Hey guys, welcome to my first MobaFire guide! I'm Horgande and I'm an Australian who plays on the NA server. I'm not an extremely experienced LoL player, only having played for close to 7 months. I enjoy taking my own approaches to different champions and playing them in ways that I enjoy. This guide is currently in-progress and will eventually become an in-depth guide to the way in which I enjoy playing Elise - Hybrid! Elise can be an extremely high, single-target, burst champion with the right combination and openings and also has the ability to farm relatively quickly. Elise is an extremely fun champion due to the multiple ways that she is able to be played. As most champions do, Elise has a number of strengths as well as weaknesses which will be looked upon. I have intentions of eventually adding relevant images and videos to this guide. Constructive criticism would be awesome! As well as pointing things out which I should elaborate on, add or fix. Thanks! In-Progress List: Farming/Jungling/Ganking Tips Alternative Item Explanations Lane Opponents (Added. Being expanded) Images and Videos. Credits to jhoijhoi for the template, which you can find here.

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Pros

Cons

+ High burst - Elise's abilities allow for great burst in either forms but a specific combination has a high kill rate when performed correctly. + One of the best gap closing abilities - Her Rappel makes it easy to close the gap between champions. + Lots of diversity with her build - Her use of both AP and AD allow for interesting builds. + Can sustain well - Her spider form abilities do not use mana and her W allows temporary life steal. + Can farm well - In a hybrid build, her spider form damage is quite high and is therefore able to clear out minion waves relatively quickly. Her E can be used to move through the jungle quickly and kill camps efficiently. + Fun to play - Simple enough!

- Hard to land combos - Due to having two skillshots, the start to Elise's burst combo is hard to hit - especially against moving enemies, or enemies hiding behind minions. - Very squishy - If caught off guard Elise can go down very quickly. To help counter this weakness, have wards thoroughly in the jungle and have good map awareness. You'll see anyone coming and can make a quick escape. - Pretty weak early game - Because Elise's abilities scale as she levels, it's hard to secure early game kills. - Needs a good start to excel late game - Without early kills or exceptional farm, Elise may fall behind in terms of items and can be pretty weak in comparison to others late game. - Is weak against pokers - Elise is poked quite easily and is generally unable to stop that.

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Hybrid Elise works well with a combination of offensive abilities that benefit both AD and AP (such as Brute Force and Mental Force ). The reason we skip the AD and Penetration from putting points into Weapon Expertise is that Arcane Knowledge allows burst to be more effective and that AP scales into AD in spider form. Basic defensive talents are there just to help out in lane but more specifically early game.

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• Greater Quintessence of Ability Power: More damage with human form abilities.
  
• Greater Mark of Attack Damage: More damage with spider form abilities and basic attacks.
  
• Greater Glyph of Ability Power: More damage with human form abilities.
  
• Greater Seal of Armor: Defense against basic attacks and AD champs.

• Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed: Good for escaping or roaming if you plan to roam a lot.
• Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist: More magic resist late game to make Elise more tanky, which can come in handy during teamfights. Would not recommend using these in conjunction with the above Quints, as this removes all AP from her runepage.
• Greater Glyph of Scaling Ability Power: Using this glyph will allow for slightly more AP later on in the game but should not make a huge difference in early game phase.
• Greater Seal of Scaling Health: More health for late game which will make Elise a little bit more tanky and harder to kill.

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Ignite: Standard Summoner Spell for a damage dealing champion. Ignite can be used to secure kills as well as add an extra bit of dps as well as reduce healing done.

Flash: A general standard Summoner Spell which can be used in order either increase or decrease the gap between champions.

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• Spider Queen: Elise readies a spiderling when casting spells in Human Form which are then summoned when in Spider Form. These spiderlings will attack Elise's target and are prioritized by turrets.
  
• Neurotoxin (Q - Human Form): This ability does more damage based on how much health the target has.
  
