League of Legends has an arsenal of champions for its players to pilot. However some of these champions are better suited for more experienced players who know their way around  Summoner’s Rift, and for those of you starting off, Summoners Rift is the most common and popular map to play in League of Legends. It is for this reason that you’re better off starting out with simpler characters.

Before I continue, let’s first get an understanding on what a champion is. A champion is a player-controlled character. You can think of them as chess pieces with their own unique abilities, strengths, and weaknesses. Each champion has a basic attack, a passive, and four abilities. A basic attack is when you right click with your mouse on an enemy, and your character will react in some way. They might swing a sword or throw a magic bolt. A passive is an ability or trait that you don’t have to press a button for. These can vary from making you heal faster to doing a bit more damage to your enemy depending on the champion you play. The abilities are spread across four keys: Q, W, E, and R. Your first three abilities are more basic than your R or Ultimate ability. Your ultimate, although it takes longer to use than your other abilities, is normally worth the wait due to how powerful it can be.

Another thing to take a mental note of is that each champion fills a role on the Rift.

There are five positions that need to be filled before a match can begin: Top, Jungle, Middle, Attack Damage Carry (better known as “ADC”), and Support. 

Top lane is at the uppermost region of the map. This is where the lone wolf resides. The champions that reside here are those can soak up some damage while also dishing out some of their own. 

The Jungle is home to the conquistadors. Do you like roaming from place to place? Helping your team win fights and even slayers monsters? If so Jungle may be for you. This role houses a variety of champions, but damage-heavy champs tend to be favored here.

Playing in the middle generally means you’re a jack of all trades. You like a good fight here and there but can be resourceful too. Often times middle laners are the play makers or the MVPs. So if you desire to be a Lionel Messi of League of Legends, middle is your role. They enjoy a good fight and often look to duel their opposing laner. The champions that pollute this role are typically those that can soak up some damage and also dish out a fair amount. This is the easiest role to learn the game with, but it offers a lot of necessary skills for you to learn.

Jungle is the wilderness of Summoner’s Rift. These guys tend to be the jack-of-all-trades. Junglers do it all from controlling the map, dueling their opponents, and even aiding their team. Due to the jack of all trades aspect of Jungle, they also have a large champion pool to pick from. Whether you want to be a frontline tank who absorbs damage for the team or an assassin who provides loads of damage. This role is very daunting at first glance, but with a little bit of research and experience through gameplay, it is one of the easier roles to pick up on.

Middle lane is smack dab in the middle of the map. Typically this role is home to the team captains. These guys can go from coordinating plays for their team to making flashy plays that stun both the enemy team and your allies. More often than not this lane is home to magic users or mages who use their abilities to do loads of burst, but it has its fair share of deadly assassins too. This role requires some patience to understand the basics, but the payoff is well worth the time.

ADC is located at the bottommost corner of the Rift. This is where MVPs live. What these players enjoy doing is doing loads of damage over time at a range. They also are typically the role that closes out games or decides who wins. The champions that played in this role are more or less the same, they shoot bows, guns, and crossbows to deal damage from afar to whittle down their opponents quickly. This role is simple to play but has one of the highest skill caps out of the roles due to its carry potential.

Support is also a role played at the bottom of the map. This is where, well, the supportive players go. Supports generally just help out their team in any way possible. Want to start a fight? Catch someone who’s alone? Save someone’s life? If so, consider support. This role is usually filled with champions who can take some damage and also aid their teammates with spells. This role is the easiest to play since your main objective is to help your team out whenever they need it.

With a basic concept of what champions are and the positions in league, let’s get into the exciting stuff. 

The nine champions selected are a perfect way for new players to introduce themselves to the complexity of League of Legends, and don’t worry: Just because these champions are objectively easier than others doesn’t mean they’re not fun. You may find that a couple of months or even a year from now that you might still be playing these champions.

Garen(Top):

Top Lane is one of the easier roles to learn, and when paired with Garen, who doesn’t require much knowledge of the game to play, it’s a perfect fit. Garen isn’t your average knight. Although he has a fairly simple kit, it allows him to make the most of every situation. His Decisive Strike and Judgement abilities help him fight his opponents; meanwhile his Perseverance and Courage abilities help him survive fights, and on top of that, his patented Demacian Justice ability defeats an opponent instantly if they have low enough health. What more could you ask for!?

Mordekaiser(Top):

After Mordekaiser received his rework in May of 2019, he has been dominating his opponents in lane and in game. Not only does he look bad to the bone, but he is easy to play, too. Unlike other fighters, Mordekaiser is hard to kite away from due to his Death’s Grasp ability, which pulls them to you. He can deal a lot of damage with his passive Darkness Rise and Obliterate ability. He can also soak up some damage with his Indestructible ability. What players dread, however, is his Ultimate Realm of Death. This allows him to grab anyone from the opponents team and fight them alone. It’s pretty scary.

