CHAMPION POOL - FULL INDEPTH GUIDE - MID LANE FUNDAMENTALS

[@caioteixeira1541]

This channel is so underrated its a crime. Thanks for this man. Outstanding video

[@gentlemattman]

So hyped that you made this vid, Shok! Your effort and craftsmanship shows :)

[@everything-has-a-handle-now]

dodging is for the weak

[@h3l_l]

Dodging is for who wants to maintain mental sanity.

[@SkarM_x]

Love the content man. I'm low ELO. Put quite a lot of time into zoe, syndra, orianna and just couldn't carry. Started playing Ahri and she's a monster. Sitting at a 72% winrate with her and I think I might climb out of ELO hell. Thanks for the great guides.

[@jorgeortizdelandazuri7318]

Check winratios! They dont tell everything but they do tell part of the picture and Zoe Syndra and Ori arent effective in low elo

[@Tall-Hobbit]

@@jorgeortizdelandazuri7318 that‘s only partially true it‘s not like they aren‘t effective in low elo they just take very long time to learn and even longer to master. So if you want to climb quickly you should play something easier but it‘s not like you can‘t climb with those champions you just have to be aware that it will take a lot longer.

[@SkarM_x]

@@Tall-Hobbit the thing about Zoe in particular is I feel she needs decent vision and we don't have that in low ELO lol.

[@Tall-Hobbit]

@@SkarM_x I mean i guess dunno how many wards are decent vision in your eyes but it's not as bad as everyone says in my opinion, obviously wouldn't know anything about iron as i've never actually been there. I mean when i started playing league it wasn't great (iron didn't exist back then) but as soon as i started to ward more and clear more wards i got matched with others who did sorta the same thing, not always obviously.

[@Oi-mj6dv]

Ahri is the shit. Pretty cool champ

[@TREK5900cheats]

It is a bit of a mixed bag for me because I have a lot of fun learning new champs and having a really diverse skillset but I also want to get better. Thanks for this video, very helpful

[@denizozbay7172]

I’m an old Syndra main and planning to get back into playing ranked and getting better at her to climb Plat this summer !

[@svillpa6783]

I play alot of Zoe and in my opinion she falls a bit into the blind pick area. Feel like if you are good enough you can totally win against any champion but she also has insane waveclear making her untouched in certain matchups. Roaming capabilities also fall in pretty strong on her (obviously) because of her being able to pick up summoner spells. Rn I am climbing diamond with zoe only. And got a 60% winrate. Usually get over 10 kills every game becuase even if you get bullied early game by enemy support/jungle you can easily get picks/solo kills mid-late game with her. Her kit is amazing :) Note: Love ur vids. Learning alot. I got a problem where I don't really struggle mechanically in the game but totally lack in knowledge of what to do, especially mid game. You are helping me climb the ladder! Keep up the great content

[@ShokLeague]

Yep I agree, Zoe is definitely in the higher tiers of blind picks and one really underrated thing is a lot of bad matchups you can legit just win by hitting one good bubble with electrocute and ignite.

[@svillpa6783]

@@ShokLeague For sure. Even when you are behind you can easily just one shot a person or atleast bring them down to very low hp and ur team can easily just pick them off. Really enjoy zoe playstyle

[@brentjohnson2437]

This is exactly what I have been wanting for so long

[@doomkingraye7692]

My current champion pool for midlane: Syndra is my blind (I noticed that your subs like her a lot) My off role is jgl and I play a pretty decent kayn and my evelynn is really good My ad champ (since the main is ap) is irelia (I invested a lot of time on her toplane but dropped because toplane is, for me, the most tilting role of all) A counterpick that I often play is kassadin

[@rasmustikka1505]

Thoughts on this champion pool I have been theory crafting? Blindpick: Ahri Ahri has good wave clear can go even most matchups and bully melees. Ahri is a good pick into long range enemy team comps with her Ult and charm and everfrost. Can go vex because of the same dive potential but maybe in the future because I dont want to sacrifice champion mastery for a large champion pool. Against frontline heavy team: Cassio/Veigar Veigar when my team benefits from the cage and doesnt already have a lot of CC. Cassio when my team has CC and we need DPS against enemy fronline. AD pick: Not sure yet Irelia is good (hard to play) I can play tristana mid. Talon would probably be good too. To be decided

[@ShokLeague]

Yeah sounds really good!

[@Dnb123oowee]

Annie, fizz, cass, can play most ad champs when needed as well. What a good time to come back to the game. My champ pool are all top tier rn

[@Charms256]

I’m a Cassiopeia one trick and I think picking up vex/ahri would certainly help me climb, but I feel like I’d be escaping the growth process of playing into counter matchups.

[@ShokLeague]

Yeah I think that's somewhat true, there is definitely skill in managing difficult/counter matchups which can help a lot. I guess it just depends on your soloq goals around climbing/improvement.

[@tainadeoliveira]

It's funny the champions you mentioned for good "standard pool" were actually the ones I had in mind. I'm adc main but on mid I have m7 Ahri. Vex would be my counterpick for short range and dashes As for AD I'm actually not that good with melee champions but I played Yone lot on release so I was considering learning him. Lucian or akshan would be more like the adc playstyle I am used to but I don't like them. AD on-hit Neeko is something I really enjoy tho, so it could be a desperate pick of sorts. Lastly I already play Seraphine APC and support so mid would be pretty chill if I just wanna farm, scale and my team needs better peeling/teamfighting.

[@bsi99]

i might seem a bit late 9 months, and champ pools changes meta changes. but this is still really helpful and actually helped me with mine thank you so much for these videos

[@derrekingledue3138]

Love the video. Something i never even considered. Im a Zoe one trick. Probably make it Zoe, Oriana (improvement champ), Hwei (been wanting to try him), and Zeri for the ad spot

[@xkanor2473]

I play master EUW i play only 2 champs for improvement: Annie to improve macro (0 mechanics) Irelia to improve mechanics (0 macro just stomping lane)

[@hknn9528]

Hey Shok! Just found your videos and they're super informative. I just wanted some input on the champion pool I decided on. I'm thinking of Zed as my AD champ, Azir as my blind pick, and having Yasuo and Kassadin as my counter picks. Are there better counter picks I could choose?

