The Five Best Beginner Champions in League of Legends
League of Legends isn’t a young puppy anymore. Ten years have passed since the League of Legends hit the market and there’s no sign of slowing down, with new players hitting the scene every day and veterans of the game returning out of nostalgia or to take advantage of recent updates.
League of Legends offers a vast MOBA journey for newbies, and it's not exactly a simple, linear trek. Fortunately, League of legends opens up with basic training, giving you the opportunity to get a feel for the game’s various dynamics.
On the flip side, League of Legends offers a lot of playable characters and it takes time to learn how to play each one. The learning curve is steeper when you’re figuring out how to play against them. The easiest path is the one with the best, starting characters.
How Does League of Legends Work?
It's not enough to know how each character functions if you don’t understand their role within each map and the overall objective. League of Legends is an online battle arena game and the primary goal in each map is to wipe out the opponent’s nexus.
Your nexus and the opponent’s nexus will continuously vomit out “minions” who advance toward you and, ultimately, your nexus. Now, there’s a lot that goes on outside of charging the opponent’s nexus, but that’s the crux of the game.
Die and you respawn at your nexus and have to push through again. Each champion has their own set of unique abilities but, more importantly, they each have a role within the team. You can either contribute to a well-oiled machine or you’ll end up being a hindrance.
As you advance and continue to survive, you will level up within the match, gaining new abilities and essentially strengthening your role and position within the team. These roles, conveniently, are divided into five categories.
- Top-Laner (Top)
- Mid-Laner (Mid)
- Attack Damage Carry (ADC)
- Bottom Lane (Bot)
- Support
Whichever role you play, it's important to use a Champion suited to that role. So, that means our little list here will have the five best champions for beginners, arranged in terms of role. That way, you’re covered no matter where you decide to start.
Shyvana The Half-Dragon
Shyvana is a bit of a versatile character and probably the most complicated (in terms of strategy) beginner character. That’s because you can build her in a way that’s beneficial to more than one role.
Her DPS is very good as a beginner character but you’re more than welcome to use her as a tank as well. She can handle it.
- Dragons Descent: a great ambush spell with a good AoE knockback to start off. It's a good overall spell that has more than a singular use.
- Flame Breath: A basic skill that boosts Shyvana’s basic attack, dealing more damage.
- Twin Bite: A double-damage attack that has a lot more potential than it looks.
- Burnout: A great tank spell, dealing AoE damage.
Morgana Fallen Angel
If you want to focus on the middle lane right off the bat and grow your character for that role, there’s no better, starting champion than Morgana. She deals fantastic DPS, however, she can be used as a support mage if you prefer that type of role as well.
Tormented Soul and Dark Binding are her more frequent, go-to spells and you need to be quick with her, adapting and moving fast.
- Soul Shackles: a great damage and stun spell, this one is key to unlocking Morgana’s full potential.
- Tormented Soul: A good AoE spell, if a little on the small side. Great when combined with Dark Binding.
- Dark Binding: Freezes enemies in place (not with frost or anything) for three seconds—more than enough time to hammer them with everything you have.
- Black Shield: A great support spell, making Morgana’s teammates resistant to magic.
Caitlyn The Sheriff of Piltover
Caitlyn is the quintessential ADC character, dealing almost all of her damage from range, which means she will rise quickly on the priority list in any game. What makes her a good choice from beginners is the fact that she can stay out of range in the early games.
She’s also simple to use, with her auto-attacks making up the majority of her offensive capabilities.
- Ace in the Hole: A long range sniper round mostly for individual targets that are on their own, away from others.
- Yordle Snap Trap: A trap that freezes enemies in place, increasing the amount of damage they take.
- 90 Caliber Net: Does exactly what it sounds like, firing a net that ensnares and slows enemies.
- Piltover Peacemaker: Simple round that strikes enemies in a straight line.
Garen The Might of Demacia
A great choice for a top lane champion, Garen is the natural choice for a tanky, defensive style. Unlike most tanks, however, he can also deal a solid amount of damage on his own. His only drawback is his weakness against ranged characters.
- Demacian Justice: A timing skill as it requires you to be up close and personal.
- Judgment: A spinning atack that damages everything Garen moves into.
- Decisive Strike: a good, quick skill with the sword. A single strike silences mages.
- Courage: A defensive skill, increasing stats with each kill and providing bonus defense.
Ashe The Frost Archer
Ashe is an excellent Bot champion and she’s largely considered to be a utility character. Instead of dealing massive, direct damage or AoE damage, Ashe is all about crowd control and placing limitations on the enemy.
- Enchanted Crystal Arrow: Map-wide spell. When the first target is hit, its stunned.
- Hawkshot: Standard, bow and arrow strike but the range is anywhere on the map.
- Volley: Cone-shaped arrow trajectory
- Ranger’s Focus: Converts “Focus” build up into a temporary boost in attack speed.
All Things Considered
There are over 140 playable characters to choose from in League of Legends and even this list is a small number of the Champion pool for beginners. The key is to pick what feels right to you until you understand the overall tactics and the capabilities of your chosen Champion.
Its never a good idea to jump around between multiple champions. Take it one at a time. Learn the ins and outs of one before moving on to another.
