League of Legends can be quite an overwhelming game for beginners, as it has more than 160 champions, some of which require really advanced mechanics. And the fact that there are 5 roles to play does not make it any easier.
Every role has its own strengths and weaknesses, and some are generally easier than others for newer players. However, the thing that influences the difficulty of a role the most is how well it matches your playstyle and personality when it comes to gaming.
My goal with this post is to briefly go over each role and give you an idea about what it takes to play it. This will hopefully allow you to weigh out all the pros and cons and make your own decision.
In the end, I will then tell you the objectively best role for new players, although you shouldn’t feel forced to play it. So let’s begin.
League of Legends Roles – Explained for Beginners
Top Lane
The top lane is a lane that sits at, well, at the top of the Summoner’s Rift. As such it will be the first lane we will cover, and then we will work our way down.
This lane is known for how slow and strategic it is, and it is a perfect lane for patient gamers. It is also good for beginners overall since there are fewer things to learn initially.
In the top lane, you will be mainly fighting your enemy laners in 1v1 battles. This is due to the fact that the most early game important objectives, like Dragons, are located at the bottom side of the map.
In the later stages of the game, the presence of the enemies can increase. This is often due to the Rift Herald spawning, but it can also happen if you are playing too aggressively. Still, it is the role with the least enemy presence compared to any other.
The champions you will be seeing in the top lane are mostly tanks and bruisers. This is because the long lane makes a good environment for long fights. Another reason for this is that the lane is so detached from everything, and it gives you a lot of time for scaling, which is much needed for these classes of champions.
From time to time, you will see some ranged champions in the top Lane. These are infamously annoying to play against since they will constantly poke you and make it hard for you to farm.
These champions are really strong in the laning phase of the game (up to 15-20 min), but they are risky and can compromise the entire ally team composition.
Read Also: 10 Best Top Lane Champions for New Players
Mid Lane
The mid lane is found, as you might have assumed, in the middle of Summoner’s Rift. This is one of the hardest roles to play, but it also has the highest carry potential.
This role is really difficult for beginners since you will have a hard time focusing on everything that is going on. Here are some skills you will need for mid-lane:
- Last-hitting CS.
- Knowing enemy auto-attack and spell ranges.
- Dodging enemy abilities.
- Good vision skills and evading enemy jungle ganks.
- The ability to track what your team is doing and responding to and helping them.
These are just a few elementary skills, and despite applying to every lane they are especially important for mid-lane. Now, you do not have to be perfect at them, as you will be facing players of similar skill levels when you start out, but still, they need to be learned and it can be a little challenging.
The champions you will be seeing and playing in mid-lane are mostly carries, sometimes assassins, sometimes, mages, and sometimes even marskmen.
This is simply due to the nature of the lane. It is situated in the middle of the map which makes carry champions more impactful, and the short length makes it more suitable for champions that can quickly dish out a lot of damage.
Read Also: 15 Best Mid Laners for Beginners in LoL (Easy Picks)
Bot/AD Carry
The ADC is the carry of the bot lane. It is played alongside a support against the enemy ADC and their support. Since the role requires you to interact with this many people it will be even harder than the mid lane at first.
Traditionally, the AD carries’ role was to endure the weak early game, and scale to the late game to become the teams’ most valuable asset. This is still true, but lately, we have been seeing many other combinations in the bot lane.
These combinations are primarily composed of AP bot lane champions.
Since you will most likely play the standard ADCs, your main goal will be to survive early and deal massive amounts of damage later on. When you become more experienced you will be able to experiment with some AP champions.
The best champions you can play as a beginner marksman are Ashe, Miss Fortune, and Vayne. They all have simple abilities and playing them will allow you to allocate brain resources to learning other aspects of the game.
Here you can check my top recommendations for ADCs this season.
Support
As I already mentioned, support is played alongside an AD carry in the bot lane. This role will require much less skill, and it is more beginner friendly.
As support, your goals are mainly to make the AD carry safe and to try and get them ahead as much as possible.
You will usually do this by shielding, healing, and putting the vision around so you two are less vulnerable. If this seems like something you would enjoy, you can try out champions like Janna, Lulu, and Yuumi.
If you want something more challenging and aggressive, you can play engage supports. These are champions like Thresh, Nautilus, and Blitz. They have less ability to protect the carry, but they have more ability to make them fed.
The role of the support is easier for beginners since you do not have to last-hit minions. You will usually generate gold passively from the minions that die near you, and from hitting the enemies. So, one less skill you don’t need to focus on.
If you want to get started as support, I would highly recommend playing Lulu. She is simple enough to execute while also being fun to play.
But if you want to start with the easiest champion, you can try Yuumi. This champion requires so few skills, that playing her can be detrimental, as you will have a hard time learning the game principles.
Jungle
The jungle is arguably the hardest role and worst lane to learn as a beginner. Learning at least one role before jungle is a prerequisite, and if you want to be a good jungler you will need to know all 4 other roles decently.
Jungle players have a lot of responsibility in the game. As a jungler, you will need to learn how to clear the jungle camps efficiently, help your allies and do neutral objectives (Dragons, Barons, Rift Heralds, etc.).
All this can be extremely overwhelming for a new player.
An upside to the jungle is that you do not have to be a great mechanical player. There is no need to learn how to poke the enemy, last-hit minions, and so on. The only thing fighting-related thing you need to know is which fights are winnable and which are not.
All in all, I would not recommend jungle to a beginner, despite it being my main role. I would, however, recommend everyone to try it out, once they are comfortable with at least one other role because jungle is excellent for carrying games in League.
Read Also: 10 Best Junglers for Beginners in League of Legends
Which Role Should I Play as a Beginner in LoL?
If you didn’t guess my answer to this question already, it is – it depends on you and you specifically. We’re all different and approach gaming in unique ways. So even if I recommend you one role, chances are that you’ll quickly find it boring and unsatisfying to play.
In any case, there are two roles in League of Legends I can always point out for newer players. These are top and support.
Support is obvious because the entry barrier is really low. You can literally install League of Legends, enter a game as a support, and do just fine as long as you’re spamming shields on your bot lane partner.
And the top lane is particularly easy because the champions that are played there aren’t mechanically challenging and you’ll mostly be left alone to learn things around and test your own limits.
So, if you’re new to LoL, I’d suggest you first try those two roles!
Conclusion
Every role in League of Legends is nearly equally hard (or easy) at higher levels of play. But when it comes to beginners it’s a little different. Some roles are definitely more challenging due to the sheer number of things you need to learn.
And if I had to narrow it down to only one, I would have to say that the top lane is the best role for new players. It simply allows you to slowly get into the game and learn many things at a great pace.
This is not to say that you should not play other lanes if you feel you would enjoy them more. The only role I would recommend in any circumstances is the jungle, no matter how tempting you find it.
