DISCLAIMER: I'm going to be VERY frank, I am a Gold player, and much of this information may be insanely false. This is why I ask for feedback. This is why the title currently asks for feedback.

Welcome to the Guide for Drafting, which will teach you how to maximize your chance at winning before the game even starts! Below are the chapters and I've included several examples to help you understand what exactly I mean or what I am talking about.
If you liked this guide, please consider upvoting, and commenting if you have any suggestions or feedback.

I'll be adding a lot of design to this guide soon, as well as some more content, so stay on the lookout for that!

You should focus on no more than 10 champions.
- Up to 6 champions for your primary role
-> Generally Diverse Champions
-> Have 1-2 mains in mind
- Up to 4 champions in case you are filled (focus around jungle/bot/sup, you likely won't be filled mid/top)
It is HIGHLY important you DEFINE these champions, so you can work on maining them and learning the minor interactions that may help you win a matchup.
MAKE A LIST of these champions. List their pros and cons, pick conditions, etc. or at the VERY least know them. Open this list up in champion select.
You're probably looking to climb, so if you do not have a champion you like / you are good with, consider the ones below, which are great at 1v9ing (not all included, and this is imo). I chose these since they have good wave/camp clear, good dueling [or at least harass early], good scaling, and good mobility/safety.



"Generally Diverse Champions"
In the Top Lane you want champions to cover all the following:
- AP
- AD
- Split Pusher
- Lane Bully (or ranged harass)
- Bruiser
- Juggernaut
- Hard Engage
- Tank / Peel

In JG:
- Powerfarmer
- AP
- AD
- Early Game Ganker
- Crowd Control / Tank
- Hard Engage

In MID:
- Prio Mid Laner (Wave Clear)
- Late Game
- AP
- AD
- Assassin [specifically to punish squishies]
- Roamer

In BOT:
- Critter
- On-Hitter
- AD
- AP

In SUP:
- Peel / CC
- Tank / CC
- Tank / Peel
- Hard Engage
- Burst Mage
- Healer
- AD
- AP

Don't let it get banned! This causes unnecessary tilt and allows your team to also pick accordingly. Hover your main or say in chat your best few champions, so you guys can decide accordingly how to manage your team composition (See Section 6.1).

For emphasis, hover the champion you're most likely to play, as this may not always be your main, and your team may not always look at what you wrote in the chat.

NEVER ban none... If you do not have a champion to ban, ask your teammates if they want anyone else banned.
Ban a champion that you generally struggle against, not necessarily in your lane.
I would look up your team to see their common picks. (porofessor.gg is an excellent website)
- If someone has a 20% winrate on a champion with 30 games AND they are not hovering, ban that champion
- Do not ban any champions a player on your team mains.

I personally struggle to play against Tryndamere and Master Yi (often because there aren't many players picking hard cc), so I would ban one of those accordingly.

The following is almost exclusively for Flex Queue. If you are playing SoloQ, I recommend skipping this chapter.

Priority picks first, counter picks last.
Priority picks are meta picks that have high play rates and often high ban rates (usually OP). Current examples are Samira and Lucian. Another priority pick would be a player who mains a champion and pretty much only them (often times they have a decent play rate). Lock them in first.
Another example of a good first pick is Kayn (although he's not seen as often in pro play). He has two very clear builds (assassin and bruiser) and therefore can flex after all enemies have locked their picks in. So any champion with multiple viable builds is a good first pick.
A third example is extremely prevalent in pro play. Locking in a champion first that can go multiple roles. Most prominent BY FAR is Morgana.
A last example of a good early pick is for champions with few weaknesses. People often regard GP as having near-none counters, but much of this is opinion-based.

Pick your valuable picks last. Picks that decide your team, have counterpicks, or you can counterpick the enemy.

Use Guides or Websites to see which champions are strong against the champions enemies pick. Referring to (1) Picking your champion pool, don't play a new champion in a Ranked game.

In parenthesis are examples.

Guidelines for Toplane
- Split Pushers into Team Fighters ( Tryndamere into Ornn , Yorick into Malphite )
- Late-Game Ranged into Lane Bullies ( Vayne into Sett, Quinn into Darius )
- Hypertanks into Lane Bullies ( Ornn into Darius )
- Crowd Control into Bruisers ( Renekton into Irelia )
- High-Mobility Duelists into Low-Mobility Tanks* ( Fiora into Maokai ) ( Irelia into Dr. Mundo)
- Juggernauts into Low-Mobility Tanks* ( Renekton into Dr. Mundo )
* Most tanks are already Low-Mobility.

