Lissandra is a mage I find myself consistently coming back to. She has a unique and strong laning phase that's hard to plan against without knowledge and experience, and her kit shifts her perfectly well into teamfights in the later part of the game as she morphs from a primary damage-dealer to a crucial part of her team's frontline lockdown. Her CC is amazing both in duration and in utility, and her escape/outplay potential with her abilities is ridiculous and allows for a simultaneously aggressive and safe laning phase that really helps her dominate the mid-game. With all this combined, I feel that she is one of the few early-game champions that doesn't become largely useless in the far later parts of the game.

The main reason I made this guide was because I noticed something MOBAFire guides really lack: an in-depth matchups section. Whether it's that the pros don't want to give up their secrets, or just that less people on this site really care, most guides are all about pre-match preparation: items, runes, masteries, and highly basic strategies. I want to expand on that knowledge for my own benefit as much as for anyone else's, since just doing this guide has already helped me to play better in a lot of previously "in-the-dark" matchups. I may still transfer some of the really important matchups to the VS section up top, but it's not a huge priority for me right now. If you wanna look at matchups, scroll down lazy-poo. :P


Let me add that this is my first guide; not everything is visually perfect, but I'm working on it. I'm currently looking for a consistent database for all of dem champion portraits, as on some computers they intermittently show up as broken links.

Wheeeeeeeeeeeee~
Sorry, couldn't resist posting this. Got it from a Reddit thread: http://www.reddit.com/r/leagueoflegends/comments/1hit39/segway_lissandra/

PROS

CONS

This is the heart of most guides, so here's where a lot of the detail work really comes out on my end. *cracks knuckles* Let's get to it.

PASSIVE: Iceborn / "Dakka Dakka"

Iceborn is a key part of Lissandra's flexibility as a laner. She can keep her mana high while maintaining poke pressure on an opponent, or she can add in a free spell every 18 seconds or so. This will also occasionally give you a clutch escape when you've been running for a while or when you overcommit to a fight. Don't forget that you'll reduce the cooldown by 1 second any time you slow, snare, or stun someone with an ability; if you have a mana regen item like Chalice of Harmony, this allows you to spam relentlessly and keep Iceborn on a short cooldown while maintaining your mana pool for a ridiculously long time.


Q: Ice Shard / "lrn2harassnoob"

This is the bread-and-butter of your laning phase. It's on a short cooldown compared to the rest of your abilities and probably compared to most of your opponent's abilities as well. It's a skillshot that not only isn't stopped by minions but is actually enhanced by being shot through them, extending its range significantly. This increased range is the first thing you should learn when you pick up Lissandra, as it is inarguably her strongest tool for contesting creeps and outfarming/-harassing her opponent. It does carry a high mana cost for the extreme early levels, but it's worth it when you can chew through chunks of your lane opponent's health bar every time the try to last-hit. Your passive Iceborn also has a huge role in mitigating this mana cost, prompting you to really get your spam on so you don't waste potential time you could be getting what amounts to free mana. If you're not putting a level into your R (i.e. you didn't just hit level 6, 11, or 16), always max this ability first; it's too valuable not to do so.


W: Ring of Frost / "Nah Bro"

One of the best utilitarian spells in the game, in my opinion. Lissandra drops a ring of, well, frost around her that deals decent damage and snares enemies for 1.1 to 1.5 seconds. Read that again; that's scaling hard CC. This can be used aggressively to stop an escape or lock down multiple opponents, and it can be used defensively to peel, kite, or escape. Max this ability second, and consider adding an extra level or two early on depending on your lane opponent. Someone like Riven is going to get messed up exponentially harder the harder you can kite them, and .1 seconds added to a snare can definitely matter for that.


E: Glacial Path / "Yoink"

This is Lissandra's most technically challenging ability. She tosses a claw out that deals some damage, and that's nice, but the main draw is that at any point during the claw's travel path she can hit E again and teleport to it. This is Lissandra's biggest mindgame by far, especially because the endpoint of the claw is so nicely telegraphed by a blue icon. Udyr coming out of a nearby bush? Throw your claw in the opposite direction that you're going, and watch as Udyr runs towards that claw like it's an ice cream truck. Know your lane opponent is scared, and you don't want them to kill that cannon creep for 40 gold? Throw out the claw; they'll see an all-in engage coming, and suddenly that cannon creep isn't worth sticking around for. You can also use the full extent of the ability to pass through walls. With really good positioning at some points on the map, you can hide the endpoint of the claw inside the corner of a wall, then teleport and catch enemies utterly unprepared. Max this ability last, since many times the ability won't actually strike an opponent and it offers no CC.


R: Frozen Tomb / "NAH BRO"

This is where the lane starts to get especially messy for your opponent. Lissandra encases either herself or an opponent in a pillar of ice, and the spell's damage radiates outwards shortly thereafter. This is Lissandra's strongest counterplay tool during committed engages because it's such an epic screw-you button to so many possible lane opponents. Using it on yourself stops delayed-damage abilities like Zilean bombs and ults from Zed and Vladimir, and using it on an opponent stops abilities like Katarina and Fiddlesticks ults (and Bountiful Harvest, come to think of it). Always put points into this at levels 6, 11, and 16, as you would do with most champions.

Pre-6 offensive: E > E2 > W > Q > Q?

> > > > ?


This is what you'll use for pre-6 ganks on your ends, as well as basic all-ins where you initiate on your enemy. Glacial Path gets you to your enemy, Ring of Frost keeps him stationary, and Ice Shard is your primary damage tool. If you have the advantage on engage, and your enemy starts to walk away, follow him closely with autoattacks until your Ice Shard comes off cooldown and hit him with it again. If you think you can secure the kill, pop Ignite as well.

Post-6 offensive: E > E2 > R > Q > W > Q

> > > > >

This combo locks your target down for as long as possible while you damage him. Later in the game, it will become gradually more crucial that your Glacial Path actually strikes your opponent. Part of the reason this combo is so strong is the sheer duration of the lockdown it offers. If you chain your abilties right, your opponent will be utterly immobile for 2.5 seconds at level 6, assuming your W is only at level 1, and this duration will only increase as you put points in W. Especially for opponents not used to dealing with Lissandra's unique engage style and ridiculous CC, it's shocking to have one or two even trades early on and then get stuck in place for almost 3 seconds whenever Lissandra decides that she wants you to be. It deals tons of very reliable damage compared to Lissandra's pre-6 combos, and it basically puts an incoming gank on easy mode with the staggering amount of CC. It feels counter-intuitive to start your combo on an opponent after being stunned for 1.5 seconds and in process of being rooted, and many players don't have the mental focus to do so, especially with such a health disadvantage. If you really melt your opponent's face off the first time you drop this combo on him, it's extremely demoralizing and WILL make him respect you; if you follow that up with a slick escape from an inevitable gank in the next few minutes, you'll seem nearly unkillable to both your lane opponent and his jungler. That's the gold standard for Lissandra.

