Well to start the topic off, i would like to propose my view on this topic.
My View:
Personally i believe Gold Lane is the most difficult lane to play in terms of solo queue.
I agree that Jungler and Roam are the 2 most difficult lanes to play due to the overall responsibilities. But in terms of solo queue, if you're a good jungler or roamer, the team's win condition is increased, because everyone depends on these 2 roles.
Now the points: (comparison)
Dependency:
Jungler: Immediate advantage from minute 1, overall, the jungler gets to safely farm upto level 4 (excluding jungle ganks because this is solo queue and hence enemy roamer, mid and jungler ganking your lane is unlikely). Also, the jungler is the one to reach level 4 first. With all skills unlocked giving a slightly higher advantage and the role to rotate and help a struggling lane to gain the upper hand.
Jungler's damage is also high along with HP, assassin junglers are different, for them they just have to dive at the right time and leave with a kill, only vulnerable to attacks for a set duration of a few secs and escape. This small duration also sets a huge impact.
(You control the overall pace of your team so Turtle and Lord fights likely-ness also depends on you, but here were talking about a statistically good jungler and were talking about impact in a solo queue and the win condition you provide)
Overall: (Independent)
Roam: Also gets to farm passively and safely by helping teammates and getting a fraction of gold, a slight disadvantage in level 1 due to the hp comparison to yourself in the lategame but still, gains CC skills first which makes a huge impact in helping struggling teammates get a secured kill or starve a hero and force them to retreat and lose gold. Overall impact to the struggling teammates is high and also controls the pace of the game, no necessity to clear lanes and can safely recall to base without any consequence due to they're passive way of getting gold. They're tankiness also increases they're chances of survival and not get blamed for "feeding", also coming with protection points/stars as bonus and a slight favouritism in game's results.
They're survival, ability to participate and control elongated fights and help struggling teammates in the right second increases they're chances of winning.
(Overall: Independent)
Exp: You have one slot for defence item and your hero can compromise 2-3 more defenses based on your hero. High HP, Mid-High damage. You get to rotate and help teammates and increase the probability of winning and helping struggling teammates. Assasin Exp is different but still, they're overall independent.
(Overall: Independent)
Mid: You also have advantage from early level, can clear lanes in 1-2 secs and then rotate and help struggling teammates making a huge impact and contribution to the chances of winning. Yes mid lane is likely to be full of ganks but your ability to clear lanes in 1-2 taps of your skill and long range is enough to keep you safe. Yes, you have less HP like marksman but your skills are Ballistic missiles waiting for orders. Not to mention most of them come with CC. Your damage is extremely high. Most of the time, you have to click all 3 buttons and retreat while skills are on CD, even if you die, your skills likely already killed one hero making some impact. You're vulnerable for that split sec when your skills are on CD (very low CD, including your ult). You don't necessarily need a tank to make an impact. Heroes vary, but overall, this is the scenario.
(Overall: Somewhat Independent)
Gold: Disadvantage from level 1, needs to risk constantly just to get minion gold, and overall in solo queues, the enemy marksman either gets VIP support, or Roamer babysits them. Not to mention, if they freeze your lane, you don't have a 1-2 tap skill to clear your lane and are forced to risk yourself just for the sake of gold or starve. And now if roamer helps enemy mm early game, you often end up with low hp and are forced to risk for the gold you desperately need or retreat and lose one wave while enemy mm gets bonus turret gold while roamer helps exp and still fails to secure that one kill. Where Jungler, Mage, Roam and Exp fail to secure Turtle and Lord. You can't assist them because of the ignorance of roles you depend on, like jungler, roam and mage ignored your lane forcing you to lag behind on gold. Even if you're the ideal marksman, you have a huge disadvantage since level 1. Like seriously, the rest just pretend like gold lane doesn't exist. Okay, now let's say you have stable gold, but to make an impact you have to deal constant damage, meaning constantly expose yourself for the set duration to deal the damage the constant your solo queue teammates needs. But since it's solo queue, don't expect roam, jungler, mage or exp to do smt to protect you, and enemy will always go for marksman. To add a little more spice, you have low hp and are vulnerable to CC (varies with heros). You may have mobility but not enough to dodge a huge 4 man gank (not because theyre a duo or trio but purely due to the psychological confidence they gained from being high in gold and safely able to rotate with no necessity to care for minion gold and the advantage they have had from the impact they're roamer and jungler have already inflicted to the obvious result of the game), even if you did deal damage, that small duration is not enough to kill even one hero unlike mage. The least you can do is sacrifice gold for lesser deaths and at least save yourself in game results.
(Overall: Completely dependent on other roles)
Please Keep In Mind:
This is about solo queue, and were talking about the impact each role has, assuming all you are an expert in each role. Of course, each role comes with responsibilities making it difficult and stuff, but if you're able to manage that, you're overall chance to win is high and you're independence in most scenarios just adds up the advantage while lanes like gold lanes completely depend on those other roles.
I would like to conclude by stating that in terms of difficulty and impact, jungler and roam obviously win (perhaps mage as well), while the gold lane which is completely dependent on the other lanes which is vulnerable as it is solo queue and "dependence" is one word you cannot use to play that match.
FAQs (just in case):
Q1: "As a Jungler, if my team refuses to give me vision or zone the enemy, I can't safely take Turtle/Lord, so I'm dependent too."
- Jungler still has the mobility and high early damage to make solo plays or cross-map split push. A Level 2 Marksman cannot cross-map or secure solo kills against a feeding map.(In terms of ideal jungler, your retri should be enough to secure a sneaky turtle/lord)
Q2: "What about lane-dominant heroes like Brody, Clint, or Popol & Kupa? They won't get bullied easily"
- This is a small window to that, winning a game does not fall on that small factor. Early lane dominance doesn't fix a lack of a late-game frontline.
Q3: "Gold Lane isn't the hardest because even if you lose early game, if the match goes past 15–20 minutes, the Marksman becomes an absolute monster who can wipe the enemy team in 3 hits. You just have to sit back and stall."
- Going to the late game is not a choice you get to make in solo queue. If your Jungler and Roamer are feeding, the enemy team will take Lord at minute 10, walk into your base, and end the game before you ever reach your 3-item power spike. You cannot "stall" a match by yourself when you have no wave clear and your team is dead. And expect an enemy mage and jungler to insta kill you before you can do anything.
Q4: "Support roamers (like Angela, Rafaela, Floryn) and Mages are just as squishy as Marksmen and get targeted just as heavily by assassins."
- True, but their damage or utility is instantaneous. A Mage or Support can cast their skills from the safety of a bush or behind a wall and immediately step back. A Marksman must reveal their position on the map and stay in the open to continuously auto-attack. Furthermore, if a support roamer dies after casting their ultimate, they still provided value. If a Marksman dies at the start of a fight, the team loses 80% of its late-game structural damage.
Q5: "If you're solo queuing, just pick Claude, Bruno, or Wanwan. They have insane mobility or Purify-like skills, so you don't need a tank to peel for you."
- Mobility helps you dodge one or two skills, but it doesn't give you a frontline. If the enemy team has a zoning hero (like Tigreal, Yu Zhong, or Khaleed) occupying the space, a mobile Marksman still cannot step up to shoot the backline without getting chunked. Mobility helps can you survive, but it doesn't automatically let you deal damage if your team refuses to step forward.
{You may finally post your comments after reading.}