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Xayah Build Guide by

✔️ How to use Feathers

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Guide Discussion (26) More Xayah Guides

Runes: Recommended

1 2

Precision

Lethal Tempo

Presence of Mind

Legend: Bloodline

Coup de Grace

Inspiration

Magical Footwear

Biscuit Delivery

Bonus:

+10% Attack Speed
+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP)
+65 Base Health

Spells:

1 2 3 4 5

Standard #1

Barrier

Flash

Items

Starting Items

Vision Control

Late Game Elixir

Example Full Build

Item Pool

Damage

Boots

CDR

vs Healing

vs Tanks

Luxury DMG

MS & AS

Survivability

Teamfights

Ability Order E>W>Q Max

Xayah Passive Ability

More Xayah Counters

Introduction

About the Author

Pros / Cons

Abilities

Skill Sequence

Summoner Spells

Gameplay Information

Game Phases

Laning Phase

Tempo

Kiting

Wave Management

Combos

Tracking Jungler

ADC 101

Teamfighting

Warding

Other

Runes

Items

Matchups

Summary

Change Log

Hi, I'm Fruxo and welcome to my guide. I've been playing League of Legends since September 2014 in Season 4 and have been maining different roles & champions since the day I started. was one of my favorite champions to play whenever I got ADC. The top rank I've achieved is Diamond I in solo queue. If you have any questions or suggestions about the guide then feel free to leave a comment, I try to respond to everything. If you want to support me, an upvote or +rep would be very appreciated.

Before we begin, I'd like to give a big thank-you to Katasandra for her massive help with coding this guide (as well as my other guides). Always helping me make this guide look great but also as mobile-friendly as possible. Be sure to check out her how to write a guide tutorial & coding guide as well as her own guides!

is another example of the ranged champions whose power almost exclusively revolves around their basic attacks: using their reach to land massive continuous damage from a distance. Only downside is that you're tremendously vulnerable to burst damage, due to your fragility whilst also being exceptionally weak early in the game. Due to your potent reach and DPS, you're particularly strong against more durable opponents, namely fighters and tanks, but fall quickly to the burst damage of assassins and mages.

✔		Great Waveclear
✔		Good Poke
✔		Very Strong Root
✔		Excellent Pusher
✔		Fun to Play
✔		Untargetable R

✘		Needs Set-up Time
✘		Fairly Immobile
✘		Poke Lanes Suck
✘		Tricky to Learn
✘		Must keep track of her feathers
✘		Weak to CC when ultimate is down

's weakest point in the game is by far the earliest stages. Her cooldowns are quite high and your overall damage early on is pretty weak as you do not have much damage to work with and you're reliant on attack speed to get your feathers going. Early combos are still strong on her and mastering the early phase, when you can trade and when you'll definitely lose the trades is the 2nd most important thing on her, with getting minions and obtaining gold and exp being the most important.

gives her a lot of survivability and freedom due to her untargetability and the feathers it provides. This makes the lategame her strongest point in the game only because she gains access to a lot more freedom, and with a few items your overall damage will be extremely strong. does not fall off much at all during the endgame and thus she always stays relevant. However, heavy CC and bad positioning during fights will get you killed without a doubt.

As you might have already thought, works very well in teamfights. She will always be able to deal with the frontline carries/tanks and once they're dealt with, will always give her the opportunity to target the backline once the moment arrives. She has major troubles to stay alive when it comes to assassins (e.g. , & ) specifically as with most AD Carries, otherwise she'll be at her strongest point in the game if they're dealt with.

Useful Tips

✔		Try to manage your feathers as much as possible, as they're the MOST important aspect about Xayah
✔		Incorporate auto attacks inbetween every ability that you cast, it'll help tremendously
✔		Has a hidden passive - Lover's Leap which lets you and Rakan recall together

is quite a unique passive. You can only store 5 feathers at once, this means if you were to use and right away, you'll be missing out on one feather each time. This means you'll have to manage your feathers as much as possible. Ideally, you'll want to incorporate auto attacks inbetween each ability use, so as to not waste feathers you can throw out onto the ground and then call back with .

Having out as many feathers as possible is pretty important as is the only champion in the game with this feather mechanic and most of her entire damage heavily relies on her feathers being able to hit and the insane nuke you have on depending on the feathers that does pull through enemies on the way back.

Useful Tips

✔		If Double Daggers is aimed at terrain, it'll attempt to place feathers on the other side, even if it says it won't
✔		Can be used to check bushes for enemies as it'll show if targets are within the bush

Things to note

✘

Be careful aiming around terrain, as the feathers can be placed at weird locations

is an interesting ability, it produces 2 feathers and pierces any enemies in its path. Though however, only the first target hit will deal the most damage, and any other targets afterwards will take less damage. This does mean that during the laning phase you won't be dealing that much damage with this ability as it'll usually be hitting minions before the target.

The ability is quite useful to have due to it producing 2 feathers everytime it's used. If used together with auto attacks inbetween it can allow you to setup very quick and effective combos using to get fast roots - this is especially prevalent within the early stages of the game.

When used for poke can be very effective - as long as you still keep track of where your feathers are. Since is all about feather management (due to her being the only champion in the game with such a mechanic) it's very crucial not to auto pilot games and forget where your feathers are - they're your damage.

Useful Tips

✔		Should always be used against towers as the attack speed and extra damage makes it faster to damage the tower
✔		If Rakan is near (ally), he also gains the effects of this ability - though gets the MS whenever Xayah hits any target

is extremely useful for kiting opponents or to chase them. This ability is by far one of the best parts about 's kit.

This is essentially because of it being an attack speed steroid that also produces an extra feather that deals more damage on top of it. When this extra feather hits an enemy champion, she'll also gain herself extra movement speed (MS).

Try to use the attack speed and movement speed you're getting from this ability to pump out a ton of damage and place more and more feathers onto the ground to call back with .

Useful Tips

✔

Can be combined together with to redirect feathers onto targets giving very little react time

Things to note

✘

This is why being able to manage feathers matter so much - this ability & the feathers is a majority of your damage

Arguably the most important ability in entire kit, . This ability will call back all of your feathers that you dished out back towards you and is your main go-to source of damage outside of your auto attacks. This is also the one ability that makes her kit so incredibly unique from other traditional AD Carries.

When you recall your feathers, any targets they pass through will take a massive amount of damage depending on the amount of feathers. Enemies will also take a percentage of damage from your feathers depending on the amount of feathers that was hit to feathers that has already passed through minions before the enemy champion.

If 3+ feathers has hit any target, it will cause them to get rooted. This is exceptionally useful as you can still dish out more damage whilst the opponent is still rooted.

Useful Tips

✔		Can also be combined together with Flash to redirect your ultimate and thus where the feathers will land
✔		You cannot use any abilities during your ultimate, but you can use every summoner spell - including Heal

Things to note

✘

You are untargetable during your ultimate - however, summoner spells e.g. or will still affect you, can damage you and can kill you

At last we have her ultimate, . After casting your ultimate it'll leave behind 5 feathers on the ground every time, so you'll always have an option to either call them back immediately with or keep them there to get down more feathers in order to look for a bigger combo or root.

Within teamfights this ability can be crucial as it'll pull through an entire team if they're clumped together and together with it'll give your team a very devastating teamfight.

The better use of the ability however is as a defensive ability/last resort. If e.g. , or use their ultimates (, or ) towards you, this ability can be used to avoid both the CC and the damage itself entirely due to your untargetability. If timed correctly (Used early for Zed's mark, before the orbs hit you for Syndra and right before the shark pops for Fizz) you can avoid any danger altogether.


1	2	3	4	5	6
Q
		W
	E		E	E
					R


7	8	9	10	11	12

	W		W		W
E		E
				R


13	14	15	16	17	18
	Q	Q		Q	Q
W

			R

L
E
V
E
L
1
-
3

Always skill this first. It's your main tool for poke, damage and early farming and will especially be needed for your level 2 spike.

You'll be unlocking this at level 2. Use this to setup feathers and root combos together with your support to get an early lead within the lane.

Your main ability for attack speed and overall damage aside from your feathers. This one gets levelled last as the prior 2 are much more needed early.

S
E
Q
U
E
N
C
E

This is your main source of damage for an ability, always max it first. You'll be using it to do practically anything and to even stay relevant at all during the game.

Max this one second. Attack speed and movement speed is very crucial to and thus should always be maxed second. damage should always be maxed first.

Always third max. It'll increase the damage that your feathers from the ability deals, but not enough to justify it being maxed any earlier. The other 2 abilities are more important.

Try to put points in it whenever you can. It'll make you stronger whilst also just making you more of a champion when you have it available. It's your ultimate after all.

So, here's an overview of which summoners you can take on . You should always run & (or ) in almost 90% of your games for obvious reasons. Then we also have the situational spell options that you can go for which is , & .

Slot 1	Slot 2
Always	Most times	Situational

This is a key spell for every champion in this game and although some still perform great without it, it’s still very useful. It’s also insane to have on a marksman like due to her massive immobility that cannot be covered with any abilities that she has. As an ADC you're incredibly susceptible to ganks and CC - being able to avoid these situations if all else fails is an incredibly valuable thing to have.

An incredibly popular spell choice that have only increased in popularity. gives you a lot more variability as it helps cover for damage you would have otherwise taken. In a lane that is very 2v2 dominant where skirmishes happen often, it can be crucial to get that extra shield in order to secure a kill and not die or just to survive in general.

Helps you majorly against brutally difficult matchups that you otherwise would die to if you're not cautious. The easiest matchup to speak about is against as you lose every single trade against him at all stages of the game. Now if you were to still face off against him, will help mitigate his all-in damage and if played well, could net a kill anyway.

removes any defenses you'd gain from a summoner spell and instead rewards you with a more flexible option. It can provide you with movement speed to both chase and kite enemies. Remember to make yourself familiar with playing this spell as it's not like the rest.

Used to be one of the most standard spell options before buffs were made to . ADCs are very squishy by nature - and compensates this weakness with their sheer ability to dish out damage. It's a great pick due to its ability to help your survivability - pick it only if your isn't already picking and the enemy doesn't have .

Against champions that provide lots of heavy CC. Very common pick against most APC champions like , , or as their CC can lead to immediate death if they're allowed to accomplish their goals in lane the way that they want. Generally a good pick if you can't or haven't learned how to dodge skillshots.

The most common keystone option you can pick for this type of champion. allows you to have genuine kill threat in lane due to the increased attack speed you're able to gain. It's very strong for a champion that is so auto-attack reliant like -- where attack speed is almost mandatory. Always run this keystone if you're unsure on what to do, especially in matchups where you feel like you'll be going even or even win anyway.

other options

PRECISION
Precision is mostly taken as a primary tree as it offers great benefits for the type of playstyle that you play - especially accompanied with extremely strong keystones on ADCs like Lethal Tempo or Press the Attack.

A good rune to pick if you're looking for more sustain. Good pick in conjunction with .

Very well-rounded rune that provides a lot of good mana sustain which will be needed for you.

Gives a lot of attack speed for a champion like where it's always needed.

Underrated, provides a ton of life steal and health assuming you can stack it effectively.

Provides the opposite of Coup, this rune instead gives you more damage the tankier targets are. Is somehow very underused despite being as good as it is. In a game where tankier targets are becoming more prevalent, this rune helps a lot in making you feel like an actual champion.

INSPIRATION
Inspiration is taken as a secondary tree. When taken it offers extra benefits such as free boots and incredibly good lane sustain which is needed to scale well if you plan to skirmish.

Saves gold you can spend elsewhere. Only that you have to wait 12 mins, with takedowns making it less.

Helps significantly with sustain while in lane and is a good aid against heavy poke matchups.

The standard stat shards on . Feel free to swap for if against a team composition with a lot of CC threads.

This chapter features the items can build and when and why you build them. To help you on your way I created an item set you can import into your league client!

How do I import item sets?

Item set code: Xayah Item Pool

Starting Items

The standard choice to use. Doran's will provide you with anything you'd need for the early stages of the game and gives you lots of stats to aid you on your way. If you're against matchups that aren't as difficult or against generally easier matchups, this item is massive.

This is the most common potion to go for no matter what starter option. It'll always be able to give you enough health back to sustain yourself during the laning phase and should allow you to get your more major items that actually matter.

The usual starting trinket. It helps with getting early vision and will always be a generally good choice. You should always go for it at the start and use it to gain vision near the bushes for your lane. Botlane is very prevalent to ganks due to how snowbally it is - keep your vision in mind!

Once the game extends past 20 minutes you'll be looking to pick up this item. As an ADC you're your team's main source of damage and dying is a massive setback - this trinket allows you to gain vision without having to place yourself into bad situations to gain said vision for your team.

First Base

The best basing scenario is when you can afford which can be used to build into on your first base (the current most popular first item on by far). However, sometimes you won't have enough gold for the item because of a bad laning phase or dying, in such a case you should look to get one of the items below instead.

Builds into , is a good item you can get early on for 1050g - if your lane went worse.

If you're having a real bad time, you can opt to buy this for 350g to get some damage to work with.

Will provide you with some great early attack speed to aid you - especially when you benefit from this stat.

Early boots will help with dodging skillshots. If you did not pick - try to get these early.

Don't forget to buy extra potions for more sustain if you really need them - they will never hurt you.

If you have 75g left, buy one to use for vision in bushes or to prepare for an important objective.

Boots

I build these boots in 100% of my games as they're the most recommended option to pick from due to the sheer amount of attack speed that it provides. It's exceptionally useful on someone like in order to get her feathers out faster and to allow her to set-up combos more effectively.

If you win the Feats of Strength and gain the ability to upgrade your to these boots, you definitely should. These boots will provide even more movement speed and attack speed that you could ever imagine, as well as a useful passive for more decaying movement speed.

Item Pool

Provides with anything that she requires, ranging from AD and ability haste to general critical strike chance. The item effect is also incredibly useful to have due to the additional mana that it's able to provide which is needed for your mana sustain.

Empowers your ability and proc damage that's dealt by your abilities whilst letting your basic attacks reduce your important cooldowns. This is one of her most popular item options (if not the most popular) - but it does require getting used to.

Is a very common item I buy due to how often healing champions and life steal items are picked/bought at this point (e.g. / / / ). The other stats that it provides are also extremely good for you in general.

If you just need quick healing reduction at the start of the game, you may choose to sit on this item to deal with the enemy team.