Guidelines for Jungle
- Early-Game Ganker into Power Farmers [FALLS OFF LATE!!] ( Hecarim into Karthus )
- need more info

Guidelines for Mid
- Prio Mid Laner into Roamer ( Viktor into Talon )
- Assassin into Burst Mages ( Zed into Veigar )
- Mobility Assassin / Bruiser into Artillery [long-ranged mage] ( Irelia into Xerath )
- Tank into Assassins ( Galio into Zed )
- Zoning into Bruisers / Low-Mobility Assassins ( Veigar into Irelia )
- Burst Mage into Marksmen ( Ahri into Lucian )

Guidelines for ADC
- Lane Bully into Late Game Hypercarry [FALLS OFF LATE!!] ( Draven into Twitch )
- Sniper into Lane Bully ( Jhin into Lucian )
- Aggressive Marksman into Sniper ( Samira into Caitlyn )
- Late Game Hypercarry into Aggressive Marksman ( Jinx into Lucian )

Guidelines for Support
Use the following link: https://www.mobafire.com/league-of-legends/tier-list/support-types-categories-for-picking-and-counter-picking-1648

Consider the following when creating a team:

• Essential 1-2 champions Magic Damage
• Essential 1-2 champions Physical Damage
• Essential 1-2 champions Peel
• Essential 1-2 champion Tank
• Essential 2-3 champions with good wave clear
• Hard Engage (e.g. Ornn, Malphite)
• Burst Damage (e.g. Zoe)
• Sustained Damage (e.g. Vayne)
• AOE Damage (e.g. Neeko)
• Some Single-Target Damage [ADCs will generally fulfill this requirement]
• Crowd Control
• Recommended 1-2 Early OR Early-Mid Game
• Recommended 1-2 Mid OR Late Game
• Recommended Hard Crowd Control (e.g. Leona)
• Recommended 1 split pusher [generally fulfilled by champions w/ good wave clear]
• Recommended AOE synergies (e.g. Sera + Yone)

Know your role in the team, and be FLEXIBLE about your role in the team.
Adapt to what your team needs, know what your team lacks, and COORDINATE this with your team.
Below are some examples...

You notice you have no tanks on your team. You're playing Top Lane, and the Support is hovering an Enchanter, e.g. Lulu. You are hovering a Marksman, e.g. Quinn. If you let this go and don't say anything, you will have NO frontline and the enemy team can pick an assassin and easily kill you all. COORDINATE! "Hey supp, do you mind picking a Tank, or would you like me to?" Be FLEXIBLE! While you may think it's not fun to play a Tank, it's in the team's best interest, and will help you win if you're serious to climb.

You notice you have no AP on your team. You're playing Mid Lane, and hovering an assassin, e.g. Zed. Your Jungle is hovering Amumu, but you recognize this isn't enough. If you let this go, the enemy team can pick tanks and build straight up armor with no magic resist need. If the enemy team picks Rammus or Malphite, you're very likely going to struggle and lose. "Hey, does anyone play an AP champion? I can also pick AP but I'd prefer to play Zed as I'm more experienced with him" -- COORDINATE! Be nice so you're team's more likely to do what you want. Your support says, "Oh, that's a good point, maybe I'll pick Swain or Xerath". Problem solved, loss prevented.

You pick Kayn, and love playing Duskblade Blue Kayn (smh). This game, you notice the enemy has 4 melee and 1 ranged, with 2 tanks, 1 bruiser, and 1 assassin. Meanwhile, your team has little peel for your precious Vayne with a Juggernaut going top and a Mage support. If you do not go Red, you will have to likely wait longer to get your transformation. This'll probably put you behind. Then, as Blue, you'll be squishy and struggle to hold yourself up when the enemy Maokai roots you, and the enemy Jhin two shots you. Your W will deal not much damage since you have no lead that you can snowball and you build The Collector even though you nor your team can score a takedown because the enemy assassin keeps cheesing your allies because your Mage support is negligent to ward.

more coming..

TL;DR - Be a team player.

I plan on making this more readable, and refining the examples, but please note your comments :)

You are the Mid Laner
Ally Team: Irelia Amumu << YOU >> Caitlyn Brand
Enemy Team: Renekton Graves << ENEMY: not picked yet! >> < not picked yet! > Pyke
Your options: Morgana Ryze Yone Malphite
Which is your best pick?


