Hello Summoners and welcome to this guide. Today I'm going to teach you how to build your champion pool and how important it is to have one. Before diving into the guide, I want to explain two very important concepts such as ''What is a Champion Pool?'' and ''Why you should have a Champion Pool''.

What Is a Champion Pool and Why Should I Have One?

A champion pool is most commonly defined as the list of champions which a player feels confident taking into a ranked match. This roster should not have more than 3 champions for your main role and 2 for the second one if you want to improve and to optimize your ability to win and climb. You can stick with your pool for a long time, but you may change it if there are reworks or major big changes happen.

The first reason you should have a pool is that many players climb slowly because their champion choices are inconsistent and having a pool helps you focusing on the macro game when you'll have a good micro on the champions you chose. Additionally, having a pool helps you build mastery faster in comparison to a player that doesn't have one and switches champions often and, in comparison to a one-trick, you don't have to dodge a lobby when you don't have your main champion available.

Now that these key concepts are briefly explained we can start with the real guide, enjoy.

Define Your Main and Secondary Role

Before you can start solidifying your champion pool you’ll need to choose a main and a secondary role for when you don’t get your primary. If you are new to the game you may not have chosen your main role yet and this is totally fine. One way to define your role could be based on the champions you like to play. For example, if you really like playing Blitzcrank you are a Support main! It is also important to have a secondary role and at least two champions in that role in case you got autofilled. This won't happen if you are a main Support but it's always good to be prepared for the occasion.

Find your Comfort Pick

Once you are settled with your main role it's time to choose your comfort pick. This is the star of your champion pool, a champion that you can lean on when you have the blind pick early in the draft, ideally this is not only your best champion but is also one you really enjoy playing without getting bored. Having a comfort pick helps you learning all the different builds, combos and matchups. In order to climb, you need a comfort pick. Many high elo players climbed by having it or being one-tricks. Even some pro players reached Challenger with only one champion before joining the competitive scene. For this guide, I will assume that Blitzcrank is my main champion.

Have a Backup and a Counterpick

If your main champion is banned or taken by another player you must have a Plan B. This is usually your second best champion and can but not necessary have a similar playstyle to your main one. It is also very important to have a counterpick. Currently in League of Legends there are 150 champions so it's inevitable that sometimes you will run into some tough matchups, to prevent that you should have a champion that counters the counters of your comfort picks but note that if you are comfortable with playing a difficult matchup you should definitely play with your main champion.

To sum up I would suggest you to follow this line of thinking during champion select:

1: Am I an early pick in the draft?

• Pick your main champion

2: Is my pick later in the draft?

• Try to understand if you are going to play your main champion in an unfavorable matchup
• If you are confident with your comfort pick into a negative matchup stick with it otherwise activate your other champions

For our case, we have Blitzcrank as the main pick. So what should we have as a backup and counterpick? Taric and Janna are great examples. Blitzcrank has a positive matchup against support mages and has a skill matchup against engage supports, Taric counters engage supports in case you don't want to play that matchup and Janna is really good against enchanters. This is a really good trio to start climbing from low elo as a support and they are also pretty easy to learn.

Prepare a Go To Champ and a Backup for your Secondary Role

Once in a while you won't get your main role, so you'll want one or two other champions to play when this happens or even when you are autofilled. I would suggest you your secondary role to be related to your main one in some ways for example if you are a main ADC, your secondary can be Support, or if you are a main Mid, your secondary can be Top and vice-versa. On one hand you already know the 2v2 matchups and on the other you won't have to learn how to play in a 2v2 lane or in Jungle as you how to play in a solo lane.

If you have a champion in your pool that can be flexed to other roles, use that to your advantage! The builds and runes may vary, but you will still be useful and won't have to learn a new champion.

When you choose the champions that you want to have in your pool for your secondary role or when you get autofilled avoid champions that require a lot of practice but instead choose champions that bring utility to the team or tanky ones and your team will appreciate that, I guarantee.

Adapt Over Time

League of Legends is a game that changes constantly and it's important to keep your pool refined. There will be times where you will find a lot of success with your picks and others when you won't so you may have to make changes based on the performance of your champions. The key value is the win rate you have on your picks that should be 50%; If one of your champions drops under that threshold you should make some adjustments in order to be back on track and if you don't manage to win again it might be time to drop your champion and pick a new one but be careful: don't pick a champion you have never played for the first time in a ranked match. Normal games are here to help you learning champions and their mechanics, CSing, and so on.

Closing Thoughts

Remember that these are general tips and every player is different so do some researches. Find out what is good for you, what the best players of your role are doing and the reason why and have fun while building your pool and climbing the ladder!