Orianna has very high potential, but to reach it you must master her, you'll know you've reached this point when you feel comfortable with her every detail and you start winning games.

This guide intends to help you get there, that you may proceed ingame to wreck balls while helping out your team in many ways.

You'll be going glass cannon yet still somehow managing to get hold of Health, Armour, Magic res
and enough CDR to support well and have high utility.

I'm not a huge fan of 21 here and 9 there, whatever works works and for this build you want to fill up on AP Offense.

4 points in Fury may seen unusual but Orianna's basic attack is core to her damage output and poke thanks to her brilliant passive. You won't be buying any items that fill this role in game so a small boost here really helps. Once you master her attack animation the difference becomes noticeable and she suddenly begins to flow, exactly what you want.

Cooldown reduction is awesome, so get some more with Sorcery. While holding back on spell spammage outside of conflict is essential there are so many uses for her various abilitys and combos once engaged with an enemy or three that you do want to spam everything you have and hopfully get spells off more than once before the end of battle.

Two points in Butcher is optional. Although Orianna is already pretty damn good at last hitting, if you fail to do so consistently then leave the points here, otherwise put them in utility. I leave them here as it compensates for deviations in my performance.
You know how important last hitting is.

Summoner's Wrath .. A point here will grant you an extra 5 AP while Ignite is on cooldown, make sure it is, but don't waste the spell.

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The last 5 points go in Utility, 3 are important and must work for your mana regen Meditation , I put another into Expanded Mind for more Max mana, but only after you've freed it up with a point in either
Wanderer
Summoner's Insight or
Improved Recall

Greater Mark of Magic Penetration

As much of this as possible, you need these to keep the damage up and burst hard.

Greater Seal of Mana Regeneration

Combined with Meditation and Chalice of Harmony, you'll have enough regen to play optimally, as long as you refrain from continual spamming.

Greater Glyph of Scaling Ability Power
Greater Quintessence of Ability Power

These will give you a much needed early game boost to every possible source of damage from Orianna.
That's your passive, all four abilitys and Basic attack!
Not to mention shield strength.
The Scaling Glyphs will keep it on the rise.

Also think about that passive on Wooglet's Witchcap, one of our core items.

Alternatives

Why or why not to choose these.

Greater Quintessence of Magic Penetration
Brilliant, but consider the fact that literally every cog within you scales with AP, and you are already maxing out magic pen everywhere else possible, the AP Quints will serve you well.

If after trying this guide you feel you really need a little more defensive power, you can sacrifice The Seals and Glyphs for

Greater Seal of Armor Armour* and Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist respectively.

Flash Is essential, it will counter other people taking it to get the advantage on your inbuilt escape techniques, and it will instantly sort out your positioning which is a major aspect of Ori's game.

Ignite, you know what it does, coupled with Summoner's Wrath you'll get an extra 5 AP, this will help you most early game and it is a good boost, remember to use it as often as possible without wasting it.

I like to Have Ignite on D for Damage
and Flash on F for Flash.

Starting Items

From the moment you leave the platform you want the ability to run or chase, as well as actually dish out some damage, so start with Boots and Amplifying Tome
You know how important AP is on Orianna, and with the many little steps we've taken to add more and more, the tome will start you off with a modest amount that will compensate for the fact we'll be rushing magic pen and mana regen first.

Core Items

Rush the Chalice of Harmony, with it you'll end problems that would otherwise have plagued you horribly, you'll stay on the field much longer.

Next you want the two flat magic pen items, this means building your Amplifying Tome into Haunting Guise and building your Boots into Sorcerer's Shoes
It also means you'll be dealing near true damage for a long time, even with the little AP you have so far it will be doing what it's supposed to, and it will hurt a lot.
The effect it will have on the additional AP you're about to start piling on is ridiculous, you'll feel like the items are more effective than usual, that's because they will be.

Getting your Wooglet's Witchcap means reaching a key point, you spike here in both Offense and Defense and you will plow everyone you come across, hard.
The passive will really put to work all the little AP increases we've concentrated on early and confirm why we chose what we did with Runes and Masteries.
The cap itself gives you 125 more AP and thanks to our early investment in magic pen, it will work hard for you, efficient and powerful.