A lot more of an item you can use to sustain yourself and survive throughout the game, but it's a risky purchase. It's completely countered by Grievous Wounds, making it a lot less inviting of a buy if the enemy has a ton of s or built their own healing reduction items.

Gives you a ton of useful armor penetration and also critical strike chance, damage and a passive that lets you deal more damage against targets with more health than you. If you're against tanks (>3000hp) and have a lot of gold, this is a dream come true.

If you need armor penetration fast, you can also opt to get this one earlier in the game and sit on it until you need to upgrade it.

Absolutely a Luxury DMG item to build due to the fact that it's just a pure AD steroid boost. For any AD Carry this item is basically a necessity due to recent changes making it extremely good, it's just way too useful to ever pass up as an item despite the 3600g cost.

This item is very effective for you because tends to attack a lot during combat and can utilize the increased attack speed while also being best paired with other sources of attack speed in order to stack up the effect quicker. It'll allow you to keep melee enemies at a distance.

Fantastic item to pick up if your main motive is survivability. There are so many things in this game at this point that will completely 1shot you, being able to gain a shield that can help you survive heavy burst will go a very very long way.

Always a useful item but the reviving passive will only work for a single fight. If you have gold for it before a very game-deciding fight (e.g. fighting for baron/elder) then try to pick it up. If you built GA & already used the revive, sell it and build another item (passive cooldown is 5 minutes).

If you're completely new to botlane, this role won't be all too different from the other roles, yet gives more opportunities than most of the others due to it being a 2v2 dominant role where it's you and your support vs the enemy ADC and their support. With that said, don't be frightened, once you learn the fundamentals of the role, it's actually much easier to manage playing the role.

This section is rather large so here is an overview of all the general topics that will be covered:

Game Phases

Combos

ADC 101

Kiting

Laning Phase

Teamfighting

Tracking Jungler

Tempo

Wave Management

Warding

Early Game

This is an ideal scenario that you could start the game off with.

Key points:
- Enemy support dies
- Fast push the wave without losing minions
- Crash the wave to the enemy tower
- Recall to get new item powerspikes

Last hit as many minions as you can. Probably the most self-explanatory topic ever to discuss, yet highly important. I see many players outright missing important CS that they otherwise easily could have gotten. Practice your last hits so that you're able to consistently gain gold/exp.

Be present for Dragon attempts/contests. Always make sure you're able to partake together with your allies in order to secure Dragons or attempt to gain said objective. Objectives are a very key aspect to winning games and should never ever be ignored.

Avoid dying! This should always be priority number one. You want to be able to farm up and keep yourself healthy whilst avoiding death as much as humanly possible. Botlane is a special lane in that it's the lane that sees the absolute most jungle ganks out of any other lane on the map.

Mid Game

Farm as much as possible! - Yes, kills are still important. But not more than regular farm. As an ADC your main job is essentially to inhale as much CS as you possibly can - which includes Jungle Monsters during the mid stages of the game. You want to get your item powerspikes and create the point within the game where you can carry, that is your main focus. Keep in mind that 15CS is the same amount as getting a kill.

Siege down towers! Once the mid game starts - which is usually when the first enemy botlane tower falls, you want to look to switch with your midlaner and go mid, whilst your midlaner goes bot. This is because your midlaner can start sidelaning whilst you siege the first tower midlane to further extend your lead. This is even more important if you're ahead - if you're behind you want to just focus on farming.

Be present for fights! Always be present and partake with your team when it comes to appropriate skirmishes or very important neutral objectives - this could singehandedly lose you the game if you ignore.

The mid- stages of any game as an ADC is all about CS management and getting as much gold as humanly possible.

Key points:
- Botlane tower has been taken
- Botlane wave is deeply pushed to the enemy
- Wave at mid is completely free
- Allows you to take and contest mid tower because the bottom lane is already as pushed as it needs to be

Late Game

Dragon Soul
Obtaining the dragon soul is usually the biggest win condition for most games. This is why you should always prioritize dragons early and often because of the stats they provide. Some individual dragons are less important to get than others but the dragon soul is always a buff your team should fight over by default. Also don't get tunnel vision, the dragon soul is way more important than a baron buff, not the other way around.

Baron Nashor
This is another common win condition that you can go for. If you're in the mid-game or the start of late game, try to look to do this objective! The buff will allow you to push your leads further by sieging towers or even end the game immediately.

Elder Dragon
If the game stalls out long enough, this will be your next important objective. Elder Dragon is way more important to get than the baron buff because of the execute. Try to look for fights after you get this objective.

Atakhan
This is another win condition that you can go for & will go for as a collective team as it's pretty massive. Spawns at minute 20 on the top side or bottom side of the river on the map. The location and his form are both dependant on which lane got the most kills during the first 14 minutes so, pay close attention to that.

Combos

This chapter features all the combos that is able to do and how you can do them. There might be even more then what is listed here as these are just the most common combos that are used.

Meaning of Icons

Flash

Quick Trade

Some examples

This is the easiest pre-level 2/3 combo that you can make use of. You can cast an auto attack inbetween casting and so casting it first and then following up with an auto will make it easier to poke the enemies while not recieving too much back.

Early Poke

Some examples

Very effective and quick to use combo to poke opponents with when you don't have time to fit an auto inbetween or just want the combo to be fast. This works exceptionally well if used when the enemy ADC is pushed under their tower as you can quickly poke them while they're trying to farm their minions dying to the tower.

Standard Trade

Some examples

The best combo in order to output the most damage pre-6. Casting AA > Q > AA will cast 4 feathers towards the target location and only 3 is required to cast your for a root. You follow this up with during the entire rotation in order to maximize your damage output.

Q Flash / R Flash

Using to cover distance for your or in order to set up feathers faster and thus set up roots more effectively can always be an option. Just remember that you should always use Q OR R first then rather than the opposite. This is because the animation is much faster and you can only use summoner spells during your ultimate.

E Flash

Some examples

can also be used to redirect your feathers whenever you use to call them back. This is a very popular combo and is extremely effective as it gives the opponent little reaction time to your feathers before they either get instantly rooted, or just destroyed entirely from the damage of the feathers. Just remember to first, and then use , rather than the opposite. Makes it quicker and harder to notice.

Full Combo

This combo puts together some previous combos and adds on a secondary late ultimate. This is just an example and generally your ultimate should be used as a last resort to either dodge CC or for survivability. However, the more feathers you have out, the more damage you can deal once you call them back with .

Pre-Lane

The pre-lane stages of the game is dependant on whether you're required to leash or not.

Key points:
- We did not need to leash our jungler
- We can get to lane right as minions arrive
- We can immediately start pushing the wave to get the level 2 advantage as quickly as possible

Leash for your jungler? Before you start the lane whatsoever, you'll more than likely be assisting your jungler with their first camp if they haven't decided to start on the top-side of the map. After providing a leash, you'll want to walk the long way back to lane unless you or your teammates have warded the tri-bush prior.

There is a good reason for this. If the enemy's jungler has started on the top-side of the map, then there is a chance that the enemy botlane has walked into your tri-bush to try and set-up an ambush. Without proper vision, you'll be running the risk of losing lane immediately before you even get there. So, unless it's already warded, your odds are better off with running the long route back to lane.

Early Lane

Always clear the first wave as fast as possible! This means trying to push the wave to your enemy's turret. The early stages is a major fight between who's able to reach level 2 first. You want to hit lvl 2 earlier than your opponents and create a wide opening for you and your support to play aggressively and look for all-ins. If the enemies decide to play safe and not contest - this just lets you push the wave faster.

At the same time the faster you push the wave to your opponent’s turret, the harder it will be for the enemy ADC to farm as their wave will be taking additional damage from the turret. It's very difficult to farm well under turret.

Make favorable trades. You want to create the option for you and your support to make trades against the enemy botlane that benefits you. An early level difference is massive due to being able to have an extra ability point. If your support manages to catch one of the enemy laners out, you can trade with them and deal significant damage towards the target that will affect the rest of the laning phase.

Mid-game is about CS management and making sure waves aren't being missed for no reason.

Key points:
- Want the wave to force push for a recall timer
- Rell tries to poke and we trade slightly
- We figured that the enemy jungler was bot so I allow my Rakan to be further from me, if the enemy jungler shows up (which they did), he'll be able to get to me quickly and we can disengage

Think about how to play the lane! What I mentioned previously does not mean you should just blindly go in and look for any trade possible. You should actively look for opportunities where the opponent's positioning is terrible and punish it or where you and your support are able to engage onto an enemy without sacrificing too much health. You want to gain small leads that with enough time, can amount to a significant advantage.

Tracking Jungler

It's essentially just another term for knowing about the enemy jungler's whereabouts. It's the art of tracking where 1 player is on the map at all times.

Why does this matter? Botlane is a lane heavily contested by junglers due to it being a 2v2 dominant lane that is very easy to snowball. Thus it'll more than likely always be ganked one way or another.

How can this be avoided? There are numerous ways to track where the enemy jungler could potentially be. The simplest and easiest way to determine this is whether they got leashed or not - most junglers require some form of assistance to get a very good first clear. In these cases, they'll often start on the opposite part of the lane that they want to "dominate". For example, if you see the enemy Top laner arriving to lane already (before your Bottom laners get to lane) then it’s probable that the enemy jungler started Bot-side.

If you know where the enemy jungler started, you should be able to estimate and track their jungle route from level 1, at least up until their first gank. For example, if they start bot-side, then they want to path and likely gank Top, if they start top-side, then they want to path and likely gank Bot.

How is this useful at all? - It's very useful because it'll allow you to make plays early and go for trades without the fear of being ganked since you already know where the enemy will likely be headed, this will allow you to play around the enemy laner and potentially gain an early kill. If you see the enemy jungler top-side - you won't have to be frightened to push your lane and make plays.

Keep in mind! - Enemies are able to do what's called a "fake leash". For example, if you see both the Top laner and the Bottom laners arriving to lane at the same time to buy time for their jungler then it'll be pretty difficult to determine where the enemy jungler might have started if you do not have prior vision.

Tempo

Tempo is all about time efficiency and making less mistakes.

Key points:
- The enemy support already died
- Enemy ADC tries to roam to a skirmish that we ended up winning
- Because I'm alone bot, I shove the wave quickly
- While I collect my plating I make sure I shove the next wave as well, this allows me to get a free recall timer without much effort

In League of Legends, "Tempo" essentially just refers to having free time. You don't have any enemy minions you need to farm, you don't have an enemy champion you need to fight (they are either gone, recalled or hiding under tower), and you can't (safely) get any tower platings. You can use the time to recall and buy items, roam to gank other lanes together with your Support, grab spare jungle farm if the jungler is on the opposite side of the map, help your jungler take dragons and so forth - the list continues.

The term "Tempo" is borrowed from Chess. There, it means that you are the player that gets to decide what will happen next. The opponent must react to what you do, not the other way around. The opponent is busy doing something important and will have to stop doing that important thing if they want to counter whatever you choose to do.

ADC 101

This chapter will feature a few more ADC aspects that you can make use of in your own games if you're interested in becoming a lot better at the botlane role or simply want ways to get small leads or advantages.

Lane Priority

It's another term for lane dominance. It's decided by whoever is able to gain control of the lane and aggressively shove it in their favor, basically meaning whoever has the winning lane that can sufficiently waveclear.

Why does this matter? The things that your own jungler is able to do on the map is somewhat of a blockage by the strength of the lanes. If you're able to sufficiently waveclear and has the main control over your lane, whilst your jungler wants to attempt to take scuttle, take drake, or invade - you and your support want to be the first people that are able to come and aid your jungler before the enemy does.

If you and your support decides not to aid your jungler whilst they're trying to go on about their shenanigans, it can lead to the enemy jungler and their teammates collapsing onto your jungler instead and now you have one more death added to your team and potentially even a lost drake due to the cause.

Look at your map! Try to train yourself when it comes to looking at your map and pay attention to where your jungler is and what they want to do or achieve. If you're able to understand what your jungler wants to do, it can significantly help whatever you're trying to accomplish as well.

Having a Game Plan

When you think about it, League isn't actually that different from any normal Card game such as Legends of Runeterra. In both games you'll always have certain factors that are fully under your control and factors that have an element of uncertainty that you may have zero influence in changing.

For example, you have full control over the cards that you put into your deck before you look for a match and you'll already have an idea of what cards are out there so that you can optimize your own deck for the popular decks you're expecting to face. However, until you actually play against your opponent, anything is possible.

In League of Legends, your "deck" would be similar to your ability to choose your main role, your champion and your rune pages. At Champion select, apart from getting auto-filled or having your champion banned, you’re generally able to get the champion you want. However, outside of making suggestions or requests, the champions that your allies choose are completely out of your control.

When the game begins, you have to play to the best of your ability in relation to the game state presented to you. Sometimes, everything goes well & you get all the cards you need - You destroy the lane, get a double kill and the game is in your hands. Other times, everything goes badly & you don't get good cards whilst your opponent seemingly hits every card they need - Same as starting the game immediately losing the lane permanently to a whilst your support is not very good. So, how can you consistently succeed when there is so much variability between games? The key is having a game plan, to know what you're going to do next before you even arrive to that point in the game.

You should know by now how hectic League can get. Sometimes weird stuff happens and a champ that should be weak early gets insanely strong or a champ that is strong early fails miserably. For these cases you have to adapt to the state of the game. One example of good game plans is from looking at pro-play. Solo queue is, of course, a lot more disorganized so sometimes you'll just have to work with what you got. Just make sure to pay attention to the loading screens & look at tab often, evaluate all the information at your disposal.

Map Awareness

A really ideal kind of early game you could go for in my opinion.

Key points:
- Botlane tower is down
- Botlane wave is already pushed
- A skirmish midlane is about to break out
- After everything we manage to come away with 3 free kills along with a pushed midlane wave, whilst botlane is already pushed

Map awareness is basically the cheat code - to accomplish proper play by using your map. Not only can you farm and rotate to fights, but you also won't get killed by a flanking assassin because you're looking at your map all the time. This comes with time but you will get a sense of looking at your map and as to what objectives are being contested/open and can work around your team.

Farming for ADCs is a nightmare - to try and explain in essence, even though it's your most important thing to do you are still squishy and susceptible to being collapsed on whilst you're farming. However, the big thing is to try and inhale as much farm as humanly possible to get to your item spikes, don't inconvenience your team by sharing farm though - try to find lanes to farm and if necessary, try to ask for someone in your team to hover around you while you farm so you won't have to get picked for dinner.

