Who To Pick?
First of all, we’re going to start this article with stating a fact: The best champions to climb out of low elo with in League of Legends are the ones you are good at. It’s kind of that simple – take your time finding a champion you can play with ease, and you’ll find the best results.
That being said… There are champions that are strong at almost all levels of Ranked play. So we are here to help you pick some champions that we think might help you climb up to Emerald. After that, it gets a little bit more nuanced and is more reliant on your personal skill ceiling, rather than champion.
The Best Champions:
Top: Malphite
Image Credit: Riot Games
Rock solid. Malphite should be your go to pick if you want to climb out of Iron/Bronze/Silver/Gold. This champion is so simple you can put on your favourite TV Show, Podcast or music playlist and probably win the game with one hand.
Malphite allows you to control lane while also being a threat in team fights. It’s really important to pick a champion that enables you to survive lane and be able to react to different things happening across the map. Standardly we, we would recommend his tank build – as his AP build does allow you to throw games quite easily as you’ll be squishy. However, if you have an AD heavy team and the enemy team isn’t full of tanks then it can be a viable build path.
Jungle: Vi/Amumu
Vi:
Image Credit: Riot Games
If you’re looking for a jungler with a healthy clear speed, dominant early mid and late game and enables you to get to the backline – Vi is your pick here. If you’re an aggressive player who likes to invade, make plays and pick out enemy champions, Vi will help you succeed in every aspect of your strategy.
Vi is often picked with champions like Ahri or Leona to help lock down important targets on the enemy team. You’ll even see her picked fairly frequently in Pro play due to her great all round ability to win games.
We can’t recommend Vi enough to anyone looking to play aggressive and climb quickly.
Amumu:
Image Credit: Riot Games
Wow that splash art needs an update.. Don’t you think?
Anyway, Amumu is your Number 1 pick for hard CC and damage in “low elo”. Iron, Bronze, Silver and Gold levels players often struggle to kite and stay away from the Cursed Mummy. His healthy clear speed as well as strong ganking with having 2 charges of his Q allow you to be on the map and impacting the game from level 1.
If you’re not mechanically gifted or prefer macro over micro gameplay, Amumu will help you climb through the ranked with his dominance in teamfights and peeling potential. Look for big plays with Flash Ulting multiple members of the enemy team.
Granted, he does get a bit more difficult the higher you climb as enemy players will have learnt to give you space. However, a good Amumu can be seen carrying games as high as Diamond.
Lock the champion in and get carrying!
Midlane: Ahri
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Ahri might seem complicated, but in reality she is a great champion to help you climb out of low elo. Movement, CC and targeted damage as well as healing on her Q and a reset on her R enable her to remain relevant in all stages of your games.
She gives you the room to play how you like to without feeling like you have to force a particular playstyle to win the game. If you enjoy playing passive, farming up and then helping your team – she’s a great pick. In contrast, if you want to go for high damage and assassinations, her kit compliments that as well.
She can struggle early game, we will admit that, but in low elo a lot of games go at least 30min, which by then we are sure you’ll have a few items and start to see how she shines.
Bot/ADC: Caitlyn
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With respect, climbing as an ADC main can be very difficult. It’s a role that relies heavily on your team keeping you alive. However, if you choose to play this role – Caitlyn is the epitome of what an ADC (Ad Carry) was designed to be.
A Season 1 champion, Caitlyn has remained a consistent site in the botlane. Her safe laning phase, great scaling and CC options with her traps allow you to farm safely until you have 3 items.
Once you’ve hit your 3 item spike, you’ll start to see yourself carrying your teammates to victory. Make sure not to get too aggressive in the early game, as champions and junglers with mobility will try to get onto you from level 1.
Her point-and-click ultimate, Headshot, also enables you to secure kills other champions like Jinx or Ezreal (who have skillshot ultimates) might miss.
Support: Leona/Nautilus
Leona:
Image Credit: Riot Games
We’ve chosen Leona as the primary support character to get you out of low elo because of 1 reason: Crowd Control.
An under appreciated “skill” in League of Legends – Crowd Control (or CC) often is the method of winning a lot of games. Leona excels at this.
She is an aggressive early game champion so we recommend taking ignite and going all in on your enemy at level 2. You’ll be surprised how often you will auto-win the lane after this.
She does fall off in the later stages of the game, but the aim with Leona is to win before 30min by aggressively roaming with your jungler.
Nautilus:
Image Credit: Riot Games
Nautilus is a more flashy Leona. His main CC comes from his Q and Auto-Attack passive that enables you to make plays and predictions against your enemy. Once you have landed your Q, your ultimate is an additional layer of point-and-click crowd control.
As with Leona, Nautilus can be kited and in the late game may suffer from champions with range or tank killing abilities. However, your goal is to roam and secure objectives by catching the enemy Jungler or Midlaner as they look for plays around the map.
Conclusion:
We hope as you begin your ranked journey, these champions can help you get out of low elo. The main focus you might be able to pick up on is that they all have a form of Crowd Control. This is vital to securing wins and getting kills for you and your team.
Obviously, these champions might not be your favourite and that’s okay. We would always recommend finding a champion you actually enjoying playing, over forcing yourself to play “meta” or “obvious” picks for your ELO.
However, if you are looking at climbing as quickly as possible, the champions we have picked need to be in your roster as they will absolutely help you get out of low elo.