"I want to try ranked-who should I try to learn well?"
I pride myself in one thing: I hate freaking ranked mode. But I like swag, and free skins. So my entire strategy revolves around smashing through silver as fast as I can every season, getting to Gold V and then going back to normals ARAM and team builder.
So I'm not a Diamond level player. I'm not much better than you, random silver/bronze Schmoe. So I'm not gonna tell you "duh just pick Lee Sin 1v5 outplay and carry erry time gg". No. I'm gonna tell you how to get super unfair advantages without having to be very good. I'm going to tell you how to win more often, not how to win every time if you're 3 leagues ahead of everyone in skill. This is a guide for the guy who just wants to get back to the game modes without the Super Srs MLG Gamerz with his border and free skin.
Part 1: what is actually strong in Soloqueue-A Tier List
Metaknight Tier: AOE Hard CC That's Hard to Screw Up
Here's the thing. People in soloQ are freaking dumb , disorganized and nobody buys wards. AOEs are way more likely to hit, and your own derpy teammates are more likely to not die if the enemy can't do anything. That's why GALIO IS ACTUALLY A GOOD CHAMPION. So, if a champ has some derpeasy AOE hard cc, take a closer look at em.
Tier 1: Hard to screw up AOEs and Hard CC (separate from each other)
Same reasons as before, slightly less potent due to not being together.
Tier 2: Damage, safety (mobility or otherwise)
Damage is not higher than this because champs with damage and no cc almost always lose out to cc and less damage in soloQ. That Leblanc jumps in with all her damage and guess what, Rammus clicked on her. Now she's dead because she got within 300 units of Rammus. This isn't to say damage isn't important-Taric is pretty freaking hard to play with-but it's secondary to utility in solo Q. Same with mobility. Lee Sin is awesome and flashy but he can Derp his skills, misclick his ulti, screw up his ganks. Nautilus clicks R on someone without a whole bunch of people in the way, and they're getting CCed for several seconds, zero skill needed. Always works.
Part 2: Star Champs to Look Out For In Each Role
Top: Jarvan, Lissandra, Maokai
Why? All of them have hard to screw up CC, safety, damage + mobility to punish stupidity, and they all fill a different role. If you know all 3, you can be sure your team does not miss out on an important role composition wise.
Mid: Heimerdinger, Ziggs, Anivia, Ahri
Heimerdinger may be one of the best champs for solo Q in the entire game. Nobody knows how to play against him and he's incredibly hard to screw up. He has utility, damage and huge safety. Ziggs is in the same boat plus he brings great global presence. Anivia in the hands of someone who knows how to use her can become a god, but since she's not a huge lane bully like the previous two she's less potent-but the fall of mid lane silencing assassins did huge things for the bird. Ahri and katarina are the only assassins I'd consider for soloQ and Ahri has safety and cc on Kat. Malzahar gets an honorable mention but his ult is too widely countered
ADC: Corki, Graves, Caitlyn, Jinx
Safe. AOEs. Good at punishing misplays, good at kiting. These are the clear winners for soloQ.
Support: Thresh, Leona, Velkoz, Annie
This is the one role I value damage over CC/Safety. A great amount of players can't play support in low Elo so playing champs that can demolish them early can give you great success. Blitz has an honorable mention because if you are good at him you can absolutely explode people and win super hard, but if you don't know him it's as rough as playing Taric.
Jungle: Jarvan, Rek'sai, Sejuani, Amumu
Tanky mobile AOE CC machines with half decent damage. Vi is also ok but not quite as solid as these four because she only blows up one person instead of locking down 3-5 and she isn't as great built tanky.