You want to almost aim to farm 2 lanes at once. This is to try to keep you above the 10 CS per minute rule as long as you're consistent or at the very least get very close to it. This is because you should likely be spending time farming minions botlane, and when that lane is taken you'll head over to midlane to farm there, and when that lane is taken you'll head over to toplane to farm, and maybe even take jungle monsters - rinse and repeat. This won't always be possible of course, as CS isn't entirely the deal breaker within games and sometimes you'll be busy teamfighting or making sure you're around if a teamfight breaks out. But, in general you'll always want to look to farm waves upon waves as much as possible and avoid the concept of "waffling" - the act of wasting time without being able to accomplish anything.

Kiting

There's one general mistake most people make whenever they're playing ADC - which is not properly kiting targets. It sounds very easy to kite, in theory; right click any enemy, right click backwards, right click any enemy, right click backwards... seems easy, right? But what happens if you click ever so slightly off within your movement and now it's instantly ruined and you now get greeted by a very familiar grey screen? That doesn't sound so amazing now does it?

Plenty of players missclick all the time, and honestly, it's a very common occurence even with myself. Most good players (and especially Challenger tier ADC players + Pro Players) aren't affected too badly by these random missclicks, and the main reason for this is because of a built-in setting in League called "Attack Move".

Attack Move is a setting that acts very similarly to a regular right click; if you attempt to use attack move onto an enemy, you'll obviously attack that enemy, and if you use attack move and right click towards the ground, your champion will move towards that spot. The difference between using Attack Move and regular right clicks however is that if you move towards the ground, your champion will stop to auto-attack an enemy if they run into one before they reach the destination they originally intended to get to.

To any inexperienced League of Legends player - this seems incredibly useless, I mean it sounds just like a regular right click with no benefit whatsoever? However it actually has a multitude of different uses. For example kiting, if you right click backwards, then attack move your enemy, then right click backwards, rinse and repeat - congratulations you've successfully kited an enemy champion. Another significant detail about Attack Move to keep in mind is that it will always target champions when used, this means that if you're let's say diving an enemy under their tower - you won't have to worry about accidentally missclicking your auto attack onto the tower.

Kiting targets is the more obvious area of expertise for ADCs in which Attack Move becomes almost invaluable, as it'll save your life so many times, maybe even a multitude of times during a single game if used well. There is no downsides to using this setting for kiting and there are only upsides in what it's able to provide for you.

Teamfighting

Teamfighting around objectives with the sheer goal of taking them is a very convenient way to play the game.

Key points:
- Midlane and botlane waves are both pushed
- Enemy towers are gone up until their base
- After pushing waves we go for a baron call
- Enemy team does not have any vision, making it unlikely for them to know we're on the objective or have a way to react and contest

Stay alive. Do whatever is necessary during any teamfight or skirmish you encounter that you need in order to get into a safe position where you can deal damage without repercussions.

Stay safe. Always continue to adjust your main positioning during every major fight as to not die or place yourself in a position where you aren't useful whatsoever to your team.

Hit their front line. ADCs are the primary tankbusters that exists on the team - you have the most damage out of any champion in the game to deal with targets that can pose a threat to you or your teammates.

Hit their back line. Destroy the enemy's back line to void any hope of them contesting an objective, winning the major teamfight or getting any kind of advantage within the game. However, only do this when it doesn't conflict at all with priority 3 of the teamfighting checklist - hitting their front line.

Wave Management

This chapter goes over anything you'd want to know about wave management or otherwise named wave manipulation. During the lane you'll always have some sort of ways to manipulate waves every single game, same as the other lanes. It's mainly a set of guidelines to help you understand what to do in order to help yourself get ahead and remove possibilities of getting behind.

Slow Pushing

Good example of how to utilize "slow pushing" and optimized recall timers.

Key Points:
- Jungler gave us a gank, letting us pick off Rell
- Due to Rell dying, we can push the wave
- Only last hitting the minions or using abilities if absolutely necessary so that the wave doesn't push too quickly
- Set-up a recall timer once the slowed wave eventually pushes

The art of slowly pushing waves towards your opponent's tower whilst harassing the enemy in the process. Slow pushing is mostly used to create big waves and apply pressure - especially against botlane matchups that cannot contest it and risk the chance of losing multiple waves of minions in the process.

What does it do? This form of manipulation will allow your minions to take much less damage compared to the enemy minions, and as a result, your minions will be able to slowly push the wave to the enemies tower. This is because your minions will last longer and not die quickly because they will always have the numbers advantage over the enemy.

Why is it important? Slow pushing is a term that is used in this sense of gameplay because your minions will – even with the numbers advantage, still take some time to kill the enemy minions. When you're not able to freeze the wave, you want to deny as much gold/exp as you're able to from the opponent and slow pushing waves is a great concept to accomplish just that.

You should slow push when...

>>		You want to roam and help other lanes
>>		You want to recall to pick up items whilst the enemy is forced to CS under tower
>>		You want to make other plays around the map or contest very important objectives

You should not slow push when...

>>		The enemy jungler can attempt to gank the lane
>>		The wave does not need to be pushed (e.g. there is no objective to contest)
>>		You're able to set-up a freeze which can permanently deny gold/exp

Fast Pushing

A good example of how you can utilize "fast pushing" within your games.

Key Points:
- Enemy botlane is dead
- Abilities and autos are used to push the wave to the enemy tower as quickly as possible
- Set-up a recall timer once the wave is cleared

Fast pushing is a form of manipulation that is used to create immediate and attention seeking behavior that needs to be addressed quickly by the enemy. Without this, enemies could take liberty and be gone for a long time without missing much. Fast pushing is used to force the enemy to make split decisions that may not be fully thought through.

In order to push a wave fast - you need to kill all the minions as quickly as you possibly can. You should look to use your auto attacks as well as your abilities to make the wave clearing much quicker to perform and make use of.

Pushing waves requires only one thing – more minions. The more minions you have compared to the enemies, the faster and more powerful the push will be. If you're clearing every minion the enemy has and only yours remain, they'll push very quickly to the opponent's tower.

You should fast push when...

>>		The enemy is attempting to roam and help other lanes that are struggling
>>		The enemy has left the lane to recall, buy items and spend their gold
>>		You want to dive the enemy under their tower (usually accompanied by your own jungler)

You should not fast push when...

>>		The enemy is still in lane and could set-up a freeze for themselves
>>		The enemy jungler could attempt to gank the lane and you're both low on health
>>		There is no dive to be made that requires pushing the wave really fast

Freezing

A good example of how you can utilize "freezing", both setting up a freeze and how to attempt to manage it.

Key Points:
- We keep 4 enemy minions alive at our tower
- Said minions can permanently keep the wave in place without it moving
- We know that our jungler is bot side so we do break the freeze to attempt to poke and harass the enemy laners
- In the end we end up trading 2 for 2 and switch over to a fast push for an efficient recall timer

Freezing is one of the more complicated types of manipulation to perfect as it requires a lot more work because you have to constantly manipulate the wave in your favor whilst keeping an eye on your opponents. When freezing, you want to be able to zone the enemy off the farm and make them overextend if they want to get any farm.

If you want to freeze the wave - all you need to do is have at least 4+ enemy minions comparative to yours and last-hit the enemy minions at the last possible second. Sounds simple right? Well…it’s going to get a bit more complicated. Whenever the enemy damages a minion through either auto attacks or ability use outside of last-hitting, you will need to match their damage. This is because your allied minions will die quicker as they have less health and as a result, the enemies wave will be pushing towards you.

Due to having to match the damage - all the minions will die at roughly the same time which prevents the wave from pushing in either direction – thus creating the freeze. If you didn’t match the damage, or you start randomly auto attacking the minions, then the wave will not freeze and instead start pushing in a direction you may not like. Attack too little, and the wave will push against you. Attack too much, and it’ll push towards the enemy.

You should freeze when...

>>		You’re very ahead of the enemy or if you’re even with them
>>		The difference in strength between both parties is not very significant
>>		When your jungler is not at your side of the map and you can track the enemy jungler well

You should not freeze when...

>>		You’re extremely behind and can't properly set-up a freeze.
>>		The enemy laners have a massive lead and is stronger than you
>>		You have a lead and is ahead (you want to just push, push and push if you are ahead)

Warding

Seeing as you're an AD Carry, most of the times you won't have the biggest possibilities to just casually walk around the map and place wards. More often than not, that'll be the role of your Support to accomplish instead.

With that said, there are still some places and situations where you'll either have the need or the time to place down your s before eventually changing it out for a once the midgame starts and the game starts to get much longer.

Here are some good warding spots you can use (click the images to enlarge them):

Level 1 Wards

RAPTORS

These wards will give you information on the enemy jungler's early pathing. If they start on red side they'll either cross over this ward from Krugs to do Raptors or skip and do wolves. If they don't cross over the ward, it's likely they started blue side and plans to invade or make use of this information in another way that presents itself.

PIXEL-BRUSH

This gives you very early information on whether the enemy team plans to invade your team and jungler early on in the game. It serves as a way to be noticed of invades before they actually happen so that you won't have to die and give the enemy free gold.

LANE WARDS

These wards will give you information on decisions made by the enemy botlaners. In higher ranks, most botlaners will attempt to set-up an ambush and get an early health lead within the lane if they do not need to leash for their jungler. This ward allows you to be aware of that problem.

Defensive Wards

PIXEL-BRUSH

If you're getting pushed in very often and you're frightened at the attempt of the enemy jungler pathing towards botlane to attempt to set-up a dive, you can opt to place down these types of wards. These are wards that are heavily defensive and if you spot the enemy jungler in these brushes when you're pushed in - it's about time to leave the lane and lose a few waves to stay alive.

RIVER

If you're against junglers that don't gank lanes very quickly and have a very linear pattern they play from such as let's say . These wards are great because they provide vision over the whole river whilst not making you all too surprised from ganks that wrap around and helps you see if you can kill them in a 2v2 fast enough even before their jungler arrives.

LANE BRUSHES

Whenever you're recalling back to base and you've got spare wards, always try to place down a ward into your own lane bush that's closest to your tower. This serves a number of different uses. First of all it helps create flanking options for users and secondly, if you're freezing the lane - obviously the enemy jungler has to come and help. Lane ganks are very prevalent in higher ranks and should never be fully ignored.

Offensive Wards

ENEMY PIXEL-BRUSH

These wards are more aimed to give you the necessary information against junglers that very often execute ganks extremely quickly (e.g. / / or can jump over walls with ease like . Especially junglers that tend to gank a lane at level 3 or even as early as level 2.

MID-RIVER

If you've got the necessary spare time to play this offensive, wards like these can be very useful. This one will always cover river and will always make sure it spots the enemy jungler each and every time they decide to attempt ganking your lane for free kills.

Objective Wards

AROUND THE OBJECTIVE

Very useful ward locations if you're trying to prepare for an objective and want vision around the objective to spot enemies trying to lurk around. Putting down a isn't always needed, just having 2 s work just as fine.

THE OBJECTIVE PIT

The most common spot in the game. Primary reason is because it covers the entire dragon & baron pit so enemies trying to put wards over the wall to get vision will get denied entirely. It also serves as some good general vision if you're gonna prepare for it or if the enemy team might start it.

MID-RIVER NEAR OBJECTIVE

If you didn't buy any s or simply just don't have any in your inventory you could place down a in this location (s also work but will give gold when destroyed) and it'll still reveal any enemies passing through it, or trying to do the objective (assuming they're not jumping the wall).

Welcome to the matchup section. Below is a table depicting the difficulties of the matchups. Please keep in mind that these difficulties are solely based on my opinion. Matchup difficulty also depends on your skill and the skill of the opponents.

ADCs

Champion

Difficulty

Aphelios

Ashe

Brand

Caitlyn

Cassiopeia

Corki

Draven

Ezreal

Jhin

Jinx

Kai'Sa

Kalista

Karthus

Kog'Maw

Lucian

Miss Fortune

Champion

Difficulty

Nilah

Samira

Senna

Seraphine

Sivir

Smolder

Syndra

Tristana

Twitch

Varus

Vayne

Veigar

Xerath

Yasuo

Zeri

Ziggs

a-m matchups

Click a champion icon to go directly to the matchup!

Aphelios

Summoners

Start Item

Key Ability

Lane

Matchup Difficulty

Is pretty much a kill or be killed type of carry. His greatest weakness is being immobile, making him an easy target to lock down compared to other more mobile carries whilst his greatest strength is his immensely high amount of damage coupled with insane possibilities when it comes to teamfights.

You can counter by paying close attention to what type of gun combos he has available. This is because of the fact that certain gun combos will aid him more than others when it comes to skirmishes or general fights. Trade and/or all-in him whenever he’s got weak guns as he will be more vulnerable.

However in general, as long as you avoid gun combos with Chakram in them, you’re more than likely good to go as that gun will make it very easy for him to fight you. You can find a more detailed description of good/bad gun combos in the spoiler below.

GUN-COMBOS

Win Condition

Mainly about gun management. Strong whenever he gets the gun combos in the rotation that he wants and weak whenever he gets the guns he doesn’t want, this coupled with his immobility. Punish him whenever he’s got worse guns to use and the matchup will become easier overall assuming he’s not already incredibly ahead.

Ashe

Summoners

Start Item

Key Ability

Lane

Matchup Difficulty

Has very easy to land abilities that span a very long range, as they’re AoE poke - but it’s notable to remember that they’re not particularly strong early on and has quite the cooldowns which will result in average waveclear, weak trades and all-ins for the earliest stages of the game.

Her worst stage in the game is the earliest phase. This means that if you’re not able to deal with her poke whatsoever, she’s going to have a very easy time scaling into later stages of the game which will lead to her waveclear, trades and all-ins becoming much more lethal.

If you’re not able to pressure her and scare her off of trading or casting on repeat for poke, she can make the laning phase and most of the game feel like bullying with the amount of damage she'd be able to deal without getting punished for it even though her early stages are pretty weak.

Win Condition

Strong whenever she’s able to poke and bully her opponents without repercussions and weak whenever she is very behind or isn’t able to use her abilities to her strongest potential. Try to deal with her early on as it’s by far her weakest stage in the entire game and she’ll only scale from there.

Brand

Summoners

Start Item

Key Ability

Lane

Matchup Difficulty

Miserable to face due to AoE and damage over time abilities but heavily reliant on a good support. You want to shut him down as much as possible in the early stages of the game as that's where he's the weakest. If he's allowed to freely scale, you're going to have an absolutely horrible time.

