Lissandra Build Guide : A Lissandra guide | Feel the Power of True Ice

Guide Details

Champion

Pregame

Gameplay

Introduction

Conclusion

Special Thanks

Changelog

Pros and Cons

Ability Info

Skill Sequence

E Tips & Tricks

Summoner Spells

~~Runes~~

~~Items~~

Working on runes/items

Combo's

Laning

Post Lane

Matchups

Hi there!

My name is Katasandra and I am a Lissandra one-trick. I started playing her in preseason 8. Back then I was actually maining something else and I was searching for a secondary midlaner. After trying a lot of different midlaners I came across Lissandra. I loved playing her so much that I dropped my old main and now she is pretty much the only champion I play. Here are my account stats for those of you that are interested in it.

I have played Lissandra for a while and I really wanted to create something to help other people learn and discover what she can do and how you can play her. After a long, long time I finally managed to breach the 1M mastery threshold! Once again this guide has been redesigned. If you'd like to see earlier designs, feel free to check them out: (1. 2.). I hope you will enjoy reading this and if you notice mistakes or if you have questions, don't hesitate to comment! And for those of you wondering whether this is a qualified guide... It won a few contests, you can find that on my profile ;)

a kind of weird champ. She is some sort of combination of a burst mage, control mage and a battlemage with short range, a lot of CC and a blink thrown into the mix. This makes her very versatile but it also means that she doesn't really excel at one specific thing like many other champions do. Lissandra is also more team oriented and has a more supportive playstyle than other midlane picks.

Pros

Explanation

+		Lots of CC
+		All abilities are AoE
+		Quite mobile
+		Easy to pick up
+		Good teamfighter
+		Always useful
Cons
-		Short range
-		Weak early game
-		Mana issues
-		Vulnerable to CC & squishy
-		Not a 1v9 carry

's weakest point in the game is her laning phase. Her cooldowns are high and her range is quite low. This leads to her being poked by other mages and it can make her vulnerable to all-ins. Her gank setup is extremely strong though. combined with and can lock the enemy laner down for ~2.5 seconds leading to an easy kill.

The midgame is her strongest point in the game. In this phase of the game she gains the freedom to roam around the map and setup plays with her kit. Especially gives her lot of pick potential. She falls off in the late game compared to other mages because she is quite telegraphed and struggles to kill enemies with defensive items. However, she will remain relevant because of her CC and AoE damage.

As you might have guessed, shines the most in teamfights. Not only because of her AoE abilities, but also because of her passive. It is capable of snowballing fights once an enemy dies. She can engage fights by herself or follow up on teammates as well as protecting her own team from divers. Sometimes she can have trouble to stay alive because of her squishy nature and tendency to jump in the middle of the enemy team.

When to pick Lissandra

When not to pick Lissandra

>>		Against melees/assassins
>>		Team lacks CC
>>		You're a Lissandra onetrick

>>		Against long-ranged champions/lane bullies
>>		Team lacks damage champs
>>		Team has a lot of AP champs (3+)

can nullify the snowball potential of assassins and she shuts them down in teamfights. Obviously, because of her CC, she is a great addition to team compositions that lack CC. But she is not a replacement for a tank. Long ranged mages and lane bullies like , and can exploit 's weak laning phase. Her damage isn't the highest and when your team has multiple AP champions the enemy will stack MR, making your damage irrelevant.

Passive: Iceborn Subjugation

When an enemy champion dies near Lissandra they become a Frozen Thrall.
Old text color = #a99dc9
Frozen Thralls seek out living enemies, slowing their movement speed when nearby by 25%. After 4 seconds, Frozen Thralls shatter from the intense cold, Dealing 120 - 520 (+50%) magic damage.

Definitely one of the weirder and more impactful passives in the game. Thralls can either help you kill the enemy or do nothing at all. Do not expect them to be smart. They will always target the nearest enemy and will not chase invisible enemies or enemies that enter unwarded bushes.

The place where the passive shines the most is in teamfights. Once you unload your initial combo and someone dies, the thrall will help kill others or force the enemy to flash/dash away. This creates a snowball effect that can win teamfights and skirmishes.
Of course you cannot expect the enemy to ignore the thralls (although, sometimes they will). Look to root them with or move towards/around the thralls in such a way that they are forced to take the damage or retreat.

can also be extremely strong in level 1 fights. Most champions won't have their movement abilities yet, making it almost impossible to escape the thrall(s) without flash. Which can, like in teamfights, result in a snowball effect.

Thralls can help with clearing the minion wave after a gank or when the enemy laner dies. This speeds up your recall & return to lane or gives you more time to collect turret platings.

>>		Actually has the highest damage of all abilities throughout a large portion of the game.
>>		Even effective when behind as the base damage is quite high.
>>		When multiple people die at the same time, their thralls will explode at the same time too. This will result in a huge burst of damage.
>>		Try to layer abilities on top of the passive explosion to surprise enemies.

Q: Ice Shard

Throws a spear of ice that travels in a line and shatters when it hits an enemy, dealing 70 - 190 (+80%) magic damage and slowing its movement speed by 16 - 28%. Shards then pass through the target, dealing the same damage to other enemies hit (but not slowing them).

