A legend as old as time, and a true champion among champions, there are rumors of a rat strong enough to withstand any amount of pressure; be it physical, verbal, or even mental. He is unstoppable, with arrows that feel like nerf darts, yet a laugh that pierces like a bullet. By following this forbidden tome, your enemies will no longer be dealing with the average Twitch Marskman, anymore, they'll have to face against...

The Legendary Tank Twitch Top!

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Now before you head to comment and post something along the lines of "This isn't how you play Twitch don't believe this guy it doesn't work"
Do hear me out.

I've played Tank Twitch Top for quite a while, and do so with caution.

I want everyone to keep in mind that I do NOT recommend this in ranked whatsoever and only play this with consent from the entire team. No off meta/troll build is worth getting reported and having a terrible game. But, that doesn't mean you too can't become the Legendary Tank Twitch Top.

Now, you might ask yourself "How can Twitch be a tank??? He has no CC, no peel, and nothing that scales with health/armor/magic resist!" And the answer to that is: Yes, you're right, but you may find that this build will be the perfect mouse trap you need to cheese your enemies.

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PROS

Deal constant true damage to enemies
Eat away at tanks
Become an annoyance to the enemy team
No one will expect it
Become able to suddenly appear in teamfights, resist them bursting and jumping on you, and leave for your team to cleanup
Catch Rengar in a mouse trap and cheese him

CONS

Slow damage over time
Little CC (Slow+Frozen Mallet)
You'll be focused... A lot
You'll probably have to mute a few people if your team ends up losing (Regardless if it was your fault or not)

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While Twitch is mostly played as an ADC/Jungler, I found good use for him building tank top lane. And for one reason only.

This.
This ability.
Twitches passive deals true damage over a period of time, and increases the damage with each stack. Most Twitch players I see often forget that it even does damage and use it mostly for their , which isn't saying they're doing it wrong, but for this build specifically, your passive will be your bread and butter. A reminder you'll always want to tell yourself, you won't be doing any damage, your passive will.

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Top lane is a lane for most tanks and fighters. You will be up there to fight against tanks and melee champions. Your plan of action will be to go to lane, farm, if they get anywhere near your farm, continuously auto them until they leave or get too aggressive. Don't worry about taking too much damage, you won't be playing the Twitch you usually play. If they try going in on you, or get a gank, throw a and away. If you're maxing your W first like in the build, the slow will often surprise them, and the extra passive stacks will drag their health down. Facing against champions such a Rammus or Malphite will lead to them being constantly pushed out of lane with low health. Do not get too greedy about getting kills by yourself, that isn't your purpose here.

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RESOLVE Grasp of the Undying This rune is a great one, allowing you to heal on auto attacking your laner, and building up your health... Also you can't even use the other two, so it's kinda your only option. Demolish A good rune for pushing when your laner is away, or assisting other lanes. Your autos won't be doing you any damage favors, so this is a good pick. Font of Life can also be picked up if you want to assist your team more, but will do little in your lane and overall agenda. Shield Bash cannot be used by you, so do not take it. Bone Plating A great rune to have for being the center of attention while maintaining the status of being alive. Enemies jumping on you will not dish out the damage they expect. Second Wind and Conditioning are also good secondary choices depending on how you want to play. Overgrowth More health is always a plus, fatten this rat up on minions as much as you can. Take Unflinching if you find yourself against a very CC heavy team. This rat must always be moving. Revitalize cannot be used by you.

INSPIRATION Minion Dematerializer Helps your farm game, keeping you in lane despite low damage and potential harass. This spot can mostly be filled with any other runes depending on your need. Approach Velocity This will grant you speed against targets affected with , allowing you to hunt escapees or just simply run towards the battle. Attack Speed should be taken to apply your passive Armor or Magic Resist for obvious reasons Health, Armor and Magic Resist are all choices to make depending on your laner. Other Runes Time Warp Tonic Consider taking this if you skip on Approach Velocity. It'll help your... Somewhat limited early game and can help avoid those who wish to stomp you out of the entire game. Future's Market If you are just not getting the hang of farming, or maybe you're too good at it, maybe take this for a few games. It can get you the gold you need and help you get ahead of a laner who may be expecting an easy game.

