in buying any item on Malphite, as long as it gives armor stats.

In the lane, his main source of damage is his point-and-click Q ability, which deals magic damage to the enemy, while in team fights, his ultimate hurls Malphite head-on, literally, at the enemy, as he jumps in headfirst, knocking up all enemy champions hit.

For a new player, team fights can get chaotic and confusing. Malphite has only one job, though, hurling himself at the enemy hyper-carry champion.

Mordekaiser

At first glance, Mordekaiser may seem like a difficult champion to play, as two of his damaging abilities are skill shots, but on the contrary, it’s deceptively easy.

All it takes is some time to get used to his casting speed though, and you’re good to go and bully every living being under the sun, even as a beginner. Mordekasier is a top lane juggernaut in every sense of the word.

Both his early and late-game damage is incredible, with his passive being most effective the more enemies are around him, allowing new players to do well even if they don’t position correctly.

His Q and E abilities are a threat in the lane, easily outranging most other top lane champions, while his W gives Mordekaiser both a heal and a shield, and good luck to anyone trying to buy enough items to counter both of those mechanics.

Add to that the fact that he deals magic damage, and builds ability power items, and you’ve got yourself a champion that will singlehandedly cover all of his team’s weak spots. And last, but not least, is his ultimate ability which is the stuff of nightmares.

It traps enemies with Mordekaiser in a different realm and gives Mordekaiser a portion of the enemy champion’s stats. It’s both useful to avoid death at the hands of getting outnumbered, as well as locking down an enemy hyper-carry with a lot of mobility.

Singed

If you’re looking for a champion whose main mechanic in the game is running around, look no further than Singed. And we’re not even joking, as Singed’s only source of damage is the poison trail he leaves behind.

Also, Singed is the best champion in the game to teach new players about proxy farming.

The Mad Chemist is the oldest champion in League of Legends, with multiple sources from Riot Games confirming him to be the first champion that was designed for the game.

As such, his gameplay doesn’t really fit into the theme of the rest of the champions found in League of Legends.

For players that are having their first matches, though, Singed is a godsend, as it’s very hard to die on this champion, with his W and E abilities designed to stop champions from jumping on him or flinging them behind his back to escape. If you’re a new player trying to learn how to beat Singed, remember one simple rule all LoL players adhere to:” Never chase a Singed.”

Shen

Shen was made for players that like playing with their team. His ultimate ability allows you to give shields to allies no matter how far away they are, while also teleporting to them after a short channel time, making his roaming incredibly potent, and easy.

The biggest issue tank players have in League of Legends lies in the fact that enemies ignore them, and try to eliminate the ones they are protecting first.

If you are a beginner top laner, Shen’s E ability has a taunt effect. Meaning that it forces all afflicted enemy champions to attack you, while your team mows them down from safety. If you’re ever auto-filled to a support role, Shen works in that role as well, to an extent.

The recent nerf to the teleport summoner spell has been both a boon and curse to Shen. To new players, this is of less importance. Just like Twisted Fate, the main point of this champion is to teach top lane players good decision-making and following the map.

Darius

At the end of our list, we have Darius, and with a good reason. Unlike the rest of the champions on our list, Darius requires good spell rotations and the knowledge of certain advanced mechanics.

Aside from the fact that Darius’s Q and E abilities are both skill shots, which new players will learn relatively quickly, the main source of his strength comes from the bleed effect his attacks cause.

His ultimate, which resets should it kill an enemy outright, is only effective if Darius has managed to hit the enemy enough times to stack five stacks of his bleed. Anything less, and his ultimate loses a lot of its potency.

The reason this champion is on our list is precisely because of this mechanic.

Most League of Legends champions, as well as some runes, have something similar in nature to keep track of, just less straightforward, and Darius is the best champion to teach new players this part of the game.

He is a bit hated though, so getting a match where he isn’t banned may prove to be difficult.

The top lane, though a difficult role, is one of the most popular roles in League of Legends, just after the mid-lane. 

It’s a solitary one though, and new players must learn to rely only on themselves, and master their champions as quickly as possible. The easiest way to do so, of course, is to pick the simplest champions at first.

Now that you know how to dominate in League of Legends, you might also want to learn more about the best civilisations in Age of Empires IV.