Recently I tried to learn how to play a champion that I hadn't played before (Rengar, but I'm not looking for advice on him specifically). I loaded up some bot games, and went 10-0, 11-0, then 15-0. I decided it was time to try a normal blind pick. I went 0-8, and my team spent the entire time saying "gg Rengar noob" and "report Rengar for feeding." This has happened literally every time I've tried to pick up a new champion. I learn eventually, after feeding like crazy for a few games (I'm getting decent at Rengar now). But the whole time, I feel like I'm letting my team down and ruining other people's experiences.

So how do YOU learn a new champion? I'm not looking for advice on any champion in particular, just how do you go about doing it? I can dominate intermediate bots on virtually any champion, but those skills just don't translate to being able to take on players. Any tricks or tips would be appreciated, so I can stop being a "feeder noob" every time I try to pick up somebody new!

TL;DR: other than bot games, what do you do to learn new champions?

Go strait into 5v5 matchmaking... read skills, see range of skills => own like a boss

do a bot game, become familiar with your champions skills and their range. practice constantly farming your lane (last hitting specifically) so the game lasts longer. look up people that use the champ and their item builds and why they build that way. take those ideas and adapt them to your play style in normal games. it may be 2 or 3 normal games to figure out what builds work for you and how you want to level your spells in certain situations, but it's best to use bot games ONLY as a tool to get used to your champion's abilities and farming capabilities. try to make is a goal in a bot game to last hit every single creep that you see and if you miss one, kick yourself and try not to do it again. but always be getting a visual of your ability ranges when waiting for a minions health to drop low enough for that hit. when you get into a normal game after that, it'll be much easier to react and farm.

Honestly, I only use bot games to get accustomed to the champion's skillshots (range, spread, etc.) and then I dive into 5v5 normals.

But first, I read a few guides, get a general sense of the core items/runes/masteries by cross-referencing the opinions of different players, and such.

When I queue up for a normal match, I let everyone know in champion select that I'm playing the champion for the first time. This is a courtesy for people who are afraid you might feed (or who are really desperate for a win) so that they can drop out and not have to play with you; most of the time, I find people are okay with it as long as they're forewarned that I'm new, and sometimes they even give me useful advice about how to play the character.

The only way you'll every get a feel for a new champ is to play it versus other human players. You can get a general idea of how their skills work in bot games, but that's it. Elsewise the AI is just completely unrealistic.

What i do is play like it's my first game ever, i play all out aggressive, but of course read skills and all that first, i see what i scale harder at and build onto something know with my own preferences and never ever back down from a fight, yes i would feed a lot in that game, but, i will learn the extend of my abilities, from there is just "roughing out the hard edges" or something like it.

honestly this is how I learn a new champion

first come here or the lol wiki page and read up on all their abilities. find out what the ratios are and understand the play style of the champion.

second on the wiki page, check out the ability details, that'll give you an understanding and some idea of what items are good and what dont affect those abilities.

third is look for synergy, what works well together, what combos well.

then last go into the strategy section to take a look at what others have inputted on what synergies well in terms of skills and also items. that will give you a good starting point on what to do.

then head into a bot game to test out the abilities, to get a feel for the range and the mechanics of the abilities.

only at this point I would look at guides if I still have questions about how something works, otherwise I just jump right into a real game, though i'd start off in normal before I go into ranked (but then again I only play TT cuz I love the smaller maps so theres no ranked solo for that)

Read the skills -> Play a Normal -> do fine.

I don't see how one can 0/8 by merely not knowing a champion. It's really not at all difficult to not feed, regardless of who is being played. Sure, you may not be able to estimate whether you'll win a fight if you go in, but by the time you're 0/2 you should realize going in will be a bad idea, and not do it.

I generally look up a few builds on mobafire, watch a youtube video or two, then straight into 5v5. The only way to learn is through the real deal lol.

Start out by either reading a well rated guide and/or by playing an easy Co-op Vs AI match (yes, easy). This will give you a chance to sit back and learn how the champ works at your own pace on your own terms. What items are good on him? What abilities are good on him? What's the most effective way to play him? After you do that, play some matches against people and keep in mind the golden rule. Just remember that you aren't in bot matches; kills alone won't win you the game. If your champ is good at farming try and figure out how to maximize his farm as quickly as you can. If he's a ganker, learn which lane has wards up and figure out how to make certain that enemy people either die or are at a huge disadvantage when you leave.

After you get comfy and have decided that this is a champ you want to keep, figure out how you want to play him. For example; shaco is good as an AD champ, but it's cheaper and sometimes more damaging to build him AP. Xerath is an AP assassin, so deathcap is the way to go, right? Forget that; I love building deatchap on him. Never run out of mana and CDR to boot. The way you're comfortable playing him might just be the way you learned earlier, but hey; go with it. Unless you're going into competitive play, why should you learn to play a champ that you hate?

And finally, the Golden Rule: 90% of all the people you will ever have on your team are full of ****. They care more about who to blame a games loss on than who actually did badly. I've been chewed out by idiots who had fewer kills and assists than I did, but I had one more death than them and that translated into "I was feeding" to them. You'll have bad matches. You'll have off days. You'll have champs that you finish a game thinking "Why did I buy this chump?" Learn from this and move on; that's probably the most important thing about learning a champ.

I know where you're comming from. The problem is the computer does not react like a human. The computer won't wait patiently in the bushes for you, or over extend and be reckless. The bot games are good for learning the mechanics of your powers, but I found I don't really get a real feel for them until I'm fighting a human opponent. You're going to struggle a bit, but just hang tough and ignore the yapping mob of internet weasles (my last bot game was learning Renekton and the Ryze player in the group continuously screamed at our Teemo over KS's and how the ap champ is the crux of the team and does more damage than an ad champ, so we should feed him). Maybe play more cautious that you normaly would until you get a better feel for them, or group with freidnly people and explain ahead of time to they know to support you.