- Hey, guys, RTO here.
And if you haven't watched my stream lately,
I have been smurfing a lot,
and I have major, major, major, major, major issues
with guys in lower ranks.
I just do.
Some of the things that I haven't seen
are just blowing my mind.
And I'm making this video out here
to give you some initial thoughts, smurfing,
just in general about what I'm going up against.
And what's frustrating me so much is
how these top laners are playing versus me.
And not just,
they know I'm a smurf.
They see my win rates and my KDA,
but it's not even that right there.
It's so many other things
that I wanna see everybody exploiting
when going up against anybody,
not just smurfs or really just anybody at all.
So first thing's first, guys,
is let's go over some thoughts.
It's just top lane impact in general right now.
I think top lane is actually pretty strong.
I do.
I think it can be a really, really good role
if you do the right things,
like abusing certain things like leads
and all this other fun stuff.
And I actually put some real topics
that I wanna go over first thing.
So properly using your teleport.
My gosh!
So most people's idea is that it's only there
for objective control.
It's not really there for laning phase.
It's dog in lane.
It's all about using it for the objectives
and just being there ready to go later in the game.
That's not true at all.
That is so not true.
I think Teleport probably is one of the best
laning phase summoner spells in the game.
Obviously, I have Ignite and Teleport
pretty much equaled out
when it comes to dominating the laning phase.
And yes, Teleport is equal to Ignite in my opinion.
If anything, sometimes better.
If you can survive an Ignite,
guess what, you can always back and then TP back into lane.
So the thing that I have noticed
a lot of people I'm laning versus are doing versus me
is that I'm going up against them.
We're fighting.
We're battling.
I'm chunking them out slowly but surely,
getting some good trades here and there.
The one thing they're not doing though
is they're getting greedy.
They're getting so greedy.
Now, I've seen this in so many Elos.
When I was playing in Silver, Gold, Plat,
and even lower Diamond.
They just keep doing this one thing
to where they have like 20% health,
25, 20% health, around there.
I'm sitting at a good 60, 70%.
Listen, you've chunked me down to 60% health.
I have no more pots left.
All you have to do as a laner is back.
Just back.
Back and teleport.
But for some reason,
a lot of people out there are not backing and teleporting.
They're literally staying there,
greeding out for CS for whatever reason.
Literally abuse your summoner, okay?
Just back.
Back, reset, come back into play, guys.
'Cause not only that, you get your back.
You probably buy a Long Sword
or whatever else you buy there.
Now, you have items on me.
You're full health, probably got some pots.
I have nothing.
And consider, I'm the kinda guy that like to run Ghost.
I'm in a really bad spot.
So what I wanna see people doing
is trying to freeze that wave with the lane itself, okay?
You know you got a little chunked out that first wave.
You know they might try to tower-dive you soon or whatever.
Just back, reset, come back with full health,
ready to go for any fights.
That other guy is forced to back.
And this isn't just used against Ghost laners
or Ignite laners.
If they're a Teleport guy,
at least force them to back so you can reset the lane.
So if you get really chunked out, guys,
really use that Teleport for laning phase purposes.
It's not just there to,
your bot lane's having trouble so you TP down there.
It's not really always there for that.
Heck, when I was spamming Teleport,
I only used Teleport for laning phase for the most part.
Situational, obviously.
There are those times when you do TP bot,
but most of the time, guys,
I'm using it in lane to dominate that laning person
when I'm using Teleport.
So I wanna see you guys using it better.
And I'm gonna try to emphasize that more often
on my stream to try to show you guys what I mean by that.
Also, Dragons prep.
Okay, so what I'm noticing a lot of people
in lower ranks are is that Dragon is coming up.
I don't really typically put top lane impact
in the first Dragon 'cause that's like six minutes,
really early in the game.
But that next Dragon,
you're talking 11, 12 minutes in the game.
Top laners should definitely be very much involved
in that Dragon,
very much so.
And what I mean by preparation,
I mean literally,
you know it's about to spawn in about 50 seconds,
so prep for it.
Either get your back off sooner or later, or whatever.
Make sure you have that back.
Make sure you cash in your gold.
Get ready for that play, guys,
that big-time objective
'cause that's gonna be a play that can
turn the entire tide of the game,
because obviously, those Dragons, they stack,
and they scale.
Once you get that fourth Dragon,
I have very rarely,
I've won about 90% of my games when I get Dragon Soul.
Dragon Soul is a major, major win condition
considering any game that you're in.
So I want you guys to start prepping for the Dragons.
Now, like I said,
make sure your back's off.
That's obviously very, very important.
You can see that there's a minute left 'til Dragon,
okay, get that back off.
Another thing you can do as well too is you shove in top.
Let's say it's about 40 seconds, guys.
Shove in top.
Now, rotate down.
I'm not saying walk all the way down to the Dragon itself.
Rotate down to mid around 20 seconds.
Now, shove out mid.
Get that wave shoved out.
Get them all shoved out
so the enemy is now losing resources.
They're losing resources from the top and from the mid
for rotating Dragon.
And unless they wanna go for that CS.
They go for that CS, guess what,
now, you get a free Dragon
'cause they're not there for the objective.
So shove out top on 40 seconds,
around that point minute, 40 seconds.
Get it shoved in.
If their top laner decides to stay, guess what,
there's 20 seconds, 15 seconds.
They get the wave shoved out,
and you deny yourself a wave, but guess what,
they're not there at the Dragon.
