Elise Build Guide by RoyalDragon12

Quick Summary

Hi guys! I'm RoyalDragon12 and this is my first guide about Elise.
I found myself interested in spiders, not except this beauty queen here :3
Note that it will be a simple and short guide, so don't expect much, and please give comments so I will know how to improve my guide instead of just spamming downvote which hurts people very much Q_Q

Ok let's have a first look on Elise

Pros / Cons

Runes

(My personal Runes, if you don't like it, just use your original runes)

Greater Mark Of ...

Definitely must be Greater Mark of Magic Penetration, giving you tons of Magic Penetration early game. Other marks have no use.

Greater Seal Of ...

or greater seal of replenishment
Mana problem solves. I prefer taking Greater Seal of Scaling Mana Regeneration since Elise needs to be at level 4 to discharge combo, so level 1 -> level 3 she should be farming. Mana regeneration is best for Elise so far.

Greater Glyph Of ...

or or
Greater Glyph of Ability Power will give you early domination, while Greater Glyph of Scaling Ability Power will reach its full power at level 6. Greater Glyph of Magic Penetration is also a good choice as well but not recommended, we already have Magic Penetration from Greater Mark of Magic Penetration so we will need some AP here.

Greater Quintessence ...

Highly recommended. Otherwise take Greater Quintessence of Scaling Ability Power.

Skill Sequence

> > >

: It's your ultimate skill so that's why it must be leveled at level 6, 11, 16. The skill already says enough: increases maximum cap for Spider Swarm , as well as increases Elise's AR & MR and deals additional damage, which is vitally important for Elise to survive longer in battles and bursts more damage with Volatile Spiderling / Skittering Frenzy (Spider Form).

: Bread & Butter Skill with 80% bonus damage from AP and has most base damage all around her skills. Fits with Spider Swarm amazingly that will make you deal more and more damage to any single unit. (faster attack speed = more damage, nuff said).

: A great skill as well, especially in late game, however it lacks its power in early game, that's why I put it the 3rd skill to max.
A finisher skill, or beginning of a fight that deals acceptable damage, up to 28% of their current HP or missing HP if you have 1000 AP. Still lower than Deathfire Grasp :( ...

: Ullity skill and should be maxed last. It only reduces its cooldown by 1 or 2s so it won't be effective and is worthless in any case.

Main Item Builds & Playing Styles

EARLY GAME
or and 3
Mana and HP problem for sustaining, if you're playing aggressive, then I suggest taking Doran's Ring to spam skills. However, I prefer the option 2, since in early game Elise can't harrass the enemy for good until level 4. Stay awared of the enemy jungler (if has) or gankers

+ or
At level 4, go for a Rappel Harrass ( will mention below) to quickly force the enemy mid champion to retreat or die there, you will then have 2 options to do: finish Sorcerer's Shoes and back or continue farming (if you haven't lost much HP and mana from that "harrass"). Stay farming until you get Rabadon's Deathcap or Rylai's Crystal Scepter. You will then buy the last one of them for the next item.


MID GAME
or
This is when you finished 1 item and then take the another, Rabadon's Deathcap or Rylai's Crystal Scepter , grab a chance to again force the enemy mid champ to retreat or die. Then it's time to gank ..

Ganking will be easy since you have 1 of the items above. Best when have both.
Rabadon's Deathcap will massively increase your damage so the gank will be successful in at last 3s.

Rylai's Crystal Scepter will greatly slow down the ganked enemy and will soon die if he/she has no escaping skills or Flash.
Your job now is try to take out those enemies walking "like a boss" alone. Elise is an assassin though so she will be a good one to enjoy murdering them.


LATE GAME
+
Grab Zhonya's Hourglass or Deathfire Grasp as quick as possible!
Elise is very vulnerable to CC and will be aimed in every teamfights, that's why a Zhonya's Hourglass will help her out of trouble while the spiders are still active to deal some damages. If you choose not to buy Zhonya's Hourglass, try using Cocoon / Rappel (Spider Form) to stay away from the teamfight for 2s and then returns with surprise : "I thought Elise was dead so I turned to aim their AD Carry" .

