The former LoL pro Yilang “Doublelift” Peng believes that a role in League of Legends has terrible effects on the players’ condition: Only psychopaths enjoy playing on the top lane. Doublelift explains why this is the case in a Twitch clip.
This is Doublelift:
- The 28-year-old American has shaped the US LoL scene like few others. He has played as a botlaner since 2011 and has been an 8-time champion in the LCS, most recently in the summer of 2020.
- After his retirement from professional LoL, he is even more active as a streamer on Twitch than before. He now has 1.6 million followers on Twitch. When he streams, nearly 15,000 people watch him.
- Doublelift has always been known for his blunt, bold statements. He now explains why only psychopaths thrive on the top lane in LoL.
“Mid lane is Mickey Mouse cupcake” compared to top lane
This is the situation: Doublelift is watching a clip of streamer Tyler1, who made it to challenger in the mid lane in 669 games. For the challenger title in the top lane he needed 1741 games a few months earlier.
Now, Tyler1 raves about how easy the mid lane is compared to the top lane. The mid lane is a “Mickey Mouse cupcake” compared to the top lane.
“The most disgusting role in the entire damn game”
Why is the top lane so hard? Doublelift agrees with Tyler1’s statement:
“The top lane is the most disgusting and relentless role in the entire damn game. If someone catches you on the top lane, you are screwed for the rest of the game. If the enemy jungler wants you to not participate, you cannot participate. If your opponent takes the counter-pick, you can’t breathe for the entire game and get terrorized all the time.
The top lane is by far the most devastating role for your mind – and it’s not even close.”
Doublelift, 8-time LCS champion
Doublelift explains that half of the crap that happens to you on the top lane results from the enemy junglers and mid laners or from the “pick priority” or because the supporter roams to the top lane.
Top lane, like the AD carry, is a role that only psychopaths would enjoy. Both roles are incredibly mentally hard – mid lane, on the other hand, is “broken”, meaning it’s easy to play.
Do others see it this way? Yes, top laners constantly complain about how thankless their role is (via reddit). Typically, on the top lane, rather “stationary, defensive champs” are played who largely stay on their lane. When the game goes against them, they retreat to their own tower and try to farm mobs under the tower. This is a playstyle that no one really likes.
It’s difficult to set your own accents from the top lane because you are heavily influenced by what the opponents do: Often, top laners feel like they’re sitting there on display and the enemy mid laner or jungler are just waiting for them to go two steps too far from their own tower to jump out of hiding and ambush them.
If top laners get ganked at the start of a game and initially fall behind in gold and level to the other players, they often become easy prey who can do nothing in the rest of the game and constantly die because they have to fill a “front role” in every team fight.
Top laners constantly complain about how hard they have it, especially compared to the mid laners who can leave their lane and “roam” around the map to set their own accents (via reddit).
The ADC has a similarly “restricted role” and little decision-making power during the laning phase, the first 15 minutes of a game, he also has to stay on his lane, while junglers, mid laners, and even the supporter have the opportunity to become active and set accents.
This dependence of roles on what the opponent does seems to burden many over time, as Doublelift believes.
How bad it can be as a top laner was noticed by a pro player at the 2019 World Championship:
LoL Worlds: Invictus Gaming finds the weakest link at Griffin, breaks it brutally
