Champ select guide

Champ select lasts a couple of minutes and can decide the game before it starts. How to make the most of each phase: bans, early picks, late picks and team composition.

How it works in ranked

In Ranked Solo/Duo, champ select has three moments:

Declaring and banning. Every player declares what they want to play and bans one champion, all at the same time. That means up to ten bans per game.
Picks in turns. Teams pick alternately in a 1-2-2-2-2-1 order: the first team picks one champion, the second team two, and so on until the last pick, which belongs to the second team.
Preparation. Runes, summoner spells and, if you want, trading champions between teammates.

What to ban

What counters you. If you are going to play your main, ban its worst matchup. It is the ban with the biggest impact on your game.
What you do not know how to play against. A champion that frustrates you because you do not know its weaknesses is a good ban, even if it is not the strongest in the patch.
What is broken in your rank. Check the tier list for your rank: champions with very high win and ban rates are usually safe bans.
Do not ban what your team declared. Check your teammates’ declared picks before confirming. And do not repeat a teammate’s ban: it is a wasted ban.

Picking early: the blind pick

If you pick before your direct opponent, you do not know who you will face. The sensible choice is a safe pick: a champion without heavy counters, that holds its lane against almost anything and brings something useful to the team (crowd control, frontline, steady damage). Champions that only work in specific matchups are better saved for when you pick late.

In the tool, if you do not add an opponent, recommendations prioritise exactly that: champions that are strong overall in your role and rank.

Picking late: the counter pick

Each team’s last pick has an advantage: it sees almost the whole enemy team. That is the moment to counter your direct opponent and complete whatever your team is missing. We cover it in detail in how to counter pick.

Swapping pick order

Pick order belongs to each player, but you can swap it. It usually makes sense for the lanes where a counter matters most (Top and Mid tend to be the most exposed) to pick late, and for players with a small pool or who will play a safe champion anyway to pick early. Asking politely at the start usually works.

Thinking about team composition

You do not need a perfect team composition, but you should avoid serious gaps:

Mixed damage. If all five of you deal physical damage, the enemy just has to buy armour.
Someone to stand in front. A tank or a durable fighter gives your damage dealers room.
A way to start or escape fights. You need to be able to start fights or at least stop the enemy from starting them on you.
An answer to the enemy team. Against heavy engage, disengage and crowd control; against poke, fast engage; against burst, durability and shields.

Pick My Champ takes these threats into account: if the enemy stacks engage or poke, it boosts champions that handle it, and if an ally already covers it, it gives it less weight.

Quick checklist

Ban your champion’s counter or whatever frustrates you most.
Picking early: safe champion. Picking late: counter.
Check what your team is missing before confirming.
When in doubt, the champion you play best.