Can't Find A Good Champ

[quote=BambooNBrains]-Just going to start off by saying this is my first time posting, let alone starting a thread here so I apologize if I'm missing something.- I've been playing LoL for just under a month now and hit 20 this last week. I play with some close friends and they've helped guide me in playing better and learning the ins-and-outs, however, they have been no help in finding a good champion. When I first started, they suggested I play Cho-Gath when I asked about him simply because "he's a pain in the butt to play against". I'm sure he's good in the right hands but I don't think I ever went positive with him. Anyways, the point being I have little idea of who to buy as a "main" champ and my play group isn't helping. The only 6300 champ I've grabbed is Caitlyn and she's definitely a lot of fun to play, but with that, I struggle to pull even or positive. Part of this might be that I'm underfed because my friends can do stupid good like 35-2 with a Tryndamere and an All-Crit page. I've also recently picked up Amumu and he's a fun tank; I don't get kills often but the amount of assists (even if they're only from Despair) makes me feel like I'm doing something. I'm considering getting Malsahar too... Anyways, I don't know if any of this information helps but what I'm looking for is suggestions in champions to buy. I'm looking for an enemy slayer so I can be on par with my team. I've continuously looked online for "top tier champions" or even just "strongest" or "most commonly banned in ranked" but fail to find helpful answers. tl;dr - I'm noob and need a good champion. No idea where to start. Sadly, these champions are taken by my friends, and while I could play them, they are usually occupied. Teemo Varus Udyr Gangplank Hecarim Kayle (other newb friend) Ahri Olaf Really hoping I can find some help :) And sorry if this type of thread is extremely common and a waste of server space -Thank You[/quote]

[quote=The Overmyynd]It is fairly common, but not a hastle. What i need to know to give you more information is: Do you find yourself auto-attacking people to get kills, or do you prefer to use abilities to blast them to death? Do you prefer tankyness, or kind of glass-cannon nuke? Would you like someone easy, or a high-skillcap high-reward champ? Are you a magic user, or attack power? A few champs i should suggest that give a good balance of all these kinds of things: [[sion]] is tank-arific and damn near impossible to kill at higher levels and is completely capable of getting kills on his own, or giving out assists. Can be run as either AP or AD. [[olaf]] is also extremely tough to kill, and just craps damage all over everyone. Good toolkit, and has a place in all levels of play as either a solo top or jungler. [[Vladimir]] is just godmode in either solo top or mid. Nearly impossible to kill in the right hands, lots of damage, crazy sustain, very tanky, and a great asset to team fights. [[maokai]] has what appears on the outside to be a mish-mash toolkit, but when you synergize it, makes for an amazing nuke. Also great to build tanky, does good DPS, and offers ALOT of value to teamfights in the crowd control department. Can either go 4-5-25 k-d spread, or something like 14-2-10. [[ryze]] is a horror beyond comprehension when he is fed, and is very hard to deal with in mid. Easily becomes tanky without gimping his damage output at all, and is popular in all levels of play. These champs are all viable in all levels of play, and in the right hands, become extremely dangerous. [[vladimir]] is very much a high-skill-high-reward champ, and [[maokai]] can be a challenge to learn, but they do so much for you to teach you about the game in general, i would advise you to get and play them both. If you have any more questions feel free to PM me, and if you would like mentoring in game to teach you basics, advanced concepts, and beyond, feel free to add me, my IGN is The Overmynd. Im already mentoring lots of other people, its kind of what i do here XD Hope this helped![/quote]

[quote=BambooNBrains]Wow thank you Overmynd! Very well thought response! I'll definitely consider those champions. If it helps narrow it down to answer your questions: I don't have a personal preference between Auto-Attacks and Skills, one of the reasons I like Cait is the nuke-ishness of her Q (Piltover Peacemaker, don't know how to make the skill show up) and her passive buffing her auto. However, I don't have a very fast computer so auto-attack might be a better decision. I miss half of Amumu's Q from lag and delay (though Cait's I do fine... idk). In short, Auto Attacks is probably the better choice As much as I want to say glass-cannon for the sheer brute force and stopping power, tankyness is the wiser choice again. Due to some lag, I often find myself stuck in a team fight when I thought I was moving, or noticing my life drop too late. Tankyness. Haha, and again, I want to say higher difficulty with a better pay off, but this being my first online PC game ever and often making stupid mistakes like fingers in the wrong position (i.e. accidentally using flash), Easier is again the better decision. But I could probably go medium difficulty. AutoAttack - Tanky - Not too complicated but don't need super easy Oh, if it helps, I always fall behind in levels around level 12 (team is usually 14 at the time) even if mid, my friends say it's not killing enough minions; thus farming capability might be a factor. Thanks again for the help. I might take up the mentoring offer, but half of my playgroup has been playing well over a year and has been very helpful in me joining (except in this troubling manor) so I'd rather let you help players without this option :P[/quote]