[@ShokLeague]

I think it's pretty solid honestly!

[@noodlesandeggs1512]

I am a mid main and I would like to ask how you feel about my champion pool: My main is Vladimir and he is my safe pick whenever I either don’t trust the ally team or whenever I’m against most immobile champions. Whenever I’m against high mobility champions (Katarina, Yone, Akali, etc.), I pull out Vex. I feel like she does a good job in countering them since I struggle to land my W E combo against high mobility champs with Vlad. If my team doesent have any tanks or hard CC, I choose Galio. I find that Low Elo has a lot of hypercarry champs and without CC or any tanks, it gets out of control. Granted, I’m still trying to learn when to engage with my ult and when to farm as I find myself out of lane too much to the point where I loose out on gold and CS. I’m trying to find one last champion that can fit in my mid pool. AD and high mobility preferably since I currently lack those but if this is enough then that’s cool too.

[@brunolanglais662]

Thanks for content, how hard do you think Hwei is?

[@ShokLeague]

Probs like a 6.5 or 7/10? Once you get the muscle memory down it's not as hard as you think

[@Snowiestttv]

Thanks for these videos, i reached master before but i swear it was a mix of mechanics and luck i feel like, i just make so many stupid mistakes all the time and i need to practice to not make them a habit

[@kurikiarizeth2990]

I love content like this so much. Very thorough and in depth. I just only ever see it for midlane :(. As an adc player there are far too few (or too hidden) resources of similar quality. If anyone knows some please recommend!

[@ShokLeague]

Arrowlol is a good adc resource

[@kurikiarizeth2990]

@@ShokLeague thanks for taking the time! To be clear your content still helps tremendously, it’s just that some of the specifics are very different along with the dynamics of the duo lane

[@FirekeepersLover]

wait whaat he only has 4700 subs!!!! the quality made me think at least 150k

[@vincentproud6589]

I'm currently just playing Yone and Malzahar. Thinking of adding Sylas and Vex to that pool. 🤔

[@iandigital]

helpful as always shok!!

[@Kimi-xp2th]

My champion pool consists of Camille, Leblanc and Quinn but I pretty much only spam Camille lately. Been having great results.

[@doctorolimar3378]

Hi Shok, I just recently switched from jungle to Mid and only played Akshan for a while. Now I want to really learn the role and expand my Pool. So far I´m thinking aboout Akshan, Vlad and Syndra. Do you seee any big weakness with those three or any other Champ you would recommend right now?

[@ShokLeague]

I think those are pretty good choices!

[@paulbertomeu5698]

Nice vid as always! just don't stop please :)

[@yowen941]

Hi shok, here's my champion pool what do you think, blind : anivia, vs low range + tanks : cassio, ad pick : gp , vs good ults like shen, tf , amumu : sylas and i also wanna pick vlad but i don't know when he's the most useful, i really like ur vids keep it up !

[@ShokLeague]

Sounds pretty solid

[@Mc_Finnegan]

Hey, great Video and some nice thoughts about champion pools. I just put some effort in my Champion Pool because i felt a bit bored and overwhelmed by the midlaners. The Champs i want to start playing right now (12.13) will be: Ahri, Viktor, Gwen and Sylas. I like Gwen a lot and think she is decent in many Mages but i wonder who you really counter with this champ. Do you have any tips for when picking Gwen?

[@mochiboot6502]

Like many high elo mid laners, I see very little attention given to Fizz. I don't disagree with you, but I would love to hear your thoughts on why no mention of Fizz.

[@ShokLeague]

Fizz is really good for climbing, but not as good for learning the game as some of the other champions. He's kinda like Katarina in that you can somewhat just skip the laning phase by roaming and fighting at every opportunity, and a lot of stuff like playing around the enemy jungle doesn't apply as much to Fizz. I still think he's really strong tho just kinda like a cheat code at least until you get to higher elo

[@mochiboot6502]

@@ShokLeague thanks dude. Yea and not to mention...Fizz can just troll any skill shot in the game. Cheat code indeed.

[@maxchavez8074]

Thanks for making this

[@JohnnyYeTaecanUktena]

