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Morgana Build Guide by Satzmann666

AP Carry Mean Mage Morgana [S6] In-depth MID/SUPPORT guide

AP Carry Mean Mage Morgana [S6] In-depth MID/SUPPORT guide

Updated on October 11, 2016
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League of Legends Build Guide Author Satzmann666 Build Guide By Satzmann666 46 3 2,747,578 Views 21 Comments
46 3 2,747,578 Views 21 Comments League of Legends Build Guide Author Satzmann666 Morgana Build Guide By Satzmann666 Updated on October 11, 2016
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Choose Champion Build:

  • LoL Champion: Morgana
    AP Mid
  • LoL Champion: Morgana
    Utility AP Support

Spells:

LoL Summoner Spell: Ignite

Ignite

LoL Summoner Spell: Flash

Flash

Threats & Synergies

Threats Synergies
Extreme Major Even Minor Tiny
Show All
None Low Ok Strong Ideal
Extreme Threats
Ideal Synergies
Synergies
Ideal Strong Ok Low None

Introduction




Thanks to Searz for the awesome guide format! You can find it here.

Hi, I am known as Satzmann666 (or Threshmeister to some ppl) and this is my very first guide, so i'll try to make it as complex and badass as possible. I have been maining support role since I joined ranked games and I soon realised how hard it is to carry games from that position.

Morgana became my mid lane ticket to gold/plat in seasons 4 and 5 basically the first game I played her, especially for her safe and rewarding gameplay. As a mid laner or support, she brings great utility to the team, as well as nice damage and her ultimate Soul Shackles is undoubtedly one of the best ultimates for teamfights. I hope you will enjoy playing her just as much as I do.

My guide should give you a reasonable idea on what kinds of runes, masteries, summoner spells, skill distributions, items and tactics you should be using. It has divided sections for both MID LANE and SUPPORT Morgana.

If you think that anything in my guide is untrue, you find a mistake, or just disagree with a certain item, point in masteries or rune, please let me know in comments rather than downvote the whole guide without a single word and leave.

This guide is now fully updated for season 6 changes.
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Pros / Cons



PROS
  • One of the safest (if not THE safest) picks for mid lane
  • Dark Binding is the longest snare/root in whole game (3 seconds)
  • Almost "ungankable" and "uncounterable" if played well
  • Strong farmer with great passive sustain Soul Siphon
  • Amazing teamfight potential
  • Can both engage and disengage fights
  • Fairly easy mechanics
_____
CONS
  • Dark Binding can be hard to hit = unreliable CC
  • Does not have high kill potential on her own, especially in earlygame
  • Needs Zhonya's Hourglass to be really effective in teamfights
  • Black Shield does not block physical damage
  • Subpar at 1v1 without Soul Shackles
  • Low mobility
  • Somewhat weaker against AD champions
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Masteries


MID LANE



SUPPORT

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Runes




I do not really like giving advices on runes since everyone tailors those to fit their own playstyle, so feel free to change some and see if its working for you.

MID LANE

Runes

Domination
Electrocute
Predator
Fleet Footwork
Phase Rush

3x Greater Quintessence of Ability Power is sort of must have on most AP mids as well as 9x Greater Mark of Magic Penetration. Seals and Glyphs are really up to your imagination, just keep in mind that Morgana is AP champion and critical damage is not really useful on her :)
I use these same runes on SUPPORT Morgana.
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Summoner spells




FLASH
Nothing to explain, really, you will need this to escape from ganks. When Black Shield fails, walljump, get inside the enemy team to perform Soul Shackles combo, or get away after you use it to engage. Flash is a must have.



IGNITE
A great spell for securing kills and reducing healing effects on target, try to save it for the moment you know it is going to kill the target.


_____

GHOST
In case you do not have Flash yet. Good for sticking to your enemies when you use Soul Shackles.



EXHAUST
As a SUPPORT take this over Ignite, having at least one Exhaust in every team is mandatory.
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Abilities





Passive - SOUL SIPHON

10/20/25 Spell vamp. It boosts your HP sustain both in lane and fights.
Tips and tricks:
  • Can save your life when you have ignite or any other DOT (damage over-time) on you just by hitting as much minions as possible with Tormented Shadow.

Q - DARK BINDING

The longest snare and non ultimate immobilizing CC in game (only long range Enchanted Crystal Arrow is longer). It's a projectile skillshot that is kinda tricky to hit, but has decent range and is very useful in many situations.
Tips and tricks:
  • Put a Tormented Shadow under a snared enemy champion to deal extra dmg.
  • It deals enough dmg to steal jungle objectives, if enemy jungler is not around to Smite it, or managed to miss.