Defensive: R>Q>E>E2>W>Q

> > > > >

This is your answer to getting engaged on by an opponent. If they don't have stuns or silences, any smart opponent should be extremely wary of engaging on you because they know this is what's waiting for them. Frozen Tomb > Ice Shard forms your initial burst, and you might want to go ahead and ignite them just to let them know how dead they are. If it's a 1v1, go ahead and Glacial Path straight through them and teleport just behind them; if you use that Glacial Path to juke the continuation of their combo, go ahead and start your YouTube career now. As soon as your stun ends, drop Ring of Frost and keep up the autoattacks, then shove one more Ice Shard down their throat. Only extremely durable opponents (like a very specifically built Diana) will reasonably survive a perfect execution of this combo and be able to do much to you in return without signing their death warrant.

Escape: W > E > E2 or E > W > E2

> > OR > >

This is one of your biggest strengths as a lane bully. The precise moment that you start the combo depends on the CC and range that your enemy has available, particularly stuns or silences. For example, let's say you're laning against a pre-6 Zyra, and her jungler is an Udyr. Let's also say that you're near the bottom bush of mid, and Udyr comes flying out of the bush right next to you just as Zyra sends her Grasping Roots. Depending on whether Zyra's snare looks like it will hit dictates your next move. If it will definitely hit you, you'll get snared and then stunned by Udyr's Blazing Stampede. Wait until after the Udyr stun, then use the E>W>E2 combo to root Udyr and escape back towards your turret, keeping Udyr back to stop him from getting as much sustained AA damage on you. If you're willing to try to juke the Grasping Roots, however, you can go ahead and send your Glacial Path off behind you, then root Udyr as soon as he comes within range and teleport safely away.

This is the section I've definitely spent the most time and research on because I feel it's one of the big failings of MOBAFire guides. Everyone cares about the items, and a lot less care about the matchups that actually affect the outcome of the game. I think knowing how to beat a Vladimir is more important than knowing what an "optimal" build path would be. Also, the matchups sections are probably going to the victims of constant edits, both because update patches are a thing and because sometimes my opinion changes (read: I WAS WROOOOOOOOOONG). I will eventually translate somet of these to the "Vs. Champions" section above, but bear with me because that's gonna take a loooooong time to get around to.


Ahri: Medium-easy. Ahri is extremely squishy, and it's hard for her to justify buying any MR early to help her deal with you because she needs damage so badly. Hang around your own minion wave and get her to waste mana by missing you with Charms, but be careful that you don't get creep-locked into too many of her Qs. Pile on the AP early on; Ahri is just SO deliciously susceptible to burst that it's hard not to want to just kill her whole head off in one go. Plus, it's demoralizing as hell to watch a "support/control mage" 100-0 you as soon as you show up to lane, and Ahri has just the right amount of squishiness to allow you to do that. As an added bonus, unless she giggle-dashes out of your range completely (and then probably out of her own), her trying to ult you is generally a bad plan since yours is immediate and sets up an easy combo for you while you chain CC to keep her stuck. This is especially true in teamfights, where you can just ult her engage attempts and let your team focus her down while you continue to pump out damage and CC on other enemies.

Akali: Easy. Akali is like a much easier Katarina in terms of the matchup. She can't even approach you without taking stuff to the face pre-6, and post-6 you can just ult and full combo her if she dares to de-stealth anywhere near you. Easy peezy. Start with a Doran's Ring, and watch other lanes to see what to build for the late-game. Seeker's Armguard, Haunting Guise, and Abyssal Mask are all decent ideas to start with, maybe even all of those in that order; that would give you continuous useful stats (dat MPen doe) in addition to more AP, and it keeps you a little bulky to shrug off her burst when yours will be much more lethal in 1v1 scenarios. Don't forget your tier 2 boots, though, since a grand total of 50 MPen is enough to make any squishy champion quiver in fear.

Anivia: Very hard. Every time I see an Anivia, I just sigh. She outranges you, outsustains you once she has a Tear pf the Goddess and maybe Catalyst of Aeons, outscales your sustained damage late-game, is more useful than you for CC late-game, has the STUPID EGG OF STUPIDITY AND STUPIDNESS, and is just generally an extreme pain. You don't quite have the ranged poke to just shut her out of lane like some champions can, which allows her to harass you and farm up at the same time, and you can't even just blow her head off at level 6 because of that godforsaken egg. You'll definitely need ganks on this matchup, or maybe a lane swap if you can manage it and it wouldn't just make matters worse (like if you have a toplane Singed). The only plus about this matchup is that her wall means nothing to you thanks to Glacial Path. Just be careful not to get stunned out of your escape; a good Anivia will try for that at least once by throwing out a well-timed wall shortly followed with Q.

Annie: Medium. Double Doran's Rings and Sorcerer's Shoes is hardly ever a bad idea for your first items, and it will give you time to see what she's building first. If you see some work towards a Catalyst of Aeons, start stacking AP with Blasting Wand and the like, and consider going for an early Zhonya's Hourglass to lol your way through her stuns. If you see her just stacking up AP, snag Haunting Guise for the extra magic penetration, and since she won't have bonus health just one Q will do cataclysmic amounts of damage; after you have 30 magic pen, though, definitely start racking up significant AP, since an early Liandry's Torment doesn't help you against Annie as much as in some matchups. You definitely have the advantage in lane until she hits level 6; from then on, you'll want to be able to predict her stun-initiates or just straight-up outburst her and put her in a fun-sized coffin.


Azir: Medium. It sickens me that such a bad champion gives the glorious Ice Witch any trouble in lane, but those sand soldiers just don't know when to quit. Any dodges of his abilities will likely have to be preemptive rather than reactive since Azir's cast animations are relatively fast. The best thing you can do is maneuver around his sand soldiers and keep a lid on him in the early-game. Try to outpush him and take the first tower. If you do that successfully, get him to burn his passive on his own lane, then immediately roam for one or more ganks or counterjungles. The main danger Azir poses to you in the early-game is his CC applied to enemy ganks; basically, their jungler is a bigger direct threat to you than Azir until he gets some serious items. Birdman has a few different build styles, so pay attention to what he buys first and counterbuild accordingly. If you skyrocket ahead of him in terms of gold, pick up Sorcerer's Shoes and Haunting Guise and go terrorize the enemy botlane.

Brand: Medium-hard. At its core, you're at a disadvantage in this matchup, but the whole thing pretty much comes down to whether or not you dodge the stun. If you get hit, you lose a lot of health and he doesn't, and maybe he can kill you once he has some damage. If he misses, you can reach over and repay him in kind. This goes for level 6+ as well, but there's a smaller margin of error for both people in the lane. The problem is that his spells generally outrange yours, but you have the small luxury of knowing that half of his kit is pure skillshots (so is half of yours, but meh). If you can channel your inner [Editor's not: insert pro player name here], Glacial Path past the stun and break him before any of his cooldowns come back up. His burn damage is generally superior to yours thanks to his passive, so don't worry about Liandry's Torment; just stack AP to keep your burst damage as high as possible, and if you really fall behind early consider an Abyssal Mask.

