2021 breathed new life into Tryndamere, and 2022 has only seen him excel like never before. His binary and exceedingly simple kit design was long been viewed as easy to counter in pro play. Sidelaning is great and all in pro play, but teamfights are often what decides games. However, the notion that Tryndamere is only useful to sidelane is a very tired one. Items added in seasons 11 and 12 have breathed new life into this Champion, and he’s one of the strongest top laners right now.

A Champion design that’s over a decade old like Tryndamere’s getting thrust into the meta like this always comes with a series of questions: What makes him better than newer, more versatile Champions? Where do you pick him, and why? How do you counter him? To find some answers as to why Tryndamere is so strong all the sudden, Inven Global asked LCS pros about their opinion on the Champion.

Forcing the issue

Tryndamere is the sort of Champion that has to be dealt with. When Tryndamere gets locked in, it changes the way everyone plays the game. TSM’s Heo “Huni” Seung-hoon's explanation of why Tryndamere is good gives a lot of context to where his strengths lie.

“Right now, I think Tryndamere is good. It’s probably better against someone who doesn’t know how to play the sidelane. The consequence is really big. The enemy top laner just can’t leave the lane," Huni explained.  "Otherwise, they’re just gonna lose tier 2 turret, tier 3 turret, or inhibitor and make games really tough. It’s pretty good for abusing bad players as well, he has a lot of kill potential that can run people over. Diving, that kind of stuff.

But there are clear weaknesses. You don’t want to play against a tank that can easily hold under turret. Ideally, I think you want to pick him as a counterpick when the matchup’s really good.”

If Tryndamere gets into teamfights and doesn’t get properly CCed, you lose. If you try to force a teamfight and get stalled out while Tryndamere splits your entire base, you lose. Playing against Tryndamere requires a level of planning and attention most other Champions don’t command. And it can be very, very aggravating to play against. DIG’s Aaron “FakeGod” Lee had a scathing opinion on Tryndamere.

“I think his design is really dumb," FakeGod stated bluntly. "First off, his passive is crit so obviously he depends on RNG. In his ult, you live no matter what for five seconds. Oh, and his W, where, if you turn with your back to him, you just get slowed forever. That can flip some matchups and lead to kills, which I think is really dumb. Altogether, he’s just really dumb."

"Besides those points, I think he’s a strong Champion right now," FakeGod continued. "He’s a really good counter to one of the most common Champions right now in top lane: Graves. So, you’ll see him a lot, banned or just picked in response to Graves.”

FakeGod’s point about Graves was a good one, and is a large part of why Tryndamere has been thrust back into the meta after mixed results as a mid laner through Worlds 2021. Tryndamere’s strength in the current meta is very different from the unorthodox Goredrinker Tryndamere build. No, Tryndamere functions as a trump card. If he gets drafted into a team that doesn’t have the proper tools to deal with him, he can be one of the best picks in the game.

And no top laner in the LCS has shown this like 100T’s Kim “Ssumday” Chan-ho.

Stealing the show

100 Thieves’ performance in 2022 is certainly a far cry from last year, where 100 Thieves was the team to beat in North America. There are a number of factors you could look to for their overall lower power level this split, but Ssumday certainly isn’t one of them. He has a pretty diverse Champion pool, but he arguably has the best Tryndamere in the LCS.

Here's the thing, though: 100 Thieves’ drafting style sets him up to succeed. Whether they’re picking a lane-dominant blind pick like Jayce or an R5 counterpick like Tryndamere, 100T’s drafting style feels like it’s built with Ssumday’s success in mind.

100 Thieves support Choi “huhi” Jae-hyun was kind enough to talk about Ssumday’s success on this recent meta pick:

“I think Ssumday right now, as a player, is performing really well. It’s just a shame we can’t back him up right now at this moment. I’m sure we’ll do it in the future. I think, when he plays Tryndamere, we’re all really confident he can 1v9 the game as long as we don’t troll the game too much," said huhi.

"He generates so much pressure, usually he just wins the lane. It’s a huge threat for the enemy team in the late game as well that creates a lot of pressure. I don’t know why, but he’s such a better Tryndamere player than everyone else in the LCS. I think, at this point, every other team should ban his Tryndamere.”

A bold statement from huhi, but considering Ssumday’s staggeringly high 12 KDA on the Champion across four games, it’s certainly not an unsubstantiated claim. But let’s take a look at where and why 100 pick Tryndamere for Ssumday.

Looking at 100T’s pick order here against CLG, they waited for the R5 counterpick to grab Ssumday’s Tryndamere. Notice how CLG also banned Jayce in the second ban phase, trying to target his Champ pool as well as ban away one of Gnar’s hardest lane counters. Plus, Gnar should poke Tryndamere out of the lane and have pressure early, right?

Well, it’s not so simple. Other top lane duelists and damage dealers like Irelia and Fiora, for instance, trade their safety for high all-in potential and the ability to snowball games. Tryndamere has that same late-game potential and strength in trades, but without the downsides many Champions that fill a similar role inherently have.

Evil Geniuses’ Kacper “Inspired” Słoma had a lot of insight on the subject, as well as how much of a pain it can be to gank Tryndamere and shut him out of the game.

“If he’s picked in the right game and there are a lot of melee Champs against him and not too much CC, I think Tryndamere is OP," said the EG jungler. "The only way to stop him is diving him early game, but he’s not even that easy to dive because he has a lot of sustain in lane. If you have Ryze/Lee Sin, you can push mid and jungle, walk to top, and dive him early. Then maybe he will not be too scary in the game.

But if you have something with not much CC like a mage, or Xin Zhao, Olaf, Volibear, something like that in the jungle and Tryndamere gets to scale for free, it’s really hard to stop him in the sidelane.

The Champion has a really stupid design, so it’s very annoying to play against. Honestly, I hate playing against it," Inspired admitted. "I think if you want to give it to the enemy team, you have to have some plan prepared as to what Champs you want to answer him with.”

Tryndamere’s built-in sustain and high base stats make him a nightmare to deal with at every stage of the game if you don’t have the proper tools. And, looking at the way a team like 100 Thieves drafts, they make sure the enemy team has no opportunity to counter Tryndamere whatsoever before they lock it in. Even the most successful Tryndamere player in the LCS isn’t trying to prioritize it in draft, and it’s likely Tryndamere will never be a first-pick Champ.

Regardless, his power in the current meta is impossible to deny. If he gets left open and picked late, Tryndamere can take control of the entire game. Even if Hullbreaker gets nerfed again or the top lane meta shifts, the tools that Tryndamere brings to the table combined with the strength of crit items means Tryndamere is here to stay.