One of the more controversial topics in League of Legends is the idea behind “maining” a champion. I would like to explain why and when it is beneficial to main a champion. To establish some credibility on the subject, I mained LeBlanc while climbing all the way from Bronze 4 to Gold. Yes I know, I should be ashamed for maining LeBlanc, but we will ignore that. The kicker here is that I “mained” a champion. With that being said, there is a time and place for doing so. The best time to main a champion is when you are still learning the game, but are competent in other roles/champions. Not only it is the best time do so, but in my opinion it is the best way to learn the game.

What I mean by learning the game is that you gain an understanding of every element beyond your champion (e.g. vision control, mini-map awareness, jungler movements, map control, wave manipulation, objective control, etc.) The logic behind this is that if you are already mechanically comfortable with your champion, you will naturally begin to focus on other parts of the game. The less time you spend worrying about how to play your champion correctly, the more time you have to control the macro game. Maining a champion will excel the learning phase of the game as a whole.

To lay it all out cleanly, here are the biggest positives and negatives of maining a champion.

Positives:

- Comfortability (having a pocket pick)
- Promotes confidence in play; this will usually lead to more success.
- Less anxiety in champion select; all too many times I have seen players freak out over picking counters.
- After mastering the champion itself, the player will subconsciously learn the game on a broader scale.
- In more cases than not, you will start to climb up the ladder.

Negatives:

- The obvious lack of a champion pool: being banned out/getting countered.
Argument: You can’t do anything about being banned out, hopefully you aren't maining Katarina. Counter match-ups are basically irrelevant in lower elos, which is where the most benefiting players will be.

- Being stuck with a role that your main champion can’t do.
Argument: You should only be starting to main a champion if you have a general understanding of the game and are competent enough in each position to get by if need be.

- Screwing over your team composition/your team in general.
Argument: Team compositions do matter at lower elo, but they don’t matter as much as in higher elo. (e.g. You can get away with running full AD compositions more easily in Bronze than in Challenger.)

Now obviously, there are many ways to learn the game; some ways better than others. In my opinion, maining a champion will prove to be one of the best ways for any player. There is no argument, learning the game is the best way to improve. If you are struggling in solo queue, try maining a champion and see how it goes. This could be the first step on your road to Challenger, now go get 'em.