Cassiopeia: Medium-hard. Cassiopeia's re-rework has put her much higher on a lot of tier lists, including my own. I'm not too torn up about it overall, as I love playing her (and also trust Rito to keep a lid on her *ahem*), but it can really make your life hard as Lissandra. Cassiopeia's poisons outrange you by miles, and even one dose of poison can send you running for your turret at the wrong moment. If at all possible, you want to try to kill her before level 6; this is usual fare with Lissandra, but it becomes paramount in this matchup. Do NOT let her get a gold/itemization advantage on you before she has access to her ult, which is her only reliable answer to a 2v1 gank situation. Rush Morellonomicon for the extra MP5 to help you go nuts on the minion wave (and to dampen Cass's eventual spellvamp passive on her E), then pick up Haunting Guise for the AP and the health to help with her stupid poison. You can also go straight for Rod of Ages nad then start Abyssal Mask with a Negatron Cloak, if you pick up an easy first blood and would rather invest harder into your late-game, but I prefer straight Morellonomicon. If you shove her under her turret and keep her there, getting her killed will be harder without the right jungler, but that's why Lissandra is so good at roaming.

Diana: Hard. Diana is one of those countless mids that completely changes the dynamic of the lane once she hits 6. You really need to bait out her shield before you hit her with abilities, and you NEED to hit her with abilities. Getting her to back before level 6 is crucial, and the best way to do this is 1.) only last-hit minions (don't shove), and 2.) hit her with stuff literally every time she comes near the wave. Vary your timing, obviously, since she has that shield, but still hit her with stuff. Hitting level 6 before her is pretty much the make-or-break point of this lane, and even then her damage and durability outperforms yours in an all-in. It's hard for her to kill you if you save your CC for her, but if there's an enemy jungler involved with even mediocre ganks, you're probably toast. Doubling down on Doran's Rings isn't a bad idea, and make SURE you roam.

Fizz: Medium-easy. This matchup is similar to Katarina. You have the advantage in lane because your CC shuts down Fizz's mobility, but if you screw up and die a couple of times things are going to get hairy very fast. If you're a boss, predict the shark and E over it to initiate, then explode him before he does that thing Fizz players do where they dodge everything and kill you instantly. Alternatively, just come at him (bro) and ult yourself just before the shark comes out, and you can sometimes catch him in your ult or at least force him to E. Before level 6, just stay ahead in terms of health and harass with Q like you generally always do. After 6, thanks to Fizz's close-range mobility, your best bet is to start combos by ulting him just to make sure you hit everything that comes next. You don't know the true meaning of the phrase "toxic teammates" until you smartcast button-mash literally everything while Fizz just sits there on his stupid staff tittering like an amphibious schoolgirl/-boy/-fish/-long string of words that MOBAFire would gleefully censor.

Galio: Medium-hard. This matchup is really more about you knowing Galio than knowing yourself or him knowing you. It's a tall order, but not getting hit is generally crucial, as his margin of error tends to be wider than yours. I would say to start Crystalline Flask (for more harass, forcing him back before he gets much gold), then go straight for Haunting Guise and Sorcerer's Shoes to deal with the earliest part of his MR-stacking bullcrud. Finishing Liandry's Torment a little early wouldn't be a bad idea since it's %HP rather than flat damage, but before long you're going to need help dealing with the rotten bastard. See if you can get top to gank for you around level 7-10, especially if your jungler is also mostly magic damage.

Karthus: Medium. Any Karthus worth his salt is well-acquainted with farming from a distance, which makes bullying harder on you thanks to your comparatively limited pain radius. When you trade with the undead rockstar (which you will be forced to every once in a while), focus on quick, high-damage trades while avoiding his Q-skittles. Getting caught in Wall of Pain means a lot of extra damage on you if you were already on the run, so knowing exactly when and how to use Glacial Path to initiate or escape is crucial. A best-case scenario makes Karthus miss W while you all-in him and secure the kill, keeping his Wall of Pain on cooldown so he can't limit your escape. Karthus usually takes a long time to start building AP, so use your early superior burst to your advantage. Stack AP instead of investing in MPen, since almost every Karthus on the planet goes straight for Tear of the Goddess followed by a rushed Rod of Ages. High aggression and opportunistic plays in the early-game are the key to victory, as is a gratuitous amount of aggressive warding to keep tabs on the enemy jungler .

Kassadin: ...Erm. Riot can't decide if they want Kassy W***y to be good or not. For now, I'm going to say it's a medium-easy matchup that becomes about even when Kassadin hits level 6. Start with a Doran's Ring to beat him up in the early levels, deny farm as hard as possible, consider the double Doran's option, and call for ganks at 6 or just go gank other lanes (unless he picks up an early Sheen for some reason, in which case you will lose billions of turret health if you leave the lane).

Katarina: Medium-easy. Though you technically have the advantage here, you can lose it very quickly. Like, one kill kind of quickly. Harass and outfarm her like you would almost any melee mid until you both hit level 6. Then, the lane is defined by whether or not you have ult. If you do, bait her to jump on you and ult, then drop your full combo and ignite on her. If you don't have ult off CD, stay away from her. Whether yours is up or not, Katarina's R is on a shorter CD than yours and also gets shorter on kill or assist, which means she usually has it ready to shove directly into your bunghole for a billion damage. Add even a Bronze-level gank to that, and you're probably dead. One of the best things you can do is predict when/if she roams and either punish her with tower pressure (if you're ahead in terms of tower health) or follow her and countergank. Katarina outscales your late-game damage, but you have better crowd control; communicate with your team, and unless you have a Warwick or a similar trump-card answer to Death Lotus you may want to save your ult just to shut down her teamfight engages.

Kayle: Medium-hard. Kayle starts to outdamage you starting around the mid-game, and her kit generally outranges your Q by a bit as well. The more levels of Q she gets, the harder it is to hunt her down or escape from her, and she has better sustained damage than you. Also, once she has ult, you'd need impressive button-mashing skills to slam her coffin lid before she ults herself and unleashes a bunch of damage onto you. Early, aggressive, short trades are your best bet for a dominant lane phase; all-in her if you know you can outburst her, and try to start combos with ult to melt her as fast as you can and prevent her invuln from coming out. With these short-lived trades, lure her into popping Righteous Fury a lot while trying to damage you, which results in pushing the wave more than she wants to and opens her up for ganks.

