TP changes bring us back to top lane being decided by jungle (and that’s good)

Remember the good old days?

When top lane was a 1v1 lane?

And of course, by a ‘1v1 lane’, I mean a 1v2 lane. Because my jungler is never going top lane, and rightfully so. Top lane? Who cares.

Now us poor, bedraggled top lane players can’t TP out of bad match-ups down to bot lane to try and at least have some impact. If you’re playing against Darius, Fiora or – god forbid – T*hm K*nch t*p, sorry fella, you’re screwed. Sit under your turret and collect your 20 CS deficit.

“Thanks for ganking me, I hate Fiora.”

On the plus side…

Carrying through your top lane dominance becomes much, much more effective. You smash that Jax in lane? Excellent news, he’s tied to trying to hold you down while you collect a three level lead on those weak bot lane peasants. But how, Jaxon, do I smash top lane? All the champions are big and scary, and most of them are hell on earth to lane against.

You call your jungler.

Top laners will complain about the fact that junglers decide their lane, potentially more than any other lane. One gank turns an even match-up into death after death in many bruiser v bruiser match-ups.

But that’s the way it should be; otherwise junglers will ignore top, and you’ll be even more screwed 1v1 – and ganking mid/bot becomes the only way to win. The only way for top lane to matter is for it to be able to carry with jungle attention.

Sit under your turret and collect your 20 CS deficit.

Does it suck when you’re behind and it’s because the enemy jungler has been top three times? 

Yeah. 

Is it terrible being exposed to a horrible match-up and not being able to TP bot?

Yeah. But you didn’t choose top lane to be a part of the team, you chose it to be the rock. The strong silent type, or the 1v9 sidelane type; both styles are helped by this change. You can carry with jungle attention, or carry by forcing the enemy jungle top and not dying.

Top lane is back to being decided by the jungler, but that’s better than it being decided by who coinflips kills on a TP to the first dragon.

Oh, and you won’t get your TP cooldown pinged if the enemy top flanks your teammates who refuse to ward. Not that that would ever happen to me, obviously. Just full mute, smash your lane, get tilted at the enemy jungle ganking you, put on your music way too loud and sidelane ’til you win.

Just like the good ol’ days.