First off, hello everyone.

I've been playing LoL for about a month or 2 now (lets say 6 weeks), and I must say i really like it.

I've gotten a lot better since I started, but I still feel some concepts are above me. I'm wondering, when is a good time to try a ranked game?

Here's my concerns.

1. Sucking at LoL is not fun,

2. I don't want to ruin a game for my team

3. I don't fully understand every champion and what they can do (or how to counter them)

4. I have bad games sometimes

The champs I play are (in order of most played)

Garen
Amumu
Veigar
Karthus
Sivir
Warwick (only jungle WW)
Poppy
Nunu (normally just 3v3)


I play others but those are my best. (no support, I know...it's problem.)

Are they viable in ranked?

How different will the game play be?

Here's what prompted this post. Last night I played a draft game with Karthus as mid. I went up against brand.... this guy was a maniac. Hyper aggresive is an understatement. although he only killed me once he harrassed the life (and will out of me) I felt like all he was doing was gunning for me. Then a about 8 min I look as CS....

Me: 34

Him : 62!

I was shocked, like, i never saw this guy go for a minio once, all he did was gun for me, diving, comboin, running around like a speed freek on redbull whipping fireballs and exploding the groud every 5 seconds....and he manages to farm? ORLY!

This made me think.... I have alot to learn. I complimented him on his play, he said ty and that was that.

I asked how he did 404 dmg with one shot (the ground explody thing) He said "runes".

IDK, what am I missing?

brand can farm as he harrasses being as his attacks ignite you and can destroy your health while the pillar of flame,your reference is exploding the ground, lets him farm a large amount as he goes,

I think it's also worth mentioning that you probably don't know most of the other champs well enough to be able to counter them effectively. A month or two is a fairly decent amount of play time, and it seems you've found a nice group of champions to play, but you should strive to be able to learn the basics of all the roles.

Also, cs is extremely important. And if you're going to be taking a carry(mid ap/ranged ad/top) you need to maximize your cs while you avoid any potential harass/gank while harassing your enemy.

All in all, the best way to learn ranked is to play a few games, don't get discouraged if you lose a bit, you are extremely new. And the best thing, learn from your games. The good and bad games you have are all different experiences that you can learn from.

The only champion that is viable in your list would probably be sivir, and maybe karthus. Probably you should start playing Ahri or Kassadin. With kassadin, all you gotta do is get kills and try to get as much as cs as you can get. Get the jungler to give you blue buff, go gank top or bot easy. Also tell the jungler to hold your lane or just push it up (or harrass mid and then go for some ganks)

Alright first off -

Frozen sky - Thanks for the insight, and yes I dont know all the champs at all. there are a few that I have no idea what they do (Gargas, corkey, renekton,.. to name a few) Others I have a general idea but i've never played them so it's still grey area. Can you reccomend a support to try? Or do you see any role that isnt being filled well?

Doomzors - Now I hope you're trying to help and not just show off. But I'm new man, saying "You're champions aren't viable" does nothing for me. Tell me why they are not, and who I should pick that fills thier roles. Why is sivir and Karthus ok? why is garen not? (I happen to like him a lot)

Saying with Kassadin "All you gota do is get kills and CS" Well, that dosent help me eaither, you could say that about any champion. I don't feel your goal here was to help, more to just show off or something.

I think mid lane is really harass-intensive. It is important to be able to harass your enemy and last hit with the same spell (Brand can do that real well). Also mid lane is the lane with the most countering going on. By runes, i think he is using AP quints and mpen runes?

You can see if the champ is viable by consulting the infamous tier list: http://rog.clgaming.net/tier-lists/45-draft-mode/latest

I think Amumu (jungle), Veigar, Karthus and Sivir are now viable (Karthus and Sivir are pretty popular these days). Nunu is no good in jungle now after the jungle updates, but ppl start to do support with him (nvr try, cant tell u if it is good).

Garen falls off late game real hard despite being a monster in lane. If you like Garen, try champions like Irelia and Riven. I think the style is similar except Irelia and Riven are consistent thru the game

WW sole purpose was to jungle, with the new jungle change, he can't jungle as well as other, making him pretty useless. Try Udyr, Lee Sin, GP and Skarner.