Kennen: Hard. Kennen's damage isn't really disrupted by most of your CC, which poses a big problem since you are largely dependent on that being true. The only thing Ring of Frost really does is stop his E from reaching you quite so soon, and post-6 you have to remain in range of his ult to keep damaging him, which results in you getting stunned. This is, obviously, a problem. Keep moderate distance from (and behind) the minion wave, as Kennen can't attack you through minions, and hit him occasionally to keep him from sitting around with a bunch of health. You want him high enough that he stays in lane, and low enough for you and your jungler to be able to kill him relatively quickly. Easier said than done, because it's Kennen, but that's the goal. If you can manage not to get drastically outfarmed and keep the deaths to a minimum, you'll still be at least relevant when mid-game approaches. However, Kennen should be a priority target for your team when that time comes, as he will likely be ahead of you in gold.

LeBlanc: Medium-hard. This matchup used to be total hell until LeBlanc got nerfed into near-unviable oblivion (rito pls). Basically, she outbursts you during laning phase, but falls off like a suicidal mountain goat late-game. Play safe early, don't get risky with your harass, call for a gank or two, and wait until mid-game. If she didn't get more than one kill, you'll naturally outlive her in terms of usefulness.

Lulu: Medium-easy. Lulu is very mana-dependent, and she fights to maintain her mana pool in the early levels. This should be a giant neon sign to you that says "lane-bully me pls." Buy Crystalline Flask to deal with her longer-range harass and to shove the wave to her tower. Pick up an early Chalice of Harmony or [Forbidden Idol]] to keep up the pressure in lane, then build as you see fit. Lulu is okay at farming under her tower, but not great at it. She is excellent, however, at assisting ganks; buy wards like they're going out of style. As long as you gain a significant lead before Lulu's high per-level stats kick in, you should be alright against her for the mid-game.

Lux: Very hard. Lux outranges you by miles, and she has the build room and the synergy to rush an early Chalice of Harmony to keep spamming shiny junk at you. You're going to have a hell of a time in this lane, especially because Lux can kill you under your turret quickly and at a distance. Ganks are your only option to not getting massacred. Communicate constantly, call MIAs (since Lux can get free kills with Final Spark), and ward up and farm/shove like crazy whenever she leaves and you're not low.

Malzahar: Medium-hard. You can't force him completely away from the wave since his kit outranges yours, and a well-delivered silence can really wreck your day. Also, his ult is pure murder unless you're working on an early Abyssal Mask, in which case you lose out on some of the early damage you'll need to be able to roam. You can keep him from getting mana back with his Malefic Visions at very early levels just by harassing him, but you'll take a solid amount of damage in the process, making it generally not worth using as consistent lane behavior. The lane really only starts to suck once he gets Liandry's Torment, as his waveclear and damage will both shoot through the roof. If you're not ahead in lane by then, you're probably toast in a 1v1. Before that happens, try to snowball other lanes by (you guessed it) roaming.

Mordekaiser: Medium. Assuming it's solo lane AP Morde and not the new broken botlane cheese that he has become... The Master of Metal is not necessarily a bad matchup, he's just a pain to deal with. Consider taking Crystalline Flask, if for nothing more than to spam more Qs at him. That seems counter-intuitive because of his shield, but if you can get him to back before he has the gold for Hextech Revolver, you can keep him significantly behind. Basically, watch him closely to figure out his cooldowns (or just Google it lol), and try to punch him with stuff when his shield is low or down. Once you're level 3, however, an all-in is better than a trade. Mordekaiser only has two useful spells by level 3, so you out-burst him and can force him running all the way back to his turret. Level 3 is definitely the best time to do this, as he lacks early damage and meat from having a weak shield at early levels. Watch his build pattern: if he picks up a Liandry's Torment at some point during the laning phase, which some Mordekaisers do (and I actually do very often when I play him {DID, PAST TENSE, RIP META}), you'll need to be super aware of where the minion wave is since his W just started doing a surprisingly large amount of damage from the %HP burn.

Morgana: Medium-hard. Morgana excels against champions who are dependent on a single spell to get their full combos really going, and you have some breathing room there. Black Shield will dampen your damage on her, but Morgana will need some seriously good timing to sponge your opening CC, and the shield itself can't eat your ult and remain up. She out-harasses you by far, but a solid gank will put her in her place handily. Just try to break her Black Shield with Q and E rather than mindlessly dropping Ring of Frost on her as soon as you're in range; otherwise, she won't be rooted, and the gank loses a lot of damage. Also note that until the shield is broken, any AD-based CC (like Udyr's Blazing Stampede) will be absorbed AND do no damage to the shield; your job during ganks should be to break the little purple bastard down first, then give the fallen angel a good whipping.

Orianna: Very hard. Orianna gonna Orianna. She has ludicrous range, better sustain with itemization, spammy harass, and cataclysmic late-game damage. Consider Abyssal Mask, since you have the best chances of dealing with her while right in her face. Watch for her E>W escapes if/when you jump on her, and coordinate with your jungler to kill her pre-6. If you somehow manage to get a kill or two on her without dying, however, the matchup starts to look very different indeed. You suddenly outdamage her and can somewhat zone her from the wave, and you have the ace in the hole of just being able to jump her and blow her face off if she gets too close or tries for constant harass. Orianna needs billions of AP, and for that she needs farm; take her farm away, and her snowballing potential sits somewhere around ADC Kennen levels. This almost never happens because the matchup is pretty difficult to begin with, but I can dream right? :D

Ryze: Medium-easy. Your Q outranges him by a little bit pre-6 (your W does not; remember that), and once you have ult your button-mash burst goes off faster and harder. Your ult also stops his cooldown-dependent combo dead in its tracks, giving you time to apply your own burst or to waltz away from a disadvantageous engage. That said, do not underestimate his Q spam. Keep track of how much damage he does during harass or trades, because that's how you know who would die if you got initiated on.

Swain: Medium-easy. The part that sucks about this matchup only really kicks in once Swain is level 6 and has blue buff. If he shows up without blue buff when you know the enemy buff has spawned a second time, then the enemy team's moronic jungler just gave you a lucky break. (PSA: Unless he's already feeding, always give your Swain blue buff. It's just what ya do.) The ridiculous sustain Swain has with blue, combined with his damage-over-time kit that makes it hard to see how much he really hurts, dampens your post-6 lane pressure significantly. Definitely call for ganks on this one, and try to minimize the amount that you push if you're losing the lane (but shove hard if you're winning, as Swain has a terrible time farming under tower). Swain has a snare but no actual escapes or gap-closers, so you can outmaneuver him. If you get one kill ahead, or if it's just early-game, make it your life's work to ruin his creep score: ward the river at all times and shove him under his turret, since he is so bad at said farming. As for items, though you'll want to, try not to build a Morellonomicon; Ignite should do plenty to stop his self-healing in its tracks during your engages. If you know your jungler will have serious trouble keeping his gold up, though (i.e. got severely outpicked by a strong counterjungler), you may need the passive from Morellonomicon to take Swain down by yourself.

