So currently the League meta (see picture - jk, unrelated) dictates that a team should be composed of the following roles: Top, Mid, Jungle, AD Carry + Support. This is more of a rule expected in "progression" (referring to ranked/draft modes) rather than a guideline and is punishable apparently. So out the window with experimentation and here is a few suggestions to get people on their way.

Let's talk about what these roles are in a broad sense, as there is slight deviation sometimes:

Top - Top lane; generally a bruiser; sustaining tanky champion that does well alone and can snowball off of jungle ganks; can however be an assassin type or a strong sustaining AP

Mid - AP carry; solo laning, ability using monster; generally has some sort of AoE wave clearing ability and a form of CC.

Jungle - A sustaining, generally tanky champion who can farm jungle camps and initiate ganks on lanes to snowball the game in the teams favor

AD Carry - The commando; usually a fragile champion who relies on ranged auto attacks and maybe one or two strong abilities; generally strongest in mid to late game

Support - Babysitter to the AD Carry; responsible for bottom map wards and the survival of the AD; builds gp10 items and aura items for the AD/team.

Champions to learn

Top





Shen: I feel shen is an obvious choice for top. He is banned out a lot, however, when he is available he can be the strongest first pick for the team. Shen excels at control and a good taunt with the jungler present can lead to an easy kill. Shen's ult is really why he is the best pick here, as you can save a carry or change the favor of a bad fight with the bubble tele.

As Shen you want to start situationally based on who your opponent is in the top lane. Against anyone who needs to close the gap (Riven, Olaf) buying boots is a really good call because you will be able to keep distance and avoid their harass. Against anyone with ranged harass or some sort of CC (Darius, Kayle) you would want to consider starting off with a Doran's shield or even cloth armor and five health pots. Beyond that you will want to control your lane slightly between your tower and the river area, ensuring that you can safely farm the waves of creeps while denying your opponent and keeping them in a dangerous position to be ganked by your jungle. If you do this, remember to ward both river AND top brush because a jungle gank can completely make this strategy backfire if you get caught/die when pushing out the lane.

Into the mid game you will want your items to minimize damage to yourself while considering auras for your team and of course your overall damage output. To this end some good items to consider become Aegis of the Legion, Wit's End, Heart of Gold, Sunfire Cape, Phage, Warmog's and Force of Nature. Your power comes from the ability to save a carry and peel large damage dealers/CCers off of your team while taking minimal damage. Always try to taunt as many people as possible prioritizing the carries/squishies that will gib your carries. Beyond that it is a matter of sticking to the ememy carries and making their life hell.

Shen really excels both in lane and in teamfights due to his great utility and amazing kit that allows for some clutch plays. As far as skilling is concerned, R is priority (take whenever you can) followed by Q (your main damage nuke) and then W for the bonus to your passive and the damage negation. Level E last as there is no point taunting a team if you can't soak the damage with W and you will just become another melting member of your team.

Malphite: Malphite is a decent top pick. However, he can be very situational and that can lead to losing in picks. Malphite is incredibly strong and insanely tanky but his ult is what really brings his utility to a new level. Landing a good Malphite ult and then just murdering everyone's attack speed/move speed with Randuin's and E makes for a really good engage. Learning how to top with Malphite isn't a bad thing and it has been done by Westrice long before it became popular.

Malphite's start is almost free but you will of course want to consider what items to build to counter your lane opponent. With Malphite you should be a counter pick to a team with three AD so your first items will generally be boots and three health pots or cloth armor and five pots. From this point your build can go one of two ways. If you are crushing your lane and can afford to be a bit less tanky then you can go a more magic damage based route with Doran's Ring and some spell pen mixed into the tankiness. If your team needs you to be a huge problem to the enemy team and be a massive damage soak, then going a more tanky route with lots of HP, MR and Armor is the goal.

In lane you will want to harass enemies with your Q as it isn't a skillshot and can do a decent chunk of damage to your opponent and will slow them while giving you more movespeed! The second ability you will want to invest in is E, as it is a huge disruption with the attackspeed slow and does decent AoE for shoving creep waves. As always get your ult (R) whenever you can and remember that it actually does a sizeable amount of damage as well as being a nice CC to whoever you hit. W is last as it works best late game. The cleave damage is so-so but the % armor and damage buff shine when you have a lot of armor and some damage.