Master Yi(Jungle):

Jungle is one of the hardest roles to learn as a beginner. It is similar to when you first start riding a bike, but Master Yi provides the ultimate training wheels to get you started. He can clear camps quickly due to his Alpha Strike ability and his Double Strike passive ability. His Meditate ability heals him up quickly and helps prevent damage allowing for a healthy clear. Finally, his ultimate ability, Highlander, makes you attack faster and gives an awesome speed boost for a limited time. Master Yi’s kit is perfect for familiarizing yourself with Summoner’s Rift’s spooky Jungle.

Volibear (Jungle):

Jungling nowadays tends to be more leaned toward flanking unsuspecting enemies. Volibear is the perfect champion to develop your flanking as a player. Before you get to flank your opponents, though, you will be clearing your jungle camps. Due to his loads of healing from his passive Chosen of the Storm, Volibear can kill the monsters that lurk in the Jungle very healthily and can take fights with his enemies fairly often. His flanking abilities are Rolling Thunder ability, which flips an enemy over him, and his Majestic roar causes his opponents to run away from him for a short duration. Volibear also has a fair amount of damage thanks to his Frenzy ability and Thunder Claws Ultimate ability. Volibear is one of those champions that will infuriate your opponents.

Annie (Middle)

The Midlane has a lot that you have to keep up with, but with this terrifying child, your life is made a lot easier. Not only can she burst her opponents with her Disintegrate, Incinerate, and Summon Tibbers abilities, but she can also bolster her defenses for a short amount of time thanks to her Molten Shield ability. One of the most hated yet awesome perks of playing Annie is her built-in stun. Annie’s passive ability, Pyromania, allows her to stun an enemy champion with every four abilities. Overall Annie provides a perfect balance of damage and utility and is also easy to pick up and start playing with.

Wukong (Middle)

One of the easiest ways to get a feel for mid lane is by playing Wukong. This staff-wielding monkey is the epitome of surprise attack. Due to his invisibility from his Decoy ability, he can catch his opponents off guard. Wukong also provides some of the highest and most consistent damage by combining his Crushing Blow and Nimbus Cloak with his Cyclone Ultimate ability. He can also take a fair share of hits because of his passive ability, Stone Skin, which gives him bonus defenses the more enemies that are around him. 

Ashe (ADC)

Carrying your team is hard, but thanks to how powerful Ashe is and how simple it is to pilot her, you’ll be winning in no time. Ashe is a lot like the vigilante Green Arrow: She shoots a lot of arrows at her enemies with her frost bow. Ashe’s passive ability, Frost Shot, makes it so every time she attacks an opponent with a basic attack, they become slower for a small amount of time. This makes running away from Ashe much more difficult and allows her to keep her opponents scared of fighting her. She can also deal some damage to a large crowd with her Volley ability, which also happens to slow her opponents. Scared of being flanked from behind? Don’t worry! Ashe also has an ability called Hawkshot, which she can shoot in a direction to spot lurking enemies. Her Ultimate ability, called Enchanted Crystal Arrow, stuns an opponent and keeps them in place for a certain duration. When paired with her Ranger’s Focus ability, she can delete her enemies. Ashe is the perfect pick for learning how to operate the role of ADC.

Miss Fortune (ADC)

Understanding how to make or break a teamfight as ADC is really something that comes with practice, but Miss Fortune helps a ton with understanding the basic concept of teamfights. Miss Fortune is really known for her ultimate ability, Bullet Time. When casted, Miss Fortune begins shooting multiple waves of bullets, which does loads of damage if the enemy is caught in it for a long period of time, but very little if they only are hit by one wave. Although her Ultimate is what she is known for, her other abilities provide a lot of support towards carrying games. She can slow down her opponents with her Make it Rain ability, damage and speed boost with her Strut ability, and even more damage with her passive Love Tap and Q ability Double Up. Risk taking or “Limit testing”  to more experienced players is a part of developing as a player and league, and Miss Fortune is a great way to introduce yourself to the idea.

Blitzcrank (Support)

Supporting is a super simple role, so why not practice your skill shots? Skill shots in League of Legends require you to predict your enemies movements in order to hit them with the ability. Blitzcrank has one of the most terrifying skill shots in all of League of Legends, the Rocket Grab. Rocket Grab isn’t like your ordinary skill shot. Rather than only doing damage, it also pulls whoever is hit by it directly to Blitzcrank. This, combined with his Power Fist and Static Field abilities, can really bring the pain to your enemies. He can also give himself a speed boost with his Overdrive ability. 

League of Legends is not for the faint of heart. Although these champions will help you through the learning process of League, there will be other challenges along the way. As you begin to play in player versus player modes, you will come across issues such as “smurfing” and meta picks.” Smurfing” is where an experienced player makes a new account to play against lower-leveled players. “Meta picks” are champions who are better suited in the game at the moment than others. However don’t let this discourage you. It’s a tough road ahead, that’s for sure, but you’ll be rewarded with a game that provides hours of gameplay and tons of competitive play.