Hello, this is my guide to Elise top lane. I decided to create this guide seeing as their aren't many top lane Elise guides out their due to her being played jungle more often then top. But I know there are people that play or may want to play her top, I hope this guide will help those new Elise players learn the basics.

I think scaling magic resist is helps Elise the most, early in the game she is not built very tanky so this will not take effect until late game where you need it most.

I prefer magic pen over flat AP because early in the game you will ignore the already low mr they have which will increase your early game damage even more.

Same reason you take magic pen marks.


You take flat armor because you will most likely be vs a AD top and this will help you take less damage earlier rather then taking scaling and being tankier later.

Pros

Strong Early game
Easy to learn
Very annoying to lane against
Can roam very well
Good throughout the game
High burst

Cons

Item reliant
Hard to master
Can be shut down easily

As Elise you need to be tanky but still be able to dish out some damage. As you can see above the final build gives you a little of everything which will help later in the game.
But sometimes you may have to change this build up as the game goes on. That is why I provided others items that may be built if you prefer a certain build. You could always build more damage or more tank depending on what your team needs or what the other team has. Such as if they have a AD heavy team you may want to replace say thewith a due to the armor that the gauntlet provides. You should look the the other team in the loading screen to determine what you should build throughout the game. If you see the enemy AD is getting fed maybe you should prioritize armor over your next damage item if necessary.

Early game you are at a disadvantage youris not strong enough to win most trades until it is a higher rank (3) so just try and stay back and farm. If the enemy gets aggressive you can try and win the trade if you know you can if not try and avoid any fight they try and start. Once you hit level 5 you can start playing aggressive try harassing with your as much as possible but save mana for a just encase your jungler comes to gank or you see a all in opportunity so you can lock them down.

If you did well early game mid game will be a blast for you. This is here teamfights occur and where you shine the most. Elise's job in teamfights is to jump on the enemy carry and try and burst them down as fast as possible. YOU DO NOT WANT TO BE THE ONE TO ENGAGE. The only time you should engage is if you land aand catch someone out of posistion. If you jump into the middle of their team you will get focused down before you can do any damage if possible let your jungler engage or someone else on your team more suited for this. After killing the enemy carry you want to just pick off the straglers with the rest of your skills. Elise is a good at finishing low health opponents. try to build a huge advantage at this point of the game try and take dragons and towers to prepare yourself for late game.

This is where Elise sort of falls off, she does not become horrible but you will notice your damage start to go down depending on what you built if you went for a more damage heavy build you may get stronger if not you become more of a tank. At this point in the game getting caught will lose you the game play safe and stay near your team. You want to make sure you are getting the enemy AD carry at this point in the game because they will most likely be the main damage dealer for the enemy team. After killing the enemy AD you just pick off people or assist your own AD or AP carry. Playing safe and smart matters most at this point in the game so don't take to many risks.

A good combo for a all in or trading is~~~~this does very high burst after this combo they will end up with less the half HP if you add in a few auto attacks.

You can jump over walls using Elise's . This can be used to jump to jungle mobs to juke/escape from enemies.

Smartcasting helps get your combo out a lot easier I suggest you try and use it when playing Elise.

Elise works well with someone who has a hard initiate such as Hecarim or Nautilus. Don't be afraid to suggest champs with hard initiates to people on your team.