How many champs to main...Help!

Jackal714·Oct 2, 2017·2 votes·9,835 views

Hi, I'm currently trying to figure out how many champions I should "main" or play well before hopping into ranked. I'm thinking that for my main role, mid, I'm going to play 4-6 champs ( , , , and , but I'm not sure on who else; I don't really play assassins), and for my secondary role, support, I'm going to play 3-4 ( , , and as of now). Is this a good amount of champions for me to learn? Thanks in advance, and any other champs you think I should try based on what I play would be great!

15 Comments

RiotRiot SotereOct 2, 20178 votes

That's a pretty good list. Think you could narrow your picks down by 1 in each role and still be fine.

The other thing that strikes me about your selections is those are quite difficult champions. It takes a lot of games to master Azir and Anivia, for instance. I might primarily focus on one of those champions and then fill the rest of your roster up with champions that are easier to learn.

Jackal714Oct 2, 20171 votes

Yeah I intend to wait for a long time and practice with those champs like Anivia and Azir . To me, they just seem they're really fun and when I do learn them well, can be used to a much higher level than a champion like Annie who is more simplistic. Trust me, I know Azir is gonna be long a hard road, but we gotta rebuild Shurima somehow, right?

scribbles782Oct 3, 20171 votes

[{quoted}](name=Riot Sotere,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=vehQIXA3,comment-id=0002,timestamp=2017-10-02T21:22:41.627+0000)

That's a pretty good list. Think you could narrow your picks down by 1 in each role and still be fine.

The other thing that strikes me about your selections is those are quite difficult champions. It takes a lot of games to master Azir and Anivia, for instance. I might primarily focus on one of those champions and then fill the rest of your roster up with champions that are easier to learn.

Ur a Riot member brah...

The true response is "Hell, main all of them! In fact, go to your nearest 7/11 and spend hundreds of dollars on RP and buy all of the champs now!"

Basic money whoring bro [slayer-jinx-wink]

Jackal714Oct 3, 20171 votes

Hey, maybe its the rare case of a company employee not shamelessly advertising at every turn and actually trying to help their player base! What a rare occurrence!

[sg-kiko]

scribbles782Oct 3, 20171 votes

{quoted}

Hey, maybe its the rare case of a company employee not shamelessly advertising at every turn and actually trying to help their player base! What a rare occurrence!

[sg-kiko]

[sg-miss-fortune] HAH! Thats a good one! Oh wait you're serious... xD

UnboundHadesOct 2, 20172 votes

5 champs is a good place to start to know really well and another 5-10 as back up if they get banned but your pool so far is decent you just need to pick up a top laner and adc and your good

Jackal714Oct 2, 20171 votes

Ok, thanks! I currently play Kayle top and am going to learn RekSai jungle. As far as ADC goes, I might learn either MissFortune or Jinx

DeathBurstOct 3, 20171 votes

You don't really need to. It's nice to have at least a basic understanding of all roles, to understand your team-mates during a game, but you don't need to actually learn deeply a champ for the roles you don't intend to play.

Jackal714Oct 3, 20171 votes

I agree with what you're saying, I just have those champs in case of autofill (also I got Aether Wing Kayle from a chest and with the new supposed Kayle full rework, its gonna be epic!)

[sg-miss-fortune]

DeathBurstOct 3, 20171 votes

Honestly, don't listen to the nay-sayers and just dive into Ranked right away. Doesn't matter if you're not "good", what's the worse that could happen? You'd be Ranked Bronze, and there's no shame about it.

Now, about the real question of how many champs to main, 4-6 is already a lot, 2-3 is much safer/more efficient, and you really don't need more than that unless they're all super popular and never available.

Regarding your specific list: Ziggs and Velkoz are good ideas, similar so easier to learn together, but at the same time with different unique strengths (Velkoz is better against Tanks, Ziggs better to destroy turrets), and Anivia is difficult to master but with a high potential, so it's a nice champion to main. I'd suggest avoiding Azir, because he's a very "unstable" champion: lots of changes quite regularly, and can go in and out of meta super quickly, plus he just spent months in a row at an abysmal winrate. At least wait a couple months to see how the last rework settle down.

And for Sup, your 3 champs are great, but I'd suggest maining either Blitz or Rakan, not both, and use the last spot for a healer such as Sona/Nami/Soraka. That would give you more flexibility. But honestly, it's probably overkill for just a secondary role, you'd be fine with just Braum ;) (And even if Braum happens to be banned just the game where you're Support, you can always use one of your Mid Mages in a pinch. For real. Please just buy a gold item and a Sightstone.)

Jackal714Oct 3, 20171 votes

I'm probably going to jump to ranked as Season 8 starts; I joined league when Xayah and Rakan were announced.

As far as mid is concerned, as you said, I'll probably stick with Ziggs, Vel'Koz and Anivia for now. However, I'm probably not going to give up on Azir, as that's the champ that made me say, "Ok, I'm joining League." He just seems like a champ that clicks to me, but I'm gonna be hesitant to play him (again, as you said, Azir's in a weird place right now).

For support, I think I'm gonna learn Nami or Sona as well due to them being healers while still being active in the game (I fell like as Soraka you have to take a back seat). I really chose the 3 supports above for the reasone that you can make plays as them and not just sit back and heal, which I feel like I'm just going to be doing as a Soraka.

Overall, thank you for your feedback and input!

DeathBurstOct 3, 20171 votes

Just FYI, when you start Ranked the very first time, the system consider you're roughly Silver3, and then moves you up or down depending on your results. Whereas on Season reset, it still partially takes into account your old rating, it's a "soft" reset. So if you think your actual skill level is very far from Silver3, either way, it might be a good idea to start playing Ranked during pre-Season, just to get it to a more accurate level before the real season start, because even with the best match-making, it still takes a bit of time for your MMR to be properly evaluated.

Alternatively, you can try to start right now and snag the Silver Loading Screen Border for next season :p Because when you virtually start in Silver3, it's hard to "demote" all the way down to Bronze in just 10 Placement Games, so most people who finish their placements for the first time end up in Silver5 or something, even when they actually have a Bronze level. As I said, estimating someone's MMR takes a bit of time... (I'm half-joking, but if you like the "collector" side, at least you'll be able to say "I was here in Season 7" ;) )

For Supports, I happen to be a Sona main, and I have to warn you, she's mostly a heal bot too. Some people build her with Tear/Lichbane/Ludens and try to burst squishies, but that's honestly a terrible idea. A good Sona will poke a lot in lane, but past laning phase, it's a mistake to move up that close to the enemy team, so you can't abuse your Lichbane, and you end up with a dead item in your inventory. In the end, it's much better to build as a pure utility Support. I do love the champ, and she's pretty accessible on the mechanics side of thing, but if you hope to make big plays, Nami is better. Sona wins through lane pressure, extensive vision, and proper map rotations, plus proper positioning and staying safe in team-fights and spamming that heal + 5-man-shield, it's deep strategically but it's not flashy.

Jackal714Oct 3, 20171 votes

Yeah, I'm leaning more towards Nami myself and, seeing as you know a bit about Braum, am gonna try to learn a bit more about him and his strategies. As for ranked, I'm probably, as you said, going to go play during the preseason but I'm also going to want to hold off on that until I feel confident in my skills as a player. Also, my schedule is really hectic right now so doing ranked isn't one of my top priorities.

You’re right about the loading screen borders, but tbh I’d rather have no border for season 7 and later get something maybe like a gold border later for season 8. Also I don’t have enough champs to play ranked yet, so that probably an issue ...

DeathBurstOct 3, 20171 votes