Cooldown: 8 / 7 / 6 / 5 / 4 seconds
Mana cost: 60 / 65 / 70 / 75 / 80 mana
Range: 725 - 825 units

This is 's main damage ability. What separates from many other linear skillshots is that its range can be extended by hitting enemies. It also deals full damage to everything in its path, which can make it a very powerful ability if used correctly.

The most important part about is the shatter mechanic. It can be tough to master because the ingame indicator only shows the unshattered range and even the particles won't show the absolute max range. Check out this video if you want to know some more about the shatter mechanic.

You can utilize this mechanic really well when pushing waves, you can position yourself in such a way to hit all 6/7 minions in a wave at once. It can also come in handy in teamfights, as it allows you to hit targets that are not in range of the unshattered projectile.

>>		Only slows the first target hit.
>>		Has a slight cast time.
>>		Do not spam ice shard early on, you can easily run out of mana if you do so.
>>		Can be used to check bushes: it will shatter if someone is in it.

W: Ring of Frost

Freezes an area around Lissandra, dealing 70 / 105 / 140 / 175 / 210 (+70%) magic damage to nearby enemies and rooting them for 1.1 / 1.2 / 1.3 / 1.4 / 1.5 seconds.

Cooldown: 14 / 13 / 12 / 11 / 10 seconds
Mana cost: 40 mana
Range: 425 units

Perhaps the least exciting ability of 's kit. It can be used to kite people, to chain cc people with your ultimate and it can ensure that people will get hit by the spread of (more on this later!).

The range of is on the low side, which can make it hard to use without endangering yourself. The trick lies in knowing the max range of the ability. Doing so enables you to root melees without them being able to attack you. This becomes harder when the size of the enemy champion increases. For example, it is almost impossible to root a stacked without him being able to attack you.

Another incredibly useful part of this ability is that you can use it to catch invisible targets. If you know/predict an invisible champion to be near, use it and if it hits you will see an outline. You can then run away or throw the rest of your abilities at the location of the enemy.

>>		Ring of Frost doesn't have a cast time, so it can be cast without interrupting movement.
>>		Goes through Yasuo's Wind Wall and Braums Unbreakable.
>>		Does not interrupt dashes.
>>		Always try to cast Ring of Frost before selfulting
>>		The range is center to center, it might be lower than it seems.

E: Glacial Path

Casts a claw of ice that moves forward in a line, dealing 70 / 105 / 140 / 175 / 210 (+ 60% AP) magic damage to all enemies hit. Reactivating this ability transports Lissandra to the claw's current location.

Cooldown: 24 / 21 / 18 / 15 / 12 seconds
Mana cost: 80 / 85 / 90 / 95 / 100 mana
Range: 1050 units

This is my favorite ability. It kind of makes up for the lack of range on other abilities. Its most known (and major) use is to jump forward and get in range to initiate fights or follow up on your teammates.

gives a lot of safety in lane as it can be used to get away from ganks. It can also be used to set up ganks for your jungler. This combined with and means an almost certain death to (flashless) midlaners.

This is not the only use. It can be used to dodge skillshots by throwing it out and reactivating it after a short time. A common trick is to throw it over the nexus to get faster to lane after a recall. You can use the same trick to extend the homeguard buff.

Lastly, my favorite use, it enables you to get over all kinds of walls. This might sound a little dumb, but it gives you immense gank potential (even without the walls) and allows you to escape tricky situations in the jungle. I made a separate section on this and some other mechanics somewhere below.

>>		You won't be able to recast Glacial Path when you're disabled (stunned, grounded, silenced, etc).
>>		Glacial Path can be used to cancel the animation of Ice Shard and Frozen Tomb.
>>		Reactivate Glacial Path after it has traveled a short distance or after it has vanished into the ground to surprise your enemies.
>>		The enemy team is (also) able to see the indicator, as long as it is in their vision or when they or a ward are within 600 range of it.
>>		Don't panic if you get stunned; the claw needs ~1.5s to travel to the end location and can be reactivated ~0.2s after it vanishes. You might still be able to teleport after the CC ends (Just keep mashing that button!).
>>		The speed of the claw is not constant, it will start at a speed of 1020 units and decrease to a speed of 640 units.

R: Frozen Tomb

Enemy Cast: Freezes target champion solid, dealing magic damage and stunning it for 1.5 seconds.

Self Cast: Lissandra encases herself in dark ice for 2.5 seconds, becoming untargetable and invulnerable but unable to take any actions. Lissandra also gets healed based on her ability power and missing health.

Dark ice then spreads from Lissandra's target dealing 150 / 250 / 350 (+ 75% AP) magic damage to enemies. The ice lasts for 3 seconds and slows enemy movement speed by 30 - 75%

Cooldown: 120 / 100 / 80 seconds
Mana cost: 100 mana
Range: 550 units

At last, the ability that makes the champion she is. Unlike many people think, it's not just ''press R to win''. Not only deciding who to ult is important, but when to ult is also important. Randomly pressing R and expecting to win the fight is not how it works.

