Orianna Build Guide by Cubby1313

The great thing about the current masteries system over the original is that they can be better customized to suit your playstyle and still be able to get a lot of bang for your buck.

My suggestion for lower level players is to start filling out your Offensive mastery tree first. The sooner you can get that start up AP the better. It really makes a difference in her early game which is why I stack the two Doran's Rings early game; it give you a really hard hitting early-mid game. I would however suggest putting one point into Summoner's Insight so that you get the perks for both Flash and Clarity

Another benefit to filling out the offensive side of the tree first is that you will learn to play with a smaller mana pool and less mana regen. This will force you to be more mana conscious which will keep you from you from running out during team fights or you better undersanding how much you actually need in order to properly initiate or defend. Then once you get the larger mana pool and higher regen you might find that you don't require them and can place those point somewhere else if you would like.

This is where you can customize the masteries to really fit your play style. If you want the movement speed, go for Swiftness . If you really just don't like sitting still when you die, you can put it in Good Hands .

I know that recently I have removed 1 point from Havoc and have placed it in Demolitionist because of how my play style has evolved. These options will be available to you as you grow and change as a player and I encourage you to experiment once you get to those higher levels and find what works best for you and your play style.

As far as Runes go, DO NOT waste your IP on Runes until can use Tier 3 runes. Any Tier 1 or Tier 2 Runes are only a huge waste in the long run. Go without runes, save up your IP, and once you hit level 20 go in and make a large rune purchase. I know I used over 7000 IP the first time I filled out my rune book.

I'm glad you are enjoying Orianna and if you have any other questions, feel free to ask :)

Reporter mode: ON!

So tell me Cubby, what do you think of the upcoming patch? Orianna's mana costs for Command: Attack are going down to 50 flat at all levels. What advantages will you take from this buff?

Well CM,

This modification *not calling it a buff because there is no real increase in performance* won't really make much of an impact on most Orianna players. Seeing as I don't level up my Command: Attack to level 3 until I reach level 7, I will not really be seeing much of a decrease in mana costs early game...

One could argue that this weakens the decision, located in some guides, to Max Command: Dissonance before Command: Attack. It doesn't change my feeling on the subject of leveling though which I explained to someone in a PM just last week.

In the long run *level 5* Orianna players will only be saving 20 Mana per Command: Attack which is really a negligible difference late game when you consider the amount of mana regeneration *19 mana regen per/5 base plus Blue buff if you have it*

In a 5 second time period you will be able to use Command: Attack twice and you will save 40 mana from this modification. As I have stated a few times, I spam my ball constantly to either scout, last hit, or farm, but I don't really think this will change anything other than my mana pool lasting just a little bit longer... perhaps a last hit/low mana Q to secure a kill, but other than that... not much is being offered here.

I personally would have preferred a scaling mana cost starting at 40 Mana and scaling up 5/lvl. This way there would have at least been some early game advantage since that is where some Orianna players would say she is somewhat lacking.

Any other questions good sir? :D

I like to consider Orianna my main and this is the only guide i will reference too when needed. I would like to point out that Clarity is amazing and will second your point of having it as a summoner spell. I have all the glyphs needed yet when harassing and protecting my team i still run out of mana. Clarity is the best way to keep you and maybe even your partner in your lane for continual harassment/Pushing. Like you said, a Orianna with no mana is a useless Orianna. I stand by your guide, Thank you for the time and effort you put in. +1!!!

@LordUnbelieve:

Thank you for your acknowledgement :) It is always nice to see posts like this. Sometimes it gets hard to stand by the choices you've made when people pound you into the ground for exploring a different way of playing a champion.

People try to play her fully as a nuking AP, but the fact is she is under powered if you only play her this way. There are countless threads all over which crunch the numbers and show flat out that Orianna, as a nuking champion, does less damage than many of the other choices for mid. This is why I specifically have focused on her cooldown reduction and take full advantage of the Attack Speed awarded by Nashor's Tooth. Once Lich Bane is bought it is just game over :)

Thank you for appreciating this guide and the differences it presents for this champion. I know some of my choices, such as selecting Clarity as a primary summoner spell have made me unpopular among some AP Mid Purist, but Orianna is unlike any other champion in the game, and therefor needs more than just a cookie cutter build and guide :)

nice job man

First three builds are OK, but you fall off late game.
Glass cannons man.

Build RoA for HP.

@ Krin

I checked out your match history Krin and I noticed something... 5 games ago when you followed my purchase order you went 7/1/9. Good Job! After that however you substituted items and built out of the order I suggested and then you started losing and went 2/5/4 and then 3/6/10. I notice a pattern there...

The buying order for these builds is just as important as the items themselves because they smoothly transition you from early to mid to late game.

I'm confused as to why you tried something, had it work well, then changed it, did poorly, and then accused the build's of falling off late game when it wasn't even my build and purchase order that you were using?

Orianna is an extremely high skill cap and get's more difficult towards end game, but I see no reason to substitute damage, which would make her "fall off" more, when instead you should be focusing on knowing when to pull out of a sticky situation and becoming more skilled with her.

Thank you for your review, but considering the fact that the only time you failed was when you didn't actually use my build, I can't actually take it into account and instead take the information I have found as a success story to show that when you follow the build you do better than you would do if you didn't.

Feel free to read up on my items section though if you would like to see more information as to why I haven't chosen to purchase the Rod of Ages and place it in my build.

I've been trying to learn Orianna for a while now and this guide is the first one that works for me. It fits my play style more effectively than other guides. I don't build and play exactly as you suggest but that's just personal preference. Nashor's Tooth and Lich Bane works wonders for me. Orianna's auto attacks are an important part when I play her. After landing Q+W, the opposing middle player is likely to back off and that's where I start auto attacking them back to their turret. I also find the Clockwork Windup auto attacks important when chasing down fleeing enemies from a team fight. Because of those reasons, I take Surge over Clarity and I build Hextech Gunblade from the Revolver instead of Will of the Ancients. Hextech Gunblade lacks 10 AP compared to Will of the Ancients but the other benefits allows me to 1v1 fed AD carries. The price is much higher but it's worth it for me.

@Dazschei

I'm glad to hear that you have found my guide useful :) I am curious however as to when you complete your Hextech Gunblade. Do you rush it or do you end up completing it after the Rabadon's Deathcap but before Nashor's Tooth and Lich Bane?

I personally feel that some of the investment is going to waste since the lifesteal and attack damage is negligible compared to the spell vamp. Also since casting Orianna's spells interrupts her auto attack animation the lifesteal is crippled even further. As far as farming goes, mid to late game I maybe get to land 3 auto attacks on a wave of minions before I have destroyed the rest of them with my ball. The Active for the Gunblade however could be very, very useful when it comes to chasing down enemies, especially when you consider that it has a range of 700.

I will be honest... with this recent price hike on the Will of the Ancients I have not been too happy with it anymore and I might have to find a different place in the purchase order for it... we shall see. I really like Athene's Unholy Grail but I just don't know where, if anywhere, I can put it. It could get purchased as a somewhat early buy in order to make it as useful as possible... If I were to make it early then I'm not sure if I would want to get rid of the Hextech Revolver but might end up having to... this would remove quite a bit of sustain though and I really don't like that idea.

Idk, looks like Orianna will be going back into a testing phase with me for awhile once this new item comes out, :)