User blog comment:Themguyman/Picking your next champion/@comment-4834593-20130115173410

It depends on several factors for me.

Back before I really mained anything, the time when I actually saw bot games as "normal", I just bought what I liked to play in free week. Back then, choosing was easy, and I didn't really have the feeling of too little IP all the time.

At some point, however, I discovered Jax. I had bought him before, yet had never really played him. For me, that marked the point where I changed to blind pick as "normal" game type. And I mained top, with Jax, Nasus, Malphite and some older stuff (Riven, Olaf), and I started buying tops, sometimes feeling I wanted more, but not too much of that.

Somewhat later, I had enough tops, yet a new problem arose. What if I couldn't play top? For jungle I had like, noone I did consistently well with, for mid I did neither, except Morgana, who was always banned back then, for AD carry I could play Varus and that's it, and for support I bought Taric because I had to be able to do something if I was forced in that role in ranked.

That was the first time I started to feel a shortage on IP. I wanted to buy a lot of different champions, all at the same time. Ahri, Anivia, Fizz, Graves, Lee Sin, Sejuani, Sona, Vayne and Volibear all appeared on my to-buy list. And maybe more, I'm not sure anymore. At that point I could spend all IP on champions I really needed for a few months long.

Only about three months ago I purchaged Vayne, and, together with learing some champions I already had, I felt like I could play at least two champions well for each role, and for like two months, it was again just buying what I wanted to try.

And then, I started maining AP Yi mid after I got a "click" with him that I had with no other champion, and I also got a ranked team where I had to play him, and there I was, back in the "I buy because I need"-state. Still champions I know I like though. I never buy blind.

It helped a bit that I spend some RP on champs, but still, I feel like I never have enough IP to just buy without having a good deal of thought about it.

And that's how I buy - Trying to take the bext mix possible between what I liked in recent free weeks and what I need.

Oh, yeah, and "the new OP" is a champion that I would actually be more hesistant to when buying, because I hate being a sheep.