But first the most important thing: use ALT+R to ult yourself or assign another hotkey in Options > Hotkeys > Abilities and summoner spells > Self cast (spell 4). This is vital! Ulting an enemy instead of yourself is one of the most painful things to do on this champion. Be careful when trying to ult enemies that are on top of you though. You might accidentally ult yourself instead, there is no solution to this issue.

To come back on my comment on : the ice zone takes some time to spread. Especially when you selfult, people at the edge of the ultimate have plenty of time to run away from you and avoid the damage. To prevent this from happening simply use before selfulting to make sure people cannot run away.

Self - can also be used to avoid (lethal) damage. Some examples of this are 's , 's and ticks. Selfulting to simply heal yourself is simply a waste and should not be done.

Another thing you should avoid is ulting people with , or spellshields. The CC effect will go to waste and your target can immediately turn on you as you just used your most important survivability tool.

>>		Self- Frozen Tomb and enemy Frozen Tomb deal the same amount of damage.
>>		Frozen Tomb will damage (and slow) anything on top of the target instantly. At rank 3 the slow is almost as powerful as the stun.
>>		If you cast Frozen Tomb from max range, make sure to walk a little towards the enemy before using Ring of Frost.
>>		Self- Frozen Tomb doesn't have a cast time, but it does have a cast time when you use it on enemies.
>>		Space out the timings of Frozen Tomb and Ring of Frost to CC enemies as long as possible.
>>		You cast Frozen Tomb on a target that is not in range and then use Flash and it will cast instantaneously. This makes it almost impossible for your target to react.
>>		Not only who you ult is important, the place where you ult is important too.


	Q	W	E	R
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Early Levels

Yyou should always look to start with . It's your basic poke ability and also your main trading tool. In case there is an invade you can look to start instead. However, only skill this if your team really needs the CC as starting this will make your level 1 incredibly weak. Play very safe in lane until you get level 2 in this case.

If you went for an invade you should always take at level 2. If nothing strange happened you can go either or next. should be leveled when you're pushed up and/or think you might be getting ganked. gives you some extra trading power, especially in melee matchups. However, you'll rarely use it early on against ranged matchups, so you can also choose to always go second in those cases.

Skilling Order

As is your main damage & poke tool, it should be maxed first. A more interesting question is what to max second: or .
Maxing second gives you a lot of extra damage in your combo's and also increases your CC. Maxing second makes you more mobile and gives you more opportunities to go in.

If you are new to it might be benificial to put a point or 3 in before maxing . You won't be familiar with how/when it should be used in fights, which can lead to using it at the wrong time. If you do not reactivate it you'll end up with a solid downtime on your mobility, which renders you useless in most fights. Then the lower cooldown comes in really handy.

However, once you get to know when and where you can use , you don't really need it to be a lower cooldown. Then you can actually just straight up max since the extra damage and CC are way more valuable.

		Like on almost all other champions, Flash is mandatory. There is more to it than just an escape. It also enables you to instantly CC people with Flash + Ring of Frost. You can engage from a screen away if it is combined with Glacial Path. Last but not least, it allows you to easily CC important targets with Flash + Frozen Tomb. There is so much you can do with this summoner, hence why it is always taken!
				Ignite is often picked as a summoner in kill lanes. If you are confident that you can do that, feel free to take it. Besides that Ignite can be valuable in early 2v2s and does give a bit of extra damage at any point in the game. I recommend this summoner in lower elos (gold & below).
				Teleport gives you that one free base in the laning phase, which can come in handy since Lissandra's early game is rather weak. It can also be used to join fights at any time or to flank. With this summoner you can also go to a sidelane and teleport towards your team if needed. Once you get to higher elos (plat+) then the choice between Teleport and Ignite becomes preference.

Meaning Of Icons

AA

Flash

Q

W

Cast 1 E

Cast 2 E

Self R

Enemy R

Q/R Animation Canceling

It is possible to cancel the animations of and with . This can be useful when kiting or when you need to dodge skillshots.

click to view clip

Q Flash

Unlike many other champions, is not able to buffer skillshots. However, this can be very useful when you are in a nasty situation and need to get out. You can cast (or ) and use right after, the skillshot will launch from your original position.

click to view clip

Level 3-5 All-In Combo

This combo can be used to all-in your opponent between levels 3-5 or at later levels when is on cooldown. Usage of is optional, its damage can be crucial but it is also your escape (reminder that junglers do exist). This combo also requires a large amount of mana, so make sure that you have enough before you try to execute it. If the enemy is too far away you can also use after .

click to view clip

Level 6 All-In Combo

or

This combo can be used to all-in post-level 6. Weaving autoattacks is extremely important at lower levels, but can be neglected later in the game. Flashing is optional since it is mainly used to get in range of/surprise the opponent (and you can use glacial path for damage). There are also scenario's later in the game where you can lead with your ultimate and then execute the rest of this all-in combo.

click to view clip

Self Ult/Kill Combo

This combo is only used when you are jumped on by the enemy team or you're all-inning your opponent and dropping low. You self ult yourself roughly next to/on top of the enemy, so that they will be damaged and you will be safe. Although can be used, I wouldn't recommend doing so. It slows down the combo and you might need it to get away once you get out of stasis.

click to view clip

Quick Self Ult Combo

Very similar to the self ult/kill combo. The main difference is that you only use and . This results in a nearly instant self ult as neither ability has a cast time.

click to view clip

Escape Combo

Well, the name says it all. Don't forget that you can cancel 's animation with .

click to view clip

General Teamfight Combo

or

This is Lissandra's most important combo and the most important thing in this combo is speed. It should be executed as quickly as possible to minimize the window where you can get CC'ed.

is used to reposition yourself so you get in range and/or hit as many enemies as possible with your combo. Usage of is optional as it will delay the combo. However, if you leave it out you'll miss out on a lot of damage.
It is very common to use after the initial selfult, but only do this if you need to buy extra time/dodge important skillshots. If there is no need to use it, don't use it.