Try avoiding as it mainly sets up the rest of his abilities and is the one that deals the most damage. Quick trades goes quite a long way here and it's best to just chip away at his health until he gets low enough for a proper all-in.

The main problem with is that it can bounce to other targets if you're a) grouped together with your support b) grouped together with allies or c) too close to . Avoid clumping together as to not let this ability spread which will in turn lower the damage output.

Win Condition

Try your hardest to avoid his poke damage and . He becomes quite scary if he's allowed to scale and has good support synergy. Avoid getting shoved in so that he can't freely poke you whilst you are trying to farm. Make use of items that give you sustain and you should be able to survive the lane.

Caitlyn

Summoners

Start Item

Key Ability

Lane

Matchup Difficulty

As long as you’re not being reckless and outright just giving huge leads in lane, you should be able to beat her by default even if you end up going even. Obviously getting ahead in the lane and gaining an advantage is always preferred, but it’s more important not to give her leads that she can abuse to make the lane an absolute hell for you.

deals reduced damage beyond the first target that was hit, standing behind minions while laning will mean you’ll never get hit by the full damage of this ability as the minions tank the initial damage. wants to shove you into tower, she wants to build lane pressure, zone you and poke the ever living hell out of you when you try to farm. Set-up freezes when you’re able to and avoid getting shoved in.

has an ability called - this makes her extremely deadly if she’s coupled with the right support. Any support that gives her hard CC (e.g. / ) will allow her to immediately place down a trap on your face for free to set-up combos. Keep this in mind always.

Win Condition

Try your hardest to not let her shove you in, try to prevent the wave from getting stuck under your tower - this is the part where shines the absolute best. Try not to take too much poke/harass and make use of items/runes that give you sustain and you should be able to survive the lane.

Cassiopeia

Summoners

Start Item

Key Ability

Lane

Matchup Difficulty

Follows the same immobility pattern as that of other champions in this role, however she’s able to substitute her inability to escape with her ability to continuously poke her targets. is her deadliest ability in her entire kit - and all her other abilities play around this singular ability.

If this lane is played well, she won’t be the biggest of issues. She scales well if she’s allowed to get her items but unless she’s able to hit her or onto you, she won’t be able to deal damage to her fullest potential. Try to seek ganks from your jungler if possible and abuse her inability to escape ganks pre-6 when is down (without using ).

Focus on short trades against - as she’ll be able to win trades that are extended for long periods of time due to the way that her kit is designed. Try not to take too much poke/harass and make use of your sustain to get yourself through the laning phase despite this hurdle.

Win Condition

Call for jungle ganks to abuse her immobility without the need of using while avoiding her most important abilities. Keep in mind that deals double the damage if you’ve been hit by any other ability in her kit. Focus on short trades and not extended ones.

Corki

Summoners

Start Item

Key Ability

Lane

Matchup Difficulty

has a few abilities that lets him waveclear and deal damage - albeit these aren’t extremely strong and neither are they enough to genuinely pose a threat towards you. The only time this would be a problem is if he gets a few kills early on and now plays with a lead.

His main ability throughout the entire game is which allows him to start poking properly to the point it actually deals some damage. At 8 minutes into the game, he’ll be able to pick up a package in base with the use of his passive , he will make a broadcasted voiceline whenever he picks up this package - always keep in mind about it and ping your team accordingly.

Generally, if you aren’t providing him with early kills or advantages that he doesn’t deserve, this should never pose an actual problem of a matchup. ’s waveclearing in general is already quite atrocious to say the least and all he really has is damage.

Win Condition

Don’t give him kills early that could give him any sort of advantage, even if you go even in lane it’s heavily winning for you. Be wary of his and try to dodge them as much as you’re able to. Ping your team accordingly whenever he picks up his package in base.

Draven

Summoners

Start Item

Key Ability

Lane

Matchup Difficulty

You lose in lane to massively, it’s not even remotely close. This is the champion that excels in short trades, long trades and all-ins, he’s an everything in one - a true lane bully. You’ll want to avoid trades at all cost as you do not win them without teammates (and even with you still don’t).

Try to keep your farm up as much as you’re able to, the way to win this matchup is to inhale farm to the point you’re about to explode whilst taking minimal damage. Giving trades whatsoever is exactly what he wants as his passive allows him to cash in a lot of gold from adoration stacks (that he gets from catching axes and getting minions) if he scores a takedown.

Because creates the desire for him to build up adoration stacks as much as possible to cash them in the moment he scores takedowns - chances are that the lane will pretty much constantly push towards you. Call your jungler and stay relatively healthy for when a potential ally gank does arrive. The main way to shut him down is to not let him cash out his gold.

Win Condition

Don’t give him kills and free leads. Do your best to just go even in lane - you lose every single trade period. Your biggest goal in this matchup is to inhale as much farm as you possibly can and scale as much as possible. Wait for your team to all-in him and follow up as see fit. You do not ever win against this champion alone.

Ezreal

Summoners

Start Item

Key Ability

Lane

Matchup Difficulty

Is someone that is picked mostly for safety or comfort as most of his damage is primarily from that can be blocked by minions and that passes through minions. These abilities allow him the ability to either poke or farm from afar. Because his early stages are probably the biggest joke in the game, most of the time he’ll just aim to play it safe and farm up.

Whenever he carelessly uses abilities you should attempt to go for quick trades onto him. You will always beat him in trades when he doesn’t have ways to protect himself or return the damage and due to being so important for him and he wastes it, you’ll have plenty of options to trade.

If he has a weak support and you’ve got vision for the enemy jungler, you can attempt to shove him into tower and force him to use his abilities to get his minions instead of attempting to hit them onto you. An player’s dream is to just relax, keep the wave even and farm up with minimal interactions unless it’s very in their favor.

Win Condition

Avoid harass as much as you’re able to by standing behind your minions - does not get blocked by minions but does. Take advantage of his cooldowns while they’re still pretty high during the early stages of the game, even if you go even in lane that’s good.

Jhin

Summoners

Start Item

Key Ability

Lane

Matchup Difficulty

Wants to attempt to harass as much as they’re able to with minimal repercussions. allows him a lot of freedom to poke with and usually couples it together with a 4th shot of his to create quick trades that deal a lot of damage, keep yourself at a distance whenever he’s got his 4th shot available as it’s his entire gimmick.

One thing to note about this champion is that he can only shoot 4 shots at a time before he’s forced to reload. You want to punish this window (if available - not carelessly) and trade with him while he’s still reloading, as it allows you to get damage onto him whilst he cannot return any damage towards you due to having to reload.

Expect to play the lane very slow and do your best to just go even in lane unless he’s making horrible mistakes. Rarely will you outright win the lane and most of the times it’s just easier to keep your farm higher than his and just keep the lane even.

Win Condition

Avoid horrible trades with him (even worse if he’s got his 4th shot from available) and only take trades that would benefit yourself, whether by quick poke or when he reloads. You want to go even in lane and keep your farm high - afterwards you can look for opportunities to punish him.

Jinx

Summoners

Start Item

Key Ability

Lane

Matchup Difficulty

A very typical scaling champion much like with - yet has probably the most miserable laning phase out of any ADC. Her late game power is incredible and massive, yet actually trying to get there is brutally difficult unless she gets ahead in lane early.

You want to punish her weak early as much as you possibly can. Whether that is from good quick trades, denying minions with freezes or just asking your jungler to gank botlane or set up a little tent on the bottom side of the map as she’s incredibly vulnerable to ganks due to her immobility.

shines as a champion when she’s able to breeze through her weakest early stages in order to get into her late game power she’s known for. and allows for very high range, very high damage poke with an auto-attack range so high it’s extremely unfun to play against.

Win Condition

Abuse her early stages of the game as much as you’re able to as it’s the weakest part about her. You do not want to allow her to just farm and get to late game with minimal interactions and high farm as it’s exactly what she wants. Call your jungler for ganks to shut her down early and crush any hope.

Kai'Sa

Summoners

Start Item

Key Ability

Lane

Matchup Difficulty

Similar to in that she wants to scale and not attempt any 1v1s or trades that doesn’t already significantly favor her. She wants to reach her most important powerspikes in the game which is when her abilities are able to evolve and she wants to reach this area in the easiest way possible. She scales well into the later stages of the game and will not fall off, you want to shut her down early before she’s able to become a menace.

She has incredibly low range and such can be abused to pull off quick trades or look for all-ins once you find an opportunity to do so due to her having a rough time giving any damage back towards you because of the terrible range.

Besides the movement speed she gains from , she doesn’t have any reliable means of escape pre-6. Attempt to use this to your favor by freezing the wave near your tower to allow opportunities for your jungler to come gank.

Win Condition

Poke her down or take trades that benefit you whilst not allowing her room to return the damage due to her low base range. Look to freeze the wave closer to your tower as to allow your jungler to gank or to set-up ways to punish her early phase when she is the weakest and most vulnerable.

Kalista

Summoners

Start Item

Key Ability

Lane

Matchup Difficulty

The main gimmick of this champion relies on her . The more you extend fights, the less likely you’ll be to win them. If you carelessly let her attack you and build her spears, the harder it will be to create a trade that won’t leave you to instantly die.

gives her a lot of freedom when it comes to movement. She’s one of the only champions in the game that can essentially initiate an attack and movement command all at once, she can attack and throw a spear onto you whilst also moving towards, to the side or even away from you. You don’t want to let her get on top of you as it’ll be incredibly difficult to avoid her in that case.

Always be mindful of her ultimate the moment she reaches level 6 and onwards. If you’ve got terrible positioning she will attempt to throw her support into you using fate’s call and engage on the spot. It’s already difficult for you to escape as is and together with this it becomes an even more difficult problem.

Win Condition

Take short trades and avoid all-ins due to her ability to extend fights and nuke you with . This is a champion that can become scary incredibly quickly if she even gets the slightest lead so plan accordingly and play smart. Even if you go even in lane, this is incredibly good - don’t give her leads.

Karthus

Summoners

Start Item

Key Ability

Lane

Matchup Difficulty

An unusual matchup yet strong if played well. offers both decent waveclear and poke and could be lethal if it hits you multiple times. Keep in mind that the ability deals more damage if only a single target was hit, instead of the reduced damage if more targets were hit.

Most people who play this champion crave stacks and kills. Your aim is to avoid giving him any of these as much as you possibly can. The harvest stacks allow him to build scaling power and kills would only extend his lead. If anything, you want to aim to go even by keeping your farm relatively higher than his or outright beat him with proper trades.

Always remember that for a few seconds after he dies, he will be in a zombie-ish state where he can still use all his abilities for a short time. This is important to know so you don’t kill him and then forget about it and he destroys you with to create an even trade when you otherwise had a lead.

Win Condition

Remember that is a strong ability and do not give him careless leads or advantages. He’s a scaling champion that if allowed to scale, will dominate the game. Your aim is to go even in lane and keep your farm high. Deny him the ability to get leads as much as you can.

Kog'Maw

Summoners

Start Item

Key Ability

Lane

Matchup Difficulty

Another hyper scaling champion that has an incredibly weak laning phase, waveclear and all-ins - but can scale and become a powerhouse if not punished early. Aim to poke him in lane a lot whenever his is down, but don’t overextend too much and get caught as a result, keep an even trading pattern.

is very easy to catch and kill as like other ADCs, he’s very immobile and susceptible to ganks. You want to be mindful of when to go for trades and when not to as well as freezing the wave close to your tower as much as you’re able to. You do not want to shove him in (unless to set-up dives) as you’ll be giving him exactly what he wants, the ease of safely farming under tower and scaling.

Always make your best attempt at dodging as it reduces your armor and magic resistance if it manages to hit. Avoiding it will significantly reduce his ability to trade and you can potentially come out on top, likewise getting hit by it can allow him to poke you down and chunk your health.

Win Condition

Only take trades when applicable (especially when is down), don’t position yourself terribly and get caught, wait for him to make mistakes and punish them. He’s immobile, freeze the wave close to your tower as much as you can - deny him farm and abuse him with ganks.

Lucian

Summoners

Start Item

Key Ability

Lane

Matchup Difficulty

Can be a problem to have to deal with. A good player will always look for opportunities to all-in their opponent or trade, and you won’t always win these. This type of playstyle becomes even more amplified if they’re paired with a good enchanter support such as that can boost his damage and trading patterns further.

You do not win most fights against him and thus should stay at a distance if possible. If you see him use important abilities onto the wave, you’ll have a small window to make quick trades but in general you want to focus on farming. Going even in lane and keeping your farm high whilst denying him early leads he would get from kills is a reliable way to play this matchup.

Focusing on farming is the most important. You want to do your absolute best to win the farming minigame, not giving him any kills whatsoever and just win through scaling. A that isn’t allowed to bully the lane early and abuse early leads, won’t be as strong the longer the game stalls out.

Win Condition

Much like with , lane bullies are extremely difficult to play against when your early laning is not the best. Avoid getting poked, bullied and shoved in as much as possible and only take all-ins you know for sure you will win. Keep your farm high and win the minigame of who can farm the most.

Miss Fortune

Summoners

Start Item

Key Ability

Lane

Matchup Difficulty

Always pay attention to her - it’s one of her main ways to trade and poke. Keep track of which minions you have that are low on health and avoid standing behind them. The ability will critically strike you if the target before you was killed. So you’ll take more damage if she kills a minion before it bounces towards you.

In this lane you want to focus on farming and avoiding poke. The more poke you take from her the harder it will be to sustain yourself and survive the laning phase. If she’s able to just run over you with ease, playing the rest of the game will prove to be a difficult task.

Be mindful of her and after level 6 as it can be very difficult to escape her combos otherwise without having to use important spells. Her ultimate deals a ton of damage, however it makes her stationary when used and so she becomes susceptible to CC during the animation.

Win Condition

Pay attention to your positioning for this matchup, do not stand behind minions that are low to get carelessly hit by and focus your best on keeping your farm high. Her poke is relatively easy to avoid if you’re aware of how it functions. Be aware of post-6.

n-z matchups

Click a champion icon to go directly to the matchup!

Nilah

Summoners

Start Item

Key Ability

Lane

Matchup Difficulty

Can be a very oppressive laner if you play the lane carelessly and make mistakes. Her range is short, but she loves to fight in close ranges. She only becomes worse if she's able to gain a proper lead, even if you manage to just go even in this lane, it'll still be more favored towards her.