Syndra: Very hard. Lissandra has serious spherical troubles. Syndra outranges her entirely: her damage and CC both reach Lissandra rather safely, and one stun is often all Syndra needs to kill you with a full combo + Ignite. Try for a lane swap, and if you can't then just try to play safe. Chalice of Harmony is a good idea since you'll mostly farm with abilities unless you're under turret, and the MR won't exactly worsen your dealings with Syndra balls.

Talon: Very hard. Normally, Lissandra excels at matchups in which she outranges the opponent. So she does well against Talon, right? Lolno. His Rake has decent range and hurts like hell, and thanks to his silence he can initiate literally for free and insta-burst you before you can say "report yi pls, no ganks." Lane-swap if you can, or just stick to your tower and try not to get killed to death every two or three minutes. If he hits 6 and hasn't already taken a big steamy dump all over you, wait until he leaves for whatever reason, then sprint to another lane and make a play; that's the best you're gonna get in this matchup, really.
*EDIT* This matchup just got an overhaul. Silence has been Lissandra's long-standing kryptonite, and with this Talon nerf he just lost a sizable weapon against her that prevented her from just ulting herself as soon as Talon's E went off. I'm going to tentatively put this matchup back down to Hard, since he's still a mobile AD assassin with horrifyingly fast burst, but I'm gonna be playing some matches to see what happens.

Teemo: Medium-easy. Try to out-trade him through the minion wave, don't get caught by surprise by him sitting in stealth in the middle of the lane, buy wards to cover yourself, blah blah blah. Especially in levels 6-8 or so, you'll outpace his damage output with your low-CD Ice Shard, and his blind really doesn't affect you other than the equivalent of an extra autoattack or two of damage. Blow him up before he blows you up, and all will be well once teamfights swing around.

Twisted Fate: Medium. Though his stun and slow cards are annoying, TF is very susceptible to just getting blown the F up because his defenses are so low. Harass occasionally and intelligently, all-in him at level 3 or 4, and definitely double up on Doran's Rings here. Trying your best to put him in the dirt once or twice before 6 helps not just you but also your team. Don't forget that he has his big ol' teleport ult, which is ridiculously useful from a team standpoint. If your Udyr wants to steal the enemy blue buff, he can do so much more comfortably knowing that the Twisted Fate is still level 5 and frantically trying to farm creeps under his turret. Also keep in mind that your level 6 is far more important for you than his, because it's the point where what was once a sizable trade suddenly turns into a dead gambler at your feet.

Xerath: Medium-hard. A royal pain. Do not, I repeat, do NOT, let this rat bastard get kills. That's extremely hard thanks to his ult, which basically says "lol thanks for the free gold botlane" in the description. Call MIA literally every time you can't see him for more than 5 seconds, and consider ganking top rather than botlane. Xerath players almost never check on top because of the tankier champions that hang out there, and you don't mind the tanky folks a bit. Seriously though, don't let him get more kills than you. The most disheartening moment against any Xerath is the moment he clears an entire wave in less than a second with two spells.

Vel'Koz: Hard. A lot like Xerath or Ziggs, but Chalice of Harmony is a little less useful. If Vel'Koz gets rolling (e.g. gets a kill or two ahead and has been out-farming you, the second of which is quite likely), there's no way in hell you'll outpush him. If you can get in close at level 6 or later, he just might be dead meat, especially if you juke his E knockup and/or his ult. If you can't, you're in for a world of hurt.

Vladimir: Medium-easy. You are one of the few champions that has the room to build Morellonomicon against Vladimir without sacrificing much in the way of core stats: abuse that. Dracula 2.0 has to step very close to your +5 Circle of Eat My Combo to do damage, and Lissandra is specifically designed to break people that step into that circle. Abuse the position of the minion wave to dampen his self-healing with Q spam, and once you have Morellonomicon you can get more aggressive by standing in the wave and throwing stuff at him whenever he tries to farm. Do be careful of his ult and troll pool, however. The make-or-break point of the lane will probably be who kills who during the first post-6 engage.

Yasuo: Medium. Keep this kid DOWN. Levels 1-3 or so, don't shove lane very hard and focus on landing an autoattack and/or Ice Shard literally every time he comes in range. Never let him use that passive shield when he really needs it; and ever since his nerf is patch 4.18 he's been squishier than ever at early levels. What's very nice is if you can keep him on his toes with mostly autoattacks, then take your E and all-in him as soon as you hit level 3. If you haven't used many spells yet, he might not be expecting it, and you could get a handy first blood on him that will be key to you winning lane. Yasuo starts to out-duel you once he hits level 11 and out-waveclear you before then (stupid AD mids :P), so get him killed however you can before he starts being able to jump on you for free. Oh yeah, and I don't have to tell you what to build first.

Zed: Medium-easy. The easiest of the AD countermids to deal with, partially because anearly Zhonya's Hourglass is such a convenient first item for you. The main goals you have in lane are to outpush him and to dodge his Razor Shurikens. If Zed catches wind of your plan and tries to shove back, it's easy to harass him into backing off or taking sizable damage. Rush Seeker's Armguard to guarantee that you can survive his burst early on, stick near-ish him and drop spells during his full combo (which will confuse him, since all Zed players think they're the terrifying god-kings of the puny meta), then put Frozen Tomb yourself at the last second and giggle while Death Mark harmlessly shatters against your rock-hard... ult... What did you think I was going to say? Anyways, you ought to be able to kill with ignite and your full combo, especially if you pin him with Ring of Frost just before saving yourself with ult (which is the very thing you should save it for unless you're pretty far ahead). That helps keep Zed close to you and, since he probably won't have a shadow to escape to at that point, one more Ice Shard should finish the job.

Ziggs: Very hard. Champions who significantly out-waveclear Lissandra give her a very hard time, and champions who significantly out-range her give her a hard time as well. Ziggs is... both. Murderously so. Playing safe is hard because of the kamikaze yordle's stupid range and harass, even just with Q. Do the best you can, keep him from shoving you under your tower (this will probably require taking your team's second blue buff, which you should try to secure with your life and hope your jungler isn't Evelynn), and don't die to ganks at any cost since Ziggs takes objectives so swiftly, especially if they have a hard-pushing jungler like Master Yi or Udyr. You'll likely have to count on your team to utilize you during teamfights if you don't want to get ground to a pulp. This is one of the matchups where Chalice of Harmony might be a good idea, both for the MR and so that you can keep up with Ziggs's ridiculous waveclear.

Zilean: Easy. This isn't a bad matchup at all, but it's based more on your knowledge of Zilean than on your own strengths. Basically, hit him every time he comes in range for a bomb, even though your instinct will be to back off and maybe see how much damage the bomb does. IGNORE THAT INSTINCT. Blow his face off if he comes near you, pretty much every time. Once you have 6 and/or Zhonya's Hourglass avoiding a bomb that would've killed you is an easy matter. Just make sure you don't derp and ult yourself as part of your combo while he's reviving. Stack AP to maximize, since this significantly narrows his window to damage you.

