LoL: Best Champions for Climbing Solo Queue in 2022

If you’re looking to climb in League in Season 12, check out our champion suggestions.

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There are still more than three months before the Season 12 of League of Legends ends, which means more than enough time for you to reach your ranked goal. And when you ask people for advice on how to actually do just that, the most common one you will get is to “pick a lane, couple of champions and just play those.”

Now choosing a lane is a personal preference on what you’d like to do in-game, but choosing a champion can be a lot harder. There are 160 champions in LOL and not everyone is as strong as the others. You can always look at champion statistics sites to see what is strong and play that, but there are some champions in the game that are and have been strong through most meta changes. Here are the champions we would suggest people to learn and play, in every role in the game.

Best top lane picks

Shen

Shen is one of the top lane picks that you can learn and always come back in any meta. Even when tanks aren’t that strong, his strong kit and game-changing ultimate always keep him as a strong pick. With the Teleport changes and buffs to Drakes, top lakers have been complaining about their lane not mattering in the grand scheme of things, and well… Shen can always impact the map.

But do not be mistaken, this champion is not just an ultimate bot. Shen has one of the strongest level ones (or two) among the top lane roster if you learn how to use your empowered Twilight Assault auto attacks. This strong presence doubles when you can bring Ignite as your summoner spell, as you don’t really need the Teleport. Combining these strengths with a versatile play style and build diversity, Shen is not only one of the strongest top lane picks, but also one of the most fun ones.

Tryndamere

We are going from the “save your team and protect your carries” style of Shen, to the “split push and 1vX the enemy team when they come for you” style of Tryndamere. This champion has been the bane of the existence of a lot of top laners ever since League came out and there is a reason for that. Tryndamere can be a great lane bully in most favorable match-ups, you just spin on top of people and hope for a lucky crit, and he scales very well into the late game if you can avoid 5v5s. But even if you can’t, with summoner spells like Ghost and Flash, and with an item like Galeforce, Tryndamere’s team fighting abilities are not as bad as it was used to be. But the area this champion excels at is split pushing. With great wave clear, fast tower taking and a low-cooldown mobility spell that helps him escape his enemies, Tryndamere is one of the best champions if you want to win by splitting.

Sett

Sett has one of the easiest kits to learn in League but still with a great potential to make outplays. He is an especially good champion for top lane beginners, as you can learn what he can do very fast and he is not too punishing when you make a mistake. Did you lose a trade? Sett generates health like no other champion. Are you pushed up in the lane and getting ganked from behind because you did not ward? You can now ult the jungler towards your tower to escape.

Plus, Sett can be played in a variety of ways: on-hit, bruiser, tank or a mix of any of these. Sometimes it can be hard to pilot him if you are behind your opponents, but Sett has a very good kit that lets you engage, peel and survive just enough that you can still be useful.

Honorable mentions:

• Darius
• Riven
• Mordekaiser
• Ornn

Best jungle picks

Kayn

There is a reason why there are many Kayn one tricks playing in high elo in every server and the champion is always one of the most popular jungle champs. Kayn provides nearly every single thing a jungler needs: fast clear, good ganks and he can stay relevant against any type of enemy comp. Doesn’t matter if the enemy is full of tanks or full of squishies, you can pick Kayn and grab your form according to what they are playing. You can go Rhaast (Red Kayn) to become an unkillable drain tank or go Shadow Assassin (Blue Kayn) and be one of the most frustrating to deal with assassins in the game.

Diana

Diana has been a jungle staple ever since Riot buffed her Passive (Moonsilver Blade) to do 300% bonus damage to jungle monsters. There aren’t too many jungler that can clear camps fast enough to compete with Diana. She has been in the meta with ever-changing builds, you can go Hextech Rocketbelt, Night Harvester or even the recently meta Nashor/Sunfire Cape (mind you the last build is getting nerfed on 12.15). With her passive working on epic monsters and turrets, Diana is one of the best junglers to do early Barons or split push to take turrets, and she is also one of the best team fighters with one of the most impactful ultimates in the game. With how the patches have been going, it doesn’t look like Diana will get any nerfs soon, so you should definitely try her if you are looking to earn some LP.

Karthus

You can ask, not many people play Karthus and he did not get any major changes recently, so why are we suggesting you pick him up? Well, it is true that he didn’t get major individual buffs recently, but he was one of the biggest winners of the Durability Update. Karthus’ main weakness was his vulnerability during his early game, he could’ve been killed very easily if he were to ever get invaded, but after the 12.10 changes it is much harder to kill him without getting traded in his Passive (Death Defied), and any gold traded with Karthus is a negative investment. He is one of the best scaling champions in the entire game and with the addition of the rune First Strike, he has been scaling much earlier in the game.

