Looking at skillcap - What makes a champion difficult to play?

Back when I was still in the process of leveling to 30, I used to tell friends I played League of Legends with that my “main” was Tristana. Her mechanics seemed easy enough to understand: an attack speed boost, rocket jump, a DoT effect and a knockback “nuke” of sorts.

I always talked her up to friends who wanted to play AD carries, claiming things such as “oh, she too easy” and “there's no way you can fail.” So imagine my surprise when they fed lane, couldn't properly last hit, and exclaimed after a quick loss that they might just stick to playing Cho'Gath as a top lane champion.

The skill ceiling for champions is something I've always found interesting, and while Riot continues to release champions with increasing dynamic skillsets and abilities to shape gameplay, I still have yet to master a number of champions that have been available since my starter days. For example, I still improperly combo with Ryze, a champion most players master very early on, and who's skillset is one that remains effective throughout ELO ranges. Understandably, I'm not the finest carry player (or a professional LoL player for that matter), but something is undeniably clear: certain champions just, well, click.

Yeah...so I snare, and lightning, and what?

Each person plays LoL differently, that's obvious. Some are more passive, choosing to measure their actions and rarely force minions (and champions) out of their respective lanes. They are content with farming away, or helping out a teammate via heals, buffs and warding, or if they do choose to take initiative it is only because they know they are being properly assisted by a ganking jungler or laning partner.

Other people are almost annoyingly aggressive, pushing lanes at every opportunity, ganking every living thing in sight, and focusing more on whittling down champions than farming the streams of minions infront of them. They want to fight, and they want to win it, whether it's a 1v1 or a 1v3. And finally, there are those of us that fall between the two extremes: do a little of this, a little of that, and hopefully play well enough and have capable enough teammates to win the game.

But what really makes a champion difficult to play? While those champions that have aimed skillshots (i.e. Karthus) inherently have a slightly higher bar for mastery than those with simple auto-attack mechanisms (i.e. Vayne), more than a champion's skillset it is player utilization that renders a particular champion “OP” or “easy” in someone's eyes. Out of position as a support when a large-scale teamfight breaks out?

Suddenly, that boring, aura-spamming Sona becomes a hard champion as you figure out what aura to have up while finding a way to keep everyone dealing maximum damage. Or how about being in that same teamfight but dealing damage as Leblanc? Make sure your combinations are correct and targeting the proper enemy champion, or else you'll end up contributing little and likely not getting out alive if your team screws up.

Massive damage...or cannon fodder.

I could easily extend this claim by saying that a player's favorite champions reflect upon their playstyles and personalities to some extent. Dignitas's Voyboy's favorite champions for example (Akali, Ezreal, Renekton), are top-lane snowball carries that require precise timing to dish out maximum damage.

This could reflect upon his relatively calculated and cool demeanor, both in game and during interviews. But while this may or may not be true, ultimately the determination of a champion's skill ceiling still isn't determined by that little difficulty bar on the champion splash page. It comes down to personal preference and what suits your playstyle the best, and when it clicks, enemy champions better watch out.