Is Duo Top Viable?

[quote=Re4XN]In case you haven't noticed, I posted a game where me and my friend went [color=#0080ff]duo top[/color] and got fed as fuk (in the game stats thread), so I was wondering if this off-meta playstyle is viable. So far, I have done 3 games with him and they all went pretty well: we got the poor top laner's turret at 10 minutes by shoving him beneath it (so we actually stay pretty equal in terms of level) and after that, we initiaded [i][b]Operation 2-Men Gank![/b][/i] (we actually managed to make someone go AFK, not that it was our intention, but he got really mad that there were 2 top laners). I have to say, it was absolutely ridiculous. I was playing as [[nunu]] and my friend as [[garen]] and those ganks were strong as all hell, not to mention we'd get the help of the lane we were ganking. We both brought [[teleport]] and by the time the actual game ended, we still had 2 top turrets. Is Duo Top Fun? Absolutely! Is Duo Top Viable (serious games)? That's what I want to know (in case you're wondering, I brought [[smite]] in 2/3 games, so we had good objective control and we were managing to ruin the enemy jungle).[/quote]

[quote=ThePreserver]In lower ELO and normal games, perhaps. In higher ELOs, jungles will tend to take advantage of the fact that there's no dedicated roamer on your team and get heavy on mid/bot dragon plays. Also, Top can take advantage of overleveling if he or she is good enough. I don't see duo top succeed very often, and when it did it was always in normals. Though you may have a thing going here with that wombo combo of [[Nunu]] and [[Garen]], which both sound like hell to lane with by themselves let alone together. If it works for you, go ham, maybe it'll become meta one day.[/quote]

[quote=Latest Legend]Like ThePreserver already mentioned, there's no insecurity for the enemy lanes. They can see you're both top lane, they can see bot lane's still there, they know they can go all-in on that mid laner of your. While your mid lane and bot lane must be more careful because they never know when that jungler will come around. Furthermore you will both get less experience, the enemy team will level up faster overall. If your enemy top laner manges to survive he will outlevel you and the lane will only get easier. Obviously you also have to share the gold. In other words, it could work if the enemy team doesn't know how to play against it. If they do though, you're in for a treat. But I think a lot of people don't know how to play against it.[/quote]

[quote=H4xDefender]It isn't that bad. Just don't do it in solo queue.[/quote]

[quote=Re4XN]I'm going to tell you how we both played that game. Basically, I ([[nunu]]) tried to zone the enemy from farming while [[Garen]] took most of the CS (I took Siege Minions and a couple others), meaning I was pretty much "supporting" my friend and he had a good amount of gold to get some items (and so did I, but it obviously took me longer). As I mentioned, we took the enemy tower at 10 minutes and never came back to lane again except if there was a huge minion wave/it was being pushed. Our team had to play safe for 10 minutes, after that 2-men ganks ruined their team (they couldn't do anything against 3 people in lane). About the EXP advantage, I strongly disagree. If you know what you're doing (and we certainly did) you only fall back by 2-3 minions AND, even if you are slightly behind, I don't think a level advantage can do you any good against 2 enemy champions. In the games I played, the jungler had 2 choices: he'd either babysit Top and leave mid and bot to fend for themselves or he could ignore us for a while and play as usual, though this meant that after 10 minutes, our ganks would be incredibly strong. In case you're thinking the enemy jungler had 2 jungles for himself, you are completely wrong, I took [[smite]] on purpose to adress this issue (that and objective control) and while he was stealing our jungle, we wrecked his. Anyway, sorry for the wall of text, thanks for your replies :) I am going to give this another run in a few days and try some more champion combos. It is absolutely ridiculous xD[/quote]

[quote=z0mgitspie]I'd say it may be viable in 5's pre-made, but duo mid is more viable for sure. Normally I try for two CC heavy low CD Mids ex:TF+Fidd, Ahri+Lux, Talon+Zyra, Yasuo+Annie. 1. The lane is smaller so easier to hard push for turret 2. Closer to Drag 3. Most lane entry/exit to collapse on their jungler if he tries to inv your teams jungle (Figure if you have mid pushed you can just both go 2v1 him in most cases) 4. With the shorter lane and heavy CC buying and protecting Meji/Sword is incredibly easier[/quote]

[quote=DBlakes30]You should look into both of you getting relic shield. Share gold with eachother so you're getting even more gold. I'm the jungler for my team and I'm usually the one that comes up with the teams we play in ranked. This is an interesting twist on things, I want to try it lol[/quote]

[quote=Re4XN]Lol, DBlakes30, one thing I am going to tell you is that it takes the enemy COMPLETELY by surprise! They sure won't be expecting 2 guys top lane... I tried out [[Renekton]] + [[Nasus]] with the same friend and I was 4/0/0 by 8 minutes. I was [[Renekton]] and I did absolutely jack-sh*t after mid-game, but my [[Nasus]] friend had more than enough stacks to carry us... absolutely hilarious. If you are going to try it out, make sure you come up with some sort of wombo combo to make things fun ;)[/quote]