Honorable mentions:

• Volibear
• Poppy
• Wukong
• Trundle

Best mid lane picks

Viktor

Ever since Riot discarded Viktor’s purchasable Hex Core upgrades and made his abilities evolve by cs-ing and getting takedowns, Viktor has been a top-tier mage. He has one of the strongest early games of any mage with a shield on his Siphon Power (Q) and his easy-to-land poke with Death Ray (E). On top of his near-lane bully status, Viktor scales like a monster into the late game. He is a very easy champion to start out with and when you master him real good, you will see he is one of the most oppressive mid lane picks you can find.

Sylas

Are you indecisive about what to play? Maybe you don’t want to keep playing one champion over and over. If that is, Sylas is the perfect choice for you. When the enemy team changes from game to game, what you can and will do in that game also will change. Of course, there is always the possibility of getting stuck with some worthless ultimates, but unless you are picking first every game, and even then there can be some good ults, you won’t have any problems with that. Plus, with the consistent nerfs to Grevious Wounds, Sylas has only gotten better and better. If you can get some early kills, his basic abilities are enough for you to win games even without an Alistar or Gnar ultimate on the enemy team.

Qiyana

It is always said that Qiyana is one of the hardest champions in League, but that only applies when you are looking to master the champion to her fullest extent. If you are just looking to abuse a very strong champion for LP, then Qiyana is not that hard. She has been especially overperforming with the bugged First Stike (which is getting nerfed on 12.15) but even she is still one of the strongest champions with her usual rune, Electrocute.

Assassins have always been good for climbing in solo queue, but Qiyana is unique among assassins with her ultimate that can drastically change any team fight, which is another plus in an environment like solo queue. Now, she requires more time investment compared to our other two suggestions, but if you put the time into it the reward you get will be worth it.

Honorable mentions:

• Talon
• Katarina
• Vex
• Taliyah

Best bot lane picks

Miss Fortune

Miss Fortune is probably the most played ADC among players who are just starting out the game, and seeing how easy her kit is to play we can say there is a good reason behind it. But an easy kit does not mean a bad champion. MF has one of the most powerful ultimates in the game, Bullet Time, and even if you are having a bad game and are behind there aren’t many ultimates that can impact the game like this one. Plus, she has one of the most diverse builds in the entire game. You can go Dark harvest, PTA or Arcane Comet. You can build Lethality, Crit or even AP. When you are playing MF, you can play every game like it was a different champ.

Jhin

Jhin as a champion does not have too many weaknesses. The most apparent one is that he struggles against tanks if he is not insanely ahead which is why he doesn’t see too much pro play. But if there is one thing solo queue players hate, especially in lower elos, is to play tanks. So there are not many reasons for you to not pick Jhin up. He is one of the easier ADCs to farm with his Dancing Grenade (Q) and his high AD, he can set up engages from long range and if you can get some early kills he has very powerful item spikes.

Seraphine

Just because you are playing bot lane does not mean you have to play AD carries, there are multiple mages viable in the role as AP carries instead. The most consistently meta APC you can play is probably Seraphine at the current time. She can go AP and deal huge amounts of damage, go support items and have an earlier impact with cheaper item spikes or she can combine these different item sets. She provides great utility to her team with a lot of CC, shielding and healing. She can have a different play style you need to get used to if you are an ADC player, but once you get the hang of it you will be rewarded for it.

Honorable mentions:

• Samira
• Tristina
• Draven
• Karthus

Best support picks

Renata

In the current landscape of League, it is very hard to climb by playing engage supports, unless you are in the lower elos. What you need to do is to learn how to play enchanters, which is not very hard to do. And when it comes to enchanters, the latest support addition to the game, Renata Glasc tops the list. She does everything an enchanter in Season 12 needs to do, her peeling and disengage are nearly unmatched and her Bailout (W) is one of the most strong support abilities in the game if you learn how to use it.

Lulu

Lulu has been in or around the meta ever since her release. Even when enchanters are not too strong, the Yordle support is still a viable pick you can use. Especially in the solo queue environment where assassins are plenty, protecting your ADC with Polymorph (W) is one of the best peeling tools in the game. Plus she has very good synergy with multiple meta ADC hyper carries like Jinx and Kog’Maw.

Senna

The last option is for the players who are looking to be the carry while playing support or ADCs who got autofilled to the position. Senna has been in a weird place between an ADC and a support but ever since the last adjustment to her soul drop rate, she’s been primarily a support, but mostly just in the name. Her playstyle is more akin to an actual ADC but you get to double dip with your actual support farming, while you get to scale with your souls. Of course, she is at her best when paired with picks like Seraphine, Tahm Kench or Karma that can peel her, but you can always play her with more traditional ADC like Jhin or Ezreal.

Honorable mentions:

• Yuumi
• Nautilus
• Janna
• Zilean

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