(Please keep in mind that I will be adding on to this guide as I get time to.)
We've all seen this happen. Your top is just being destroyed and feeding the enemy top hard. It can be extremely infuriating at times, and happens way too often. It's even more troubling if you wanted top but ended up giving it up to this Gangplank. Next thing you know Nocturne has 7 kills at level 12 and your top has lost a tower. At this point the average player would either rage or resign to defeat quietly. That changes now. Introducing a new guide on how to win top lane... From bottom.

First of all establish a calm, friendly chat with your top (when he dies about three times start this). Do not rage, do not call him a noob. Simply ask him what is happening top like so "Hey there Gangplank you seem to be having trouble. is there anything we can do to help?" Now of course he'll either say "yes please switch lanes", he'll say no he has it under control, or he'll rage. If he rages you'll have to take matters into your own hands (see later sections) if he asks for a switch then assess the situation.

• Could you do better top?
  
  
• Would he be able to hold up bot?

If the answer to either of these is yes then switch. If they are both no then simply say "I don't think that would be a good idea, but I will try to help as much as I can."

Now on to MIA's. Call them. Trust me. If you get ganked early in top lane and you die then it is obscenely hard to recover. They need to know when Taric walks lazily out of the bush and then disappears behind their turret for no reason. Because when he shows up top and Gangplank loses the lane after you didn't call MIA it is your fault and you have no right to say anything bad about your Gangplank (unless he really does use the build I put up there for him).

First of all you should never actually let it get to this before doing something. You should really get into action when he is around 0-3-0. At 0-2-0 he could still come back, and at 0-4-0 he'll be too demoralized to listen to you.

Anyway now to the important part. When it is noticeable that your top is not winning you need to get into action. First tell your jungler to focus top and gank top whenever he sees the chance. This will accomplish three things.

• First and most obviously it will give your top a kill or two and a few assists evening the odds a tad, and possibly putting top back in his hands.
• Secondly it will put the enemy on edge. He will be less pushy so your turret shouldn't be in much danger and if you just tell your Gangplank to not be aggressive it shouldn't feed Nocturne either.
• Finally it forces the enemy jungler to start pulling some ganks of his own. When both junglers start to do more ganks then jungling you know mid game is setting in and if you haven't lost top turret by then there is hope.

If you haven't already then offer to switch if you think it's a good idea. If you don't then there are multiple paths you can take from there which I will talk about below.

If there is no early game to lose then he can't lose it can he? This is a very simple concept. Late game is recognized as the time when the teams come together to fight over towers, dragon, and baron. If he hasn't fallen too far behind (again, 0-3-0) then he might recover if he stays back and just gets some assists. You're probably wondering how to push into late game. It's a simple concept really. First have your jungler and bot carry gank mid and all three push to their inhib turret. Just the first turret usually blasts you into late game but destroy the second one if you can just to make sure. While doing this since Nocturne will most likely come down to help Gangplank is free to farm/push top lane without opposition at least for a while. Now that the team fights have started make sure your support is with you at all times. Grab dragon and baron whenever you can, get all the buffs from your and their jungle, and focus their fed top. If you did as I said he should be at about 3-4 kills so breaking his back will be an easy two kills. After this it will be late game as usual.

Basically the same concept as the last one except this time you go top and only destroy the first tower. This also will most likely not start late game. This is a better option if the enemy has a better team comp. This accomplishes giving your top a little breathing room, and maybe a kill or two. Also while you do this their whole team will likely gank you so ward. When you see them coming wait as long as you feel comfortable then run. This ensures a chase. While they chase you have your mid and support destroy a turret in a different lane. Mid if your mid is having trouble, bot if he isn't. From there on it should be smooth sailing through the laning phase with you at a nice 2 tower lead.

You tried the first two options but it just isn't happening. Time to be reckless. It's time for your carry to go top and for your jungler to babysit bot while your support tower hugs. This creates two 2v1 lanes. The main point is to hold bot and push top until late game comes around. It is all about holding out until the light at the end of the tunnel appears. This is your last resort.

(Keep in mind I did this all in paint so it looks ****py, but hey you get the "picture" haha... That was a pun.)


Here are the places you'll want to ward or gank from if you follow this guide.

Blue: Ward or gank here if you're on the blue team

Purple: Ward or gank here if you're on the purple team

Green: Ward or gank here if you're on either team

Red: Gank here if the respective turret has been destroyed, or to backdoor the enemy. Check the section below on how to properly backdoor.

Orange: Ward here if you or the other team wants Baron (You don't have to ward all of the places, just the places that make sense for your team)

Yellow: Ward here if you or the other team wants dragon (Same guidelines as Baron)

Ganking:

• From the river(top): Wait until Nocturne is straight ahead of you. If he isn't then tell your Gangplank to stop pushing and act like he is running away. By this point when the Nocturne sees this he'll most likely charge forward and try to catch him. When he reaches the point where he's straight across from you (or even further if he's greedy enough) Jump on him. If you have an Exhaust then use it. Have Gangplank come back so that he'll at least get an assist. Watch out for their jungler as he will most likely counter-gank. You'll want to ward before hand.
  