W - TORMENTED SOIL

A great farming tool and one of the reasons why is Morgana so safe in lane. It can kill all 3 caster minions on rank 3 and after you get your first AP items melee minions as well. As a support, use it to proc your Spellthief's Edge and Thunderlord's Decree or heal from minions.
Tips and tricks:
  • Usualy, you only need one cast of Tormented Shadow per minion wave to keep enough mana sustain.
  • With Tormented Shadow, feel free to take your or even enemy wraiths for extra gold.

E - BLACK SHIELD

A unique friendly cast shield that blocks CC and magic damage for 5 seconds, or until depleted.
Tips and tricks:
  • If you know the enemy is going to focus on a certain carry on your team, shield them (unless he is Olaf), otherwise you can use it on yourself to be safe from the enemy CC while performing Soul Shackles=> Zhonya's Hourglass combo.
  • Binding a self cast key for Black Shield can improve your reaction times while laning.

R - SOUL SHACKLES

This is your AOE nuke with slow on activation and another nuke and stun if you manage to stick to enemies hit. Use it (obviously) to hit and stun as many enemies as possible in teamfights. In the best scenario, you can chain Soul Shackles with Dark Binding for great disable and guaranteed kill.
Tips and tricks:
  • Enemies like Vladimir or Fizz cannot escape stun from second tick by simply going untargettable, they need to physicaly escape the range.
  • Combined with Dark Binding, it makes one enemy champion unable to move for hardly believable 4,5 seconds.
  • PRO TIP Useful to scout for enemies in unwarded brush or stealth and even reveal them! When any enemy champion, even if you cannot see them, is in range, it turns available and if you use it they lose stealth.
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Skill Sequence



MID LANE

Ability Sequence
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

This is my usual skill sequence when playing Morgana mid. I go for Tormented Shadow to have safe level 1 farm and max it to 3 after I put 1 point in both Dark Binding and Black Shield.
You can grab Black Shield as well on level 3 to feel safer from ganks (in case enemy team has for example Amumu in jungle or Ahri with charm up on mid lane), just keep in mind that you need 3 points in Tormented Shadow early to farm caster minions like a boss with a single spell.



SUPPORT

Ability Sequence
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

As a support you do not farm, but you need as much utility as possible, so instead of Tormented Shadow, you should take either Dark Binding against a squishy suppor like Sona, Janna, Annie, etc, or Black Shield against supports with hook, pull or any other kind of strong pick CC on level 1 ( Blitzcrank, Thresh).

Maxing out later strongly depends on how you are doing on lane. If you are doing good and enemy jungler is not giving you much trouble you can max Dark Binding faster and if you are getting ganked often and your lane is doing bad, put some extra points in Black Shield to lower its CD and make it more useful. In most games, 2 or 3 points in Black Shield is enough and I would recommend maxing Dark Binding for bindblowing (hehe) 3 seconds snare.
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More info on items



MID LANE


CORE ITEM

ZHONYAS HOURGLASS

A must have item for Morgana. It simply works too well with your ultimate for you not to get it. Against AD mids such as Zed or Talon rush this item first since it gives armor and AP. Against AP mids, delay it after Athene's Unholy Grail because you will not profit from armor and have lower sustain.
Tips and tricks:



ITEMS YOU WILL MOST LIKELY BUILD

ATHENES UNHOLY GRAIL

Sustain, MR against AP, AP for more dmg and nice 20% CDR. When facing a AP mid laner, Morgana benefits from every single stat of this item a lot.
Tips and tricks:

RYLAIS CRYSTAL SCEPTER

This item might look weird in my build, but it gives you HP that gets effective immediately due to MR from Athene's Unholy Grail and armor from Zhonya's Hourglass, more AP and extra utility to slow multiple enemies with Tormented Shadow and Soul Shackles. If you need to survive before your teamfight combo is complete, this item can help you a lot with that.
Tips and tricks:
  • All enemies hit by Soul Shackles will be additionaly slowed by this item. Use it to your advantage and try to follow them since it is going to be even easier.

RABADONS DEATHCAP

+120 and +30% AP. Nothing more to say, really, this item is not called Infinity Edge of AP champions for nothing.
Tips and tricks:
  • Get it after at least 2 AP items to make 30% AP bonus as useful as possible.

LIANDRYS TORMENT

A replacement for Void Staff that deals % of HP as dmg overtime that I lately built couple of times and it was actually pretty good. It makes your Dark Binding hurt as hell and your Soul Shackles becomes even more a teamfight wrecker. You can still go for Void Staff or Abyssal Mask and get Liandry's Torment instead of Rylai's Crystal Scepter.
Tips and tricks:
  • Its passive deals HP% DOT so it is good to build against tanky HP stackers such as Dr. Mundo or Cho'Gath.