• Venomous Bite (Q - Spider Form): This ability does more damage based on how much health the target is missing. Spiderlings will swap to the target which this ability is used on.
  
• Volatile Spiderling (W - Human Form): This spiderling will move to the target location (skillshot) and explode if impacting with any units on the way. If no units interrupt the journey to the location it will chase an enemy for 3 seconds if they are in range. Can be used to grant sight into bushes.
  
• Skittering Frenzy (W - Spider Form): Grants spiderlings passive attack speed and extra attack speed for spiderlings and Elise on use. Also grants small amounts of life steal which is useful for lane sustain.
  
• Cocoon (E - Human Form): Will stun the first enemy hit by the spell (skillshot) for 1.5 seconds. If the target hit is in a bush, momentary sight will be given.
  
• Rappel (E - Spider Form): Will lift Elise and her spiderlings into the air for a short period of time. Can be used to close the gap between champions, escape and grant vision in the area. Elise cannot be hit by any abilities while airborne.
  NOTE: This ability is extremely handy for avoiding deaths from tower dives and can, especially in early/mid game, help to turn their dives into kills. You can use it to avoid ultimates such as Zed's, Vi's and Karthus's.
  
• Spider Form / Human Form (R): This ability is automatically learned at level 1 and allows the transformation between Spider and Human form.

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> > >

Spider Form / Human Form allows for extra spiderlings and extra ability power in spider form. Volatile Spiderling/ Skittering Frenzy is most of Elise's damage and is most useful in a hybrid build. Neurotoxin/ Venomous Bite is a big part of Elise's poke and an exceptional amount of damage but isn't as strong as her W as hybrid. Cocoon/ Rappel only reduces the cooldown and has no other benefits, always max this last.

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General starting items for Elise are Boots and Health Potionx3.

This item gives Magic Resist and Tenacity and is ultimately more useful for Elise in the long run. Berserker's Greaves will only be useful in Spider Form, whereas MR and Tenacity are useful all round.

Ability Power allows for more damage in both forms (due to the bonus on Spider Form / Human Form), Attack Speed obviously means quicker attacks. Mana Regeneration is useful in both forms as it allows for mana regen even in Spider Form where it won't be used. Cooldown Reduction is an awesome stat for Elise also as it allows her abilities to be casted in sequence a lot quicker and that second or two can be really helpful when needing to escape with Rappel!

Grants both Ability Power and Attack Damage which will increase damage in both forms effectively. Grants Life Steal and Spell Vamp which will allow more sustain for Elise (Life Steal doesn't scale as well on Elise but helps alongside Skittering Frenzy. The Active on this item will also help to deal a little more damage and also slow the enemy in order to close/widen gaps.

More Ability Power and Attack Damage! Basic attacks and spellcasts will grant extra, momentary, attack speed and ability power, and you will also gain extra attack speed, life steal and spell vamp when under 50% health until out of combat! This be the difference between getting kills and being killed. NOTE: Because this item renews stacks on spellcasts, swapping between forms will keep the passive effect active. Basically you can keep this effect as an active buff through swapping forms and/or casting W and E in Human Form.

Gives Ability Power as well as a bit of Armor to help with basic attacks and AD champs. The Mana allows for more spellcasts and the Cooldown Reduction is, again, helpful for more casts in sequence or escaping.

Basic defensive stats and also a revive which can help in a number of situations.

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Elise can be played in either mid lane or top lane. I personally prefer to play her in top lane, however this information is relevant to either lane.


Early Game
During early game with Elise, you need to be really careful if you wish to poke while still getting decent farm. Elise has potentially one of the worst auto-attacks in the game and may be hard to get used to in order to last-hit effectively. Poking will run Elise out of mana quickly but Spider Form is also available immediately in order to melee down creeps if necessary. Starting with Boots and Health Potionx3 allows for a bit of movement so you can't be chased down and a bit of sustain, however this doesn't mean you can be too aggressive. Without immediate wards you are prone to early ganks and are squishy during the beginning of the match.
My best advice for early game would be to poke casually without depriving yourself of mana, play somewhat defensively without letting the enemy laner push right into your tower and be aware!