  
• From the river(mid): This is the same concept as before, except this time it will be easier to get him to overextend since most mids are rather pushy.
  
  
• From next to their tower(both): You'll want to do this If the enemy is closer to their turret so that the river gank wouldn't be viable. Unlike the last gank you'll want your mid/top to engage the enemy in a 1v1, but not use his spells until you get there so he doesn't flee. For this you'll want to Flash over the corner straight behind the enemy but not within tower range, effectively cutting him off. This is more risky as if you don't have a Flash You may have to walk through the tower's range, and if you do and you use it to position if their jungler ganks you won't have it up to help you run. Only do this if the enemy is at low health (<50%) and you are confident you can kill him in one burst.

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Backdooring:

This can mean two things. Officially it means that "one or more champions will attack the enemy team's structures such as turrets, inhibitors, or the Nexus without the support of their friendly minion wave." However, many are now using it as a term to describe going into one of these areas:

In order to secure a kill that normally would have gotten away. Obviously this comes with risks as

• If you do it in mid you will be hit by at least one shot from the turret.
  
  
• If someone comes from behind you then you could get trapped between two turrets and Nocturne.

This must be done skillfully and quickly. If you cannot kill them with one burst then do not attempt this. This is most successful if you can stealh. For instance Twitch, Shaco, and Evelynn are known for doing this all the time. You will also want to start running to the proper place to attack from as soon as you are sure they are trying to run away or recall. This is most effective if you were not in the fight that got them down to such low health so they will not expect you, or see you running into their jungle. Most people recall when they get into that red area. That is the best time to try this. If you see them trying to recall then go for it. They most likely won't even be looking at their champ as they will feel safe and secure so they will probably be looking at their items or watching another part of the map. By the time they realize they are being attacked they'll already be dead.

• If you have a Flash you can use it to get a jump on them so they have no chance to escape.
  
  
• on the flip side you could save your Flash to flash out making this a quick and fast process with minimal tower aggro. (If you play someone such as Ezreal or Kassadin you can do both as they have a flash ability as well as the summoner spell. This means you might take zero damage from the towers in mid. You'll want to use the ability first as you might be able to kill them just with that.)
  
  
• Use this up top to get your Gangplank an assist and some time to push. Remember it is always safer to do this top than it is mid as you probably won't get any aggro from towers.
  
  
• If you fail to get him with one burst in mid then run. He may be at 100 HP but most mids have CC. CC plus two towers attacking you (and maybe a jungler) makes you a very dead champion.
  
  
• If your champion has a Flash ability as well as the summoner spell it is possible to do this at their nexus. This would be done by flashing over the wall between the inhibitor towers into that dark space you see on the map (look at blue base), getting the kill, then immediately flashing back out. Keep in mind this is possibly the most dangerous move you can make in a game as if you are CC'd or miss your second Flash and instead of going back over the wall you headbutt it (Hey, it happens) Then you have no way of escaping except by running through a tower, minions, and their entire team. Don't do this unless you are absolutely destroying the other team.

• Be calm. Do not rage at your top. Be helpful and friendly. If you demoralize him not only will he not help but he will start feeding even harder.
  
  
  
• Make sure everyone knows what the plan is and agrees on it. If they do not do what they are supposed to do then trying any of these strategies would be more dangerous than losing top lane and feeding Nocturne.
  
  
• Always give praise whenever your Gangplank accomplishes anything. Anything. If he KS's you tell him good job. If he turret dives and gets a kill before dying tell him good job. If he gets away after getting into a stupid situation tell him good job. Praise him until he thinks HE's the carry. People play much better when they are feeling uplifted. If you put him down it will just make everything worse.

There are a million ways to remedy the situation of a feeder at top, and none of them include raging, doing nothing to help, or letting it bother you. If you insist on doing nothing then at the very least keep your head in the game and carry. That's what carries are for. Focus their fed top, and break his back, and make sure your support is always there before initiating a team fight. Grab baron and dragon whenever you can. It boils down to this: If your top is not a troll then you could have done something to stop it.

• All those people who have gone top and failed thus forcing me to come up with these strategies in the first place.
  
  
• Ragers who annoy me when they blame others for their losses in a team game. You're the ones that compelled me to publish this.

Do you have any strategies that you use when your top is failing that I haven't written? P.M. me or Email me at TheRyver@yahoo.com. I'll try it out and add it if it works.

(3/4/12 at 3:00AM) Published
(3/4/12 daytime) BB code added
(3/5/12) Added acknowledgments, ganking and backdooring guides, and cleaned it up