Greymane is a good pick. So is Raynor.
My personal “screw you guys, im doing this on my own” hero is Illidan. He can control the map and force enemy teams to split up. And he can hold his own 1v1 or 2v1.
IF YOU’RE READING THIS, THIS GUIDE IS OUTDATED AND WAS WRITTEN WHEN I HAD LITTLE EXPERIENCE OF PLAYING TLV IN HIGHER RANKS. I MIGHT WRITE UP ANOTHER GUIDE SOMETIME IF I’M FEELING UP TO IT.
Well, one of the most important things regardless of talent build or playstyle, is to avoid dying as much as possible. Every XP globe you collect is another drop in a bucket, which when filled will be poured directly on the enemy team’s face. When you die on a lane, it forces you to move another viking to said lane, or a teammate has to compensate for your mistake. Get skilled at micromanaging your vikings to a point where no enemy will get the jump on you at a lane. Be careful when splitpushing, and play carefully if your teammates feed. Every time your teammates die, the enemies will start harassing you.
Now for the general strategy. Generally in the beginning you want to have Olaf soak one lane, and Baelog soak another. Erik can be sent to help either of those, or can be sent to help your team. When I play, Erik always roams doing all the other stuff like taking camps, dismounting enemies, maybe sniping wells and even getting kills for your team.
The most important talent concerning this playstyle would be Spy Games at level 1. The 75% increase in basic attack damage makes Erik dangerous, it gives him the power to have a meaningful impact in fights, and I generally have only Erik on the first and second objective, depending on map of course. You can actually get important picks and shift the teamfight to your team’s advantage, especially if an enemy solo laner is trying to contest you on lanes, thus making it a 4.25 versus 4 for your team. Although if you have faith in your team’s ability, you should have Erik soak a third lane during objective for that insane XP advantage. Most of the time solo queueing though, I will have Erik help the team or they will likely just fail.
Level 4 pick Erik The Swift for added speed and sustain for your roamer.
Level 7 Spin To Win! is an obvious choice, as it gives you that much needed waveclear and very solid burst damage.
Level 10 is obviously Play Again!. This talent will be used to tip the balance in a teamfight, or a 1v1. It can also be used as a pseudo-global for when you really need that mercenary camp. You should also use it to escape a certain death. Have erik far away from the danger and TP the low HP vikings to him so you avoid dying.
Level 13 I take Nordic Attack Squad 90% of the time. The recent buff to it makes the vikings a devastating force during teamfights and rewards risky plays. You want to take Jump! Only when you’re very confident your team can handle teamfights well or when the enemy team has simply too much junk for you to dodge (Butcher, two or more good mage players)
Level 16 you should always take Large and in Charge because a stun on Olaf is just so valuable, especially when you have your Q and %dmg passive to kill the stunned enemy. This makes 1v1s against you just not worth it for the enemy.
Level 20 always take Fury of The Storm for insane waveclear and some bonus dmg on heroes. This will let you take bruiser camps in seconds.
There are map-specific talents, such as Mercenary Lord for maps with a bunch of camps or bosses, and sometimes Olaf The Stout for maps like Volskaya. Even then, I usually just pick Spy Games.
I don’t think I’ll bother to write about map specific strategies as there are so many for different situations. I play vikings in every map except BoE and Spider Queen.
Simple guidelines: Don’t die, have 1 viking at objective MAX, before level 13. (even after 13 you want to prioritize soaking. It is after 16 that you can prioritize teamfights.) Sometimes you can use Play Again! to clutch that teamfight and get straight back to soaking. HAVE ERIK ROAM. Take camps, harass and kill enemies. Take uncontested map objectives.
If you have questions about map-specific strategies (you might be wondering about two lane maps for example), ask and I will make another reply.
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You don’t solo carry this game with micro, you do it with macro, which is what low level players suck at. Bruisers generally have the best macro available to them, they can push, soak, take camps all on their own.