Last week, we posted an interview we had with Smeb that was translated from Inven Korea’s article. However, what we didn’t mention at the time was that along with that interview, we asked Smeb for some tips on how beat the Solo Queue as a top-laner; tips that we could feature only on Inven Global. Well, we did just that, and now we’ve got 5 exclusive tips from the man himself.



While we wanted to present this article with a slideshow to stay true to the spirit of articles like this, we’ve decided to go with a simple list due to some technical restrictions. We’ll make sure to bring you the full experience for articles like this as soon as possible.



Now, without further ado, we present to you the Inven Global exclusive article: 5 Top-lane tricks from Smeb that helped him beat the Solo Queue.

1. "Ban Camile."



Smeb concluded his thoughts on Camile with concise words - "Ban her." Along with Zed and LeBlanc, she makes up the “Ban Trifecta” of Ranked Games, so its hard to practice with her in Ranked Games. She requires the player to be apt with her mechanics, and since playing top-lane is usually about knowing the match-up, simply picking Camille just because she is not banned will usually not go so well.



On the other hand, you wouldn’t want to risk facing someone who is competent with Camille and be destroyed due to her massive kit of move speed burst, mobility to engage/disengage, shield, wall jump, AA animation cancelling, true damage, stun, knockback, slow, life steal, double dash, isolation, percent HP damage AND percent Max HP damage.

▲ This is Caitlyn. Caitlyn didn’t ban Camille. Don’t be like Caitlyn.

So, we should choose the safest way out of this conundrum - Just ban her. After all, this article is about how to beat the Solo Queue, not how to play well with all top-laners.

2. "Know Thy Champion."



Have you been teamfighting all the time with Fiora? Staying in lane as Nautilus? If so, you are doing it wrong. No matter how cliched this might sound, Smeb says that you have to truly know how to play with your champ to stand a chance at climbing in Solo Queue, and you also have to know the opposing toplaner to do well at climbing in Solo Queue.

▲ The Paragon of "Know Thy Champion"

Of course, this doesn’t just mean that you have to know your champ mechanically. You also have to think about the differences between your champ and the opposing top-laner.



For example, when you face Maokai as Fiora, make sure to zone out Maokai in early game, and start to split-push and deny him of access to teamfights to make the most of the differences between the champs.

3. "Push the Lane, All Day, Everyday."



Did you want to carry the game as a midlaner or a jungler but got filled in as a top-laner? Well, Smeb says that you still can carry, but only if you push the lane, and push it no matter what.



If you want to make sure that the game ends in your favor, you can’t be satisfied with just getting more minions than the enemy toplaner or getting a few solo kills.



While you can farm minions until the end of time as a toplaner, you have to think like a midlaner or a jungler and start pressuring the other lanes as soon as possible.

▲ Even as a defensive jungler, you can do things like this if you put your mind (and ward) to it.

In summary; jungler up, delete minions and hit the mid if you want to carry.

4. "Ward Smart."



This is an extension of tip number 3, since you are more likely to be ganked if you start to push a lane. While it would be easy to say that warding solves this problem, Control Ward costs money, and the Warding Totem is limited.



So, Smeb recommends that you ward “smarter”.



How do you ward smarter, you ask? Well, here's one thing to consider: you need to think about your jungler’s rotation and estimate where the enemy jungler might be.



Over time, you’ll realize that the enemy jungler tries to gank you after your jungler clears, let's say, the third jungle camp. So, you will want to push the lane (if you haven’t been doing that already) and go warding right before the enemy jungle tries to pay a visit.

▲ Moments after placing the ward, Graves drops by.

The point is that you want to think before you ward, and you don't just want to ward blindly simply because you feel ‘unsafe’. After all, wards are limited, and you are more likely to be caught without them if you place them recklessly.



Also, a small tip about pushing lane is that you are unlikely to be ganked through the bushes above the top lane, so you’ll only need to ward the river and the tri-bush to watch for ganks.

5. "Talk to Your Teammates."



Is your Teleport always off cooldown because your bot-lane duo never bothered to ward in the right places? Does split-pushing always gets you killed and make you get yelled at by your teammates? Why not try...talking to them?



We've thought long and hard about whether to include this trick from Smeb, as this might be the hardest trick in this entire article. However, no matter how skilled you are, you can’t teleport without a ward from the support, and you can’t split-push without the rest of the team drawing the enemy team’s attention away from you.

▲ You were expecting a teamfight, weren't you?

In fact, all of the tips given above will work even better when you communicate with your teammates. Caitlyn could have saved herself from Camille if she knew that her team’s toplaner was not going to pick Camille. Split-pushing all the towers and inhibitors is only possible if the rest of the team is drawing the enemy team’s attention away from you, and you can’t push lane without the jungler knowing that you’ll push lane like a (pre-patch) lane-swapped duo.

That's it for the "5 Top-lane tricks from Smeb that helped him beat the Solo Queue". We will be bringing more tips from other legendary players, so stay tuned for more!