To this date, League of Legends has 124 champions, and more are in the minds of the champion design team at Riot. With that many champions, one might want to try, play, and master them all. But you simply can’t do that, there are just too many in the game. It would take a lot of time and dedication to be able to do that. I don’t think I can even list every champion’s ability if you asked me. If one wants to succeed in ranked play, you should choose a handful of champions to learn and master. It will help substantially for climbing the ladder and is the best way to get the most out of the game.

Why?

As I said before, there are 124 champs (with Ekko on the way) in the game. With that there are 4 abilities and a passive to learn per champ, as well as any itemization and any cool interactions between spells. That’s a lot of information to know. It’s better to just know a few champions and how to use their spells properly. Any time you play that champ, it gives more practice and insight into that champ.

Important of Flex Picks

A flex pick or flex champion is a champion that can be played in multiple roles. They are important for times when you aren’t playing your main role. For example, if your main role is ADC, and someone else already picked that, Lulu is a good flex champion. She can be played top lane, mid lane, and support. Why does this matter? Because while you have your pool of ADCs that you like to play, you only need to learn 1-2 other champions for when you don’t get your preferred lane. This keeps your champion pool small and effective for learning and becoming better at the game.

Avoiding Counterpicks

You should never put yourself in an uncomfortable situation, even if you know a good counter pick. If the enemy team takes Riven and you know Garen is a good counter to Riven, but you have been practicing and feel more confident with Gnar, you are better off picking Gnar, because you feel better about playing him. You have to remember that League of Legends is a team game and not about purely winning your lane. While Garen beats Riven in lane, he is not the best team fighter when compared to Gnar, mostly do the fact that you might not how to teamfight as Garen. And since you know Riven to be a lane bully, as Gnar, you should be playing safe and just farming in lane, until you receive assistance from your teammates.

Example Champ Pool

If you’re a top laner, your champion pool can look something like this:

For Top Lane

AD Brusiers: Wukong, Gnar
AP Tanks: Maokai
AP: Lulu, Lissandra

Then for other lanes, you can have less mechanical intense champs, because it’s a role you’re not so comfortable with. But you can also flex champs into those roles

For Jungle: Wukong, Maokai
For Mid: Lulu, Lissandra
For ADC: Caitlyn
For Support: Lulu

Conclusion

A small pool of champions is easier and most efficient for mastering them and being able to do better in game. With the use of flex picks, you can further tighten that pool and master a specific champ and play them in multiple lanes. Again, you should be playing what you’re comfortable with and stay within your limits. And when you play with friends or in normal games, you can practice new champs and play outrageous stuff like full tank Master Yi.