How did u decide what champion to main?

DanofDemacia·May 20, 2015·4 votes·8,104 views

I feel like im not getting any better at the game cuz i cant decide what champion to main and i never have any consistency. I kinda have a problem using meta champs cuz then i feel like im not actually good and i dont like using non meta champs cuz i dont wanna be at a disadvantage because of my champion. Whats the best way to find your main?

Edit: alright everyone is just telling me to pick what I enjoy and I always go mid every chance and my favorite type of champs are mages but u also really like winning. So like my favorite champ is lux but you can't carry with lux. So I would have to choose like Annie? Cass? Ahri?

54 Comments

Jungle Lux GodMay 20, 20155 votes

How I found a champion to main is that, from the time I first started playing, I just played a whole bunch of different champions. Every free week, I would just play each of the free week champions at least once, and then spammed games on those that I really liked from the free week.

Playing games on these champions allowed me to get a broad picture of the kinds of champions that I liked, and from there I found a narrow pool of champions that I really liked. Then I chose my main from the narrow pool of champions that I really liked, based on which ones I liked best.

The question that any player should ask regarding a champion they want to main is: how much do I like the champion? Some follow-up questions to help get players started on choosing a main:

When I win, do I feel good for winning, or does winning feel bad with the champ?
When I lose, do I feel good about the champ even though I lost, or does it feel painful to lose with the champ?
When I play my champion well, do I feel good about the plays I make, or does it feel like my good plays go unrewarded?

Asking these questions can help you determine if you should main a champion or not.

ApolloclipticMay 20, 20151 votes

I like your points.

I often win with Braum or Maokai, but it doesn't "Feel" good, when you go unstoppable tank mode and just kite or peel all day you feel like the tank/defensive version of feast or famine. Sometimes you just feel broken with how powerful you are, or annoyed that you can't do damage yourself when your allies don't capitalise on your plays and peel

But with a champ like bard or Orianna, I love the plays and intricacies of the characters, even if my win rate is lower or if I lost the map.

My favourite champs are the ones that complement my personality (strategic and supporting) so even after a loss I am saying GG WP cause I know I had fun and the enemy was just better. But like I said, some champs just don't feel rewarding for winning with...

The 3rd point is hard on supports because their plays often go unrewarded (unless you are Sona or Leona with an AOE stun that can only fail to be impactful if you completely miss)

redniwediSMay 20, 20154 votes

Just find someone you enjoy playing. That's about all you need for a main, just have a champion who doesn't get old when you play for a while.

KrigjerMay 20, 20153 votes

I didn't put active thought into finding a main. I just realized one day that I played a lot of Nami. Like, 400+ games of her.

So I said, I guess I main Nami then. She's also my comfort pick.

MrBuffingtonMay 20, 20153 votes

The way I decide: find a champion at the intersection of "Champions I like playing" and "Champions I feel (mechanically, strategically, etc) comfortable playing in ranked" and play them.

SiachiMay 20, 20152 votes

Speaking personally, I've been pretty much maining Gnar because A) I'm a sucker for cute and fuzzy things. B) His transformation mechanic means I have two completely different play styles to work with at a time. Even the fact that it's unreliable, I like, because it keeps me aware of the situations I'm in, and how to react to it with what I have to work with in that particular form.

You could also try to find champions that you just like as character; maybe they just look awesome, they have a backstory you really like, or they have a character trait that you admire.

KotexMay 20, 20151 votes

{quoted}

Speaking personally, I've been pretty much maining Gnar because A) I'm a sucker for cute and fuzzy things. B) His transformation mechanic means I have two completely different play styles to work with at a time. Even the fact that it's unreliable, I like, because it keeps me aware of the situations I'm in, and how to react to it with what I have to work with in that particular form.

You could also try to find champions that you just like as character; maybe they just look awesome, they have a backstory you really like, or they have a character trait that you admire.

Ikr gnar is so adorable <3 Believe it or not the reason i started playing LoL all those years ago was specifically because i saw Fizz and Teemo and thought they were SOOO cute i had to play whatever game they were on <3 I suck with them though :<

FourVsFiveMay 20, 20152 votes

One that was very easy to play and did not take too much skill and still had impact on game. Mainly cause I suck. But found 1 champ that fit the description for me. And now I went from being a bronze player to gold playing 1 champ lol

DanofDemaciaMay 20, 20151 votes

{quoted}

One that was very easy to play and did not take too much skill and still had impact on game. Mainly cause I suck. But found 1 champ that fit the description for me. And now I went from being a bronze player to gold playing 1 champ lol

who was the champion?

lofi n chillhopMay 20, 20151 votes

{quoted}

One that was very easy to play and did not take too much skill and still had impact on game. Mainly cause I suck. But found 1 champ that fit the description for me. And now I went from being a bronze player to gold playing 1 champ lol

honestly I think this is the way to do it. Find a champ who's kit you "get" and who's easy to play and who you enjoy playing... and stick to that champ as much as you can. don't go for azir or lee sin xD but rather, graves, for example.