Deathfire Grasp is also a good item for Elise, quickly burst down any enemy, also fits with Neurotoxin / Venomous Bite (Spider Form) ~

or or
And then your final item, Abyssal Scepter if they are building mini Magic Resist or you can choose Void Staff instead if all of them have over 100 Magic Resist. If you think you're dying more than dealing tons of damage, consider replacing Abyssal Scepter with Guardian Angel

Like every guides say, or at leash most of MOBA players know, their AD carry and AP carry is our first priority to take down as soon as possible in teamfight, so I won't need to go in-depth for this one.

Core Items

rabadons deathcaps It is AP Infinite Edge (orignally said by CasterMaster) . Who doesn't want one ?

I have been considered much about this choice, but then I agree that it is a MUST for Elise : she's an assassin with plenty of single target skills, such as Neurotoxin / Venomous Bite and Cocoon / Rappel, total is 4 skills. However Volatile Spiderling / Skittering Frenzy while in Human Form it will set a trap to slow AOE 15%, in Spider Form it will follow after the slows from another skills to kill the slowed enemy champs. The HP from Rylai's Crystal Scepter is also viable, helping her to sustain longer while dealing massive damages.

This is the true item for Elise, it works greatly with Neurotoxin / Venomous Bite in Spider Form that deals TONS OF DAMAGE to a single enemy unit. However after the Shadow Isle's patch , Deathfire Grasp no longer gives Cooldown Reduction, which is a huge lost for Elise

Situational Items

or or

Basic boots for any mages, not except Elise ! 20 Magic Penetration is great throughout the game ;)

If you found Elise's skill cooldown quite annoying, you can consider taking it as well.

If you're against a hard mage, or against a team full of CC, these boots would be a good choose for you, the Tenacity from it is good, don't underestimate it.

A life savior for any mages. It also increases your Armor by 50 and AP by 100, which is not a low deal, though the cost is quite large (3100). However, it may saves Elise up to 5s when combined with Cocoon / Rappel, easily dodge a hard teamfight and returns few seconds later to destroy all remaining weakers.

Rylai's Crystal Scepter vs Rod Of Ages and Hextech Bladegun

Rod Of Ages gives Elise tons of HP and AP, which is vitally important for her to sustain longer, but the Mana ?? Totally wastes it. You can see that all of Elise's skills are related low mana cost skills, Neurotoxin / Venomous Bite takes 60 mana to cast, Cocoon / Rappel takes 65 Mana to cast and Spider Form / Human Form takes zero mana to cast while Volatile Spiderling / Skittering Frenzy costs 60 -> 100 mana to cast. Then what's the point to lowen her killer instinct when slowly snowballing to buy HP & Mana : Catalyst the Protector ? Dealing nearly zero damage is not what Elise wants. Also it takes 10 mins to reach its full power, this will double slow her game while again still dealing nearly zero damage.
==> NOT A GOOD CHOICE

I really consider about Hextech Gunblade and Rylai's Crystal Scepter. But then I found out Elise is AN AP MAGE, NOT HYBRID. Her skills are capable of taking down an unit in only 1s, then what's the point to deal more physical damage and waste a chunks of AP ? Her mini kawaii spiders deal magical damage BASED ON HER AP, not AD and the lifesteal here is worthless. The spell vamp given by Hextech Gunblade, however is good, Spell Vamp from mini spider's damage apllies exactly like Zyra's flowers. Additionally, the Unique Active from Hextech Gunblade is good for an assassin, deals 300 damage slow up to 50% in 3s is great.
In total, the AD & Lifesteal is worthless, but the spell vamp, additionall AP and Unique Active worths, 60% usefulness for a cost of 3625.
==> NOT RECOMMENDED

Like I mentioned above, its slow is great, its HP is vitally important, also goes with a decent AP. TOTALLY WORTHS IT. You receive the HP from Rod of Ages, the lower slow (30% and 15%) but forever from Hextech Gunblade, and a good AP that equals to Rod of Ages and more than hextech bladegun. It fits Elise's assassination for slowing to death any single enemy unit (didn't I mention that mini spider CAN EVEN MAKE SLOW WITH RYLAI'S CRYSTAL SCEPTER?). Too much slow, too much HP, decent AP, what's better than this for Elise ?

MORE THINGS WILL COME!

Hate to say that it's late here, so I will continue my work tomorrow xP (30/10).
Stay tuned if you liked my guides and pls give me ideas so I can improve my guide :3
Thank you very much for watching!
(29/10)