Hello everyone I am back =D Been busy with college stuff and have not had much time to play LoL, let alone write blogs on it. With my top lane guide in need of a rehaul and S4 just around the corner I figure its time for a new blog series on S4 top lane. =)

Note: The information this blog is based off of is PBE and is subject to change. If at anytime RIOT makes a major change that will affect what I have written here I will go change it.


With season 4 Riot is making HUGE changes to the vision game. As a top laner the majority of these changes will not be affecting our laning phase. The big change that will be present in top lane will be the new addition of trinkets.

Trinkets are new items that can be purchased for FREE at the start of the game. Trinkets have their own slot in your inventory so can still be bought and used when you have 6 items. Trinkets cannot be used until 1:30 meaning they cannot be used for level 1 jungle invades. Also you can exchange trinkets at any time for free BUT you cannot use your new trinket for 3 minutes. There are 3 different tiers to trinkets the first "Basic Trinkets tier" includes:

Stealth Ward- This totem acts as an explorers ward (1 min long) with a 2 minute cooldown. These wards are a decent investment in top lane BUT due to the lack of coverage they leave you with earlier it may be safer to buy normal wards until level 9 and use a different trinket.

Sweeping Lens-This trinket allows you to kill enemy wards if you know their positions. This item penalizes players who are not smart in their warding and let you see their positions. This trinket is VERY viable in top lane as an early kill off of a wardless enemy can easily snowball to a huge advantage for you in your lane. This item IMO is the best basic trinket for use in top lane. You need to make sure the enemy top laner is away from you when you use this as any CC on you prevents the ability to clear their ward.

Scrying Orb- A small range CV that reveals an area VERY briefly. This trinket is pretty meh and I would never really use it in top lane. The only practical purpose it has over the others is to check if the enemy jungler is in a top brush but it is not consistent enough to keep watch. permanently.

At level 9 your trinkets get a boost and become "Greater Trinkets". This change occurs AUTOMATICALLY in your inventory:

Greater Totem-Makes the ward last for 2 mins evening it out with its CD. This totem is really good and I advise using it in mid/late game as someone else on your team will probably become the ward killer.

Greater Lens- This item is a decent upgrade as it gives you 2 more seconds to kill wards and traps. The main benefit comes from its 475 upgrade.

Greater Orb-Still very meh (and by meh I mean terrible).

Also at level 9 475 gold upgrade items appear in the store. The totem has 2 UPGRADE paths making a total of 4 "Advanced Trinkets":

Greater Stealth Totem-Lets you lay a sight ward once every 2 minutes. With this you can technically have 2 wards out at the same time. This item is good as it allows you to contribute to your teams warding.

Greater Vision Totem- If your team is ahead this upgrade is a strong choice to deny enemy vision on key points. If the enemy is strong enough to force you off a point to kill this ward it is probably not worth it.

Oracle's Lens- Oracles elixir for 6 seconds on enemy wards 10 seconds of stealth reveal on enemy champions. This item is broken as hell if the enemy has champions that rely on stealth for safety.

Farsight Orb-MEH its ok u can see stuff I guess....
You are capped at 3 green wards (Not like any top laner would lay more than that anyway) and 1 pink ward. The pink ward is now VISIBLE. This makes buying a pink ward to deny enemy vision in lane not as strong of an option as your ward can be killed in retribution. An early sweeping Lens will remedy this loss. Oracles was removed from the game but from a top lane perspective this really doesn't matter.

The new vision controlling trinkets to be added next patch will be a new factor to consider in the vision war for top lane. Utilizing these properly can blackout enemy vision and earn you a snowballing lead or set you behind into your own demise. I am still indifferent on my thoughts of the trinkets. If anyone has any questions, opinions, or otherwise state them below and I will be sure to respond. As always summoners have fun and good luck on the Fields of Justice.

This short article is the first one in my blog set about top lane in the new season 4. You can leave a comment here if there is any S4 top lane topic you want me to write about and I can move it up on my priority list. =D