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Discover the best champions to climb with in League of Legends, with recommendations for every rank from Iron to Master.
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Ranked is where League of Legends players compete against each other to climb the ladder and improve their rank. As you climb, you will need to adapt and change the way you approach each game in order to deal with increasingly harder opponents.
One of the most important parts of that adaptation is choosing the right champion for your rank. However, the highest win rate doesn't always mean the best champion to climb with. Mechanical difficulty, how reliably a champion impacts games, and how much coordination they require all play a role in deciding what to pick. In this guide, we'll explain which champions are best suited to climbing at every rank and why they work well at that level.
Iron and Bronze are the two lowest ranks in League of Legends, where players are still learning the basics of the game. CS numbers are low, objectives are often ignored, and mistakes are common. Games are also less coordinated, with very little teamwork between players.
Garen is one of the simplest champions in the game, with no complicated combos, plenty of damage, and surprisingly high sustain. Even when behind, Garen is always a threat and will easily take over games.
Master Yi is a very strong choice in Iron because of his simple game plan: safely farm the jungle monsters, scale, buy your core items, and take over fights. Shutting down a strong Master Yi requires precise ability use and teamwork , something that is often lacking in Iron games. Once he gets going, there is no stopping him.
Annie has the perfect beginner's kit. She has a passive that gives her a reliable stun, huge burst potential, mana regeneration, and a shield. When playing Annie, your job is simple: walk up to the closest enemy and press all your buttons at the same time.
Miss Fortune's biggest strength is her ultimate. In low-rank games, most players don't think about positioning, so you will find plenty of opportunities to use your ultimate on grouped enemies and single-handedly win a teamfight. Additionally, her early-game burst gives her enough lane pressure to punish opponents who step too far forward.
Brand support is the bane of most ADCs. Despite being in the support role, this champion offers as much damage as the other roles and can easily punish enemies who don't know how his abilities work. After getting some AP burn items, Brand's damage over time is enough to take enemies out of the fight.
Silver and Gold players start to turn their early advantages into actual leads. Laners farm more consistently and have a better idea of when to take towers and objectives. However, players still throw away leads by overextending, taking unnecessary fights, or failing to close out games.
At this stage, you can start picking champions with more complex kits, but make sure you still have a clear game plan and a simple win condition.
Malphite is a great choice for players who want to start playing a slightly more demanding champion without giving up a straightforward way to win games. Build tank, survive the laning phase, and look for opportunities to hit multiple enemies with Unstoppable Force in teamfights. Landing a good ultimate takes better timing and awareness, but the payoff is huge.
Nunu rewards players who start paying more attention to the map and looking for opportunities outside their own jungle. Snowball Barrage gives him easy access to ganks, while Consume makes him excellent at securing objectives. Use this pick to improve your jungle clear and pathing.
Ahri gives you more tools to make plays without being overly complicated. Her low-cooldown ultimate gives her plenty of escape tools, so you are never severely punished for your mistakes. This champion is also excellent for training your skillshots.
Jinx is a strong choice once players start understanding how to position around teamfights. She rewards good farming and positioning, while her passive is extremely useful and beginner-friendly.
Leona is a great mid-elo champion. Her kit is a bit more advanced, making her the perfect transition pick between simpler engage champions like Nautilus and harder ones like Alistar.
Platinum and Emerald are where many players start to plateau. The climb from Platinum to Diamond takes significantly longer for most players than the climb from Iron to Silver, as players are more consistent and generally closer in skill level.
This makes champion mastery more important. You need to pick champions with a low skill floor but high skill ceiling , champions that provide consistent value across multiple games and, more importantly, champions that remain powerful regardless of the meta or patch.
Darius is a great champion for learning how to punish mistakes in lane. His passive rewards extended fights, while Apprehend gives him a reliable way to pull enemies into his range. As you climb, learning how to manage his passive stacks, space enemies, and recognize when to commit to a fight gives you plenty of room to improve.
Lee Sin's basic abilities are easy to understand, but there is a huge amount of depth in how you use them. His mobility gives him options for ganking, invading, and setting up plays across the map. A below-average Lee Sin player can quickly become useless, but an experienced one can solo carry a game.