Her worst ability that makes her entire kit is . This is purely because killing minions rewards not only her but also her nearest ally with 50% of the experience from said minions. This makes it very easy for her and her support to overlevel even if the lane has no interactions at all and just proper farming.

is also a very troublesome ability as it not only grants her movement speed, but also allows her to dodge any incoming attacks -- this coupled with is what makes her physical trades and all-ins as deadly as they are. She thrives in melee range.

Win Condition

Avoid giving her free trades in melee range or allowing her to jump onto you with . You want to poke her from afar and then commit to an all-in when she waste her spells or is low enough. Going even in this lane will still make you lose the lane due to making her and her support overlevel from farming.

Samira

Summoners

Start Item

Key Ability

Lane

Matchup Difficulty

Mediocre without a lead, insanely lane dominant with a lead. She relies very heavily on poking with and will never trade or all-in with you unless her support gets a very good CC / engage for her to follow up on. The easiest way to handle her is to poke from afar and avoid close all-ins.

Her is a very troublesome ability, as it nullifies and removes absolutely any ability you have that is regarded as a projectile. Due to this, it's extremely valuable to trade with her when this ability is down. Alternatively, try to make her waste it first before trading. If you see her use the spell to block something quickly, make sure to punish that mistake.

let's her build a combo from "E" rank to "S" rank. Each unique attack from the previous one grants her a new style. If she reaches "S" rank she's allowed to use -- meaning it has effectively no cooldown if she builds her style over and over and coupled with a lead and some items, you're just dead entirely when caught.

Win Condition

Dominant with a lead, mediocre if she cannot get ahead. Avoid close all-ins or getting caught by the support and poke her from afar until all-ins are more inviting. Try making her waste so she cannot block your important abilities and be careful of due to how brutal it can be if she's able to gain leads and items.

Senna

Summoners

Start Item

Key Ability

Lane

Matchup Difficulty

She loves trading due to the existance of -- which gives her a soul to collect if she hits a champion twice with a 6-4 second cooldown. Each soul grants her more attack damage (AD) and every 20 souls grants her more attack range and critical strike chance. It's very inviting for her to stack quickly and get as much as possible.

If you're allowed to close the gap to her, she becomes very squishy and easy to kill, which is why she's often paired with stronger supports that can tank for her and allow her to do whatever she wants.

When she plays ADC she's mostly paired with or a related support like or . This is due to a strategy called "Fasting Senna" where the player will play both the role of an ADC and a Support. Your support farms with you, but you still buy ADC items.

Win Condition

Poke her from afar and avoid giving her free souls from by poking you. If you can close the gap on her after getting her low enough, she can become a very easy target. Often paired with for a "Fasting Senna" playstyle where she's both the ADC and the Support and she farms together with her Support but still buys ADC items.

Seraphine

Summoners

Start Item

Key Ability

Lane

Matchup Difficulty

If she isn't punished early and rendered useless, she's just going to be a major nuisance. It's not necessarily because she deals a lot of damage, it's only because she won't really be able to die and can still shield and support her entire team just by existing.

allows her every 3rd ability to cast twice. This makes increasingly horrible as just using the ability normally will provide a shield to her and any ally near her, but if it casts twice and her allies are already shielded it'll also heal.

Typically always paired together with mainly to solidify the ability to never die once. Sona can heal her and she can heal Sona. The sustain will be so annoying that once again, even if it's little damage, it's an immense nuisance. is practically required here to even play.

Win Condition

Punish her early, or she will be horrible to play against. makes every 3rd ability cast twice, be careful of this. She's typically paired with to make the laning phase so annoying that you want to just lose. is absolutely required to even play the game.

Sivir

Summoners

Start Item

Key Ability

Lane

Matchup Difficulty

Her main poke comes from as she'd rather poke from afar and just focus on farming. She's not an oppressive laner by any means, she just wants to play the lane. Going even still feels good for her.

as the name suggests is a shield that blocks any incoming spell and the damage or CC it could give entirely whilst also refunding mana from blocking the ability. It's worth to keep this in mind when trading with her so that she doesn't block your most important damaging or stunning spells as it can remove your threat and make an otherwise easy kill not possible anymore.

It's worthy to remind yourself about as even though it's not an extremely strong ultimate or something that can instantly kill you, it still provides her entire team with increased movement speed if they're near her and is a very strong teamfight starter.

Win Condition

Avoid her during the laning phase as it's her best ability to deal damage and poke with. Avoid letting her block your most important spells with and try making her waste it on something else so you don't lose out on a kill. Keep in mind about the team-wide movement speed she can provide with if her allies are near.

Smolder

Summoners

Start Item

Key Ability

Lane

Matchup Difficulty

Very weak early on but if allowed to scale, will become a nightmare to try and kill, even if he just goes even in lane and even if he doesn't get a single kill but lots of farm.

His entire gimmick revolves around and mainly . Each time he uses any ability he'll gain a Dragon Practice stack, with enough stacks his Q will evolve and become increasingly more annoying to face.

At no stacks, will only affect 1 target. At 25 stacks it'll turn into a small AoE surrounding the target. At 125 stacks explosions will appear that bounces beyond the initial target. And finally, at 225 stacks any enemy champion that is below 6.5% max health will immediately get executed.

Win Condition

Poke him from afar as much as possible. Try to avoid letting him stack as much as you can, if that is possible. Freezing is very strong here. His entire gimmick is farming and getting stacks to evolve his and practically become a champion, nullify that and he's basically a minion.

Syndra

Summoners

Start Item

Key Ability

Lane

Matchup Difficulty

Horrible matchup for you if you cannot dodge her or E+Q properly. If she's able to freely farm and still poke you a lot, the entire lane is really going to be miserable.

Her main gimmick is as she wants to stack it effectively and quickly. This is purely because with more stacks, her abilities evolve. This happens at 40, 60, 80 and 100 stacks. At 120 stacks she also becomes fully transcended and gains a raw 15% AP damage increase.

With , is practically a mandatory spell into this lane. This is only really due to the fact that if you were to get hit by a single stun, not even by just her, but by anyone, you are more than likely instantly dead.

Win Condition

Try to dodge and avoid her poke and E+Q stun as much as you're able to. If she can stack less, it'll take longer for her to become a threat. She wants to stack as effectively as possible to increase her overall damage output as fast as possible. is mandatory into this lane due to stuns and execution when evolved.

Tristana

Summoners

Start Item

Key Ability

Lane

Matchup Difficulty

Has a weak early laning phase unless you freely allow her to engage onto you or to stack . If punished early, she isn't going to be nearly as impactful.

As mentioned, is a strong ability if she can place it onto you and then auto you a lot to stack it up. The ability deals more damage the more it's stacked, therefore it's recommended to just back off entirely if she puts it on your head as to not let her stack it at all. Just back off, let it explode and then go back to farm or poke.

paired with a strong engage support can be very lethal. Half of her playstyle in lane revolves around waiting for you to walk up or make a mistake and then collapse onto you with her support to punish you and give her a lead. You do not want this and neither do you want to be in close range.

Win Condition

Weak if unable to get a lead. If she places an on your head back off and let it explode, then go back to farm or poke, don't let her stack it for free and take more damage. Be wary of what support she's paired with as the right engage support + can lead to lethal engages which may end up killing you.

Twitch

Summoners

Start Item

Key Ability

Lane

Matchup Difficulty

Worst part about this champion is his autos and . If he gains items, his autos will deal a lot of damage. God forbid he builds AP and chunk half your health with just alone.

Tends to win all-ins especially if they're more favored towards him. Due to this your biggest aim will be to poke from afar. You want to chunk him bit by bit and then all-in him when he gets low enough. Don't give him a chance to make an all-in that you cannot win.

Typically paired with enchanters just because of how brutally annoying they can be and how much safety they can provide for . The most notable ones are and . These enchanters just make it much harder to effectively punish him and unless they play the lane absolutely horrible, it will be very hard.

Win Condition

If allowed to get a lead, he will become a nuisance that can kill you quite easily. He loves to all-in and wins most of them against you, poke him from afar instead and only all-in when he's low enough that you reliably can win. Typically paired with strong enchanters like / due to their sheer amount of shields and sustain that would give an otherwise fragile everything they'd need.

Varus

Summoners

Start Item

Key Ability

Lane

Matchup Difficulty

Potent laner that locks you in place and kills you with a single concentrated shot of damage due to . is also worthless into this matchup as is easy to hit and applies reduced healing.

allows him to auto you and apply Blight stacks, up to a maximum of 3. The more stacks he places onto you, the more damage he can deal when those stacks get procced by his other abilities. The worst thing he can do to you is apply 3 stacks, then use to enhance to make it stronger and as mentioned prior, kill you at once with a single arrow shot that has a concentrated type of damage.

also makes the matchup inherently worse as it initially locks you in place if it hits you and then tries to lock allies near you in place as well. It makes it way easier for him to deal damage to you when you're stunned this way -- making all the more needed.

Win Condition

Strong and annoying if he's able to freely place Blight stacks onto you and proc them with , terrible if he's unable to get a lead. Poke from afar and pick to get away from his and avoid a massive CC chain into an instant kill.

Vayne

Summoners

Start Item

Key Ability

Lane

Matchup Difficulty

Weak as hell pre-6, much stronger after this level spike. Ideally you'd want to poke her as much as you can so she can't just poke you down freely and eventually all-in. Post-6 she's difficult to kill and can just run you down if ahead as the invisibility from her ultimate makes it hard to land abilities onto her.

is her main gimmick, it's a 3 hit ability that when the 3rd attack procs, it'll deal much more damage. This is precisely why extended trades with her is bad for you. Ideally you want to poke as much as you're able to, poke her from afar and a lot until she's so low to the point even if you were to all-in, you'll win.

Be wary of her and avoid standing too close to walls. You shouldn't allow her to freely shoot you into a wall and stun you, it's a very easy way for her to stack damage and once again, run you down if ahead.

Win Condition

Weak early pre-6, very good post-6 especially if ahead. Poke her from afar and all-in her only when she's low to the point you will win. Don't take extended trades due to and avoid standing too close to walls due to her . In later stages of the game you want to fight her with your team, never alone.

Veigar

Summoners

Start Item

Key Ability

Lane

Matchup Difficulty

You could go even in this lane, but even if you did it would still favor him way more than you. Ideally never actually wants to trade with you, only farm and stack .

As mentioned, he wants to stack his passive as it boosts his damage. Later down the line if he stacked well and focused on farming only, he can very easily just CC you with and instantly kill you. into this would be very beneficial.

Having that said, this champ is extremely immobile, if you ask for ganks and he wastes his , he's practically a free kill. Only if he's able to scale without effort does he become a problem, if he cannot do that he's a worthless champion.

Win Condition

Doesn't want to win the lane, would be fine if the lane is even as he just wants to stack . Poke him from afar and try your best not to let him stack for free. Later in the game you'd want to have to avoid his and his ability to instantly kill you with .

Xerath

Summoners

Start Item

Key Ability

Lane

Matchup Difficulty

Another AP Carry that doesn't want to interact with you in lane whatsoever either and only wants to farm and poke you from afar if you freely give him the ability to do so. Extremely potent if he's just able to do whatever he wants.

Try to avoid getting poked by or as much as possible and try to inhale as much farm as you're able to. Poke him only if it's free and punish him for mistakes. If you cannot find any mistakes, it's better to try and just win the farming minigame instead and hope your team can deal with him.

into this matchup is also very prevalent due to how devastating or slows can be -- especially if he's able to get ahead and farm well. He's immobile, but deals a lot of damage.

Win Condition

Doesn't want to interact with you unless you freely allow him to poke you. All he really wants to do is focus on farming and get items, only poking when necessary. Try to dodge his abilities as much as you're able to and focus more on farming and not getting punished and shoved out of lane.

Yasuo

Summoners

Start Item

Key Ability

Lane

Matchup Difficulty

The only melee ADC you'd probably ever see in this lane. Extremely annoying if you don't know how to play into him or god forbid he's coupled with a support that only makes him feel worse to play against.

makes you unable to hit any projectiles or even autos at him. It's very advised to attempt making him waste this ability or just go for a short trade where he uses it. You want to poke him a lot and all-in him only when this ability is down and you can actually win.

His is very strong and paired with allows him to both engage and disengage rather easily. The worst thing you can do is allow him to engage and especially if you get hit by the tornado from his Q which places you in airborne and allows him to use onto you.

Win Condition

Avoid trading with him or walking too close when his is available. He can very easily turn and engage with and . If you get low enough, cannot escape and you let him use for free, you're almost always dead. here is very useful as he needs to get into your face to deal damage.

Zeri

Summoners

Start Item

Key Ability

Lane

Matchup Difficulty

Aggressive laner that adores to trade and all-in post-6 when she has her ultimate and main damaging ability .

Her main gimmick is as it essentially acts as her auto attacks, despite being an ability. Each time she uses it she will fire a burst of rounds that deal damage to whatever target they're aimed towards, each hit also gives her charge and with every actual auto attack she can spend her charge to deal a single hit of additional damage.

allows her to jump walls and as long as there is a wall infront of her, she will be able to ride onto it all the way until it ends. This means that no matter how far the wall is, she can still ride across it. This makes her very strong in fights and skirmishes but also very slippery to catch and lock down if you were to ask for ganks.

Win Condition

Loves extended trades, even more post-6 with . Poke from afar and always make short trades. Only all-in her when she's low enough that you can win. acts as her basic attacks and she's very slippery with -- making it much harder to gank her unless she's severely overextended.

Ziggs

Summoners

Start Item

Key Ability

Lane

Matchup Difficulty

Has a weak early and if pushed into tower, has a very rough time farming. The best way to punish this matchup is to poke and push in. You want to deny him as much as you're able to in the earliest stages of the game, before he's able to scale and become a nuisance.

Don't stay within your own minions due to 's immense splash range, even if it hits minions. Try to stay away from minions and force him to choose between either getting farm or to try and poke you. The less farm he gets, the more worthwhile it is for you.

The best way to trade with him is when he either wastes or if it is on cooldown. He's very fragile without it and all-ins are very strong here, especially if you're paired with a good engage support.

Win Condition

Weak early and suffers a lot if you push him into tower as he's not that good at farming under his own tower. Poke him from afar and avoid standing near minions due to 's splash range, even if it hits your minions. Track when his is on cooldown and trade with him when it is. All-ins when his abilities aren't available are extremely strong.

