Being a one-trick player significantly boosts your effectiveness at climbing in League’s solo queue.
But since we can’t play our main role 100% of the time, a good strategy is to main or one-trick a champion that is viable for multiple roles.
In League of Legends, there are lots of champions that can do up to 2 or 3 roles pretty well.
Their strengths are broad enough to be used in different ways and there’s the advantage of not having to learn new mechanics.
So, in this post, I want to focus on the 5 best champions you can play in mid and jungle in League of Legends.
And no matter if you’re a main mid laner with off-role jungle or vice versa, you should definitely give these picks a try.
These Are the Best Champions for Mid and Jungle:
5. Gragas
Long gone are the days when Gragas was one of the toughest champions to beat in both jungle and mid lane. However, he’s still a really strong champion in both roles, with strengths
First of all, Gragas is an AP champion with all AoE abilities. This makes him good at both wave and jungle clearing.
Second, because Gragas has two CC effects (E and R), he is also great at teamfighting.
And third, Gragas can either be played as an AP bruiser or a full tank. You can go for different builds in each game, depending on what your team needs.
For Mid Lane
Although there aren’t too many impossible matchups for Gragas mid, you still need to be careful when playing him there. After all, the champion is melee and he often struggles against ranged poke champs such as Xerath or Syndra.
But besides this, Gragas can farm very well with his Q and keep his health up with his passive. Against melee champions, he trades very well and can interrupt their combos with his E.
After level 6, Gragas’ burst becomes really good and he can often 1v1 the enemy laner.
For mid lane Gragas, I definitely recommend going for a full AP build simply because it will be expected for you to contribute with damage in one way or another.
For Jungle
Gragas can go for any of the three jungle pets in LoL but the best one for him is the blue one. He relies on movement speed for ganks and repositioning in fights, so it’s best to go for Gustwalker.
For ganking, you have your E which is a really good gap closer and a CC effect all in one. You can combine it with Gragas’ ult to displace enemies and set up good kill opportunities.
And as far as builds are concerned, the tank performs overall better in the jungle. But you can also go full AP if your team has enough tanks already.
Read Also: 7 Best AP Junglers to Dominate in League of Legends
4. Qiyana
Qiyana is an AD mid laner, a lethality assassin that one-shots squishy champions. She always starts off weak but scales extremely well and often dominates the Rift.
Qiyana’s first spike happens on level 3. This is a great time to start trading in the mid lane or attempt a gank as a jungler. Her combo actually does an insane amount of damage, so you want to use her early game power.
Later on, Qiyana’s ultimate allows to her to stun and damage all 5 of the enemy champions. And with good uses of this cooldown, she can single-handedly win teamfights.
For Mid Lane
As a melee AD champion, Qiyana’s job in the laning phase is to stay safe, collect as much XP and gold as possible, and not get poked too much.
In return, Qiyana can poke well with her Q or Q > W > Q combo with the rock element. This one does the most damage of them all and can sometimes take 50% HP from the enemy laner.
However, Qiyana’s big advantage is that she can move around the map quickly. And because of this, you want to focus on roaming and ganking even as a mid laner.
For Jungle
Since Qiyana doesn’t have any way to self-heal, the start of each game in the jungle may feel a bit underwhelming.
However, once you get a couple of levels, her burst AoE starts to feel amazing when it comes to clearing jungle monsters.
And just like in the mid lane, you want to prioritize ganking over farming as jungle Qiyana.
Since she’s a champion with multiple dashes, invisibility effect, crowd control, as well as burst damage, you want to harass the enemy laners as much as possible.
Qiyana is a carry jungler and you can always snowball the game with early leads.
Read Also: 6 Best Mid-Jungle Synergy Combos You Must Abuse
3. Zed
Zed is another AD assassin that thrives in both mid and jungle. For him, matchups and counters don’t really matter because his damage is always high enough to one-shot even tanks.
And since his build is mostly lethality, you always feel like you can carry games with Zed.
Except for the slow on his E, Zed doesn’t have other CC effects. However, he makes up for it with one of the highest damage bursts in the whole League of Legends.
As an assassin, Zed’s job is to enter the enemy backline, eliminate the ADC or the mid laner, and make it out safely.
And his ability kit allows him to do that perfectly. He has his shadows (W and R) to reposition up to two times in a single fight and outplay his opponents.