The smoothness of the combo depends on the amount of ability haste you have. You need at least 60 haste to be able to chain between and . This is easily accomplished when you any of the AH mythics, but with you'll need a to pull this off.

I strongly recommend you to jump into practice tool and practice this combo.

click to view clip

click to view clip with zhonya's

Pick Combo

This combo is extremely similar to the general teamfight combo. However, there is one important difference: you ult an enemy instead of yourself. This is makes the combo way more situational and dangerous to use, it is used when a carry is out of position and the enemy team cannot (immediately) turn onto you.

If you have then this combo can be used a bit more often. You can then try to catch out carries that straggle to close to . However, even then this combo can be dangerous to pull off.

When you are running the keystone will proc on the target you use Frozen Tomb on. This will increase your burst damage even more and is capable of bursting or even oneshotting carries.

It is not necessary to execute the entire combo as quickly as possible. Sometimes it is better to delay the cast of to get a better result. This might be a good idea when the enemy has or a (to bait them out so you can cast your ult after) or when you want to CC an enemy as long as possible.

click to view clip

As I wrote a long time ago, is fairly weak in the laning phase. You should be looking to farm up and (at least) go even with the enemy laner. This doesn't mean that you sit back and huddle under your turret though.
If you really want to learn a champion, you should be testing its limits (and end up with your face in the dirt a few times). Always sitting back without knowing how far you can go won't get you somewhere.

This section of the guide is rather large, so here is an overview of all the topics that are covered in this section:

Abilities

Warding

Punishing Mistakes

Laning Tips

Trading

Roaming

Playing From Behind

Wave Management

Ability Usage

Not all abilities are equal, here is an overview of what you (in general) should do with each basic ability.

Ice Shard

Ring of Frost

Glacial Path

Is used for pushing/clearing the wave and poking the enemy. You can't just throw it around because of its high cooldown and mana cost. Try to secure most of your farm with auto's and save for harass or when you need to push the wave.

Usage depends on the matchup. In ranged matchups it is rarely used (only for ganks or to push/clear wave) as the enemy will almost never be in range. In melee matchups it can be used to kite the enemy as well as for harass.

Isn't used that much. It has a high mana cost and cooldown, so its not worth to use it for harass. Its main use is to escape/setup ganks, waveclear before recalling or all-inning the opponent.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Using to secure CS is bad. CS with autoattacks instead of wasting abilities on it.

Lining Up Q
Lining up with minions to hit the enemy with Ice Shard is one of the key parts of playing Lissandra in the laning phase. Because of the way Ice Shard works, you can picture some sort of area where the shatter can go. Essentially this is your action range, it can help with recognizing when you can harass enemy champions and when not. Keep in mind that you not always have to shatter Ice Shard to be able to hit the enemy! This image is meant to give the idea, the green area is shattered range and the blue area is unshattered range.
You should position yourself around the minions in such a way that the enemy laner is somewhere in the Q shatter area (preferably not at the sides). This way you can easily hit them. However, there are times where it is simply not possible to position yourself like this. Sometimes you have to stay behind minions to avoid skillshots or you cannot move next to the side of the lane where the enemy jungler is.

Trading Stance

The trading stance is one of the most important concepts of laning in general. Essentially it is trading with someone when they are trying to get a minion.

As this means that whenever the enemy wants to secure CS, try to position yourself in such a way behind the minions that you can hit them with your . Autoattacking is optional but can be tricky, usually it is better to just use .

>>

The video to the right explains the Trading Stance more in depth and has some examples too. I recommend watching it if you want to know more about the Trading Stance.

>>

The most efficient way to utilize your mana is to poke the enemy and secure farm at the SAME time. Wait till some minions are low and hit them and the enemy with .

Trading with Electrocute

Electrocute is the keystone I advise running at all times, but it can be quite hard to proc in lane. It is most commonly activated with AA - Q - AA, or AA - AA - Q. During the latter combo you can start walking away before turning around for that last Ice Shard. These two are often used in both melee and ranged matchups. In melee matchups you can often proc it with W - Q - AA.
		I often AA + Q and then, if the enemy doesn't back off, hit them with another AA.

Same for AA - AA - Q. Once you hit the second AA, the Q and proc are pretty much guaranteed.

In many ranged matchups you'll find out that proccing usually ends up with you taking more damage than the enemy. Do not force it. As you'll get outtraded most of the time, so avoid them unless the enemy is missing key abilities.