Malphite is an ok laner but he really shines when it comes to teamfights/ganks. Malphite is a great initiator and because of the slow from his Q he is great at picking off a running carry for the team to tear to shreds. Some things to consider when engaging are:

1. How many people will I hit with my ult

2. Will my ult + E hit the ADs that I need to make all gimpy and useless

3. Can my team follow up on my initiate and win the teamfight/get the kill/push the lane/etc.

If you can hit two (both carries), three (one carry, two whatever) or three or more enemies AND your team can follow up for the kills, then chances are #3 will take care of itself.

Mid





Morgana: Morg is banned out a lot, much like Shen. However, when Morg isn't banned out she is generally an amazing pick for your team. Morg does everything well, W farms waves without a second thought and sustains Morg forever. A good Q pretty much guarantees a kill when ganking while black shield will keep you out of trouble. A well timed ult will just decimate a teamfight and pretty much give a free teamfight win to you which means that the control over dragon and baron are exceptional. Beware though, despite her reputation in bans it is very possible to beat and outplay her.

Morgana is probably the easiest AP middle to learn as you pretty much farm the lane all day and if you land snare can follow up for harass. You will pretty much always want to start boots and three pots in lane and will generally give your jungle some help/protection and pull the buff they start at. This is reasonably easy to do, just don't stick around long enough for the buff to reset as the jungler will hate you and that's never a good thing. Start with W and max it asap as you will use it both for farming, sustain and harass. Take Q whenever you can't take W and get a point in E early for the ability to walk away and give no f*cks. Take a point in R whenever you can as a really good Morgana ult really makes teamfights a walk in the park.

In lane wait until the creeps fight each other and then lay down a W to hit all six (seven if cannon) creeps and last hit if you need to. Get spell pen boots (as your E will ignore CC, so MR boots are useless on you) and two dorans rings asap for the AP/HP and mana regen. From that point on you should be able to farm all the creeps in every wave and spiral out of control in farm. Land Q to set up/ensure a gank and E yourself to walk out of the enemy ganks.

Teamfights are easy for Morgana, E yourself, wander into the middle, R then snare a carry and pool them. Don't put yourself in ridiculous danger by wandering into the enemy team all alone and remember to get Zhonya's Hourglass so you can just become invulnurable while your ult is on and walk all over the enemy team. Honestly you will be getting Hourglass first pretty much all the time as well as hat, Will of the Ancients and Abyssal (replaced by Void late game).

Karthus: Karth is just good. He always has been good and probably always will be good. Karth ult is really the game changer as he deals damage to an entire team which can force teams back to give up easy kills or to even map objectives. Q is great for farming and harassing, W gives vision and slows/shreds resists and E does ridiculous damage around you. Karthus is just a truckload of damage always and that is what makes him a strong pick.

Karthus is almost as easy as Morgana with a slight differnce in the fact that he has no passive spell vamp. Always start boots and pots with Q. Go to protect your jungle and give them a pull. Ask if you are unsure on what they want to do, some junglers are all over the place and others have OCD about stuff. Anywho, go to lane and use Q and autos to last hit while harassing your opponent safely with Q. Build Rod of Ages asap (and finish boots of course) while putting a point into W and maxing E after you max Q. Get ult asap as Karthus ult wins games if used effectively. Once you have a point in E, you can pretty much spam Q to clear waves with virtually no mana issues and you should get blue at some point so you can spam Q and turn on E to clear if you really need to. When setting up ganks, open with Q and get them to engage you then wall their escape and burn them hard with Q and E.

Karthus becomes as monster the longer the game goes on and the items you will want to make you super deadly are: Deathcap, Hourglass, Will of the Ancients and Void Staff. This will allow you to stand on the enemy team with E on, spell vamp lots of HP back, Hourglass to survive longer and then have your passive kick in on death for even more damage from you. Ult for the kills, to guarantee a teamfight victory or to force enemies to give up an objective. That's pretty much all there is to Karthus.