Honestly i would say AT THE MOST your champ pool can be 6 champions as the 6th is just a counter pick incase someone on the enemy team just steals your champion. HOWEVER i also say they must be similar to your main or blind pick champion even if they are not exactly 1 to 1 IN TERMS OF PLAYSTYLE that way you get the most benefits and fastest elo gain while not being restricted to one tricking It is also great if they all can be splashed into your off role example Pantheon is a good roaming Top laner but can be splashed into Support and Janna is a good roaming Support that can be slashed into top lane but she does not really care about lane she roams and it is hard to catch her out. Also Soraka is a good Support but can be splashed into top lane she doe snot care about winning lane just getting her items such as Ionian boots > Rod > and Moonstone then she roams, however Janna just does this better as Janna can even mess with the enemy jungler without them being able to catch her Now if Jungle is the main role of anyone obviously in their off role they will wanna play roaming champions if they want the most out of having a decent size champion pool. And for the love of god no Specialists in your champion pool as they take so much knowledge you are just better off one tricking them When i am first pick i always blind pick Soraka Top as then the enemy support picks a counter thinking it is Soraka Support which then our support can counter the enemy support, and then the bot lane will have a easy time and we win. It has happened way more times than is funny honestly which goes to show you how good flex picks especially what would be considered a off meta flex pick are as you can trick the enemy team in losing in champ select. There was even one time when Soraka Hard countered Darius that i blind picked Soraka Top then immediately the enemy top locked in Darius and the enemy support locked in Blitz and then our support locked in a counter pick for Blitz, so the enemy team should have then been shitting bricks as they realize it was going to be a Soraka Top and they should have dodged as we won that game. Though i always question why people lock in Rammus if they see a enemy lock in a Soraka as they know they can't gank a Soraka lane and they better hope it is not a bot lane Soraka as they would want that juicy ADC, so if they were going to pick a Rammus they should ban Soraka just like Karthus players always ban Soraka as pretty much Karthus has no ult if Soraka is level 6. I am more of a utilitarian player and i like playing Top lane so i am unorthodox player as i don't really care about killing the lane opponent i care about improving and getting my items so my team can snowball. The enemy laner also gets frustrated as they are getting denied cs and denied any kill pressure so they become useless while i only need about 2 items that are cheap to start the snowball, obviously if i see i can get a free kill i would go for it but other than that i prefer a war of attrition as in i freeze near my tower and they can't do anything because ranged top laner and most tops are melee. Funny enough despite both my Top and Support picks being the same my off role is Support as it is a different skill to actually learn how to solo lane with these champions. And some champions that would counter Soraka such as a Brand are not counter picks if not played in a duo lane because now you don't have to worry about potentially 3 enemies and keeping your ADC alive plus your lane opponent still will refuse to rush anti-heal as fist item, and you would think that past 10.4 people would learn better when Soraka Top was only strong pre 10.4 because LITERALLY no one got exe which would have gutted her lane phase as she could just face tank 1v1. Average League players man i tell you, they say they would do one thing and that everyone else will do one thing as a justification on why what you are doing is bad and not good, but the reality is they will do the complete opposite more times than not. Like Soraka Top is actually a conundrum as she has global presence and is a threat when she hits 6 as you have to pop her ult otherwise your ganks may fail and end up with you dying but if you try and gank she will waste your time and if you try to camp you are losing tempo and agency to her jungler. So most people ignore the Soraka Top unless it is Soraka's jungler as hey free kill for the jungler as they also get their items faster, and this was all before season 14 where it is harder to gank top lane Like no matter what Soraka just needs 1 or 2 items and she will just be useful even if she lost lane. There were even times where i just said to my jungler "Hey if you want some free cs and kills come and gank i will even be bait" and thus my jungler gets fed so we snowball even harder. I even bm'd so hard that a enemy Mordekaiser started cussing at me in all chat because i killed him in his own Ult as he thought if he wasted his ult on me there would be nowhere to run and that i would die, and i even told him in all chat after killing him in his own ult "Did you think i was running for my own safety?" followed by "Soraka Top hard counters champions like Mordekaiser, Garen, and Darius the most picked top laners for low elo". And it even happened during a push in mid to take inhib Morde ults me and my team just waits around for the ult to end to kill the Morde and saving me as i was finally about to die to the morde for once, but i promptly after getting to safety and bassing typed in all chat "I LIVE!!!!" and literally the Morde leaves the game after that so it was a perma 5v4 us vs them. We won and the best [art is our Janna that was Support kept shielding me as well so i was literally unkillable in teamfights while i healed everyone else and mostly protected Janna the one keeping me alive. The enemy team in post game chat said "They did not nerf Soraka hard enough that was pure cancer" As long as you don't say anything that would get you banned physiological warfare is fair game otherwise there is no point in a all chat or cross team chat DURING the game. I mostly caused mental damage POST 10.4 when Soraka Top was giga nerfed as no matter what she is going to hard counter tanks those are the best matchups to pick her in. Though i must warn you they are going to play passive as fuck if they see you taking Grasp as Soraka Top as that is going to actually have kill pressure and even Bronze players are going to respect that damage and not even bother to let you prock Grasp, even if they hard counter you Here is a fun fact: No one actually cares if you go Soraka Top AS LONG AS you don't feed the enemy in-fact they will actually appreciate it because better chance of winning since you keep the team alive longer during fights even the front line support that picked a all in champ such as Alistar or Leona for example. In-fact the average player would not mind a Soraka Top on their team as they know it's good and how good a Soraka is, you could even say "I am building support for the mid game you can come and get free kills and cs if you like and get fed as i don't need much gold" Just simply saying that makes a lot of people welcome Soraka Top with open arms especially if it is the mid laner or jungler wanting to get fed. Like a lot of people know it is good but it is just not their cuppa tea, and as long as you don't feed the enemy and can actually impact the game such as with heals and all really no one is going to care what you play especially if you put it as a proposition on helping them get fed and allowing them to carry

[@trmntr100]

Hi! I've moved to toplane recently and now my champion pool contains Kayle and Shen (high silver elo). What I love about these, that they complement each other almost perfectly, I mean, they beat quite hard each others hardest counters. None of them are considered quite good blind picks, but Kayle is pretty strong against the most picked low elo toplaners like Morde Garen etc. So nowadays I blind pick Kayle and against her unplayable matchups (Nasus, irelia, Jax, malphite) I pick Shen. Do you think it's still worth to add a good blind pick champion, or is this champ pool fine as it is?

[@ShokLeague]

Honestly I don't really know the top matchups that well, I think for your elo you are probably fine but eventually you probably want something more gankable

[@rucanick9865]

Hey Shok listen I think you are one of the hidden gems of educational content and I wanted to ask you if a champ pool that consist of ryze and yasuo is good ty

[@ShokLeague]

Yeah it's not bad, you can blind Ryze and counterpick with Yasuo. Only thing that might be bad is that your champion pool is very hard to play, but if you can manage then it's good.

[@muted9632]

Amazing video as always keep it up im looking foward to another educational content :). And i wanna ask since you mentioned it will you make a lucian mid guide? I was thinking of picking him up as my ad midlaner but i couldnt find any good guides for him.

[@ShokLeague]

Yeah I definitely wanna do Lucian!

[@iondelic5967]

I am a tryndamere mid onetrick atm (low gold cca) but need an AP champ as secondary for games when my team is full AD.. any ideas? I am in a big dilemma between a few. Diana, Ahri, Kayle, Fizz, Lux, Lissandra?..

