Chapter 1: An Introduction to Playing Lance as a Carry Top
Weapon power lane Lance is a hero setup rarely seen in the meta right now. However, it is my belief that WP Lance provides the exact right balance of burst damage, tankiness, and incredible sustain and scaling that makes him a powerhouse if played correctly. A brief disclaimer before we begin the guide: Lance is a very high-skill hero, so a lot of practice will be necessary before the full benefits of WP Lance can be discovered. As a protector, Lance thrives off of keeping enemies away from his team and from correctly positioning his foes for maximum team utility. As a carry, Lance is not that much different. The main difference between the two is that WP Lance should try to line up his enemies not only so his team can easily eliminate them, but because it is the very thing keeping Lance alive. Let's now look at Lance's abilities and see how they play a huge role in keeping WP Lance alive and kicking in teamfights.
Chapter 2: Lance's Abilities Top
Let's now go through Lance's abilities and review how they are used in WP Lance gameplay.
Heroic Perk: Partisan's Technique
Lance's heroic perk allows him to strike enemies in a line from the point of impact of his basic attacks. In the lane, this is a Lance's bread and butter. In the early game, when basic attack damage is still low, use your basic attacks in a line where multiple minions are one hit from death to quickly regenerate health and gain quick bursts of gold. After Lance ramps up his basic attack damage, this perk allows Lance to clear his farm at alarming rates, which in turn allows Lance to push his enemy out of lane or go for turret damage. In teamfights, try to position at least two of your opponents in line with your basic attacks. If you already have your Breaking Point and Poisoned Shiv, these linear multi-hit attacks will generate huge amounts of stacks and lifesteal, as well as applying mortal wounds to all in your line of fire.
A: Impale
The immense amount of damage that this ability does in the early game makes it a must-have. I always take it first and overdrive it as soon as possible. Use this move to intensely harass your opponents in lane in the early game. Oftentimes, if teammates are waiting for a gank opportunity, using this ability and its rooting effect guarantees a quick and easy kill. This move can also be used to escape from sticky situations, although you should be warned that this ability DOES NOT travel through walls. Because WP Lance is relatively tanky and therefore can sometimes fill certain roles of a protector, this ability can be used to cut the enemy team off of a chase on your teammates. When combined with your B, this move ensures that your team will be able to disengage from fights safely.
B: Gythian Wall
This ability is great for quick stuns but is sometimes situational for WP Lance. I take this ability second and overdrive it as well. This move's overdrive, which allows you to block incoming debuffs, is good situationally; blocking the burn from Ringo's ultimate or a Catherine silence is big, but a lot of times the debuffing power is laid by the wayside. However, the utility of this move combined with either your Impale or your Combat Roll makes it so that escaping from a fight with you is almost impossible. Use this move to stun when you can, but most often, you will use this move to keep your team safe or secure a kill about to slip away. The passive directional protection this ability offers is a godsend in lane sometimes, so if you're ever taking too much damage from the enemy laner, make sure to face front.
Ultimate: Combat Roll
The combat roll is a very flexible movement and evasion technique, although I only usually take two ranks of it in favor of both overdrives. This move CAN travel through walls, making it an extremely versatile engagement or disengagement tool. The additional damage from completing a roll is basically negligible because of our heavy weapon items, but any extra damage is good damage. This move should rarely be used in teamfights and should almost always be used to chase the enemy or escape from them.
Chapter 3: Items and Why We Use These Specific Ones Top
Items built on a WP Lance should always try to take advantage of Lance's tanky nature and multiple-hit basic attack nature. Below are rationales for each of the offensive items I have listed in the build above:
Serpent's Mask: Due to Lance hitting multiple targets at once, a Serpent's Mask both keeps you alive in lane via its Barbed Needle passive ability and keeps you alive in fights. Combined with Breaking Point, the amount of lifesteal you can pick up off of one Impale usage makes this item an absolute must.
Breaking Point: Lance's heroic perk allows a WP Lance to build three times as many Breaking Point stacks in teamfights, quickly ramping up and doing immense amounts of damage. Almost always pick this up as your second offensive item.
Poisoned Shiv: While a good third offensive item no matter what, Poisoned Shiv can sometimes be your first buy in certain matchups. When playing against a hero who mainly relies on healing (i.e. Rona, Krul, Samuel), it is good to have this item because the Mortal Wounds that this item applies also apply in a line, cutting the healing potential for the entire enemy team during the fight. This item is very volatile in its placement in this build; you either rush for it first if you really need it or build it after getting tier 2 or 3 defense if you don't.
Chapter 4: A Typical Game for a Lane Lance Top
The game starts with Lance picking up a weapon blade, a Book of Eulogies, and a potion. Lance should head to the lane and begin to farm his minions and harass the enemy laner with his Impale. After a few waves of farm, Lance's protector should come up to join him in lane, hiding in the friendly-side lane brush. This allows Lance's jungler to quickly level without having to share XP, and allows Lance to make more daring plays against the enemy laner. By midgame, Lance should have a Serpents Mask and Blazing Salvo. Once you are well on your way to your Breaking Point, you should start to venture into the jungle to pick fights with the enemy team. Lance is almost useless at taking objectives, so if your team decides to take the Gold Miner or the Kraken, Lance should stand off to the side of the enemies' approach in order to protect his team and the objective they are attempting to capture. Finally, by the end of the game, Lance should work with his team to win teamfights and use the Ace Minions to take down the enemy turrets. If all goes according to plan, Lance will be generating so much lifesteal from Serpents Mask and Breaking Point that he will be virtually unstoppable.
Chapter 5: Good Hero Pairings and In Conclusion Top
Lance pairs well with a few heroes in jungle. My personal favorites are CP Grumpjaw and Krul (either CP or WP). Grumpjaw and Lance combined give a team control over the placement of their enemies on a level that no other team composition can match. Lance and Krul together work as a good "pin-down" team; Lance roots the enemies and Krul goes to work on killing them and healing from them. However, Grumpjaw is very hit-or-miss with his team utility and Krul can be countered hard by good hero picks. The idea behind pairing a hero with Lance is to pick either a hero who will compound Lance's control over enemy placement or a hero who can use Lance's amazing defense to hide behind and destroy the enemy team from the backline. A good protector/roamer to pair with a Lance is Catherine, Ardan, or Fortress.
WP Lance is a very strong hero whose directional protection gives him a strong presence in the lane. If you use the build I have detailed above and practice a lot with his abilities, he can become an unkillable bruiser. I hope you have as much fun playing WP Lance as I do!
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