BajaBlastMyAssMay 20, 20151 votes

{quoted}

honestly I think this is the way to do it. Find a champ who's kit you "get" and who's easy to play and who you enjoy playing... and stick to that champ as much as you can. don't go for azir or lee sin xD but rather, graves, for example.

Don't go for azir......

Wînter FoxMay 20, 20152 votes

A champion whose play style you "click" with. I have a lot of champions I like playing, but my mains are really the ones whose style is very intuitive, and I feel comfortable no matter what situation I'm in.

EndlessSorcererMay 20, 20152 votes

I've been playing for several years, on and off, and I haven't really found myself maining champions. I tend to play a wide variety of champions depending on what I want to try or enjoy playing at the time, though I will occasionally focus on one or two champions for about a week or so if I feel like it.

This approach let me practice with many champions (learning their playstyle, strengths, and weaknesses) and gives me a fairly large champion pool to select from. I find that it's generally best to be able to competently play at least 3 champions in each role to cover your bases and give you some flexibility.

I wouldn't worry overly much about finding a main champions; I'd focus on experimenting with different champions to find which ones you enjoy. Regardless of the meta, I find that players tend to perform more consistently with champions they are experienced with and enjoy instead of the current flavour-of-the-month.

1000angrybeesMay 20, 20152 votes

Honestly, I pick whoever feels right. I found that I enjoy mage-y types the most, so I went from there. My first character I absolutely loved to play as was sona. From there, I tried more supports, enjoying a lot of them along the way (like nami) and found that I loved that role as well. After a while, I gained the confidence to try more offensive oriented characters, and found my favorite mid lane champ: Ahri.

I've only been playing for a year and a half, but I know that when I played them, I completely wanted to learn to get better with both of them. It's all about picking someone you think you might already have a feel for. If you like magic, try mages. If you like speed, try mobile champs. If you like being front lines, try tanks. It's a little bit like guessing and checking, really.

DrackolusMay 20, 20152 votes

(~2 1/2 years ago) Me: Man, I want a champion who donates health and gets it back by hitting enemies. (8 months ago) Rito: Hey, we're reworking Soraka so her core gameplay revolves around donating health and getting it back by hitting enemies.

Wasn't a hard decision.

Before then, I jumped between mains, but I still played a bunch of different champions.

Mirage SeraphMay 20, 20152 votes

Me personally, my main is Twisted Fate. I don't play him all the time but he, along with Anivia, are the only champions that I've played since... well, since I started. Aside from a game with Jax my friend had me do to show me the controls, my first champ was Twisted Fate (Anivia once the next free week hit) and I learned the game pretty much with those two. Picked 'em up because Twisted Fate looked cool and Anivia was a freaking bird.

Luckily for me, those two champs require a lot of mechanics and knowledge along with being consistently strong but underplayed. Took me a good while to get past their learning curve but I'm glad I did. **But most importantly, I just enjoyed playing them. **

Melee FormMay 20, 20152 votes

Find a champion that you enjoy playing and feel comfortable on. A champion that you have a lot of knowledge about and (very important) can develop a sense of your limits on that champion. You need to know what to do in different situations and have a feel of how much damage you can do.

Icestar1186May 20, 20152 votes

The first champion I really liked playing was Sion. The old Sion. Eventually I realized that the old Sion sucked, so I looked for better champions with a similar playstyle. I really liked tanks and bruisers (and Heimerdinger, for some reason), so I cycled through a few champions (Old Sion, Warwick, Heimer, Riven, etc) and ended up playing top a lot with Darius and Wukong as my mains. I also decided to learn Sejuani, to have jungle as another role. Basically, I tried everything until I found champions I liked to play.

I eventually stopped liking the early-game bruisers (possibly because I hadn't learned to counter Teemo yet). Now, I play Sejuani, Gragas, Maokai, and Heimerdinger on a regular basis, and I would say that they make the core of my champion pool.