Zyra: Medium-hard. A good Zyra will stuff many of your initiates with her Grasping Roots, and once she has Liandry's Torment you're going to lose bungloads of health to simple trades. It takes serious cunning to truly beat a competent Zyra, and probably a helpful (and smart) jungler as well. Taking an early Abyssal Mask wouldn't be a frown-worthy decision.

Generally, Lissandra works best against champions who have bad early sustain, like a Wukong with no lifesteal. Her strength as a top-laner is outranging her opponent with incessant harass, which makes Rod of Ages a good early choice for many matchups. I've listed some of the matchups I've experienced more often here, and I'll definitely be adding more champions to the list as I work out my opinions on them.

Aatrox: Medium. If you are scrabbling for an edge up on him, pick up double Doran's Rings and tier 2 boots before you throw gold into Morellonomicon. Otherwise, and barring an idiot Aatrox who makes you go 3-0 at 5 minutes, you should start on the black book relatively early. It gives you AP to keep you scaling, mana regen and CDR to boost your harass game to obnoxious levels, and the obvious passive that punches Aatrox's built-in sustain right in the gonads. Aatrox has difficulty damaging you without resorting to an all-in, and you can mostly just kite him if he tries such tomfoolery, so your main goal is to minimize his ability to farm and heal up. Try not to push too hard, since it will keep Aatrox further away from his tower and easier to beat up. Definitely go for Seeker's Armguard after Morello's, and don't be afraid to pick up double Cloth Armor early on if you notice his damage spike to an uncomfortable level. You might also want Haunting Guise early-ish, since Aatrox has the build room and the synergy to go for Spirit Visage and/or Mercury's Treads to deal with you.

Elise: Medium. The most basic thing you can do is to treat her like a Blitzcrank: always stay behind minions to avoid the stun. Elise's most threatening stage comes into full swing around levels 3-7, which basically amounts to suddenly jumping on you and dealing a pile of damage without having to rely on having items. The best way to counteract this is basically to farm extremely slowly, almost to the point of freezing lane. Don't be afraid to send a Q through a minion to tag her, but still do so sparingly at lower levels since she can suddenly overtake and outpower you then. You want to keep the wave just a bit in front of your turret because it makes it much harder for Elise to take you out since a lot of her damage comes once she closes in on you in Spider form, but you also don't want to lose a bunch of CS to your turret. Despite the getaway potential her Rappel offers, it takes pretty slick maneuvering for Elise to dive you, fail to kill, and still come out ahead in terms of HP, Rappel or no. Once you have 1.5-2 complete items and Sorcerer's Shoes, you can out-CC and then outburst her pretty solidly, and at that point you shouldn't have to worry about holding back in your lane.

Fiora: Easy. Matchup under construction. :C

Gangplank: Hard. Gangplank's harass is actually better than yours because it has consistently longer range and is an AOE that doesn't have to be aimed from Gangplank's current position. Add to that his ability to nullify CC, and you've got your work cut out for you. Once he gets Sheen and some AD, the lane is going to start to suck for you. Drown your jungler in requests for an early gank, and stay near the wave to harass but not near enough to draw constant minion aggro. You'll take damage, and so will he, but the important part is not to let him know that he can just zone you. Let him push harder than you until you have the items and the levels to blow his head off his shoulders in one clean cut. For this purpose, since your margin of error during engages is pretty low, consider Zhonya's Hourglass to expand it a little, followed by a situational item or two (like Haunting Guise > Sorcerer's Shoes if he picks up a Hexblade or Spectre's Cowl). It helps you end him faster when you have to fight him )preferably during a friendly gank), and letting him watch you stack AP lets him know you're prepared to tussle.

Garen: Easy. Kiting Garen is a tiny bit more difficult because he can Q out of the slow on Ice Shard, but that really only matters in clutch situations and that's mostly what your Ring of Frost is for. In any case, deny him his passive with constant harass, even just through autoattacks, and smack him with abilities if he tries to jump on you or if he puts his spin-to-waveclear hat on. You should keep your W handy at all times, since you'll take a beating if he silences you and spins all over your nuts, but as long as you're careful about your positioning and cooldowns you should come out solidly ahead in lane. Seeker's Armguard is a must, and then consider Haunting Guise if he picks up any early MR; otherwise, try to save up a little bit at a time for a Needlessly Large Rod. Just watch out for his ult if you're around half health or lower, but you already knew that. :P

Gnar: Medium-easy. This is, at face value, a surprisingly simple matchup: harass with Q, deny farm, stay well out of range when his rage fills up. Depending on the opposing team comp (specifically, how good their jungler champ is at ganking), you can outfarm Gnar very hard by shoving the wave with Q and forcing him to farm under tower, keeping him on his toes with Q spam at least every time your passive is up. Your passive alleviates a lot of mana strain, but conserve enough mana so you can drop at least W and E to escape ganks. I would have suggested Rod of Ages for this matchup (health and mana as well as continuous scaling) except that Gnar has the %HP passive, slightly devaluing the extra health you spent your hard-earned gold on. The matchup is mostly defined by who gets the first few kills in lane, as that person will start to snowball pretty hard. You tend to have the advantage in that area, as you have hard CC and better roaming ability. The best thing to do will be to rush Sorcerer's Shoes and Haunting Guise for the magic penetration, then pick up Seeker's Armguard for the continuous AP and helpful armor. Finish Zhonya's Hourglass next, and pick up an early second Needlessly Large Rod if you have the extra gold on a particularly lucrative back for your incoming Rabadon's Deathcap. Overall, this matchup is in Lissandra's favor, but not by a huge margin; don't treat it like Teemo vs. Singed, even though you'll want to when you see the staggering damage a +30 magic pen Q does to mini- Gnar.

Jax: Medium. This matchup is made a thousand times more obnoxious by Jax's sticking power. You can burst him pretty hard, sure, but once he hits 6 all he has to do is buy Mercury's Treads and some lifesteal and pop Grandmaster-At-Arms. If he doesn't come out on top during the engage, and you don't kill him while he bails (which happens all the frigging time), he can just farm his health back up with lifesteal and jump on you again in a minute, a luxury you don't share with him. Coordinate with your jungler and get him to gank at least once before Jax hits 6. If he doesn't have any self-healing besides Doran's Blade, harass him incessantly, but watch for the stun.

