Ahri can be bullied a lot before level 6. Make sure to position behind your creeps as the only way she can win a trade is to hit you with a random charm. You absolutely destroy this lane 1v1 with comet, but especially post 6 you have to be super aware of the enemy jungle/support.
Akali
You can bully Akali pre 6 but it's hard to force her out of lane. You should focus on crashing the first 2 or 3 waves and then trying to keep the wave on your side as much as possible. This will limit her opportunities to chase you down the wave. Whenever she uses her E or W, respect until they are gone and then you can play more aggressively during the long cooldown window. Ultimately, you should be mainly looking to scale and slow down her snowball.
Akshan
Akshan is very strong in early game but gets outscaled by most champions and won’t be useful if he doesn’t get random kills from lane or roaming. You will win short trade with QW but be very careful of him Eing onto you as you don't have a way to cancel it.
Anivia
The main window to punish Anivia is pre 6, she has long cooldowns and relatively short range so you can look to punish her when she goes for CS. Make sure you are ready to dodge her Q because if you do get hit you’ll take a lot of damage. Post 6 it can be a bit harder to punish, wait for her to ult the wave and then try force a QW trade, if you can't then you can just farm from this point.
Annie
Annie can depend a lot on what rune page she takes. If she takes a scaling page like dark harvest or first strike, you will normally win pretty hard pre 6 and can try take advantage of her early game. If she has a strong laning page like aery resolve, you should still win with your comet page but expect to take a lot more damage in return. Post 6 she has a lot of threat and will probably just drop her bear for a lot of poke. Once this bear is gone though she’s weak again. Merc treads and refillable can be quite useful to pick up early in this matchup, or if you don’t want the full mercs at least buy a null magic mantle.
Aurelion Sol
Aurelion Sol is very strong at level 1 with his Q poke so try and avoid this. Try and poke him down with QW and be careful going up too far in the lane since he will chase you down with W, especially if there are no creeps in the way. You should build a pretty big lead in lane vs Asol as long as you respect his key windows.
Azir
Azir is a strong laner, but you are even stronger. Try and look to get aggressive whenever he moves his soldiers forward with Q as he will be very vulnerable with the soldiers far away from him. Ideally you will reach your first base with a CS lead over Azir and can ride that out for the rest of the lane. Make sure to keep the trades short and don't let him get too many soldier autos off. After level 6 be very careful if your flash is down or you don’t know where their jungler is.
Cassiopeia
Cassiopeia is really good at running people down if they waste cooldowns or if are pushed too far up in the lane. If you play it well, you should be able to consistently poke her down with QW and avoid getting her by her Q if your W is down. Try keep the wave in the middle or on your side so she can't run you down the whole lane.
Diana
Diana has strong skirmishing, teamfighting and sidelaning but lacks the tools to snowball herself and is very reliant on picking up random kills. In the early game try bait out her Q by moving back and forth into her range. It’s very hard to win straight up trades against Diana so try keep the wave in the middle and setup ganks + poke from safety. Phase rush can be useful for disengaging from trades as well.
Ekko
Punishing cooldowns is very important against Ekko in the early game. His only trading tool is also his only waveclear tool so you should make him choose between clearing the wave or trading with you by positioning correctly. If you are playing against hail of blades Ekko, be careful of his level 1 cheese with e start. He will have a stronger lane but won’t scale as well overall. Phase rush is very useful for disengaging from trades or for chasing down with auto attacks.
Fizz
Fizz has very defined moments of strength and weakness and playing around these are key. Level 1 and 2 Fizz can be punished very hard but level 3 and level 6 he is very strong. Try and crash either 2 or 3 waves into his tower and then let it bounce back to you. You do not want to be pushed up in the lane level 3 onwards. His main trading tool, his E, is also his main waveclear tool so make sure to keep track of this cooldown and it’s by far the most important. While Orianna can win in the 1v1, his gank setup is also extremely good which can make this a very annoying matchup. Defensive items or early game buys are very important vs Fizz because once he begins to snowball he’s very hard to stop.
