Gaming
Gaming
The 5 best League of Legends champions for beginner players
The MOBA hit League of Legends has over 170 champions to choose from in a match, but which ones are particularly suitable for beginners? Our guide gives you the five best options to start out with.
Riot Games regularly adds new champions to the free-to-play MOBA game League of Legends, allowing you to take part in the battle for the Summoner's Rift. There are currently over 170 characters to choose from, which are incredibly varied and have a wide range of abilities. Most of them are quite challenging, but some are particularly suitable for players who are just starting out with LoL. Here, we introduce you to the best LoL champions for beginner players to get started with.
01
League of Legends champions: understand the roles
Before you even start choosing your champion, it's important to understand what roles there are in League of Legends and what their tasks are.
LoL is played in teams of five people and each team has five different positions that fulfil their own personal tasks during the course of a game, with corresponding requirements. The five main roles are top laner, mid laner, jungler, bot laner (ADC) and support.
Do you have what it takes to scale League of Legends ranks?
© Riot Games
The appropriate role for you in League of Legends depends heavily on your preferred style of play: whether solo duel, team coordination, map control or support. The roles each offer a different focus.
02
Garen: the best top lane champion for beginners
Garen, one of the oldest and most playable heroes in League of Legends
© Riot Games
- Role: Fighter/Tank
- Speciality: If Garen hasn't taken any damage recently and not been hit by enemy abilities, he regenerates health.
- Bio: Check it out here.
Garen is the best choice on the top lane for beginners and impresses with his simple but effective kit: he has no skillshots, offers high survivability thanks to his passive and his abilities help with learning farming, positioning and targeted engage clicks. With his spin-to-win (E), Garen dominates many lanes in the early game, is forgiving of tactical mistakes and is valuable later in the game both as a frontliner and a source of damage.
His real highlight however is his ultimate, Demacian Justice, which allows him to instantly eliminate weakened opponents with one powerful blow. This ability rewards good timing and also feels extremely good to use.
Alternative: Malphite
Malphite shines with incredibly simple and quickly-learned mechanics, and thus offers enormous safety in lane. His shield, high armour value and powerful ultimate make him the perfect starter tank for learning the timing of teamfights and targeted engaging. Especially against AD opponents like Darius or Renekton, Malphite is a strong pick that requires little micro-management.
03
Annie: the beginner's best mid laner
- Role: Mage/Supporter
- Speciality: After Annie has used four abilities, her next offensive ability stuns the target.
- Bio: Check it out here.
Annie is a perfect beginner mid lane
© Riot Games
Annie is the prime example of a mid-lane champion who's especially aimed at beginners. She's often recommended in guides for new players because her kit is clearly structured and particularly simple.
Her Q ability (Disintegrate) last-hits minions specifically, her passive (Pyromania) rewards clean use of abilities with stuns and her burst allows for easy kills. She doesn't rely on escape mechanics, but teaches you how to position yourself with foresight. Another special feature of Annie is that she can use the R buttons to summon the bear Tibbers to assist her in battle.
Alternative: Lux
Lux is also considered a light mid-laner. She has good range, is safe in lane and forgives many mistakes thanks to her barrier and shield. Her damage potential is high, skillshot training with her Q is easy to practice and she can easily help other lanes (roaming).
04
Ashe: the best beginner bot lane champion
Ashe is a great choice for attack power
© Riot Games
- Role: Shooter Support
- Speciality: Ashe's attacks slow her target and deal increased damage.
In the lower, so-called bot lane, the main focus is on damage potential from a distance. So here you need champions who rely on ranged combat or spells.
Ashe is recommended for beginners among the AD carries. Her passive (Frost Shot) slows targets, the W (Volley) is a wide skillshot that often hits targets, even for inexperienced players, and her ultimate (Enchanted Crystal Arrow) can generate map-wide stuns and stun enemies.
The E skill, called Hawk Shot, can also be used to train simple vision mechanics. It rewards classic positioning and rock-solid kiting without demanding mechanics and is therefore particularly easy to play.
Alternative: Miss Fortune
Miss Fortune offers very simple trading patterns, high damage spikes, with just a few items, and is very forgiving thanks to her simple kit – Q, W, E and a strong ultimate fight impact. She doesn't need sophisticated attack patterns or complicated movement to kite, but allows for safe farming and frequent successes
05
Support: Easy to play Janna is perfect for beginners
- Role: Support/Mage
- Speciality: Janna's allies gain movement speed when they move towards her.
- Bio: Check it out here.
Jana is an unmatched Enchanter Support
© Riot Games
Janna is one of the most popular and effective Enchanter Supports in League of Legends. She's characterised by her unmatched potential to protect allies, keep opponents at a distance and influence decisive fights - and is particularly suitable for beginners to learn and internalise the mechanics of the support.
Janna's kit is designed to protect allies from damage and to slow down or speed up the pace of play, depending on the situation. Her 'Tailwind' passive increases the movement speed of all nearby allies when they move towards Janna - this provides mobility advantages in almost any game situation. With her Q ('Howling Storm'), she summons a rechargeable tornado that hurls enemies upwards and reliably enables engages or disengages.
The W ('Zephyr') grants her short-term ghosting and increased movement speed, while an activated throw slows enemies and deals damage. The shield of her E ('Eye of the Storm') protects allies and boosts her attack damage, which can make or break trades and all-ins, especially in the laning phase. Her ultimate ('Monsoon') repels all enemy champions in the area and heals massively in a large area - ideal for rescues or turning around teamfights.
Alternative: Leona
Leona is also ideal as a beginner support if you want to learn aggressive support mechanics. She's extremely robust, has strong engage options with her E/Q combo and can open up teamfights with her ultimate. Even if your own ADC makes mistakes, Leona stays alive for a long time and protects the team.
06
Jungler: Amumu is our beginner recommendation
Amumu is an easy learn jungler
© Riot Games
- Role: Tank/Supporter
- Speciality: Amumu's normal attacks curse his opponents and cause them to take additional absolute damage if they're hit by magic damage.
- Bio: Check it out here.
Amumu is a very popular jungler, especially for beginners, as he supports every move in the jungle and teamfight with a simple but effective kit. His gameplay is straightforward and he quickly teaches players the basics of playing on objectives, timing control and even important crowd control in team fights.
Amumu is a tank/AP mage jungler who impresses with his strong control in 5v5. His Q ability ('Bandage Toss') is a skillshot with which he targets opponents and pulls himself towards them, stunning them and thus perfectly initiating ganks or fights. His W ('Cursed Ground') is an aura that deals damage over time to nearby enemies and also makes him more resistant to damage.
The E ('Fury of the Cursed') is an ability that deals damage instantly and allows Amumu to farm minions faster, which is especially important for beginners to clear the jungle efficiently. His passive ('Curse of the Mummy King') deals additional magic damage on automatic attacks. The R ('Wrath of the Cursed') is a powerful team fight ultimate that can stun enemies in a large area and thus decide team fights.
Alternative: Warwick
Warwick brings huge self-healing in the jungle, has an easy-to-understand kit and enables uncomplicated ganks from Level 3. His playstyle teaches beginners how to track low-health opponents and react correctly to map events
