With more than 170 champions available in League of Legends, choosing who to play can be overwhelming for new players. Every role has champions that are straightforward to learn and others that demand much more experience, making the decision especially important when you are still learning the basics of the game. This guide covers the best beginner champions for every role and explains why each one is a good starting point.
What Makes a Champion Beginner-Friendly?
For this guide, we are looking at four main factors: mechanical difficulty, how forgiving the champion is when you make mistakes, how clearly their abilities communicate what you are supposed to do, and whether they teach the fundamentals of their role. Together, these aspects separate a genuinely beginner-friendly pick from a champion that is simply easy to play.
Best Beginner Champions for Top Lane
Original Garen full Splash Art
Garen
Garen is a great first choice for Top Lane because his simple kit with no skillshots lets you focus on learning the role. He does not use mana, so you can use your abilities freely without worrying about running out of resources.
Garen is also very forgiving when you make mistakes. His passive gives you a massive boost to health regeneration while out of combat, letting you quickly recover from a bad trade, while his natural durability gives you more room to survive bad decisions. The simple point-and-click silence from his Q is the perfect tool for starting trades, and his ultimate provides a reliable way to finish low-health enemies.
Garen's straightforward playstyle gives you everything you need to learn the basics without making the champion itself a barrier to improvement.
Malphite
Malphite is another beginner-friendly option for Top Lane, especially when the enemy team relies on physical damage. His passive shield and the bonus armor from his W make him extremely durable, giving you plenty of room to recover from mistakes and survive difficult trades. His kit is also straightforward, with simple tools for poking and engaging that do not require much mechanical precision.
His ultimate is the one part of his kit that requires some accuracy, but once mastered, it gives you a reliable way to start teamfights and you can even use it defensively to escape a dangerous situation. This makes Malphite a reliable pick even when you are still learning the game.
Best Beginner Champions for Jungle
Original Amumu full Splash Art
Amumu
Amumu is a solid choice for new players learning the Jungler role because his kit makes both clearing camps and ganking straightforward. His AOE abilities allow for multi-camp clears while staying healthy, especially since he is a Tank.
Amumu's Bandage Toss (Q) is a skillshot and could be harder for beginners to land consistently. However, you can store two charges at once, making a missed Q much less punishing. Once you land it, the rest of the gank is simple: press R and create a large area-of-effect stun.
The Sad Mummy is the quintessential engage Jungler with one of the simplest roles: go in and CC your opponents.
Nunu
Nunu's straightforward game plan makes him easy to pick up when learning Jungle. His Q makes clearing camps fast and safe by dealing heavy damage to monsters while healing you, and the same ability makes securing objectives much easier.
Ganking is also very intuitive because Nunu can simply roll his snowball (W) towards a lane and knock enemies up when it connects. Once you reach the enemy team, his crowd control and massive area-of-effect ultimate give you an obvious way to contribute to fights.
Nunu is perfect for beginners because he excels at the three most important parts of playing Jungle: clearing, ganking, and securing objectives.
Best Beginner Champions for Mid Lane
Original Lux full Splash Art
Lux
At first glance, Lux might not seem like a beginner-friendly champion , after all, her kit is full of skillshots. However, her abilities are extremely intuitive, and her long range means you can deal damage without constantly putting yourself in danger.
Since your binding ability (Q) gives you an easy follow-up for the rest of your damaging abilities, learning to consistently land it should be your first priority when playing Lux. This gives you room to practice your aim without every missed skillshot immediately costing you the fight.
Annie
Similarly to Lux, Annie gives you a beginner-friendly way to play Mid Lane, but her abilities are much easier to land and use effectively. Annie simplifies the mage formula with spells that are useful both offensively and defensively.
During fights against multiple enemies, save your stun for your AoE abilities, but in a 1v1 scenario, Annie's point-and-click Q is the best option for applying it.
After you get your opening, use all your spells to deal an incredibly high amount of burst damage without worrying about a specific combo. Against squishier targets, one skill rotation is often all you need to deplete their HP.
Best Beginner Champions for Bot Lane
Original Ashe full Splash Art
Ashe
Ashe has a very clear identity as an ADC, which makes her particularly useful for beginners. The slow from her passive makes kiting feel much more natural, since every basic attack helps you keep enemies at a distance while dealing consistent damage.
Despite not having a built-in dash or any other mobility tools, the Frost Archer is still one of the best picks for new players, mainly because of her long-range E ability, Hawkshot, which gives vision across the map and allows you to safely scout for incoming ganks or objectives.
Her ultimate can be used both at close range to stun a target right in front of you and to hit enemies on the other side of the map and set up plays for your team. Learning how to land shots from across the map might be frustrating, but once you start hitting them, you will find yourself wanting to go for more.
Miss Fortune
Miss Fortune dominates the early game, making her a great choice for beginners who want to learn how to pressure their opponent in lane. Her Q allows you to punish enemies standing behind low-health minions, while her passive movement speed helps you reposition and dodge incoming abilities. In teamfights, Miss Fortune's ultimate deals massive area-of-effect damage when used from the right position.
Overall, she is a strong lane bully with a solid basic kit that doesn't require many resources to be useful, making her a great first champion to try.
Best Beginner Champions for Support
Original Nami full Splash Art
Nami
Nami's versatility is what makes her such a good option for new Support players. With Nami, you can adapt to your ADC's game plan whether they are playing aggressively or passively. This is possible because most of her abilities affect not only your allies but also your enemies, and often both at the same time.
Knowing all the intricate interactions between her abilities can be daunting for a new player, so focus on the main purpose of each one. Use your W and E to heal and empower your allies when their health gets low, and use your Q and R to stun and knock up your opponents.
Nautilus
Nautilus works as the tank counterpart to Nami, giving you a completely different way to approach the Support role. Instead of protecting your ADC from the backline, you can get in front of them, soak up damage with a shield from your W ability, and lock down enemies with your crowd control.
His Q is the only part of the kit that requires much precision, but landing it can immediately create an opportunity for your ADC to follow up. Once you are in range, Nautilus can keep enemies locked down with his passive, Q, and R, while his E slows anyone nearby.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the easiest role to learn in League of Legends?
Support is generally the easiest role for beginners, followed by Top.
Should beginners play one champion or several?
Start with one or two champions and expand your pool as you become more comfortable with the game.
Should beginners play ranked games?
Play a few normal games first to learn the basics, then try ranked once you feel comfortable with your champion and role.
What makes a champion beginner-friendly?
Simple abilities, low mechanical difficulty, and a clear game plan are the usual factors to consider.
Finding the Right Champion for You
To have the best possible experience as a new player, the most important thing is that you choose a champion that you actually enjoy, even if it's not on this list. You learn faster by playing what you like than by forcing yourself to learn what is considered "best" , so feel free to experiment and find what is right for you.