Starting out in League of Legends can be quite a daunting experience. There are over 130 different champions in the game, all with their own unique abilities, playstyles, and strengths and weaknesses. Remembering such an enormous amount of information when you’re just starting out is near impossible so don’t worry about that just yet.
Fortunately, there are a number of champions that are quite easy to learn and master. Understanding how your own champion plays is a key part in reeling in those wins as it gives you a huge advantage in the game. If you know in which matchups you shine and in which situations you are weak you can make more informed decisions while playing. On your journey of mastering these specific champions, you will also gain a better insight into how League works and soon you will find yourself amongst the best of players.
These are the 10 champions we recommend playing when starting out in League of Legends.
Top lane
Top lane is somewhat of a weird lane as a lot of different champions are able to do just fine over there. Besides some jungle interference, you will be mostly alone while playing, as the top lane is far away from all the early- and mid-game action. In the top lane, you will learn how to win your lane without even getting any kills. Most top lane champions will also teach you how to engage teamfights, as a lot of top champs are good at this, or you will learn how to snowball out of control and completely take over games.
Maokai
If you are into plants and not being able to die than Maokai is the champion for you. He’s one of League’s tankiest champions and comes packed with crowd control. Maokai is extremely easy to pick up and doesn’t have any complicated mechanics. Since he’s so tanky, you can easily get away with bad positioning as the enemy won’t be able to kill you anyway.
The two most important parts of Maokai is knowing when to start fights with you W and ultimate. Both abilities are used for locking the enemies up, ensuring that they can’t go anywhere when your team slaughters them. If you catch out a strong enemy you can often singlehandedly win a fight or even a game. Maokai’s passive will periodically give him a huge heal on his next auto-attack, be sure to track when this is up to make most of his tankiness. When playing as Maokai, max your Q first for early game wave clear, after that max W for a longer root duration. Take ult whenever possible.
Darius
If you want a top laner that can actually murder stuff than Darius should be your go-to pick. A lot of people would recommend Garen to new players but he really falls off the longer you play the game, whereas Darius is still strong even in higher levels of play. Both champions are relatively similar as they are quite tanky and pack a lot of damage, however, they have a hard time actually getting into a fight.
One important aspect of playing Darius that might take a little time is learning how to properly land his Q ability. When you use your Q you can either hit enemies with the blade of his ax or with his handle. Hitting them with the blade is essential to increasing your damage output and healing. The preferred combo on Darius is to hit them with your Q, pull them in with your E and then hit them with your W. They will then be slowed so you can start stacking his passive stacks. Once you see an enemy has 5 stacks hit them with the ult and watch them disappear. On Darius, first max Q then E and then W.
Jungle
The jungle is the only non-laning role in the game. You will roam all over the map in the early game in an attempt to gank your lanes and put them ahead. Late-game you are all about objective control, killing dragons and barons will be your biggest focus at that point. Jungle champs come in a large variety but most of them are effective farmers and gankers. Jungle will teach you how to play the macro game as well as how to contest objectives. Although I wouldn’t necessarily recommend the jungle to new players, if it sounds really interesting to you, then these are two champs you might want to try.
Rammus
This is the Sonic the Hedgehog of League of Legends. When using your Q you will be able to roll around high speeds to set up effective ganks. Your E is a taunt that serves as crowd control for the enemy champions. Rammus is extremely strong at early game ganking as most laners will be unable to stop his ganks due to his extreme speed. Try ganking the same lane often so that that particular enemy will be effectively useless for the rest of the game.
Clearing the jungle as Rammus is extremely straightforward albeit a bit slow. Pick your W for the first clear after which you will take your E. When clearing the jungle, make sure that you use your E on the jungle monster so that their attack speed is increased. Then press your W and watch the jungle monsters kill themselves. A useful tip on Rammus is to use your ultimate when taking down turrets as this ability’s damage also applies to structures. On Rammus, max your E first and then your W, but be sure to take W on level 1.
Trundle
Trundle is in the other boat of jungle champs. He’s extremely proficient at clearing the jungle but his ganks are somewhat lacking. What you want to do with Trundle is to quickly clear your own jungle and then head over to the enemies jungle. You will be able to easily 1v1 the enemy jungler since Trundle is a very strong duelist. If you manage to get the enemy jungler behind he will have a really hard time making an impact on the map.
When you do decide to gank as Trundle all you have to do is walk towards the enemy laner. Most of the time the enemies will try to get away from you by using a mobility spell or by using flash. Try to target champions without mobility spells as these will be forced to use their flash. Once they have used their flash put your E in front of them, effectively blocking them from walking forward. Now you and your laner have time to catch up and kill the enemy. Trundle is also really effective at taking turrets by putting down your W and using your Q on turrets whenever it’s available. On Trundle, max Q first and then W.
Mid Lane
Mid lane is all about mages and assassins. Since assassins are really hard to master, I will instead recommend two mages. Playing as a mage will teach you a lot about positioning as well as burst damage. If you position poorly as a mage you will often be killed instantly which means that positioning is really important. As a mage, you will often be able to blow up key targets which means that you will quickly gain an understanding of which champions you need to focus during fights.
Annie
As one of League’s oldest and most iconic champions, Annie has remained a solid pick for anyone to learn and pick up. She is relatively easy to both learn and master as her kit is not very complicated. Annie is focused around her passive which is the most important aspect of her kit. After casting an ability 4 times, Annie’s passive will cause her next ability to stun. If you combine this with her ultimate or her W you can potentially stun the entire enemy team.