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While my skill order may confuse you, you're probably brushing it off considering everything I've said so far. I'll explain why I choose this order and how you should interact with your abilities.

Deadly venom will deal constant true damage over time, and can stack up to six times.
As said, this is your bread and butter, your goal in lane is to have a constant max stacks on the enemy laner. His health will drop slowly resulting in him wasting potions or having to back.


Ambush provides you with camouflage, movement speed when moving towards enemies, and an attack speed bonus when you break out of it. (And allows you to back while camoflauged!)
This is essential to your strategy, but only you decide how important it is. I usually max this third, but if you find more use in faster attack speed from ambush surprises, then so be it. Use it to set up a trap or escape from a situation you don't quite think you want to be in.


Venom Cask will create an AOE slow on the ground while applying Deadly Venom stacks over time.
This, will be the ability you max first. Its slow is essential in keeping enemy junglers and laners away from you and keeping your distance while also harassing them. As Twitch isn't normally too mana hungry, feel free to toss one if the enemy gets near. Most people tend to underestimate the slow, but when at five levels, it really makes a difference.


Contaminate deals damage to all nearby enemies with Deadly Venom stacks, and the damage increases per stack.
Now, despite being tanky, I max this second. It's useful for clearing large waves, but also great at picking off low health champions that made mistakes. Damage adds up. SO even if it's doing only a hundred damage, it'll help your venom get closer and closer to their death.


Spray and pray grants you temporary penetrating shots, additional attack range, and additional attack damage.
This ability won't be as useful as your others most of the time, but can be used in setting up your Mouse Trap. When a Twitch ults, everyone's reaction is to stop him as fast as possible. While they attempt to rip your face off, just smile and fill their bodies with venom, and when it's time to get, throw a cask and ambush out. If your team is nearby, they'll finish up what you started. Also feel free to use this to outrange low health towers.


Jinx Rocket kills anyone on the map no matter where they are.
Do not forget that there's this ability called Jinx Rocket. Every champion in the game has it, and it can kill anyone on the map no matter where they are. Teammates often forget this powerful ability, so if you see an enemy walking freely around the map, please remind your allies to use their Jinx Rocket!

SUMMONERS

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On a build like this, there are really only two summoners to take.

Sometimes a slow and camouflage just won't get you out alive, flash can get you out safely while your ambush activates and quickly get you out.


You may be away from top lane for some time, or you may want to bait enemies by teleporting in all "alone", this is for you.

OTHER SUMMONERS

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Heal will grant you health for sustain, but you'll find later that the sustain won't be anywhere near useful mid to late game.


Exhaust can provide you with extra CC, and you can benefit from this. However, your support will usually have exhaust already, so be careful if you choose this so you both don't exhaust the same person.


Good for picking off low health champions or dealing more damage over time. A bit too aggressive for early game and can cost you, but feel free to take if you believe in yourself. Just don't believe too much.


Sometimes the enemy team just has a bit too much CC. Taking cleanse can save you in a few scenarios, but being a tank and the bait you are, you'll mostly survive everything unless the enemy team is ahead or has a huge advantage.


I can't suggest anyone take ghost on this build. With this build you'll have enough slows from your Venom Cask and Frozen Mallet and the movement speed from your Ambush that ghost would rarely help you escape situations you're already doomed to die in.

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With your autos doing less damage than normally, you'll have to be more careful about when you auto, as your passive can and will throw you off if you aren't careful. Come mid to late game, feel free to throw a out, wait for it to expire, and release a . This may not clear the waves instantly as you might have hoped, but it will help.

Wait, if you're going tank, and you do no damage, why roam?

Twitch has great jungling potential, but this build won't help him there too much, but that doesn't mean we can't put that potential to use in the top lane. Since you'll be maxing your slow, if top lane is missing, there's never any harm in roaming to mid lane with ambush, and slowing the enemy laner, forcing either a flash from them or a kill from one of you. And if you do get them, your ambush will be refreshed, and you can head on to bot lane too if they're having problems. Just make sure to keep an eye on top if it starts getting hectic.

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As most of your damage will be passive damage, you'll need to be able to sustain any incoming damage so you can reach max stacks to harass and annoy anyone you encounter.

