Greetings, I'm Vel, and welcome to my guide for the one and only reason you have arachnophobia; Elise, the Spider Queen. This guide will be focusing on an Elise capable of massive burst damage thorough the whole game, while remaining able to sustain well in the process. The item sequences and masteries in this guide are meant to be used ONLY as AP Mid and jungle (With each build respectively). Personally I would recommend you to try AP mid first, because it is something she can and will excel at, and jungling is a lot more difficult. Nevertheless, enjoy your stay!

Elise, the Spider Queen
Cost: 6300 IP or 975 RP
Release Date: October 26, 2012


Base Statistics

Health 396 (+80 per level, 1835 at 18)

Health regen. 4.7 (+0.6 per level, 15.5 at 18)

Attack damage 47.5 (+3 per level, 101.5 at 18)

Attack speed 0.625 (+1.75% per level, 0.811 at 18)

Mana 240 (+50 per level, 1140 at 18)

Mana regen. 6.8 (+0.65 per level, 18.5 at 18)

Armor 12.65 (+3.35 per level, 73 at 18)

Magic res. 30 (+0 per level, 30 at 18)

Range 550 / 125

Mov. speed 310

• A Great passive for sustain and damage both in jungle and lane. Also protects you against certain skillshots such as Blitzcrank's Rocket Grab (Spiderlings).
• Damage scales by their health, meaning you are effective against virtually anyone.
• One of the best gapcloser/escape attributes in a single ability. ( Cocoon / Rappel)
• Surprisingly fast jungle speed and counterjungle ability.
• Able to dish out massive damage against any target.
• Awesome character concept, one of the coolest (if not the coolest) champion in the game. Oh, and dat behind.

• Squishy, especially earlygame.
• Only one hard CC that requires some skill to land.
• Requires getting used to. Especially things like when to morph, and how to rappel.
• If you do well, you will often be focused.

(Innate): When Elise's Human Form spells hit an enemy, she readies a Spiderling. When Elise transforms, she summons Spiderlings to attack nearby foes. The maximum number of spiderlings increases with Spider Form's level.

A great passive for a great champion. I usually don't like champions with minions because they often are useless (Excluding Zyra) but these spiderlings are both smart AND useful and they scale great through the game.


(Active): Deals magic damage equal to a base amount plus a percentage of the target's current health. Damage is capped against monsters.

This is the skill that makes Elise effective against any target. It deals huge damage if they are healthy, but the base damage isn't that bad either for finishing off a runner.

(Active): Elise lunges to a target with a poisonous bite that deals magic damage equal to a base amount plus a percentage of the target's missing health.

This is the second skill that makes Elise effective against any target. The damage dealt is insane if they're very low on health, but given the base damage and low cooldown at later level, you can use this ability in a 1v1 standoff aswell if necessary. Also, costs absolutely no mana at all.


(Active): Summons a venom-gorged Spiderling that moves to target location and explodes, dealing magic damage to nearby enemies when it nears an enemy unit or after 3 seconds. The Spiderling will chase down enemy Champions, if it does not hit an enemy at target location.

An ability that some underestimate. It sends a spiderling that is homing and prioritizes champions. In laning phase, even if they are behind all their minions, you can send the spider past them, and then it follows the champion if he/she is near enough. If you know how to use this ability well, it can be better to max this ability before your Neurotoxin.

(Passive): Spiderlings gain bonus attack speed.

(Active): Increases the attack speed of Elise and her Spiderlings for 3 seconds. While active, Elise is healed for a small amount when she or her spiderlings attack.

A great ability for sustain and attack speed. This is the ability you want to start with when jungling. The heal scales with your AP, and the more you have AS and AP, the more you will be healed for. Also costs no mana at all.



(Active): Elise fires a web that stuns the first enemy hit for 1.5 seconds.

An ability is quite self-explanatory. Similar to Morgana's Dark Binding, it's a linear skillshot that stuns the first target, but deals no damage. Unlike Volatile Spiderling, it does not collide on terrain which means you can shoot it through anything but creeps.


(Active on enemy cast): Elise reveals nearby enemy targets, while she and her Spiderlings lift up into the air, and then descend upon the target enemy.

(Active on ground cast): Elise reveals nearby enemy targets while she and her Spiderlings lift up into the air, becoming untargetable for 2 seconds. During that time she can cast Rappel again to descend upon a nearby enemy.

