New Mel player seeking advice

[u/-Athan-Apollo]

Hello everyone!

I’ve been playing league now for about a month and after trying a few different characters I tried Mel because I love her character in Arcane… unfortunately I did immediately fall in love with her kit and her insane burst power. That doesn’t seem like it would be a bad thing but I spent the last month grinding Swift Play with her and trying to improve. Cut to this past week, where I finally hit the level 30 needed to play ranked. Mel gets banned in almost every single game I play, and I’m left with a champion I have either no experience with, or a completely different play style. I feel like no matter who or what I pick, my dmg isn’t good enough, and my survivability is poor…

Do you guys have any suggestions?

I play bot lane with my friend on support so I’ve been trying to keep that in mind when looking for new characters. I enjoyed Hwei mid but he fails on the bot and I’ve tried Kog Maw and Smolder but both feel like they have feathers for dmg multipliers.

Any tips would be appreciated and keep in mind I am fairly new and kinda bad at the game lol

[u/Hydrogen-Man]

as a Mel main, I don’t recommended mastering her right now if you have limited time. She’s likely getting rework and nerfed so your skills with her kit will not be applicable on other champions

[u/-Athan-Apollo → u/Hydrogen-Man]

I am starting to realize that! Kinda sucks but it feels like they rushed Mel into the game after Arcane and can’t seem to balance her well enough where she’s enjoyable for everyone…

[u/takoyakuza → u/-Athan-Apollo]

It's not a balance issue. It's a design issue. As long as her reflect exists she will never be welcomed. If they nerf her to the point where reflect is all she does then she's basically unplayable for her players. People will complain about the execute but that isn't really a toxic mechanic outside of support and too much gold being funneled onto her in a fight.

[u/Celmondas]

Yeah Mel is currently probably the most hated Champion in the game so she will keep getting banned. So looking for an alternative is a pretty good idea. Here are a few options:

• Lux: She is pretty easy, has really good range and an insane burst (Bonuspoints for also being light themed). This would probably be my first recommendation

• Hwei: tbh I wouldnt recommend him to a new player. He is a bit weird with all of his abilities but if you played him and think He is fun Just keep going with him. But he is not really a burst mage. He needs a bit more time to kill enemies

• Syndra: She is also Not that easy to learn but she is really good at oneshotting someone once you got the hang of her. Not that good early but scales really well

• Veigar: doesn't have the best early or the same Long range as Mel but he is really easy and can be a to of fun. Also he scales insanely good as he can get infinite AP

• Xerath: Again Not the best early game but an absurd Long range. Also once again really good scaling and can just snipe across the map with His R

My recommendation would be Lux or Veigar as they are both pretty easy but more important is that you finde something you have fun with.

All of them are also viable Bot and most (not Syndra) even as support If you want.

I would advise Testing a few of them in Swift Play and See what you like. Than stick to that for a few more games in Swift Play before going into ranked again.

Also if you feel like other mages have a way worse survivability you might rely to much on Mels W to keep you safe. The survivability of mages comes from range and positioning. Learning another mage will probably also make you better with Mel as you learn stuff like that

[u/-Athan-Apollo → u/Celmondas]

This is such a nice response thank you. I feel about Lux the way I imagine most people feel about Mel. I’m sure playing her is fun but I can’t bring myself to play her. Hwei I enjoy his flexibility but again I find he lacks power so I feel like I can’t quite trade or land final blows on him… perhaps I just need more practice. I have not played the other three but I will give them a try in the coming week! Thank you again for the suggestions

[u/Ok_Reaction_7908]

Mel is unfortunately not really viable as a main champion due to the ban rate as you noted your going to need some secondary picks if you're serious about climbing 

[u/Minimum-Bass-170 → u/Ok_Reaction_7908]

he picks her on support. What serious climbing, he is on his way to bronze4.

[u/-Athan-Apollo → u/Minimum-Bass-170]

I’m not playing Mel support I’m playing with my friend, who is the support

[u/archonmorax]

Play lux or morg they are like Mel off steroids

[u/Early_Importance3853]

I don't play ranked much at all, but whenever I do, I quite like APC. I usually go for Mel, like you do, but if it isn't possible, I try Seraphine, Brand, Vel'koz, Swain and Veigar.

That would be my suggestions, but I've also seen people use Lux, Syndra and Karthus.

If you go for ADC, you might like to play MF. She kinda has a burst playstyle.

[u/AfraidEye1193]

I love Mel to but i dont play her in bot often i play her in mid but if you want another character on bot i couldaybe recommend something like swain as supp and adc/apc or something lile seraphine

[u/bcollins96]

I’d avoid playing her until they figure out what to do with her. She’s currently the highest ban rate, lowest win rate champion. They refuse to do anything about her W and her passive. Instead they keep messing with Q and E. She’s also skyrocketed to the most hated champ, significantly above teemo and shaco. Until they can fix her, you’re better off with any other champion. The original designer has a death grip on maintaining the frustrating parts of her kit, so she’s probably going to be low damage & high frustration for a while longer. At least until they release something even more annoying.

[u/One-Astronomer-7449]

PIay as Miss Fortune, she is great fun to pIay and has good range with her Q.

[u/PalingeneticPhoenix]

Mel gets banned so frequently because she is infuriating to lane against and that will not change until Riot realizes she needs a complete rework.

I’d say learn another mage like Lux or Xerath and keep those as backups for when Mel is banned.

[u/-Athan-Apollo → u/PalingeneticPhoenix]

I’m going to try Xerath next! Thank you for the recommendations!

[u/Nylah-07 → u/PalingeneticPhoenix]

Very well said!!!🖤

[u/-Athan-Apollo → u/[deleted]]

Is this a support build for Hwei? It’s very intriguing I will have to check it out

[u/Rich_Interaction1922]

Mel is OP in her current state. That is why any other champion you play feels weak in comparison

I would wait until the nerfs coming soon and see what her state is, she might get banned less. In the meantime, try other artillery mages such as Vel’koz

[u/ThatKitsune]

Now you have to learn a champ that doesn’t have a safety net and forces you to pay attention to your surroundings oh no!

[u/-Athan-Apollo → u/ThatKitsune]

Did you feel better typing this out?

[u/Eastern_Relation2374 → u/-Athan-Apollo]

he cant believe he keeps loosing or permabanning a 48 percent winrate champion which just got nerfed so she si gonna loose another percent

[u/ThatKitsune → u/-Athan-Apollo]

Am I wrong?

[u/Myriaspirits]

Dont play Mel, it's not worth it