Syndra rewards good positioning and precise ability usage. Her burst lets her punish enemies who step too far forward, while her spheres give her control over space during fights. Learning how to manage her abilities and position around her range gives you the tools to consistently pressure opponents without relying on complicated combos.
Range is Caitlyn's speciality. When you pick this champion, your role is to stay behind your frontline and fire at everyone that comes in. This might seem like a very simple game plan, but it becomes significantly stronger once you learn how to make the best use of your passive and traps. The best Caitlyn players know how to chain their abilities together in order to kill enemies in less than a second.
Thresh gives you plenty of ways to influence a game since all of his abilities can be used both as a disengage and as an engage tool. Thresh is a great pick because it teaches the fundamentals of playing support: being able to identify when you should go in and when you should run.
In Diamond, the difference between knowing how League of Legends works and consistently executing that knowledge becomes much more noticeable. At this level, players generally have a greater understanding of the game's macro, so the biggest differences between players start to come from their individual mechanical prowess , also known as micro.
To succeed, you need to understand your matchups, know exactly when your champion is strongest, and consistently execute your game plan. Small mechanical mistakes or poor decisions are punished quickly, making champions with a high skill ceiling especially valuable.
Fiora becomes increasingly difficult to deal with once you understand her matchups. Hitting Vitals, using Riposte at the right moment, and managing her movement around opponents gives her a huge advantage in duels. Her ability to pressure side lanes also gives you a reliable way to create pressure when teamfights aren't going your way.
Viego's passive makes every teamfight unpredictable. After taking down an enemy, you temporarily gain access to their entire kit. Knowing which champion to possess and how to use their abilities is crucial, making Viego significantly harder to play and master.
Viktor's strength comes from controlling space rather than constantly looking for fights. His Death Ray lets him clear waves and harass from a safe distance, while Gravity Field makes approaching him dangerous. Viktor is not a flashy pick, but a consistent one that requires extreme patience and a strong understanding of the game.
Kai'Sa has the freedom to play fights in ways that most ADCs can't. Killer Instinct lets her suddenly reposition onto isolated targets, while her passive and evolved abilities give her several ways to build damage. The challenge is in knowing when to use her ultimate and when to stay back.
Lulu might seem like a fairly simple support with basic shielding abilities. However, her Polymorph is arguably one of the hardest skills to use efficiently. The decision-making and reflexes required to properly use this ability are what separate an average Lulu performance from a great one.
Master, Grandmaster, and Challenger are the highest tiers in League of Legends. The player pool is significantly smaller, meaning you regularly face the same players and champions across multiple games. Surprisingly, at this stage, players usually choose what they are most comfortable with rather than what is best , save for a few exceptions. You will see many one-trick players who know everything there is to know about a specific champion, including its matchups, strengths, and weaknesses.
Riven is a champion where experience makes an enormous difference. Her animation cancels, mobility, and shield give experienced players countless ways to trade, chase, and escape. After hundreds of games, a Riven one-trick knows exactly how each matchup works and how far they can push their advantages.
Qiyana's ability to use different elements gives her a huge number of options when moving around the jungle and setting up ganks. Her terrain-dependent abilities also mean that knowing the map is just as important as knowing her combos.
Yone is an extremely strong and consistent champion, especially in high elo. Mastering his range, timing, and damage lets experienced Yone players take fights that other players wouldn't dare attempt.
Yunara has a high skill ceiling and a kit that rewards players who spend a lot of time perfecting her. Her mobility gives her unusual freedom for an ADC, and her abilities let her adapt her approach depending on the fight. At Master and above, that level of champion knowledge matters more than simply picking whatever ADC is strongest on the current patch.
Bard is built around knowing where you need to be and when you need to be there. His chimes encourage constant movement around the map, while Magical Journey and Tempered Fate give him tools that are almost entirely dependent on how well you use them. A Bard one-trick who knows the map and understands his opponents can create plays that other supports simply don't have access to.
There is no single champion that will magically take you to the top of the ranked ladder. The best pick depends on your rank, your experience, and how well you understand the champion you are playing.
As you climb, champion mastery becomes increasingly important , but this doesn't mean you need to follow this exact guide to succeed. Comfort is the most important aspect, regardless of rank. Find a champion that you like, learn its matchups, and stick with it. The less you need to think about your mechanics, the more you can focus on other aspects of the game, such as macro and teamwork.
