New to Ranked, Looking for Champion Advice

Vytelus·Feb 19, 2015·2 votes·984 views

Hey everyone! I've just recently been ranked as Silver IV. As exciting as that is, playing ranked has made me realize that I still have a lot to learn about league in general. I was hoping to get some advice on what champions are viable at the moment, or to what extent you should worry about what's considered meta. Here are some of the champions I really like.

Now there's a lot of champions here I would not play in a ranked game given my current skill level with them, but I can do relatively well with them in normals. Which champions do you all think would be good for me to focus on getting to know better for ranked play? I mean to the point of setting up custom rune and mastery pages for them. Right now, I just have general runes and masteries.

Any other advice about ranked play in general is also appreciated. Thanks for the help!

30 Comments

hh the thinkerFeb 19, 20152 votes

you don't really need to over worry about meta too much, but playing meta champs can be good. ahri is strong right now mid anivia is ok, but I rarely see cass is strong ez is ok if you can land skill shots graves is strong right now in all ranks j4 is strong jungle and top, but is getting a nerf and will become ok kalista is strong right now in high elo, but not so strong low elo (if she works for you, you can use her) kat is getting nerfed, but she's ok right now Leona is ok maokai was strong, but I would say he's ok right now naut is ok ori is ok to strong Quinn is ok top (either weak or strong depending on the lane), but a bit weak as adc sej is ok jungle shy is ok top and jungle singed is ok top swain is ok mid talon is ok mid thresh is ok to strong (really depends on how you play him) vel is ok as mid or support. victor is ok mid. voli is ok, he can go top or jungle. WW is ok, but is dependant on your team a bit and even more so before level 6. he is mostly played jungle, but can be played top. zac is ok top and jungle, but you rarely see and others do what he does a bit better.

VytelusFeb 19, 20151 votes

Now that's what I call feedback! Thanks a lot!

hh the thinkerFeb 19, 20151 votes

{quoted}

Now that's what I call feedback! Thanks a lot!

remember, this will keep changing, and every champ can be ok, it really depends on the player in most cases. I mostly said what it is right now.

VytelusFeb 19, 20152 votes

Thanks for all the advice so far everyone, I appreciate it. Based on the feedback I got, I trimmed down my selection to:

Ahri Anivia Cassiopeia Ezreal Graves Jayce Katarina Leona Maokai Nautilus Orianna Shyvana Singed Swain Thresh Velkoz Viktor Volibear

I can already pretty reliably play:

Ahri Anivia Cassiopeia Katarina Maokai Orianna Singed Velkoz Viktor

So I still need to work on: Ezreal Graves Jayce Leona Nautilus Shyvana Swain Volibear

It's pretty clear that mid and top are my favorite lanes. I've played the other roles before, but I'm not too confident in my ability to do them ranked. Especially jungle, it's probably where I'm least experienced.

Related question: Is ADC Jayce viable, or should he stick to top?

VecuuFeb 20, 20151 votes

It sounds like you have the most experience in the mid lane.

Go play some normals and practice your other roles. Try to have one primary champ per role, with 2 backups.

VytelusFeb 20, 20151 votes

Yeah, you're absolutely right. Out of the champs I wanted to play, here are the ones that would work in the other roles.

Jungle: Jayce Nautilus Shyvana Singed Volibear

ADC: Ezreal Graves Jayce

Support: Leona Maokai Nautilus Orianna Singed Velkoz Volibear

Are there any champs that you guys think don't work in one of these roles? I'm not too sure on Singed Jungle or Jayce ADC. Singed Support might not be ideal either.

VecuuFeb 20, 20151 votes

The ones you have listed that are meta champions are:

jungle: naut/shyv/voli adc: ezreal/graves support: leona

Beyond that, anything can jungle with enough patience/practice, and you can get away with a lot of weird things assuming your team is okay with that. Velkoz is a passable off-meta support. Naut/Mao/Voli can do it too, but it's one of those things you should try to talk to your adc about in champion select before you do it. If it would make your adc rage, it's not worth it. That might sound like appeasing a cry-baby vs playing what you want, but, at the end of the day, nobody has fun when people rage, and they usually play worse because of it.

