League of Legends: The best Champions for beginners to learn in every role
League of Legends can be intimidating to hop into. It’s complex, and there are a plethora of systems to learn that can be terrifying in your first games.
On top of that, there are nearly 150 Champions to pick from and play as, which can be overwhelming when you’re just trying to learn the game. Even after you learn the basics, you’ll discover that the MOBA’s five different lanes all play a bit differently in the beginning of the game. Your favorite Champion won’t work for all scenarios—you’ll have to find another Champion from the massive pool of options.
Who to choose? Every Champion is built differently, yes, but that also means that some are geared towards beginners and are much easier to start with. Below, we detail which Champions are the best ones to start with in each role, whether you’re brand new to League of Legends or just looking to learn a new lane.
Top Lane: Garen, Shen, Nasus
Top lane is like a coin flip. It can be relatively easy to learn because you’re generally working hard in your lane for the beginning half of the game. However, if you’re against someone who’s comfortable and familiar with the role and their Champion, they’ll make it hard for you to focus on farming. That’s why Champions that are easy to play, scale well, and do decent damage are the best ones to choose when you’re learning.
Garen is the first one to make the list. Garen’s abilities are strong and give him a bit of relative safety. Decisive Strike, Garen's Q ability (a.k.a. the skill triggered when you hit ‘Q’ on your keyboard), gets rid of any effects slowing him down and boosts his movement speed, letting him get out of tricky situations easily.
Garen also has a shield he can use with his Courage ability (mapped to W), and his E ability Judgment lets him spin around with his sword and do damage in a circle around him—which has led to some players dubbing him “spin to win.” Considering most top laners are melee Champions and need to be close to deal damage, this can act as a deterrent.
Lastly, Garen’s ultimate, Demacian Justice, is a massive execute that smites enemies where they stand. All in all, Garen’s a very well-rounded Champion who can help you learn how to play top lane.
Another easy beginning Champion is Shen. Shen’s a bit more focused on protecting himself (and his allies), but he still deals a decent amount of damage with his Q ability, Twilight Assault, which recalls his sword to him and attacks with it. Shen’s kit can look confusing on paper, but it’s not as difficult once you’re in a game. He also has several protective moves, with his Spirit’s Refuge (W) and passive Ki Barrier abilities able to block some incoming attacks.
Are you a beginner to top lane but not to League of Legends? Nasus may be more your speed. He’s a great top laner and relatively easy to use to learn the lane, but you’ll want to be more familiar with the game first to play him easily.
Jungle: Master Yi, Warwick, Nunu
Two things make a Champion great for the Jungle: the ability to take out Jungle camps quickly and sneak up on enemies just as quickly. Master Yi and Warwick are perfect for helping beginners do this while also being pretty easy to play.
Master Yi can dish out a lot of damage very quickly, and his ultimate ability Highlander speeds him up and lets him burst down enemies, especially when combined with his E and Q abilities, Wuju Style and Alpha Strike. Master Yi can also regenerate his own health and protect himself with his W ability, Meditate, which helps him out quite a bit in team fights.
Similarly, Warwick dishes out a ton of damage while also having a way to get to targets around the map incredibly quickly. Warwick’s W ability Blood Hunt gives him bonus attack and movement speed when enemies have less than 50% health, and it draws a line on the ground that leads towards enemy Champions, serving as a reminder that he should be helping out the other lanes. Warwick also has a ton of self-healing based on the damage he does, so he’s a pretty safe option for those who don’t know exactly what they’re doing yet.
Are you a League of Legends veteran who’s finally learning jungle? Nunu & Willump can be a good choice. The boy and his yeti are incredibly fast and can quickly enter lanes and crowd control (CC) enemies. That said, the Champion pair can be difficult to play if you haven’t mastered how League of Legends works quite yet.
Middle Lane: Annie, Lux, Ahri
There are two different kinds of middle lane Champions: mages and assassins. While assassins sound cool and aren’t too difficult to play, they aren’t great for beginners because their kits offer a lot to think about. If you’re just learning League of Legends, Champions like Annie and Lux are much easier to use.
Annie is often called one of the easiest Champions in League of Legends. Her kit is set up to let her play pretty safely and keep enemies off of her. Her E ability is a Molten Shield that protects her while also dealing damage back to anyone who attacks while it’s up, and her Disintegrate (Q) and Incinerate (W) abilities are ranged attacks that don’t take too much skill to hit.
