Best League of Legends Champions For My Playstyle

What follow here are some more specific playstyles and two examples of champions that fit those playstyles to help you find your perfect fit.

Fight from a Distance

Caitlyn and Ziggs

For the players who enjoy keeping their distance when fighting, Caitlyn and Ziggs are great options.

Caitlyn has the highest base auto attack range in the game and, in addition to having mobility from her E, 90 Caliber Net, to push herself away from enemies, has a very long range R, Ace in the Hole, used to snipe enemies.

Ziggs is the quintessential waveclear champion that uses his spells to control zones in teamfights and poke from a distance. His Q, Bouncing Bomb, can—as its name implies—bounce for extra distance, and his R, Mega Inferno Bomb, has a huge range of 5300 units.

High Skill, High Reward

Riven and Lee Sin

These champions are not mastered quickly. They are for players who are willing to put the time in to see a great reward as they progress in skill.

Riven has incredible burst as a melee assassin, but mastering her ability to utilize animation cancels brings her to another level. Learning these combinations makes it even harder for enemies to fight back.

Lee Sin has some of the best mobility in the game and player success is reliant on using it well to make the most of the champion. Combining his Q, Sonic Wave, into W, Safeguard, to re-position for an R, Dragon’s Rage, kick on a key enemy player is an example of an important technique to learn.

Up Close and Personal

Sett and Shen

Shen and Sett are great champions for those who are not afraid to mix it up in the middle of an entire enemy team.

Sett has built-in tankiness in his kit. His passive Pit Grit helps him regenerate missing health. More importantly, his W, Haymaker, grants him a massive shield after taking damage. Sett’s E, Facebreaker, and R, The Show Stopper, also benefit from hitting as many enemies as possible.

Like Sett, Shen can tank enemies for days. His passive Ki Barrier shields him each time he uses an ability. Shen’s W, Spirit’s Refuge, puts down a zone in which Shen and allies ignore enemy basic attacks. Shen also offers a shield to allies when he uses his R, Stand United, to bring himself to the middle of the action.

Sneaky and Stealthy

Twitch and Pyke

These champions excel at sneaking up on unsuspecting players and using that element of surprise and high burst damage to mask their relatively weak defensive stats.

Twitch’s Q, Ambush, allows him to be camouflaged for a short duration, meaning he can only be seen by enemies in close proximity to him. This allows him to maneuver around the enemy and set up ganks or the find the perfect position in a teamfight.

Pyke’s W, Ghostwater Dive, camouflages Pyke for five seconds and grants him movement speed. This is the perfect setup to gank a lane undetected. Pyke can then lead with either his Q, Bone Skewer, or E, Phantom Undertow, to set up crowd control for the kill.

Global Map Impact

Gangplank and Twisted Fate

Gangplank and Twisted Fate fit the playstyle of a player who gets excited to impact lanes outside of their own. This can be through catching out an overextended enemy or by turning around a losing fight.

Twisted Fate creates his roam timings by having great wave clear courtesy of his Q, Wild Cards, and W, Pick a Card. By shoving the wave, he can use his R Destiny to teleport around the map without missing minions or losing turret damage.

Gangplank is a champion who does not need to ever leave his lane to have global impact. He can simply cast his R, Cannon Barrage, on any part of the map to create a field that both slows and damages enemy champions.

Dueling Kings

Jax and Mordekaiser

Not the greatest teamfighters, Jax and Mordekaiser are for players who like playing on their own in a sidelane and enjoy the unbeatable feeling of winning almost every 1v1 duel.

Jax gets great damage scaling in the form of empowered auto attacks from his W, Empower, and R, Grandmaster’s Might. The active on Grandmaster’s Might also gives bonus armor and magic resistance, and his E, Counter Strike, blocks all attacks for 2 seconds.

Mordekaiser is unique as a magic damage dealing champion who is great at dueling. This comes from his R, Realm of Death. Mordekaiser gets a 1v1 with the enemy in this realm, while also stealing attack damage, ability power, attack speed, health, armor resist, and magic resist from the target.

One-shot Ability

Fizz and Zed

Zed and Fizz require some good mechanics to pull it off, but they have the ability to delete an enemy in a single spell rotation.

Fizz builds ability power and has four damaging spells. His R, Chum the Waters, is the key to his combination—when it hits, the enemy is knocked up, allowing him to follow up with one of his two gap closers and get in range to use his empowered W, Seastone Trident.

Zed builds attack damage, and although he only has three damaging spells, they are more than enough to solo out a target. His R, Death Mark, moves him to his target and after 3 seconds explodes, dealing more damage based on his damage dealt to the target while the mark was active.

