Elise Defined

Elise is a very hard champion to just pick up and play well. She takes a bit of practice. However with a bit of practice you will be able master her quite well.

I enjoy playing Elise because she is a fun champion with some versatile ganks and setups. Her escapes are a little lack luster, but with some attention being payed on your long E cooldown and your Flash you can make some great ones.

Elise is a champion that just straight AP build can be very squishy. This particular build addresses some of those issues and allows her to be played the way she feels like she was meant to instead of a poking AP caster.

The Build

The above build has been tested on majority of Twisted Treeline and I find it works very well for getting into team fights and mixing it up. You can adjust the build order to vary on how you are playing and your opponents play style and situations.

Pro's

Strong Ganks

Versatile

Fun

Con's

Hard to Master

Can snowball behind leveling curve

Limited Escapes

Spider Swarm - Passive

When Elise's Human Form spells hit an enemy, she readies a Spiderling. When Elise transforms, she summons Spiderlings to attack nearby foes. The maximum number of spiderlings increases with Spider Form's level.

The spiderlings don't to a lot of damage, but they can be really good when pushing turrets cause their damage add up.

Neurotoxin (Human Form)- Q

While in Human form: Deals magic damage equal to a base amount plus a percentage of the target's current health. Damage is capped against monsters.

This is your main poking and damage skill in human form. It's nice for taking a bit out of a full-health squishy or softening up a tank with little MR. A great spell all around, and even nicer because it has a flat mana cost.

Venomous Bite (Spider Form)- Q

While in Spider form: Elise lunges to a target with a poisonous bite that deals magic damage equal to a base amount plus a percentage of the target's missing health. Damage is capped against monsters.

In spiderform, this is your killing blow! Does massive damage on low health heroes. Not only does it do massive damage, it has mid range attack ability to leap to your opponent. Great chase down option.

Volatile Spiderling (Human Form)- W

While in Human form: Summons a venom-gorged Spiderling that moves to target location and explodes, dealing magic damage to nearby enemies when it nears an enemy unit or after 3 seconds.

In human form, this is your best "nuke". It actually does loads of damage when you get your ap up. It is your main lane-clearer. Even though it's kinda slow, it can be very usefull. When it runs through a bush, it will give you vision for a short period of time.

Skittering Frenzy (Spider Form)- W

In spider form, this is your other minion killer. It will give you loads of attackspeed, and it will heal you a bit after killing minions. It is also a great choice for taking down turrets!

While in Spider form: (Passive): Spiderlings gain bonus attack speed.

Cocoon (Human Form)- E

While in Human form: Elise fires a web that stuns the first enemy hit for 1.5 seconds.

This stun is your only real viable escape option. Yes you can juke in spider form with Rappel, however in order to get away this stun will save your bacon.

It can also be used to stun lock into a chained combo of a Volatile Spiderling explosion and Neurotoxin, before switching to spider form to chase and finish.

Rappel (Spider Form)- E

While in Spider form:

- On enemy cast: Elise and her spiderlings ascend high into the air and descend upon an enemy target.

- On ground cast: Elise and her spiderlings ascend high into the air, becoming untargetable for two seconds. Casting Rappel on a nearby enemy during this time will descend upon your target.

In spider form, this is your main hunt and escape ability. This can be used to dodge CC, heavy dmg spells and such. It can be compared to Zhonya's Hourglass when activated. It is really good to chase down enemys if they are in your green circle. Q can be used when falling down.

One big problem is that you only can fall straight down or on a enemy. So, eighter you can just hang up there and hope for the best if the enemy has chased you down or try jumping down on a enemy minion. The ability whill give you vision in the circle, so you will be able to see champions behind walls and bushes.

Spider Form / Human Form - R

While in Human form: Elise transforms into a menacing spider with new abilities. While in Spider Form, Elise deals magic bonus damage on attack and has increased Movement Speed, Armor, and Magic Resistance. Each level of her ultimate allows Elise to summon an additional spiderling.

While in Spider form: Elise transforms into a human form with new abilities. Each level of her ultimate allows Elise to summon an additional spiderling.

or
Ninja Tabi

Total Price: 850

Recipe Price: 200

25 Armor. UNIQUE Passive: Enhanced Movement 2 , Reduces the damage taken from non-turret basic attacks by 10%

-or-

Mercury's Treads

Total Price: 1200

Recipe Price: 450

25 Magic Resistance. UNIQUE Passive: Enhanced Movement 2 Tenacity: 35

Whether you choose Ninja Tabi or Mercury's Treads really depends on what damage type you fear the most, AD or AP. Solo top is all about winning and defending your lane. You will either be 1v1 or 1v2. If you are 1v1 buy your boots depending on if the champ you're laning against is AD or AP, AD= Ninja Tabi and AP= Mercury's Treads. If there is one jungler on your opposing team, you should consider your boots after the damage type that champ is too.
If the one thing you fear the most is CC, and not that the champ is AD, you could then also go for Mercury's Treads.

Trinity Force

Total Price: 4070

Recipe Price: 300

30 Ability Power, 30 Attack Damage, 30 Attack Speed, 15 Critical Strike Chance, 250 Health, 250 Mana, 12 Movement Speed Multiplier. UNIQUE Passive: 25% chance on hit to slow the target by 35% for 2.5 seconds (25% for ranged attacks); on cast, increases your base Attack Damage by 150% for one attack. 2 second cooldown. Does not stack with Sheen or Lich Bane.

This is Elise's main dps output. She works really well with the slow down to keep enemies close. The extra attack speed stacks well and Sheen adds extra great on next hit dmg with all of her spamable abilities.

Wit's End

Total Price: 2150

Recipe Price: 700

40 Attack Speed, 30 Magic Resistance. UNIQUE Passive: Your attacks deal 42 bonus magic damage and increase your magic resistance by 5 during 5 seconds (stacks up to 4 times).

Shreds enemy target with more on hit magic dmg and buffs your magic resistance.

Malady

Total Price: 1825

Recipe Price: 550

25 Ability Power, 50 Attack Speed. UNIQUE Passive: Your physical attacks shred your target doing 20 magic damage and reducing their magic resistance by 6 for 8 seconds. Magic resistance reduction stacks up to 4 times.

Gives some needed AP to boost her core dmg up high enough to give some extra pop to her attacks. When at max build is very helpful in bursting down enemies. Further shreds their magic resistance and adds magic dmg per hit. Allows huge Q's in either spider or human form.

Aegis of the Legion

Total Price: 1925

Recipe Price: 750

18 Armor, 270 Health, 24 Magic Resistance. UNIQUE Aura: +12 Armor / +15 Magic Resistance / +8 Damage to nearby allied champions.

Gives great Armor and Magic resists for cheap price. Allows you keep cost low, but still have great mitigation during team fights.

Blackfire Torch
Classic Only

Total Price: 2890

Recipe Price: 800

50 Ability Power, 300 Health, 350 Mana. UNIQUE Passive: Your spells burn for an additional 5% of the target's current Health in magic damage over 3 seconds (effect halved for AoE and and damage over time).

Great for adding AP for burst dmg. Plus it adds health and mana for sustaining you in a fight. The extra damage over time is not large, but ticks well in long fights and on occasions will finish off enemies that are low that break away.