Galio
Galio is not very good in the laning phase but he’s still very strong in the early game with the ability to push or neutralize most matchups and easily move to other lanes or skirmishes. Against Galio your main goals are to keep him in lane, punish his Q cooldown when he uses it to clear the wave and try to keep track of the enemy jungler. Galio is outscaled heavily by Orianna so focus on farming and keeping the lane as an isolated 1v1.
Hwei
Hwei is a very strong laner but Orianna should be able to bully him. ry position behind creeps so that you can’t get hit by random QQ poke, but far enough away that you have time to dodge the QE + EE combo if he decides to try nuke the wave instead. The more QW combos you can get off without taking damage in return the easier this matchup will be.
Irelia
Irelia is extremely strong in the laning phase and the sidelane, but she needs to snowball in order to perform well in teamfights. For the most part you will be looking to keep the wave on your side and try to setup ganks or just avoid having Irelia chase you down the lane. Be extremely careful of her level 2 and level 6 all in especially. Above all else your goal is not to die, even if you go down CS to Irelia it should be fine unless you give over some kills. Phase rush is a must in this matchup and be super careful when it's down.
Jayce
Jayce is relatively weak before first base so try and build an initial lead here. If he buys a dirk first base trades will start to become closer, but you will generally win with QW. Try not to give him free windows to QE you (stand behind creeps) and respect him going melee and dashing onto you if you're standing too close to the creep wave.
Karma
Karma is a pretty good laner but Orianna can contest her. You outscale her so going even in this matchup would be considered a win, and you can normally build a slight lead anyway. Try to avoid as many Qs and RQs as you can and if she uses too many cooldowns you may be able to chase her down the lane.
Kassadin
Kassadin should be punished heavily early game. Try and make sure that he is forced to use his Q to last hit. If he decides to Q you instead, he should be punished when he walks up and tries to last hit a creep. With good trading and wave control you should be able to build a significant lead over Kassadin or his team pre 6. After 6 if you don't have a lead you will probably start to lose trades, but you should still win if you have an item advantage. The worst thing to do against Kassadin is to give him any kills, as even when he scales throughout the game he’s not strong unless he can snowball and get ahead of everyone else.
Katarina
Katarina is a weak laner outside of a couple key moments. Make sure you don’t stand on any daggers and respect her level 2 and level 6 all in. For the most part Katarina will just look to spam roam and cheese kills from other lanes so placing good wards and pinging missing or retreat pings on lanes to keep her from getting kills is really important. If you can ever lock her in lane or kill her you will be massively ahead. This is one of the rare melee matchups where you can opt into comet instead of phase rush (since she doesn't normally go doran's shield second wind).
LeBlanc
LeBlanc loses the 1v1 pretty hard to Orianna. Her main trading tool is her W, and it has an 18 second cooldown at level 1 so that will give you lots of time to punish or zone her off the wave while its down. You will always win a trade unless you get hit by a chain, so try block it with creeps. Merc treads or some other form of MR can be very helpful for avoiding her one shotting you in the mid game. Her main threat is her gank setup so be very very careful if you don’t know where their jungler is, and try keep the wave on your side or in the middle for added safety.
Lissandra
Lissandra is relatively weak 1v1 and with the comet build you should annihilate her. She does have extremely good gank setup though, so be very careful if you don't have vision/flash available. Do your best to match her push, and if she uses her Q on the wave look to punish by forcing a trade. Outside of Q her other cooldowns are also quite long, so if she wastes them try and take advantage of them. Merc treads are also very useful against this champion for avoiding ganks and surviving engages in teamfights.
Lux
Lux is a pretty strong laner with her heavy E poke. Do your best to dodge as many of these as possible and make sure not to get hit by a stray Q. Her cooldowns are quite long and her main trading tool, her E, is also her main form of waveclear before level 6. Try not to group up with the wave and if she does use E on the wave look to trade aggressively while still avoiding her Q. Merc treads can also be helpful for the movement speed, MR and tenacity. Overall you should win if you dodge some Es and punish her cooldowns well.
Malzahar
Malzahar is one of the weakest early game champions in the game, he has essentially no form of trading power and his waveclear is easily dealt with as long as you kill his voidlings as soon as they spawn. You should be able to build a huge lead in lane in this matchup. I would normally recommend not buying QSS, as typically you will not be an ult target in teamfights due to your range.
