Morgana has been one of my favorite champions for long over a year now. There was a time where every game I could I would play her, I've played at least 500 games with her over my long LoL career. As a champion I find Morgana a unique, fun champion who can find a role in a lot of team comps and different metagames, including the current one of tanky dps top, AP carry mid, support and AD carry bott with a strong ganker jungle.

My rune setup is, imo, a fairly basic caster setup.

Reds - I go with Magic Pen because I do play Morgana as an AP carry (and always have, even back when Support Morg was the way to do it), there are no feasible alternatives if you want to play her as a viable champion

Yellows - I go with flat health per level because Morgana has to be in the middle of the action in order to use her ult, these runes, 9 points in defense, and the health from Rod of Ages makes her quite beefy without sacrificing all that much offensive strength. Alternatives include flat armor, for tankiness, AP per level, for damage, or mp5/level if you find yourself a little strained when it comes to mana

Blues - AP per level is pretty standard nowadays for casters, Morgana needs AP to do her job as an AP Carry. Alternatives can be mp5/level, if you find yourself in need of mana, flat mres or mres/level, for tankiness, or cooldown reduction/level, as Morgana does get quite a bit out of cooldown reduction.

Quints - Flat AP is the norm for AP carries, alternatives can include movespeed, since Morg is somewhat slow and does need to keep up with enemies for her ultimate or flat health, to add to her tankiness

Standard 21 in offense for an AP carry, the 9 in defense helps her out throughout the game with getting into the middle of a fight and pulling out a great ultimate. I go for mres over armor since most enemy laners you will go against will be casters, the 6 helps negate some of the flat magic pen they will get from their runes.

For Morgana I like to start out with either a sapphire crystal, for an earlier catalyst, or a Doran's Ring, for early-game aggression and health. Due to Morgana's passive she is one of the few champions I'd start out with a ring on as she can balance out her lack of health regen due to no potions with it. Doran's is really good if you think you can pick up an easy kill at 6 with a good combo, Sapphire and pots is good if you think you'll need that quick catalyst or you think you won't be able to pick up an easy kill.

Regardless of starting item I then work into a catalyst, with a catalyst, black shield, dark binding, your health/level yellows, and the 9 points in defense you will be a pretty tanky and gank-resistant champion. At this point you can really throw your weight around in lane. From catalyst I go into RoA and Sorcerer's, Sorcs is my core as Morg is an AP carry, but I will switch over to Merc's if the enemy team has an extremely high amount of annoying CCs. From RoA and Sorcs I work on Rabadon's Deathcap, the standard for AP Carries, and then go onto Zhonya's Hourglass, all of the stats Morg enjoys, she's going to be in close range for a bit to get off her ult so armor and the stasis on activation really help out, the AP strengthens her burst and her shield. From this point I work onto either Void Staff or Abyssal's, depending on my needs. Abyssal's is really nice if the enemey team isn't stacking mres or you need to add some mres to your build, since Morg will usually be in range of the enemy team she can easily apply the passive negative aura unlike some other casters who stay at range, Void Staff is good for when the enemy team is stacking mres. Morello's Evil Tome can make an appearance in your build as a 5th or 6th slot item in the place of Abyssal or Void, the AP and the valuable CDR can really help Morg out, but usually you can get enough CDR from blue pots and blue buff.

As with every champion you have to work out your item build with the enemy team in mind as well as your own. My core build makes Morgana decently tanky against both damage types, but some good items to add into this build if you find yourself lacking include Banshee's, for its mres, health, and amazing passive, and Frozen Heart, for the CDR, amazing armor, and the great passive aura.

Flash - Standard for Morg, helps her either keep up with an enemy or helps her get into the middle of a fight to unleash her ultimate

Ignite - My standard for AP carries, adds a good amount of damage to her standard combos allowing her to easily pick up kills early which translates to late-game power


You can replace Flash for Ghost if need be, Ghost allows for her to keep up for her ult better than Flash in a lot of situations and when combined with Black Shield can allow for nice escapes from sticky situations.

Ignite can be replaced with Exhaust, Exhaust helps Morgana stay alive between her cooldowns and adds to her already great utility.

Maxing Tormented Soil first is the usual standard for Morgana, at level 5 you can clear our a wave's caster minions with it just by itself. Maxing Tormented Soil first gives you good lane sustainability since using it on minions will be your greatest source of healing from your passive. Maxing Dark Binding second is for the increased duration, increased damage, and lower cooldown, as you are an AP carry foremost and a support second. If you're having trouble with magic damage you can mix in an appropriate amount of levels in Black Shield as need be. One thing to be aware of with my standard build is that your base shield will be fairly weak and usually won't withstand much more than 1 spell, so make that spell you block count.

For me, Morg's strongest combo involves flashing on top of the enemy and immediately casting her ult. From here cast Black Shield on yourself to nullify any CC they make send your way and cast ignite on them, right before the second part of the ult lands cast Tormented Soil where they are standing, this will increase the damage they take from the second part of her ultimate and will also help in maximizing the damage dealt by the soil itself. As they are stunned position yourself for a clear Dark Binding while auto-attacking the enemey, as the stun from Soul Shackles is about to wear off bind them with Dark Binding so they take all of the ticks from Tormented Soil.

This should be able to finish off most opponents Morgana will find in lane, flashing on top of the enemy insures that they won't be able to escape with flash from your ult as your ult's tether has a range of 600 and flash only has a range of 400. If need be you can cast Dark Binding right as you ult if your opponent has an innate escape mechanism that would break your tether (Kassadin's Riftwalk, Ezreal's Arcane Shift, etc.).