You've also completed a Holy Trinity of Defense at this point, without having to sacrifice any offense whatsoever.
Health, Armour, and Magic resist are all there, although they may be modest, they make a huge difference.
Haunting Guise
Wooglet's Witchcap
Chalice of Harmony

With Witchcaps active, you have another safety net.

DO WANT.

I'd call these items a late game core for this build.

Rush the Needlessly Large Rod then quickly build it into Deathfire Grasp,
I want to rush this item straight after Boots, but I don't because buying it now will yield a much more effective item, it's active will become a part of your combo and you'll use it every time you can, you will truly cleave any who stand within 750 range, that's the DFG's active.

If your next 2k gold doesn't come from kills and assists then practice more.
Spend it on building Chalice of Harmony into Athene's Unholy Grail
This nets you another pile of AP, more magic resist, and ridiculous mana regen which allows you to take advantage of the extra 20% CDR you also get from this Grail.

Optional Items.

If the game hasn't finished, you'll be wanting to purchase more gear.

The first thing you want to do is check if your enemy is stacking magic resist, they should be..
If that's the case then build the Void Staff to counter it, you have to keep them scared of the damage you can do and late game the Void Staff is more effective at cutting their resist.
whereas early game the two flat magic pen items you rush are at their most effective.
Either way, you've got both now.

If most of your damage is still getting through then consider Lich Bane
With this you get a key bonus while smashing your AP up yet again.
Lich Bane's passive will play off your Clockwork Windup to add a flat 100 plus 90% of your AP in bonus damage. 90% by this point is a lot, and basic attacks can now be considered nukes, the damage is ridiculous, and you can sustain it, and you can increase it with subsequent attacks.
Attack after every ability used unless you really need to power through a combo fast.
You only need to do that when enemys are about to leave a favorable position that will disrupt the combo.

If you're not quite managing to deal the damage without taking it, build Runic Bulwark it builds on your defensive trinity and helps everyone, not ideal though.

Finally.

You've used up all six slots but that Haunting Guise that has served you incredibly well thus far can be built further now, into Blackfire Torch which adds nothing but more key stats.
The health will smooth out the ratios between your defensive stats, making the most of all three.
Remember carrying your ball around will give you 30 more Armour and Magic res.

If you built Void Staff earlier, consider selling Haunting Guise and building Lich Bane instead, the guise has paid for itself many times over, and you might be sad to see it go but flat Magic pen works hard early game and slacks off late, it still does work though, so consider, and make a decision based on how well your damage pierces.

Tier 3 boots last, get whatever you want, I'd go for Captain.

Each Skill is very useful on it's own, and each can be used for many different things, I'll try to talk about individual skills here and we'll have another chapter for combos.



Clockwork Windup :Passive

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It's so good, and this is why Basic attacks are core to damage output, it will benefit from your AP stacking just like all of your actives do.

Make sure to exploit this as often as possible, start a poke with a basic attack, finish it with one, chase them a little bit and get two more in, this will wreck them even without your abilitys.


Command: Attack Q

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Many uses, damage potential is irrelevant to most of them so we'll max this last, but a point in first at level one is essential, make sure you do it.

Lots of people like to max this first, lower cooldown and higher damage are the rewards but we're already building lots of CDR, and we'll be pumping out far more damage with other spells maxed first.

Positioning of both yourself and your ball are central to success, so you need to be able to put it where you want it, if it needs to go anywhere other than on yourself or an ally, this ability will get it there, The actual range of the spell is slightly larger than the reticule shows, keep this in mind.

Your ball acts like a sight ward which nobody else will have on Treeline, while you're busy taking advantage of Clockwork Windup to farm and not spamming abilitys, your ball can be sat in the bush nearby alerting you to any incoming ganks, as they run through the bush you will either be safely back on your side of the map or you'll turn the tables and unleash your burst on them for a vile surprise.

While you're taking alters, leave your ball in the center brush, alternatively let somebody else take the alter while you wait in the same bush, ready to send your ball to their aid in surprise, followed up by vicious burst.

My favorite use for Q is pulling out the enemys wolves from in lane so you can steal them safely.

What you want to be doing though is using it to set up your vicious combos.

One last note: Beware the horribly slow travel speed of the ball when using Command: Attack If you need to get your ball from one side of you to the other very quickly, using Command: Protect to cover some of the distance will make the difference between hitting your target and arriving late.

