5 Worst Top Laners in League of Legends Patch 10.5

The worst top laners in League of Legends Patch 10.5 will be tweaked with some of the changes going life in the new update. Scheduled for release March 4, here's our list of the five worst top laners in League of Legends Patch 10.5.

Considering the planned buffs for a lot of common top lane items, the middle of the pack top laners get better but the worst of the worst stay close to the same.

1. Akali

The reworked assassin is still just as bad in top lane as she is in mid lane with a win rate just above 45 percent when played top. Akali is in a difficult spot right now and that's mostly as a result of how difficult it is to effectively balance her.

Players in the highest levels of professional play are able to skill do incredibly well on the champion and push Akali's kit to its limit. But, most players in solo queue don't have the mechanical skill and game knowledge required to get to that point. Until the champion gets another rework, it's probably best to avoid her, unless you're already a professional or top tier player.

2. Irelia

Irelia is another champion that's struggled since the series of nerfs she received after her rework. Like Akali, Irelia is a very mechanically intense champion that takes hours of focused practice to master.

That high skill floor makes the champion incredibly difficult to play in solo queue and also hard to balance effectively because of the skill gap that exists between ranked solo queue and professional play. The buffs to Tiamat, Ravenous Hydra, and Titanic Hydra should help her in top lane, but given the other strong champions there, it's best to not pick the champion on Patch 10.5.

3. Ryze

Ryze used to be a mainstay of top lane, with his consistent ability to farm up and win the side lane match up into most other top laners. But, with the rise of Ornn and Sett and the quick tempo in Season 10, Ryze has fallen off drastically.

The champion has just a 46 percent win rate in top lane right now, which is understandable given how long Ryze takes to scale. With Ornn being able to itemize into an upgraded Abyssal Mask early in on and other champions able to catch Ryze out of position, other top laners are able to win the side lane match up or stall out long enough for their team to get an advantage on the other side of the map.

4. Lucian

Lucian top is still a special pick for Heo "Huni" Seung-hoon, as he's played it multiple times in competitive play and even played it this week in Dignitas' game against Cloud9. But the champion is not as strong as it used to be.

Other top laners like Aatrox, Ornn, and Sett are now able to sustain through the lane and can do it without giving up too much. Lucian, without a significant lead, ends up falling off even earlier on in the game and gives a winning side lane match up to the enemy team most of the time. That disadvantage can be difficult to overcome, especially if you don't have a strong mage like Cassiopeia in the mid lane to answer that split push.

5. Lissandra

Even though Lissandra will be getting some buffs on Patch 10.5, she's still not the top lane monster she used to be in the Aftershock meta. With changes to her mana costs and cooldowns on previous patches, she's still far too mana hungry to sustain in lane against other prominent top laners.

Lissandra isn't really a top laner and that's the way it's going to stay for quite some time, especially when other top lane items like Blade of the Ruined King, Titanic Hydra, Ravenous Hydra, and Sunfire Cape are getting consistently buffed.