Warding

Keep in mind that using for harass can lead to your wave pushing towards the enemy. This in itself is not an issue (because ), but make sure to place wards so you don't get surprised. In this spoiler below I'll show some common warding spots for midlane and give some tips.

Click here - Ward spots & Tips

Punishing Mistakes

Sometimes enemies make errors in trading/wave control or whatever, which results in them being either overextended in lane or at low health. In case they are overextended and your jungler comes it's an easy kill, use to gapclose and / to CC them. When they are at low health you can look to kill them. This is where the lvl 3-5 & lvl 6 all-in combo come into play. The best time to all-in an enemy is when they go for a last hit as many people will greed for farm (especially for cannons) even when they low on health.

>>

Some mistakes are quite small, many champions have 'key' abilities, CC/escape abilities that are important for keeping themselves safe. For it is his and for it is . Once champions use/miss this ability you can look to play more aggressive or even kill them.

>>

Many melee champions, especially in low elo, will try to walk up for CS, putting themselves in range of you. This allows you to either land a lot of harass or even kill them.

>>

One very important mistake you should recognize on is the following: Sometimes enemies will greed for a turret plating when you are nearby. Make sure there is no cannon minion (or it is extremely low on health), forward, clear the remaining minions with & and use . If done correctly the enemy will be locked under your turret and draw aggro, resulting in an almost guaranteed kill.

Some Laning Tips

>>		Minions can hurt a lot during lower levels. When the minions aggro you, retreat behind your own minions to avoid excessive damage.
>>		Some runes are more suitable for the laning phase than others, keep this in mind when customizing your runes.
>>		Don't give up when you fall behind/lose lane. Playing from behind is something you got to learn, the game isn't over yet.
>>		Be conscious of when you (and the enemy) get lvl 2/3/6. Especially level 6 is a moment where you/the enemy can look to all-in.
>>		Back off/avoid trading when Ice Shard is on cooldown, the enemy will almost certainly outtrade you.
>>		Although it might seem tempting to Glacial Path forward and trade with the enemy, it is also dangerous (enemy jungler might come) and it costs a lot of mana.

Wave Management

We have arrived at perhaps the most complex part of the laning phase: Wave management. It is not only hard to master all the different things you can do with minion waves, it can also be pretty though to determine when you should use them! So for those of you that do not know what I mean by wave management: Wave management is manipulating minion waves to your advantage.

Now, a simple soul might ask: why use wave management? Well, wave management can lead to advantages whether it be gold leads or xp leads or "time" leads. It can also help you through a tough matchup.

In the spoiler below I'll try to give an insight in wave management and how to utilize it. I am a simple plat player and if I had truly mastered wave management I'd be Challenjour (Kappa). This also means that some things I say here might not be entirely correct.

Click here - Wave Management

THE EVEN MINION RULE
Let's start with the most basic concept of wave management: the Even Minion Rule. Essentially, if two minion waves with an equal amount of minions meet somewhere in the lane they will push towards the side they are not on. If they meet in the center the minion line will initially stay in the center, but will start pushing to one side eventually. IMPORTANT NOTE: The minion wave will be in a "neutral" spot at the start of the game. When this occurs later in the game it is commonly referred to as a "reset".

Now you might ask: What does this have to do with wave management? Well, the state of the wave determines what you can do with it. Are you behind and is the wave pushing towards you? Let it come, no need to overextend. Is the wave pushing towards the enemy? No way you can setup a freeze without the enemy pushing the wave.

FAST PUSHING

Fast pushing is the simplest of techniques, you just dump your abilities on the wave to make it push as quickly as possible. Avoid dumping abilities onto the wave without knowing why though. You mainly should look to fast push when:		>>You want to recall >>You want to roam >>Your opponent has gone base >>Your opponent roams >>Your opponent is freezing
There are several ability combo's that can be used to clear the wave. The quickest combo is also the most dangerous one whereas the slowest combo allows you to escape any unforeseen situations. I'll talk more about waveclear in a separate spoiler below this one ;)
These are just some examples of when you can look to fast push. It doesn't mean that fast pushing is always the right thing to do in these cases. The speed with which you can clear the wave depends a lot on your items and level. At lower levels and before Lost Chapter it will be pretty slow and you'll also have to use lots of autoattacks.

SLOW PUSHING
A slowpush happens when you have a pushing minion wave and you match the amount of damage the enemy laner does to the wave and only last hit the minions. The result is that you will get a large wave of minions which will start pushing slowly towards the enemy tower. You can accomplish the same things with a slow push as with a fast push, however the enemy will not be able to clear the wave as quickly though. Slowpushing also has other advantages:
>>It becomes hard for your enemy to all-in you since you have a large minion wave to back you up. >>Once the minion wave crashes into the turret it takes the enemy a while to clear it, in that time you can look to: 1. Place a ward 2. Roam 3. Harass under tower (not recommended) >>Slowpushes are usually better than fastpushes unless you need to get out of lane quickly.
It is not hard to create a slowpush against a melee assassin, but it can be almost impossible to do against a mage. The difference between the two is that Lissandra has more waveclear and range than most assassins whereas mages have the same (or more) range and waveclear. This allows them to "thin" the wave, killing minions to prevent the wave from getting too large. After a certain point they'll be able to clear the entire wave in no time. When the minion wave is slowpushing towards you, play with a bit more caution. The last thing you want to do is dying to a gank or all-in and losing 3+ minion waves. If this happens you will instantly lose your lane and you will have to play from behind. Lastly, avoid going 1 for 1 with your enemy laner (so both of you killing each other). Not only is this usually not worth ( Lissandra isn't exactly a snowbally champion) but your passive will damage the minion wave, which can create a slowpush towards the enemy. This will put you behind as the enemy will have a large minion wave to collect and you will get absolutely nothing.

