Filling vs. Maining

Filling and maining roles in ranked has been an argument that people have had since there have been roles in League. Both of them have their pros and cons and there isn’t really a clear winner for either case. In my opinion, this isn’t a hard line that you have to be on one side or the other. Being flexible is a great thing, but in a game as vast and large as League you’re more useful if you understand one portion. Having general knowledge of each area, with a focus in one, is a great thing to have in order to climb the ranked ladder.

Before we go any further let’s go over what filling and maining really are and what the pros and cons are for each.

Maining a Role or Champion

Maining a role or champion is when you focus on playing only that role or champ in every game, or close to every game.

Pros:

- A lot of experience on that role or champion

- Matchups are well known

- Itemization choices are more variable

Basically the main draw here is that you understand so much about that role or champion you know when to pull away from the normal ideas. You know the ins and outs. This can play a big part because you’ll understand exactly how strong your champion is relatively at all points in the game.

The best example I can give you here is with my old main Skarner. I used to only play Skarner in every game. I was so used to him that I could give exact timers on when I could gank and what level I would be if I wasn’t countered early on. I could tell people when I would have my ultimate up and when to prepare for me. This was great for my team since they were completely able to grasp what my role was because I knew it well enough to easily convey to them.

Cons:

- Can be countered easily in some cases

- You ride the nerf/buff train

- Run the risk of being banned out or picked away

The cons for this practice are that you that you only have a few ways to help the team. If you get countered or if you get banned or picked away, your contributions to your team just plummeted and you made your possible win rate for the game went with them.

Looking back at my Skarner example, I always picked him despite the enemy jungler. This would cause issues when the enemy was either an early game ganker or a counter jungler. This was pre-rework Skarner so you had to have your ultimate if you wanted to gank, if I was killed early or my route was messed up in any other fashion, my entire game was thrown off at that point. I wasn’t versatile enough with Skarner and while I still performed it caused problems that would have been solved by selecting a more appropriate champion.

You may also have an issue with your champion or role being nerfed. This was hard for ADC mains to handle when the nerfs at the start of season 3 came out. A lot of ADC mains just couldn't adjust and felt too weak early on. If you plan on maining a champion this just becomes exponentially more of a problem.

You'll also get banned out if your playing a very popular role or champion at the time, this can happen to anyone. I'm sure Zilean mains didn't see their time coming on the ban charts until he was pulled out and became a staple in professional play.

Filling a Role

Filling, on the other hand, is taking whatever role is left over after everyone else has claimed what they want.

Pros:

- Players are generally more comfortable in-game

- Diffuses fights in champion select

- Gives you experience all around the map and w/ different champs

As anyone in solo queue can tell you, a loss can happen before you even get into a game. If your team is all fighting trying to play in the same position, you’re generally not going to have a good time. By filling a role, you’re basically lowering the chances of conflict and that can be invaluable. You’re also generally going to have people get the roles that they would like, meaning they will have more skill there and be able to carry. It can also just help your game sense as a whole. Understanding how other lanes work can be really important when you’re roaming or making macro calls.

Cons:

-You may be uncomfortable where you go

- Constantly changing playstyle

- Lack of depth of knowledge

There’s some pretty stark cons to take into account here. You may end up being placed in a spot that you’re not the best at and set the team back because of that. The more you play that role the less it should happen, but that’s not to say it’s impossible. You’re also making yourself a jack-of-all-trades, which in turn means a master of none. a lot of your opponents will have much more experience where they are and with their champion. You’re not going to know your limits as well.

One of the biggest things that can cause issues though is that you’re always changing how you play. You can be playing a tank and running all in every fight in one game, then the next game you’re trying to dance around the edges of a fight as an ADC. It sounds simple enough, but changing your mind around like that is a lot harder than it sounds and because a lot of people don’t think about it, they end up messing up their plays.

So what should you do? In my opinion, a balance is best. Have 2-3 roles that you’re proficient in. Don’t put yourself in something too uncomfortable, but don’t limit yourself too much. The important thing to do is help the team as best you can. So only you can decide how that can be accomplished. Be smart and understand your own limitations in to helping everyone on your team achieve a victory.