StoningtonMay 20, 20152 votes

Magic Spinners.

http://24.media.tumblr.com/8d1b46e9b64d9f33429ed1781af09838/tumblr_n0tj2j9lKX1sm3pj0o1_500.png

KotexMay 20, 20151 votes

I'm not a personal believer of anything being "Out of meta." Every champion can played well, every champion can win if played right, every champion has it's strengths and weaknesses. For example: Sejuani was always a strong champion all stages of the game, she just wasn't popular until recently, but was a strong tier pick. Some champions work better than others for certain compositions, yea, but theyre all viable when you know how to use them--play their strengths and work around their weaknesses. It also comes down to your teammates playing with and around how a champion is meant to be played. Alot of people don't understand that and think a champion is bad because they don't know how to truly use it, or how the team is supposed to work with it.

But i digress. As for maining a champion, just find one that you feel you play well, and enjoy playing. It helps to first find a role you like to play the most and find a champion of that role you enjoy playing. I main ADC, and Corki is my top pick when i play it. I just discovered i enjoy playing ADC the most of any role, and i felt Corki was the champion i personally did best on. I like playing him too. You can also have go to champions to main for other roles when you have to play them.

Finding your main(s) just comes with time, and lots of playing. Eventually you'll get a feeling that just clicks with you.

DreadlocksMay 20, 20151 votes

What ever one you love to play.

MoussetracksMay 20, 20151 votes

Step 1; Find the champion that you find fun, and awesome, and probably with more than a couple ways to build depending on the situation of the game.

Step 2; Practice.

Step 3; Main.

In S3 I was a Fiddlesticks mid main. Was it conventional? Not really, but I had fun with him, got fairly good at him, and I think it threw a lot of people off too. Got me almost to plat ^^

CelosarMay 20, 20151 votes

I think a champion is to narrow because what if you don't get your lane/role? You're just SoL. Main a role or a type. I love assassins because I like combo's. This translates well into champions like Renekton and the like that have a combo of sorts.

Go with that IMO.

MarthianMay 20, 20151 votes

Main a role or a type. what if you don't get your lane/role?

Those statements are pretty contradictory. You definitely should know how to do each role/lane if you don't get your main role/lane. You should definitely learn multiple champions for your main role, but nothing wrong with a preferred main champion. And even for other roles you don't do, you should be flexible there too (Top is arguably my worst lane but I've gone Ryze and Garen top to counter Nasus and Riven.)

CelosarMay 20, 20151 votes

Touche. I was trying to say don't main a champion because if you main Lux and don't get support or mid you're going to fuck your team because you play her 95/100 games. It's better to main mages or assassins, or tanks, or mid, or w/e and be comfortable knowing what you're supposed to do to help your team win than just playing Zed no matter where you end up.

MarthianMay 20, 20152 votes

I don't think having a main champion that you like to play is bad. It's just that if that's all you play and can't play anything else well, then that's definitely problematic. I main Miss Fortune as an ADC and while she isn't considered for a ban (or pick) I sometimes pick other ADCs if I would end up in a bad matchup against bot lane.

CelosarMay 20, 20151 votes

I agree. I just don't think having a main champion is worth it. Granted, there are some champions that don't have hard counters that you could probably main but I still think it's better to just have a pool of 20 or so champions that you can, at any given moment, play to a high degree of competency.

Khell DarkWolfMay 20, 20151 votes

Part of it is, finding your main is your consistency with that champion/role.

Sometimes you stumble upon it, other times you force yourself.

What you have to ask yourself is:

1 - Do I have alot of knowledge on how to play this champion/role, especially its match ups? 2 - Do I feel comfortable playing it or come naturally? 3 - Am I pulling off wins or close games?

There are weird times that you'll come across playing certain champions that you just don't like, but you're a good player with them because you understand them and feel comfortable with.

Then there is the other spectrum that you know how to play certain champions (maybe you even mained it before) but for whatever reason in the current season patches you just can't make it work well to win games but you love playing them (which is probably telling you that you may need to move on to a different champion).

MarthianMay 20, 20151 votes

It is really up to the person. I tend to pick mains based on popularity (tend to pick less popular champions) and/or interest to me (My first support main was Soraka in a time of Thresh/Leona support meta, and my first adc main was Tristana. Both were before the time people realized they were both OP and got reworked.) I like Shyvana because she's a mother-trucking half-dragon and there's not a single thing I don't like about that concept. I did play Jinx for awhile when she released because I like her character (and honestly, she feels pretty satisfying to play.)