CRASHING & BOUNCING
Let's go back to some concepts: Crashing the wave & Bouncing the wave. Once an entire minion wave gets in range of the enemy turret (so not only the melees, but also the casters and the cannon), the minion wave has "crashed". When you push the wave fast enough for the tower to clear all the minions before the upcoming wave arrives, it is called a "reset". The next wave will then meet in the middle of the lane, like at the start of the game! When you push too slowly or when a slowpush crashes into the turret, the turret will not be able to kill all the minions before the upcoming minion wave arrives. This will delay the new minion wave so the minion waves will not meet in the middle of the lane. Because of the even minion rule, the wave, if left unattended it will start slowpushing to the other side of the lane!

Why is this useful? Well, imagine that you crash a slowpush, go on a roam and your opponent decides to follow you. Then something happens (a fight, you abandon the roam, w/e) and both of you return to lane. Now you can collect more minions compared to your opponent since the wave was slowpushing towards you, putting you ahead in xp/gold. This is essentially another reason why slowpushing is better than fastpushing.

FREEZING
So here is the last and my favourite technique: Freezing. So first of all, what is a freeze? You have a freeze when you keep the minions in a certain spot for an extended amount of time. Freezing will force the enemy laner to overextend for farm and will keep you safe since you will be close to the turret. The downside is that you won't be applying any pressure, leaving your opponent free to roam.
Freezing is commonly done against assassins/melee matchups so you can freely poke them whilst making it almost impossible for them to trade with you. Make sure to place lane wards to see where they roam though. Freezing for a long period of time against non-assassins is much harder as they have an easier time breaking your freeze since they have more waveclear. You can still freeze for a short time to make them an easy gank target or force them to dump spells on the wave.
So, how do you freeze? Well, since you want the minion wave to stay somewhere on your half of the map there'll have to be more enemy minions than allied minions in the wave. If you are close to the turret you'll need around ~4 caster minions more and if you are around the middle of the lane 1-2 minions are good enough. The next step is "holding" the wave: Once the enemy wave killed all your minions you tank the enemy minions to prevent them from advancing from the spot where you want them to be. This is also what makes freezing in midlane pretty hard: If you hold too many minions you will take a lot of damage and if the enemy is ranged they can walk up and hit you with abilities or force you to retreat.

The downside of freezing is that it doesn't impact the map. It is a great technique to stall and reduce losses when you are behind. However when you are ahead you don't have to freeze and are usually better off impacting the map instead.

Waveclearing

This section talks about a rather simple topic: waveclearing. So, why would I even put this in a separate section? Truth is, there are certain breakpoints where you can instantly kill backline minions with a certain amount of abilities. You can simply mess around in practice tool to find all these breakpoints, but I decided to list them here. If you think this is not that interesting than you can just skip over to the next section ;)

Click here - Waveclearing

Playing From Behind
We've all been in that spot where you do something dumb, the enemy does something you didn't expect or the enemy jungler puts up a tent in your lane. Either way, your opponent ends up having a gold/xp lead over you. What do you do now? Well, that depends on the champion you are playing against. Overall, the main thing you should do is farm up, avoid roaming and utilize lane wards so you know where your opponent goes.
Medium ranged mages ( Twisted Fate, Ryze, Malzahar)		Assassins ( Zed, LeBlanc, Fizz)
This is in my opinion the easiest class to play against from behind, if they try to threaten you, you can simply walk back and if you are unable to push the wave you can easily farm under your turret. Utilize lane wards as some of these champions roam a lot.		It's pretty safe to farm close/under your turret against these champions as they cannot dive you due to your CC & ult. However, if you don't have Frozen Tomb up, be EXTREMELY careful. It's also likely they are going to roam around the map, warn your team but avoid following.
Poke mages ( Brand, Xerath, Lux)		Lane bullies ( Syndra, Cassiopeia, Orianna)
It is downright awful to play against these champions, your best hope is a jungle gank. At later levels, they'll push you towards your turret (just stay out of range till they start doing so), try to clear the wave as quickly as possible so they won't be able to poke you.		If one of these gets ahead... Unless your jungle ganks you, you're completely screwed. It's the same as playing against poke mages, but these champions have a higher all-in threat so you have to be even more careful when you are at low health.

Roaming
Lissandra is an excellent roamer because of the sheer amount of cc in her kit as well as the fact that she can come from almost any angle with Glacial Path. However, it can be difficult to decide when to roam or not. This decision can be quite complex, view the spoiler below for some insights

Click here - Roaming

This concludes my gameplay: laning chapter. If you are looking for more information on laning or fundamentals, check the spoiler below!