OTHER POSSIBLE ITEMS

MORELLONOMICON

A more offensively toned replacement for Athene's Unholy Grail. I would only recommend building Morellonomicon if you stand up against a full AD team, because you will not miss the MR.
Tips and tricks:

ABYSSAL SCEPTER

In case there are more AP champions or you need more MR, build this item instead of Void Staff. Being on your own, Void Staff will boost your dmg more, but it leaves you more vulnerable, whereas Abyssal Mask offers a defensive stat.
Tips and tricks:
  • You should be the one to get it since you use your ultimate at the middle of enemy team in fights => you affect most of them with MR shred aura.

VOID STAFF

Just like Last Whisper, only for AP and not AD carries. This will multiply all magic damage you do, so you will deal almost true damage to carries and eat through MR on tanks.
A replacement for Liandry's Torment in magic pen item slot.
Tips and tricks:
  • It is not a good idea to rush this item, since its effectiveness grows with amount of AP you already have and does not give you anything apart from the dmg boost.



SMURFING OR COMPLETELY MAD

MEJAIS SOULSTEALER

In case you are owning the enemy team and you do not need, lets say Rylai's Crystal Scepter, but you want more AP, you can take this item. However, it is considered a troll item so it is not really a wise choice, you will be better off with utility items.
Tips and tricks:
  • Get lot of kills and assist.
  • Dont die.




SUPPORT


CORE ITEMS

ZHONYAS HOURGLASS

Just like on MID, it works well with your ultimate in fights. Get Cloth Armor or even Seeker's Armguard early to be able to trade better with enemy ADC without being killed, but do not rush it instead of wards or gold income items. If you have any extra gold from assists or champion kills and already have wards, slowly build this as your first AP item.
Tips and tricks:
  • With Seeker's Armguard try to get at least some lasthits to stack armor and AP when your ADC is away from lane or cannot reach a certain minion.

FROST QUEENS CLAIM

Building this item opens up for an aggressive and poke oriented way of Morgana as a support. The slowing ghosts passive is nice, and it gives you AP, unlike talisman of ascension.
Tips and tricks:
  • Use Tormented Shadow to pickpocket + bandit gold from both enemy support and ADC in lane for biggest gold income.

RUBY SIGHTSTONE

Must have on any support.
Extra HP gives you more tankyness for trades.
Tips and tricks:



OTHER POSSIBLE ITEMS

LOCKET OF THE IRON SOLARI

Used to be called a core support item, but to be honest, you will not build this every game. Get it for more teamfight utility and dont forget to use its active.
One Locket of the Iron Solari per team is enough so do not build it if your jungler already have.
Tips and tricks:
  • Never forget to use its active.

RYLAIS CRYSTAL SCEPTER

Just like on AP mid.
Gives you extra tankyness, more utility and AP for reasonable price.
Tips and tricks:
  • All enemies hit by Soul Shackles will be slowed at the same moment by this item. Use it to your advantage and try to follow them since it is going to be easier.

MIKAELS CRUCIBLE

Good item against a heavy CC team to save your carry from certain death. It is even better than with Black Shield alone.
It compensates for no friendly castable heal in your kit.
Tips and tricks:

MORELLONOMICON

I have to thank NorthernRedStar for reminding me of this item.
Useful utility AP item for supports like Morgana, Annie or Sona who benefit from all its stats (AP, mana regen, CDR) well. Grievous wounds is an extremely effective tool against lifesteal, spellvamp or champion healing abilities.
Tips and tricks:



"WHAT THE HELL ... YOU SHOULD BE SUPPORT MAN"

RABADONS DEATHCAP

+120 and +30% AP. Only thing I can say here ... "Screw utility, lets kill someone"
Tips and tricks:
  • In case you are being really wealthy, this is your usual go-to item for maximizing your dmg output. The more AP you have, the more extra AP you get ... easy math.

MEJAIS SOULSTEALER

The whole rift trembles from how bold you are, enemies desperatly try to focus your golden statue and die one by one. Couple fights later, you finaly get the last needed assist and a glorious number 25 appears over this item in your inventory. Now you are INVINCIBLE (sorry Kayle).
Or you fail horribly and your gold will not be effectively spent :D.
Tips and tricks:
  • Get lot of assist (or even kills).
  • Do not die.
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Laning phase



MID LANE

FARMING
When laning as Morgana, your main goal should be your farm => lasthitting minions and farming with Tormented Shadow.
As soon as you get rank 3 Tormented Shadow, farm caster minions from each wave with it and AA the melee ones. I would say that if you get 5 minions per wave => 60 - 70 CS on 10 minutes, it is good farm, but you usually consider anything higher than your opponents CS a good farm.
If you know how to do so, freeze your lane and zone your opponent so he gets less minions (remember you can heal back some harras due to your innate spellvamp from Soul Siphon).
You can use your Dark Binding to secure lasthits on siege (cannon) minions, but keep in mind that it costs you mana and if you have it on CD, you are much more vulnerable for engage from the enemy laner/jungler.