Command: Dissonance W

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This skill is Beautiful, it has ridiculous AOE damage and Huge utility that benefits your team as much as it impedes your enemys. I'd like to max this equally with your Shield but that can't be done so keep it one step ahead.

Use it to farm jungle along with Command: Attack before and Command: Protect after but keep an eye on your mana, only farm lane minions with it if it means you wouldn't have got last hits otherwise, and use it when there are lots of them clumped together.

It's primary use is the damage and slow, you can land it right after Command: Attack for an almost unavoidable combo burst, and they will take a huge hit coupled with what will eventually be a 40% slow for as long as they remain inside the AOE, this will diminish over two seconds once they leave, it's a good slow.

It's secondary use invovles only utility but you may still occasionally manage to get an enemy caught up in the blast, try to do so if it means altering your timing slightly.

Helping your Tank initiate, or helping anyone chase.

Command: Protect the Ally to get the ball on them, and Command: Dissonance to send them hurtling toward their target.
This can be risky as you will often be better of saving Command: Dissonance for the combo you'll want to unleash when the fight begins, either way, Command: Protect is a must for initiations and if you've communicated with your ally he'll then be able to move your ball into a good position for you...

This is often better after a fight when a fleeing opponent needs chasing down, get the ball on whoever's closest and boost them, alternatively boost yourself and get some auto attacks in with a Q into E combo

Helping yourself or allys escape.

Again, Command: Protect into Command: Dissonance used for this purpose will put distance between them and their pursuers, along with a nice shield, bonus magic resist and armour, everything a fleeing ally needs.
Remember that if you manage to boost as well as slow, you are getting effectively double the face value of CC, that's 80% difference in speed.


Command: Protect E

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One of the best shields, Get it maxed as soon as, (second).
This is one large reason I don't max Q first, and it's one large thing that many Ori players seem to forget about or disregard, the base damage it does is equal to Q, the bonus damage is 30% AP rather than 50% though, but the damage does not decrease as it passes through targets, while Q does. Not only that the ball moves much faster with E than it does with Q, the range is higher and when it lands.. somebody is getting what effectively equates to Health Armour and Magic res, and a lot of it since you sensibly Maxed E

With no natural sustain, and going all glass cannon like we are, Command: Protect will allow you to prevent damage and shed the need for a cure. As long as you get it maxed.

Exploit the increased ball speed that comes with Command: Protect, if you're chasing an enemy and your balls behind you, Command: Protect onto yourself will cover half the distance to your enemy very quickly, do this before sending it out the other side with Command: Attack

If you need to get the ball back to you quickly weather for that boost to all three defensive stats or in preparation for a Command: Dissonance so you can flee quickly, do it, but try and maneuver so that enemys are between you and the ball before you do for extra damage.

If an ally is in danger, throw it on them, and same again with W to help them escape.

if you foresee damage of any kind headed towards any ally, Get this Spell on them quick, even if they are on full health, remaining that way after running through Teemo's shrooms is good.

As soon as that red line pops up from an enemy tower to an ally or yourself, Command: Protect.
No damage will be taken, a second hit? Maybe a tiny sliver of damage will seep through.

You will save many lives with this spell, it is vital you get it leveled up fast.


Command: Shockwave R

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Orianna's Ultimate, and for 0.5 seconds, it does nothing, after this short delay though, Nunu will have wasted his Ult, so will Fiddlesticks, (he'll probably be dead) and anyone else that needs to channel or stay put will be disrupted, displaced and arranged perfectly for your Command: Dissonance to work its full power on everyone.

It will dish out huge damage and fling anyone within it's range of 400 a distance of 350 towards the ball, If you let this rip 10 units of distance from an enemy, they will end up 340 units away from the ball on the other side.
Learn what these distances actually are and make sure you can achieve what you intend too with it.
This can work against you if you don't get it right.

Usually you'll want to use it as part of your main combo to gather everyone together, making it easy for yourself and anyone else with AOE damage to get efficient hits in that plow everyone.

You can use it to pull enemys within range of your towers, you can bring back fleeing enemys, you can send away perusing enemys, you can confuse enemys and spoil their team positioning.

If you can save a life with it, don't hesitate to do so, it will cooldown again.

