LoL Champion Select Guide: Sides, Pick Order, Bans and Anonymity

Your side of the map is a coin flip, your allies are anonymous jungle camps in Solo/Duo, and there are three separate ways to lose your ban. Almost none of it is explained on the draft screen itself.

League of Legends Guide

Champion Select

Draft Rules

Champion select is the part of the game with the most rules and the least explanation, and a few of them are better learned before your next draft than after it.

Your Side Anonymity Pick Order Summoner Spells Losing Your Ban Swaps FAQ

RandomWhich side you get

HiddenAlly names in Solo/Duo

RandomPick order in ranked

On their turnWhen ally spells appear

3Ways to lose a ban

CaptainWho picks first in Clash

Your side of the map is a coin flip

You're told your role and your side the moment champion select opens, and the side is drawn at random. Nothing about your queue, your rank or your party influences it.

Since which side you're on changes your jungle, your bot lane's river access and which drake pit sits nearer to you, that coin flip does more work than most players give it credit for.

In Solo/Duo, even your own team is anonymous

Enemy names and roles are hidden until the game starts in every queue. Ranked Solo/Duo goes further and hides your allies' names too, replacing them with Gromp, Murk Wolf, Raptor, Krug and Scuttle Crab (always in that order down the list).

A duo still sees each other's real names. Everybody else is a jungle camp until the loading screen.

Pick order is random where it matters

Normal and ranked games on Summoner's Rift randomize the order, and so does ARAM. Custom and tournament lobbies run strictly top to bottom, and in Clash the captain always picks first.

So there's nothing to read into being last pick in ranked. There's plenty to read into it in a tournament lobby, where somebody chose that arrangement on purpose.

Ally summoner spells become public on their turn

A teammate's summoner spells appear beside their portrait the moment it's their turn to pick, and stay visible for the rest of champion select.

That's your one window to notice that both solo laners took Teleport and nobody took Exhaust into a dive comp, while there's still time to say something useful about it.

Three separate ways to lose your ban

• Never select one, and you ban nothing at all.
• Select one and let the timer run out, and the game locks it in for you.
• Let the pick timer run out instead, and champion select disbands entirely with a dodge attached to your name.

The middle one catches people who hover a ban as a suggestion. Once the clock reaches zero, a hover is a commitment. Closing the client does the blunt version of all three at once: champion select disbands on the spot (dodge included) at any point before the game is confirmed.

While you're choosing, on the Rift you can see your own team's bans land in real time and you can't see the enemy's until the five second reveal at the end of the phase. Both teams banning the same champion is a normal outcome (it isn't a bug), and it costs your team a ban.

Try to lock a ban on a champion an ally has already declared and the client stops you with a prompt naming them. It's easy to click through and it's usually telling you something.

Three kinds of swap, and they close before you think

Pick order swaps move your turn. They only work before either player has locked in, the request lives for 10 seconds, and every one in progress cancels automatically with 5 seconds left on the current turn. They don't exist in Clash or any other tournament mode.

Role swaps run any time and last 15 seconds. This one matters most, because only the player assigned to jungle can take Smite and they can't take it off. Trading roles is the only route to the jungle once the lobby has decided you aren't in it.

Champion swaps come last. They wait for the finalization phase (after everyone has locked in), both players have to own the champion, and the request stays open for 30 seconds.

All of it shuts off in the final 5 seconds, and anything still pending is canceled for you. If a swap matters to your game, ask for it early rather than in the last screen.

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Frequently asked questions

Is blue side random in ranked?

Yes, entirely. Nothing you do influences it.

Why are my teammates named after jungle camps?

Ranked Solo/Duo anonymizes allies during champion select. Duos still see each other.

Is pick order random?

In normal and ranked Rift games and ARAM, yes. Custom, tournament and Clash lobbies use fixed orders.

Can you see ally summoner spells in champion select?

Yes, from the moment it's their turn to pick.

Can both teams ban the same champion?

Yes. Enemy bans stay hidden until the reveal at the end of the ban phase, so duplicates happen and one of the two is wasted.

What happens if the ban timer runs out?

A hovered ban locks in automatically. Nothing hovered means no ban, and running the pick timer out dodges the lobby.

The short version

Check your side before you plan your jungle, read your teammates' summoner spells as they appear, and treat a hovered ban as a locked one.

For what to do with the picks themselves, our first pick guide covers what's safe to lock in blind, and our ban list covers who to remove at your rank.

Blue side or red side, which do you prefer? Let us know in the comments below.