League of Legends Champ Pool Guide

by Blasterus

Why should I limit my champ pool?

Limiting your champ pool has many benefits. The main one being that you are able to focus your practicing on these specific champs, and it does not take weeks to do so. You are not a pro-player (sorry pal), you do not need a champion ocean. You have a limited amount of skill and you would rather be very good at a handful of champs than be kinda shit at 50.

Another reason why it’s good to limited the number of champs we play is to learn the actual game. After we learn these champs, really master them, we are now able to somewhat autopilot and learn the macro. The game knowledge, the objectives, the wave management, whatever. This is how you improve and climb.

The Basics

One primary role, one secondary.

Three champs for primary, two for secondary.

Primary is a little bit more flexible, but max 4 champs.

The Details

In this part, I’m going to talk about basically how I make my decisions and how I choose one champ over the other. Remember this golden rule: Fun First. This is a video game, not your life. Have some fun. Don’t force yourself to learn champs that you don’t like. This is the one rule I hold above else when I give advice.

First off, choosing roles. I see often people asking for help because they have trouble picking out a role because they love all of them. I ask them to come to Reddit chat with and we have a little… well, chat. I ask them the same question every time: Why do you like each role? and I ask them to write a paragraph or so for each. And every time without fail, they always seem to like a couple of roles more than the other. I encourage you to use this tactic on yourself if you find it hard to narrow down roles.

Secondly, the roles themselves. Each one has a “requirement” that I set out that help cover different subroles and makes sure there are almost no holes in the pool.

TOP

This role is quite open. Basically, pick whatever you would like. 3 bruisers? Sure! Want a tank? Sure! Teemo? Sure! The only thing is to not pick three squishy champs because that could hurt your team comp a lot when you aren’t picking something tanky.

Ex: Sett, Teemo, Darius

JUNGLE

The role with the least freedom. Due to the wide variety of subroles and how many things are viable, I encourage and recommend you to have each three of the subroles covered. One AD, one AP, and one tank.

Ex: Graves, Fiddle, Nunu

MID

Three mages are fine, three assassins are fine. Having some variety is great, such as having a scaler and a roamer. Try not to have too much AD, because the team comp usually relies on you to be the magic damage.

Ex: Annie, TF, Vlad, Talon

BOT

Pretty similar to Top, just make sure you have some scaling in there.

Ex: Lucian, Jinx, MF

SUPP

For support, you want to cover both the engage supports and the enchanter supports. Bonus points if you pick up a mage support, but not needed.

Ex: Nautilus, Leona, Nami

Thirdly and finally, looking for similar champs. Identifying this yourself is quite useful and may lead to a new main. It’s good for general game knowledge, too. Try to ask yourself, What do you like about X champ? Let’s give a few examples.

Bobby likes to play Fiddlesticks in the jungle. There are many special aspects to Fiddle, but he really likes the game-changing ultimate. Now, what other champs have that same aspect in the jungle? Hecarim would be an answer with his AOE fear, while still abiding by the requirements above.

Sharon loves Ahri. She has all of her skins, even the ugly ones. What she loves about Ahri is her fast burst and mobility. There are a lot more answers here. Leblanc, Katarina, Talon etc. etc.

FAQ

I can’t stick to a pool! I end up playing 30 champs and I love all of them! Help?

This is quite a common question that I see. Sorry buddy, there’s no secret trick. You have to tell yourself why it’s important to have a small pool in order to improve and climb.

I want this or that champ for when I get autofilled. What do?

My recommendation is to dodge. Depending on your roles, autofill rarely happens. There’s no point in learning a whole new role and champ just for a couple of games. Exceptions include flex picks.

Champions to just learn the game in general?

Top: Garen

Jungle: Warwick

Mid: Annie

ADC: Ashe

Supp: Blitz and Soraka

Current state of blah blah blah? Are they good to climb?

Most champs are good to climb. Obviously, there are exceptions. If you want the precise state of the champ, please go to their champion main subreddit. Don’t look at winrates or tier lists for that(jesus christ certain YT channels puts singed at A tier).

One tricking?

It depends on the champ. If it’s a specialist such as Singed, Heimer, or Azir, sure. These guys rarely get banned and have a high enough ceiling to improve on. Special cases include you identify so fucking well with your OTP that it’s impossible to play anything else. But in general, it’s a lot more beneficial to have a champion pool of 2-4 champs.