[@ShokLeague]

Fizz is a good one imo

[@iondelic5967]

@@ShokLeague what about cassiopeia? She does play very differently from Trynd tho

[@brandonzzz7]

Really banging out this stuff for free ty

[@justaregulargamer7314]

as someone learning the fundamentals, how in the world am I going to know if a champ has skills that transfer, or aren't gimmicky?

[@ShokLeague]

If you're someone so new that you don't have much knowledge of the champions yet, then most likely the fundamentals that you will be working on will be basic enough that they apply to literally every champion (CSing for example)

[@lekazeh2689]

im putting my time into your lessons hope you will get me places thank you for this opportunity

[@natsuvee5353]

I personally like playing scaling such as Aurelion sol and Veigar. However i feel like there's not really an Ad midlaner that gives me that type of playstyle as them where i just want to scale. Any suggestions? Closest i found is ad Kayle. I just really hate falling off like what most assassin do and rather be the impending doom.

[@ShokLeague]

Tristana maybe? She spikes hard early, kinda weak mid game but comes back late game. Maybe something like Jayce could work too? Scales pretty well but again you kinda have to play aggro early

[@VietSytlezzz]

Also playing twisted fate improved my gameplay a lot.

[@PugglesWuggles]

I cant even seem to get mid. What secondary role insures mid the most?

[@ShokLeague]

I think it depends on your elo, in higher elo definitely jg or adc second will get you mid more often. In lower elos I'm not totally sure, maybe top second?

[@ahmetbayar431]

Hello Shok, thanks for making this wonderful video! I have some questions. Is akali a good blind pick? I am currently OTP akali. After watching this video i decided to expand my champion pool. What do you think of this? Blind : Akali Counter : Viktor AD : Yone / Pantheon Off pick : Kaisa Since akali is weak against tanky and Hard cc comps i thought maybe viktor could do the job there. What do you think?

[@ShokLeague]

Looks good to me, I think Akali isn't the best blind atm because of how strong Kass/Ryze are. But I think if you ban Kass, and most of the Ryze players aren't that good then it can work. Viktor vs tanky comps is a great choice.

[@riccardocarlini7992]

Great video as always! There's very few about this topic around (at least nothing well made). I have a question, I'm Lucian dependent recently lol, can he work as a one trick, and can you build it differently (aery/pta) according to the match up/enemy team composition, or is it better to stick with one style? Thanks for the wonderful content you're putting out!

[@ShokLeague]

Yeah I think Lucian can definitely work, while he is somewhat countered by some of the mages I think because he's a flex pick most of the time you will still get good matchups, and also his lane phase is so strong that if you play it well you can win most lanes. I think the hardest thing about Lucian blind pick would be vsing some difficult teamcomps, ones with champions like Wukong/Malphite, Diana, Xayah, champs that are sorta hard to DPS against. I guess I would either dodge vs this or just do my best to farm like a demon and 1v9 it. I'm honestly not totally sure on building Lucian recently, I've played a few games trying out BORK vs no BORK just regular crit. Haven't seen much aery lately though. I would say you can build differently according to matchup and enemy team if it is actually better, although I think at the moment PTA is just gonna be the best overall.

[@riccardocarlini7992]

@@ShokLeague I appreciate your help a lot Shok! And I couldn't agree more about the team comp, I found it hard especially with those you mentioned

[@torvusdog7647]

Hey Shok, I've been trying to change up my champion pool and I wanted to see if I could have your input: AD: Zed Counterpick: Katarina/Vex Blindpick : Azir/Orianna Do you think this is too many champions? I'm trying to decide between Azir/Orianna for my blind pick to trim down how many champs i play. (I have more experience with Azir but idk if he is a better blind pick or not) At heart I am a katarina main but i've noticed it can be so difficult into certain comps and I also want to just get genuinely better at league instead of one tricking. Any advice on who to pick? Thanks Shok, I know i've said it a million times but your guides have helped me tremendously. Cheers.

[@ShokLeague]

It looks pretty good to me, imo you could drop Orianna if you prefer Azir since he's good into just about everything and is rarely banned. I would say Azir is a better blind pick overall, but obviously he's kinda hard to play so you might find it easier with Orianna? Either of them are good, I don't think you need both.

[@torvusdog7647]

@@ShokLeague Thanks! 4 Champs is definitely a lot more manageable. I think I'll stick with the bird man, I just find him so much fun. 👍

[@honeygold4681]

Great vid Shok, so far I have Vex as my counter, Lucian as my AD and for off role I have Naut. But I wanted some recommendations for my Blind, I just want 1 from Zilean, Orianna, Veigar, Syndra, Vlad, and Ahri(worries about nerfs with Ahri) who would be good and what are their strengths.

[@ShokLeague]

imo basically all those blinds are good, I think Veigar will be even more OP next patch though so he could be a really good choice, depends how many assassins remain in the meta

[@honeygold4681]

@@ShokLeague who would u recommend from Syndra, Viktor, and Veigar as a strong blind pick. i want to choose one to be my mainish champ

[@ShokLeague]

@@honeygold4681 Veigar seems like he'll be the most OP next patch

[@honeygold4681]

@@ShokLeague one last question, i was thinking of having Neeko as a counterpick rather than Vex since i enjoy her Neeko more. But when should i pick neeko, as in what would she counter and Thank you for answering so fast and all the great Content!