Supports

Champion

Difficulty

Alistar

Amumu

Annie

Ashe

Bard

Blitzcrank

Brand

Braum

Galio

Gragas

Janna

Karma

Leona

Lulu

Lux

Maokai

Milio

Morgana

Nami

Nautilus

Neeko

Pantheon

Poppy

Pyke

Champion

Difficulty

Rakan

Rell

Renata Glasc

Senna

Seraphine

Sett

Shaco

Sion

Sona

Soraka

Swain

Tahm Kench

Taric

Thresh

Twitch

Vel'Koz

Xerath

Yuumi

Zac

Zilean

Zyra

a-p matchups

Click a champion icon to go directly to the matchup!

Alistar

Summoners

Start Item

Key Ability

Lane

Matchup Difficulty

If playing with

Don't be so aggressive in the early levels as your support is not that strong early. Keep your distance and poke while you both gain levels. If the enemy gets too close to him, he can still and you can still get poke in, but it is not the main focus here.

Your entire goal is to get as much farm as you're able to while poking from afar and remaining at full health up until reaches level 2-3 where you both can actually start playing the lane. He also loves to roam so be mindful of being forced to stay alone in lane after a while.

If playing against

Abuse his weak early, he's useless up until level 3 and very easy to poke if given the chance. Just be mindful that he can still you if you get too close and pair it with to close the distance.

The enemy will most likely just try to run you down in lane and dive you at your own tower if you get low enough. It's very vital to stay as healthy as you possibly can, farm safely and if you're unable to poke properly, just focus on getting farm and going even in lane.

Amumu

Summoners

Start Item

Key Ability

Lane

Matchup Difficulty

If playing with

Decent at level 1 due to but probably won't be that strong in the early levels. Unless the matchup is very easy, you won't see yourself doing very much here. He's also a very all-in or nothing support and if he goes in, you either follow and try to win or you will probably lose.

is quite strong if used well, you can couple it with your own abilities or just be aware that it's a severe stun. Be mindful that he'll probably roam and leave you alone in lane.

If playing against

Abuse his early levels as much as possible. is his only way to engage and practically the only ability that deals damage. The thing about this champ as well is that when he goes in, he has to commit or die, it's a very all-in playstyle as he doesn't have a way to disengage, play around this.

Be mindful of as the game continues since it's a major stun and can really make your life so miserable if you're caught by it.

Annie

Summoners

Start Item

Key Ability

Lane

Matchup Difficulty

If playing with

You probably won't be doing too much early other than to poke if the matchup is fit for it. She'll be poking and disengaging with and to get off damage and stuns until you reach level 2-3 where it's easier to play.

Be mindful of especially post-6. You want to ideally play around her stuns since she has a huge setup for you to get your abilities off and get a huge chunk of damage in, you do not want to miss this or not be near her when she engages.

If playing against

Always be careful of her as she'll be using it a lot together with to poke you and stun you. This can be used for gank setups or just annoyance in general, vision is practically key here (or a ) as getting caught by ganks would be devastating.

Stuns coupled with will almost always kill you immediately if she's able to scale with her support and deal damage. Just always be mindful of her existance and where she is, if you can, let her waste spells on someone else before you engage.

Ashe

Summoners

Start Item

Key Ability

Lane

Matchup Difficulty

If playing with

Wants to sit from far away and just poke both opponents with over and over again. The best way to play around her is to poke your enemies down and only go for all-ins with when they're low enough to the point you can actually win that all-in.

Try making sure she knows that she can use to get view of the enemy jungle territory over and over again from wherever she puts it. This can let you know where the jungler is since you either see them or don't see them -- meaning they're on the other side of the map.

If playing against

Try to avoid her as much as you're able to. She'll be using it to poke a whole lot and in general is going to be an extremely annoying person throughout the entire lane. Ideally you want to try and poke and only all-in when you deem you'll win.

Be mindful of 's existance since if it hits you, you'll probably die or get heavily CC'd. can be good into this matchup if you deem the enemy has a lot of CC and you feel unable to dodge it all.

Bard

Summoners

Start Item

Key Ability

Lane

Matchup Difficulty

If playing with

Play around minion waves as will stun if it's able to hit 2 targets. This means he can either Q through a minion to hit the opponent and get a stun off or he can hit them directly near a wall and get a stun off as well.

It's also noteworthy to know that allows you to trade a lot since you're able to heal. Bard is a very roamable champion so just be aware if he runs to other lanes and leaves you alone.

If playing against

Bait out the if possible and dodge it. If he misses the Q you're able to trade for a few seconds while it's down and he's unable to CC you.

Always be careful of his roams. He loves to roam. If you don't see him in lane or if he just leaves his laner, make sure to track him well and ping your teammates accordingly.

Blitzcrank

Summoners

Start Item

Key Ability

Lane

Matchup Difficulty

If playing with

Level 1 is huge with this champion but avoid walking up too much. The main focus here is farming and nothing else. If he's able to hit a that's great, but otherwise play for level 2 as is a very strong setup.

You want to hold your wave near your tower as much as possible. This is both to avoid being constantly ganked, but also to just make it easier for him to hook the enemies when they're forced to walk into you to farm and risk overextending.

If playing against

Completely relies on hitting and is a very pointless champion without it. Stand behind minions and avoid letting him just close the gap between you with .

Overextending too much here can be a major death sentence as he has very good gank setup with and . If the enemy jungler is near your side, you may end up dying if you get caught.

Brand

Summoners

Start Item

Key Ability

Lane

Matchup Difficulty

If playing with

Not very strong at level 1 as he's still unable to do any proper combos. Most of your worries will be to just farm, let him poke with and wait until you're level 2-3 to start engaging more properly.

As mentioned already, level 2-3 is strong for him. Be ready to follow up whenever he walks up to trade as he's both able to poke with -> or outright stun with -> , both of which are combos you can play off of.

If playing against

Bait out his and just do your best to dodge it, it's his main damaging ability. Always be careful of standing too close to minions as he can do his into to spread it towards both you and your support to deal damage, but he can also hit onto you for an easy stun.

Very useless without his abilities and quite immobile. Always look to punish or poke if you see him waste his abilities carelessly. Post-6 you mainly want to avoid clumping together with your teammates just due to the existance of .

Braum

Summoners

Start Item

Key Ability

Lane

Matchup Difficulty

If playing with

The entire reason he exists is to protect you from problems. This is just because allows him to jump onto you and blocks attacks.

If he misses his in the early levels then just be careful as he won't really be able to do that much. If it hits then you can get a very good trade due to which stuns the target after being hit 4 times.

If playing against

As long as you stay behind minions or your support so that it's harder for him to land and start proccing , you'll be practically fine in this lane.

as the name suggests acts as an unbreakable wall. It will block all your major spells and will make them deal very little damage. It's a very good idea to trade when this ability is down as it has a very huge cooldown.

Galio

Summoners

Start Item

Key Ability

Lane

Matchup Difficulty

If playing with

Entirely relies on his abilities. Most notably to engage with. If he's unable to close his gap to use and lock down the targets, you won't see him do anything useful in lane whatsoever.

If he starts with then you'll just have to respect level 1 and farm, maybe even push for level 2 first as he won't be very useful until level 2-3. While he pokes, you farm, that's essentially it. Later down the line if he engages, you should be ready to follow it.

If playing against

Avoid being near bushes. He loves to surprise you from a bush with either or and given the right environment and allies being near, you're almost always guaranteed to die. Play around vision and punish him if he just walks up for no reason.

Aside from bushes, just be mindful in general of where he is as + is lethal and typically he runs often which only makes it easier for him to just start running at you.

Gragas

Summoners

Start Item

Key Ability

Lane

Matchup Difficulty

If playing with

Not the best engager and won't really be doing anything at all until you hit level 2-3 once he has his to engage with. You want to ideally follow his every engage since if you do not, he'll probably die. It's a very hit or miss champion.

is strong to engage with and to setup combos with, if you can surprise them from bushes, it'd be even stronger since you're able to hit what you want. If you can't, this lane will be harder to play.

If playing against

Hard abuse his early weak levels. He's absolutely useless until level 2-3 where he can actually start trading more properly. Before then you want to have poked him as much as you're able to, get him as low as you can. Dodge and if you can, stand in your minions to dodge it.

Always be mindful of as he can use it to engage with. It's a big damage dealer and knocks you a long distance, if you're careless about your positioning and not aware of what's on the map, you are going to die without a doubt.

Janna

Summoners

Start Item

Key Ability

Lane

Matchup Difficulty

If playing with

Very poke heavy and loves to walk up with at level 1. It's best to trade together as she can slow them down and you're able to get free poke in from it.

Stay close to her so she can heal you with and just wait for her to knock people up with , you're not able to engage or trade when this ability misses.

If playing against

She'll always try walking up and using onto you for free damage, it's her main and most annoying ability by far. You can easily outtrade her if she walks up alone and especially if you're able to punish her for careless positioning.

It's very important that you keep track of at all times just due to the way it works. She could use it very quickly in which case it travels a short distance only, or she can place it inside of bushes or normally and let it charge up. Once fully charged it'll travel in the distance it was placed at a very high speed. Always be mindful of this.

Karma

Summoners

Start Item

Key Ability

Lane

Matchup Difficulty

If playing with

Provides a magnifique amount of poke and overall waveclear in the laning phase all due to and her which boosts this ability to deal even more damage as it turns it into instead.

As said, when paired with her you have insane poke and waveclear. Slow pushing waves while poking at the same time shouldn't be too difficult and poking them under tower will almost always guarantee you shove them out of lane.

If playing against

By far the only enchanter with the MOST amount of damage in the laning phase and MOST people struggle playing against her just due to how increasingly annoying she is. Try your best to farm and just keep a minion wave infront of you and her so she can't land very easy shots.

Look to trade whenever is on cooldown (especially if is on cooldown if it can be boosted by ) as she'll be unable to shield her or her ally and grant them movement speed to disengage if they get low.

Leona

Summoners

Start Item

Key Ability

Lane

Matchup Difficulty

If playing with

Weak level 1 and won't really try doing much unless they walk into melee range of her as she'll run anyway. Your aim is to push for level 2 and look for a fight immediately at level 2-3 when she has available as well.

Having that said it's quite common to just let them get level 2 first and push you in first as it doesn't really hurt you at all to go back to turret and wait for the wave to come to you. If you can get level 2 first, look for a trade, otherwise just chill. Communication is key so that you're both on the same page before level 2 arrives to engage properly.

If playing against

Be mindful of her engages, especially after level 2 since into a paired with the right ADC can practically obliterate you immediately.

Cleanse into this matchup is quite strong since it can block her engage stun but also her for later in the game when teamfights and skirmishes are starting to become way more important.

Lulu

Summoners

Start Item

Key Ability

Lane

Matchup Difficulty

If playing with

The lane is played differently depending on what she started with. If she started with then walk up and trade with it and be a bit more cautious about trading when it's on cooldown. If she started with you want to aim to do nothing at all but farming. You farm and she pokes until level 2-3 when engages become more cookie cutter.

Most enchanter matchups work the same and this one isn't very different. You can shove the lane and keep them under tower to prevent them from farming, or you could keep it near your own and bully them off of the wave. It works well both ways.

If playing against

Poke and try baiting out the shield from her, either just try and auto once or walk up and make it seem you'll poke. Her wasting the shield is a few seconds to freely trade as you deem fit.

She has a lot of overall protection due to her shields and being able to both grant her ally attack speed but also just straight up polymorph you for a bit making you unable to do anything. is also a big game changer for teamfights, always be mindful of its existance.

Lux

Summoners

Start Item

Key Ability

Lane

Matchup Difficulty

If playing with

Will try to poke a lot with the range that comes from . Your main aim here is to just farm, poke if you can but otherwise farm. Let her do the poking otherwise while you focus on not missing minions.

Slows and stuns that comes from her abilities are very useful to act as setups for you to land your own abilities. If they're stunned by or slowed by , either all-in or create a quick trade, capitalize on what you have.

If playing against

Will be a constant annoyance as she will try her hardest to just poke you over and over again with , it's best to try your best to avoid this and just focus on farming, let her waste spells and mana, punish her only when they're on cooldown.

Keep a few minions infront of you and her so she can't land for free, her entire combo (especially with builds upon her hitting her stun, not to mention her ADC following up, without it she can't really do very much.

Maokai

Summoners

Start Item

Key Ability

Lane

Matchup Difficulty

If playing with

Useless level 1 so play for engage at level 2-3 instead. Unless they walk into his saplings or straight up walk into his face so he can engage, you won't see much interaction on your side for this lane.

Post-6 you have a very good engage and all-in potential with since the CC lockdown is a very good way for you to hit your own abilities as well. If you see him jumping onto someone, make sure you can follow.

If playing against

Will most likely start unless they're invading. If he invades he will go to really bet on the invade working. However, if he gets just be aware of bushes, he'll likely throw his saplings into those.

Be aware of his cooldown as he typically uses it to really engage hard, otherwise keep your distance and poke him only when you're sure he cannot retaliate.

Milio

Summoners

Start Item

Key Ability

Lane

Matchup Difficulty

If playing with

Will not be doing very much but to poke the enemy with whenever he's able to. Once you reach level 2-3 you can start trading pretty decently as long as the enemy doesn't have a healing support. This is because can heal the damage you take back up and is just a pure shield for you.

Always be mindful that removes almost every single CC on you if used well and if the Milio is good, he can keep you alive for a long time without you having to waste all of your own spells just to not die.

If playing against

Trading won't really be doing that much for you unless you also have a healing support since he can just heal himself and his ally back up to full with or just shield him or his ally with to void your damage altogether. Farming would be very key here otherwise.

is used to remove all CC effects from him or his ally so be mindful of its existance when you or your support tries to CC him or his allies. Ideally try to make him waste it so that you can have an easier time locking them in place.

Morgana

Summoners

Start Item

Key Ability

Lane

Matchup Difficulty

If playing with

HEAVILY relies on hitting , absolutely worthless without it. When she hits this ability you're able to get a strong engage or get good amounts of poke, if she misses it you'll just have to accept it and keep farming.

Very fun support to have due to as it can deny both engages and just stuns in general.

If playing against

Her only offensive ability pre-6 is and she's a lot more mediocre of a champion if she misses this spell. It's a very slow projectile and also can just get blocked by minions. Never walk up against her unless she already wasted it and it's on cooldown.

