Sometimes you just want to earn League Points (LP) in League of Legends. To get that LP you don’t want to worry about animation canceling, minigames, or any other crazy things that Riot likes to slap on Champions these days. Well, I’ve got a treat for all you simple pleasure seekers today. I’ve gonna whip you two Champions for each lane that are easy-peasy, strong, and will for sure slide those easy LP gains your ways! Let’s get started in the Top Lane!

Top Lane Pick #1 - Garen, The Might of Demacia

Didn't make you scroll far to get to this pick, did I? Well, of course not. Garen has sported a win-rate above 51% for the majority of Season 10, and sometimes even higher in ELOs below Platinum. And that’s exactly why he’s on this list!

Garen, a poster boy for the game, is one of the Champions that you’re tossed to get your appetite wet for Top Lane, so naturally he’s going to come packaged with easy to grasp mechanics for all those newer players out there. Silence, get tanky, spin, execute! Not hard to grasp at all. And his lane-dominant style of play finds itself right at home in the meta of Top which greatly rewards those that dominate their one vs. one matchup.

Top Lane Pick #2 - Pantheon, The Unbreakable Spear

Pantheon’s fall from the most dominant Champion in the game post rework has been pretty gentle. He stabilized around a 50% win-rate across all his roles and has started to trend up with the recent solo-kill experience changes from Patch 10.8.

And this makes sense considering Pantheon’s early game focused playstyle. If you can start the snowball hard and fast, there’s little stopping you from taking your map-roaming ultimate and applying your lead elsewhere. With that said, like Garen, Panth boils down pretty easily when you think about how his kit works. Poke/Execute, Stun, Block, Roam. Yeah, there’s some nuance in deciding which ability is best given how many passive stacks he has, but 8/10 times you’re going to want that little extra damage from his Q and that’s not really a hard decision to filter down to. So, that’s why Pantheon lands himself on this list!

Jungle Pick #1 - Master Yi, The Wuju Bladesman

Riot messed around at the beginning of Season 10 and made the Jungle about early power and gank aggression. Well, when they dialed back that tuning, Master Yi reared his head up and started to shine with his still increasing 52% win-rate across Plat-Below ELOS.

But, unlike Karthus or Fiddlesticks who take a little extra oomph to get going in my eye, Master Yi gets off the ground a bit quicker thanks to just needing items and not Dark Harvest stacks, and he feasts on the chaos of Solo-Queue. One moment he’s solo-ing Dragon, the next minute he’s randomly gotten a triple kill, and then after that he’s Alpha Striking down your whole team and you’re wondering why no one picked a tank or hard-CC… He’s just a pure solo-queue Champion that can ride a balance of passive and aggressive thanks to his untargetability, speed, and ease of right-click-you-dead gameplay.

Jungle Pick #2 - Warwick, The Uncaged Wrath of Zaun

The ever good pupper, Warwick is known as an easy to learn, but rewarding to master, Champion that benefits one-tricks and meta-mainers alike. Warwick rides a balancing of being a speedy clearer with the like of Master Yi and Karthus, while having a solid gank plan like Zac or Xin Zhao. Be you an aggressive or passive Jungler, you’ll benefit from picking Warwick up, thanks to his natural sustain, movement speed, and solid suppressing ultimate.

Mid Lane Pick #1 - Galio, The Colossus

Galio’s been sneaky good for a while now. Ever since he took a page from Sylas’ book and started to build Hextech-GLP instead of ROA, he’s shined… but not too brightly. Well, that is until now. Galio rocks a 51% win-rate that’s trending upwards since he counters popular assassin picks like Fizz, Diana, Talon, and Zed.

With a simple kit of poke, taunt, charge, and roam, he’s not hard to grasp in terms of mechanics. Hell, when comparing him to another Champion on this list he’s very much a tanky-AP version of Pantheon. Pick up this lonely golem whenever you get the chance for high payoff!

Mid Lane Pick #2 - Annie, The Dark Child

‘Oh look an easy Champion list, I bet Annie’s on here!’ Congrats. You won the bet. What do you get? Free LP and easily countered assassins.