Your are the ADC
Ally Team: Jax Rammus Zed << YOU >> Sett
Enemy Team: Shen Karthus < not picked yet! > Samira Malphite
Your options: Caitlyn Ziggs Draven Varus Xayah
Which is your best option?

You should identify the following before the match starts

• Your primary engage.
  Who has your engage? Is there engage reliable?
• The enemy team's primary engage.
  Who has the engage on the enemy team? If that champion paths towards you with others following, or paths towards an ally, be VERY ready to react to it!
• Your primary goal in the VERY early game.
  Ask yourself two things here-- do you want to invade? Of course, you should have some strong Level 1 champions to invade. Examples include Morgana, Blitzcrank, Sylas, Lucian, Darius, among others.
  Also ask yourself your game plan for Levels 1-3. Coordinate this with your lane partner if you are playing bot or support. If you're the Jungler, it may be a good idea to let your teammates know how you'll path. A jungler might say "I'll do a 5 camp clear to Top Scuttle! I'd appreciate that at 3:15 mid and top have prio so they are able to rotate in case there is a fight!" If you're solo lane, identify which level is best for a trade, if you should trade at all. If you should instead poke, note that. Then, also consider if you want to be harassing. If you have a better early game, of course, make use of it! If you don't, play it back. If you choose to harass, it may be a good idea to push the wave so you get Levels 2 and 3 faster. If you choose to play it back, try to let the wave push and develop a freeze.
• Your enemy's primary goal in the VERY early game.
  Almost everything I said above -- BUT in the enemy's perspective! If you think the Enemy team is invading, then consider Cheesing, as in Low Elo, many players will facecheck during invades. A champion like Sion or Galio is a PERFECT counter for invades, so identify if you think your enemies will want to invade.
• Your goal in the Early-Mid Game, and how it will be countering the enemy's goal.
  If your enemy lacks prio and you are Talon, PUSH THE WAVE AND ROAM! It's FREE kills!! Your enemy will want to scale into late game for team fights, and it's likely that the ENEMY's goal will be to play under turret. That's ok, don't try diving as they'll likely have their ENTIRE KIT up!
  If your enemy is Talon and you're Viktor, KEEP PRIO AT ALL TIMES!

So people continuously want to climb, but then blame their teammates. Furthermore, when their teammates are doing well, many people will simply play unsafe so they can make a "contribution". Huge mistake!

I'll throw some numbers out, which may not be accurate, but will help give you an idea of what climbing is like.
Say 50% of the games you win: 25% you carry, and 25% your team carries. This is a realistic amount that you may want to argue with but unless you're smurfing or your MMR is messed up, this should be not that far off.
Say the 50% of games you lose: 25% your lane opponent or direct role conjugate (enemy jg) carries, while 25% are what your enemies excluding your direct opponent carries.

This implies you win lane 50% of the time. Of course, it also implies your allies do as well, and this may not be accurate, but for the sake of math, let's use that number.

Your winrate in lane should aim to be as high as possible. Say 80%. This reflects good wave management, macro decisions, superior trading skills, mastery of a certain champion, etc. If you realize, this is the one thing you have near-COMPLETE control over in the game. Of course, there's counter arguments such as your allies dying to your laner, who then snowballs. Then you need to CS well.

If you win lane 80% of the time, then this means you will carry at least 40% of the games you play, while your enemy may carry no more than 10%. This means that if only 10% of your games are carried by your allies, you will have have a 50% winrate (it will even out to that! In the games you don't carry, you need to allow your allies to carry you, especially if you are ahead.

The enemy laner will get carried by their team just as much as you will be your team in your games. Yes, it's luck, but it's not at ALL like the odds are rigged against you. Again, even if they are, as you can see in the previous paragraph, you will not really be falling in the ranks. Winning lane 80% of the time will likely result in a 65% winrate for you, if you let yourself be carried for the 25% of games.

There's NUMEROUS other factors involved but this is as simple as I can break it down.

TL;DR Let yourself be carried. Be light as a feather in the games your allies are carrying you. Be intentional in the games you are carrying. And know that there will be matches you can't carry, possibly your teammates fault, but don't let this tilt you in your next game.

GL and don't forget to have some fun. After all, it is a game.

Let me know how this guide helps you, or if you have any feedback AT ALL, I would love to hear it!
I've created guides on Sett and Amumu which you can locate HERE.

Best of luck on the Rift, once again1