Playing something that isn't part of the meta can also stir things up (For some reason when I started maining Miss Fortune, despite a few naysayers, she got me to Gold 5 and I'm still sitting at a ~60% win rate with her. She isn't really a meta pick, but still strong nonetheless.)

lofi n chillhopMay 20, 20151 votes

is there a role you enjoy playing?

do you have strengths that you recognize?

is there a part of the game you're passionate about?

is there a champ you absolutely love playing?

for me, I played sup since i was level 9 I think. I tried out janna and really enjoyed her, and one time i accidentally picked sona thinking it was janna (they were both FTP that week) and enjoyed her just as much xD and everyone told me to go bot and well eventually i figured out apparantly i was picking sup roles, and figured out ways to be a good sup....

but eventually i got really frustrated because i could never "carry" games and so i found myself in a spot like you for awhile, playing every role and never settling on a champ...

one thing I believe I'm good at is "decisions" such as when to initiate a fight and when to back away, or whether to go for baron or contest dragon and when not. I certainly lack at it compared to what I could be, like for a while i never pushed to end the game when i should have xD but it's something that I always am paying attention to, so it's something I'm naturally gonna get better at faster than other aspects of the game. so this would tell me to play champs that initiate, or champs that disengage... champs with cc over damage.

for a while I tried to main ADC but the thing is, I am so frustrated by constantly having to watch my position. if i misclick I don't do damage or walk right up to an enemy tank or assassin and squish I'm dead. lol...

so when it's down to it, my champs that are good candidates to main are sup champs and/or tank champs... I'm still very unfocused tho. I usually have a list of like ten champs that I'm "maining" which well... that's not "maining" is it xD

DanofDemaciaMay 20, 20151 votes

{quoted}

is there a role you enjoy playing?

do you have strengths that you recognize?

is there a part of the game you're passionate about?

is there a champ you absolutely love playing?

for me, I played sup since i was level 9 I think. I tried out janna and really enjoyed her, and one time i accidentally picked sona thinking it was janna (they were both FTP that week) and enjoyed her just as much xD and everyone told me to go bot and well eventually i figured out apparantly i was picking sup roles, and figured out ways to be a good sup....

but eventually i got really frustrated because i could never "carry" games and so i found myself in a spot like you for awhile, playing every role and never settling on a champ...

one thing I believe I'm good at is "decisions" such as when to initiate a fight and when to back away, or whether to go for baron or contest dragon and when not. I certainly lack at it compared to what I could be, like for a while i never pushed to end the game when i should have xD but it's something that I always am paying attention to, so it's something I'm naturally gonna get better at faster than other aspects of the game. so this would tell me to play champs that initiate, or champs that disengage... champs with cc over damage.

for a while I tried to main ADC but the thing is, I am so frustrated by constantly having to watch my position. if i misclick I don't do damage or walk right up to an enemy tank or assassin and squish I'm dead. lol...

so when it's down to it, my champs that are good candidates to main are sup champs and/or tank champs... I'm still very unfocused tho. I usually have a list of like ten champs that I'm "maining" which well... that's not "maining" is it xD

My favorite role is mid and I'm my only real strength is map awareness and knowing when to back off I never get greedy or over push ( why does no one seem to have these two things.)

lofi n chillhopMay 23, 20151 votes

you might want to play strong poke champs like ziggs or xerath then, or lux. or heim even... champs whos kit allow good objective control. focus on out farming your opponents, and preventing them from having successful roams. when a tower is under siege you can clear wave or poke the enemies enough that they back off, or if your team is sieging you poke them so much they can't afford to defend tower. same at dragon or baron fights. some of these champs (zerath, ziggs, lux) can use their ult to "roam" without spending too much time doing so as well, which can give them a big advantage (they can be present in lane more this way, giving them an exp and gold advantage)

SleepyLionCubMay 20, 20151 votes

Well. When I'm trying to find a new champion to play. I usually pick the champion that I have the most trouble going against.

The Bard DogMay 20, 20151 votes

you just see champions you really like and spam them.

i main nami, bard, lux, darius, velkoz, and shyvana. just champions whose kits are really fun to me.

4nth0l0gyMay 20, 20151 votes

I watched. A lot. I looked on while my friends played, and i read a lot of lore. if I saw a champion that looked or sounded cool, I'd try them out. Doing that, I figured out what kind of playstyle I liked, and focused on learning champions that fit it. I knew I wanted to be a jungler early, so I figured out which champions excelled there (at the time, Rammus Udyr Shyvana Maokai JarvanIV Nocturne were all fairly popular), so I learned them first, then I branched out ( Nautilus and Kayle both appealed to me and could jungle, Swain was a tanky mage which piqued my interest and led me to try midlane, I then tried out other roles like KogMaw adc and Leona support).