Neeko
Neeko is one of the strongest laning champs in the game and also has immense teamfight and skirmishing power. In the lane phase it will all be about how many Qs and Es you can dodge so try and keep your movement very active. Merc treads rush can help a lot in this matchup too. Neeko is normally outscaled pretty hard so as long as you don’t give over kills you should be in a good spot coming out of lane. With the comet build you can build a 1v1 CS lead but just being even would be good enough in this matchup.
Naafiri
Naafiri is a relatively weak laner but she snowballs extremely well so do your best to bully her in the 1v1 and prevent her from getting any roam opportunities. All her damage in lane comes from getting hit by 2 Qs in a row, so if you can dodge one you will normally win the trade. She can look to W directly onto you if you don't have cooldowns up, so make sure the wave is on your side to keep you safe from this after level 3.
Pantheon
Pantheon has strong gank setup and trading but he lacks waveclear and gets heavily outscaled. Try and neutralize the early game vs Pantheon and consider taking cleanse if you are scared of getting ganked. Make sure to keep eyes on him post 6 and if he ults to another lane you will most likely just want to punish by pushing the wave and hitting the mid tower, unless you think you can roam to the play in time. If you don't die to a random solokill or gank you will be far more useful in teamfights.
Qiyana
Qiyana is pretty weak level 1 and 2 but spikes hard at level 3 and level 6. Make sure to avoid the level 3 all in by having the wave bounce back to you, but other than that you will want to build up a lead before she hits 6. At level 6 make sure to avoid standing too close to walls or the river as this will mean she can kill you with ultimate easily. Qiyana needs to snowball to be relevant so making sure you don’t die and try limit her windows to roam will go a long way. Consider buying a cloth armor on first base to nullify her lethality, and then upgrade it into Zhonya's 2nd item.
Ryze
Ryze has a lot of push, point and click gank setup and good roaming. However, you heavily outtrade him with QW and so should be able to build up a big lead as long as you don't die to any ganks. Make sure you keep the wave pushed post 6 to stop him from roaming to other lanes.
Seraphine
Seraphine scales and teamfights very well but she is weak in lane and lacks waveclear after the changes. She has long cooldowns so if she uses Q or E to farm or harass look to punish by forcing a trade on her or zoning her off the wave. Once you get some waveclear you should be able to push her in and prevent her from joining any fights. She also can’t really side lane so normally in the mid game you can build up a big CS lead over her.
Swain
Swain can depend a lot on the rune page he is running and what he builds. If Swain goes for an aery/scorch/chapter build he will be stronger in lane than normal, but he will get outscaled and you should still win anyway. If you're against any other setup you should destroy him in lane by abusing his long cooldowns and dodging his E.
Sylas
Sylas lane is all about dodging his E2. If you get hit by his chain you will almost certainly lose the trade, but if he misses it you can punish him heavily. Stay close enough to the creeps that he can’t easily E you, but far enough away that he can’t just hit both you and the creeps with his Q. Sylas snowballs extremely hard but if he doesn’t find a lead he won’t be too hard to deal with, and you can usually build a small lead in lane as long as you don’t die solo or to his gank setup. Try keep the wave on your side after the initial couple of waves for extra safety. Phase rush is very important for this matchup and play safer whilst it's down.
Syndra
Syndra is a slightly favored 1v1 matchup to Orianna, but will mainly come down to how good you are at dodging skillshots. She has very good gank setup and this lane is extremely snowbally, so be very careful not to die. Merc treads rush are extremely good in this matchup because the movement speed, tenacity and MR are all very valuable.
Taliyah
Taliyah is relatively weak in the laning phase but scales very well. In the laning phase her main harass tools also function as her waveclear so try and make her choose between pushing the wave and harassing you, as well as looking to be aggressive if she wastes Q and/or E. If you land a lot of QW trades you should be able to force her out of lane very easily.
Talon
Talon in the laning phase is all about his W. W is both Talon’s main trading tool as well as his farming tool so you mustn’t stack with the wave so he has to choose between hitting you or hitting the CS. It’s also extremely important that you do not get hit by both sides of W as that will make it very easy for him to jump on you and proc his passive which almost guarantees a hard losing trade or a death. If he casts W on you immediately move to the side rather than back as that makes it a lot easier to dodge W on the return. Be very careful of his level 2 and level 6 all ins with ignite and consider building HP or armor early in the lane. You can run comet in this matchup to really pressure the lane, or phase rush for more scaling.
