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Mages are one of the most popular categories of champions in League of Legends. These champions are usually identified by ranged attacks, high burst damage and late-game scaling.
However, one of the key things to consider in relation to mages is their difficulty level. While there are a few that can be picked up by any new player, others will take multiple attempts by players to understand their most optimal usage.
This article takes a look at five such mages in both categories within League of Legends.
Note: This article is subjective and reflects the opinions of the writer
5 mid lane mages in League of Legends that are easiest to master
1) Lux
Lux is probably one of the easiest to play among all the mid lane champions that exist in the game. Her abilities are extremely easy and self-explanatory. Apart from that, there is not a lot to learn in terms of using combos with Lux.
Players only need to pick Lux and start farming up items until she is strong enough to demolish her opponents. It is quite easy to do since her damage scaling is very good, which provides newer players with a lot of confidence in the game.
The only skill that takes a bit of learning is using her Q, which is a skill-shot that throws a cage to catch enemies in place. However, it is easy to dodge and requires an understanding of enemy movement as well as a little bit of luck.
2) Veigar
Like Lux, Veigar is a champion who does not take much practice to play. However, his viability is way higher as he is one of the champions who can scale infinitely throughout the game.
Veigar's damage output is abnormally high. Once players pick up Rabadon's Deathcap, he can one-shot most champions. The only skill that gamers need to develop while playing Veigar is positioning as he is squishy and can be taken down very quickly.
Fortunately, Veigar's cage ability (E ability) is very powerful as it can zone out enemy champions completely from a fight. It also acts as a good tool to prevent opponents from chasing.
3) Swain
Swain is a champion who got massively buffed after the latest patch update. However, what makes him so good is that he is very easy to play and can be learned by any player with just a few tries.
His passive is quite strong. Whenever he gets a kill, he receives healing as well as an increase in total health bar. Apart from that, his E ability can stun enemies, which helps a lot in harassing opponents in lane.
Finally, Swain's ultimate is extremely powerful and works as a great teamfighting tool. His ultimate consistently drains the health of enemies, minions and monsters and can push away squishy champions from a fight.
4) Malzahar
There are a lot of champions in League of Legends who can turn the course of a fight using just the R ability.
Malzahar is one of those champions, as his ultimate ability can stun-lock an enemy in place with no means of escape.
He is a really great pick against high-mobility champions. Obviously, his early laning is a bit weak, though he has enough tools to harass the enemy and prevent them from getting overly aggressive.
Once Malzahar hits level 6, players can roam around the map to assist the team in landing kills and thus enable the ally carry champions.
5) Vex
Vex is a powerful mage in the midlane who is also a counter to high-mobility champions. However, her viability extends way beyond Malzahar as she is also a burst damage dealer who can one-hit squishy champions effortlessly.
One of the best things about Vex is that her ultimate can be used multiple times in a fight, provided she is getting kills with it. This is something that can help her snowball games very quickly.
Vex is also quite simple to play and does not take a lot of effort to master. The only thing players should be wary of is that her ultimate is a target ability and if it misses, her damage output drops to zero.
5 mid lane mages in League of Legends that take hours of practice to master
1) Ahri
Ahri might look easy to use, but in reality, she is very difficult to play. This is because she is not a champion who can just one-shot an enemy instantly.
Ahri needs to find a balance between using her ultimate charges and assessing situations before diving into an enemy. If she uses up all her ultimate charges and does not get anything out of it, chances are she will end up falling to the enemy.
Apart from that, Ahri's abilities do not have big hitboxes, especially her charm (E ability). All of her playmaking revolves around that charm, and players need to be smart while using it.
In short, Ahri requires a lot of knowledge about positioning, maneuvering around teamfights and target selection.
2) Viktor
Viktor is a champion who can arguably be considered the best mage in the game right now. However, he is someone who also takes a lot of skill to use. While his abilities are not that complicated, he relies a lot on getting good farm.
Viktor is a champion who gets stronger based on the levels that he gains on account of his passive. So if players end up dying with him too many times, his game is more or less over.
Apart from that, Viktor also needs to be positioned properly as he is very squishy and will get burst down instantly. Players need to know how to approach a fight so that they can use their abilities without getting dove by the enemy team.
3) Syndra
Syndra is a really powerful burst-type mage in League of Legends. She can harass enemies, stun them in place and farm very efficiently. The problem, however, is that all of her abilities rely on the efficient management of her orbs. In almost every scenario, new players will get confused when positioning her orbs.
Apart from that, unless Syndra gets a decent early start, it is very difficult for her to make an impact in the game.
Therefore, it is highly recommended that new players pick Syndra in ranked only after trying her out for a few days in normal games.
4) Azir
Azir is definitely one of the strongest poke-based mages in the game. He has immense scaling and has one of the best team-fighting ultimates in League of Legends.
However, Azir is also a champion that only high-elo players can use efficiently as his kit is a bit complicated to pull off.
Azir's kit primarily revolves around his sand soldiers, which he can send forward to poke enemies. He can also teleport to them and create a shield around himself. However, the optimal placement of the sand soldiers is something that takes practice, and messing up the same makes Azir useless.
The best part about Azir is his ultimate. He can practically push enemies away from a fight and completely cut them off. However, unless gamers have a lot of practice with Azir, they will place his ultimate in a way that makes a teamfight disadvantageous for the allies themselves.
5) Orianna
The final champion on this list, Orianna is one of the best scaling mages in the game.
However, just like Viktor, Orianna also suffers from a very weak early game. She does not have any escape tool and can be burst down very easily.
Apart from that, Orianna's ultimate is very tough to land, and it requires very precise timing from the player. Her ultimate is a massive teamfighting tool, and if it misses, the ally team will be at a massive disadvantage.
Therefore, developing a sound game-sense and understanding the timing windows in teamfights is vital to using Orianna optimally.
