Hey guys, I dont play top apart from the odd aatrox game but I have a question for you guys. Are you sure you are happy with the upcoming map changes in S14? Imo it basically makes top an even more punishing role. Let me explain:

  1. Top is by far the most matchup reliant role, so the lack of jungle presence can make bad matchups feel even worse with no chance of ever punishing enemy laner.

  2. While the number of river ganks might drop, the amount of tower dives wont really change? Again, making a bad situation in top even worse.

  3. With the removal of rift before 14mins, you can no longer get a juicy sum of cash from your jungler dropping rift top. (Perhaps this will be offset by grubs, but i doubt it as if anything it will spread the turret platting gold across the team rather than concentrate it on one lane like rift does). This also assumes junglers will be pathing for grubs in an already bot centric meta…

Those are my thoughts, would be interested in top mains current expectations of the map changes and if what I think has any truth to it.

  • No-Scene-8614OPBEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    1. why is the guy with a bad matchup easier to gank? I dont play top so if you dxpand on this that would be helpful. I would have thought that the worse matchup laner would be more likely to be shuved in and in a safe position. Unless they are being frozen in which case they are fucked anyways as they would need jungler to come help unfreeze.

    2. I suppose my point about tower dives is that they arent really affected by this change and so that is either a net neutral or net bad thing. Net bad because if you are already losing lane, it will be even easier to dive than if the lane is more even because of jungle help

    3. Very good point, i guess it prob it feels worse to get double fucked (tower dive + rift taking your turret) than it does to win the jg coinflip

    • kammos_BEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      > why is the guy with a bad matchup easier to gank

      Because he is in a bad matchup, he will weaker (less health, less mana, less stats), therefore easier to gank

      > matchup laner would be more likely to be shuved in and in a safe position

      Not really. In a bad matchup the winning guy will hold the lane in position favorable to them, which is to have the losing guy walk up for minions, so that you can punish them and push for plates when they recall or die.

      There are exceptions when you push for plates while enemy is alive, but they are hardly relevant as a decent toplaner will only do that if they actively try to bait a gank, or they see enemy jg on the other side of the map.

      > Net bad because if you are already losing lane, it will be even easier to dive than if the lane is more even because of jungle help

      As above: jungle presence usually makes losing lanes worse, not more even. So this is not a real concern.

      Anyway, if in a bad matchup, I would rather have junglers try to dive me and possibly screw up and die to tower, than to come from river/tri every time I’m trying to crash the wave, and benefit heavily even from a failed gank, as it is now.