Due to the distance of the lane and being forced to face the opponent (mostly) alone, the toplane might be the place where matchups between the champions is the biggest factor in the outcome of the laning phase. Of course, one-trick-ponies in toplane can also thrive in ranked games, but more than often the flavor of the month gets discovered faster than in the top lane compared to other lanes due to having less external influences.

However, it can be said with certainty that Rumble is the flavor of the month in both ranked games of KR server and LCK matches. Rumble often takes the initiative with his strong laning, and it's not hard to see a teamfight being won just by Rumble's well-placed Equalizer. Even when Rumble is down from a few ganks, Rumble is never out; he can continue to be a threat in a teamfight after farming safely for some time. Simply put, Rumble is perfect; and it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that he is in a tier all his own.

So, we decided to take a closer look at Rumble, and find out if there’s anything that can stop the game from turning into a fireworks show.

All statistics are based on Riot's data of ranked games on Patch 7.5 between Platinum or higher players in the KR server.

All is not lost in the ranked games

Although Rumble is the highest picked toplaner in ranked games, his win rate is barely over 50%. Of course, this doesn't mean that Rumble's Flamespitter and Equalizer is no less threatening in ranked games. However, there are several champions that are popular in ranked games but not seen often in official LCK matches that can shut down Rumble.

Among those champions, Yorick had the highest win rate against Rumble with a 55.68% win rate. However, judging its effectiveness based on just about 800 games is not very reliable, so we'll only consider champions have over 3,000 games against Rumble. With these two factors, Kled was the most effective counter to Rumble with a 54.84% win rate after 3,798 games, and Darius was the second most effective counter with a 53.02% win rate after 5,820 games.

In a typical ranked game, losing the laning phase often means that your effectiveness throughout the game will probably be minimal to nonexistent, because your teammates will not babysit you to put you back in the game. What both Kled and Darius excel at against Rumble is being able score a solo kill against Rumble in the laning phase.

Considering how Kled also has the second highest win rate in the toplane with 53.4%, despite being a relatively popular choice among toplaners, Kled seems to be a good choice to put in some practice to counter the recent influx of Rumble. With some help from the jungler - you should be able to put Rumble into submission, ride away proudly, and boast that you've done what the pros couldn't do.

However, LCK matches are on fire

Unfortunately, it becomes more complicated for professional players, because ranked games and official matches are two different beasts. Although LCK coaching staffs should also be aware that Kled shuts down Rumble hard in ranked games, we haven't seen Kled going up against Rumble in LCK matches - and it's for a good reason.

To begin with, Kled will not be able to shut Rumble down easily in tournaments. As the toplaners communicate much better with the junglers in tournaments, it won't be easy for Kled to get a favorable trade against Rumble without taking a huge risk.

In order to get a favorable trade with Kled against Rumble, there are very specific steps that you have to follow: first, land Beartrap on a Rope and proc it; second, land Jousting twice; and third, proc Violent Tendencies by AAing four times. Unfortunately, casting Jousting to trade damage comes with a huge risk that cannot be ignored in pro matches.

This is because Kled's only mobility comes from Jousting. If an enemy jungler appears when Jousting is on cooldown, Kled would either have to Flash away or die horribly - sometimes both. The fact that Kled cannot summon Skaarl easily against Rumble's Flamespitter does not help either. Thus, it's not easy to put pressure on Rumble as Kled, and Rumble should be able to farm easily.

If that's how the laning phase went, Rumble will shut down Kled pretty hard in a teamfight, and all that Rumble would need to do is just match Kled's ultimate with his own. Kled often starts a teamfight by 'Chaaaaaaaarging' into enemies with his ultimate followed by his teammates. However, Rumble can counter Kled's ultimate easily with The Equalizer.

While Kled's ultimate grants the entire team a movement speed boost, only Kled becomes immune to crowd control. That means that a well-placed Equalizer would force Kled's teammates to be slowed while Kled will fearlessly land in the midst of Rumble's team - all alone. By the time Kled's teammates catch up, Kled would most likely be dead.

Even worse, if Kled - or any toplaner - somehow manages to brave the dangers of being ganked and shut Rumble down in the laning phase, it won't be easy to snowball that advantage into victory. Even when Rumble is at a disadvantage, he is pretty good at holding out the lane. With a little help and some well-coordinated plays, Rumble can earn enough time to get back into the game and be a threat in a teamfight; this has been proven by how Rumble made a comeback in many LCK matches.

In summary, there is no use shutting Rumble down in the laning phase, but it would be better to pick a toplaner that (hopefully) can do as well as Rumble in a teamfight. This is why most teams that have to face Rumble in the toplane pick tank champions. Tanky toplaners do not get easily shut down by Rumble, and can still be a threat in teamfights. Since Rumble will have to be careful of toplaners with CC, what then happens is that Rumble will have a significant damage output which will be tested against the tanks' sturdiness.

The easiest, most irresponsible, but also the most effective answer

So, we’ve found some champions that can win reliably against Rumble in ranked games, but we also were easily able to come up with how they won’t be an effective solution in the LCK matches. Obviously, coaching staffs and players in the LCK must have realized it too, and so they are trying their best with tanky champions in order to survive against Rumble.

As of now, in the LCK Spring Split 2017, Rumble has a 52% Ban/Pick rate and a 57.1% win rate in official matches. Even without the statistics, we've seen more than enough teamfights in LCK that might as well be called 'Rumble's BBQ Party'. When the situation is this dire in the LCK matches, there is only one option that is the easiest and most effective, yet somewhat avoidant solution. This solution is the same one used back when Varus and Camille had their respective reigns of power. The answer to taking down Rumble follows thusly: Just ban him.