The mid lane is home to many mages in League, from champions that are easy to pick up and understand like Annie and Anivia to more complex champions that require patience and practice to get good at, like Azir and Aurelion Sol. This guide is made to help out any newcomers who want to take a shot at being a mage in arguably the most popular role in the game. Bear in mind that, even though the champions I will list are easy to use and understand, it is important to eventually branch out and try your hand at harder mages. Take it from a guy who went from being a one-trick Swain and Malzahar player to an Azir and Syndra main. Anyways, let’s get started to help all you newcomers out!

Pros and Cons

Now, it is important to understand the pros and cons of being a mage in this crazy lane. Let’s start with the pros first. One of the pros is that unlike most attack damage champions you see in the mid lane, like Zed and Yasuo, you can safely be behind your minions while you farm. This makes your laning phase a little easier and it allows you to trade fairly safely. However, you must always be aware of ganks and trading, because this marks one of the cons of a majority of mid lane mages, a lack of mobility. If your lane opponent does decide to jump on you and get right up into your face, it becomes very difficult to escape. While there are some mages that can make quick escapes, other mages found on the mid lane don’t have any quick mobility moves, so it essentially means certain doom unless you can react quickly to the damage.

Another pro for mid lane mages is their ability to scale. Most assassins in the mid lane tend to fall off when it comes to the mid and late game, making them more of a liability than a part of the team, because they have to dive into the heart of the enemy team to secure a kill and if they get hard crowd controlled, they die instantly. But with a handful of mages, they can dominate the Rift in these phases of the game. For example, Azir is a champion that is not as strong in the early game and early mid game because he needs fully built items to maximize his damage output. When he does, he can become a monster in the late game while his lane opponent, let’s say Talon, will have a difficult time diving in for kills since his fellow lane opponent could out damage him. Now the con to this is that if you fall behind, it can become very difficult to reach that level of viability, so always keep in mind about where you are in the state of the game and work towards reaching that goal of high damage by picking the right opportunities to attack and knowing when it is and isn't a good time to start a fight.

Now let’s go over some mages that serve as a good kick starter to the mid lane mage role!

Annie

One of the easiest mages to understand and utilize, Annie can become a monster of a champion. Because her abilities are heavily reliant on point-and-click, she is seen as one of the best beginner champions for anyone wanting to be a mid laner. Her ability to snowball thanks to her passive stun built up by using her other abilities, is nearly unmatched as once she hits level six and gains her ultimate, it becomes very difficult to lane for your opponent. Use that passive to your advantage during the lane phase as, more often than not, the enemy laner will tread carefully because of getting a good dosage of damage dealt on to.

Now there are some tradeoffs when it comes to playing Annie. When you don’t have your stun, you have to play very carefully, because enemy champions will see that and take the chance to jump onto you and try to kill you. Keep your lane pressure up but maintain a solid distance away from your enemy laner until you have your stun so you can trade.

Malzahar

The prophet for the void, Malzahar is one of the strongest mid lane mages in the game. He is consistently strong throughout the game and his abilities, in particular his E, help you keep your enemy laner on their heels in the farming phase of the game. His free spell shield helps block CC and damage and his E and W abilities, Malefic Visions and Voidlings help keep your farm up and by having those two abilities doing your farming job for you. The goal for farming as Malzahar is to keep your Malefic Vision chain going till it reaches the final minion. Your voidlings have super low health, as in a single auto attack could kill them, so wait to use them after seeing your enemy laner use their abilities to bring them into the fight. His ultimate is a point and click suppression, meaning that no one can escape it unless they have a Quicksilver Sash and that item usually goes with AD champs, so if you are against a mage, more than likely you will be able to use your ultimate without them walking away with a simple button press. It is very important to choose your targets carefully when you want to use your ult. Primarily use it for large damage dealers like an ADC for instance. Using it on a tank can be viable if your team can burst them down fast enough and then will be able to engage on the other targets in a team fight with more swiftness since they would be without a portion of their frontline.

With Malzahar’s tradeoffs, once he loses his spell shield, he can easily be dove upon since he does not have much mobility. So, when you do not have your spell shield, be very careful when pushing lane, as if you are dove upon, more than likely Flash will be your only quick escape route. Another thing to keep in mind is where you are when you decide to ult. When you ult, you remain stationary, much like Miss Fortune’s ultimate. So be sure you are in a safe spot whether it’s behind teammates or knowing that it’s just you and your lane opponent.

Lux

The sister to Garen and the Lady of Luminosity, Lux is a strong mage if you land her CC correctly and poke consistently. While Lux also acts as a support, in the mid lane role, she can take over the game if she gets ahead. Her ability to poke and her utility with her crowd control and a shield she can build for herself and others with her W ability is what makes her a good mid lane pick for beginners. Furthermore, her high damage output with her ultimate comes in real handy for not only finishing off lower health champions, but also for stealing neutral objectives, like dragons and the Baron.

However, she has a few more drawbacks than the other champions on the list. When she is paired up against a highly mobile champion like Yasuo or Katarina, it can become very difficult for her to lane and land CC. Be mindful of this and use their aggressiveness against them by having your jungler come in for a gank. She also can be countered easily with items others can buy to resist her damage, such as Mercury Treads to reduce the CC duration or Quicksilver Sash to escape the CC altogether. If this happens, make sure to build up magic penetration items such as a Void Staff and the Sorcerer’s Shoes to negate some of their magic resist.

Morgana

Another traditional support champ in the mid lane role, Morgana can be a great mid laner not because of her damage output, but squarely because of her utility. While her W does do a small amount of poke damage, it’s her other abilities that allow her to shine in the mid lane. Think of her more so as a second support, but still build her with typical mage items like Luden’s Echo, Liandry’s Torment, etc. Her ability to lock down enemy champions and give them to herself or her other teammates can be hugely beneficial to a team. With her, the only thing really needed to learn to master right off the bat is to land her Q, Dark Binding. Her other abilities are simplistic in design and understanding, making her a good choice for a mid lane pick against another mage.

Now, you may have noticed I said another mage. That’s because when she is paired against an attack damage champion like Zed or Talon, it can become a nightmare for Morgana. Her spell shield works against magic damage, so trying to use her against an attack damage champion in the mid lane is near futile. So, try to rush Zhonya’s Hourglass first, to negate some AD damage and to avoid certain ultimates, like Zed’s Death Mark and Talon’s Shadow Assault. Another important disadvantage for Morgana is that her early game farming is very weak. You will find yourself more often then not on the back end in the early game. Try your best to farm while avoiding poke and if need be, call your jungler for a gank. That should alleviate the lane pressure from your lane opponent and give you an opportunity to farm up.