Welcome to my second LoL guide, featuring my favorite AP Carry: Orianna.

Orianna is possibly one of the best teammates to have in the game. She snowballs, she can farm extremely well and push even better, her synergy is just incredible with champions like Skarner, Xin Zhao, and Nocturne, and she's gotten some great buffs lately.

I first started playing Orianna during a free week at Level 2. In a custom/random game. It wasn't fun, considering I only knew how to build Ashe. :3

At higher levels, I gave her some more attention, and looking at her skills, I realized she was (IS!) one of the best utility carries in the game. You can easily check/steal baron/dragon, you can get easy ganks in mid, you can escape ganks in mid, and your burst of mobility means that you can dodge skillshots, help your teammates get out of sticky situations, and possibly surprise the whole enemy team with one little tool: The Ball.

Orianna is best effective in a team consisting of a really good initiator, someone like Rammus, Shen, Leona, Sejuani, Nautilus and even Nocturne can fill this role with his ultimate.

Your main role as Orianna is of course to be the AP Carry for your team, but along with this comes a responsibility of being a backup support. Command: Protect adds Armor AND Magic Resist to the shielded teammate as well as a damage absorbing shield.

You're one of the best farmers/pushers in the game as well. Does a lane need to be pushed? Are you fighting AGAINST a pusher like Nasus or Twisted Fate? You know that both of these champions enjoy pushing a wave of minions to YOUR team's turret (usually mid lane for some reason). You counter this extremely well. Late game pushing after a teamfight? You're best at it (other than Karthus, but you're FASTER at it!)


PROS

She farms extremely well
Fast attack animation and high damage from AAs means easier laning
She's gotten so many buffs recently
No one plays her; 95% of the time, no one knows how to play against her.
She will immediately turn a teamfight around
She's like having a free CV (with limited range of course)
Possibly one of the most fun AP mids to play.

CONS

Squishy until her E is leveled.
Can run out of mana early game if not careful
Takes a lot of getting used to
Positioning is EVERYTHING
She's painfully slow in base movement speed.
Crowd Control kills Ori if she's in a tight spot.

The rune setup I use is my preference. Unless if you see more than one minion at low health in the farming/laning phase, you should hardly be using your skills early levels. The new item, Athene's Unholy Grail guarantees you NEVER run out of mana. EVER. I rush the Grail because it's truly made for Orianna. A whole EIGHTY (80) AP, CDR, which is GODLIKE on Orianna, AND mana regen, as well as a kickass passive in teamfights. I have 5~7 Mana Regen per SECOND during the LANING phase, and I'm ALWAYS above 50% MP and health during a teamfight because of the MR bonus. OVER POWERED!!!! <3

The Marks are obviously to cover the void staff and for the early game wreckage combined with the seals, glyphs, and quints that all give AP. Your AAs will hit for 60s or so, and your skills will have a noticeable difference compared to going MP Regen Seals.

You can always change the runes around however, if you want to skip Athene's Unholy Grail and miss out on CDR, a LOAD of AP, insanely high mana regen, and a really great teamfight passive that guarantees you NEVER run out of mana. But you know, that's only if you wanted to.

The masteries are strictly based on my playstyle as Orianna. You should be setting up ganks, getting fed, and nuking teamfights. It's completely changeable based on the player, but I've found myself hardly dying if I play smart.

Basically, this mastery setup is going to guarantee a mana supply to fall back on during laning, more mana per level, and a lot of starting AP. (28 or so)

You could always get some mastery points in Swiftness , but I don't think she really needs it w/ Command: Dissonance :P

CLOCKWORK WINDUP
This is arguably one of the strongest 1v1 passives in the game. You can actually spend no mana in the laning phase and still last hit every minion, harass, and do considerable damage from a distance while your skills are all on cooldown in a teamfight.

