Tyler1, Doublelift agree that top lane is LoL’s hardest role

William Davis Published 24/09/2021

Shortly after famous streamer Tyler “Tyler1” Steinkamp reached Challenger by mainly playing mid lane, the discussion about the hardest role in the game came back to life. 

This happened after a clip went viral of Tyler1 comparing the mid and top lanes. In this clip, Tyler1 clearly states that he thinks the mid lane is way easier than top lane, which might be why the popular streamer reached challenger in the role much quicker than during his top lane challenge. 

According to Tyler1, his time in the mid lane was way easier from a mechanical standpoint and due to the impact he had in the game. Even in games where he lost his lane, he was able to roam to help out his jungler or bot lane instead. This is something that isn’t possible in the top lane without losing a lot of CS and XP.  

“Top is infinitely harder than mid, both the players, the champions, and the role.” Tyler1 said. 

Shortly after the clip with Tyler1 went viral on social media, other big League of Legends personalities started to chime in on the discussion. One of them is former TSM bot laner Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng, who agrees with the fact that top lane is the most punishing role in the game. 

“Top lane is the most punishing and disgusting role in the game,” Doublelift said. “If the enemy jungler wants you to not play the game, you can not play the game.”

Just like Tyler1, Doublelift put emphasis on the fact that falling behind in the top lane can leave a player without many options for the rest of the match. This is unlike the mid lane, where roaming is always an option. If a top laner falls behind early on, it’s possible for the enemy jungler to camp the lane and completely shut down the player by freezing minion waves and essentially starving the opponent to death. 

Doublelift also compared the top lane to the bot lane role and says that both roles can be very mentally draining. The similarities between the two are that both roles have to stay in lane to gather farm and XP and don’t have the ability to roam back and forth on the map. 

Whether Tyler1 will ever return to play in the top lane seems more and more unlikely. It also seems like Doublelift will stay away from the role even when playing roles other than bot in solo queue. 

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