Solo Top Stories #1 - Trundle, the Cursed Troll

Solo Top Stories are tales of personal and professional use of champions don't see a lot of play in a solo top lane. That's not to say these champions are poor picks top; they're often very good for counterpick matchups or to play when you're in for a casual game. I've scoured the internet for builds and opinions, playtested my way through some interesting matchups, and I ended up with these stories to share with you. Read on - and share your own Solo Top Stories with us!

Not sure if troll....or viable solo top.

Trundle is both! Many of the highly played top champions today are favorites for possessing some of the following qualities:

- Sustainability - Sustain helps you stay in lane through poke, which helps you farm.

- Crowd Control - Stuns and slows help secure a kill during jungle ganks.

- Tankiness - Top lane is filled with bruisers who enter into late game as tanky DPS.

- Zoning - Keeping your opponent at bay throughout the laning phase wins the lane via denial of XP.

Trundle can do all of these things, but like most champions he does not excel at all of them. Let's take a look at the list, and where Trundle really shines.

Sustainability: Trundle's passive, Decompose, provides a deceptive amount of sustain during the laning phase. Combined with lifesteal from a Doran's Blade (not recomended) or a Wriggle's Lantern (recomended) and a working knowledge of how to pick off minion waves, your natural regeneration is fantastic. Even if you find yourself pushed to the tower, Decompose continues to work as the minions are picked off by tower shots and you're gaining back health just in time to help your jungle gank that overextended Riven!

Ian, you say. We'll never catch an enemy Riven from behind our tower, you say. She hops, and she dashes, and she--

Crowd Control: Pillar of Filth. This story assumes that you know what the Dirtpole is, but I'll give you the rundown in regards to our current situation. That Riven who pushed us all the way back to the tower, who continues to farm minions just out of the tower's range and taunts every minion wave? Our ironic jungle Shen decides she needs to die, and he's pinged for the gank. As you start to move towards her, she starts her Q Hop thinking to finish you off. Luckily, you've regained health from your passive and you're not such an easy kill. Her next two hops are up towards the top bushes - it looks like she's going to escape! Not only does Pillar of Filth give you impassable terrain where once there was only escape, it provides vision and slows in a radius around it. Now we've flat out stop-signed the retreating Riven, we know where she is in the brush, and she's slow enough that Shen manages to land his taunt. You have slain an enemy.

(note: Trundle has no hard CC. Pillar of Filth is awesome, but is best when used to split up a team or set up a gank - Ianxplosion)

What if Shen hadn't made it? What if YOU are the overextended sucker about to get ganked? It's not as horrible as it sounds, because Trundle has

Tankiness: You can build AP Trundle, but you wouldn't be reading Solo Top Stories, because you're a communist. Building Trundle stays the same whether you play him in the jungle or in the top lane, you want tanky physical damage. Which is fantastic, because his skills support that build. Rabid Bite doesn't give you armor, but it does take away your enemy's AD, which makes him hit you for less. Contaminate provides a reduction to crowd control effects, which not only helps you play your part as the tanky troll, but it helps you dictate where the fight is going to be fought. You either drop it after the fight has started, providing you an advantage, or you drop it before the fight and pick off your enemies as they try to engage AROUND the contaminate field instead of on it.

Okay, so I'll give it to you that Trundle doesn't have anything that screams "Tank" on the surface. He's also pretty bad in the next category, although it really depends on your own playstyle.

Zoning: Pillar of Filth has a long cooldown. You won't be using it specifically to keep your opponent from grabbing that last hit. Actually, I take that back. You'll do it at least once a game, because it's funny to land the pillar right under the enemy. Other than that, the only thing Trundle really brings to a lane-off is Contaminate. As stated in the previous section, people don't enjoy fighting you on your contaminate field. Throwing one up when you move in to grab a last hit might give them pause on moving in to farm, as you'll be in better position for a fight. Rabid Bite takes some AD which could cause a short-term problem with last hitting, but it's generally ignored.

The Verdict: All in all, Trundle performs in lane well enough during the laning phase, and provides utility to the team all the way into late game. Rabid Bite makes him a solid counterpick to AD-centric champions like Riven and the passive works on Yorick's ghouls. If you find the lane pushed, give counter-jungling a try, or sneak down to your own small camps and have a go.

But wait, there's more!

Something I wanted to bring up when talking about Trundle's tankiness and didn't is his ultimate, Agony. During the laning phase, Agony can be used to walk away from a fight that might have ended up as a kill-trade. Not only do you immediately gain health (and deal damage to the enemy), but they suffer through extra damage over six seconds and have their armor and magic resistance reduced. I'm no theorycrafter, but taking their armor is good when you deal physical damage. I will often pair my ultimate with ignite, and make sure that Pillar of Filth is ready to use when they realize how sideways the fight just went. Fortunately, you have a speed boost to go with your slow, making catching early-game runners a breeze. Trundle is tons of fun to duel with before the towers go down.

Cliff's Notes

Build Trundle like a bruiser, and keep in mind that you can get free AD/Armor/Magic Resist. Popular opinion says to start into a Wriggles, build Mercury's Treads, and move on to a Trinity Force. Builds differ after that, depending on enemy team I'll build a Sunfire Cape or a Force of Nature and damage via an Maw of Malmortius and a Wit's End.

Trundle does well even if you end up in a 2v1 scenario, thanks to his sustain and ability to block a diving enemy's escape with Pillar of Filth. Focus on defense and coordinate ganks with your jungle - Agony turns an iffy ganking target into a squishy ganking target.

Don't forget to use Contaminate! Drop the center of the AoE at the edge of the casting circle for maximum effect. Use it to catch up to a fleeing enemy, combine it with a pillar to thwart a gank, drop it during a team fight for maximum damage and minimum crowd control.

Pillar of Filth can be your best friend or your worst enemy. Keep in mind that your teammates can be stopped by the pillar just as easily as the enemy. Also, it gives you short-term vision when you throw it down. Use it to scout!

Epilogue

I love Trundle as a character, but I can't stand him in the jungle. I never seemed to be able to provide the sort of presence I like to put out as a jungle champion. Fortunately, using him as a top lane champion lets me shut down certain champions and no-jungle comps. With proper warding I can farm and push towers well into mid game, while still having the mobility to arrive for team fights and taking objectives. Most AP top lanes shut me down pretty hard, but with a couple of ganks Trundle can take the tower. Go ahead, lock in everyone's favorite troll and head right on up to top lane and get clubbing.

Solo Top Stories is a weekly look at unlikely Solo Top Champions and how they fit into the current meta. Next week, we'll be covering Fizz, the Tidal Trickster. If you've got opinions on Solo Top Stories, past present or future, send us an email at [email protected], or tweet your thoughts to @ianxplosion. See you next week, for another Solo Top Story.