This skill scales off your AP and works a little like Ziggs's passive, except it procs on EVERY hit. Not once every 12 seconds. Unfortunately: this passive does not work on turrets. </3



COMMAND: ATTACK
This ability works like a skillshot but hits in an AoE's radius in its path of travel. The damage is reduced for the amount of enemies hit, but it nukes the first enemy unit by a lot.

Note that after the ball lands at target location, it stays there until you either pick it up by walking over it or you get a certain distance away from the ball. As you analyze this ability and the other abilities listed below in Orianna's skillset, try to come up with ideas that revolve around this skill.

Also note that this skill gives about half of what a Sight Ward or Vision Ward gives. This means you can throw The Ball into a bush, and either see the entire enemy team and immediately run the hell away or check Baron, Dragon, etc safely. This is your scouting tool when pushing a lane, don't let yourself get caught by surprise!!

This is also your main skill/harass tool during laning. It's hard to land for newer users, but after some practice, you'll get used to it! As Ori, you should try to learn movement prediction. It can really surprise people when they get hit by this skill when running in a zig zag. If they get caught in your slow, it makes it even easier. =]



COMMAND: DISSONANCE
This ability is a relatively medium-sized AoE that releases a pulse of electric energy, doing really nice damage as well as leaving behind a noticeable field that slows enemies and speeds up allies. Take note that the speed buff is a burst as well, at first very high and eventually lowering back to normal.

This is coupled with Command: Attack to dish out (as Phreak himself would say) TONS OF DAMAGE!, but unfortunately, we will not be jungling as Orianna. Sorry about that :C



COMMAND: PROTECT
This works like Command: Attack in its damage path. The only difference is that the mechanics rely on the recipient of the shield. The ball will CURVE depending on its starting location A to the recipient's location, B. The curve is only noticeable if flash is activated or there is large distance between points A and B, considering the animation is incredibly fast that it's almost unnoticeable.

Do not. EVER. underuse this ability. I've gotten quadra kills, triple kills, and almost a penta kill with repeated use of this skill in a teamfight. What do you do with this skill? You shield yourself or whoever's getting targeted. The use of this skill also re-registers The Ball's location to the recipient as long as they are in range of Orianna. It is truly your set up for an ace-in-the-hole.

This scenario happens to me all. the time.
Bot lane and your team's jungler notices that their lane leaves towards dragon, but there are no wards. They follow with CV up, and there's a 3v5 teamfight at dragon, not counting you. Immediately walk over to Dragon, and either shield whoever's being focused currently or try to disrupt the teamfight with Command: Attack and Command: Dissonance while your team runs for their lives. If the enemy team is greedy, which 90% of the time they are, they'll chase the teammate with 50 hp left. While they do this, unleash your Orianna fury on their squishies in return. This scenario will be continued shortly.



COMMAND: SHOCKWAVE
A reverse Janna ult! This is the reason I play Ori. This is what makes her one of the top tier carries in the game. This is possibly the funniest skill in the game (to me).

Disruption and teamfights. That's why you wreck kids. This is the main skill that causes that wreckage. This skill is a large AoE effect that causes ALL enemy/neutral units caught in the AoE to be thrown around The Ball in a complete 180. It does the most burst damage of all the skills in your arsenal.

When should you use this skill?
Skarner, your team's jungler has just come from warding their side of the map and as he's about to recall, the team notices Volibear, the enemy team's jungler getting the Lizard Buff. Your whole team gathers in the bush behind their red and Skarner tells you he's ready.

Immediately throw down Command: Protect on Skarner or Command: Attack on Volibear. In the time it will take for Volibear to notice, you should have already used Command: Dissonance to burst his HP down, freaking him the **** out. Skarner begins chasing Volibear, who in return starts running away, his entire team immediately coming out of the nearest bush, all IMMEDIATELY focusing Skarner, who still has The Ball on him.

You should be able to see where this is going. Once the team is in the range of your ult's AoE, do it. You know you want to. Volibear just baited a none-for-4 teamfight. And who helped secure it? That's right. You.