In lane, your Q is your bread and butter ability. This ability can be used to poke out the enemy as well as for farming. Her Q’s mana cost and cooldown are partly refunded when killing a target, making it ideal for killing low health minions. If you have your passive up, Annie Q also turns into a targeted stun making it ideal for setting up ganks for your jungler. During the late game, Annie is all about blowing up people and landing big stuns. You can potentially stun all enemies by using your ultimate or W whenever you passive is up. A useful tip for playing any is to pick up the Protobelt item, this gives Annie an extra dash which makes it easier to land the big stuns during teamfights. On Annie, you want to max Q first and then W.
Malzahar
An ideal mid lane mage for you to pick up would be Malzahar. Not only has he one of the easiest kits in the game, he’s also one of the strongest and terrific at what he does. Malzahar is a mage that is all about destroying a single person in the game. Somewhat similar to an assassin although you don’t have quite the same amount of damage.
On Malzahar you want to max your E first in order to clear waves and to poke out the enemy in lane. Next you want to max your Q in order to increase the duration of your silence. Malzahar is one of the few champions left in the game that has a silence so you need to land it as often and on as many enemies as possible. If you see an enemy out of position your combo would be Q > E > W > Ult. This can often be enough damage to outright kill squishy enemies. It’s important for Malzahar to stay with his team as he can be easily killed due to his lack of mobility. When staying with your team you can also ensure that a target you ult will be killed even faster.
Marksman
The marksman position, or more commonly known as the AD carry position, offers the highest DPS in the game. Playing as a marksman will teach you how to improve your mechanics as well as positioning. Just like with mages, you will be blown up if you missposition. However, contrary to mages, you are all about consistent and reliable damage. Your job is not to blow up the most dangerous enemies, but rather to hit whatever is in front of you as much as possible.
Ashe
Ashe is the premier starter AD carry in the game. That’s not to say that she’s weak as she still sees play in the professional games. Ashe has a lot of slows and a really strong cc, which means that you will be able to peel for yourself. In the early game, you want to focus on farming and poking the enemies with your W. Whenever you have your Q up you should go in for a trade with the enemy as you will be able to easily out damage them. Also use your E as often as possible so you won’t be ganked by the enemy jungler.
In the late game as is all about starting teamfights with her ult. Ashe’s ult is a huge arrow that will stun the first enemy hit. This stun lasts for quite a long time which means that your team will easily be able to kill whichever enemy the arrow landed on. During the teamfight itself, it’s imperative that you use your W as much as possible. This not only damages the enemies but also slows them which means it will be more difficult for them to get to you. On Ashe, you want to max your W first and then your Q.
Miss Fortune
This pirate lady is one of the strongest marksmen for the laning phase. Using your Q on minions that are almost dead will often lead to the Q being bounced to an enemy which is extremely useful for poking. After doing that a few times the enemies will often be low enough for you to engage in a fight. Drop your E on the enemies to slow them and quickly catch up to them by activating your W. Your W not only gives movement speed but also gives attack speed which will help you to quickly kill the enemy laners.
Despite her strong early game, Miss Fortune’s late game is also nothing to laugh at. Her ultimate is capable of dismantling entire teams by itself and is often the only thing you have to use to win a teamfight. Miss Fortune shines when paired with champions that have stuns or other abilities to stop the enemies from escaping your ult. Before throwing down your ult, try to use your E first, this slows down all of the enemies making it even more difficult for them to escape your devastating damage. On Miss Fortune you want to first max your Q and then max your W.
Support
If you prefer helping out your teammates rather than dealing out the big damage numbers you should probably try to learn support. Although it sounds rather boring compared to killing enemies, this couldn’t be further from the truth. When playing as a support you will learn how to control the flow of battle. You are extremely important for winning teamfights, either by healing and protecting your team or through hard engaging on the enemy.
Janna
If you want to guard your teammates while they do all the killing than picking Janna is the way to go. Janna has an incredible amount of shielding, healing, and protection. A Janna is never a bad pick since the amount of protection she brings to the team is capable of turning any teamfight in your favor. Janna will give you control over the teamfights, teaching you valuable knowledge of the game.
The key to playing Janna is good use of her shield as well as her ultimate. These two abilities are capable of negating an idiotic amount of damage. Your E is your shield which you want to max first. Besides shielding, it also gives the champion you shielded an extra amount of AD. This makes her the ideal support for AD carries as you will be giving them a shield as well as a damage buff at the same time. Your ultimate is can reset an entire teamfight. If you see your team getting low be sure to use this ability. It will push away all of the enemies and heal your entire team. After maxing E you probably want to max you W, as it gives you more passive movement speed and is more easy to land than her Q.
Leona
If you want to play a less passive support than Janna you should try out Leona. Instead of helping your teammates out by shielding them, you will help them out by locking up the enemies and setting up kills. Leona is all about aggressive play, locking up any valuable enemies with her insane amount of crowd control.
Although Leona’s stun abilities are located on her Q and E, these are not the ones you want to be maxing out first as they don’t increase the stun duration. Instead, you want to max W more to give you a stronger shield when you go in. The ideal Leona combo is using your W, then using your E to get to the enemy and locking them up with Q. So W > E > Q. If you have your ult available you can either start off with it or use it at the end of the combo. Preferably use it at the end since the enemy won’t be able to move anywhere after you have stunned them with your Q. As previously mentioned, you want to max your W first after which you will max your E.