Jayce: Medium-hard. Jayce is like a counterpick for a lot of top champions thanks to his range. You are also a counterpick to a lot of top champions thanks to your range. Whose range is longer? His, of course. :( Start Crystalline Flask and stay behind minions to improve your harass and buffer yourself against his. Eventually, he'll have to all-in you, at which point your full combo should be able to work its magic. As long as you don't get insta-bursted by a barrage of abilities, you should be able to either escape or kill him by the skin of your teeth. As with many of Lissandra's more even matchups, the lane is largely defined by the first kill, so keep in mind what you risk by trying to score first blood.

Kha'Zix: Medium-easy. Kha'Zix has an extremely weak early-game, and his harass with W is almost nullified by your own ability to stay behind the minion wave without losing offensive presence. Disrupt any all-in attempts with Ring of Frost, out-harass him with Q spam, and invest in an early Seeker's Armguard followed by Haunting Guise to mitigate his damage (which will mostly be physical since W=spam TotG Kha'Zix is long dead). Good warding is the key to winning this lane; Kha'Zix's sudden all-in potential is high, and he can slow you down for a surprisingly long time with multiple passive procs and W while the enemy jungler approaches with hard CC.

Master Yi: Medium-easy. It's nearly impossible for Master Yi to harass you with Q without taking some damage, so stay close to the minion wave pre-6. Any time he goes for the Q harass, punish him with every spell at your disposal while out of his attack range. If he hasn't learned to respect your lane presence by the time he gets his ult, he'll learn soon enough that you don't need slows to melt him down to speedy-techno-samurai slag. No self-respecting Sanic Samurai takes early health or magic resist, so Doran's Ring > Sorcerer's Shoes > Haunting Guise is the way to go to maximize your burst damage, perhaps picking up a Cloth Armor along the way for your eventual Seeker's Armguard.

Nasus: Medium. Lissandra vs. Nasus is a very arguable matchup because your ability to force him away from farming diminishes bit by bit as mid-game swings around and his lifesteal passive ramps up. A solid Wither can net Nasus a ton of damage on you since it nearly invalidates your kiting ability, and it's especially brutal during ganks where you're not ready with E or get CC'd out of being able to utilize it. Once Nasus hovers around 200 stacks and 2 complete items with boots, you're going to have an excessively hard time taking him down alone. At this point, call for multi-man ganks and try to get your lane shoved in to take turret, then make plays elsewhere on the map. That sounds counterproductive (I mean, you ALWAYS want to stop Nasus farming), but eventually you'll have to leave and try to win the game.

Nidalee: Easy. If she goes tanky AD, stay behind minions to nullify her Q harass and spam her away from the wave. If she goes AP, stay behind minions to nullify her Q harass and spam her away from the wave. Wait... that's the same thing. Anyways, keep her out with your superior harass at early levels and make sure you outfarm her, which should be easy considering your innate strengths in the laning phase. You can pretty much build to your team's needs during the laning phase, but make sure that you are aware of how much damage you can do before you try for an all-in. If you're not stepping on a bunch of her traps, consider Rod of Ages to keep you more relevant into the mid-game, and definitely roam mid for some Surprise Butt-Ice Ganks {TM}.

Nunu & Willump: Easy. Nunu & Willump is designed to take on champions that are dependent on their autoattacks for damage. You are not one of them. Yeti Schmeti has to step pretty close to your range to harass you, which makes pumping damage into him an easy thing to do. Don't be afraid to be highly aggressive, even though you think he does a bunch of damage with one E; I can guarantee that yours outpaces his dramatically once you have three abilities. Post-6, Nunu & Willump can't touch you. You can just Frozen Tomb him any time he tries to ult, taking minimal damage and setting you up for the combo. Nunu & Willump players often get Rod of Ages in losing matchups, prompting you to relentlessly stack AP to keep your damage and waveclear well above his.

Riven: Hilariously easy, to the point that Lissandra is my go-to Riven counter. I'm aware that Riven goes mid sometimes, but she's much more common top in my experience, so I'm putting her here. Anyways, supar easy matchup that you win because of your kiting and CC; I'd say that you can win the lane with /laugh spam, but you actually need to use abilities to deal damage. Keep her from farming much with Q spam at early levels, and then it ought to be easy enough to bait her into wasting her shield on your autoattacks or /laugh. If she jumps in on you, drop W and silly-walk away, wiggling your bum as much as possible to aggravate her (seriously, Riven mains get mad very easily). Once you hit level 6, with good timing you can avoid her Wind Slash with your own ult and keep up the juicy combo goodness. Remember that your strength is your superior range: a kited Riven is an underfed Riven, and you have an excellent kit to work with in order to beat her. Consider putting an extra level into W early on (but be aware of how that affects the cooldown on your Q being a level lower) since it increases the duration of the root and eases your disengage if she all-ins you.

Rumble: Medium. Rumble depends on his ability to mindlessly harass and outfarm other top-laners, especially once he gets some AP under his belt. His QQ is strong, but yours is stronger. Since outfarming him is more difficult than other top-laners, chunk him with Q constantly and force him to back more than you. This is definitely a good matchup to build Rod of Ages, since the mana sustain helps you outlast him immensely after the first back or two, and this is also one of the very rare top matchups where Athene's Unholy Grail might be a good option since Rumble's only significant damage is AP. If he overheats early, peel him off of you, as his autoattacks will do a little more damage than you think they will; if he overheats during the later parts of the laning phase, either he has dangerously committed himself to killing you or he's a moron, and you probably just got a free kill. Watch for sudden engages with ult, as once he has Liandry's Tormet (which he can rush, since he doesn't need a Seeker's Armguard to help deal with you) he suddenly does billions of damage.

Singed: Easy. You outpace his damage by miles at all times in the game, and you shouldn't concern yourself with getting flipped unless you burned all your CC on a different target. Shunt him away from the wave with the Crystalline Flask you bought, and keep him under his tower. Even there, he'll have a hard time approaching your wave without taking excessive damage because of your range. Just don't get greedy with your lane dominance and get thrown into turret; that will likely spell your doom unless you have a minion buffer and a quick trigger finger on E. Keep an eye on your minimap in case he gets brave and tries to proxy-farm; no smart Singed ever would against you, but hey, dumber things have happened. *looks pointedly at on-release Mordekaiser rework* Pick up Rod of Ages to deal with any random poison damage you take and to keep your harass in good shape, and look to roam mid since Singed has trouble taking objectives.

Trundle: Medium. If you can out-maneuver and out-smart Trundle, you can beat him. If you get caught in the peak of his damage ( Frozen Kingdom + Subjugate + Blade of the Ruined King + over 9,000 resulting autoattacks + you already used your escape spells), you're toast on a toast stick in the kingdom of the toast faeries. As with Galio, this matchup is dependent more on you knowing how to deal with Trundle than him knowing how to deal with you. As far as he's concerned, you're a bursty mage with some CC. You, however, need to study his lane strategy and build what it takes to beat him. If he leans on his passive sustain to keep him alive, whip him into shape with Morellonomicon. If he grabs an early Bilgewater Cutlass, put Seeker's Armguard on your immediate to-do list. If he buys MR, stack MPen and harass him to high heaven.