If you're not comfortable jungling, just say so. That still leaves you with 4/5 roles with champions.

At the end of the day, the trick is to have fun and to communicate with four strangers on the internet.

trexmixGFeb 19, 20151 votes

orianna is really good.

swain dominates solo q if you are good.

... dont play zac

VytelusFeb 19, 20151 votes

Thanks for the input.

Any specific reason I should avoid Zac right now?

trexmixGFeb 19, 20151 votes

hes just not that good right now.

His ganks arent great, his sustain is mediocre- he is outclassed by other champs in almost every aspect.

GaleWinUnleashedFeb 19, 20151 votes

Except no other champion has such a fun personality :)

trexmixGFeb 19, 20151 votes

and the skins!

do you want green zac, or purple zac ? lol

GaleWinUnleashedFeb 19, 20151 votes

Purple =P I bought that skin a week after he came out, because I was having so much fun with him. I'll almost certainly buy his next skin too.

VytelusFeb 19, 20151 votes

Whenever that may be, hahah.

The Ruin SageFeb 19, 20151 votes

he will never get another skin. or if he does we will have grown old and tired by then...some of us dead

VytelusFeb 19, 20151 votes

Even if that's the case, I'm sure plenty of us will still be playing League even in the nursing homes.

GaleWinUnleashedFeb 19, 20151 votes

I'm personally hoping for a Nanobot Zac. It would retain his amorphous nature and blob mechanics.

NIEKUHFeb 19, 20151 votes

[deleted]

The Ruin SageFeb 19, 20152 votes

reported

NIEKUHFeb 19, 20151 votes

suck it

GaleWinUnleashedFeb 19, 20151 votes

The key is to play a champion you enjoy playing. Greater skill and finesse will come through sheer experience, which is easier to acquire if you're having fun doing it. Don't ever feel pressured to play a champion just because it's the Flavor of the Month.

VytelusFeb 19, 20151 votes

Hahah, thanks. I would love to do that, but people have a habit of yelling at you for that. People typically question my choice of Anivia mid, but it's worked pretty well for me so far. Cheers.

trexmixGFeb 19, 20152 votes

anivia has such high burst and no one expects it, which makes her pretty damn viable.

VytelusFeb 19, 20151 votes

Q, E, R, W to trap does make most people sad. It's wonderful.

GaleWinUnleashedFeb 19, 20152 votes

Anivia's only problem is the assassin meta, combined with even worse mana problems than usual due to the new itemization. You go right ahead and keep playing her if it's fun for you.

StephenizgodFeb 19, 20151 votes

Any champion you can murder at least 3 members of their team with and survive... Right now it seems assassins or burst champions are the best for carrying yourself to higher ELO's, then once you are out of ELO slums (Its not quite ELO hell but its still bad) you can start to play champions that fit into team comps. Until you reach that point though, teamwork means pretty much nothing, its all how good you are at killing their team by yourself and what you do after killing their team.

Sorry if this is not helpful, i sincerely means this though. Its just how lower elo ranked is right now (i cant speak for higher elos since im still at garbage level ELO) its not hopeless if you can master a hyper-carry or assassin.

Talon, Sej, J4, Thresh, Ahri, Graves, Kat, Leona, and Warwick are all good for solo queue because they can hard carry themselves or whoever they lane with.

VytelusFeb 19, 20151 votes

Thanks man. Yeah, I've had a few games where being able to carry was crucial. Though it's beautiful when your team does coordinate!

BluePolarizerFeb 19, 20151 votes

Warwick isn't good in low elo because he farms slowly and needs his team to not feed in the mean time, is glass without items, and deals zero damage without items. When Warwick finally gets a devourer, it is meaningless when the other team's J4, Shaco or Lee Sin already wrecked every lane ganking since lvl 2.

Instead, I used Nocturne to get out of silver last season. Farms fast, average pre-6 ganks, incredible ganks post-6, doesn't need alot of items due to a monster 55 AD steroid, and dives carries more reliably than Warwick late game.

VytelusFeb 19, 20151 votes

Thanks for the insight. I have a friend who is really fond of Nocturne, so this gave him some motivation to practice him some more!

StephenizgodFeb 19, 20151 votes

Warwick is good because no one at low elo really knows how to handle him.