Introduction
Today we will cover the topic of how to play 3 easy league of legends champions in top lane for beginners (2021). The idea behind playing easy champions is always to get familiar with the broader game dynamics along with being able to climb and focusing on macro rather than learning the champion specifics.
A bit about my background on the game, I have been playing League of Legends Summoners rift since season 7. During that time I have played all roles of the game with particular focus mid, top and adc. I have been able to easily reach high gold elo since the beginning of playing the game and have peaked to Platinum in several seasons. I have played in NA, EUW and EUNE servers but mainly EUW.
As you can tell from my game knowledge and background I have played a wide range of champions from easy to very difficult ones, so I can give you some high level advice on which ones I consider easy. I will try to pinpoint for each champion why I think they are easy besides the obvious ability kit.
Garen – Easy top lane champion
Garen must be the epitome of an easy champion. The champion is one dimensional when it comes to his abilities. What makes him easy though is not so much how easy his abilities are and what they do but how easily they work together. Let me elaborate briefly before we go into a break down of his abilities. The way you combine and the order you use a champions abilities matters a lot in League of Legends. For example if you have a champion like WuKong where his Q reduces the armor of the enemy you would want to use that ability first if possible so the subsequent abilities amplify the damage you do to them. With Garen on the other hand this does not matter as much. Ok you Garen one tricks I know there’s some small details on the order and how to engage but this article is geared towards beginners which the nit picking doesn’t play a significant role. Having said that Garen has the following abilities.
Garen Abilities
I will describe them at the very basic level and what you need to know in order to play Garen effectively:
- Passive: is pretty simple he has a health regeneration if he doesn’t receive any damage from an enemy champion. What this really means is you can go in and trade in lane then sit back and chill for a little bit and you will be back to full health. Especially if you combine this with doran shield and second wind.
- Q/Decisive Strike:Â Basically Garen breaks any slows and gains movement speed towards an enemy. On top of that his next attack is empowered and deals more damage. In practice you want to use this ability after you have been slowed by an enemy champion. It’s a good counter to things like tryndemeres and nasus slow’s. One thing to note here is not to use it recklessly because this is also your escape in case of a gank so be careful not to get baited in an engage and die.
- W/Courage: Basically Garen gets a shield and increases his defenses. If you are trying to tower dive an enemy save the W for right before the tower shot will hit you and that would cancel it out. Also if you are expecting to receive a damage burst from lets say a Ryze then you can go ahead and activate it. Once again do not use this aggressively if you are in a difficult matchup as it may save your life in an engage.
- E/Judgement: This is what makes Garen, Garen. You’ve probably heard it before ‘spin to win’. There’s a lot of memes about this ability and recently there’s even some tiktoks about it. Basically Garen spins and deals damage to surrounding enemies, if the enemy is isolated it deals even more damage. Use this ability aggressively and max it out.
- R/Demacian Justice: This is a very simple finisher after you do your combo. Garen basically deals critical damage to an enemy. Since this is a crit ability always use it at the end of your combo.
Garen Combos
Now that we went over his abilities lets discuss a bit about his one dimensional combos. The simplest thing you can do if you feel safe in lane is engage with your Q, E and whenever the enemy tries to damage you start your W. If they are low enough and you are already level 6 try to use your demacian justice. One thing to note here is that in good matchups you want to take ignite for two reasons:
- It synergizes perfectly with the rest of your abilities and can finish the champion if your ult doesn’t
- Garen can spam Q to get back to lane fast without losing too much time so teleport is not as efficient.
Another combo you can do is add an auto-attack and then engage with E especially if there’s low enemy minions in lane. The advantage of this is that you can use your Q to either chase down and kill the enemy or disengage from them in case a gank comes or if you lose the trade. Whenever you are doing this know that your positioning is very important in lane because you are reliant on the distance.
As you can tell Garen is a simple champion that doesn’t require a lot of skill to play him. Having said that a good Garen can also be very hard to kill as his kit is very well equipped and adaptable in lower elos. If you are facing him you better run Demaciaaaaa.
Tryndamere – Easy top lane champion
I used to main tryndemere for a long period in season 7 and I still play the champion every now and then. I can safely say he’s one of the best champions to play in low elo not only because he’s easy but he has an unstoppable late game and he may be the best split pusher in the game. Furthermore his kit is insanely powerful and I’m going to explain below why. I consider him a low elo stomper for a reason, I almost never lost a game with tryndemere in anything below silver 3. There have been games where the entire team fed but I would split push myself to win taking all the objectives along the way. If this hasn’t convinced you yet let me go over his abilities and tell you why he’s so powerful. This is not a guide of any sort just outlining why he’s ideal for beginners. If you want to read extensive details about it you can find more information here.
Tryndamere Abilities
- Passive:Â Every time you auto attack Tryndamere stacks his passive which is fury. While this is charged up your attacks deal more damage, this can be later consumed using your Q but it’s not recommended because you deal less damage.
- Q/Bloodlust:Â As mentioned above this is the last thing you want to consume as it will decrease your auto attack but once you consume it then you will get a heal based on how much you have stacked your fury (passive).