Other Sources on Midlane fundamentals

In case you didn't get shoved into the dust in the laning phase: Now is your time!

You should be looking to farm in sidelanes unless your ADC is not able to waveclear/hold mid lane (in case the outer turret still stands). In that case you should hold mid lane. Avoid moving past the river unless you have vision/know where the enemy team is. It is also important that you farm on the side of the map with an objective (either drake or baron) so that you can join your team when a fight breaks out.

In case you took (and it's off cooldown), you can go to the opposite side of the map. Keep an eye on the minimap for teleport wards so that you can immediately teleport when you need to.

Sometimes this simply doesn't work and both teams start grouping in midlane and start to fight for no reason. This can be really frustrating to deal with, your best bet is to simply join your team and try to force an engage.

Also keep an eye on the blue buff, ask your jungler for it when it's up. Don't steal it away when he/she makes it clear that he/she wants it himself. Playing without a blue buff is far easier than playing without a jungler.

Using Your Ultimate
IN THE MIDGAME
In this stage of the game Frozen Tomb is extremely important as a tool to create picks. When someone is too far forward you can easily Glacial Path forward and follow up with ult. If the enemy is in range of Ring of Frost, use that first as there is even less chance of the enemy getting away. The general teamfight combo can also be used to engage small teamfights/skirmishes, but will not do much damage yet. Its main use in this stage of the game is to root people so that your team can follow up and kill them.
IN THE LATEGAME
There is much more damage flying around in this stage of the game. Frozen Tomb is mainly used on yourself (as part of the general teamfight combo) so that you won't die when you go in. It is still possible to use Frozen Tomb on enemies, but only when you are able to CC a high priority member of the enemy team (usually midlane or ADC) or when you need to disengage a fight.

Self Ult VS Enemy Ult

Sometimes it can be tough to choose when to ult enemies or when to ult yourself in a fight, here is an overview of when you should do what. Again, it's not always super obvious when you have to ult yourself and when you should ult an enemy. For example, you should only look to ult enemies for a 'more favorable' ult placement when you know that you won't die for it or that your death will win the fight.

SELF ULT

ENEMY ULT

>>		You are (extremely) low on health
>>		Resetting turret aggro during a dive
>>		Buying time for your team (when engaging/out of position)
>>		Jumping in the middle of 4-5 people without Zhonya's Hourglass

>>		Picking someone off who is overextended
>>		No threat of dying when ulting offensively
>>		More favorable Frozen Tomb placement compared to self ult

The downside of ulting yourself is that you cannot reposition yourself and the enemy can turn on you and kill you when you leave stasis. Here's an example of a midgame fight where this happens:

The (obvious) downside of ulting an enemy is that you leave yourself open to attacks. When playing , you'll often find yourself walking the thin line between life and death.

One last note before I continue: Before you dive in the enemy team/engage a fight, check whether your team is able to follow up. Unless you are ultra fed you won't kill the enemy by yourself, so if your team can't follow up do not jump in as you will probably die cold and lonely in the middle of the enemy team.

Ultimate Placement

I mentioned this in the section above (and you probably didn't know what I meant ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) ). Ultimate placement is actually just what it says: the placement of the ice zone of . A badly placed ultimate will do nothing at all whilst a well placed ultimate can win teamfights. So when is an ult placement good? When one of the following two options is true:
>>(Almost) all enemies are on ultimate zone
>>Enemy team is divided by the ultimate zone

>>

The first option is the easiest, you simply ult yourself when you're on top of (almost) the entire enemy team. This way the enemy team will be slowed & damaged by your ultimate, allowing your team to jump on them.

>>

This is especially applicable in chokepoints. Chokepoints are tight corridors in the jungle. You can see one in the image on the right and the spot where I ulted in the GIF above is one as well.

People are more likely to be clumped together in these spots, so your abilities will hit everyone. They will take massive amounts of damage and you'll be extremely likely to win the fight.

>>

The second point is a bit harder to comprehend. You place in such a way that a part of the enemy team is on one side of you and another part of the enemy team is on the other side. Your team can finish off the people on their side whilst the enemies on the other side cannot help because of the slow (& damage threat) of your ultimate.

>>

Here is an example of how you can catch people with when doing Baron. If you know some enemies will approach from botside you can hide around the corner of the pit and in. Notice how I targeted with to prevent him from getting away and guaranteeing 's death if hadn't followed up.

>>If you'd like to see some more clips of (successful) fights, there are some in the spoiler below. - These will be replaced as soon as I gain more footage. Speaking as of 24/12/20; I really gotta find new footage, all these clips are quite old!.

Some fights (Pre & post passive)

Peeling VS Diving

>>

Although is capable of diving into the enemy team with her kit, she can also protect her team from enemy divers/assassins. In this case she plays more like a secondary support rather than a midlaner. Determining whether to peel or to dive can be tough sometimes.

The answer to the question whether to peel or dive depends on your own strength and your teams strength. When you are really far behind you are next to no threat in terms of damage. The only thing you have is your CC, which is better used to peel than to dive.

In midgame fights, people cannot deal with you as they won't have defensive items yet meaning that you can look to shut down their backline. This is also true when you are ahead as you can erase carries from Summoners Rift before they can react.

