LoL new season is coming in early 2024. It will introduce many changes, with some having already arrived at the game through the LoL Preseason 2024 update.
We already talked about several changes, such as changes to dragons and Summoner’s Rift, or even the major item reworks coming to LoL in Season 14. Now it's time to talk about the changes coming to Top Lane, and how they will affect the role and the gameplay.
The Top Lane changes have been a hot topic among LoL aficionados, so let’s take a look at all of them, and see what they mean to the role and the game.
Changes to Top Lane gameplay in LoL Season 14
The biggest change that will affect Top Lane is the terrain change. Riot’s development team changed a lot of aspects of the terrain of Summoner's Rift, and Top Lane was also impacted by that.
Developers extended the wall on the northwest of the Top lane, eliminating the tri-bush gank pathing that was so popular. The reason this change was implemented is to make it harder for junglers to gank the Red team Top Laner.
In the old map, it was very easy for the jungler to gank the Red team Top Laner, being able to gank from the river or the tri-bush. If the jungle ganked from tri-bush, he could wrap around the enemy Top Laner and secure an easy kill.
This forced the Red team Top Laner to play extremely carefully, especially if he didn't have a ward on the tri-bush. Furthermore, the Top Lane from the Blue team didn't need to worry about this, making it an even bigger disadvantage for the Red team's Top Laner.
With these changes, both teams have the same gank paths, and Red team Top Laners can play more aggressively. It's a very positive change and one that makes Top Lane even more of an island.
Top Lane became more of an “island”
The Riot Games development team also removed the brush that used to hug the left side wall of Top Lane. In its place, the devs placed a small one in the centre.
Both of these changes will make Top Laners significantly trickier to gank, so unless you want to take some tower shots, the only path to gank will be through the river.
Without the previous brush, the gank will be spotted much earlier by the laners. It seems like the Top Lane is truly living up to its reputation of being an island.
It's much more difficult for the jungle to gank the Top Lane, unless one of the Top Laners is overextending, or they decide to go for a dive.
These are all the changes to Top Lane in LoL Season 14. For more guides and news about League of Legends, feel free to visit RealSport101.