I understand that it is very important to use builds with the champ you use. Is mobafire good for finding builds? I am still very low level. What statistic from a mobafire build should i prioritize when I choose a build? the popularity? I know this is a fan site, but I'm also sure that somebody knows this site enough to answer.

As a side question, how does one determine what order to get skills? they don't just pull it out of their ...? Do they?

I don't use it to be honest, but wanted to share an observation: we get a lot of people asking about builds in this forum, and often they link a build from mobafire to ask a question about it. So when I read the builds to answer I notice there are a lot of builds with good rating that are not really all that good. I guess they could do, but for me personally there are a lot of people who write guides on mobafire and are not real experts on that champ, and the majority of people reading are low level so they upvote anything that works and is half-decent.

Mobafire is a good tool for finding basic builds for champs. Just choose the highest percentage build for the champion you will use. This will help you get decent items until you are familiar enough with your champion to change the build a bit. Also, as a side note, make sure the build is for the type of champion too. For example, if you are playing a flexible champion, make sure it is an AP build if you want to be AP or AD if you are going AD.

As for the skill order, it really is just preference. I rarely follow exactly how the build says to assign points into skills. Personally, I think this aspect is situational and should be decided during the game, not prior to. For example, say you are playing Master Yi and are having a hard time staying in the lane. Perhaps it would be a good idea to put a point into meditate (a healing skill) earlier than the build says?

Hopefully this answers your questions. If you have more, just ask.

It is hard at a low level to come up with an ideal build with modifications depending on the enemy team and items. I would say, in general, recommended items and guides will help you get acquainted with the game and its mechanics (I used them till around level 15-20), but ultimately you will have to have a good idea of the items available to you and the playstyle of champions in order to optimize your game with a champion. Sometimes alternative leveling of skills is necessary, and likewise for items, depending on what you and your team wants to achieve. Knowing what choices you have is an advantage, following a guide or build to a T will not make you a better player by much, but doing this at a low level helps you not feel as overwhelmed by the amount of data in the game and slowly absorb it.

Mobafire and Leaguecraft are both great resources for guides.
How important guides are to you is dependent on your confidence level and competitive level.I'm pretty familiar with all the champs, so I know what works on them, and what to defend against, but I don't care if my dps output could be 25 higher if I went with this build as compared to the one I'm building on the fly. So I don't use many guides.

thanks for the answers!

For what it's worth, I too go to MOBAfire, and look at builds. I personally don't use them, because I don't like sitting there with a piece of paper going "OK, I got this much gold, I need to get THIS items now" and "OK, I got to THIS level, so now I have to level THIS ability" and so on. I just find it annoying.

I do make my own builds though, and once in a while, if I'm either trying out a new Champ, or trying to think of ideas, I'll go there, and look through the builds, and see what Items they're using, what Masteries they have and why, and of course what Runes they have, and why.

This is a good idea in general because I've personally, on more than one occasion, bought a Champ, started up a practice game (I don't play normal games when I'm doing something for the first time, I don't want my team to suffer if I screw up or it doesn't work) and then start playing, and I realize I don't know what I'm doing.

I have 31 Champs right now, and every one of them I use, the thing I like to do first, is this:

I'll get the Champ, or, if they're free, start up a practice game. Normally I'll do this with a 5v5 game because they last longer, and I have the time to get a better feel for them. I also can get more Gold in the 5v5, so I can try out Items as I go.

Anyway, once I have that going, I'll play, think about the items I'm using and so on, and then, once the game is over, I'll go to MOBAfire, and look at the builds for that Champ. I'll look at the Runes they're using, to see if I liked that particular attribute of that particular Champ, and I'll look at the Items they use, so I can see how they use them, and if I like it.

After a while, I'll end up knowing what I like. For example, I recently bought Jax. I didn't know how to play him very well as I'd only done a few practice games a while back, so I did the same thing as I said; I started up a 5v5 Practice game, looked at, and read ALL of his abilities, to see what I wanted to do first, and then, I saw his Innate, so I knew I wanted some Damage items.

After I had been playing for a while, and had the Gold, I got the Items I felt would work best for him. If I didn't like something, or figured out that something else would possibly work better, I'd sell something else, and then get that item.

After the game, I went on MOBAfire, and started reading how other people played him. I wanted to see not just what Items they used, but how they actually played with him.

I decided that Dodge was a great idea Obviously lol, and so I started getting Dodge Runes. I also ALWAYS get Ninja Tabi with him, and then the Items, I'm still working on it.

I saw that Hextech Gunblade worked REALLY well with Jax, because not only did it do AP, but it also has Damage. So I gain Health Points, and also, the overall stuff that it does, works well. So I wrote that down in a little notebook I have for this, and started thinking about other items and Runes.

I noticed that there was a Mastery that also added Dodge Chance, so I popped the points into that too, and went from there.

I noticed that I personally like Building Jax to do Attack Speed, and Attack Damage. So basically I get Damage Items, Speed Items, and also, something for Mana.

this is something you could try too, because really, every person is different. The way someone plays any Champ, may not be the way YOU want to play them.

You don't have to lose just to play your Champ the way you like to though either. I mean, LoL has a lot of Champs, and a lot of Items. It also has Runes and Masteries that add to that. And Summoner Spells.

I'd personally say that the best advice, would be to look at the Champs you like, play with them until you get a feel for them, and then start thinking about which Items, Runes, Masteries, and so on, will let you do your best with that.

Hope it helps.

mobafire is fine at low lvls for some recommended builds. however as u progress ur experiences will tell you which skill to lvl up first, wut masteries and runes and also your item choice. many good items are situational so dont follow the build exactly