It's highly useful on it's own but Ideally you want to use it as part of your Combo.

With these things you can do even more, and your burst becomes absolutely ridiculous.

A full combo will make use of:

Basic attacks and
Command: Attack
Command: Dissonance
Command: Protect
Command: Shockwave
Ignite
Deathfire Grasp

If you want to jump from a bush and decimate a lone enemy, you probably can.
You'll want to do this quickly so there may not be much room for Auto attacks but get them in wherever you can.

Start out with Deathfire Grasp, Ignite and an Auto attack this will increase the magic damage they take in the next four seconds by 20% and thanks to the build so far, it should already be a lot. It will also net you 5 more AP which benefits everything slightly.

Follow up with Command: Attack through them so the ball lands close on the opposite side.
Chase them to far side of your ball with auto attacks before releasing Command: Shockwave Immediately followed by Command: Dissonance and Command: Protect on yourself.

This leaves you in a position where you're shielded, protected, they are probably on top of you slowed giving you plenty of time to finish the job if needed with Auto attacks which will be nuking them every hit at this stage. The persistent ring from Command: Dissonance will be blocking their escape as well for a little longer.

If they do survive, chase them until your Q and W come back online which will burst again for lots.

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In a Teamfight Your main combo will be:

Command: Protect The Initiator, let them position your ball for you, preferably in the center of all three opponents, while you auto attack the priority target, and Deathfire Grasp him too, now go Command: Shockwave into Command: Dissonance.

This will tear far too much Health from everyone, and you'll probably win the fight, Next you need to decide where your shield's going, either on yourself, an ally in need or back on the tank to refresh his protection, the rule is, it must pass through the clump of gathered slowed enemys on it's way to your ally, so Command: Attack, position the ball and allow this to happen, preferably hitting enemys with Command: Attack too. Go ahead and E through the enemy team.

If they like to focus you which they probably will, it might be best to stay back and let your Tank carry your ball in without you, when attached to an ally, you will be able to get further from your ball before it returns on its own.

Save your Ignite for chasing stragglers as you'll probably want to use your second Command: Dissonance to actually chase them unless you can Q - W them from where you're standing.

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POKE

Command: Attack -> Command: Dissonance

During Laning phase, try to zone your enemys.

if they come to poke back it only gives you opportunity to Command: Protect through them, onto yourself, and get in a good few auto attacks as well.

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Escape!

Command: Protect -> Command: Dissonance

This will send you flying to safety with extra health armour and magic res, as well as leaving an obstacle for them.

Alternatively

Command: Dissonance run a little, if they are chasing, throw out a

Command: Attack -> Command: Protect
.

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Surprise Melee encounter!?

Command: Dissonance then take advantage of the 80% difference in speed this can create between you both to retreat to a safe distance and sustain the damage in return with a Q -> E and a constant flow of basic attacks you should always be putting out.
Because it cuts their speed as well as boosting yours by a large amount, it will probably out do any CC they throw down to try and keep you close.

Key points to remember:

ALWAYS USE BASIC ATTACKS
They add substantial damage to your output, and the attack animation is beautifully crafted, once you master it you won't need to think about it they flow from her particularly well with Fury .

Practice using them before and after every ability, once you get Lich Bane your efforts will be rewarded greatly.


Command: Protect moves the ball faster than Command: Attack
Exploit and abuse.


The Ball is a Sight Ward!
use your Q for Ball positioning and looking around behind walls or in brush.


Do not Max Q for Damage
E will give you pretty much the same damage, as a bonus to it's main function.
Don't forget about the damage from E.


You are a ranged Mage
Keep distance between you and your target/s unless you have the upper hand and they are on the run.
If you know this will be the situation in the next few seconds then start closing the gap sooner.


The ball takes time to travel.
This means that when you use Command: Attack to hit an enemy or prepare for Command: Dissonance, you want to aim for where they will be by the time the ball gets there.

If enemys have moved out of position by the time Command: Attack lands, don't just carry on with a combo. Wait for enemys to move into optimal position before unleashing further Skills.

Ori can go top or Bottom and do brilliantly. If you go top, don't over extend as you'll get ganked and destroyed, but really try to fly up in levels and cs.
If you go Bot, support your partner and Zone your enemys, poke the squishy.