Mobility and Map Movement

Nidalee and Kassadin

Roaming quickly is the calling card for Nidalee and Kassadin, as both have very short cooldown movement spells that are large enough to jump walls.

Nidalee has two forms: Cougar Form and Human Form. In Human Form, Nidalee is ranged poke champion. In Cougar Form, Nidalee is a melee champion who does not use any mana, meaning her W Pounce can be used repeatedly without worrying about her mana pool.

Kassadin does not get his mobility spell until level 6, but his R, Rift Walk, allows him to move even faster than Nidalee. Each cast of the spell within 15 seconds increases the damage but also doubles the mana cost, stacking up to 4 times.

Infinite Scaling

Nasus and Veigar

Nasus likes to extend his laning phase as long as possible to stack up his Q, Siphoning Strike, which is an empowered auto attack that gains 3 permanent damage if it kills an enemy minion. Killing an enemy champion, large monster, or cannon minion grants 12 permanent damage on Siphoning Strike.

Veigar gets stacks of ability through his passive, called Phenomenal Evil Power. Hitting an enemy champion with an ability earns a stack, while scoring a takedown earns five. Veigar can also earn stacks by last hitting minions with his Q, Baleful Strike.

Protectors

Janna and Lulu

For those more worried about protecting their friends and allies from death than trying to inflict it themselves, Janna and Lulu are the perfect picks,

Although Janna does give allies a shield with her E, Eye of the Storm, and her R, Monsoon, heals all allies in range, her strength is in peeling enemies off her carries. Her Q, Howling Gale, knocks up all enemies in her path. Her targeted W, Zephyr, slows an enemy, and Monsoon knocks away all enemies near Janna.

Lulu does have peel in the form of her W, Whimsy. But she is at her best when buffing her allies. Using her Whimsy on an ally instead gives movement speed and attack speed. Lulu’s E, Help, Pix! gives allies a shield and her R, Wild Growth, gives allies increased health and knocks up any enemies next to the ally.

Form Shifters

Jayce and Elise

In addition to the aforementioned Nidalee, Jayce and Elise are champions with six unique abilities that are form dependent. Their ultimate is a form switch and is available at level one.

Jayce’s two forms are Hammer Stance and Cannon Stance. In Cannon Stance, Jayce is a ranged champion that excels in poke. In Hammer Stance, Jayce is limited to melee attacks. But he gains more burst in his spells and regains mana when he auto attacks.

Elise’s two forms are Human Form and Spider Form. Human Form is the ranged form and Spider Form is melee. Like Jayce, Elise uses her ranged Human Form to deal damage from a distance. She then switches to Spider Form for her execute spell, Venomous Bite.

Manaless Abilities

Renekton and Katarina

Katarina and Renekton are two excellent choices for players who do not enjoy being gated by a mana pool when using their abilities.

Renekton is a fighter commonly taken in the top lane that uses Fury instead of mana. He gains Fury by auto attacking enemies and can use his Fury to empower his abilities with bonus effects.

Katarina is an assassin that is most commonly played mid lane. She has no cost for any of her spells and only needs to manage her spell cooldowns. Her passive Voracity reduces her cooldowns if any enemy champion she has damaged in the past three seconds dies.

Second Lives

Anivia and Zilean

For players who like to have a security blanket in the event of death, Anivia and Zilean are two champions to try.

Anivia gets a second chance at life with her passive, Rebirth. Upon taking fatal damage, Anivia turns into an egg. Anivia gains bonus armor and magic resist in her egg form. If she survives for six seconds in egg form, Anivia is reborn with the health left on the egg.

Zilean can not only cheat death by casting his R, Chronoshift, on himself but can also cast it on an ally champion. If the champion takes lethal damage in the 5 seconds the spell is active, the champion is taken back in time and returns with health.

Pull Enemies In

Blitzcrank and Thresh

Blitzcrank and Thresh are the two hallmark hook champions in League of Legends. Both champions have hook abilities that pull enemies toward Blitzcrank and Thresh.

Blitzcrank’s pull is his Q, Rocket Grab. It does not go through minions or monsters. But when it hits an enemy, Blitzcrank can follow it up with his E, Power Fist, to knock up the enemy and his R Static Field to silence the enemy.

Thresh’s pull is also his Q, Death Sentence. Instead of fully pulling the enemy to Thresh like Rocket Grab, Death Sentence pulls the enemy halfway to Thresh. Re-activating Death Sentence pulls Thresh to the enemy. Near his target, Thresh can then use his E, Flay and R, The Box for additional crowd control.