Alas I’ve tried many versions of adding any amount of damage, and it just falls flat every time. This makes sense to some extent; using the abilities for their utility is usually mutually exclusive with using them for damage. You kind of have to pick one or the other.

Sorry for taking so long to get back to you! After taking the last month to experiment, I think there's a place for it, though it's more niche than it was previously was since there's almost always something more specific I'd rather have instead (until like, the last two items). I'll be updating the guide very soon.

That's actually what I used before, interestingly enough. It's noted under the runes section. I think it's a powerful style in its own right, but over time I found myself less impressed by Aery's shielding and didn't find as much value out of its shield procs to make it feel as worthwhile as I'd like.

To some extent, as you get more experience on Ori Sup, you waste fewer and fewer spells, meaning you become more efficient with your mana.

So what I've found is that while I struggled initially without tear, nowadays I have pretty much exactly just enough mana for every fight without tear.

I think tear is just okay, if excessive, but even if purchased, there's no need to upgrade it to Archangel until the very end, since Orianna Support doesn't make as much use out of the raw AP that much compared to just having utility items.

That's pretty cool! May want to wait for the new items first; on Wednesday all guides will be somewhat outdated so don't put too much effort atm

Your words are so kind; thank you so much! I honestly think out of all my off-meta builds, this is the one that has the highest potential for high-ranking success too. Very underlooked.

Good question! I'll cross-post from the stream's FAQ.

When more information is available, I first look at which champions hugely benefit on my team from Orianna. Champions without dashes love Orianna (Ashe, Udyr, Draven, Shyvana, Ryze, etc.), and even some champions with dashes have unique synergy with Ori that makes them powerful (The passives on Vayne and Graves). Champions with direct engages also benefit from the movement speed greatly (Malphite, Annie, Gragas).

I then look at the champions on the enemy team that get shut down heavily by the slow and armor from Orianna. Assassins have trouble fighting Orianna support because the shields shut down their attempts. Certain champions become significantly easy to kite when they can’t close the gap without getting instantly slowed by Dissonance (Nasus, Rengar, Fiora, Irelia, etc.)

Finally, I look at the opposing support. Orianna is not shut down, but does have some trouble with zoning supports (Blitz, Thresh, Ali). Conversely, Ori has the easiest time against more passive supports, usually those with heavy utility (Janna, Soraka).

A good rule of thumb really is: how many dashes does each team have? The less dashes in the match, the more useful Orianna will be relative to other supports.