Mid Game
After picking up a few items and hopefully a few wards as well, Elise should start doing more damage with her W and Q and also be able to eliminate creep waves quite quickly with her spider form. Saving mana is still vital at this point in the game as it could be the difference between living and dying when trying to escape or defend from a tower dive. If possible, depending on your position, move into the jungle and kill Golems or roam to mid lane if you have your lane pushed enough. If you plan to roam frequently Mobility Boots may be a good choice and can always be replaced later into the game. Elise is still pretty squishy at this point unless you decide to build tanky early.
If you managed to get some early kills, Elise's ability as an assassin will really begin to show at this point of the game.

Late Game
Late game will really reflect the progress that you made in the first two stages of the game. Regardless, Elise's burst will still hurt on single targets and you may be able to pick off a couple of enemies who aren't sticking to their team. Warding is absolutely vital in this stage of the game and regardless of how fed you are or not you should still purchase wards in order to cover your jungle or the enemy's. At this point of the game it is likely you will be roaming a lot regardless in order to defend or push turrets. Map awareness is a must and can be the difference between a win and a loss. A lot of late game stuff is pretty general and not exactly Elise specific.
If the time comes where you need to escape through the jungle, remember that Rappel can be used to jump over walls and into monster camps.

Teamfights
Due to her mostly single-target abilities, Elise isn't usually a huge threat in teamfights. However that doesn't mean that she can't turn things around. Her Cocoon can quickly shut out champions and her spider abilities can deal some big damage.
Elise is mostly useful for sitting out in the back and picking off enemies that may get too aggressive or wander from their team. Play smart and remember her Rappel can be used like a Zhonya's.

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TOP

Darius Spoiler: Click to view Darius can deal a lot of damage to you quite quickly early on. Although you are able to harass him quite effectively at a range. Early on in the game you need to keep your distance and avoid getting greedy and also ward in order to not be ganked. If things get heated early-mid game always remember you can Rappel to minions to avoid his AoE/Ultimate and disengage with Cocoon. Darius may go roaming a lot so be prepared to either chase him or push your lane and go roaming as well.

Riven Spoiler: Click to view Riven's Q will almost completely block out a lot of poke and harass from Elise early game. One way to help counter this is increased cooldown reduction and damage so Riven isn't able to keep reapplying her shield fast enough to block incoming damage. Riven is a relatively strong lane opponent but with quick thinking and awareness it's easy to disengage with Cocoon.

Zed Spoiler: Click to view Zed can be poked by Elise extremely well in early game and she is able to outfarm him. The only way Zed is going to get kills against you early game is by bad judgment or with a gank. As mentioned earlier in the guide, Elise's Rappel can be used in order to avoid Zed's ult. If Zed uses his ult to tower dive, with quick thinking you can Rappel to cancel the ult which will leave Zed under turret. You can stun him, and burst him for a potential turn-around kill. However, if Zed gets kills and better farm he is more likely to force you under turret and will dominate later on in the game.

MID

Akali Spoiler: Click to view Akali will trade a lot with you to begin with and can quite easily give back what you give her. Play defensively against her as she does have a lot of burst which will squish Elise. With careful timing and ability use you can avoid dying and even open up opportunities for kills. It's all about patience and not being too aggressive. When Akali uses her Twilight Shroud, if you have mana, throw in a spiderling and try to keep at range. Akali will roam occasionally so be prepared to follow or help elsewhere.

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Thanks for reading my guide! As time progresses I hope to elaborate on certain points and expand the guide. Here are a few things I wish to add in the future: Explanations for situational items, Images relevant to skills, Videos of skills in action and more spell theory! Credits to jhoijhoi for the template, which you can find here.

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