MAIN ITMES

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This item will help your already mediocre waveclear, and assist in doing constant damage over time. Unless the enemy laner is going to do a lot of magic damage, you want to get this as soon as possible.

Great magic resistance and health item. Should be considered first if going against an AP laner, but should be considered nonetheless for your AP enemies. Your goal is to be resistant to all who oppose you.

Despite everything I've said so far about relying on your passive and doing no damage, you might be confused at why I included this. The passive of slowing with auto attacks will help this build so much. Any enemy that tries to flee will feel the sting of the eternal slow, as you drag them down until a teammate comes in to cleanup the kill.

A great item for being the center of attention, watch as you pop out into the enemy team and experience all of their jumps, dashes, and ultimates, and then walk out for your team to catch them.

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After building those, you'll want to finish up with items granting you more health, armor, or magic resist. The ones listed in the build will do fine, but sometimes your team may want you to do some damage, or maybe your foes keep getting away with just a smidgen of health.

SITUATIONAL ITEMS

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You won't benefit from the melee bonus, but its passive will help you be burst repellent. Additional damage and health to stack on your giant rat.

Cleave your enemies, reduce their armor, that'll help your allies somewhat.

Maybe you just need some more slow? Maybe you just need more mana? Gauntlet has you covered. Maybe one day you'll even land the rare Tank Twitch Stun.

These items will grant attack speed in case your passive and ult just isn't cutting it for ya. These are also great 1v1 items in case you constantly find yourself in combat with only one enemy champion whom they probably designated as "pest control".

While providing mobility and other stat,s disabling towers in a battle is always welcome, especially from roaming ganks.

Usually when a trap goes off, its done for. However with this, you can safely rearm yourself and sting harder too!

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Now you might have seen a bit of potential in this build, or not (in which case there's probably no point in reading the rest, but feel free to anyway!), but either way you still might be saying
"So okay, he does constant true damage and an AOE slow with some tank items, how does that help your team? How does he peel?"
And with this I'm going to explain the term I like to use:

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As Twitch is commonly seen as an ADC/Jungler, he is often viewed as squishy, easily kill if caught, and a deadly threat if left untouched. Because of this, many players will eagerly jump on you and blow all their abilities just to get a kill. However, they will not be dealing with an ordinary Twitch. You will have risen above and become a legend, the legend that they fear. You'll become the Legendary Tank Twitch Top!
Both teams will find themselves preparing for battle, but where is their Twitch? Surely Twitch is an assassin, so they better watch out for him. Oh, what's this? Twitch has appeared in their team, a good easy kill that will hinder their enemies! Except wait, he's not dying, yet he's not dealing any damage.

: "Punch him more!"

Says their Lee Sin, yet their punches will not do damage. You may even take this time to do your dance and laugh.

: "He's just standing there, menacingly!"

Shouts their Ahri, now trembling in her Sorcerer's Shoes.

: "We have to do something! Ult him! Everyone!"

their Lucian will shout. And with that command, pop they all go, and your job is done. With an Ambush, you're gone. And in their confused state, the rest of your team comes in, and slaughters them.

: "I warned them! I told them this would happen! But they didn't believe me!"

Their Garen cries out, now in a fetal position in spawn. He felt your wrath, he saw it, he too doubted you, but in the end, they all end up the same. They will never doubt you again. Your powers are far too strong for this rift, and poor Garen will endure nightmares for the rest of his life, going to therapy, and any small rat that enters his home will send him into a panic. You've done this. You've caused this man such pain. He had a good life, and you ruined it.

Are you proud?

Are you satisfied?

Is this what you wanted?

You win the game, but at what cost. Even your teammates still look at you with disgust. You proved them wrong, but at the same time, you've proved them right.

Maybe next time you enter champ select, consider the consequences of your actions. Of who you choose. Of who you lock in. Of who you play and what you build.

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Tank Twitch Top is a build I play with passion, and while it certainly is not for everyone, and in fact might just make more people frustrated, I do have fun with this and it always surprises everyone when I end up being useful to the team and somehow managing to 1v1 enemies with little care. This build is not meant to do damage and more about confusing and catching your enemies off guard. It's always a blast to have my team support me and work together with my build and winning a game.

I plan to start saving replays of me using this build and posting videos here for reference.

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