Hello folks! I am Praefectus-for the most part I remained quiet in the forums, just taking in a few events but finally decided to work on my first guide. As Warwick s one of those champions I really do enjoy playing as and proves to be a strong pick top lane, it only makes sense for me to start talking about WW in particular and why you should give the bitey and slapping fellow a try.

Warwick works wonderfully as a bruiser, with an outstanding dueling potential thanks to his passive and Q, and with barrier it is very likely you can end up claming the first blood against somoene who doesn't know how quickly WW can turn the tides in his favor.

Pros:
->Great roaming potential: While you ARE playing WW top lane, that doesn't stop you from cheesing some easy kills in other lanes. Thanks to your W, you will easily reach mid lane, or even bot for a surprise gank. People don't expect the top laner to go for early or mid ganks often, and you can use that in your favor to help your team.
->Powerful dueling: With lethal tempo, your lifesteal passive and Q, you can win most of duels easily. Not only that, but you can catch people off-guard by turning the tides in a fight that LOOKED like you were going to lose, only to then land your ult and suddenly get a lot of your HP right back and win the fight. Your E does have a built-in damage migation, so even that can help you to keep going before adding the fear to get a few free hits in. Flash+fear is also a good way to force an enemy to run towards your tower and lane side, to make sure they won't be able to escape.
->Straightforward and effective: WW isn't a particularly difficult champion to learn, and while he is easy to pick, he still proves to be pretty darn good at his job. As long as you learn how to land your Rs, when to latch onto an enemy or fear placnigs...You will be fine. It is also a more 'forgiving' champion as his built-in lifesteal might help you to stay on the lane for more time.
->Surprise aoe fear and ambushes: Once you unlock your ult, you will be free to hunt folks with low hp a lot more often and give them no time to react. Your ult's range increase based on your movespeed, so sometimes you will be in the fog leaping right at someone to kill them. And a great way to start team fights is to initiate by activating your E, W, then R to drop a fear in the middle of the group!
Cons:
->Heavy cc weakness: WW is mostly a melee champion with melee abilities aside from his ult. So being rooted, slowed or stunned can make things very difficult for you. Or even worse, if they have powerful CC to shut you down like taunt or immobilization...As it will leave you unable to attack and get your hp back.
->R is a skillshot: While R being a skillshot can be good for escaping, it is a gamble when you want to hit someone. You need to predict their movement if they know of your presence or are currently dodging other skills. The cooldown is hefty, and sometimes by missing it you put yourself in a REALLY bad position.
->Teamwork required/Late game scaling: While early and mid game you might have your fun chasing down other lanes and chomping them, when it gets to mid to late game it is unlikely you will pick people off alone. So even if you WANT to try the R+fear strategy to initiate, you will have to rely on your allies. If they miss the queue, you are dead. And it gets a LOT more difficult for you to get lethal tempo going if they focus you or keep kiting you.

Personally I think Warwick right now is doing really well top lane. Bork is still strong along with sunderer, and that combo along is more than enough to do plenty of damage against other top laners. Not only that, but you can also punish other lanes for remaining on their lane with low hp, catching them off-guard by rushing in with you fear ready to go. If you are lucky you can even catch the roaming jungler from time to time and make his life miserable as well. The capacity of getting a strong lead early game makes a BIG difference when you want to prevent the enemy team's progress and give yours their first item powerspike

While your allies can't see the 'scent track' you get from your passive, you can still ping the location of the tracks to make it easier for them to pursue a possible champion hiding or running. And the PRESSURE Warwick gives isn't just limited to his lane exactly due to his passive, there were games were I got ahead of the game by farming champions more than getting minions simply because enemy mid lane and enemy bot lane were pushing often with hp low enough to activate the passive.

The whole 'paranoia' you can add to your foes can lead to a smoother game as they will be so worried about YOU from top lane ganking, that they might end up dying to the jungler instead.

And on top of all of that, I think WW is a pretty 'friendly' champion to use on top lane because of his powerful dueling potential and his lifesteal giving you more time to stick around the lane.

More often than not, you will be rushing bork before moving to sunderer. The combo is just overall great. You get lifesteal, attack speed, a slow with bork and sunderer makes your hits take another chunk and heal you even more. The exceptions being AP top laners, as you will want to switch bork for Wit's End.

After your main cores it will depend of how things are looking so far, as you could either go for a third somwhat offensive item such as titanic hydra, or move to something defense like thornmail if they got too many ad champions and lifsteal. Or if they have AP, visage is a good option. In the build option I do have a few options listed and in what situations they should be used. But the 'balanced' build for me usually involves either titanic or thornmail, then visage. That will keep you chonky, with a strong self-heal and still dealing significant damage.

There are other 'offensive' item options listed in the builds, as sometimes you and your team end up stomping the other side, so you might be better off getting more damage along with a bit more of hp.

Warwick top lane is great bruiser and with wonderful dueling potential. While he does have some weaknesses here and there, I still think he is a pretty solid top lane pick, especialyl for folks who are trying to learn how to play top lane now.