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The Best League Of Legends Champions For Beginners In 2020

As one of the most extensive MOBA games out there, the 150+ champions available in League of Legends in today's day and age pose a significant problem for brand new players.

 

Which one should you play?

 

After all, each champion differs wildly from the next. And each comes with their own quirks, mechanics, and playstyle for you to get adjusted to.

 

That's why to help you settle the debate and get an easier start with League of Legends - today we'll present you with our top picks for the best League of Legends champions for beginners and novice players.

 

We'll go through each champion's abilities, our rationale on why they're a fantastic pick, as well as other important info that you should keep in mind while making the decision to go with one champion over the next.

 

Best Beginner-Friendly Botlane Champions

 

Ashe - Marksman (ADC)

As one of the most iconic champions in LoL, Ashe definitely deserves a solid spot on this list thanks to her incredibly simple playstyle and powerful kit.

 

What she lacks in the defense department she more than makes up for with her long range and several utility abilities in her kit.

 

With her Q active, her autos slow enemies, while W is a super-simple cone-shaped skill shot that applies more slowing CC.

 

Her ultimate is a global arrow that can be fired across the map, and if you should land a hit on an enemy champion, they will be temporarily stunned.

 

In a similar fashion, her E is a near-global projectile that reveals the area it passes over.

 

Now, while her kit is undeniably powerful, Ashe is very weak and squishy when hit. As such, you'll want to play behind your teammates, weaving in auto attacks whenever possible by using her lengthy range to your advantage.

 

Best Summoner Spells:

As for most marksmen, a combination of Flash and Heal is probably going to be your best bet.

 

However, Barrier and Cleanse could be viable depending on your in-lane matchup.

 

Best Runes:

Most Ashe players opt for Precision with Lethal Tempo and Fleet Footwork in addition to Inspiration for free basic boots.

 

For your flex runes, you'll want to run attack speed, adaptive force and armor or magic resist depending on the composition of the enemy team.

 

Best Items:

The easiest build to run for novice players would center around a Blade of the Ruined King being the first item, followed by Berserker's Greaves, Runaan's Hurricane, Infinity Edge, Phantom Dancer and finally, Guardian Angel.

 

Soraka - Support

If you're passionate about learning the support role, Soraka is one of the best champions to get started on.

 

Not only is she super mechanically intuitive, but she also packs an incredibly powerful kit that could easily turn the tide of your game in your team's favor with only a little bit of skill and know-how.

 

First and foremost, her W and R both heal your teammates. However, be careful of overusing her W in lane, as the healing she grants her allies is taken from her own HP pool. And it's also important to keep in mind that her ultimate ability grants extra health to allies who are below the 40% mark, so it's a good idea to be patient and wait until one of your allies is almost near death to throw down "Wish" and heal the team.

 

In addition to this, her Q and E are damage-dealing utility spells, where her Q slows enemy champions, while E silences them.

 

Best Summoner Spells:

For Soraka, the best summoner spell combo is going to be Barrier and Flash.

 

We don't recommend heal because of the reduced healing debuff it applies once used.

 

Best Runes:

Most players prefer to run Sorcery centered around Summon Aery fo the additional poke in lane.

 

Taking Resolve is also a fantastic defensive choice for your secondary slot. It will also grant her better health regen, meaning more healing in lane can be pulled off.

 

As for flex runes, you'll want to pick up two Adaptive Force runes coupled with an armor or magic resistance rune depending on the composition of the enemy team.

 

Best Items:

The general build path revolves around taking Ardent Censor, following it up with Lucidity Boots, building into Redemption, Locket of the Solari, Shyrelya's, and topping things off with a Mikael's Crucible.

 

The Best Mid Champion For Beginners

Annie - AP Mage

Given her mechanical simplicity, approachable kit, and incredible damage-potential, Annie is one of the best champions for just about any demographic of players.

 

The only tricky part of her kit revolves around utilizing her passive properly. Pyromania allows Annie to stun an enemy with one of her abilities, on every fourth ability she casts.

 

This gives her fantastic initiation ability, along with superb crowd control. Especially when coupled with her R, Tibbers, which deals constant damage until its timer is out or it's killed. And did we mention that Tibbers is also player-controllable?

 

On the other hand, Annie's Q has a huge range, tiny cooldown, and refunds the mana used if you kill the target - making it fantastic for farming minions in lane.

 

Lastly, her W is a damaging cone of fire, with her E being a nifty shield that she can use to keep herself safe in a fight and mitigate a bit of incoming damage.

 

Here's a tip - save your stun for Annie's Q, Disintegrate. Unlike her other abilities, her Q can't be dodged since it's targeted. Combo this with her ultimate and top it off with a nice W cast as he lands for some very big damage.