Jungle





Nocturne: Nocturne is an amazing jungler and brings great ganks to the team. He gets really tanky and can jump on carries in teamfights forcing the team to split or give up a free kill. Basically getting past early game with Noc is the toughest but after that you are set. Q just destroys and gives you movespeed on the trail, W gives attack speed and a spell shield for more attack speed, E does damage over time and fears. This kit is stellar and playing Noc right can quickly and violently snowball a game in your favor.

There are a few options as far as items go when you start as Nocturne. A favorite of the top tier players is boots and three pots because it allows Noc to gank early and gives him the opportunity to snowball quickly. Noc will want to start at wolves with help from the team to kill them quickly without blowing a pot and then get a nice leash on blue for a quick buff and only one pot used (if needed). From there assess if any lanes are gankable (middle or bottom) as sometimes people love an early push/show of force and can be smacked off their pedestal. If nothing is open continue to wraiths but be prepared (have your mid ready, too) to fight the enemy jungle as invades at wraiths are not uncommon. Clear them and red then re-assess the lanes (top/middle) for gank opportunity. Gank or clear golems and rinse and repeat the thought process. Farm -> can I gank? (yes -> gank)(no -> farm). If you find that you have a numbers advantage (enemy middle dead/backing or bottom dead/backing), a quick dragon can be snuck in, but be ready to peel off dragon and fight or fight post dragon as a good team will have it warded by the time it is possible to do.

Noc skilling is pretty simple as you will want R whenever you can, Q first with E second and W last (but take an early point for the attack speed and ability). Items are equally as easy on Noc as pretty much every game you will build from a pool of ten possible items based on what you need to beat the enemy team. Keep in mind Noc is an assassin you want to build as a tank because you will need to be able to take some punishment when you jump in. Good items to build on Noc early are (in order):

Wriggle's Lantern (starting with Vamp Scepter), Heart of Gold (gp10 goodness to give you some passive gold), finish your boots (Merc vs AP/heavy CC or Tabi vs AD), Wit's (vs Magic heavy) and/or Phage (extra Hp and slow help a lot). You can swap out Phage for a Giant's Belt and aim for Warmog's if you feel you need the extra health.

Later on Noc you will want to finish up Randuin's (slow, attack speed slow, armor) and your Frozen Mallet/Warmog's. You will then want a Banshee's/Force of Nature or consider a Maw of Malmortius.

Late game on Noc is rather simple, you either wait for an engage or start the engage and ult the enemy AD Carry, pop Randuin's, Q, W, E and go to town hoping your team is also engaging.

Udyr: While Noc is an assassin that builds tanky, Udyr is just a beast tank that hits and can't be caught/die. Leveling bear, phoenix and turtle give sustain, jungle clear and ganking power. In teamfights just bear stance hit everyone for the stun and stick to the carries/play protect your carries. Spam turtle and bear if in trouble and just run away with 30 HP, no problem.

Udyr is a lot like Nocturne in the fact that he is a tanky, disruptive pain for the enemy team and will be right in the middle of them just like Noc is. Same path as Noc, starting wolves -> blue -> wraiths -> red -> golems -> wraiths -> etc. With Udyr, however, you must come from behind the enemy when attempting a gank as bear stance requires you to be in melee range. This makes Udyr more of a farmer (especially with Phoenix stance) than a ganker. Do try to gank though, it is more important to show your pressure globally than let your lanes be bullied because you are busy clearing jungle camps.

Skilling is really really easy for Udyr, R -> W -> R -> E -> then max R, followed by W then E, last points go into Q (good for demolishing towers, use activation proc on a carry for some quick damage they can't ignore.

Items are just as easy. Start boots and three pots, build Philo (if you really find you need the mana, you shouldn't because of turtle but some people like philo on Udyr) and/or Heart of Gold. Finish up your boots into Merc or Tabi. From there you move to generic jungler items starting with Wit's, as phoenix scales well with attack speed. Phage is next as the slow is pretty nice and the health/damage is great. Then you will want to build either Aegis (mixed damage team), Randiun's (heavy AD) and Banshee's or FoN. Last item is free if you make it there and some good suggestions are Maw or Trinity Force (more of a tiger thing but your swaps will make it very worthwhile).