Tristana
Tristana in lane has a huge amount of push and all in potential. You will want to do your best by neutralizing and keeping the wave on your side. If Tristana doesn’t snowball through solokills or tower plates she will be outperformed throughout most of the game until she has multiple crit items, so do your best to slow the game down and don’t let her snowball begin.
You will win short QW trades but you have no way to prevent her from jumping on you which makes this lane difficult, at least until you get chapter.
Twisted Fate
Orianna beats both AD and AP TF with the comet build. Focus on short QW trades and try not to let him get autos on you. Make sure to keep track of the enemy jungler as the only way TF can win is by setting up ganks. Try and keep TF locked in lane as much as you can either through trading or pushing the wave so that you are in a position to either stop him from roaming or punish the mid tower if he does.
Veigar
Veigar is extremely abusable in lane and in early skirmishes. He has to use his Q to farm which means he won’t be able to trade, and even with Q up he doesn’t do much damage. When this is down you can look to get aggressive onto him. The only thing you really need to be careful of is not lining yourself up with the creeps so he can easily hit the creep and you. He does have some gank setup so you may want to build merc treads if they have a ganking jungler.
Vel'Koz
Vel’Koz has a lot of poke and waveclear but if he uses these cooldowns aggressively he will be vulnerable to being traded on. Positioning in the creep wave can make dodging Qs easier and make sure to not get hit by Es as that’s Vel’Koz’s best way of trading. After level 6 if you get by an E it’s possible Vel’Koz can kill you with ulti so keeping your movement active is key.
Vex
Vex can be bullied pretty much all lane phase. Make sure to punish her trying to CS with quick QW trades. The only thing to respect is when her fear is up, as she may be able to win a trade at this time. If Vex took ignite, it's worth buying a little bit of MR post 6 such as a null magic mantle. If she has TP you most likely don't need to worry and can instead just continue to bully her in the 1v1.
Viktor
Viktor is slightly stronger than you in 1v1, but he lacks any gank setup or skirmishing power which you have both of. Viktor has reasonably long CDs on Q and E but both are hard to avoid. Do your best to punish him with QW trades while these are down.
Vladimir
Vladimir is a very unique champion to play against. In the early laning phase Vlad is quite weak, he has fairly long cooldowns and his sustain is not particularly great so try and build a lead in the first 5 levels. After 6 and first base Vlad becomes quite strong, try and trade efficiently and abuse his lack of waveclear. If you get the chance, try look to punish him whenever his Q is down, especially immediately after he uses his empowered Q. Mana is very important in this matchup, so consider taking manaflow + biscuits and rushing either chapter or tear + chapter. Antiheal (in lane) is pretty useless against Vlad a lot of the time so don't bother buying it.
Xerath
Xerath can be bullied pretty hard 1v1 with the comet build. His cooldowns are fairly long and can definitely be dodged so try keep your movement active and punish when they are down. Make sure you don’t stack with the wave so he has to choose between hitting you or pushing the wave. Make sure to rush tier 2 boots in this matchup for the extra movement speed.
Yasuo
Yasuo has a very strong 1v1 laning phase but is extremely gankable and isn’t very good at using his priority. This means you will want to keep the wave on your side for the most part which will keep you safe from his extended trades and put him in a gankable position. Try keep wards down to make sure he doesn’t get a roam off for free and play to go as even as you can in the lane phase and then outperform him in teamfights. Be careful because he can windwall your ball which will cause it to stop at the windwall.
Yone
Yone can be bullied hard in levels 1 and 2, but level 3 onwards you will want to keep the wave in the middle or on your side to prevent him from chasing down the lane. Try respect when he has his Q3 and E up, and then punish their long cooldowns after he uses them. Post 6 be very careful of his strong gank setup and ability to chase you down the lane with T2 boots. Phase rush is a must for this matchup and you will want to save it for when he Es forward.
