Welcome to my in depth Corki guide! I'm Yeager, a high elo midlaner in league of legends consistently reaching at least master tier on EUW and challenger EUNE since season 5. I spend some of my free time creating high quality educational content to help you improve at the game and become a better player. ✭ Why should you play Corki? Corki is a late game scaling caster ADC with a burst/poke play style. The champion is rather easy to pick up and play, due to his kit being straight forward with no advanced combos or mechanics to learn. Even though his itemization consists of AD items, his passive turns him into a hybrid champion with most of the damage being magic, making him a solid pick with most teamcomps. Although he doesn't have any CC, he makes up for it with his insane DPS potential that can easily wipe squishy targets off the map within seconds. He is known for being a safe blind pick that can do well into most match ups.

Pros + Safe pick + Strong in teamfights + Good long ranged poke + Excellent roams with Hextech Munitions + High burst + Easy to CS Corki is a great pick for solo queue because of his safe laning phase and massive teamfight presence. Corki is known as a midgame champion, but he scales really well into lategame with the crit build. With enough items you can oneshot squishies like an assassin. You pick Corki when you want a safe champ with consistant DPS and strong teamfight abilities.

Cons - Mana hungry - Squishy - High CD on his only escape Valkyrie - Expensive items - No CC Corki suffers from the same problems as other ADCs - he is VERY squishy. This of course means positioning is really important. There is no built-in CC in his kit, so he is a easy target for assassins. The champion is also very skillshot reliant - he does rely on doing a lot of damage from his Phosphorus Bomb and Missile Barrage which can sometimes be hard to land. High mana costs can be a problem until Trinity Force.

SUMMONER SPELLS - FLASH: Pretty self-explanatory. Always take this. TELEPORT: The most used secondary summoner on Corki for a good reason. Your goal is to farm towards your first big powerspike Trinity Force since you're quite weak before that. Teleport allows you to recall and teleport back to lane when you're low on HP/Mana, so you don't miss out on CS and EXP. You can also help out your team by flanking with Teleport or have global presence as a splitpusher. CLEANSE: You want to have this if the enemy team has a lot of CC that can pose a threat to you during the laning phase, and later stages of the game.

When can I use this rune setup?: Every game as long as you are confident in the match up. In a difficult lane you just switch out the keystone with Fleet Footwork for more sustain and mobility.

Lethal Tempo: Caster champions rely a lot on their abilities to deal most of their damage. When the abilities are on cooldown, there will be some down time before they can dish out damage again. This keystone completely removes that weakness while also turning Corki into a hyper carry. Since you're already building crit items, every single auto attack is going to hit like a truck in the later stages of the game. It's riskier to use in the early game because it doesn't give you any sustain but it's by far the best scaling keystone on Corki. Presence of Mind: This helps fixing any mana issues you might have alongside Manamune. Legend: Bloodline: Best scaling rune in this tier that gives you a ton of sustain in the later stages once you have enough stacks. Coup de Grace: A consistent rune because execution damage is always strong at every point in the game. Manaflow Band: Corki uses up a lot of mana, especially with spammable abilities like his ultimate. Getting Trinity Force helps with some of the mana problems, but Manaflow Band fixes it completely. A bonus 250 mana and a boost to the mana regen passive when fully stacked, should be more than enough for the rest of the game. Gathering Storm: A scaling rune that's barely noticeable until the 20 minute mark. Afterwards it becomes extremely powerful giving you so much AD for every 10 minute that passes, meaning that it outscales even keystones as the game progresses.

PASSIVE ABILITY

Hextech Munitions (Passive): Corki's basic attack deals a percentage of their damage as magic instead of physical. Every once in a while, The Package arrives in Corki's base to be picked up, temporarily granting him out of combat Movement Speed and upgrading Valkyrie into Special Delivery.

Q

Phosphorus Bomb (Q): Corki fires a flash bomb at a target location, dealing magic damage to enemies in the area. This attack additionally reveals units in the area for a duration. This is our waveclear and poke ability in the laning phase, so we max this first.

W

Valkyrie (W): Corki flies a short distance, dropping bombs that create a trail of fire that damages opponents who remain in it. This is Corkis escape and gap-closing ability. Remember you can fly over walls with it too, for a quick escape.

E

Gatling Gun (E): Corki's gatling gun rapidly fires in a cone in front of him, dealing damage and reducing enemy Armor and Magic Resist. Huge ability in teamfights where your entire team can benefit from it.

R

Missile Barrage (R): Corki fires a missile toward his target location that explodes on impact, dealing damage to enemies in an area. Corki stores missiles over time, up to a maximum. Every 3rd missile fired will be a Big One, dealing extra damage. Landing the big rockets on multiple targets will make a big difference in teamfights. Can also be used to waveclear fast.

