Hi - I'm Undertaker, a Danish dude playing on EUW, currently working my way up through Platinum. I reached Diamond in season 5, and planning on doing so again this season. You can check my progress on http://www.lolking.net/summoner/euw/42277660
- And this is my build for Lissandra, which I've been having the most success with.

I will update this guide continuously, as I keep evolving, and from the inputs from people reading this guide.

I will add a toplane Lissandra to this build sometime as well with a more sustained Rod of Ages build.

Pros

A lot of CC
High Damage
Easy to Kite with
Has a long range escape in her E
Good engager

Cons

Squishy
Easy to shutdown if hard CC'd
Misstimed R/W can make you useless in teamfights

This is my basic setup for any AP Carry midlaner I play. Scaling is the way to win lategame.
I like to have the advantage in HP and CDR. However - this setup is very risky. You need to know your champion very well, to be able to play to her to her fullest, with these runes, since there's no resistances, until you buy Abyssal Scepter and Zhonya's Hourglass in-game.

Alternatives

This is the setup I usually go with, if I'm against an equally balanced AP/AD team, and I'm in doubt of winning my lane, depending on my opponent.
This setup of runes is more like a 'safe pick' if you want to have a more safe early game.

(Passive) - Iceborn

Every 18 seconds, Lissandra's next ability costs no mana. Cooldown reduction does not affect Iceborn, but the cooldown is reduced by 1 second whenever Lissandra impairs an enemy's movement with an ability (does not apply to movement-impairing effects from items).

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(Q) - Ice Shard

Throws a spear of ice that travels in a line and shatters when it hits an enemy, dealing 70 / 100 / 130 / 160 / 190 (+65% of ability power) magic damage and slowing its Movement Speed for 1.5 seconds. Shards then pass through the target, dealing the same damage to other enemies hit (but not slowing them).

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(W) - Ring of Frost

Freezes an area around Lissandra, dealing 70 / 110 / 150 / 190 / 230 (+40% of ability power) magic damage to nearby enemies and rooting them for 1.1 / 1.2 / 1.3 / 1.4 / 1.5 seconds.

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(E) - Glacial Path

Casts a claw of ice that moves forward in a line, dealing 70 / 115 / 160 / 205 / 250 (+60% of ability power) magic damage to all enemies hit. Reactivating this ability transports Lissandra to the claw's current location.

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(R) - Frozen Tomb

Enemy Cast: Freezes target champion solid, dealing 150 / 250 / 350 (+70% of ability power) magic damage and stunning it for 1.5 seconds.

Self Cast: Lissandra encases herself in dark ice for 2.5 seconds, becoming untargetable and invulnerable but unable to take any actions.

Dark ice then spreads from Lissandra's target dealing 150 / 250 / 350 (+70% of ability power) magic damage to enemies. The ice lasts for 3 seconds and slows enemy Movement Speed by 30 / 45 / 75%.

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Flash
- Is a must! Used by everyone, either for kill-secure, to close the gap for a good engage, or to gtfo in a hurry!

Ignite
- Choose Ignite if you feel confident in playing aggressively, against perhaps a low-threat enemy. Good gap closer if you're in doubt about you damage-output.

Cleanse
- Choose Cleanse if you're up against a wombo-combo team (Annie/Amumu etc.) to disengage yourself from their stuns and snares, as well as removing summonerspells (Ignite and Exhaust)

Exhaust
- If you feel more comfortable using this damage- and resistancereducing ability, against high burst enemies, like Zed, Talon or LeBlanc.

Barrier
- Barrier is always a safe pick, and is very useful in terms of gap closing, since Barrier will enable you to take just one more tower-hit, and take half the dmg from a potential Ignite. One of my main choices, depending on my lane opponent.

Early Game

During Laning Phase, depending on your opponent, you need to farm, like any other champion.
Lissandra has her awesome passive at her disposal; Mana-cost free ability every 18 seconds + 1 sec CDR for every movement imparied enemy. Which means you can poke your opponent for free every once in a while - not much, but it's something. Use this passive to poke and/or lasthit minions. However, only use your Q to lasthit minions early, if you absolutely have to, since your abilities have a fairly high mana-cost. If you're against a low-threat enemy, just focus on farming, and stay alert for ganks from either side.

If you're against a high-threat enemy, focus on pushing your lane ahead, and harrass your opponent. Enemies like Akali should be pushing all the way into her turret early, to deny her a least some farm, so you'll have the upper hand when she evidently hits level 6. Against high-threat enemies, you should use your Basic Attacks as your main weapon early on.

Mid Game

Now that you've entered mid game, you should be around 6-10, and depending on how your lane's doing, you should either start roaming (if you have your lane pushed into the enemy turret), or freeze your lane and wait for ganks, if your opponent is still present in the lane with you. If your opponent is either roaming or recalled, you should push ahead and get the turret, or just roam around. As Lissandra you have amazing ganking potential with your E. So use it during Mid Game to help out other lanes, or invade the enemy jungle with your jungler by your side.

I am the kind of player that upgrades my boots to Homeguard as fast as possible, because Lissandra has a slow base movement speed, and I like to get back into my lane as fast as possible. This of course, is completely up to yourself.

Late Game

By now you should've gotten the most essential items to actually make a difference in teamfights and Dragon/Baron-contests. So it's time to make something happen.
Take notes of your movements as Lissandra, and learn where to stand so you can engage into them all, doing the most damage possible or focusing a single player you want to get rid of.

The 'Combo'
When you feel like it's time to go in
1 - E into the enemy/enemies.
2 - Immediately use Q+W.
3 - Depending on what you wanna do, use either R on yourself (smart-cast = Alt + R), or taget the enemy you want to kill or CC.
4 - If you're alone longer than you'll be able to survive, pop Zhonya's immediately after using your R to extend the time you'll be untargetable.
5 - Follow up with Q+W all the way, and E out of there if needed.