For Mid Lane
In the mid lane, Zed is actually one of the strongest champions you can play. Even against ranged poke champions, Zed can trade favorably from level 2 if he aims his shurikens correctly.
Once Zed reaches level 6, all advantages of the enemy laner simply disappear. This is because no matter how far behind Zed is, his combos with Death Mark can one-shot any mid champion even from 100% HP.
Similar to Qiyana, you want to use Zed’s kit for ganking and capitalizing on mistakes from your enemy. So don’t hesitate to go to the bot lane and collect kills when they overextend.
For Jungle
Zed’s jungle is not just decent, it’s actually fantastic. His abilities are buffed to deal extra damage to jungle monsters, so you never feel like you’re starting off slow.
Because of this, Zed’s pretty scary at the level 3 ganks. His basic abilities can be combined in ways to deal unbelievable amounts of damage, so you want to be aggressive early on.
After you unlock Zed’s ultimate, the gameplay is much similar to that of a mid laner. When teamgfights come, your job is to assassinate the squishy enemy champion and turn the scenario into 5v4 in favor of your team.
Read Also: 7 Best AD Junglers to Solo Carry
2. Diana
Diana has been a dominant jungle pick for years now. However, she was once a mid lane pick with lots of good matchups. True, nowadays it’s not always easy to win mid lane with Diana, but it’s doable if you play close to her strengths.
Diana’s kit is unbelievably powerful at dueling enemies in 1v1 fights but also carrying 5v5 teamfights. Her damage comes from her abilities as well as her auto-attacks.
And depending on which build you go for, you can either be tankier or more bursty.
For Mid Lane
The way you play Diana in the mid lane is to prioritize safety and experience over potential gold. Giving up CS is really nothing when you know you scale better than the enemy laner. So, try to play it carefully and according to the matchup.
But also know that Diana is ready to fight from level 3 onwards. With her Q > E > W combo, plus auto-attacks, she can crush many mid laners, especially mages.
Later on, Diana can go to a side lane and split push. Or she can stick to her team and dominate the teamfight. It’s up to you how you use her powers!
For Jungle
In the jungle, Diana is much more powerful than in the mid lane. Her camp clear is one of the best in the game with lots of damage from her abilities and auto-attacks.
Plus she has a shield on her W to keep her health up throughout the early game.
With Diana, you’re much more flexible because you can either focus on farming or ganking. And you should shift between the two playstyles based on your team’s performance as well as that of the enemy.
As a jungler, you need to assist your teammate as best as you can. And Diana is great at that!
1. Ekko
If you ask the average LoL player whether Ekko is a mid laner or a jungler, they wouldn’t know what to answer. But that shows us precisely that Ekko can do each of those roles as though it’s his main one!
Ekko has a great combination of abilities and he almost got it all – mobility, AoE damage, shield, stun, and unbelievable safety.
He can always ult back to essentially reverse his mistake, making him a very powerful champion in lower elos.
Ekko is an AP assassin that scales extremely well in the late game. He has high AP ratios and can always back from any gold deficit.
For Mid Lane
Ekko isn’t know as the champion that stomps the mid lane. Instead, he’s a safe pick that always focuses on farming with his Q and looking for potential setups with his W.
With Ekko, you don’t need to win the 1v1 in the mid lane in order to carry games. The easier way is to gank other lanes and follow your jungler when he’s invading the enemy territory.
Ekko also does fantastically well in the side lane and he can match the power of any split pusher. And if things ever go bad, he can always rely on his ultimate to save himself.
For Jungle
Ekko’s damage revolves around utilizing his passive and coordinating it with his Q. But this is an easy thing to so Ekko is extremely efficient at clearing jungle camps.
One of Ekko’s big strengths is burst damage and he has it as a jungler too. In the mid and late game, his job is to one-shot the enemy ADC and carry games that way.
Playing Ekko in the jungle requires a bit of strategic thinking. He isn’t like Olaf or Hecarim who can simply fight all the time. But if you practice Ekko just a bit, you’ll see how powerful he can be in this role.
Read Also: 7 Best AP Mid Laners You Should Main
Conclusion
In this post, I really focused on the best and most efficient mid/jungle picks you can play in LoL.
Flexibility is key in solo queue, especially when you’re trying to climb. But these 5 champions are more than flexible enough, so make sure to give them a try yourself.
Good luck!