A quick tip that most people will figure out or know about Udyr is that he hits a point where he can never really die even if caught. Basically just spam W and E, the shield soaks damage and Bear movespeed allows you to not be caught and run away. just w e w e w e w e w e until you are safely at base/behind a few towers.

Guide

AD Carry





Graves: Graves just happens to be amazing as an AD carry. You pretty much have to try to throw the game as Graves to lose the lane/game as him. Q does ridiculous damage and clears waves quickly, W kills enemy vision and does damage + slow, E dashes a short distance and gives attack speed. All of that kit and his amazing heavy damage ult that just melts people in fights. His passive keeps graves super tanky, too, so he really just excels in all aspects.

Graves is pretty much the best AD in the game and starting items on him really show this. You can actually get away with a Doran's Blade start if you have Taric/Soraka/Sona/Alistar but this is NOT recommended. Start boots and three pots so you can dodge skillshots and position really well. Follow up with 2x Doran's Blades and a Vamp Scepter to complete the early game build which is bloody strong for laning. Last hit like a beast and only use spells to clear waves if you are getting shoved to tower really hard or you need to push lane when the enemy carry is backing/dead. Skilling is really simple with Graves, Q, E, Q, W, Q, R, W -> max Q then E then W while taking R whenever you can. Basically the two points into W are for a Q, W combo for instant wave clear if you need to shove the lane.

The general combo as Graves is to wait for your support to initate/stun/etc. and then E as close as you can so the Q hits more than one of the pellets. W the escape route so the enemy can't see you and easily trade some damage with you. Once you have your ult, the combo becomes E, Q, R or W, E, Q, R. If you feel like saving R for picking off weak enemies is smart, then wait on it. Harassing both the AD and support to a point where they are low and under tower backing leaves them open for a really nice easy R and follow up from jungle if R doesn't instagib them.

Itemization is pretty simple as Graves follows the normal AD carry item path. After the early core items you will want to think if buying a bloodthirster or an Infinity Edge is more beneficial. Bloodthirster allows you to sustain much more than an IE and Vamp, so if you find you need the survival, Bloodthirster is a really good item to get. It also provides more flat AD which scales really nicely on Graves Q and R. Beyond Bloodthirster or IE, grab a Phantom Dancer then grab either a defensive item OR Last Whisper (if two or more enemies have 140+ armor). Defensive items are Guardian Angel or Quicksilver Sash/Banshee's. Finally finish with IE or Bloodthirster (whichever you didn't grab first).

Teamfights as Graves are really easy. Stay back and save your E for a reposition unless the fight is safely going in your favor. W the enemy carries if you can and land a Q, R combo on the squishies (again, if possible/safe). AD carries do damage while alive, so stay safe and alive, hit whoever is close and use W to make people useless without that vision.

Ashe: Ashe is just a safer pick overall. She has good range, perma slow, decent damage from her volley. Her utility for picking comes from her arrow which allows for a good engage/disengage with the stun. Learning to kite with Ashe is a must but when you have that down, the games should be much easier to control. Don't snipe with arrow as it is a waste 90% of the time, fire straight down the lane from your base IF you have a chance to catch one person out of three or more and your team will have an advantage to follow up on the arrow impact.

Ashe really needs boots and pots to start so she can kite easily. Take a point in W as it is the main damage skill in Ashe's kit and then play as safe as you possibly can. Get the core of Berserker's, 2x Doran's Blades, Vamp Scepter asap and farm the lane as hard as you can. From there get Infinity Edge as fast as possible and then Phantom Dancer as both these items will make Ashe insanely deadly. Skilling isn't hard, get R whenever, max W then Q with a single point into E then save E for last. Use W to harass and follow up with Q turned on and auto attacks. Rinse and repeat to slowly force the enemies out so they lose farm and exp. When you think you can SAFELY secure a kill open with W and an auto attack. Then land arrow to secure the kill and finish off the enemy.