Annie’s Pyromania passive also lets her stun enemies every four basic attacks, making her other abilities impossible to miss. And who can forget Tibbers—Annie’s ultimate ability summons a giant, angry teddy bear who attacks nearby enemies. All in all, Annie’s kit can be used both offensively and defensively, making her a great beginner choice.
Lux is pretty similar. She’s often called League of Legends’ golden child because she’s always pretty strong and gets a lot of support in the meta. (League of Legends regularly fine-tunes its Champions to keep them balanced as the developers add new things to the game, and the meta is the group of Champions that’s performing well in the current patch.)
Lux is almost always in the meta, and she’s easy to use. Her abilities include a stun, a slow, a shield, and an ultimate ability (Final Spark) that’s a giant laser beam with an incredibly short cooldown. Just like Annie, these abilities let Lux play offensively or defensively, so players can focus on learning the lane without being bullied by their enemy.
If you’re already used to playing League of Legends and just want to try mid out, then a Champion like Ahri is a good pick. She’s incredibly strong, but you have to be good at hitting skill shots. She also benefits from knowing how and when to roam the map, a skill that someone from jungle or bottom (bot) lane may already know.
Bottom Lane: Miss Fortune, Ashe, Caitlyn
The bottom lane in League of Legends can be hard to learn since the role is generally a glass cannon. Enemies should be targeting you every chance they get, so it’s important you learn to play a Champion that can avoid enemies. Miss Fortune and Ashe are great examples of these.
Miss Fortune has increased movement speed when she’s not in combat thanks to her W ability, Strut, and she can also slow and damage enemies in a giant circle with Make It Rain, her E ability. Additionally, Miss Fortune’s Q (Double Up) and ultimate abilities (Bullet Time) dish out a lot of damage to multiple enemies at once, making her a solid pick all around. Miss Fortune’s skill ceiling is also pretty high as her kit also includes a few more complicated mechanics to max out her damage, so she’s a great Champion to main.
Similarly, Ashe’s ultimate (Enchanted Crystal Arrow) and W ability (Volley) are great for keeping rushing enemies away. Her E ability, Hawkshot, also grants Ashe vision in any direction she chooses, which helps her (and her Support) be mindful of incoming ganks from the enemy Jungler. These abilities are also great for offensive use, making Ashe quite oppressive if you get ahead.
If you know how to play other lanes and are just trying out the bottom lane, then Caitlyn can be a great option. She’s got the longest attack range in League of Legends (with the exception of a level 18 Tristana), which makes her an incredibly safe pick. However, you have to be comfortable playing at max range and also deal with her long attack animations for her abilities.
Support: Nami, Nautilus, Yuumi
The Support role works with the bottom laner to help them get strong. As such, it’s important to shift the mindset here to helping out a teammate versus helping out yourself. There are a few Champions that make this really easy.
Nami is a great Support Champion to start out with. She has a way to heal her partner (while also dealing damage to enemies nearby) with her Ebb and Flow ability (W) and two different ways to CC her enemies with her Q and ultimate abilities, Aqua Prison and Tidal Wave. She can also strengthen her teammate’s attacks against enemies with her E ability, Tidecaller's Blessing. Nami’s kit also lets her adjust to the play style of her teammate, whether they’re playing aggressively or more passively.
Nautilus is similar to Nami, but a tankier version. Where Nami is a mage who can heal to help protect her bottom laner, Nautilus can get in front and soak up damage while CCing the enemies down over and over again. His Q ability, Dredge Line, is a pull, which lets his teammate play farther back while Nautilus gets up close and personal with enemies. And while Dredge Line is a skill shot, Nautilus’s other abilities aren’t hard to hit at all.
If you’re playing with someone you know in the bottom lane, then a Champion like Yuumi can be incredibly helpful. Yuumi’s big thing is that she sits on top of the ADC (Attack Damage Carry), so moving around isn’t as important. Yuumi has a high skill ceiling that can make her a pretty great Support—but you’ll want to play with someone who can explain how to use your abilities and how the lane works.
With all the Champions available in League of Legends, there are bound to be some that you find easier than others, so this list is by no means strict or comprehensive whatsoever. These Champions are a great starting place though as you learn League of Legends (or learn a new role). They won’t give you too much to think about or confuse you further, letting you focus on getting the basics down. And if you’re brand new to the game, you should check out our beginner's guide to League of Legends as well.
League of Legends is available via the Epic Games Store.