Welcome to the World of League of Legends, your choice of champion can decide whether you will enjoy your time. In League of Legends, each champion has unique abilities, strengths, and weaknesses.
Selecting the right one can make a huge difference in how quickly you learn the game mechanics and enjoy your matches. Starting with a beginner-friendly champion helps you focus more on learning the game, rather than struggling with complexity of the champion themselves. Ultimately, the right champion can boost your confidence and get you better gaming experience.
Criteria for Selecting Beginner Champions
Ease of use and impact.
When you’re just starting, the last thing you want is to feel overwhelmed by complicated mechanics or abilities. Beginner champions should be straightforward and intuitive, allowing you to focus on understanding the game’s flow and your role within it.
Even as a beginner, having a champion that can make a noticeable difference in the game can be gratifying. Look for champions who can contribute to both offense and defense, making them valuable assets to any team.
Top 5 Beginner Champions
Garen – The Might of Demacia
Strengths
Usually played in the top lane, Garen is known for his durability and straightforward abilities, making him an excellent choice for beginners. His passive ability, Perseverance, allows him to regenerate health quickly when out of combat, giving new players a forgiving gameplay experience.
Weaknesses
While Garen is tanky and easy to play, he is slow and strictly melee, making him susceptible to being damaged by ranged enemies when he can’t retaliate. His abilities are also relatively simple, which might make him less appealing as you gain more experience.
Recommended Build
Starting off with an item that compliments his tankiness and favor for sticking to the enemy, you can build Sunfire Aegis, and if you’re winning against your lane opponent, can push your advantage with Hull breaker, making you able to push the lane in ways the enemy laner can’t stop.
Ashe – The Frost Archer
Strengths
Played as an ADC in the botlane, Ashe is a ranged champion with abilities that are easy to understand. Her passive, Frost Shot, slows enemies, making it easier to hit them with subsequent attacks, which also helps with you having the higher grounds when it comes to positioning as you’re now faster than your enemy.
Weaknesses
Ashe is squishy and can be easily targeted by enemy assassins. Her lack of mobility makes her vulnerable if not positioned correctly. New players need to be cautious of their placement during fights.
Recommended Build
Build Ashe with items that increase her attack speed and critical strike chance. Items like Kraken Slayer and Runaan’s Hurricane can amplify her damage output and minion clear speed. Focus on positioning and using her ultimate, Enchanted Crystal Arrow, to initiate or disengage fights effectively.
Annie – The Dark Child
Strengths
Annie is a powerful mage played in the mid lane with strong burst damage. Her abilities are easy to grasp, and her ultimate, Summon Tibbers, takes your opponents by surprise. Her passive, Pyromania, allows her to stun enemies, making her a potent threat in team fights.
Weaknesses
While she has an ability to increase her movement speed and give her a shield, she’s mostly immobile, making her easy to pick on by assassins and high ranged mages in the mid lane.
Recommended Build
Playing into her strength of using her ultimate, we’d suggest starting off with Malignance, which gives her ample mana while also reducing the cooldown of her powerful ultimate, your second item should be Liandry’s torment, which boosts her damage while also burning the enemy she damages.
Nunu & Willump – The boy and his yeti
Strengths
Nunu and Willump, or Nunu for short, is a champion that’s played in the jungle, he boasts incredible self sustain with his Q (consume) and has high damage to quickly clear the monsters in there, while also being able to rotate quickly to help allies in other lanes.
Weaknesses
Nunu requires a bit of general map awareness to be effective, missing his best ganking ability W (Biggest Snowball Ever!) can be incredibly punishing.
Recommended Build
Nunu can be played as a mage to amplify his strong burst damage, or as a tank to increase his ability to stay longer in fights to lock the enemies down for his team, but we’ll suggest the tank build as he has quite a bit of damage in his base kit alone.
Start with sunfire aegis to lower the time you need to kill monsters in the jungle, and a good second item as a tank would be Kaenic rookern if you notice that there are many mages on the enemy team, otherwise Thornmail is a good general choice.
Sona – Maven of the Strings
Strengths
Sona is a support champion with healing and crowd-control abilities. Her passive, Power Chord, can amplify her basic attacks, making her a versatile support in lane. Her ultimate, Crescendo, can stun multiple enemies, which can be used offensively or defensively.
Weaknesses
Sona is fragile and can be easily targeted by enemy assassins as she’s immobile. Managing her mana efficiently is crucial to maximize her utility in fights.
Recommended Build
Prioritize items that enhance Sona’s healing and utility. Moonstone Renewer and Ardent Censer are excellent choices for improving her support poweress.
Practice Makes Perfect
Consistency is key to mastering any champion. Spend time in the practice tool to familiarize yourself with your champion’s abilities. Regular practice will improve your muscle memory and reaction times.
Positioning is Crucial
Good positioning can make or break your gameplay. Pay attention to your surroundings and always be aware of potential threats. Position yourself strategically to maximize your impact while minimizing risks.
Understand Game Sense
Game sense encompasses map awareness, objective control, and team coordination. Develop a habit of frequently checking the minimap and communicating with your team. Understanding when to push, retreat, or engage is vital for success.
