When To Know When To Pick A Certain Champ?

Cheese Farts·12/20/2014, 5:12:53 PM·1 votes·2,547 views

Hello,

I am having trouble knowing when to pick one of my midlane champs other the others. I want to get good at Orianna, Xerath, Malzahar, and Kassadin. Out of these guys I have no idea when to pick one over the other. I feel like knowing which team comp is best for each one would be nice but I am not sure about that either. Any information on this would be awesome! For ranked and normals if it matters.

I also think I should find an AD mid too. I am OK at Jayce, bad at Zed and Talon, decent with Pantheon(can he go mid?). Is it worth buckling down and learning Zed or Talon or do you guys have any other good ad mids I can try out? Thanks!!!

6 Comments

youngjake9312/20/2014, 5:24:07 PM3 votes

Orianna offers the most utility, Xerath offers most back-line poke, Malzahar is best at dueling/tank-busting/lane winning and Kassadin is best at late-game hyper-carrying. So if your team has enough single-target damage already pick up Orianna. If your team offers enough disengage to protect Xerath, then he could be worthwhile. If the enemy team is tons of tanks or is a bad teamfight comp/you really need to stifle your lane opponent in lane phase, Malz can do well. If your team lacks late-game damage/maybe the enemy team doesn't have a lot of CC, Kassadin can do a lot for you.

Really though, most of the time people are so much better at one champion than the other that picking based on comps may not be worth it, especially in solo queue. Picking based on the enemy comp might be worth it though, like how Orianna is good against engage and Xerath is bad against it so if you see a Wu Kong on the enemy team you might want Orianna.

Pantheon can go mid against anyone, but I only really pick him into Yasuo. His kit is much stronger against auto attacking champions which are usually normally top lane.

Orangutanguin12/20/2014, 8:01:28 PM1 votes

Assuming you're equally skilled at every single Champion you own, I'd say, Heck yeah man, go for playing these champions based on composition. However- that understanding of what is good against who also requires a decent working knowledge of what you're playing against, and who you're playing as---which you'll come to that conclusion on your own.

Instead, I would like to push you to learn two or three of those champions and get really good at them--and then build a foundation of champions that you can play other than those around those. Kassadin is a little out of place right now--he's an assassin, and he can be difficult to play if your positioning is bad.

I would suggest starting with Malzahar as he is a great laner, and will force you to learn positioning as he has no escapes, some CC and some decent damage. Similarly, early game, you will have to learn Mana Management as he does not start with a lot (assuming you do not use your E to farm, and even then, it's not wholly useful until you have an item or two).

Also, Zed is a fantastic option. He's pretty far up there in terms of picks right now, so I would certainly suggest it. Though, often, you should strive to get an AP mid, and this is due to the fact that too much AD on one team IS a thing, and it could lead to a loss if the enemy team counter builds you.

As always, Good luck and have fun!

-Cap'n Crayon

BrnxSpecks12/21/2014, 1:22:25 AM1 votes

Hey man, Knowing when to pick certain champions for your lane and team comp is important but you also should make sure you know how to play those champions or else playing a champion in ranked that you are not comfortable with would be a waste of time. You learn match ups through experience and informing yourself about the champion you are playing, what your champ can do and what the enemy champ you are facing can do (strengths weaknesses). If you don't want to play until you learn most match ups its a lot easier to just youtube the match up you are playing.

As for team comps when you are in ranked if you are first pick its harder to choose so you can first pick another teammates champion and just look at what champs your team has ( ie poke, tank, burst, wombo, combo...etc) and what the enemy team has and how you can counter their champs with your pick.

I hope this helped and trust me if you want to improve you will. You gotta want it tho its that simple :P GLHF

Cygnuss12/22/2014, 3:45:02 AM1 votes

I can't give much advice about the others but I have played a lot of Orianna in my day so I can offer a good bit. Ori is about the safest laner in the game next to ziggs and syndra she is good to play when you are unsure of a match up because you can passively farm up.

The Times when you want to avoid playing her like the plague

against a poke and AOE champ will follow up. Champs like ziggs syndra karthus ziggs will poke you down because of your low mobility shields wont be enough Syndra Karthus...ect once again sheilds will not be enough they will use their aoe and widdle you down.

Times when she is good She is really good against melee champs that like to push lane because they play right into her style of sitting at tower and farming. She can go against champs like Zed Fizz Talon because she can not only poke them but farm at the same time since they have to walk up to the wave to cs.

They Keys to Success Become really good at farming dont rely on kills to supply you with gold aim to always have a cs lead on your opponent

When you do go for a Q W combo try to sneek in auto attacks those are an important part of her harass.

Ball postioning: If you ever heard the LCS guys talk about ori its all about positioning the ball when you combo alot of the time sitting with it on you will not work remember the ball just doesn't move up and down the lane it moves side to side. Position it at the side of the wave and when the opposing laner goes to cs move it through them not on to them move it just past them so when the try to juke it it will continue to move where ever they are going then w to slow sneak an auto.

Shock Waves They are the most fun thing about her but yet the hardest. its ok to use it on one person if you are guaranteed a kill but in team fights the position of it means everything. using other teammates as a tool to move the ball is a good practice. If you have a champ on your theam that dives into the other team like Vi Alistar Maoki sheild them and when they go in you should be in a good spot to shock wave. If done properly you get the good old CLG ball delivery system https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2agcdUd2Yc Dont be afraid to hold the shock wave till mid fight if you don't get a good position on one its better to wait a bit and pull off a 2-5 man shockwave then look like a moron hitting nobody.

When to pick based on your team You have a tank that can eat up dmg and peel for your team. remember she has no disengage or engage except for her ult and that relies on positioning of your team or their team.