New To League/Gameplay/Champ Select

Champ Select

Champion Select Format[]

Champion Select is one of the most important parts of a game of League of Legends. Certain champions play very well together (have good synergy), and certain champions are very good against others (counter those other champions). It's important for each team to get a well-balanced team composition each game. Furthermore, champions in League of Legends differ greatly in the way they're played. Most players aren't comfortable playing more than a few champions within their role, and so if they aren't allowed to pick the champions that they're good at, their team can suffer.

(Note: The blue team is the team that spawns from the lower-left-hand well, and the red team is the team that spawns from the upper-right-hand well.)

The Champion Select format used in professional play and explained on this page is called draft pick, and is also used in ranked games. Standard normal games employ a blind pick format.

The only time champ select can be revisited for new picks and bans within the same game is if one of the champions initially picked in the game encountered a gameplay impacting or visual bug which causes that champion to be disabled for the remainder of the match or series, and can be disabled beyond that day for an indefinite amount of time. When a champion is disabled, it cannot be selected at all in the champ selection screen.

Bans[]

Each team gets to ban 3 champions from the available pool at the beginning of champion select. These six total champions will not be able to be played by either team that game; bans last only for a single game. Some minor rule infractions may cause a team to lose one ban in the next game.

Ban Set Order 1:

Blue team bans one champion
Red team bans one champion
Blue team bans one champion
Red team bans one champion
Blue team bans one champion
Red team bans one champion

After the first set of bans are completed, three players on each team start picking what champions their team will play that game. There is a second round of bans after the sixth champion is picked.

Ban Set Order 2:

Red team bans one champion
Blue team bans one champion
Red team bans one champion
Blue team bans one champion

After the second set of bans are completed, the last two players on each team will pick the champions the remaining unpicked roles wish to play that game. There are no more bans after the picks are started with the 7th champion being locked in.

Strategies employed when banning champions:

Ban champions that a single player on the opposing team is very skilled at (this is called "banning someone out").
Ban champions that are very strong within the current metagame.
Ban champions that counter your own team composition.

Picks[]

Each team picks the five champions that they will play that game. Players can pick the champions in any order they wish; after all 10 champions have been chosen, each team is allowed to swap champions between themselves.

First Round Pick Set Order:

Blue team picks one champion
Red team picks two champions
Blue team picks two champions
Red team picks one champion

Second Round Pick Set Order:

Red team picks one champion
Blue team picks two champions
Red team picks one champion
Each team swaps champions around so each player has the correct champion

Strategies employed when picking champions:

Pick champions that are strong in the current metagame (are "meta" champions).
Pick champions that a player is particularly good at playing (called "comfort picks").
Overall choose a strong team composition for a specific playsyle (ie: "poke comp" vs "teamfight comp").

Words Associated with Champion Select[]

Hover Over: To click on a champion so that it displays the champion's portrait, but not actually commit 100% to picking that champion
Lock In: To commit fully to picking a champion