Zed
Zed can be abused levels 1 and 2, try and make him choose between getting a CS with Q or using it on you. Once Zed hits level 3 you can still be aggressive but make sure you don’t get hit by both shurikens from his WEQ combo otherwise you will take a lot of extra damage. After level 6 be careful how far you position up in the lane as he can chase you down and kill you. It can be a good idea to buy a cloth armor in this matchup and just sit on it since it will negate a lot of his lethality. If he ults you at 6, focus on dodging the shurikens as he won't do any damage unless he hits these.
Ziggs
Ziggs can be fairly strong in lane if you can’t dodge his skillshots. If you can avoid the poke though you should have no problems. If he’s using his abilities on you, he won’t have any control of the wave as long as you are standing far enough away to not be splashed by it. Make sure to rush boots in this matchup and try move aggressively into him when his cooldowns are down.
Zilean
Zilean is very abusable in lane. He has long cooldowns and his only way to farm from long range is also his only trading tool AND it’s a dodgeable skillshot. Make sure Zilean has to choose between hitting you with Q or farming with Q and when his Q is on cooldown move very aggressively into him. While you can’t normally kill Zilean in lane, you should be able to build a fairly big CS lead. After 6 he can be hard to kill, but you should still be able to chunk him out and if you can ever get his ultimate out without actually killing him you will be in an amazing spot.
Zoe
Zoe is a lot about positioning and punishing cooldowns. Try and avoid taking damage from Q or her bubble by keeping the creeps in between you and her. Every time she walks up with a Q it should be a free QW trade. Make sure to respect the windows when she picks up summs or items off the ground. After 6 if she ever ults forward, you should be able to get a free QW and ulti onto her. Merc treads can also be a good pick up if you need them.
Lee Sin
Orianna is excellent with AD ganking junglers. Bonus points if they have CC/engage.
Jarvan IV
Orianna is excellent with AD ganking junglers. Bonus points if they have CC/engage.
Graves
Orianna is pretty good with tempo junglers that want to push and invade as well.
Hecarim
Orianna is excellent with AD ganking junglers. Bonus points if they have CC/engage.
Viego
Orianna is pretty good with tempo junglers that want to push and invade as well.
Kindred
Orianna is pretty good with tempo junglers that want to push and invade as well.
Rell
Engage supports like Rell/Naut are super OP with Orianna as they provide a ton of CC and ball delivery.
Nautilus
Engage supports like Rell/Naut are super OP with Orianna as they provide a ton of CC and ball delivery.
Xin Zhao
Orianna is excellent with AD ganking junglers. Bonus points if they have CC/engage.
Evelynn
Orianna is pretty weak with AP junglers, you function very well as a solo AP damage threat and most AP junglers don’t bring reliable CC for you.
Lillia
Orianna is pretty weak with AP junglers, you function very well as a solo AP damage threat and most AP junglers don’t bring reliable CC for you.
Nidalee
Orianna is pretty weak with AP junglers, you function very well as a solo AP damage threat and most AP junglers don’t bring reliable CC for you.
Karthus
Orianna is pretty weak with AP junglers, you function very well as a solo AP damage threat and most AP junglers don’t bring reliable CC for you.
Volibear
Orianna is excellent with AD ganking junglers. Bonus points if they have CC/engage.
Synergies
IdealStrongOkLowNone
Lee Sin
Orianna is excellent with AD ganking junglers. Bonus points if they have CC/engage.
Jarvan IV
Orianna is excellent with AD ganking junglers. Bonus points if they have CC/engage.
Graves
Orianna is pretty good with tempo junglers that want to push and invade as well.
Hecarim
Orianna is excellent with AD ganking junglers. Bonus points if they have CC/engage.
Viego
Orianna is pretty good with tempo junglers that want to push and invade as well.
Kindred
Orianna is pretty good with tempo junglers that want to push and invade as well.
Rell
Engage supports like Rell/Naut are super OP with Orianna as they provide a ton of CC and ball delivery.
Nautilus
Engage supports like Rell/Naut are super OP with Orianna as they provide a ton of CC and ball delivery.
Xin Zhao
Orianna is excellent with AD ganking junglers. Bonus points if they have CC/engage.
Evelynn
Orianna is pretty weak with AP junglers, you function very well as a solo AP damage threat and most AP junglers don’t bring reliable CC for you.