Annie shines with a poke, push, and burst kit and can be played with three rune sets that alter how she benefits her team, Electrocute, Predator, and Glacial Augment. Taking the Electrocute page, she’s a burst mage that’s all about punishing squishies. With Predator, she roams from Mid with her already high movement speed and slaps down big-CC on other lanes to setup snowballs. With Glacial, she takes a supportive role and pushes her already high zone control presence even further. In my opinion, she’s a snap pick against the likes of Fizz and Zed who have a hard time dealing with her point and click stun.

AD Carry Pick #1 - Miss Fortune

Miss Fortune, for far too many patches, has found herself in a company of Champions that Riot doesn’t seem to want to slap directly. Instead, she’s benefitted from the changes to the cast around her and it’s made her a super strong pick for Solo-Queue.

To top it off, MF pairs well with the strongest Support picks in Solo-Queue right now, Leona, Nautilus, and Blitzcrank, since the slow from her E can help setup the all-in plays these Champions look for. And then once they have their target, the shred from her ultimate and passive is sure to take down squishies and tanks alike.

The only area that MF fails at is mobility, but that’s a Marksmen problem in general. But unlike other Marksmen, she covers for her weakness through great zone control and high burst thanks to her passive procs.

AD Carry Pick #2 - Ashe, the Frost Archer

Like Garen, Ashe is apart of the company of Champions that Riot wants to introduce their game. So naturally, she comes bundled with an easy to execute and understand kit. But, that also hasn’t stopped her from being the best Supportive-Marksmen in the game for this season.

With her stacking slows, hard-CC ultimate, and ability to safely scout dark zones of the map with her E, Ashe can prove invaluable when looking to press up in lane, secure an objective, or nab a quick pick. She rounds well into any team comp, honestly. And even though she may be on the lower end of upfront damage in terms of ADCs, her consistent DPS is what makes her a monster to play against.

Support Pick #1 - Blitzcrank, the Great Steam Golem

Many consider Blitzcrank a high-risk-high-reward style Champion, since if he doesn’t get his carries going during the lane phase, his kit typically falls flat come Mid to Late.

But, unless you literally do not have eyes, it’s really hard to miss Blitz hooks these days since he is the PREMIER hook Champion in League now thanks to the buff that Riot gave to his Q range way back when. And topping it off, his knock-up into ultimate combo provides a sneaky amount of burst to boot. So, what I’m trying to say here is, unless your enemies are playing dumbly passive and hiding consistently behind their minions and Jungle pressure, you’re probably going to walk away with one or two kills for your carry as Blitz. And if your opponents aren’t letting you take advantage of them, the pressure and threat of your all-in should be enough to give you advantage in lane to allow your AD to farm safely.

The other thing that makes Blitz sneaky good is his ability to roam across the map. Though he might not be as fast as Pyke or Bard, his gank style is very much more straightforward. He speeds into lane with Mobi-Boots, either hits his hook or doesn’t, and then roams back to his lane. It’s really simple which is perfect for him considering the nature of this list.

Support Pick #2 - Nautilus, the Titan of the Depths

The reason that Riot buffed Blitz was because Nautilus was becoming THE hook Champion form the Support role. And honestly, depending on who you talk to, he’s the stronger of the two still.

While both Champions pretty much live by the mantra ‘Get hooks get kills’ Nautilus, I feel, does his with a bit more flexibility in mind. With his passive, hook, E, and ultimate, Nautilus can switch up and CC multiple targets in a fight causing massive disruption. And he can fulfill the role of disengage/peel better than Blitzcrank ever could, while also being just as tanky and engage focus on the flip side when needed.

The difference is that Naut requires a bit more thought, but unlike Thresh who can require the micro-play of a God, Naut’s micro is like an extra auto-attack per fight which I don’t consider insane by any means. That’s why he finds himself next to his hook-minded brother on this list of strong but simple picks.

Closing Out

I hope you guys take these picks into Solo-Queue and actually feel their power for yourselves. They aren’t the flashiest Champions by any means, but they’re certainly effective and they’ll get their job done with very simply executed goals.

Remember, when you have to worry less about how to play your Champion, you can focus on the wider situations across the map and thus be a more effective teammate. And, in matchups where you may not know what to take, always taking the easier option will allow you to think about how you can use the simple kit to outplay without having to worry about the setup or minigames to more complex Champions.

Anyway, good luck in Solo-Queue guys and remember, sometimes it's just fine to ride the easy lane to free LP.