League of Legends (LoL) Question: What do you guys think about off meta toplaners?

I recommend trying them with a premade or in flex. It makes it so much more fun and less toxic.

Not a pro like others, but off meta picks can make or break games. Either it goes really well because the enemy doesn't know how to beat you, or they demolish you because the off meta pick has some weaknesses (thus being off meta) Try it at your own risk though. If norms, do whatever. If ranked, beware lp loss, flame, and rq cause of u.

Going off-meta has some interesting pros and cons.

Pros:
>You are rarely banned (unless you're using a meta champion in an off-meta position).
>Your lane opponent may not know how to play around your pick.
>Some of the most broken builds start as off-meta and oftentimes Riot nerfs them by the time they become meta.
>Really the most important reason most people play off-meta is because it's fun.

Cons:
>Most off-meta picks are off-meta for a reason. Some are inconsistent, some are bad against most of the meta picks, some need specific skillsets that you might not have and some are just weak builds.
>They have a smaller community of people keeping the build updated. Nerfs and shifts in the meta means an off-meta build can go from playable/good to unplayable, and it's harder to know if it happened unless you have a reliable source to keep you updated.

All in all, it's mostly a personal choice. I find off-meta picks fun but I mostly only play them if I can counterpick. The whole point to me is having fun so by counterpicking I know that at least I can play laning phase on my own terms.

PS. If you want an off-meta recommendation you should try Lulu top. There's already a great guide in Mobafire.

Off meta picks can be really strong sometimes. Udyr is already a pick that can work great toplane, so if you like it, just go for it :). In the past there have been many off meta picks, especially toplane, that ended up being really strong. I think of Tahm Kench a year ago, tank Karma, Hecarim, Prototype: Omnistone Skarner, Shyvana, more recently tank Fiddlesticks... Off meta picks can work well if you know your matchups and you have the advantage that many people won't know how to play against you.