Corrupting Potion

Corrupting Potion: This is the best starting item if you're looking to trade often, or just sustain through the laning phase. The charges are refilled when basing, so you never have to buy a single Health Potion. It can also be sold later on when you no longer need it, and get some of the gold back.

Doran's Blade

Doran's Blade: Will be our standard starting item. Gives AD, flat HP and some valuable sustain for the laning phase.

Doran's Shield

Doran's Shield: Gives flat HP, HP regen and bonus damage to minions. Ideal in matchups where you are guaranteed to get harassed. I normally buy this against Viktor, Gangplank, Jayce and Kennen

Cull

Cull: A decent buy against easy matchups or in games where you won't interact with the enemy midlaner. Cull basically speeds up the process and lets you have Trinity Force earlier. It pays itself off once you reach the max stacks. Alternatively, you can get this on your second back when you have 450-600 gold and nothing better to buy.

Refillable Potion

Refillable Potion: Is a really good item to pick up when you have 150g to spare. The earlier you buy it, the better. It is extremely gold efficient, as it gets refreshed once you base. If i have a Health Potion, i would sell it to buy this item. It can be sold again later on for 60g, so you only lose 90 gold on an item, that can save you in the laning phase.

Core items - Immortal Shieldbow: Gives you everything you need in the early game, and also the added safety from the passive. Sustain is incredibly useful as it can keep you healthy throughout the laning phase, so you can safely farm and scale up. Sorcerer's Shoes: We build AD on him, but he deals mostly magic damage because of the passive. Finishing this item increases your raw damage output from basic attacks and abilities. Rapid firecannon: Gives a boost to your DPS by increasing attack speed and crit chance. It also gives that extra bit of AA range when fully charged which is super useful on short-ranged champions like Corki. Infinity Edge: The third big purchase in our build basically the AD version of Rabadon's Deathcap. It gives you a massive damage spike for the late game.

Divine Sunderer: This is the other mythic option we have on Corki. It gives dual pen which is incredibly good as corki deals both physical and magic damage, so we will be amplifying both of these damage types. The spellblade passive has great synergy because Corki is a caster type champion, so you will be using abilities a lot while weaving in auto attacks. Unlike Immortal Shieldbow, this item does not get countered by Serpent's Fang, so it's a great choice against AD assassins since they will most likely be using that item. I recommend using Divine Sunderer against assassins.

Void Staff: Why buy this when we are building AD items? Because 70-80% of Corkis damage is magic damage. We buy this item if enemies are stacking magic resistance - it will increase our damage by a considerable amount. Do not buy Last Whisper against people stacking armor, because armor does NOT counter you like magic resist does.

Bloodthirster: It has offensive and defensive properties with the passive shield. If you're lacking in sustain and also need a shield to survive burst damage, then this can be a viable option. It's rare that you build it this meta on Corki.

Essence Reaver: This is the only way we can get the spellblade passive if we are using Immortal Shieldbow as our mythic item. It has everything we need for a offensive item, so you should always be building this at some point in the game unless you're using Divine Sunderer.

Manamune: You get a huge damage spike and mana pool which is a crucial stat on caster type champions like Corki becaue it allows you to spam your abilities without worrying about going OOM. It's a scaling item so you will be pretty irrelevant until it's fully stacked.

Maw of Malmortius: You get a big magic shield when you take magic damage that wouldput you below 30% HP. Can be a great buy if you're facing burst AP champions like LeBlanc, Katarina, Akali, Syndra, Fizz. Avoid buying this if you have Immortal Shieldbow because the passives don't stack.

Mercurial Scimitar: This item is bought mainly for it's active that lets you cancel any CC, but the offensive/defensive stats it gives shouldn't be ignored. I always buy this when facing a Malzahar, Skarner and sometimes vs Warwick. When you feel like Cleanse isn't enough, and you need another item that cancels CC like Suppression, this is the go-to item.

Guardian Angel: This is a really strong item on Corki because it will increase your damage but also give you a really solid defense as well, so you can come back to life mid and lategame. If you are struggling against assassins like Zed and Kha'Zix, this will be a big help in the later stages.

Corkis laning phase is fairly simple. You want to try and harass the enemy as much as you can, but prioritize getting the CS. The most effective way of doing this, is to establish Lane dominance. That is done by shoving the first wave fast, so when you go for trades, the opponent won't have that many minions backing him up. If he decides to trade back, he will take damage from you and your minions.

We max Phosphorus Bomb first as this is our poke and waveclear ability, Gatling Gun second for more DPS and Valkyrie third for safety and gap-closing. We always put a point in Missile Barrage when possible.

Your best way of trading in lane, is to throw a Q and a basic attack when your enemy is going for a lasthit on a minion. This forces the opponent to either take free damage OR give up the CS to trade back. It is a win-win situation for you if played correctly.

As Corki you won't find many solokills in lane before Immortal Shieldbow or Divine Sunderer, so you mainly want to farm the early stages, and recall when you have enough gold for important components. If you are forced to base earlier, you can grab a Cull and keep farming. If you are going the Manamune path, then you want to get Tear of the Goddess on your first base and build that into Manamune right after you finish your mythic item and tier 2 boots.

Roaming: At 8 minutes you get a package Hextech Munitions - one of the most powerful non-ultimate roaming ability becomes available for you to pick up. To make the most use of it, you should note the passive timer and base accordingly. When you have the package, you should shove in your wave ASAP and roam to other lanes. Correct use of this passive will 95% of the time either give you kills/assists or blow their summoner spells.



By now you should have your first big powerspike Immortal Shieldbow / Divine Sunderer, Sorcerer's Shoes and manamune]. Now you can go for aggressive plays, and abuse the damage output gained from your items. People usually don't respect the DPS [[corki gets at this stage.

Sometimes people start grouping midlane at the early stages of the game, and for most champions that is not the ideal situation, as they rather want to farm for their powerspikes.(Usually more than 1 item)
For Corki its actually a good thing because you have your core items and will out-DPS almost anyone in the game at this stage.

Use this to your advantage and try securing objectives like outer turrets, rift herald and dragon to create a lead, that can give you enough gold to succesfully solo carry the game.




At this stage of the game, you will obliterate any squishy with crits and spellblade procs. Group up with your team and fight around the major objectives like baron, inhibitor, elder drake and turret.

Corki excels at poking down enemies from long range with Missile Barrage. You should always poke as much as possible before you start a fight. The way you teamfight with Corki is the same as every other marksman: You hit whoever is closest to you! Your main goal is to not die and pump out as much DPS as you can. This is best done by staying in a safe area where the enemy team can't get to you.
That is usually behind your team. Use Valkyrie wisely to reposition yourself in teamfights if needed and keep your distance.

If you have the passive Hextech Munitions ready for a teamfight, DO NOT fly straight into the enemy team. Even though Corki has insane damage, he will still get deleted fast because of how squishy he is. In late game fights, Hextech Munitions should be used as a zoning tool and split up the enemy team, OR to keep them away from objectives.

Splitpushing is a strategy you can make us of when:
1. your team is underperforming in teamfights
2. you have a really strong splitpusher that can easily 1v1 anyone on the enemy team, and maybe even 1v2.

The idea is that you have 4 people in a lane, and then you send the strongest splitpusher to a sidelane, and let him push for objectives while distracting multiple enemies.

If the splitpusher is getting chased down by the whole enemy team, the remaining 4 are free to take major objectives like baron/dragon/towers and inhibitors.

If the 4 members are getting engaged by the whole enemy team, the splitpusher is free to destroy towers and maybe even a inhibitor.


Can i splitpush as Corki? Absolutely. But it has to be under the right circumstances(mentioned above).

Although Corki prefers teamfights over splitpushing, it is still possible! You can splitpush with Exhaust, but Teleport is the best option because it lets you help your team, when the enemies are engaging or forcing a major objective like Baron.

When you splitpush, you need to have your team pushing another lane. They can't be farming jungle or playing passive under a tower.

Your goal when splitpushing, is to create pressure and force more enemies to come and defend vs you. When you are the strongest splitpusher in a game, you can easily kill anyone in a 1v1, so the enemies will panic and send more people after you.
When you find yourself in a 1v2 or 1v3 situation, you need to spam ping your teammates and tell them to take tower or even baron.
If your team gets big objectives because you are distracting 2+ enemies on your lane, you are doing it right!


Another advantage of splitpushing is the fact that you will often get a massive EXP/CS lead compared to everyone else. Why? Because while the other players are grouped and sharing exp / farm, you get everything for yourself. It's not unusual for a splitpusher to be 2+ levels ahead of everyone else.


Splitpushing is very hard to pull off, because it depends on your teammates doing the right thing at the right time. However, if you do manage to pull it off, you will find yourself winning so many games, because the enemies don't know how to deal with it. Splitpushing is like a double-edged sword.

Hextech Munitions the package spawns at minute 8. It gives a solid 40% out-of-combat movement speed, so you can quickly clear sidewaves and then group with your team. When picked up, it lasts for 60 seconds and goes on 4 minute cooldown after ability use. Make sure you base accordingly to make the most use of the package.

Phosphorus Bomb can get its cast timed shortened by flashing immediately after use. It can also be used to reveal enemy units that might be hiding in a nearby patch of brush

Valkyrie can be used to fly over walls if you move as close as possible before attempting it. This is really effective against opponents with no gap-closers, as it gives you a clean escape.

Gatling Gun can be used to succesfully last-hit the caster minions under the tower. Do enough damage with gatling gun so they die from exactly 1 basic attack after a towershot. When the minions are low enough, make sure to turn around, so the Gatling Gun doesn't do too much damage or else you will lose minions to tower.

Missile Barrage the 3rd big rocket has more range than the other rockets due to the explosion radius. It can be used to quickly clear the minion wave combined with Phosphorus Bomb. When you are going for a all-in, get your big rocket ready first for maximum damage output.

Do you find yourself dying to jungle ganks way too often?. If so, we can solve that by improving 2 things:



The first thing you want to do, when you get into a game, is look at enemy comp. What kind of mid and jungler are you up against? Aggressive or Farming? Is the enemy midlaner good at setting up ganks? Based on the answer, you should adjust your playstyle to give you the best possible chance of success.



✭ Example of Aggressive junglers: Graves, Elise, Nidalee, Kha'Zix, Lee Sin, Shaco, Twitch and Zac. These junglers will often look to get a advantage early game by ganking vulnerable lanes over and over, or invade enemy jungler. Shaco, Twitch and Jarvan IV have strong level 2 ganks, so be careful and play passive when they are out of vision. For the lvl 2 cheese ganks, you want to put a ward close to the raptor camps when the red buff spawns.
The other junglers can go for lvl 3 ganks. For those you ward at opposite side of where they started at around 2.25. Freezing the wave can be a smart way of ensuring your safety.


✭ Example of Farming junglers: Shyvana, Master Yi, Hecarim, Fiddlesticks, Amumu. The farming junglers prefer to farm and scale, because their ganks pre-6 aren't the best. You can play more aggressive when facing these types of junglers with proper vision. I know that Hecarim and other farming junglers can gank early, but they are quite easy to avoid if you ward properly. Farming junglers can be punished very hard if they decide to gank early without it leading to a kill/assist, because your jungler can invade and steal jungle camps.




As soon as minions get into lane, your job is to figure out what side enemy jungler started. This is really important, because it lets you know where to ward. If one of the laners arrive late, you know they helped the jungler. At this point you know where the opposing jungler started. At around 2.20 you want to ward the opposing side of where their jungler started. Let's say they started at blue, at 2.20-30 you ward the red buff side and play around the side where you have vision.

If the enemy team did a Fake leash, you have to play safe until you know where the jungler is. There will be some games where you can't track the enemy jungler, and the only option here is to place some wards on 1 side, and play around that side until you spot their jungler.

Explanation of fake leash: It means that both top and botlane wait before going into their lanes. It prevents giving away info on which side the jungler started, so it's much harder to get invaded, or for laners to know when/where to ward against jungle ganks.





Here are some examples of where you can ward for vision control. The white and yellow spots, are excellent for Control Ward, as they tend to survive longer and gives good vision of invading/ganking jungler/supports.

The purple spots gives better river vision, but there is a high chance of them being spotted by enemy jungler or midlaner. It is a great spot for vision, but i advice placing it there IF you have lane control, so you can defend the ward.

The blue spots are excellent for tracking down the enemy jungler and predicting his routes. If you have prio mid, you can place the wards a bit more aggressively at these spots, or a little closer to the raptor camps.

If you use a Control Ward in the midlane brush, be sure to place it CLOSER TO YOUR SIDE, not in the middle of the brush, or closer to the enemy. This forces enemies to step closer towards your side, and put themselves at risk when attempting to kill the Control Ward. Also avoid using Control Wards when you're getting shoved in because the laner will have priority and can easily take down the ward.

Freezing is a advanced technique that lets you deny your opponent exp and cs if done correctly. Freezing a lane means that you kite/tank the minions without letting your tower hit the creeps. You need to make sure the enemy minions always beat yours. After the enemy killed your entire wave, you let 2-3 of the enemy creeps live, and kite them until the next wave is here. When the next wave arrives, the wave will freeze right outside of your turret range.

By doing this, you are safe from jungle ganks, while your opponent takes a big risk everytime he overextends for a cs.

You can Freeze the wave when you and the enemy are even or ahead, and it can be used to help you win back the lane after you screwed up and died. You can attempt to freeze the wave already from level 1, leaving your opponent vulnerable to jungle ganks or be within your kill range, if you are able to kill them. When you get a lead, and you can solokill an overextended enemy laner, that is exactly when you want to freeze the wave. You force the enemy midlaner to either be in your kill range, or miss a ton of cs and exp, putting them further behind.

Freezing a wave is a great way to snowball a lead, if you have no objectives to fight for, such as dragon, herald or towers.

Here is a youtube video that explains wave management very well. I recommend watching the entire video. All credits for this video goes to Blitz Esports LoL

That wraps up my Corki guide! If you've read everything and still have any questions, feel free to ask in the comments section.