How to Choose a Champion in League of Legends to Main
Choosing a champion in League of Legends can be tricky. There are so many champions to choose from, and each one is unique. Some champions excel at long-range combat, while others specialize in short-ranged fighting or tanking damage for your team. Selecting the right champion before a match will depend on what kind of playstyle you have and what other champions your allies and enemies are bringing to the rift!
There are Many Champions to Play in League of Legends
It's important to know which types of champions fit best with different kinds of players. For example, if your favorite thing about playing League is jumping into the middle of a fight and wreaking havoc, then picking a fighter might be for you! Or maybe you're more interested in playing with friends or in close collaboration with your allies? In that case, try choosing a support champ.
There are currently over 155 champions in League of Legends. Riot Games adds more several times a year, so choose a champ that you'll have fun with and learn to master as the game progresses. This guide will help you decide which champions are best for you!
Champions are Grouped into Classes by Their Playstyle
In League of Legends, champions can be divided up into different classes. These champion classes include Fighters, Mages, Supports, Marksmen, Assassins, and Tanks. We'll provide a brief overview of each type.
Fighters
Fighters are champions who excel at short-ranged combat and can often take lots of damage as they charge into battle. These champions tend to have one or more of high attack speed, high attack damage, life steal, or armor penetration to deal a massive amount of damage from melee range!
Fighters are champions who excel at short-ranged combat and can often take lots of damage as they charge into battle. These champions tend to have one or more of high attack speed, high attack damage, life steal, or armor penetration to deal a massive amount of damage from melee range!
Marksmen
Marksmen are ranged champions who have the power to deal a considerable amount of consistent damage from afar. They specialize in taking down any champion (including tanks), as they can dish out lots of continuous hits with their large attack ranges and auto-attacks.
In comparison to most other classes, marksmen rely the least on their abilities. They rely heavily on their auto-attack damage output.
Mages
Mages are champions who specialize in using their abilities to deal large amounts of damage from a distance (or in rare situations from short-range). Mages have some of the highest burst damage potentials and can also be played in entirely different ways depending on what kinds of cover their allies afford them.
Supports
Supports are champions who help out their allies by offering additional buffs for teammates or debuffs for enemies. They tend to have lots of utility in their abilities and can choose to use a large pool of support skills, depending on what type of champion they choose. They cannot often take down enemies directly, but they can make up for that with their potent supporting spells.
Assassins
Assassins are champions who choose to focus on taking down enemies quickly and efficiently. They specialize in getting into a fight, killing an enemy, and escaping before they can kill them themselves. They usually have even greater burst damage than mages, yet they are usually more fragile and must focus on positioning and timing to execute their attacks properly without dying.
Assassins are champions who choose to focus on taking down enemies quickly and efficiently. They specialize in getting into a fight, killing an enemy, and escaping before they can kill them themselves. They usually have even greater burst damage than mages, yet they are usually more fragile and must focus on positioning and timing to execute their attacks properly without dying.
Tanks
Tanks are champions who set their allies up for success by drawing the attention of enemies while protecting them from lots of damage! Tanks can soak up a lot of punishment and are usually responsible for engaging first or peeling their carries. While most tanks have only mediocre damage output, many have powerful crowd control abilities that make them dangerous in team fights.
What is Your Champion Playstyle in League of Legends?
You can choose a champion in League of Legends to master by first thinking about your dominant playstyle in League. Or, if you are new to League of Legends, you may want to consider our best LoL beginner champions guide to inform your initial champion selection.
If you like to wait around and choose the perfect moment to strike, choose a mage or assassin. On the other hand, if you're always ready to jump right into battle without hesitation, select a fighter or a tank! Marksmen usually form the core of a team's late-game damage output, so if you like being able to dish out massive amounts of damage, pick marksmen.
If you like to wait around and choose the perfect moment to strike, choose a mage or assassin. On the other hand, if you're always ready to jump right into battle without hesitation, select a fighter or a tank! Marksmen usually form the core of a team's late-game damage output, so if you like being able to dish out massive amounts of damage, pick marksmen.
Some champions can be "flexed" and played to suit multiple class playstyles. If you prefer a hybrid or more balanced playstyle, tanks with high damage output like Garen and/or Galio might be more suited to you.
What Lane Should You Pick for Your Main Champion in LoL?
Some lanes are better suited to one playstyle over another. For instance, in the current League of Legends meta, the bottom lane has two players from each team while the top and middle lanes each receive one champion from each team. The remaining player roams the jungle and helps to gank lanes when they can.
If you want your success to depend more on your own abilities than your teammates' actions, the top or mid lanes are the best choices when you choose a champion in League of Legends to master. If you play these lanes, you will be without support for most of the first 10-15 minutes. If you dominate in your lane, it will usually result from your cunning and skill.
Yet, if you would rather play a team-focused game, it's better to play in the bottom lane as either the carry champion or as a support champion. In particular, the support is almost always paired with at least one other champion throughout the entire game. Their strength comes in their ability to aid their allies.
The jungler is a bit of an oddball. Teams need to rely on their jungler to help them get ahead in their lane and to keep pressure on the enemy team, yet the jungler spends a lot of their time alone. Their success usually benefits their allies more than themselves.
Jungle players need to be very engaged and aware of how everyone else (on both teams) is positioning during the early phases of the game. They then need to coordinate their pathing through the jungle to efficiently clear monster camps while preparing to gank a lane. It's not an easy task, but it's a rewarding and critical role.