[quote=The Overmyynd]Its not a problem at all man, i would be more than happy to help you out if you feel like you need it, especially in the CS portion (thats creep score, or minions killed). If you want to learn how to get good CS i suggest picking up either Ezreal or Graves and going into a custom match by yourself and learning how to spot low health creeps, enemy creeps getting focused by your creeps, watching their lifebars rate of decline, distance between you and creeps, and the timing between the right-click and attack landing. Figuring out the basics of farming efficiently is a good start, and should be able to be learned fairly quickly. However, doing all this while having someone harassing you, and feeling the need to harass the enemy yourself, conserving mana, and watching for ganks, all at the same time, is another matter entirely. That, my friend, can only be achieved by actually playing. It all comes with time, don't worry, as long as you keep asking questions and are consciously trying to better yourself, you will find yourself tearing up Ranked in no time :) as far as you hitting the wrong buttons, im sure you have played guitar hero. When you first start, those three notes seem challenging. Then when that gets easy, you move on to for, and you're like, woah, cant believe i thought three was hard. When that stops being fulfilling, you go to hard, and learn to deal wtih the fifth button, and think to yourself, man, four buttons was a cinch. Eventually Expert comes knocking at your door, and Hard looks like a walk in the park compared to the finger-breaking, carpal-tunnel inducing madness you find yourself in now. Same idea applies. Your hand just learns where everything is. Just wait till you have 3 items that all have active effects that you have to use by hitting 1-6 on the number line above the letters ;) And as far as auto-attacking with tankyness champs go, [[Volibear]] might be another one to consider. Also think about [[Dr. Mundo]]. Oh, one more thing. Create a mini hyper link like [[sapling toss]] this by bracketing what you want to link with two of "[" and "]" on either side. easy as that. As previously stated, feel free to PM me or add me in game XD[/quote]

[quote=Kizum]Test playing some different champions when they are free to play. Its a very good way to find a new main. If your looking for a caster then I recommend a champion like [[Ahri]]: A good AP caster who can come up with an awesome combo. You can use [[Charm]] to set up a kill with other abilities and you can use it to escape easier. You can escape with [[Spirit Rush]] too. Nice AD carry [[Graves]]: You said that you played [[Caitlyn]] right? This is a similar champion. I don't have him but I always play when he is free =D. Tanky melee [[Wukong]]: A nice AD melee character that is pretty tanky. You can escape easy with [[Decoy]]. You can stay with S, then use [[Decoy]] too. [[Pantheon]]: I bought him yesterday and have played him total 3 times I think. I realised that hes pretty easy to play. Use the combo, [[Aegis of Zeonia]], [[Heartseeker Strike]], [[Spear Shot]]. The best thing about [[Pantheon]] is that he can block tower and basic attacks. These champions are actually pretty easy to learn and good farmers. Hope this helped you.[/quote]

[quote=Luther3000]Caitlyn's one of the easiest and more forgiving ADs to learn imo, if you want to learn AD you should probably just stick with her.[/quote]

[quote=GrandmasterD][center][icon=Karthus size=96][/center] Super fun! Great mid laner. Helps you to learn the game literally at all aspects. Insane late-game. Rune independent.[/quote]

[quote=PerpetualDuplicity]^ Agreeable. Karthus is a boss that can quite easily net a triple-quadra kill with one skill in a teamfight. It will make you feel pretty damn good about yourself.[/quote]

[quote=GrandmasterD]And you learn so much about cs-ing, map awareness, positioning, etc. Great champ![/quote]

[quote=BambooNBrains]Thanks for all these suggestions guys :) @Overmynd - Is it possible to find a not-so-squishy but not tanky DPS (I think that's the right term for a high damage champ?) so more in between? Or is a straight up tank just the better option? I've also tried Mundo and couldn't get the hang of it. Having your life be a mana source makes me use his skills too infrequently (might be thinking of [[Sion]]) @Kizum - I'll try and test all those champs besides Ahri :) [[Pantheon]] seems pretty BA @Luther - I'll still play Caitlyn for sure (even bought her Arctic skin) but I feel like I'm too weak with her compared to my team, hence looking for a stronger champion @GrandmasterD - Karthus was actually the first champion I ever played, I might give him another go :P So I've been watching the Champion Spotlights and these are the big hitters I noticed so thoughts on them would be much appreciated :) [[Jax]] [[Fizz]] [[Shyvana]] [[Fiddlesticks]] [[Graves]] as suggested [[Xerath]] My friends say he's squishy but with [[Ascended Form]] they might be joking? [[Riven]] [[Vayne]] (might be squishy, can't tell) [[Malzahar]] though "bad" in team fights [[Kennen]] I'm not saying I'll only play these guys, but I guess their damage output caught my interest? EDIT: Also, I have an AD Rune Page by suggestion from one of my friends. Being only 20, I currently have 6 [[Greater Mark of Desolation]] 6 [[Greater Seal of Might]] 6 [[Greater Glyph of Alacrity]][/quote]