- W/Mocking Shout:Â Your W gets activated when nearby enemies are in an area even those hidden in a bush and slows them down when used against them. You can use this as a hunting down tool it has helped me countless of times of surprise ganks and jungle traps. If you sense late game a w activation while in the jungle immediately use your e (described below) to back off.
- E/Spinning Slash:Â Ever thought of having a flash in an ability that also deals damage? Well this is what your e is basically. Not only that it will deal damage to anything it hits in the process. However it’s not exactly a flash as it can be interrupted by champions like poppy or stuns.
- R/Undying rage:Â His ultimate is also a very powerful tool and it’s designed to basically duel other champions. He basically has immortality for 5 seconds which means he does not die during that time. The idea behind it is that you wait until you are very low health and then activate it once you are almost dead or when your ultimate expires you need to use your Q to heal and regain some health especially if you are trying to survive a tower shot.
Tryndamere Combos
- If you are against an easy matchup you almost always want to engage with e when your fury is maxed out and start doing auto’s, do not use q until you are very low or almost dead. Remember the lower the health the more damage tryndamere does. Do not risk tower diving like most tryndamere’s do unless absolutely necessary and you know the enemy has blown their cc, slows etc. As you get more experienced you can start doing that but not at the beginning.
- If you are in a difficult matchup you basically have to customize your runes in a way that you need to be recovering health. Items such as second wind, taking a doran shield and sitting back and healing with your q until you outscale your enemy is what you need to do. More specifically once you hit your first power spike at 6 it’s your opportunity to engage. In difficult matchups like quinn or others you need to wait until they burn the distance creating ability or cc. Once they do that immediately close the gap with E and either activate ghost and start hammering your autos. His cooldown may come back before he dies and if that happens don’t try to continue disengage.
Kayle – Easy top lane champion
Kayle is one of the best scaling champions in the games and he’s relatively easy to play. The only catch with him is that you need to play extremely passive in the early levels as he’s very weak. Even though this may not be ideal for a beginner the truth is that most beginners don’t really do fights before level 5-6, which is when Kayle gets his first power spike. The question is will you be able to survive a fight after 6? This is questionable as there’s chances of misplay but not so much with Kayle. Let me explain why. Kayle has in his kit a surviving ability similar to Tryndamere which is immortality for a few seconds and at the same time an escape from being attacked. Not only that but he also deals damage once he lands. This concept alone makes him ideal for beginners because even if you completely mess up your abilities you can still survive. Having said that as the time passes Kayle scales more and more and he’s very much auto attack based. That means later in the game you can literally auto-attack an enemy to death. You can find out more about Kayle here, but I’m going to break down his abilities too and talk about his combos also.
Kayle Abilities
- Passive: Kayle’s attacks are empowered by the heavens as she levels up and spends skill points. Her wings are lit aflame as she progressively gains Attack Speed, Movement Speed, Attack Range, and waves of fire on her attacks.
- Q/Radiant blast: Kayle conjures a portal, summoning a celestial sword that pierces through enemies, slowing, damaging, and reducing the resistances of all hit. For the Q you need to use it as a slow and generally as an initiator.
- W/Celestial Blessing:Â Blessed by the divine, Kayle heals and grants movement speed to herself and the nearest ally. Use this to gain movement speed and also heal yourself towards the end of a fight to surprise them with your survivability.
- E/Starfire spellblade:Â Passive: Kayle’s celestial sword, Virtue, deals bonus magic damage to enemies she attacks. Active: Kayle’s next attack smites her target with celestial fire, dealing bonus damage proportionate to their missing health. In the fight use this as a finisher as it’s basically an execute since it works with the missing health of the enemy.
- R/Divine Judgement:Â Kayle makes an ally invulnerable and calls upon former Aspects of Justice to purify the area around her target with a holy rain of swords. As discussed below try to save this towards the end of the fight or when they are about to deal a burst of damage on to you.
Kayle Combos
- As Kayle you generally don’t want to worry too much on combos you want to play defensively most of the game and wait for your enemy to make a mistake and capitalize on it. Having said that you want to initiate with your Q and then E, use your heal towards the end of your fight. If you have ultimate available try to use it towards the point where he’s either attempting a CC or using damage abilities against you. Do not wait to use your ultimate at the end of the fight unless you know for sure you will be winning it. Also if you are losing the trade use it as a disengage not further engagement.
- If you are ahead in the game you want to initiate with your QE combo and start walking forward from the enemy. Use your W for movement speed to get ahead of them if needed. In the mean time try to auto as much as you can and you would most likely win the trade if Kayle is ahead he generally does fairly well. End the fight with your ultimate and for some extra damage.
Conclusion
This was a very high level break down of 3 easy champions you can play in top lane that could help you climb in the ranks in league of legends as of 2021. Things could change in the future however these champions have been a staple since almost the beginning of the game and I doubt there will be much changes. Kayle did get a rework but he’s still designed to be a late game carry with an easy ability kit to use. My personal favorite is Kayle and the reason is that I can 1v5 in late game especially in lower elo’s that enemies do not know who to focus in a team fight.
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Which is your favorite top lane champion?
I have written some similar articles for other lanes too: