Hey there. I'm Meteos from Cloud 9 and I'm going to share with you how I play Elise. Elise is one of the best junglers in the game and she's also extremely fun and worth learning! She's a bit complicated, but she's very powerful once you get the hang of her. She excels at early jungle pressure as well as utility and crowd control late game.

Pros

+ Early game damage + CC + Objective Control + Sustain + Non-reliant on items

Cons

- Doesn't scale that well with items - Gets nerfed a lot (rito plz)

For runes I use Greater Mark of Attack Speed, Greater Seal of Armor, Greater Glyph of Ability Power, and Greater Quintessence of Ability Power. The goal behind this rune set up is to optimize your jungle clear speed. Magic pen or Hybrid pen runes make Elise deal more damage, but they don't help you clear the jungle because jungle monsters have 0 magic resist already.

I switch to Greater Glyph of Magic Resist if the other team has a lot of magic damage or a champion that will one-shot you if you have 30 magic resist like Syndra. Greater Glyph of Cooldown Reduction is good as well. A lot of different set ups work on Elise, it just comes down to preference between optimizing jungle clear speed and damage to champions.

I use 21/9 masteries, taking points into both AD and AP to make myself as strong as possible early game. Spell Weaving and Blade Weaving are optional, along with dangerous game, double edged sword, and expose weakness. I wouldn't recommend taking Archmage because Elise typically doesn't build that much AP and the mastery doesn't become useful until late game even if you do build AP. 21/9 is the best set up on Elise because this maximizes her early game powers and makers her gankes more potent.

(1st - Q) Max Q first as it deals the most damage in both human and spider form. Get your first point at level 2 to help you clear the jungle.

(2nd - E) Max E next for the lower cooldown and longer duration on your CC. This works best with a tanky CDR build so you can stay alive in team fights and get a lot of stuns off. Get your first point in E at level 3 for ganking and 1v1 power.

(3rd - W) Max W last in the tank build. If you're building AP you can max this before E for more damage. Take a point in W at level 1 because it lets you scout and helps you kill your first buff quickly.

(Passive) Spider Swarm

Elise's passive allows you to generate spiderlings by hitting enemies with spells in human form. The spiderlings appear when you enter spider form and will follow you around and attack with you. Spiderlings can be targeted and killed, so you can use them to tank aggro from towers and jungle monsters.

(Q) Neurotoxin Cooldown: 6 seconds In human form, Elise shoots venom at a target that deals damage based on their current health, so it does more damage to champions at high health.

(Q) Venomous Bite Cooldown: 6 seconds In Spider form, Elise lunges at her target and deals damage based on their missing health, so it does more damage to champions at low health.

(W) Volatile Spiderling Cooldown: 12 seconds In human form, Elise shoots an exploding spider that moves towards your target and deals AoE damage when it reaches the target or has chased for a few seconds. One cool trick that isn't mentioned in the tooltip is that the Volatile Spiderling will immediately jump to any target that you use Venomous Bite on.

(W) Skittering Frenzy Cooldown: 6 seconds In spider form, Elise gains a huge attack speed bonus for herself and her spiders and causes each of their auto attacks to heal her for a flat amount with a tiny AP ratio. This ability is mainly used for clearing the jungle but it can give a little bit of sustain during fights as well if your spiderlings are still alive.

(E) Cocoon Cooldown: 14/13/12/11/10 seconds In human form, Elise shoots a skill-shot projectile that stuns the first enemy that it collides with. This spell doesn't do any damage but it provides great utility and can catch people in team fights really well.

(E) Rappel Cooldown: 26/23/20/17/14 seconds In spider form, Elise can use Rappel. This ability is the reason that Elise is hard to play. Rappel is a bit hard to use at first, but once you master it, it becomes one of the most powerful tools in the game.

//NOTE// There are two ways to use Rappel
The first way to use Rappel is to target the ground with the ability, which causes Elise and her spiderlings to jump into the air and stay up there for up to 2.5 seconds where she is untargetable. Elise will descend on an enemy if you use the ability again on that target or else she will drop down in the center of her web after 2.5 seconds.

The second way to use Rappel is to target an enemy with Rappel directly, which will cause Elise to jump up until the air and descend on the enemy right away. If the target gets out of range during the animation, Elise will move towards the target and land at the outside of her circle.

(R) Human Form Cooldown: 4 seconds In human form, Elise shoots a skill-shot projectile that stuns the first enemy that it collides with. This spell doesn't do any damage but it provides great utility and can catch people in team fights really well.

(R) Spider Form Cooldown: 4 seconds In spider form, Elise gets spiderlings that follow her around and attack her target. The spiderlings deal physical damage but scale with AP.

(Recommended) + x2 I usually prefer starting with 2 health pots as opposed to a ward because it gives you more sustain in case you get into a skirmish and allows you to take more damage while jungling, thus increasing your clear speed because you don't have to let your spiderlings die. Starting with a ward is good if you have a super vulnerable lane that is at risk of dying to the enemy jungler.

(Early Game) I always get Ranger's Trailblazer on my first back because it changes the way my smite works allowing me to sustain in the jungle easier and farm faster. Next I would get Boots and Sightstone. Then I will finish my jungle item with the Magus Enchantment, the AP gives me a decent power spike in the mid game.

(Tank Elise) After finishing Ranger's Trailblazer with the Magus Enchantment, build Mercury's Treads unless the other team has very little CC or magic damage, in which case you can build Ionian Boots of Lucidity or Ninja Tabi. After that you should build Banshee's Veil. Banshee's and merc treads allow you to aggressively position yourself to land Cocoons without getting caught. After banshee's, continue to build tanky and get CDR when possible. Items like Locket of the Iron Solari, Randuin's Omen, or Frozen Heart are all good options for Elise.

Alternatively, you can build full AP Elise if you are looking to be more of an assassin rather than a tank. I've found AP Elise to be less effective than tank Elise, but it's pretty fun and scales a bit better if you're ahead.

(AP Elise) For full AP elise, build Ranger's Trailblazer with Magus Enchantment as your first item and don't build a Sightstone. After that, build Sorcerer's Shoes and a Haunting Guise. Sometimes I pick up a Fiendish Codex before my magic pen items, but it depends on how much money I have when I go back to base. After the flat penetration items, get a Void Staff and then you should get some CDR. Either Deathfire Grasp or Morellonomicon are viable, I generally only get DFG if I'm extremely fed because it's hard to get 1600+ gold for the Needlessly Large Rod. Build Zhonya's Hourglass as a final item and you'll be a monster in team fights, but be careful because you're super squishy.

(Early Game)
Elise is very strong early game so try to take advantage of that by ganking a lot. Start at either red or blue, smite it, kill wolves, then do your other buff. This should put you at level 3 so you're ready to gank. Look for lanes that are overextended and try to guess where their jungler is going to be by taking into account where he started. Either counter gank their jungler or gank a lane where their jungler isn't going to be for the most success. Elise isn't the best jungle farmer but try to take a camp at least every time smite is up to avoid falling too behind.

(Mid Game)
In the mid game, try to keep track of every buff and dragon and secure as many of them as possible. Place as many wards as you can with Sightstone to keep track of what the other team is trying to do. Elise excels at skirmishes and has a huge power spike at level 9 once her Q is maxed and she has spell penetration, so take advantage of this by forcing fights to get your team ahead. When fighting, use Q in human form, auto attack to apply red buff, shoot a Cocoon at your target, switch to spider form, Q, and auto attack them with "skitteringW on. This does crazy damage in the mid game and can pretty much one-shot enemies without magic resist items. Elise can solo dragon pretty easily so look for opportunities to do that by buying a Vision Ward and clearing the other team's vision.


(Late Game)
In the late game, Elise becomes somewhat of a glorified support. Do your best to take vision control and look for catches with Cocoon. Once Cocoon is maxed, it's a 2 second stun so if you catch someone out of position with it, you can usually get a kill. In team fights Elise can either dive onto the enemy carries or peel for your own carries, depending on what is needed. Cocoon is your most useful ability at this point in the game so shoot as many as possible in team fights.

I hope you enjoyed my guide and learned something from it! Elise is one of my most played champions and I've had a ton of fun playing her so I hope you can too! Good Luck! Also, if you want to learn more about how I jungle, follow me on twitter @Meteoslol and watch my stream at www.twitch.tv/meteos