Be careful of her and if possible, bait it out entirely. This is because of the fact that the shield is able to block any CC you or your support tries to create. Poke or all-in when this ability is on cooldown and she cannot defend herself or her ally.

Nami

Summoners

Start Item

Key Ability

Lane

Matchup Difficulty

If playing with

Trading is extremely worth with her as is able to boost you and let you deal even more damage and can heal you back up from the damage you take.

Trading evenly is also extremely worth due to what I said prior. The only time you'll have to be more cautious and careful with how you trade is if the enemy also has a healing support as you won't be the only one that can sustain damage.

If playing against

Unless you have a support that can heal, the lane will be a little bit miserable. Do not look to trade against them because they'll just heal it back up until you eventually run out of resources or get shoved out of lane. Try to focus on the farm instead, it'll be better.

If you want to win trades you want to do 2 things. Avoid even going near them when is active and once it goes on cooldown, dodge to get a good engage in. Otherwise you're kinda just gonna have a miserable time.

Nautilus

Summoners

Start Item

Key Ability

Lane

Matchup Difficulty

If playing with

Follow his hooks and just play close to him. His entire playstyle is to be a hook bot and tank the damage. It'll be easier for him to play if the lane is slowly pushing into you as the enemy has to overextend.

is a huge gank setup and general CC that you can play off of. If you're able to engage and win the all-in it's a very good idea to just go for it.

If playing against

Keep minions inbetween you and him so that he can't just hook you for free with . Ideally you can try to bait it out and dodge if you deem it's possible.

You have to focus on poking him so that it becomes way harder for him to all-in without dying. He wants to engage and craves to engage but if he's very low on health, you'll never see him going in unless he has a death sentence.

Neeko

Summoners

Start Item

Key Ability

Lane

Matchup Difficulty

If playing with

Play around her after you both hit level 2-3 since it's her main tool to root and poke the enemy. If she manages to hit this spell you can very easily follow up for a quick trade and then back off again and continue farming until your spells come back up.

Always remember that she can disguise herself as minions with to get closer to the opponents and engage with . Play around her when she does this and be near her when she goes for an engage. You want to abuse this factor since not many players focus on counting minions.

If playing against

Try to avoid as much as possible since it's the only spell she has that can root you and setup possible combos or further stuns. She can also use to poke you but it's not nearly as problematic.

Be mindful of the existance of and count minions. If there is 1 more minion that there should be (more than 1 cannon, 3 melee minions and 3 caster minions) then she's transformed into a minion and looking to engage onto you both with for a huge engage.

Pantheon

Summoners

Start Item

Key Ability

Lane

Matchup Difficulty

If playing with

Stun bot plain and simple due to . If he goes in, make sure you can follow him, you winning lane will rely on playing off of his engages.

Post-6 his roam timers are extremely strong due to . You can slow push the wave and roam if you deem it could work, just be careful he can also just roam himself and leave you alone.

If playing against

is good here as his entire purpose is to just CC lock you in place and kill you instantly together with his ADC. If he's unable to do that, he won't be able to exist.

Always be careful of his roams, he enjoys roaming with if it's possible so keep communication up and ping your teammates accordingly.

Poppy

Summoners

Start Item

Key Ability

Lane

Matchup Difficulty

If playing with

Has amazing engage if the enemy mispositions and gets too close to walls thanks to , creating some very strong engages and damage setups for yourself. Always try your best to play near her when she tries to go for these engages.

Will probably look to roam and leave you alone so just be mindful of this being a possibility. She likes roaming since and are just such dominant abilities to roam on other lanes with.

If playing against

Be aware not to be too close to walls so that she cannot just rush at you with and stun you into the wall for an easy follow up from her ADC. Play from afar and poke when applicable. You do not want to be so close to her.

If you're able to set her back or make them behind, she will most likely look to roam instead with so just be mindful of that possibility and ping your teammates accordingly if you do not see her in lane that much anymore and you're unsure of where she is.

Pyke

Summoners

Start Item

Key Ability

Lane

Matchup Difficulty

If playing with

Absolutely useless when is on cooldown so play passive and farm whenever it is, be prepared to follow up on his engage if it ever hits.

Adores to roam with so if he leaves you alone in lane to roam, you'll just have to deal with it and play passively. Focus on farming if you have nothing else you can possibly do.

If playing against

Stay near minions as to avoid his hooks into engages. If you don't see him in lane, assume he's roaming and ping your team accordingly, he adores to roam.

instantly kills you if you're at a certain amount of health. Always be mindful of it and play around it, you don't want to die by it and give him free resets and his allies free gold.

r-z matchups

Click a champion icon to go directly to the matchup!

Rakan

Summoners

Start Item

Key Ability

Lane

Matchup Difficulty

If playing with

Mostly revolves around his and it's best to be aware of when he wants to go in so you can follow him up. He's quite a playmaker type of support and wants to just go in.

provides sustain during the lane only if he's able to hit it onto an enemy and then move towards you. Like mentioned prior, he loves to make plays, having that said you should be wary and careful of which trades you should and shouldn't follow up on. Always remember that he can freely engage and disengage as he pleases with .

If playing against

Be careful of at level 1 and if possible, play around it. If he wastes it, poke and punish, if you can poke from a range then by all means do so. Stand near your minions so his doesn't hit you as it gives him and his ally free sustain only if it hits an enemy champion.

Loves roaming and loves engaging onto you just because he can. This is due to letting him both engage and disengage as he pleases, be wary of this ability and try your best to play around it. The worst thing you can do is not respecting him and allowing him to engage onto you with into .

Rell

Summoners

Start Item

Key Ability

Lane

Matchup Difficulty

If playing with

Most important spell she'll have early is . This let's her either crash down onto enemies and CC them or mount up and CC one singular target if she can get in range. Always try your best to follow up on these plays, she's a very strong engager if given the chance.

Coupling her great engage with a stun and movement speed, it's just overall miserable for the enemy to play unless she plays the trades wrong.

If playing against

Will practically always have at level 1 so just be careful of its existance. Don't be too close to her and if you're able to, just poke from afar. If you can get her health lower and lower whilst keeping yours high, you'll make her level 2-3 spikes a lot less intimidating since she'll be struggling on health.

If she's able to engage onto you, just be ready to practically either die or away. is a strong spell into this lane if used correctly. If you don't have a way to escape she'll be able to lock you in place hard due to her CC, her stun and her that keeps you in place near her.

Renata Glasc

Summoners

Start Item

Key Ability

Lane

Matchup Difficulty

If playing with

Her is strong to play around if there's appropriate CC or damage setup, otherwise you'll mostly be playing around her . This is because this spell allows you to really go for all-in trades hard if you deem you can win. Especially if you've poked them and they are low. This is because even if you die when the ability is active, you'll have a sliver of time to deal enough damage to get a kill, and if you do, you get 'revived' and won't die.

is a huge engage ability as it makes any enemy target hit by it start to hit their teammates instead. The best advice here is to try playing around this ability as much as you're able to.

If playing against

Trading with her is not the smartest choice. The best thing to do here is to just poke as much as you're able to, focus on farming and if she uses and you kill the opponent to trigger the ability, try to disengage as fast as you can to just run the timer down so they'll die automatically.

Be mindful in fights or skirmishes and the way you position so you don't carelessly get hit by . This is because the more fed you are, the more horrible this ability could be if it hits you, since you'll probably kill your own allies with enough damage.

Senna

Summoners

Start Item

Key Ability

Lane

Matchup Difficulty

If playing with

Will attempt to get good poke together with her autos and . Try to trade at the same times as she does and when her abilities are down, focus on farming. It's also noteworthy that if hits you, you'll be healed.

allows her to collect souls which boosts her strength, ideally she wants to be able to collect as many as possible and if she hits champions twice, she can harvest theirs. This is why you should trade whenever she does. Also remember that provides you with movement speed and makes for good engages.

If playing against

She wants to poke you as much as she can to get her stacks and to heal her own ADC with if you did trade. Don't let her freely get poke in, ideally you want to trade with her together with your support everytime she tries to walk up.

Always remember that is a global ultimate that provides shielding. If your ally in another lane is about to get a kill, always ping them that she has this ability available or just ping them in general so they're mindful of its existance.

Seraphine

Summoners

Start Item

Key Ability

Lane

Matchup Difficulty

If playing with

Weak before level 3 as she won't really have any insane abilities. You'll probably just see her poke with or when available so just relax and focus solely on farming. You have an enchanter after all, you do not have to trade whatsoever, just farming could do just as well.

Only start trading when she has available since it provides you with a shield for the actual engage and if she casts the ability twice using you'll also get a heal along with the shield. Never trade when this ability isn't available, it just isn't worth it.

If playing against

Abuse her weak early. Try to dodge her abilities as much as you can and get poke in if she walks up carelessly. After level 3, try to bait out her shield or wait until she uses it to trade, then start a trade yourself once it goes on cooldown and they have less defenses to play around.

is a huge ability only if she's able to land it. Avoid clumping together with your teammates and if possible, try to wait for her to use it onto someone else before properly engaging. Typically even if you're winning lane, she'll most likely save it specifically to CC you so that her teammates can follow, which is less than ideal.

Sett

Summoners

Start Item

Key Ability

Lane

Matchup Difficulty

If playing with

Always try following what he does. He's a melee champion and when he goes in, he will not disengage. If you aren't there to follow, you could just end up losing the lane. Follow him, poke when applicable and unless it's an all-in, disengage poke and farm.

makes dives very possible as he can tank for quite some time. Though communication is key and ideally if it's already a 1v2 of you both against the enemy ADC (if the Support is roaming or what not), dives in these scenarios are way better than others.

If playing against

The way you play the lane is dictated by what ability he started. If he started you do not want to go near him at all as he often uses to close the gap on the first wave and get a free stun from . If he started or then play aggressive and poke hard. Don't walk up too carelessly but punish him each time he gets close. Bonus points if you make him waste .

If possible, slow push waves and keep him under his own tower together with the ADC. The harder you poke him, the more miserable it will be for him to make plays and be a champion. He loves playing around fog of war and bushes specifically, if he's unable to do that he won't be able to be as major of a threat.

Shaco

Summoners

Start Item

Key Ability

Lane

Matchup Difficulty

If playing with

Don't expect to play the lane and just focus on farming instead. Unless the enemy walks into his boxes or he's able to from bushes to get an engage off, you won't really be able to do anything.

Be careful if he decides to roam and leave you to fend for yourself. More often than not people who play him support will almost always just leave lane and roam to others, just never coming back.

If playing against

Unironically going into this specific matchup is quite strong if you or your support decides to get it. This is because you can a) get rid of any boxes he places in common locations and b) track him wherever he goes or if you see him engaging with .

Be wary and mindful about overextending. Into a lane like this you ideally want to keep the wave at your tower as much as possible if not at all times. It's much safer for you to farm yourself but if he can't bait you into his boxes or properly engage with for trades because your wave is so far towards your side of the lane and you and your support is harassing the enemy each time they walk up to farm, he will be useless and most likely wants to just ditch the lane completely and roam.

Sion

Summoners

Start Item

Key Ability

Lane

Matchup Difficulty

If playing with

Can join him to cheese in the enemy's bush in lane to get a free off into a strong trade that favors you. Quickly trade and then back off, chunking their health and making it easier to zone them off the wave or shove them out of lane.

Won't really be all that useful otherwise aside from sitting in bushes to try and get to work, at least until level 6 when he unlocks to finally make you both have some more actual kill threat.

If playing against

Will look to cheese you at level 1 in your own bush together with to chunk your health quickly and either zone you off the wave or shove you out of lane. Ward appropriately and avoid getting destroyed by this cheese.

If the cheese is unsuccessful, he'll mostly just be able to sit in bushes and try to hit or , if he misses, he won't really be that strong at all. Dodge to your best ability.

Sona

Summoners

Start Item

Key Ability

Lane

Matchup Difficulty

If playing with

Only look for trades when she walks up to use and especially if she is looking to use . Otherwise only look to farm and scale until you both hit level 6 as this engage spike is a lot bigger due to .

Since she's an enchanter she's able to heal you with or give you free movement speed from but do still keep in mind that you shouldn't rely on these spells. Unfortunately her healing is far less than other healing supports.

If playing against

Stay outside of her and ranges as it's her main and only source of genuine poke. It's very annoying to deal with and so not letting her use it for free poke is always massive for you.

Poke her and trade with her hard when these prior abilities are on cooldown. She cannot deal damage back and especially in the early stages, the healing from isn't that big and you can still shove them out of lane with proper play and lots of poke.

Soraka

Summoners

Start Item

Key Ability

Lane

Matchup Difficulty

If playing with

Trade together with her whenever she walks up to use as the slow is huge to get free poke in when it's harder for them to dodge. At the same time is a major ability to setup CC or a trade. It will silence when she uses it and if they stay in it for a few seconds it will root making CC setups very strong.

If the enemy has no heals or shields of their own, do not be afraid to trade and focus on playing very aggressively. This is because she can always heal all the damage you take back up with making trades extremely favorable for you.

If playing against

Dodge her as it's the only way for her to poke you, slow you and gain health back if she's low. Ideally you want her to waste important spells and punish her mistakes when she does since the more health she loses, the worse her impact will be.

Unless you have a support that can heal and shield as well, it's always advised to be mindful and especially to dodge her spells since otherwise she can just heal her ADC back up to full with , nullifying any trades you make. Be wary of as it's global and affects everyone on her team. Ping your teammates accordingly so they're aware of its existance.

Swain

Summoners

Start Item

Key Ability

Lane

Matchup Difficulty

If playing with

Be prepared to trade whenever he tries using his as if he lands it, it's an instant stun and he can also pull them towards him. If he misses this ability then back off entirely, focus on farming and avoid trades until it's back up again.

Ideally he wants to use & quite a lot. This is because of which gives him permanent max health making him tankier.

If playing against

Only one singular ability matters in this lane and that's . Try to dodge this ability as much as you can and only this one. It sets up all his other abilities and overall is just a bad one to get hit by.

Always be mindful that can be continually used as long as he's still draining champions. So as long as you're still near him when it's active, he can use it every 8 seconds.

Tahm Kench

Summoners

Start Item

Key Ability

Lane

Matchup Difficulty

If playing with

Will not be doing anything but poking with until you both hit level 2-3 where he can finally start to properly engage if the enemy mispositions thanks to . Play around him when he engages with this ability as it's very strong and he can be the one that tanks the damage instead of you.