 

Best Summoner Spells:

Since Annie has a shield in her kit, we can afford to play a little more on the aggressive side with a Flash and Ignite combo.

 

Alternatively, taking Teleport for more map pressure is also viable, as is Barrier in certain matchups.

 

Best Noob-Friendly Top Lane Champion

Garen - Bruiser / Tank

If you're struggling to match up in top against champions that suddenly seem to deal insane damage or get too tanky for you to scratch - Garen could just be the perfect solution.

 

First and foremost, he dishes out a tonne of damage. And considering the fact that this comes with passive tankiness and huge health regeneration - Garen is one of the most well-rounded toplaners out there.

 

His Q gives you bonus movement speed and deals extra damage on the next attack that he lands. At the same time, his E is a damage-dealing spin that dishes out some serious DPS to any enemies caught in its range.

 

This is followed by his ultimate ability, Demacian Justice which deals bonus damage (on top of a ton of damage) to enemies below a certain threshold of health.

 

And finally, his W gives you a shield and lots of tenacity to keep you relatively unhindered by crowd-control.

 

It's worth keeping in mind that bushes let you get out of combat faster, which activates Garen's passive, allowing you to go in for quick skirmishes, and withdraw to quickly regenerate back to full health while gradually forcing your opponent out of the lane.

 

Additionally, his R deals true damage, which bypasses the resistance mechanic. This makes it a fantastic tool to finish off other low-health bruisers and tanks that your ADC may struggle with.

 

Best Summoner Spells:

The best combination of summoner spells for Garen is Flash and Ignite.

 

However, Ghost and Exhaust are very viable alternatives that can be especially powerful against certain matchups. And of course, Teleport can create for some fantastic map-pressure too.

 

Best Runes:

The majority of Garen players rely on Precision with Conqueror in the primary slot, along with Resolve in the secondary.

 

For the flex runes, Garen benefits most from double adaptive force runes along with armor or magic resistance depending on the matchup.

 

Best Items:

Garen's core build has a fair few variations. This is one of the champions where you can get away with building either tank or damage and still be super viable in either scenario.

 

However, our recommended build is to rush Tri-Force, pick up defensive boots and build into Sterak's Gage, Dead Man's Plate, and a Spirit Visage topped off with a Warmog's or another damage item.

 

The Best Jungle Champion For New Players

Master Yi - Assasin Jungler

If you're looking to learn how to Jungle and a speedy assassin champion fits your personal playstyle - look no further than Master Yi.

 

This iconic champion has everything you want and more in his crazy damage-dealing ability kit.

 

His abilities not only do lots of damage, but they also buff his movement speed and provide for a nearly over-powered self-heal that make tackling jungle camps and pulling off successful ganks an absolute walk in the park.

 

First and foremost, his Q, Alpha Strike allows him to become temporarily untargetable by enemies as he dashes through several chain-hits, damaging any enemies caught in his path.

 

In addition to this, his E and R allows him to buff his attack speed and damage temporarily, with the latter also speeding Master Yi up immensely.

 

Next up, his self-healing W regenerates his health as long as the ability is channeled.

 

The one downside to playing this champion lies in the fact that he's not that tanky and relies on making good situational picks by ambushing enemies caught roaming or off-guard. In a team fight, you would be best off to engage once the enemy team has blown their crowd control abilities, making it very safe for you to pick off stragglers and wrap up the skirmish.

 

Best Summoner Spells:

Being a jungler, Smite is a must-have for Master Yi. This can be coupled with either Flash or Ghost depending on your personal preference.

 

Best Runes:

The best rune combo for Master Yi relies on playing around the Precision tree with the Conqueror keystone. For your secondary slot, you should take Domination with Sudden Impact and Ravenous Hunter to grab some lifesteal and bonus damage.

 

For your flex runes, the best picks are attack speed, adaptive power, and either armor or magic resistance depending on the enemy team's composition.

 

Best Items:

The majority of high-winrate Master Yi players build Bloodrazor along with Berserker's Greaves and a Guinsoo's Rageblade as the core of their build. From there you can pick up a Death's Dance, followed by a Guardian Angel and finally a Witt's End.

 

Closing Thoughts

With the giant champion pool that League of Legends has to offer, picking out the perfect starting champions for yourself can be a bit challenging to say the least.

 

This is especially true because many of the modern champions in LoL have fairly complex kits, quirky mechanics that you'll need to master, and lots of situational knowledge that you'll need to grasp before you can really play the champion at their fullest potential.

 

That's why today, we've given you our top picks for the best League of Legends champions for beginners, one per role.

 

If you've kept up with our guide this far, you should now have a pretty good roster of champions to fall back on for each role in the game.

 

We've covered their kits, the essential mechanics, as well as providing our recommendations on items, runes, and summoner spells.

 

With that, we wish you luck on the rift summoner!