Now think of the situation described in Command: Protect's description. The entire team is chasing your squishy bot lane down the river like derps. Both of them turn into your side of the jungle. Sneaking behind, immediately throw The Ball to where the enemy team is and use Command: Shockwave coupled with Command: Dissonance. Now catch up and use Command: Attack on as many people as you can while autoattacking the lowest HP enemy, with Clockwork Windup's passive stacks kicking in. This will usually be their AD carry or AP carry. Keep spamming Command: Protect on yourself whenever it's off cooldown as well as Command: Attack and Command: Dissonance at every waking opportunity. The first time I tried doing this, I got a quadra kill. Then our Soraka walked right on top of me (thanks babe.) and I couldn't target myself to shield. Shen got away with 200 HP because Soraka couldn't slow him or catch up to him.

Repeat after me. You are a *******ed amazing teamfight champion.

tl;dr, get out if you didn't just read all that. <3

There are loads of other items than this build offers to get on Orianna, but they're only if you reach end game when everybody on both teams is built up. :D

Anyway. Moving on.

1.) You can trade in Rod of Ages for a Rylai's Crystal Scepter for the slow if you're fighting someone like Udyr or Shyvana

2.) You can trade in Lich Bane for a Void Staff if they start to stack MR. I would actually recommend this because you'll really see a difference in your nuking capability if this happens. The only thing I'd really miss from trading Lich Bane is the movement speed bonus.

3.) Eventually you CAN trade in Will of the Ancients for anything to counter their team. The Spell Vamp is really noticeable during laning though, and I really recommend it to boost your laning. If you're new to Orianna I would really recommend this item. It's so useful against people like Ahri, Morgana, Kassadin, or anyone with heavy harrass/spellvamp.

4.) If their AD carry is doing extremely well or you find yourself getting focused, you should try to throw out anything you can for a Zhonya's Hourglass

If you're getting focused, dump any item you find unnecessary and get a Guardian Angel/Zhonya. It's worth it. Dumping 20% Spell vamp hardly noticeable in a teamfight for the armor, mr, passive, active, etc.? worth it, because Phreak said so.

5.) Mercury's Treads. We need to talk. I actually recommend this item for ranked plays, high CC teams (duh) and I also recommend it for when you have someone like Lee Sin jungling, because he doesn't need the Blue Golem Buff. -15% CDR for 35% Tenacity really helps when Veigar or Ahri catches you in Event Horizon or Charm. The MR just adds to your domination of midlane. I personally think you should trade in Ionian Boots of Lucidity for these boots mid to late game.

You can also get Ninja Tabi if they're heavy on AD or if their AD carry/etc is snowballing. YOUR BOOTS SHOULD BE SITUATIONAL DEPENDING ON THE ENEMY TEAM AT ALL TIMES. NEVER PRIORITIZE CDR BOOTS OR ANY OTHER BOOTS. PLAY AGAINST THEIR TEAM!!!

If you really think the game is going smoothly and you want even more DPS, you can also get Sorcerer's Boots. I get these when I notice early MR or MR seals/etc, and whether or not the enemy team has MR? These boots make all of your Commands hurt. Like a *****.



This Build and why it Works
This build guarantees end game sturdiness that you need as an AP Caster and a field manipulator, as well as still being able to dish out loads of damage. You will have MR flowing out of your robotic joints and some armor to back it up.

Below are the listed reasons for these item choices:
Lich Bane
Rod of Ages (why not a Rylai's?)

1.) Lich Bane: This makes your passive a lot more utilizable. When you use QWR all in one combo, what are you left to do while Q and W are on cooldown? That's right. Autoattack. When you're running from their team or pushing a lane, what helps? The MS bonus from Lich Bane, which also covers your base MS of 300. The Magic Resist is incredibly noticeable too. I've won against so many nukers/CCers with this item (except Veigar, because he is Veigar and you hardly ever win against BAMFing Veigars.)