What to Do When You Pick a Lane and a Playstyle
After you have picked what lane and playstyle best suit you, it's time to choose a champion in League of Legends to master. Take a look over the list of all current League of Legends champions by position and power. You can sort the list by champion role. Additionally, if you are just starting out, it may help you to pick from a more abbreviated list of champions that are easy for beginners to pick up.
Once you have chosen a champion to master in LoL, you should learn how to play with them. You can experiment with any champion's abilities in a sandbox environment or against bots without upsetting other players or affecting your player rank.
Once you have chosen a champion to master in LoL, you should learn how to play with them. You can experiment with any champion's abilities in a sandbox environment or against bots without upsetting other players or affecting your player rank.
There are excellent guides and builds available from multiple sources. At MOBA Champion, we release both, but you can also find other very competent guides from other publishers. Just make sure any builds are relevant to the current patch version.
What if Things Just Aren't Working Out with Your Champion?
If you are stuck in a certain rank for a long time, consider revisiting these tips. Perhaps choose another lane or choose a champion that you can play in multiple roles.
You Will Eventually Need to Master Multiple Champion in League of Legends
To move up the ranks in League of Legends, you need to be skilled with several champions and be able to play in multiple positions. This is because, before champion selection, every player can ban a champion they don't want to fight against.
Riot Won't Guarantee You the Position You Want to Play
Furthermore, Riot won't guarantee you the position you pre-select while starting matchmaking. There are some positions that are always coveted and in demand, such as Top and Mid. Even positions like support (which are usually easier to fill) are sometimes hard to find a spot in if Riot has recently released a new support champion.
Sometimes Your Favorite Champion Would be a Poor Choice
Champion selection takes several minutes and goes back-and-forth between both teams. Most champions in League of Legends have one or more champions that effectively counters them. It’s a bad idea to pick a champion into an obvious counter unless you have great skill with that champion.
Champion selection takes several minutes and goes back-and-forth between both teams. Most champions in League of Legends have one or more champions that effectively counters them. It’s a bad idea to pick a champion into an obvious counter unless you have great skill with that champion.
For instance, if Morgana has already been chosen by the enemy, it may be a poor choice to pick a CC-heavy champion against her. This is because her Black Shield ability will effectively counter much of your crowd control.
Consider Team Composition during Champion Selection to Help You Win More Games
Don't always select your main champion in LoL. Pay attention to what the enemy has chosen as well as what your allies are choosing. Even if the enemy team doesn't easily counter you specifically, it may not be a good idea to pick your favorite champion if doing so would ruin your team's composition.
As an example, if all other champions on your team primarily deal attack damage (AD) instead of ability power (or true damage), it would be a poor decision to pick another AD-heavy champion. This is especially true if the enemy team has chosen several tanks that could focus heavily on armor to negate all of your team's damage.
As an example, if all other champions on your team primarily deal attack damage (AD) instead of ability power (or true damage), it would be a poor decision to pick another AD-heavy champion. This is especially true if the enemy team has chosen several tanks that could focus heavily on armor to negate all of your team's damage.
You won't always be able to choose a champion in League of Legends that is your first choice. You need backups. Furthermore, it's a good idea to at least learn the basics of almost all champions so you will be able to anticipate your enemies' moves.
Not all Champions are Created Equal
While Riot Games tries their best to balance the game and make every champion viable, many champions fit better with the current meta in the current patch. Some champions are consistently overpowered in either high or low skill tiers because of the way gameplay in those tiers unfolds.
For instance, Garen often has a high win rate in low-skill tiers, yet he has a poor win rate amongst the best League of Legends players. Champions like Garen that are easy to master, often have a low skill cap. This means that there's not a lot of advanced and technical things you can do with them.
Riot has balanced champs like Garen to be somewhat powerful amongst beginners yet weak amongst highly skilled players to preserve their utility overall. Keep this in mind when selecting a champion. New players may not care, but if you are looking to choose a champion in League of Legends to master that could take you all the way up the ranked ladder in LoL, you need to consider how viable they are at high skill tiers.
How to Get New League of Legends Champions
What if the champion you have chosen is not available for you to play? How do you get them? The easiest and fastest way is to buy them. You can unlock whatever champion you wish if you have enough Riot Points (RP; paid in-game currency) or Loyalty Points (LP; earned in-game currency).
What if the champion you have chosen is not available for you to play? How do you get them? The easiest and fastest way is to buy them. You can unlock whatever champion you wish if you have enough Riot Points (RP; paid in-game currency) or Loyalty Points (LP; earned in-game currency).
If you do not have enough RP or LP to unlock your champion, you can purchase more RP or acquire them through one of the methods in our guide to getting free champion in LoL.
It's always fun to try out new champions in League. Check out the free champion rotation, as well. Even if you do not plan to master any of those free champions, it's helpful to learn how to use their abilities and how they are played in order to defeat them.
What if I want More Help to Choose a Champion in League of Legends to Master?
If you want some assistance with choosing or learning new champions, don't hesitate to seek guidance from a professional League of Legends coach. There are many great coaches and coaching services available; they should help you identify your strengths and weakness to pick the best champion(s) for you.
Final Thoughts
Did this guide help you choose a champion in League of Legends to master? Let us know! We hope that we’ve helped make your selection easier. Remember, champions are unique and it takes time and practice to master any of them.
Who's your favorite champion so far? Tell us what kind of playstyle is most appealing on social media, or send an email if there was something we missed here!
Images Courtesy of Riot Games.