Play around his whenever you both engage as he's a very good champion when it comes to setting up potential kills for you right in your face. As time goes on and if you didn't struggle in lane, he'll just become a major tank and absolutely hell to properly deal with.

If playing against

Horrible to play around if you do not have a good support to help you engage or disengage. This is purely because and are such devastating abilities to engage and coupled with the right ADC you'll almost always die if he hits them.

His is very annoying as he will eat you and put you out near his own ADC, most likely followed by a to proc to stun you in place and most likely kill you outright since you're unable to get out.

Taric

Summoners

Start Item

Key Ability

Lane

Matchup Difficulty

If playing with

Very weak early, it's not the worst if you get pushed into your tower until you hit level 3. After level 3 is where you can start properly trading since heals you and will do great during extended trades, as long as he can auto attack something.

stuns if it hits a target and both him and you will have it whenever he uses the ability. It's a good idea to trade whenever he's able to hit this spell and then just back off when it's on cooldown. You do not want to trade without sustain.

If playing against

As long as you aren't carelessly getting hit by or letting him walk up on you to use it, you should be completely fine and just poke him when applicable.

provides an invulnerable shield for his allies meaning you cannot damage or kill them while it's active. Because of this it's very strong to try baiting out the spell and disengaging while it's active, then once it's down you properly engage for strong trades.

Thresh

Summoners

Start Item

Key Ability

Lane

Matchup Difficulty

If playing with

You'll only be farming until he reaches level 2 due to and being his main playstyle. Ideally you only want to trade when he hooks someone and farm when they're on cooldown.

is good for you as it can help you get out of tricky situations and overall just gives you a shield if he uses it ontop of you.

If playing against

The way you play the lane is dictated by what ability he started. If he started then stand near minions and avoid letting him hook you for free. If he started then just stay out of its range and don't let him get too close. You can figure out which one he picked by clicking on him and checking the top-left where his champion HUD is, if you see a icon then that means he started , if not he started with hook.

He's quite weak until level 2 since he wants to hook you and overall, if he cannot hook in general, he's entirely useless as a champion. Quite literally. is good to have in this matchup if you're worried about as even if you get hit, you can just get out immediately.

Twitch

Summoners

Start Item

Key Ability

Lane

Matchup Difficulty

If playing with

Won't do very much in lane but to poke with and get damage off in quick trades thanks to . Unless you're both able to engage and get kills, he won't be able to really do all that much.

Will most likely roam with to other lanes as that's the most useful thing he has going for him as a support. Just be mindful that if he does this, you will likely be alone in lane so just be careful of getting doved under your own turret.

If playing against

Be careful of his spells and avoid getting hit by them as much as you're able to as to avoid letting him get free stacks from that he can proc with for a lot of damage.

If he's unable to win lane (especially if they're hard losing) he will look to roam to other lanes and just ditch his ADC altogether thanks to giving him good gank potentials. If he does this and you do not know where he is, always make sure to ping your teammates accordingly and punish him for leaving his laner alone.

Vel'Koz

Summoners

Start Item

Key Ability

Lane

Matchup Difficulty

If playing with

You poke together in this lane. He will look to poke with and . Try to follow up on these trades as best as you can.

When it comes to a mage lane like this you only really have 3 options to play off of. Either you a) poke them over and over b) poke them while his stuns them to maybe pick up a kill or c) harass them off the wave at your tower.

If playing against

Bait out his spells. If he misses them, especially he'll be down a lot more than you since they're quite mana heavy when used in mass. Trade with him whenever they are down as it's an easy trade window.

Never ever get hit by his , not ever. It will knock you up and CC you and post-6 if you're careless, you are dead, period, not even close.

Xerath

Summoners

Start Item

Key Ability

Lane

Matchup Difficulty

If playing with

Try playing around slows and stuns. You only want to trade when these are used. If he misses them or they're otherwise on cooldown, all you want to focus on is farming and letting him poke on his own with .

is strong and more often than not he'll either use it to finish off your opponents or to move and use it towards midlane from a distance if they're already low.

If playing against

Try your best to dodge and . He loves poking you as much as possible and avoiding these abilities are absolutely major.

Stay close to your minions so he can't hit for free. The worst thing you can get hit by besides his poke is the stun. Without his stun he's very immobile and fragile.

Yuumi

Summoners

Start Item

Key Ability

Lane

Matchup Difficulty

If playing with

Go for short trades as much as you can due to . Never go for extended trades ever. If you get low or take a lot from trades, she can always shield you with zoombies after all, trades are favorable if played well.

Do remember that can heal you, as funny as it sounds. Even though it's not an insane spell, during teamfights and skirmishes it could be pretty big.

If playing against

Stay near your minions so she can't just poke you for free over and over again with . The worst you can do is get hit by it.

Ideally you want to trade ONLY when her is down and unavailable. This is because it shields and overall is absolutely horrible to face when trading. You want her to waste it so she cannot mitigate the damage you make.

Zac

Summoners

Start Item

Key Ability

Lane

Matchup Difficulty

If playing with

Won't do anything until he has since it's his main form of engage. Is a very all-in or nothing champion so if he does go in with the jump, just follow him and play the trade. If you do not the lane is almost always over since you'll just get punished too much.

He can get away with a lot since reviving him after a short time is a thing, it's also worth noting that coupled with allows him to put in a lot of CC and works very well as an engaging unit.

If playing against

Be mindful of where he is, he loves and really wants to engage onto you with into to CC chain you and try to kill you off before you're able to properly disengage or return the damage.

is a very horrible ability to deal with as it allows him to revive himelf if you are unable to kill his little cells in time. It's very strong to try and poke his health down, especially in the early levels and try to make the ability proc early before he can do proper engages, it's easier to play around if that's the case.

Zilean

Summoners

Start Item

Key Ability

Lane

Matchup Difficulty

If playing with

Doesn't deal that much damage early and will most likely just look to poke with if he's able to. You only want to poke from afar with him and never interact otherwise.

Level 2 allows him to stun by landing 2 Q's ontop of eachother thanks to . If he's able to land this stun you want to be near to follow up on it. Post-6 just be aware that trading isn't the worst since he can just revive you with .

If playing against

Bait out his if possible and just let him waste it. You want to trade when he's unable to trade back. After all if he cannot deal damage, you only gain damage.

Be mindful post-6 of his as it can nullify your entire all-in. If he uses it, it's best to not kill the enemy and just leave them with the ultimate active, then once it runs out you kill them while they're low so they won't get revived.

Zyra

Summoners

Start Item

Key Ability

Lane

Matchup Difficulty

If playing with

Play around her plants as they deal so much damage for absolutely no reason. They become even worse since she can plant more of them with .

lets her root a target if it hits them. It's a very good idea to play around this ability and to be near her to follow up if she uses it and roots someone. The same goes for her that can knock up more targets.

If playing against

Will be looking to spawn multiple plants in your face to poke you down. You can walk over the plants if they haven't been activated yet to just destroy them, just be mindful of her .

Always be wary that the plants she spawns from are majorly more buffed than the regular ones she spawn. Her main damage is precisely to lock you down and kill you in place so avoiding this is very necessary.

Congratulations! You’ve finally been able to reach the end of my insanely long guide on . I'd really like to thank you for taking this time and walking this road together with me. Writing this guide has learned me a lot as well, when it comes to both herself, playing the marksman role in general and how to play her better in order to become the kind of player that I want to be. I hope this guide helped you on your way to success of becoming a better player and I hope you got to know everything you wanted to know about her. I also hope you’ve learned something after reading all of this, and I hope I’ve inspired you to play more of this champion.

It might happen that I've missed some things so feel free to let me know. Just leave a comment or send me a PM and I'll fix things up for you! If you have any objections to my build’s content, comment in the discussion section! I’ll be more than happy to hear your side of the argument. If you think I'm wrong, please don’t hesitate to correct me. I want this guide to be as accurate as possible in order to help as many people as I can when it comes to this champion, and I will update it if I do end up agreeing with you! I'd always love criticism as long as it's helpful to me so that I can make this guide even better to help more players looking to play .

If you enjoyed the guide, then please like mentioned before an upvote or a +rep will always be appreciated as it'll always help me and it’ll be an indicator to let me know that my guide has been helpful to you, as it’s what I wanted to do in the first place. I really enjoyed making this guide and I hope you've enjoyed reading it as well. Good luck out there and I hope you reach the desired rank you're looking for! Good luck feathering your way to victory!

I'd like to thank Jovy for taking the time to make the beautiful looking banners, titles and the majority of the graphics for this guide and in most of my other ones as well! Be sure to check out some of her other work at her signature shop and her own guides! ❤

I would like to thank Katasandra yet again for helping me with anything related to BBCoding both to make it fit for users that view the guide on PC but also for ones that view it on mobile. Also for helping me a lot in the past with anything. Make sure to check out her guides! ❤

I would also like to thank Hoppermh for giving me a lot of ideas and inspirations about how to further improve my code for the Matchups section. Be sure to check out some of her other work at her imagination visual shop! ❤

And lastly, I would like to thank Silverman43 for helping me create a few of the images that you can find throughout the guide, most notably the ones for "jungle tracking". Make sure to check out his guides! ❤


			I'd also like to thank the following people for helping me improve my guide even more: Jhoijhoi Foxy Riven IceCreamy Maintained Sovereign Kitten L3gislacerator TheBlueImperial PsiGuard Chromuro

April 17, 2025:

Updated for patch 25.08

S15 Changes

S14 Changes

S13 Changes

December 12, 2023:

Updated for patch 13.24

November 16, 2023:

Updated for patch 13.22

October 14, 2023:

Updated for patch 13.20

October 3, 2023:

Updated for patch 13.19

September 13, 2023:

Updated for patch 13.18

September 11, 2023:

Updated for patch 13.17
Updated Gameplay
- Added new clips to showcase certain topics

April 14, 2023:

Updated Gameplay
- Entire section revamped
- Removed Xayah images that no longer was needed
- Moved "Teamfights" to its own "Teamfighting" section
- Now has its own specific table of contents at the start
- Early- Midgame now has its own video and Key points with it
- Late Game now talks about the more important aspects - being the endgame and thus objective focused - the need to talk about Baron, Elder and Dragon Soul is important
- Kiting is now its own section and a bit more visually appealing
- Combos has seen an entire revamp, and now looks way better and includes examples
- Combos are a lot more in-depth and to the point
- Removed the Objectives section
- Laning Phase section added
- The "Laning Phase" section is now compiled of 2 topics - the Pre-Lane and the Early Lane
- Tracking Jungler section added
- Tempo section added
- ADC 101 section added - which includes many more topics
- Lane Priority section added
- Having a Game Plan section added
- Map Awareness section added
- Wave Management section added - and also revamped
- Warding section added - and heavily revamped
- New images for the warding section

April 12, 2023:

General Guide Updates
- New color palette
- New coding style, overall much better than prior one
- Completely mobile-friendly (or at least should be)
- Now uses the Redeemed Xayah theme instead of the old Sweetheart Xayah one

March 17, 2023:

Updated Runes
- Aiming for better descriptions in general
- Removed image showing the rune page from in-game
- Better showcases of potential rune options
- Added Cut Down
- Changed Triumph to Presence of Mind - more popular
- Added Domination as a second tree alternative, together with Taste of Blood and Ultimate Hunter

Updated Items
- Change of descriptions
- Removed Doran's Shield
- Added Long Sword alternative
- Added First Base section
- Added Galeforce and Kraken Slayer mythic options
- Added Plated Steelcaps, Navori Flickerblade, Lord Dominik's Regards, The Collector, Maw of Malmortius
- Removed Essence Reaver, Infinity Edge, Statikk Shiv, Runaan's Hurricane, Ninja Tabi

Updated Cheatsheet
- Changed Starting items
- Removed Ninja Tabi
- Removed Statikk Shiv
- Essence Reaver is no longer the core item
- New Structure to make it easier to read through
- Changed rune page options, lethal is still the go-to choice.
- Removed Barrier spell option
- Added Ghost spell option
- Added Exhaust spell option
- Added Cleanse spell option
- Removed Threats & Synergies (will most likely come back though)

March 12, 2023:

Updated Abilities
- No longer have the raw stats of the ability, just my own thoughts about them
- Better video showcases
- Includes both "Useful Tips" and "Things to note" for each ability
- Xayah's passives "Clean Cuts" and "Lover's Leap" is now shown just as one (it's only one passive after all)

Updated Skill Sequence
- New showcase of the overall skilling sequence
- Separate ability descrptions rather than a general description

Updated Summoner Spells
- Removed the Cosmic Dusk Xayah image
- No longer includes Barrier as an option
- Now includes Ghost, Exhaust and Cleanse as options instead
- Now has an overview of all possible summoner spell options
- Better descriptions of the available spells

March 2, 2023:

Updated Table of Contents
- The "All About Xayah" section is removed
- Prior mentioned section as well is removed entirely from guide
- More in-depth Gameplay section created

Updated About the Author
- Removed guide icons
- Removed platinum icon for showcase
- Added my own icon
- Changed corresponding descriptions
- Added a thank-you to Katasandra for their major help

Updated Pros / Cons
- Removed SSG Xayah image
- Changed descriptions about strengths/weaknesses into a general explanation section
- Changed Pros + Cons to be shorter, easier to grasp
- Added description at the top to explain the purpose of Xayah as a champion

Updated Summary
- Changed "Thank you for Reading!" to "Famous Last Words"
- Better ending description for the guide
- Changed code to be able to thank people who helped make this guide even better

Updated Change Log
- Added "Current Change Log:" title
- New format for changes and dates

S9 Changes

S8 Changes

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✔️ How to use Feathers

Introduction

About The Author

Pros / Cons

Abilities

Skill Sequence

Summoner Spells

Runes

Items

Gameplay

Matchups

Summary

Change Log

✔️ How to use Feathers

✔️ How to use Feathers

Recommended Items

Runes: Recommended

Spells:

Barrier

Flash

Exhaust

Flash

Flash

Ghost

Cleanse

Flash

Flash

Heal

Items

Ability Order E>W>Q Max

Clean Cuts (PASSIVE)

Double Daggers (Q)

Deadly Plumage (W)

Bladecaller (E)

Featherstorm (R)

1

2

3

4

5

6

Q

W

E

E

E

R

7

8

9

10

11

12

W

W

W

E

E

R

13

14

15

16

17

18

Q

Q

Q

Q

W

R

League of Legends Champions: