First i would just tell all of you, that english isn't my primary language, so there might be some words not spelled proberly in this guide. Also note that this is not the "only" way to play him. But it is my way of playing a competitive and very good top as Olaf.

Besides from that.. Enjoy !

This guide is suited for an olaf wich should carry the team by taking the top lane.

Olaf is a very strong champion, BUT also squishy in the format of this build early game.
The goal of playing Olaf like this, is to farm alot of minions (as a top is supposed to do), and deny your enemy from minionfarming with Undertow. You do not get lifesteal from any item before late-mid game, so you have to rely on your health regeneration and Tough It Out.

If you play defensively, and keep hitting your opponent with Undertow. It is almost certain that you will dominate the lane.

In reds you take the Greater Mark of Desolation, to get increased damage against both minions and champions. These runes does nicely against Champions together with your ultimate. But because most Summoners who plays top, often takes armor runes, this will not have the same on them, as on ranged AD carrys or AP Chmapions (as an example).

In yellows you take the Greater Seal of Armor runes, to get better survivability against your opponent on the lane. It is after all almost only AD carrys that takes the top lane, if you follow the meta. So you will need the extra armor.

In blues you take the Greater Glyph of Magic Resist, to survive incomming magic damage. This will help you a great deal early and mid game, against Ability Power champions that you may need to take down, or survive against.

Now.. The Quintessence runes is up to yourself. But i can only reccomend five good choices. There are the:
Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed, wich will give you a whole 4.5% extra runspeed the whole game. This will come in handy both when chasing and escaping.

Greater Quintessence of Health. This will help you take 78 more damage on your hitpoints, and improve your survival an even greater deal early game.

Greater Quintessence of Vigor. Also a great choice that will help you sustain really good on the lane with another 8,1 extra HP regeneration per 10 second. Very good since you don't have a great amount of lifesteal earlygame.

Greater Quintessence of Desolation. Good choice for greater damage output against other Champions.

Greater Quintessence of Attack Damage. Very good for lasthitting minions and greater damage output.

The masteries are 9-21-0, to improve your survivability against all incoming damage. You spend the remaining 9 points in offense to increase your damage outcome.

The 6 extra armor and magic ressist, will help you a great deal early game. and the 3 extra hp regeneration scales nicely up with your philosopher's stone, and even better with your Greater Quintessence of Vigor, (if you play with those). The cooldown reduction from Enlightenment will come in handy late game, since it gives you 8,1% Cooldown reduction. This also scales nicely with Shurelya's Battlesong, and Randuin's Omen.

The Mercenary skill will help you gain another 24 gold for each kill and assist you achive. A very good way of getting extra gold.

And obviously take the last point in Juggernaut , to get another 3% extra hp and make you less vulnerable against enemy Crowd Control.

The points in offense is just for the extra damage, Attackspeed and Armor Penetration. You of course have to spend a point in Summoner's Wrath , to increase the amount of speed gained by your Ghost.

Philosopher's Stone These items will get you these:

As simple as it looks, and very very easy. These items will help you achieve your goal in becoming the undisputed AD carry in the game. All you have to do is farm!

Early game
You go for the Philosopher's stone early game, to increase your Health and Mana Regeneration, together with your gold income. Your goal is to get this item as early as possible, together with Heart of Gold, to increase your gold, And get an advantage against your opponents. The Heart of Gold will of course also help you against icomming damage, with the 250 extra HP. To get these items even faster, you may use Teleport.

When you first go to your lane you will need the Regrowth Pendant, to sustain against your opponent. You should head back as soon as you hit 700-800 gold. To buy both Boots, and to upgrade Regrowth Pendant to Philosopher's stone. You might also want to grab a ward or two and more potions. So dont be affraid to lose your mana or hp on the lane in the first couple of minutes, since you will get back fast.

From here on you should aim to get Heart of Gold, and more defense against your opponent, the next time you plan to go back. If you as an example are facing Wukong top, it would be a good idea to head back and buy Heart of Gold, and grab a Chain Vest against him. Then head back to your lane. Keep denying your opponent from minionfarming him with Undertow, and be sure to last hit every minion on the lane.

Mid game
From here on you should be well fitted against your opponent, and you would now aim for some damage. Therefor go back and get your Phage and other items for your Trinity Force, or Guardian Angel.

From here on you should be a good 14-17 minutes ingame, and the teamfights are near. You should aim to get your Trinity Force early on, since it will increase both survivability and damage outcome a great deal. Once you get it just continue to farm, and keep a good eye out for enemy ganks and teamfights

Mid-late game
I will leave the rest of the build sequence to you from here. But i will recommend that you get Shurelya's Battlesong, to help both you and your temates to get a better position in teamfights. Besides from that, are the 15% Cooldown Reduction you gain, together with your Enlightenment and Randuin's Omen, a very good way to achieve a nice amount of Cooldown Reuction.

Final build
Once you are fully builded, your items should look like this (in general):


Hint
If you cannot succed at getting the items as fast as listed in the guide, just keep practicing until you reach the goal. I myself do this alot faster than listed in the guide of course, but also play alot top Champions. If you are new to the top lane in ranked games, you will maybe find it a bit "harsh" to lasthit every minion, against other awesome solo Champions such as Irelia, Wukong or Yorick

The Skill sequence in this guide is quite odd for Olaf. Since alot would normally take Tough It Out first and jungle with him instead. But Olaf can quickly turn the tables in a fight with his Tough It Out combinated with hes Passive ability, and therefor does an excellent top.

You either max your Undertow or Reckless Swing to harass your oppoent, and sustain with your Philostopher's Stone to regenerate the used mana and HP. It is diffrent from opponent to opponent what you want to max out first, of those two great abilitys. If you find yourself pushing and dominating the lane, while you got a good amount of ground control and warding, then you should max Undertow to harass your opponent at the tower, and denying him from farming. If the Lan is either Ballanced or maybe you are getting pushed, then you should take Reckless Swing, for the high burst damage to kill your opponent.

To sustain and 'flip' a battle around for your advantage, you just take one point in Tough It Out in level 2, and leave it there untill level 14.

But what when u finally get a hold of your opponent? It is here you use Reckless Swing to finish your opponent, or just take a remarkable amount of his HP in 1 hit. But be careful, it not only damages him but also yourself quite a bit. Take this ability in level 4 and get it maxed out in level 13.

You of course want to invest in your ultimate Ragnarok every level available. (6, 11 and 16)

This ability is almost needed for Summoners that play the top lane. It will make you miss less EXP from the creeps, and get you fast into your lane again, when you need the HP or Mana you used up. It will allow you to get your items without having the jungler defending your lane. Also if you are both fast and have a good map awareness, you can use the ability to gank other enemies.

Very good for Olaf. With the Summoner's Wrath talent in offense, you achive an extra 35% runspeed. Good for chasing, towerdiving and getting out of trouble.

Good both Defensive and Offensive. But with Olaf, you want to chase down your foes, and not simply Flash after them. Some uses it, but i prefer not to.

With Summoner's Wrath lets you get an extra 5 attack damage with Olaf. Very handy as an opener when you want to take someone down even faster. It also comes in good used on a champion like Nasus, or anyone stacking Bloodthirsters. Even healers too and someone with Summoner Heal in their arsenal. I prefer not to take this instead of Teleport and Ghost. (but your choice).

In my oppinions better than Ignite. It will alow you to do more damage against the Champion you might me chasing, or surviving a fight against a stronger AD Champion, whether you are running away or facing him. Also very very good late game for taking out their AD carry in a couple of seconds. It will also make your opponent lose 10 armor and magic ressist, if you got the Summoner's Wrath skill in offense.

Handy for Support Champions and other squishy's, such as Twitch or Evelynn. Not a good choice when playing Olaf in this format.

I will not go over the rest of the Summoner Spells, since they are not suited for Olaf in any way, when playing him in this format.

As Olaf you have a great potential to rush into the opposite team in a teamfight, and take out their AD carry and/or Support. With both Shurelya's Battlesong and Randouin's Omen you should be able to do this very fast. If you have to be even faster you can always use Ghost, if it is off Cooldown. If you die while killing them, because you are deep into danger, while your temates are little bit behind you.. Well this is when Guardian Angel comes in handy. You will be well guarded by your team once they get to the position you died, while chasing down your Squishy opponents.

You will almost always get focused, since they do not have another choice. But with your Ragnarok they will not be in your way, before you completely annihilate their squishy temates.

This is what makes Olaf so good, and almost unstoppable.

This was the whole guide in general for Olaf top. I hope you got the idea behind my build, and will try it out.
For those who care about Pros / Cons read bellow.

Olaf - For those about to top (we salute you)! ;)

Pros

• Good at denying farm, and achieving alot of farm

• Insane Anti-Carry

• Very very strong late game

• Amazing damage output and true damage

Cons

• A little squishy early on, in this format

• Lacks a gap closer. Like many other champions, he dosen't have a jump ability. Rely on your aiming skills with Undertow, and your high runspeed