Poppy doesn't fit into the current meta game. There isn't a good spot for her to be in.

I think everyone should get a few champs for all 5 meta-roles, and practice them. So you can fill what your team need. I say at least 3 champs for each role, in case your fav champ got banned, picked or counter-picked by enemy team.

Kassadin might not be the best to start playing for ranked since he gets banned often... at least in low elo. tho learning a support or tank role isnt a bad idea since alot of people dont seem to play them often and they rarely get banned. There are a couple noob stomping champs tho that are considered OP if not countered like tryndamere... tho again he gets banned often. All in all its probably best to play any char that you feel the most comfortable with. Even garen isnt totally useless in a top lane... but hes just...mostly useless specially mid and late game. Hes not a good carry, he has no CC, he cant really tank other than his aoe silence so he doesnt have much to offer other than a KS ult. If your horrible at killin creeps try jungling. Instead of last hitting get really good at ganking.

The only requirement to play ranked is that you need to have a lvl 30 account and have access to at least 16 champs (most of you already knew this), and Riot made these the only requirements intentionally.

Now, some people will say things like, "You need to have at least 2 champions to fill every role" or "You need to be able to get at least X% of the cs by minute Y." However, don't let them indimidate you with their raging. Ranked is a game mode where you ought to try your best to win, but it doesn't mean you need to have mastered Z% of the game mechanics or champions before you can even try it. Ranked is there so that people have a visible record of their accomplishments, partially as a way to promote players to be competitive.

For example, there is an EU gamer whose name is Malmortius that tried to get to 2k elo by playing only Poppy in season 1 (sadly, he didn't quite make his goal, but he got pretty far). Now, while he may have "auto-locked" Poppy, he was willing to play her as a support, junger, AD carry, or solo top based on the team's needs. Now, some people were mad at him for choosing only Poppy, saying that he was gimping his team, but in reality he wasn't because he kept his sportsmanship throughout his matches and did his best to help his team win, and his elo would reflect the constraints he had placed on himself.

All I'm trying to say is this: Ranked is for those who want to try their best to win and get visible stats as a result, but it doesn't mean you need to meet anything beyond the basic requirements Riot has placed for those who want to play Ranked. You can still have fun and play weird builds like AP Yi or AP Tristana or do something out of the ordinary such as double jungle as long as you make an effort to win without throwing the game.

Edit: I got a bit off track and thought I might give you a bit of feedback on the champions you listed:

Garen: fantastic at lower elo as top solo (not as good past 1400)
Amumu: good jungler at almost all elo as long as your team protects your start (get dat blue!)
Veigar: good AP mid in skilled hands, but careful of being countered by Morg/Kass
Karthus: solid AP mid all-around, and can help the team snowball (especially at lower elo)
Sivir: decent AD carry that offers more utility in terms of pushing and AOE damage than most (less single-target damage)
Warwick: outclassed by almost all common junglers, even Nunu (Trundle is a really strong jungler if you're looking for one. I use him a lot)
Poppy: Very unique, but takes a LOT of skill to truly play effectively (great at stomping lower elo)
Nunu: decent support jungler, but he needs a small buff from Riot to compensate for the new jungle (again, I'd recommend getting another jungler for higher elo, once you have the IP/RP that is)

If you want to get a support or two before going into ranked (again, entirely up to you, despite what the haters and naysayers shout): Soraka is cheap and Sona/Janna are fantastic right now. I hope this helps you out.

My suggestion is that you do not rush into ranked. Play most of the champs and read the wiki on every one. You will lose games due to lack of knowledge and that is never fun. To be really good at ranked, especially solo que, you need to be able to judge likely picks based off of current draft picks and bans and the likely role and build champs will do when you see them in select. So much of a game gets decided before the timer even begins and you need to know all this pertinent information should you wish to get beyond elo hell.

to help you with your brand problem. never stay in the same spot for longer than half a second (about the time it takes to cast lay waste or wall) and continuously move about your lane but make sure your movement pattern does not become predictable and never be afraid to use karthus ult if you think it will help you get a kill or help your teammates get a kill