2.) Rod Of Ages: I have actually considered this item over and over again, but I prefer it over anything else as of late. It gives so much HP, so much mana, and a really nice boost to your AP that Rylai's would have given you anyway. The item itself helps you in laning AND mid game when you're pushing turrets and killing minions. Whenever I'm around 50% HP, I immediately try to push back a lane and I recover about 20% of my HP. I consider this to be a better item than a rylai's because you get more stats from it, and you already have one built in slow. If it gets to the point where you truly need the rylai's (chasing Nidalee is a ***** to do), then you could trade it in, but you'll lose a lot of mana to spend.

This is actually really easy when you're built. Command: Attack and Command: Dissonance will almost immediately kill the Caster Minions if both are Level 5.

Early laning should be completely last hitting. I always autoattack once to see how much damage I do and then keep my target/mouse on the minion that my minions start focusing. When you see it hit about 50~60 HP, you should AA.

When you start pushing a Lane, you should use Command: Attack and immediately Command: Dissonance the row of minions. If you built the Athene's Grail you can fully push a wave with your whole skillset (not counting ult), because Command: Protect hits all the enemy units in the way of its traveled path.

This is where you excel. It truly is what makes Orianna possibly the best AP mid in the game.

Command: Shockwave is your ace in the hole. Is the teamfight going bad? Are they all grouped up? Are they all focusing one person or have you caught their team off guard?

This will throw everyone caught in the throw radius AROUND the ball, also judging on their distance from the ball itself. If you use it and they're on top the perpetual left side of the ball, they'll be immediately thrown to the right side of the ball...it's hard to explain.

Picture this; you're being chased by Master Yi and you reach your turret but he tries to turn around once he takes turret damage. While Master Yi is still in the range of your ult, you should immediately use Command: Shockwave once you see him hesitate. He'll end up BEHIND you, and continue taking turret damage. Don't stop there, start autoattacking him and immediately try to land Command: Attack and Command: Dissonance on him. If he ults to get away, ignite him. Easy kill, or easy kill?!

Now imagine this scenario in a teamfight. You should never use Shockwave on one person. Save it for as many people as you can. The golden opportunity occurs in almost every teamfight and it will always turn it around completely.

Leona uses Zenith Blade and finds herself in the middle of the entire team. Immediately release all your skills at once. Command: Attack, Command: Dissonance, Command: Protect (used on Leona) and then before they all have a chance to run, use Command: Shockwave. If you didn't pick up a kill out of that, your team will have the easiest time picking up an easy ace. Your nuking capability is fantastic. Remember that.



Let's move on to Positioning. You have extremely low base movement speed (300). Why is that? It's because you should never be in front of your team. Even with Command: Protect's godly passive, you're incredibly susceptible to Crowd Control effects as well as your squishy-to-begin with base stats. (11 ARMOR! WOOOO!!!)
You should always be with the AD carry, never with or in front of your tank/bruisers.

I personally hope I helped you either get into Orianna or start playing Orianna. Once you know how to play her effectively, she is one of the BEST carries in this game. Utility, damage, pushing, supportive, team worker. She is truly a great addition to any team and I recommend her for people looking for something new. She's what keeps me playing this game, I'm not even kidding!

5/24/12 - Guide Created and Published (unfinished)
5/25/12 - Guide updated immensely, in-depth details and scenarios added, skill analysis added
5/26/12 - Edited Item build, removed Will of the Ancients, edited 'Team Work' section, and some odds and ends in the 'Skill Sequence' section.
6/3/12 - Edited Item Build, changed boots to situational, pick up something to counter their team, changed Zhonya's Hourglass to Guardian Angel. Changed Masteries for Runic Affinity .
6/8/12 - Edited Rune Build, was unaware that the guide had bugged changing the runes to some support-ori type build...the runes now reflect what Orianna SHOULD have <3 Also edited item build after listening to feedback and the maths. @_@
7/22/12 - Wow 4th place in Orianna guides. I'm so grateful guys! =]