This ability is something that requires to get used to. Make sure that if you use this ability to escape/avoid damage, DO NOT click/smartcast on an enemy unit or you will descend a lot faster. If you want to descend on an enemy after a ground cast, (smart)cast E again on an enemy unit. Also works on jungle monsters, so this is a GREAT escaping tool. You can cover a long distance with this ability. Also costs no mana at all!



(Active): Elise transforms into a menacing spider, granting access to arachnid abilities. While in Spider Form, Elise deals bonus magic damage with her autoattacks and gains 10 movement speed as well as bonus armor and magic resistance.

(Spiderlings):Spiderlings deal physical damage and take reduced damage from multi-target abilities. The maximum number of spiderlings is increased with Spider Form's level.

If you've played Nidalee, then this ultimate is something you'll get acquaintanced with easier. Leveling up your ultimate boosts your damage and stats while in spider form while also upgrading your spiderlings and increasing the maximum number of spiderlings you can have at once. Like everyone should already be aware, spider form is a lot more effective against weakened targets. It also makes you more tanky and better in a 1v1 standoff (If escaping is impossible).

For AP Midlane: Take Q or W first. This depends much on your preference and skill. If you are certain you can land each Volatile Spiderling on your opponent it is a very viable choice. Only take one skillpoint in Cocoon/Rappel because it is an utility skill and the points only lower the cooldown.

For Jungling: Take your W ability first. This being Volatile Spiderling / Skittering Frenzy. After that, take Neurotoxin / Venomous Bite. Take one point in your E ability at level 3 for gank efficiency.

For AP Mid, I pick Flat MPen Marks, Mana per level Seals and flat AP glyphs. This gives you both mana sustain and damage potential from lane, and those paired with Skittering Frenzy you can keep your health up as well.

For Quintessences I chose to pick flat AP as well. It brings an immense boost to your earlygame power.

Marks: 9x Greater Mark of Magic Penetration
Seals: 9x Greater Seal of Scaling Mana Regeneration
Glyphs: 9x Greater Glyph of Ability Power
Quintessences: 3x Greater Quintessence of Ability Power

For AP Mid, I pick a simple 21-0-9 build. This is my personal preference and I find it most effective, but whether you decide to use it or not is up to you.

For Jungling, I pick 21-9-0. This gives offensive strength but also some defensive power against jungle creeps.

The masteries should be self-explanatory, so I will not delve on them any more. If you have questions or suggestions about the masteries, please comment and I will reply gladly.

An effective jungling route on Elise is:
Wolves > Blue Golem > Wraiths > Double Golems > Red Lizard > Gank

Don't forget to use spider form while jungling.

I've been playing Elise since the first hour of release. During my games, if I've done well and earned a lot of money like you should, I've chosen my items to often be like the item sequence shows. However, items are always situational, and you should build according to the team's needs.

For AP Mid summoner spells, I've picked Ignite and Flash. Smite is necessary if you're jungling, and Flash is just so good on every champion, being able to blink into range or away from the enemy team.

• You can use Volatile Spiderling to check brushes or grant your team vision. In addition, if there's someone [in the brush, it'll attack them!
• If you throw out Volatile Spiderling that the enemy jukes or just goes too far, you can use your spider form Q Venomous Bite to redirect the volatile spiderling!
• Stay near the wraiths if you feel like you'll get ganked and/or attacked by the opposing mid champion. When you Cocoon / Rappel in spider form near the wraiths, you can jump to them without them causing any damage to you!

27/10/2012: Guide published!
28/10/2012: Added Tips and Tricks! section.
28/10/2012: Updated items section; Added Lich Bane and Malady as an alternative to Nashor's Tooth
5/01/2013: Updated masteries. Updated items section; Added Liandry's Torment.

And so, my guide is finished, for now. I intend to update it with pictures, perhaps even jungle and warding guides once I manage to create some. It's the third I've written, and english is not my native language, so bear with my typos and point them out!

Please do leave me a comment and vote the guide, it means alot. If you downvote, please do tell me why, and what should be improved. And before you do downvote, try the build out!

Criticism is always welcome, I don't expect the guide to be perfect, so do point out flaws if you believe they exist!

Thank you for staying.
- Vel.