It can be very gradual. You may find a main right away, like I did with Udyr / Rammus , or you might find one later on that you like, as I did with RekSai / MasterYi , or you may play one, not like him so much, then return to him later, as I did with Maokai / Nocturne / Hecarim .

And try not to worry about the meta too much. I completely skipped the OP Alistar jungle craze because I was busy figuring out other junglers at the time. A chaMP that you like and feel comfortable on will do you vastly more good than a champ that's OP in the meta.

BlazeLegacyMay 20, 20151 votes

Since they added Champion Mastery. it made me more aware of using the same champion for goal purpose GET TO LEVEL 5 IMMEDIATELY!

Vistha KaiMay 20, 20151 votes

How I did this:

Went to LoL wikia on the main page with all champion icon
Chose all champion icons that I found interesting and opened them in the new tab
Read the page in this order: visuals -> lore -> abilities
Fell in love with and play her ever since.

It's been 3 years ago.

Dr PoroMay 20, 20151 votes

Syndra is released 2 years and 8 months ago.

Vistha KaiMay 20, 20151 votes

Practically I started playing her in 2012 and we have 2015.

lDontLiftIcarryMay 20, 20151 votes

I play eve cause I q and they QQ. no but seriously. Just a fun champion all around. popping out of stealth into weaving in and out of skillshots while qing is nice.

the rework wasn't too bad. her new ult is pretty shitty for anything besides bruiser build. Round peg-square hole with the rework basically.

Too bad they gutted her kit. dfg R eve was pretty fun So was dfg+lichbane She's so weak. I still make her work, but she's just so weak that some games I have to wonder what justified nerfing her over a lee sin etc. Idk, riots just so douchey to champions that aren't some flashy bullshit. edit: lmfao magic spinner

RaiseYourBortlesMay 20, 20151 votes

I played every champion once or twice and if i liked them i'd play like 5 more games, the only champs who hadn't bored me to death after 7 games were Zed and Rengar

so that's how i choose, but you know...that takes a while.

GuardDXMay 20, 20151 votes

CAN'T CARRY WITH LUX?!?!?!?! I carried as Lux support!

http://matchhistory.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/#match-details/NA1/1829049228/33143138?tab=overview

DanofDemaciaMay 20, 20151 votes

{quoted}

CAN'T CARRY WITH LUX?!?!?!?! I carried as Lux support!

http://matchhistory.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/#match-details/NA1/1829049228/33143138?tab=overview

Brah like its the same for me i can only carry with lux support but lux mid just bleh. But lux support is either get super fed or useless.

GuardDXMay 20, 20151 votes

Hmmm, I dunno, I hardly ever play her mid, but I seem to do fine, maybe you're just trying to do too much too early?

DanofDemaciaMay 20, 20151 votes

{quoted}

Hmmm, I dunno, I hardly ever play her mid, but I seem to do fine, maybe you're just trying to do too much too early?

Well since I usually fight assassins so I play passive but u can't really apply pressure so they just roam.

GuardDXMay 20, 20151 votes

{quoted}

Well since I usually fight assassins so I play passive but u can't really apply pressure so they just roam.

Are you playing ranked or normals? When I play ranked I try not to pick easily countered champs unless I know who I'm up against, if it's normals it just gives you more opportunity to practice, sometimes I'll try switching up rune pages and build order to see what makes a difference.

DanofDemaciaMay 20, 20151 votes

{quoted}

Are you playing ranked or normals? When I play ranked I try not to pick easily countered champs unless I know who I'm up against, if it's normals it just gives you more opportunity to practice, sometimes I'll try switching up rune pages and build order to see what makes a difference.

Normals I made it so silver 5 then stopped cuz I get to nervous and really need to work on my csing so I'm practicing for ranked

GuardDXMay 20, 20151 votes

Gotcha, maybe try making a rune page that's slightly more defensive so you can't get 100-0, bot other than that it's all about landing the skill shots, some match-ups you just can't win and you gotta focus on getting to mid game.

gafrattMay 20, 20151 votes

Main doesn't need to mean anything. Play whoever you're good at and try to have fun.

Solidair3May 20, 20151 votes

Just play everyone until you find the champ that clicks with you. The right kit and thematic that makes you go "yeah, this champ is really rad and works for me"

For me it was as easy as playing my first game and going "holy shit this guy fights with cards and magic and shit I love him" TwistedFate