[@ShokLeague]

@@honeygold4681 She's really good against melees/weak laning ranged champs, also good against short ranged or dive comps

[@doisaEFE]

I'm a two-trick (Taliyah, Cassiopeia) that plays around D4-D1 range. I don't play soloq but I play flex/clash/tournaments with friends so I'd appreciate it if you can recommend me champs that can fit in a teamcomp (so far we've found a few). When we do dive comps I pick Lissandra. We also have this trio that we find extremely strong. It's Taliyah, Wukong, Yasuo (top). I'm a Taliyah main so my friends always love to blind pick me Taliyah and pick Wukong, Yasuo for themselves. Other than that I'm a Cassio OTP. I try not to blind her though, and find her to be weaker than Taliyah and Lissandra teamplay wise (even though she is probably my most played/best champion). Cassio feels way more selfish and my team loves to create opportunities instead of farming and waiting for me to scale. I usually pick Taliyah and Lissandra because of that. Champs I play extremely well: Taliyah, Cassiopeia, Lissandra Champs I can play well but don't have success on: Azir, Orianna, Ryze, Nunu (mid) Champs I'm considering adding to my champ pool: Galio, Neeko, Annie (my old main) Champs I can play but find it boring: Syndra (haven't played the new one though), Ahri Champs I find extremely cool but don't play: Zoe, Qiyana, Gwen, Camille, Ziggs, Sylas TLDR; I'm fairly confident with my Taliyah, Cassiopeia, and Lissandra. I need some recommendations because there has been clash tournaments where the enemy team banned all 3 of these champions because it's clear I don't play anything else. I couldn't pressure sidelanes with Orianna (she is usually my go to if they ban all 3 of these champs), so I'm thinking about just dropping her. Also I don't think I would benefit from playing AD melees because of my ping and assassins because it doesn't fit my team's play-style. Thank you for the videos Shok!

[@ShokLeague]

I think if you want more champs that can follow up with a Yasuo/Wukong engage style Ahri, Galio, Sylas are all pretty good with that

[@cavaniballondor]

can you make a sylas guide pls?

[@sagitswag1785]

Ive been a jungle main since season 10 and a supp main since season 4 before that. Ive started learning leblanc mid with a friend duo who plays jungle. My concern now is, how often do I offrole? Both my champions are very one-trick friendly, in that they need alot of experience to be good. Should I be playing 70-30 spit between lb shaco, and then transition to 50-50 once I am comfortable on lb?

[@ShokLeague]

hmm I'd just queue whatever you're most enjoying tbh and not worry too much about what the best split is

[@Doomlash]

I always blind picked Viktor but the assassin matchups are a pain. Do you think I should take another blind pick and let Viktor be a counter pick? Is there a good blind pick that can also be a counter to those matchups?

[@ShokLeague]

You could try blind pick Ahri or Vex, Ahri is pretty safe vs everything and Vex counters assassins specifically but does sorta struggle vs mages.

[@lewissharman9400]

does sylas have transferable skills to other champs?

[@ShokLeague]

To other melees for sure, pretty different from any ranged champ though

[@alxo6573]

Hi Shok still pretty new to picking a champion pool I played when I was younger around maybe season 5-6 top and am wanting to pick the game back up properly. What do you think about having: Blind - Cho’gath AD - Sion not certain on counter pick and I would off role top with both champs. Could you help with counter pick

[@ShokLeague]

I think the picks are fine, you can already use those as counterpicks so I'm not sure you even need more champs. You could consider another tanky melee though like garen or something

[@Stormzy2heaven]

Im in gold, personally i find a lot of success on syndra and orianna, sometimes lissandra if the enemy is short ranged and if we need more cc. But ive been thinking of also adding renekton because im losing melee matchups around katarina, yone and yasuo. What do you think of this change, should i just stay to my picks or should i pick a different ad champ? i honestly really liked lucian mid before it became bad. (Orianna blind pick because low elo lacks confidence to run over someone like her)

[@ShokLeague]

imo Renekton is pretty weak atm, if you want an anti melee mage I think Vex or any everfrost builder is pretty good. Other ad champions I think Lucian is still decent, Akshan is decent, you could go a tankier AD mid like Sion/Sett as well

[@Stormzy2heaven]

@@ShokLeague followup question, it feels like tanks really dominate my games (ornn, sion, chogath) it feels like my picks except orianna are pretty bad against them. should i just draft orianna or should i find a champ like corki that melts tanks?

[@MaxwellPerlman]

Greta video! How does the following pool sound? Qiyana, Zed, TF, Ryze

[@ShokLeague]

Pretty good, you have some strong counters and blinds. I feel like TF and Ryze kinda do the same thing though? I'd be tempted to drop Ryze but it's not a big deal either way.

[@MaxwellPerlman]

@@ShokLeague Thanks for the feedback, will consider cutting one of the mages! I find with TF I am usually just teleporting all over the place after level 6 where Ryze is much more about the scaling, split push, and wave clear.

[@VietSytlezzz]

Bro how is content for free you’re so slept on hope you got more subs man

[@wrightberry1225]

Wow, this channel is a gold mine. Which one do you think out of these three strongest: Talon, Zed, Qiyana. Zed has the highest win and play rate in high elo so i thought that is the one? Really wonder your thoughts.

[@ShokLeague]

Zed is definitely the strongest, I'd say all 3 are pretty good though.

[@wrightberry1225]

@@ShokLeague Thanks for the answer. I've invested ~110 games in Qiyana with %45 win rate and I was debating whether to change to other two which are much more simpler. It is a bit heartbreaking though, when you play the single most unforgiving mid laner in the game even then you're not rewarded as much as more forgiving ones. What do you think, should I change to Zed? I think both of them are fun equally. And do you think mechanical skills I learnt when playing Qiyana transfer over to new champs?

[@ShokLeague]

@@wrightberry1225 I wouldn't say make a full switch. Just try playing Zed as well and if you have a lot of success/fun on him then you can make a swap.

[@wrightberry1225]

@@ShokLeague Thank you very much. Do you think mechanical skills I improved when playing Qiyana transfer over to other champs? What was your experience about it? Sorry, I ama a bit nosy but I always liked to learn from an expert.