So that's a win.
That's a huge win.
Just make sure you get your wave shoved out and prep for it.
A lot of guys in lower ranks are not doing that.
They're waiting until the last possible,
literally it's like five seconds,
they're like, "Okay, now I need my backs for the thing."
And I'm already on the Dragon like,
"Okay, thank you for the Dragon."
there's so many little resource like that,
and little advantages I'm getting off that,
that's causing me to get 90% plus win rates to Diamond
because of these crazy plays.
So just start prepping for those Dragons, guys.
It's very, very important.
It's kinda aggravating me going against all these guys,
as I'm climbing through the ranks,
that are not doing this.
Another big thing is, guys,
wave management and abusing your lead.
All right, I put them in the exact same category
because it's hard to control a wave really well
if you're behind.
It just is.
But when you have that lead,
I want you guys to start abusing your lead.
I've seen it many times.
Again, there are games, guys,
even these smurfing games,
where I fall behind.
It could be a Jungle gank.
It could be just a bad matchup or whatever.
I would say about 25, 30% of those games I am behind
after laning phase or whatever,
but I always find a way to get right back into the game,
and it's because of what they're doing.
For one, they're not managing waves.
Yes, I'm talking to everybody in this video.
You're not managing your wave well!
You're not doing it!
You guys will literally take the wave.
Let's say a turret's gone,
and you've got your turret,
let's say my turret's down,
and they're turret's up.
They're gonna push out that one wave,
and it's gonna slow push to me,
which is not what you want.
As a top laner,
you gotta make sure you get shoved all the way
into my turret,
so at least I'm not able to maybe hold that wave
or let the slow push come in,
and I get even more resources out of it
because you didn't shove it in.
So shove in those waves.
Also, when you get a lead, guys,
try to abuse it.
And not only by just wave managing,
start going to their Jungle.
Start taking those objectives.
Ping for it.
Knowing that that wave is shoved in,
their top laner has to catch that wave.
Now, it will literally be a one-v-one
between your Jungler and yourself.
Abuse that because you're probably gonna be stronger
'cause you're getting solo lane experience.
Start abusing that.
And if you think you have to,
call your Jungler down
'cause you'll definitely win those two-v-one fights as well.
So those are three things that
I really want to emphasize on in this video, guys.
And I just thought you guys should know,
'cause that's really frustrated me quite a bit
that that's not really happening.
Also, there is some change that just got announced,
I believe today.
On February 21st when this video gets released.
That is what's been announced,
but I'll show you guys it right now.
These are the changes that Riot Games is going over
to try to impact top lane in a positive way.
So top lane impact with our long-term goal of
giving top laners higher game impact
and the ability to carry a game in high Elo,
we're exploring a few different strategies.
So first thing's first, carrying through items.
One of the things they wanna try to emphasize on.
So basically,
they're trying to make it to where there's some changes
on the Black Cleaver, the Sunfire, and Hydra items.
Okay, I'll tell you right now, guys,
we've seen the Sunfire changes,
and it's very, very strong.
It's incredibly strong, actually.
They'd already hot-fixed the item,
so it show you how strong it is.
But yeah, that's one of the items
that they've shown some changes with.
Black Cleaver and the Hydra,
we'll see what they do with that,
but that's obviously very exciting stuff
for guys who play bruisers, like myself in general,
but if you're a tankier guy,
then Sunfire is a great option for you.
But I do like that they're doing that.
But like I said, we're not in a bad spot regardless,
but these will definitely help us out even more,
and you could definitely abuse that.
And then obviously, early strategic impact.
The Dragons creates a high-value objective
that all positions other than top
have a strong ability to contest.
So basically, what they're trying to do, guys,
is make it to where the Rift Herald is
a little bit stronger,
which they've been talking about that quite a bit.
Or even buffing Teleport,
which by the way, Teleport is not bad right now.
It's just not being used properly in the lower ranks,
which I'm trying to help you guys as much as I can.
All right, and last but not least, guys,
turning leads into victories.
Basically making it to where we can take plates faster.
That's their goal.
This isn't a bad thing.
I'm actually pretty cool with that change, guys.
It's a lot of good buffs to top lane,
but really what I'm trying to emphasize on, guys,
is even right now,
with how the game is before these buffs even go into play,
well, most of these buffs,
you can still dominate the game
by doing these three things, guys:
properly use your teleport,
Dragon preparations, it's a huge one,
then obviously, wave management and abusing your lead.
Back on the wave management for a second.
If you guys ever watch my streams and my games I play,
I will literally be up almost 100 CS
on my top laner I'm going up against when I have a lead.
Obviously, I'm behind, it might be a little more even,
but when I have that lead,
I'm usually at about 100 CS.
And you might be thinking,
"Well, you're just taking CS from your teammates."
I'm really not.
Really look at my teammates' CS.
We're all about even across the board,
and then, top lane's is a 100 CS difference.
It's not 'cause I'm taking waves from my teammates.
I'm just properly managing it.
I do have a video out there, guys,
with everything wave management,
which I'll link in the video description.
And definitely check that out for sure
to abuse wave management in general.
But yeah, you need to definitely emphasize
on these three parts of your game.
All right, guys, that's it for the video.
I hope y'all enjoyed it.
Make sure y'all like, comment,
and subscribe if you haven't already.
And I'll see you guys in the next one.
Deuces, boys!