Warwick: Medium. You have the advantage early-game, but once he hits level 6 his jungler is going to be hitting your lane non-stop for perceived free kills. Your job in the early-game is to ward up, zone the hell out of him, and keep your own health high at all times. Warwick has ridiculous sustain and excellent late-game comeback potential, and you have to keep him as far down as possible during the early-game. Outfarm him by the widest margin you can manage, and try to zone him away from EXP from dying minions; that's key to winning the matchup and keeping Warwick behind well past the laning phase.

Wukong: Medium-easy. Wukong is a pretty braindead champion, which is Bad News Bears (TM) for you, but he also has horrible sustain in the early game. Harass him like mad, and consider taking Crystalline Flask just so you can harass more and deal with his occasional boop-you-on-the-head E>Q>W. You never want to dive him (and shouldn't have to with your superior range), and you definitely want to keep the river warded since Wukong is so good at assisting ganks by just pressing all his buttons, but you can mostly push him back and keep him stressed out and behind on farm. Straight AP is usually the best idea for this matchup, starting with a Seeker's Armguard, and look for opportunities to save some cash for your Needlessly Large Rod.

Yorick: Hard. Yorick outsustains you to a ridiculous degree once he gets Tear of the Goddess, and his harass is more suited for the toplane environment than yours. Consider a lane swap here, not because the matchup is especially hard, but because some other midlaners or AD assassins will have an easier time against Yorick and may outdo him completely. If you've got a Riven or Kayle in your midlane, demand a lane-swap; as long as they ward up, they can thank you for the free killing spree later. If you're stuck against him, however, freeze lane and wait for him to overpush. Yorick's biggest weakness is that pushing his lane puts a big "gank me" sign over his head thanks to his lack of reliable escapes. Any decently-timed gank combined with your torrent of CC will keep him stationary long enough to kill him, and you can probably escape his reanimation as well. Buying tier 2 boots early on is crucial in this matchup for lots of reasons.

This isn't technically a matchup section, and it certainly isn't a recommendation for you to try Lissandra in the jungle. Basically, this is just some pointers on how to deal with getting ganked or helping your team counterjungle. I'm not intending to do every jungler, either, just the more popular ones I tend to see. If asked, I might add a few more specific ones in later.


Amumu: Not a huge problem until he hits level 6, and when he does he'll probably run straight to botlane. Take your time to make sure you can juke his bandage toss when he appears, keep track of your lane opponent's CC options, and stay up to date with your warding.



Fiddlesticks: Fiddlesticks is easier to prepare for if you're mid than if you're top. Mid, the best option he has is to maybe use ult and then run at you; run away from him at an angle towards your turret to maximize the amount of time you're out of range for his Fear. If you're top, things get hairier; Fiddlesticks has some sneaky walls to jump over and surprise you with now, meaning more reliable ults for him. If the lane is pushed very far in one direction or the other, maintain a ward over a nearby wall at all times.



Lee Sin: Like Fiddlesticks, but scarier. Lee Sin can jump walls to get to you from his first gank onwards, and he can still Q to you after you use your E to escape. Buy wards, and try to arrange for a countergank or two.



Master Yi: Most Master Yis won't visit you before 6 unless 1.) you act like an idiot in lane, or 2.) you're 2-0 at 5 minutes and pushed super-hard to the enemy turret. Whenever he does show up, don't try to slow him with Q, and wait until he uses Alpha Strike or starts autoattacking you to use W, as Alpha Strike will dodge it otherwise. Then, escape with E, and only use your ult on him if he's particularly tenacious or you have a lot of ground to cover.



Nautilus: A lot like Amumu, except you need to be worried once he hits 6. His ult will follow you until hell freezes over, making your E less useful and sometimes even interrupting it, and his Q is, well... his Q. He's quite slow, though; keep vision in your bushes, and you'll be able to easily slip away before getting ganked.



Olaf: Not much of a problem, actually. Dodge the first axe and you're probably good. Though his ult blocks disables, you still have the slow from your Q to keep him back as he closes in, which (unless you're dramatically overextended) could be enough to take you back to safety, here meaning your team or your turret.


Rammus: A solid issue for you. He doesn't see much play at lower ELOs, but his ganks are sternly murderous when he's on the field. If you see a Rammus jungler and you're against a 100-0 style lane opponent, seriously consider buying a Sightstone. No, seriously.



Rengar: Wards, wards, wards. If you see the exclamation mark above your head and your own jungler isn't en route, there's a good chance you're dead. Deep-ward the river so you can see Garfield coming before he goes invisible, and if he's building full squishy consider trying to blow his head off the first time you see him.



Sejuani: The best defense against Sejuani is good warding. She has two pretty reliable disables, being her Arctic Assault and Glacial Prison, so keeping her just out of reach often isn't an option. She doesn't deal much damage early on, but she won't need to: that's what your lane opponent is for. If it looks like you're dead meat anyways, try killing the enemy laner before you go down, who will be squishier than Sejuani.



Tryndamere: Against a Tryndamere jungler, know how much damage you deal to your lane opponent; you'll probably deal slightly more than that to Tryndamere until he picks up some health, especially if you've got some MPen under your belt. If he commits pretty hard to a gank, try and insta-burst him down before he can ult, using your R just before you think he'll pop Undying Rage. If you don't kill him and he starts not-dying all over the place, bring him under your turret and stay alive for five seconds. If you don't get hit with hard CC from your lane opponent, you just might take him down and earn some free buffs.



Udyr: Actually hilariously easy to deal with early on, especially when your matchup has little reliable CC. Drop W when he gets close, then E away. Consider a good /laugh to aggravate the Udyr and your lane opponent a little, but don't let that put you in range of his bear slaps.



Vi: Vi is a lot like Sejuani in that she primarily keeps you in place while someone else drops a billion damage on you. It's not advisable to try to fight Vi once the gank starts, since as soon as she uses one ability she gains a temporary shield; instead, go for the enemy laner or run like a maniac. With good timing, you can stop her dash with W, but you have to be precise.



Warwick: Post-6 Warwick ganks are horrifying, especially if you didn't ward up and/or had tunnel vision on your lane. You'll be most useful in the very early levels in any lane, so work with what you've got to capitalize on that. Earn turret damage, deny farm, and consider coordinating with your jungler to ambush Warwick in his jungle and/or take his camps. Warwick usually escapes 1v1s alive when in his own jungle, but the addition of your CC can net your team some crucial gold and stolen buffs.

Well, I hope you enjoyed the guide and maybe learned something too. As in, learned that Lissandra is awesome. Happy QQ, summoners!

Other guides by Eleventh Biscuit

Jarvan IV bottom lane support: http://www.mobafire.com/league-of-legends/build/the-family-business-supporting-with-jarvan-iv-409051