[@ShokLeague]

@@wrightberry1225 I think they should. Especially if you play similar AD assassin type champs

[@mig1816]

Hi! Gold 2 player here, I’m thinking of grinding ranked but Im not very confident in my mid lane fundamentals as I was originally a top main. I was thinking of making Zoe/Ahri my blind pick, vex/sylas counterpick, yone/zed AD, and top probably being my off-role Aatrox/Darius/Kayle/Mordekaiser. Would you agree that this is a solid champ pool or should I drop some champs? If my champ pool is too large would dropping vex for sylas be good? I personally prefer sylas over vex gameplay wise and he is rarely banned compared to vex. In my opinion I believe that having 2 champs for each category is nice to have as I am taking bans/picks into consideration. Side note: If mechanics are taken into account I’m very confident in my ability to pilot the typical bruisers top lane but in terms of midlane I’d practically be learning Zoe from the ground up. Would perhaps my time invested be better on someone like Leblanc instead? Sorry for the mouthful haha.

[@ShokLeague]

It's all good, I like your champion pool. I think dropping Vex could be a good idea just because you have so many already, and you already have some mages. She is a good counterpick though so it's really up to you. I always think less champions are better, you could drop one of Yone/Zed if you find you're spread too thin once you start practicing them. And finally I think LB/Zoe are both pretty hard, just choose whichever one you prefer to play.

[@mig1816]

@@ShokLeague Thanks for the response! I’ll give both Zoe and Leblanc a try and see which kit I prefer. 🙂

[@skullwolff9442]

mid/bot akali, ahri, diana, talon. varus, lucian, caitlyn, seraphine. these are my 2 roles and my champ pool. never changing, i don't play ranked at all, and never will.

[@Ethan-mv6wq]

Great video, I am personally wondering about what my champion pool should be and this helped me a ton. I was planning on using Cassiopeia as an off-role, but I don't know when to pick her mid. I also dont have a blind pick champion. Do you know of a blind pick that goes well in a champion pool with Cassiopeia, and when to pick Cassiopeia mid? I tried out Ahri and I disliked her kit, same with Vex. I was going to skip an AD champ too. I can't really focus on learning multiple champs a once, learning two is okay.

[@ShokLeague]

You could try Viktor/Ori for blind picks instead? You generally pick Cass mid as a counter to short range champs or comps

[@Ethan-mv6wq]

@@ShokLeague I didn't know that Viktor was able to be played as a blind pick, that is nice. Thank you so much for replying!

[@enernine]

Hi there Shok! I quite like playing Karma mid, do you think she’s a good blind pick or is there a certain niche situation you’d pick her? Thanks!

[@ShokLeague]

Karma is a pretty solid blind, she works in most comps and gets priority in most lanes. The best time to pick Karma though is when you have either a hypercarry ADC (Jinx, Vayne, Kog etc) or a strong early game jungler (Xin, Olaf, Kindred etc)

[@deathshot9310]

Q: Is this a good pool? Ahri (main) - blind, Vex - counter, Yone - AD, Nautilus - Supp/off pick. Do I need anymore, or changes, ect? Thanks!

[@ShokLeague]

Sounds pretty much perfect honestly :)

[@deathshot9310]

@@ShokLeague thanks!!

[@cutewolfiegirl2087]

Hello Shok, I love the video! My goal is solely to improve. I was picking champions but, I’m not sure if the ones I picked had gimmicks or not? I was hoping you could advise me if they are or not. AD/Offrole Tristana Blind Orianna/Lux Syndra/Leblanc Thanks again for the amazing video! 💙💛❤️

[@ShokLeague]

I think it's a pretty solid champ pool, both for learning and winning

[@cutewolfiegirl2087]

@@ShokLeague Yay! Thank you so much for the reply :)

[@maxx_xero]

So I’m a Quinn mid one trick and I just climbed to plat. I wanna expand my champ pool to include some mages and possibly other champs that can cover Quinn’s weaknesses. I struggle against comps with lots of cc and junglers that can spam gank and exert huge river pressure. Any suggestions?

[@ShokLeague]

I would say something with either lots of range or mobility, champions like Ahri, Leblanc etc. If you wanted something more similar to Quinn you could try the AP Kai'sa Mid build? Or something with extreme range like Lux.

[@antostar3112]

Hi Shok, thanks for the guide! I always play viktor in soloq (I’m gold 2 as of now), do you think he’s a good blindpick? I always ban Kassadin or Akali

[@ShokLeague]

I'd say he's good but not great. Viktor does have a few things going for him (high waveclear, strong laning phase) but does struggle into a lot of assassin champs (Fizz, Akali, Kass, Irelia, Zed etc). That being said against the current mage meta he's very good, so if you find yourself mainly vsing mages anyway then I'd say Viktor is a pretty good blind.

[@nickstar332]

I used to main Orianna and Syndra the last time i actively played, but I recently picked up Ahri since I felt like I had way more impact on the game with her. I also noticed that Oriannas and Syndras winrates are pretty low at the moment in solo queue. Could you give me some insight on why that is?

[@ShokLeague]

Mainly they are just more difficult and don't provide quite as much impact as some of the other champs. Syndra also has a lot of hard assassin matchups in solo queue. I'm going to make a mid lane tier list video and hopefully explain all this a bit more.

[@houghpuff6380]

I'm gold 2 playing Cassio, Gragas, & Rumble. I know I need an ad champ but I don't really like most meta options. Would you recommend like Jayce or Aatrox maybe?

[@ShokLeague]

Both are pretty good honestly!

[@snowf6307]

Is it bad if I want to learn mid by using Yone? Or should I just learn Annie and pick up Yone later on? I'm conflicted because I would be switching from a mage to a melee. Maybe I can learn on Diana and then switch to Yone?

[@ShokLeague]

Play what you find fun first, and if that doesn't work out then maybe try learning something easier

[@snowf6307]

@@ShokLeague I asked a few months ago about playing Yone to learn mid--I've actually been learning with Ahri this whole time and I'm enjoying the game--so thanks ! Your Ahri specific guide was very helpful as well

[@elsinnombreniapellido1654]

thanks!

[@acnologia1127]

As ahri i can never win lane against qiyana one tricks. Can u do a match up guide without jgl? Because junglers dont gank qiyanas in plat cuz she has 2 dashes and invis

[@zezenkop412]

Bec qiyana is broken

[@ShokLeague]

I think vs Qiyana you need to be really careful not to waste your spells and just hold them (especially your charm) because she'll look to trade on you if you waste them. Other than that I think you should be able to at least go even 1v1.

[@yuno7825]

Id say only use E when she Es you, u gotta be carefull not to have minions in front of you so u can actually hit it

[@KingBLUCK]

So I'm transferring from ADC, 13 seasons is enough of torment. Would you mind raiting my champ pool? AP picks: -Vlad -Ryze -Vex AD picks -Irelia

[@ShokLeague]

I think you might struggle a bit with blind picking, but everything else is solid

[@systematicchaos6150]

Hey shok, what role in a champ pool would Vlad fill? Would you say he's a counterpick?

[@ShokLeague]

I think he can be used as a blind pick or a counter pick. He's very versatile and is sleeper OP imo.

[@mei89anio]

Any suggestions on expanding my champ pool for a lb OTP? I've been in gold 1 forever and I can play MF/twitch bot but some picks mid like galio/ahri/akshan/anivia/trynd/malz usually give me trouble actually started playing leblanc support as well because i'm so stuck on that champion

[@ShokLeague]

I'd say stuff like ahri/vex are most similar if you want to branch out with stuff that's close to what you're already playing. Or you could try something that's similar all in playstyle but longer range? Like Zoe could be an idea.

[@mei89anio]

@@ShokLeague thanks for the reply. I tried making lissandra work for a while but my wr is terrible w her. For the AD pick yone is kind of fun to play but i'm bad with him like any other pick that isn't LB.

[@ShokLeague]

@@mei89anio You might find it easier just to keep playing LB and improve your game fundamentals. Then when you're better you'd probably find it easier to swap to other champs.

[@talonsflamed6693]

Hi, what are your thoughts blind picking vex? I one trick her, currently gold elo.

[@ShokLeague]

Decent but not the best, she does suffer quite a bit into some of the ranged mage matchups but if you play well you can manage them. She is kinda OP at the moment which makes her just kinda good overall but there are definitely better blind pick options. That being said if you mainly vs melee/short ranged champions anyway then it's good.

[@sevaneken3461]

Hi. I just began the game a week ago but i play the mobile version called lol wild rift. So far my best champions are Yone and yasuo they fit my game play style but i really dunno what to add. I find irelia quite chalenging to learn and talon is releasing soon so should i wait for them since i kinda like the melee assassins or find another 2 champs

[@ShokLeague]

Very late reply but I don't know anything about wild rift I'm afraid so it's hard to give advice :/

[@caribbeanjoyboy4017]

Hey! after watching this video im wondering what Karma mid would be classified as and can I improve my mid lane fundamentals with her?

[@ShokLeague]

She's pretty blindable, she has flexible lanes so most people will probably think she's support and most matchups you get priority/control over anyway. I think most of the mid lane fundamentals can be trained with Karma, although I think her laning revolves a bit more around spam pushing than actually trading so that's the only place where it might not be as good to learn on as other champs. But everything else like CSing teamfighting sidelaning etc I think Karma is fine to learn on.

[@robbierotten3123]

I’m currently an Ekko otp. Can’t figure out what champs I want to have in my pool. Maybe since Ekko is best into mages, something that’s good into assassins? Any suggestions?

[@ShokLeague]

I feel like Akali is pretty good into other melees/assassins and is somewhat similar in playstyle to Ekko, otherwise maybe LB or something?

[@vxu3826]

Thoughts on rumble as an otp? been maining him since s9

[@ShokLeague]

Pretty good yeah, most people will think it's Rumble top so that's a big plus. Also he destroys melees and does decent vs most ranged so I think he's very well rounded overall.

[@kandarptripathi3078]

As someone who plays on a high ping 160+ due to certain reasons, and is new to league, what champions will be good for me to play on high ping and also help me improve?

[@ShokLeague]

Probably something like TF that isn't too difficult mechanically but still tests a lot of fundamental macro knowledge. Annie could be another option.

[@kandarptripathi3078]

@@ShokLeague i see thank you. I am playing Annie right now. TF seems fun as well, but i can't postion myself properly yet. Thanks for the reply!

[@lordsauronsregards5686]

Shok do you think malzahar is a good blind pick, i think it's very useful champ in soloq but he hasn't 1 v 9 potential.needs Little bit rely on team

[@ShokLeague]

Honestly I don't think he's that great as a blind pick, he does struggle vs a lot of lanes but if you find you can manage the lane phase then I think it's fine. Malzahar is very OP in teamfights obviously but particularly if you can counter a low range comp/a lot of melee champs then he really shines.

[@lordsauronsregards5686]

@@ShokLeague thank you very much for your answer and amazing content :)

[@ColiKohai]

Hii Shok☺! I liked a lot the video, thanks for making this quality content ❣. I hope it's not too late to receive some help. It's being a pain in the ass making the champion pool and I thought on you. The characters I do play fit in a similar playstyle. I like to stick in x champions and don't switch caring if they are meta or not, so if you can I'd glad telling me the most optimal overall, not caring current meta. However I need that they are useful at the end and can fill the lack of my other characters. I'm quite good mechanically landing skillshoots (maybe it can helps you to decide). My best champions are: Lux, Zoe and Seraphine. If I'm not wrong I'd need to have an AD on mid and maybe an ap that can fight tanks. I'm currently high platinum and I'd like to grab master this season. AD: Tristana, Lucian or Akshan (Which one you suggest me the most to more impact overall?) Blind: Lux AP Assasin: Zoe Not sure what I'm missing on 4 slot, but I'll give you some champions I like (anyway feel free to suggest me any champion that can fill what I'm loosing to have a proper pool and can fight almost all comps in SoloQ with all my characters): Veigar, Seraphine, Orianna, Syndra, Taliyah, LeBlanc, Sylas, Ziggs, Vladimir and Gwen. In case you think that Lux and Zoe shouldn't be in the same pool, tell me. I'm open to read what champion pool you suggest to me based in what you know and my strengths. Sorry for the long text and thanks again 👑

[@alexanderhjalte2511]

Any tips on leblanc i feel like i cant 1v9 the games on her. Atm plat 1-2

[@ShokLeague]

Depends what kind of part of the game you're struggling at. If it's mid to late game then most likely either you don't have enough CS or you are using the wrong combos. If it's in the early game you probably need to look more at your laning phase, base timings etc. One thing I definitely struggled with on LB was using the correct combos which is something you'll get better at, but just remember the most important thing is to kill a squishy target and usually RQW or WRQE does this with the most safety/reliability.