Teamfights are the same thing for Ashe. W enemies and kite any that come after you. Stay behind your tanks, do not get caught as you have no escape. Wait for the shot to arrow an enemy carry and then fire it off to send the teamfight in your favor. Clean up from there with frost shot turned on guaranteeing that no one gets away.

Support





Soraka: Soraka is a really good support to learn if you are just starting to learn the support role. She is rather straight forward and forgiving while promoting a safe lane to farm in. As Soraka you want to keep you ally topped off with HP and mana while maintaining control of the side brush. You will want to buy gp10 items to fund your wards and then, when you have the money, build aura items such as Aegis, Zeke's, Abyssal, Frozen Heart, etc. More advanced tactics involve saving heal for the armor to negate an enemy engage and quickly swap the favor of the fight or save silence to silence the enemy from flashing out at the last second.

Soraka, boring, boring, amazing Soraka. Start with a Faerie Charm, three wards and two pots. Take a point in heal. Stick to your AD Carry like glue and keep them alive. Ward the lane brush if you find you are having trouble keeping control of it and ward river to protect from ganks. Keep your AD alive and heal when they are taking harass if you can to buff armor and negate as much damage as you can. Level W (heal) first and E (infuse) second so you can harass/silence and keep your AD mana filled so they can spam spells more. If your jungle isn't warding dragon then suck it up and ward dragon. Have insane map awareness, too, as your ult (R) is a global heal and can save teammates and turn a bad situation into a double kill.

Items are reasonably normal as far as supports go. First grab Philo Stone and wards. Then boots and wards. Then Heart of Gold and wards. Build cooldown boots unless you need the MR boots benefit, also get wards. Beyond that be an aura slave, Shurelia's, Locket, Zeke's, Aegis, Frozen Heart, Soul Shroud (it's not that good but the CDR and mana regen are good for Corki, Ezreal, Graves). Always have wards, don't get Oracle's unless you think you can survive at least 15 minutes with it, pink wards are much more cost effective if you don't think you can survive with oracles.

Teamfights are pretty average for Soraka. Keep your carries alive, silence the enemy AP Carry/assassin and ult about four seconds in to give everyone a nice chunk of HP. Ta-da, you are playing Soraka. Ward everything.

Taric: Taric is in my mind a perfect support. Taric has a heal (long cooldown but you can hit the caster minions once if you are careful to shorten it) combined with a passive armor buff that when detonated shreds enemy armor. Combine that with a non-skillshot stun and you have a reasonably safe and deadly lane. Taric is pretty much built to win bottom lane against any flat physical damage opponent so people like Corki give him a hard time with the true/magic damage. Try to keep your carry topped off and be in sync for amazing harass off of a stun and Shatter combo.

Taric's start is the same as any other support, Faerie Charm, three wards, two pots. Control the lane brush and ward for early gank warnings. Build your gp10 items (Philo and Heart of Gold) and always have two to three wards on you so you can ward river, dragon, brush, whatever you need to keep your AD safe. Open with your E (stun) and then take W (armor), then Q (heal). Prioritze W but take Q if you need the extra HP off of your heal. Get R when you can as it will boost your (and your AD's) burst and overall damage on an engage. Taric's basic combo is E, (R) W and auto. W will shred armor and deal damage opening up the enemies for your AD to exploit.

Items are again aura slave. Boots are situational between Merc Treads and cooldown boots. After getting Shurelia's, grab Aegis and you will be giving +42 armor aura with your W. From there Locket, Zeke's, Frozen Heart and even consider Randuin's because of your passive armor boost.

Teamfights are interesting for Taric as stunning the wrong enemy can cause things to go awry. Save shatter for after the inital burst then stun a carry and pop R + W. Heal your carry as neccessary and whack the enemy carry for the damage and heal cooldown. Just be a pain to the carries and keep people alive while shredding armor. Outrageous!

*Images courtesy of http://leagueoflegends.wikia.com, http://kirby.wikia.com