The Best Ranged Top Laners in LoL (2024)

#7 Quinn

Aptly nicknamed Demacia’s Wings, Quinn is one of the most difficult ranged top laners to deal with and boasts the fastest mobility out of all the champions in LoL. She can reach one side of the map to the other in literal seconds, granting her a powerful escape tool, insane global pressure, and phenomenal ganking capabilities. 

Even when she’s not roaming and hunting down stragglers, she still has plenty of other strengths. Her passive allows her to deal hefty crit damage, her E ability lets her CC enemies, and her ult active swarms enemies in raining arrows (aka AoE damage). 

When playing Quinn, you do need to be aware of her weaknesses though; while her vault allows her to knock up her enemies, it makes her vulnerable to their CC too (she can be interrupted when she enters melee range). You’ll need to ensure your enemy wastes their CC before you take a trade. She’s also squishy and her kit isn’t exactly useful in teamfights, so securing picks early is the best way to get ahead. 

#6 Kayle

Kayle is by far the best scaling ranged top laner in League of Legends. While she’s weak early, her level 16 powerspike transforms her into a total powerhouse. No one — not even a 10/0 assassin — can stand in her way when it hits late game, and her Q and E combo enables her to one shot even the tankiest of champions. 

And even if her opponents manage to whittle down her health bar? She can use her ultimate to gain a second lease at life… and avenge herself by killing every remaining enemy on her screen. To top it off, her passive, which significantly boosts her attack speed and range, allows her to chase down stragglers effortlessly.

Just remember to play safe in the early phase, and encourage your teammates to play for late game. 

#5 Teemo

Teemo, aka the mighty shroom king, has a reputation for being the most annoying top laner to play against. And there’s a good reason for it – when played properly, his kit allows him to hinder his opponent’s every move. 

He can whittle down their health bar with his poisonous darts, block attacks and engages with his neverending blind, and easily escape unfavorable situations thanks to his hefty movement speed. He can even turn invisible, which allows him to catch out unsuspecting enemies. 

What really makes Teemo worthy of the 5th spot though is his ultimate ability. It allows him to transform the Rift into his own personal minefield, making it effortless to apply pressure and have a global map presence. Plus, there’s nothing more satisfying than watching your enemies die to strategically-placed shrooms.

Teemo’s main weakness is his vulnerability against champions with gap closers. If you position poorly in lane, an all-in champion can easily send you to the gray screen of death, even with your blind.

#4 Vayne

Have a vendetta against tank players? Then you’ll definitely want to pick up Vayne. While her main role is an ADC, she’s a total tank shredder and will decimate those champions in the top lane in seconds. 

Plus, unlike many ADCs, she’s blessed with both CC and mobility. This allows her to stay relatively safe as she kites her opponents, even without a support behind her. Vayne’s high damage output and scaling also means she can stay a viable champion throughout the game. 

Now, the main reason Vayne isn’t higher up on this list is because she has a high risk, high reward playstyle; one misplay can leave you (and your whole team) behind. You’ll need to position carefully and keep track of the map constantly while playing her. 

#3 Jayce

If you want to torture all the melee top laners out there, then you’ll want to pick up Jayce. Jayce is a versatile ranged top champion whose kit is jampacked with poke damage. 

Every time the enemy steps up to farm? They’ll be sacrificing a chunk of their health bar. Every time they try to engage? Jayce can use his thundering blow to turn it around. And when they inevitably get low from his poke and try to run? He can snipe them out with his accelerated shock blast. It’s truly pure bliss (and pure pain for your enemy!). 

Jayce is also able to swap between ranged and melee attacks, granting him more adaptability than other top laners out there. He does run out of mana quickly though, so you’ll have to use every ability with precision and care, especially in the early game when you lack items.

#2 Kennen

Small but mighty, Kennen’s kit is jampacked with CC, damage, and reliable ranged poke, all things that allow him to dominate his laning phase and hinder melee champions. 

He’s also a fairly safe pick compared to most other ranged top laners in LoL. His E ability, which grants him ghosting and 100% bonus movement speed, makes it easy to evade ganks or quickly retreat from lost fights. Plus, he can even proc his passive to stun any opponents that attempt to chase him down.

What makes Kennen a particularly excellent pick though is his ultimate ability. It summons a huge AoE damage storm that also procs his passive. So, as you can imagine, this ability can instantly change the tide in teamfights.  

Sadly, despite his strengths, I can’t put Kennen in the no.1 spot. He’s just too dependent on his ult for my liking; if you miss it you’re essentially rendered useless. 

#1 Gnar

Let’s say you want to try out a ranged top laner, but also don’t want to fully give up the melee bruiser lifestyle. Enter Gnar: a champion that grants you the best of both worlds. Thanks to his rage gene, he can alternate between an uncatchable ranged lane bully (Mini Gnar) to a CC-packed melee beast (Mega Gnar).

This flexibility has heaps of benefits; you can easily adapt your playstyle to your team comp and the game situation, and you can also be more versatile when it comes to itemization. 

In Mega Gnar form, he’s particularly great at team fighting due to his ultimate and E combo. It allows him to deal a ton of damage, stop the enemy team in their tracks, and effortlessly set up flanks.

The only real downside to Gnar is that you don’t have much control over when he swaps forms. If you don’t get the timing right, you can easily find yourself caught out. However, mastering this kit element is definitely worth it. Gnar is easy to carry on and doesn’t have a high ban or pick rate, so you’re pretty much guaranteed to get him in every ranked game.