[@michaelpagliano5519]

Hi, do I think neeko is a good blind pick?

[@ShokLeague]

I'd say it's decent but not great, a lot of longer range champions give Neeko trouble so I think she's better as a counterpick. That being said I think a lot of the time people won't know what to pick into Neeko so that might make her a bit better?

[@madamada2936]

Is tryndamere a good ad pick?

[@ShokLeague]

Yeah definitely

[@jenivie3709]

so do you think i can really climb playing seraphine mid :c

[@ShokLeague]

Honestly yes, Seraphine has a lot of things going for her, first off in the current scaling meta she is much better than before. She's also a flex pick so most people won't counter Seraphine mid if you pick it (since they think it'll be adc/support). She doesn't care about lane that much so she's a pretty decent blind pick I'd say her only weakness is her she isn't much of a counterpick but she's pretty decent overall.

[@Argo87]

Hi! I'm a french viewer and new player on LoL. I'm a bit lost since I'm not that good in traduction and I don't know how we call 80 champ in french. I don't understand what it means. If it's a champion who counter a lot of other champs or a champ who is good in blind pick, or?? Thanks you if you see this comment and rep to me. Bonsoir.

[@Argo87]

P.-S.: I start LoL 40 days ago and I really like Qiyana even if it's a very difficult champion to learn. I'm looking for the two champions that I can play to learn LoL and compose my champ pool, even If I would like to otp Qiyana. I thought of Vladimir since is a very good counter of Qiyana but It's also a niche champ and a bit hard to learn. I don't think it's a problem to play champions which are not in the sames category of Qiyana in midlane but I don't know if it's or not a good idea to play very different champion in this midlane champ pool.

[@Argo87]

Ok I understand that you're saying AD and not 80, sorry for the inconvenience

[@Argo87]

Thanks for the video

[@ShokLeague]

Sorry, I think by "80 champ" you mean AD champ (attack damage). Just that there are AP (ability power) champions like Syndra, Orianna etc and then AD champions like Jayce or Zed for example. I think that's what you mean? Sorry if I misunderstood

[@ShokLeague]

Oops just saw this after I typed out my response lmao

[@MarkusAndersen96]

When I get mid primary I have ahri as my blind/comfort pick. I will usually go for Orianna. If the lane matchup is volatile or their team can shit on ours, I will go Lissandra for her amazing CC. I have wondered about what AD champ to "train" when the team has too much AP. Maybe Akshan. I can't be arsed playing the cancer brothers yone/yasuo, and zed/qiyana/irelia has too big of a learning curve I can't be bothered.

[@ShokLeague]

You could try an AD tank or bruiser? Pantheon, Sett, Sion are all reasonably easy to pick up and pretty good mid lane.

[@MarkusAndersen96]

@@ShokLeague Never really seen them much mid in gold elo, but Sett/Pantheon sounds like fun! Ty

[@journeymaking436]

Hello Shok, brand new player here, thanks a lot for this awesome fundamentals playlist! I started jungle but want to invest my time in MID now. What do you think of that champion pool for a complete beginner: Main/Blind -> Syndra or Sylas. Maybe Ahri? Counter -> Neeko or Ekko. AD -> Yone or Zed. Off-Role -> No idea, Warwick jungle atm for sure, maybe I'll try Nautilus/Leona support. Any feedback for a soon-to-be soloQ summoner? To ideally have a 3, 4 max Champion pool with these champions. Thanks a lot

[@ShokLeague]

I'd say Sylas isn't really a blind. Maybe go for Syndra/Ahri blind and Sylas as your counter? Everything else looks good

[@journeymaking436]

@@ShokLeague Thanks brother, I've set my mind on Ahri blind, Zed AD and Neeko counter. Let's watch your whole playlist and play now 🔥

[@spicyboyii]

sometimes i have to slow the video playback - you are super informative but talk so fast!

[@profax8183]

hi im a akali main and played only top in ranked so far but i want to play mid lane which other champions should i pick up?

[@ShokLeague]

Probably just get a blind pick that can go with Akali, Vex or Ahri or something.

[@profax8183]

@@ShokLeague thanks for the response I had the same thought and I really like ahri but do i need an ad champ like yone talon etc. ?

[@ShokLeague]

@@profax8183 You don't necessarily need one, but it can be nice. If you don't enjoy them don't worry about it.

[@profax8183]

@@ShokLeague ok thx for the help

[@dustyacer]

Challenger Rell mid?

[@Enimal_]

Can I use Viktor as my blind please?

[@ShokLeague]

You can, but you might find some difficulties with assassin matchups. Honestly up to you if you can manage it though.

[@PervertedPanda3]

Viktors been my blind pick this season. With Vex/Cassiopeia/Vinegar as counterpicks. Offroled top I play Trundle/Kayle(picking up jax 12.6) since they are easy to play while having clear easy to execute gameplans.

[@vansserafim]

Not a single mention of Viktor...

[@ShokLeague]

If I talked about every champion it'd be a very long video :/

[@KeenScout.]

Done

[@pigr1]

good

[@oguzhanakca8606]

A Lucian mid guide pleassssssse

[@Kimi-xp2th]

WeirdChamp

[@ihavenocomfy3279]

nuts

[@gilbrage5024]

bayzed

[@bkstaxman]

Just a casual, “all supports are easy” insult, real classy.

[@ShokLeague]

Sorry...

[@ModusTollendoTollens]

I'm shocked

[@NGaming2017]

Yooo