The Best Champions for Beginners in League of Legends

With more than 140 unique champions to pick from, finding one that’s right for you is a matter of trial and error. However, having to go through hundreds of champions just to get started in League of Legends might seem like too much work for a lot of players.

Luckily, you’ll find plenty of beginner champions meant to help you teach you the basics of the game, all while letting you deal some serious damage to your opponents.

Here’s our picks of the best starter champions for each role in League of Legends.

Best starter champions for top lane

When starting in League of Legends, you’ll most likely be spending most of your time in Summoner’s Rift. Here, two teams fight against each other to destroy the enemy inhibitor and win the game.

It’s a battle of tactics, wit and teamwork, with every player being assigned a key role for every position or lane.

Being assigned top means that your job is to advance the lane at the uppermost part of the map, pushing your opponent towards their base by destroying their turrets. As a top laner, you’ll be fighting most of the game on your own, so you’ll want to outsmart your opponent to get the advantage early on.

Garen

Garen is a tank, which means that he’s able to take a lot of damage before needing to retreat. Using his sword, he deals heavy blows to most opponents once he gets up close. Thanks to his healing ability and excellent health, he’s great for learning the basics of playing on the top lane, since you won’t need to recall to the base as often.

Against opponents with ranged attacks, Garen finds himself struggling to be as efficient, as he is more easily kept at bay from afar. Should you get caught off-guard, either from your opponent or an enemy teammate, stick close to the turret and wait for help, as this should keep you from being attacked most of the time.

Nasus

Much like Garen, Nasus relies on his ability to get close to his opponents in order to deal damage. To make full use of his strengths, you’ll want to get familiar with last-hitting minions. Last-hitting minions basically means that you're the last one to hit a minion in order to earn extra gold. For Nasus, last-hitting minions with his Siphoning Strike means that his next attack becomes stronger as he continues to kill minions or enemies with it.

However, every time Nasus uses one of his abilities, he’ll lose mana. Mana is a resource necessary to use abilities for some champions, and just like health, you’ll have to wait for it to refill or go back to base to speed up the process.

Best starter champions for jungle

Among the trees, the jungler reigns supreme. Focused on killing monsters that spawn within to grow in strength, the role of the jungler is to support his teammates by ambushing enemies and catching them off-guard. This is also known as ganking. As the jungler, you’ll want to coordinate ambushes with your teammates to deal as much damage as possible.

Volibear

Having strengths in both defense and offense, Volibear excels in the jungle. Much like Garen, his passive ability allows him to heal once his health drops below a certain level. He’s adept at taking enemies by surprise with an array of abilities to stun, slow and damage his targets once he decides to attack. With his ability, Rolling Thunder, Volibear sprints his way to his target, throwing his enemy backwards once he reaches them. This is especially great for chasing down fleeing enemies during ganks.

Rammus

With great protection from fire thanks to his health and armor, Rammus is incredibly tough and knows how to take a beating. Rolled up into a spiked powerball, Rammus rushes towards his opponents, dealing damage and slowing targets in his way. If caught in a crossfire, he can go into his defensive formation, greatly decreasing incoming damage while being able to retreat to safety.

Best starter mid-lane champion

At the center of the Field of Justice, the mid-laner fights for superiority. With help from the jungler, the aim is to push back the opponent as quickly as possible, all while making sure not to get caught in ambushes. Playing on the middle lane will have you pressuring your enemy until they make a mistake for you to exploit.

Annie

With her ranged attacks and vicious teddy bear, Annie poses a genuine threat to most opponents. While she does require a certain amount of planning in her attacks, she deals great amounts of damage to whoever she targets. Accompanied by her teddy, Tibbers, Annie is never alone in the fight, as she is able to will the bear to life to fight alongside her. On her own, Annie uses fiery spells to tear down her opponents, pressuring them backwards.

Morgana

Another ranged champion, Morgana poses a threat to anyone in her sights. Able to control the fight from afar, she can be a valuable annoyance to the enemy team as she stuns, slows and damages enemies to great effect. She is especially effective when faced off against the enemy team during team fights.

Once the match goes into the later stages, you’ll want to stick to your team as much as possible to maximize her usefulness.

Best starting champion for bot-lane ADC

The AD-carry, or ADC, is meant to deal damage – a lot of damage. With their relative low amount of health, players will have to rely purely on their damage output. Generally, this means attacking from safety behind your team, as one-on-one fights against tougher opponents usually won’t go in their favor.

Caitlyn

Caitlyn has one of the longest ranges in the game, allowing her to fight off foes from great distances. She has a simple set of abilities, that allow you to focus on learning the mechanics of playing with a ranged champion as ADC. With her strength however, you’ll be a constant target for the enemy team, as they’ll want to remove you from the fight as much as possible.

Ashe

Using her bow to wear down opponents, Ashe controls team fights while putting pressure on enemies at range. Like Caitlyn, Ashe is at her most dangerous from distance, at the back of the fight. You’ll want to position her away from melee attackers, keeping her sights set on slowing and damaging opponents with her Enchanted Crystal Arrow.

Best starting champion for supporting bot-lane

The role of the support is to keep their teammates alive during fights. For the most part, their focus will be on keeping their ADC out of harms way as they team up to advance the bottom lane by destroying enemy turrets. That is not to say that supporting champions don’t deal damage – some even specialize in harassing opponents with powerful attacks.

Soraka

Able to both deal damage and heal her allies, Soraka is one of the most used support champions for a reason. Versatile, easy to understand and extremely effective during team fights, she should never be underestimated by anyone. Players looking to try out Soraka should focus on staying around the outskirts of all battles, using her heals and damage abilities to tip the tide of battle in her favor.

Leona

Leona is perfect for players looking for a support champion that’s able to take a beating while dealing some damage. Whether starting the fight or ending it, she is able to sustain teammates all while fending for herself in most situations.

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