The first pick: what it costs and what it brings
Blue side holds the first pick of the draft. It is the only moment when you choose from an entire roster, without knowing anything about what the opponent is going to do — and without anyone being able to take from you what you are aiming for.
That privilege has a price: the first pick is also the most exposed, because it will be the only champion the opponent can target throughout the rest of the draft.
A balance between three elements
The first pick is a balance between three elements.
| Element | The question it raises |
|---|---|
| The priority pick | Is this champion so strong, or so coveted, that it has to be taken now? |
| The flex pick | Does this champion keep the fog over my composition? |
| Versatility | Will this champion hold up whatever happens next? |
These three elements are not ranked. They are arbitrated.
The priority pick
A priority pick is an OP champion, or a champion contested by two players.
The two cases do not have the same status:
- The OP champion is a fact of the patch. It is stronger than the others, everybody knows it, and letting it through amounts to handing it over.
- The contested champion — the one both teams want — comes down to preference. Securing it on the first pick is a choice, not a necessity.
The flex pick: the fog effect
A flex pick can be played in several positions. Laid down first, it does not say where it will be played: the opponent has to build its draft without knowing exactly what it is facing.
It is the only one of the three elements that works on information rather than on power.
Versatility: what the first pick exposes
This is the least intuitive point, and the most costly when it is neglected.
A very immobile character that needs resources can be a bad first pick: it will take counters to its lack of mobility, and will not be able to play without resources — so it will be a real dead weight for the team.
The mechanism is cumulative, and that is what makes it dangerous:
- The champion is laid down first, and therefore known to everyone for the nineteen actions that follow.
- Its lack of mobility is a targetable weakness: the opponent drafts against it.
- If it does not receive resources, it does nothing — and a team that has to feed an already countered champion suffers twice.
A fragile champion on the first pick therefore commits the whole rest of the draft to protecting it.
The OP pick cancels out everything
This is the rule that takes precedence over the previous ones: an OP pick cancels out all the other considerations of the first pick.
Sometimes a character with no mobility and resource dependent is so strong at the moment that it is ok to first pick it: it will be enough to adapt the rest of our draft to make that pick shine.
In other words, versatility is not an absolute requirement. It is a criterion that counts as long as no champion is strong enough to justify organising the draft around it.
Two clarifications on the scope of this rule:
- It holds for the OP pick, the one whose power is a fact of the patch.
- Nothing indicates that it holds for the contested champion, which comes down to preference: taking the best champion of the moment is not the same thing as taking the one both teams covet.
In summary
| Situation | What decides |
|---|---|
| A champion is OP | You take it, and you adapt the draft afterwards |
| No champion dominates | You arbitrate between priority, flex and versatility |
| A champion is contested | It is a preference, not an obligation |
FAQ
Who has the first pick in a draft?
Blue side, which opens the pick phase. It is the counterpart of the last pick, which goes to red side — the detail of the sequence is on the blue side vs red side page.
Do you always have to first pick the strongest champion?
An OP pick cancels out all the other considerations: when a champion is clearly above the rest, you take it, even if it means building the rest of the draft around it.
Why is an immobile champion a bad first pick?
Because it is known to the opponent for the whole rest of the draft. Its lack of mobility becomes a target, and if on top of that it depends on resources, it becomes a burden for the team when it does not receive any.
What is a flex pick on the first pick?
A champion playable in several positions. Laying it down first keeps the fog going: the opponent does not know in which position it will be played and drafts with that uncertainty.
Should you first pick a contested champion?
That is a matter of preference. Unlike the OP pick, nothing forces you to secure it on the first pick.
Is the first pick an advantage or a handicap?
Both. It gives access to the best available champion and it exposes that choice throughout the draft — that is exactly the arbitration the three elements serve to settle.
Going further
- Blue side vs red side — why the first pick belongs to blue side, and what that changes.
- The last pick — the symmetrical position, on the red side.
- Side selection between two games — when the intention to secure a pick decides the side.
- How a draft unfolds from A to Z — the complete step by step.
- The draft glossary — all the vocabulary, by family.
- All our draft guides — the pillar page of the cluster.
Test your first picks. Replay a complete draft on uDrafter and see what your first pick exposes — it is free and no account is needed.