Lillia
Orianna is pretty weak with AP junglers, you function very well as a solo AP damage threat and most AP junglers don’t bring reliable CC for you.
Nidalee
Orianna is pretty weak with AP junglers, you function very well as a solo AP damage threat and most AP junglers don’t bring reliable CC for you.
Karthus
Orianna is pretty weak with AP junglers, you function very well as a solo AP damage threat and most AP junglers don’t bring reliable CC for you.
Volibear
Orianna is excellent with AD ganking junglers. Bonus points if they have CC/engage.
Hey guys I'm Shok, multi Rank 1 Challenger mid laner and content creator! I played league professionally from 2017-2021 and have been rank 1 in multiple seasons, as well as rank 13 on the NA ladder in season 9.
I upload regularly on YouTube, and stream everyday on Twitch so feel free to follow me on either of those platforms :)
Season 10Season 9
Season 9 NA
Laning Phase
The laning phase as Orianna is pretty different depending on if you are vs a ranged champion or a melee champion. Overall though, Orianna is pretty strong in lane and you can expect to build up at least a slight CS lead in almost any matchup.
Vs ranged:
Against ranged champions you want to go for the comet build and put 3 points in W. This means that your QW trades will be extremely powerful and it will be very difficult for your opponents to ever trade back. Focus on bullying the lane as hard as possible, and you can use your ultimate early to poke. You win almost any ranged matchup as long as you don't die to any ganks and make sure to respect when your QW is on cooldown. Be a little careful how much you use your W at level 2 (if you've already used a lot of mana) as sometimes it's better to wait until you have 2 points in it at level 3 to start spamming it.
Vs melee:
Against melee champions you will be wanting to harass with Q pretty much as often as possible. Q is very cheap and has a short CD so you can feel free to spam it. Against melee champions the most important thing is your wave control, generally post level 3 you will want the wave to either be on your side or at least pushing towards you. This is to protect you from being run down, all-inned or ganked. Your phase rush cooldown is very important vs melees as well, if you use it while trading you will have to play a little bit safer while it's down.
Mid Game
In the mid game as Orianna you will want to do your best to continue to keep up your gold/xp while also being at all the major objective fights. The best way to do this is try shove the side wave as far as you can without dying. Orianna normally wins side lane 1v1s unless you fall very far behind, so the main thing to be aware of is the position of the 2 junglers. If you don't have TP up, it can be a good idea to group with your team instead and just catch sidewaves when they are going to crash on your tower until your TP comes back up. If your sidelane matchup is really easy + your team is winning and you have vision then sidelaning should be very easy, if the opposite of these things are true then you will need to be a lot safer on side.
For objective fights, it's a good rule to try and base around 1 minute before dragon spawns, that way you can spend all your gold and get all your hp and mana back to full. This will give you the best possible chance of grouping up and winning a dragon fight.
Orianna is also pretty good at taking jungle camps, especially with the Seraph's build. Look for opportunities to take away enemy camps or to farm your own if your jungle is too far away to farm them.
Teamfighting and Skirmishing
For teamfighting and skirmishing as Orianna you will be wanting to play a front to back teamfight (keep your tanks in front of you). For the most part you will have to hit whoever is in front of you, but try keep the ball in a threatening position and you can create a lot of pressure simply by holding the ult and zoning the enemy carries with it. You can also look to put the ball on an engage champion on your team to try deliver an ulti for you. If your backline is fed you can also look to just shield and peel your ADC instead. Fights in chokes or small areas are ideal and you are extremely good at zoning and controlling space.
Finally you will want to think about various threats to you and your target priority. Normally as Orianna, you will be stuck hitting whoever is in front of you, but if an enemy squishy mispositions they should take priority and you should aim your abilities on them first. Threats are also important, think about specific abilities (for example Blitzcrank hook) that might threaten you and how you can position around them. Sometimes you may have to wait until some abilities are used before you can fully commit to the fight because it might be too dangerous to do so otherwise.
More Orianna Content
That's all for this guide, but if you want to see more of my Orianna content there is a video guide and several gameplay videos on my YouTube channel, and if you want to ask me questions about Orianna feel free to drop by my Twitch or send me a message on discord (shokoce)
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