GANKS
Morgana is sometimes called an "ungankable" mid laner and it is not far from the truth. You farm safely using Tormented Shadow and do not need to go too far away from your turret, and even if you do, you can still Black Shield yourself in a bad situation, fire Dark Binding in enemy junglers or mid laners face and run under your turret. While being dived, your best chance is to Black Shield yourself, throw everything you have on enemy who is being focused by turret and run.
If everything else fails, you should still have Flash to get away.
On the other hand, Morgana is great at setting up ganks with Dark Binding and Soul Shackles. If your jungler is comming for a gank, position yourself so you can hit Dark Binding followed with Tormented Shadow, or use your Soul Shackles => Dark Binding => Tormented Shadow (=> Ignite) combo to get a kill.
Same combo is what you use when engaging on your own.

ROAMING
Morgana might not seem like a spectacular champion for roaming due to low mobility, but if needed, you can still greatly help out your teammates on other lanes.
Make sure the lane you are about to roam to knows about your intentions and go in with either surprise Dark Binding from unwarded bush or ( Flash =>) Soul Shackles => Dark Binding => Tormented Shadow.
When facing any notorious roam champion Fizz, Ahri, Akali, always call ss/mia if you do not see them for longer than 5 seconds and if you know which way they went, alert that lane and try to safely follow them.

OBJECTIVES
It is not champion kills that win games, but objectives (turrets, inhibitors, dragon, herald/baron) so try to take control over those. From a certain point of game (6 minutes) have both Dragon pit and Baron pit warded. In early game, if you get a chance (enemy jungler dead or low and recalling, enemy bot lane dead, etc) rally your team for Dragon.
As Morgana when taking either of boss monsters, stand out of the pit using your Tormented Shadow and autoattacks to help and possibly have your Dark Binding ready for anyone who would try to come and steal it (or use it to help with boss if your team wants to rush it).



SUPPORT

FARMING
As a support DO NOT FARM (so obvious :D), but focus by all means on helping your ADCs farm.
So poke enemy ADC and support with Dark Binding and autoattacks for some nice dmg and extra money from Bandit , Black Shield any incomming CC and zone out enemy ADC from farm if you can.

GANKS
You should have wards in river and in tri-bush to see enemy jungler soon enough to retreat, but if something goes wrong and you get ganked, you have to do the same procedure as on mid lane: Black Shield your carry or yourself depending on who is in danger of being CCed (if the danger is the same for both, shield your carry ofc), fire Dark Binding into a enemy junglers/ADCs face and run under your turret.
When your junglers is about to gank, ping where you think (or know) enemy support placed wards, and fire a well aimed and timed Dark Binding or perform the already mentioned ( Flash =>) Soul Shackles => Dark Binding => Tormented Shadow (=> Ignite) combo.

OBJECTIVES
Your key role at securing Dragon and Baron is keeping vision on them, and possibly denying enemy vision.
Dragon should be warded after ASAP in game or so and has 6 minutes respawn time after killed.
Baron should be warded after 15:00 in game or so and has 7 minutes respawn time.
When taking either of them, use at first your trinket or Vision Ward to check for enemy vision, then use Tormented Shadow and autoattacks to help with boss and possibly have Dark Binding ready for anyone who would try to come and steal it.
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Teamfights



MID LANE

and SUPPORT

Morgana in teamfights should behave the same regardles on her role in team.
You try to hit any enemy carry with Dark Binding followed with Tormented Shadow, Black Shield your engaging tank (unless he is Olaf again :D), or yourself or any other CC focused carry and hit as many enemies possible with Soul Shackles => Zhonya's Hourglass combo.
After your golden 2,5 seconds end, repeat Dark Binding => Tormented Shadow combo into a nearest stunned carry and try to reposition so enemy team cannot kill you after stun goes off.
Remember that Zhonya's Hourglass makes you unable to move so be careful with it. If you want to stun as many enemy champions as possible, try to follow them at first and if they focus you, use Zhonya's Hourglass to punish them for doing so.
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Summary

I personally think it is not so bad for a first guide and hope it is going to be any helpful for those who seek knowledge on how to play Morgana.
I would like to thank Searz again for the guide template that helped me understand coding a lot and Riot for making such a great champion I could write a guide for.

Feel free to comment in any language you want, but I will only answer those in English and Czech because I am a racist f**kabish ;).
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League of Legends Build Guide Author Satzmann666
Satzmann666 Morgana Guide
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Mean Mage Morgana [S6] In-depth MID/SUPPORT guide

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