In the lategame however, enemy carries should have the defensive tools to deal with you and it can be hard to threaten them. At the same time, your carries should be strong too (and if they're stronger than the enemy) you should be looking to protect them.

Fighting Around Objectives
Neutral objectives like Dragon and Baron Nashor are an important part of the game. It is very common for fights to break out around these. When the enemy team tries to take it they will usually group up, making it very easy for you to get good combo's off. It becomes a bit more difficult when your team is trying to take the objective. Unless you have a blue buff, the enemy is dead or the objective needs to be taken quickly you should avoid spamming Ice Shard on it. You can easily drain your mana and you'll be completely useless once a fight breaks out. It is a better idea to zone the enemy team or look for flanks. 'Zoning' is positioning yourself in such a way that the enemy is afraid of entering your 'zone'. In this case it would be that the enemy doesn't want to come close to you/walk through chokepoints because you might engage.
Flanking is a much harder concept: you hide at the side/at the rear of the enemy and surprise them by coming from a different direction than the rest of your team. Having an Oracle Lens is essential here: it allows you to sneak past wards without being seen so you can surprise the enemy. However, keep in mind that when you hit a ward it will reveal you (even with Oracle Lens active).
It is also possible to flank with Teleport. Simply look for wards that are located behind the enemy and teleport. This is especially effective when teleporting from base post 20 minutes as you will have the movement speed buff for a small amount of time.

Fighting Without Ultimate

is an ult-reliant champion in the sense that it is her main setup & safety tool. However, you won't always have your ultimate up. Most of the time you avoid fighting when this is the case. There are niche situations where you can be forced to fight without your ult, or where it is not necessary to use your ult immediately. This is where you can see the difference between an okay player and a really good one. Fighting without your ult is perhaps the most difficult thing to do.

There is a difference in fighting without ult in the midgame & in the lategame. In the midgame you can go in, use to CC enemies, run away and let your team do the rest. In the lategame, if you go in at the wrong time or slightly misplace you'll get yourself killed. That's why I'll talk about the lategame scenario here.

In the end fighting without ult always comes down to two scenario's, which you tackle in different ways.

The enemy runs at you
You run at the enemy

When the enemy runs at you, you (can) do the following things:

Spam Ice Shard at them, while running away.
Use Ring of Frost to keep them at distance.
If they drop low, use Ice Shard + Ring of Frost, this can do a surprising amount of damage.
Use Glacial Path to create more distance if necessary.

However, sometimes the scenario can reverse: if you know you can kill the enemy you can turn around and murder them. Then you "run at the enemy". Use Glacial Path forward, only if you know you'll be in range to hit them with Ring of Frost after reactivating. Slap them in the face with Ice Shard. Run away from them because your abilities are on cd.
		This style of fighting works only when you have 60+ haste. Glacial Path cooldown has to be low enough.

Now the scenario's reverse again (sometimes they don't if the enemy gets scared/you get killed). It is of utmost importance that when going in you either:

Hit them with max range Ring of Frost so you can keep distance
Kill them after going in.

If you're on top of them & they don't die you're really, really dead. You have to be able to run out of their range.

Here's an example GIF, where you can see these alternating scenario's. I also added some notes below. This happened in a Nexus Blitz game.

There was just a large scale fight where my entire team died - I just came out of base, have everything up & am quite strong.

Initially I make a mistake - I'm tunnel visioning on a lot of low health enemies and don't see Zoe, luckily she's also not really paying attention. Always keep an eye on your surroundings, even if you see a really tasty combo.
Small detail: If you run through skillshot reliant champs it becomes extremely hard for them to hit skillshots. This also applies to yourself, it is extremely easy to miss Ice Shard when enemies do this.
After Zoe dies, Kayn tries to run at me. I wanted to time Q + W with passive, but misjudged the passive explosion time. Nonetheless he is forced away. Ring of Frost + Ice Shard does a LOT of damage later on - in the lategame you can surprise ADCs with this (as a last resort).
I see Brand walking up and cast Glacial Path, knowing he can never get away from it in time. If people walk on top of the (blue) casting indicator they almost never get away in time.
Kayn tries to follow up on Rell stun. I like to Flash + Ring of Frost into my passive thralls. This tends to kill the enemy & allows me to hit as many enemies as possible with Ring of Frost. Although again, you have to be careful to not overstep.

Wall Jumping

>>

One thing I have always enjoyed doing in League of Legends is jumping over walls. is able to jump over any wall with . As long as the claw is halfway past the wall, you will end up on the other side.

>>

When it comes to jumping over walls I'm always looking for a challenge. I looked for spots where you can jump over two walls at once. After smacking my face into countless walls I made the map on the left. It can be mirrored for topside.

Make sure that Glacial Path travels its maximum distance before reactivating!

The jump from baron pit to red buff is extremely hard. You have to stand in the right spot and make the indicator completely horizontal. The jumps from drake pit to red buff and the jump out of baron pit are hard. The jumps to the tier 1 and tier 2 turrets and the jump into baron pit are medium. All other jumps are easy. Here are a couple of gifs showcasing the hard jumps.

The matchups have been moved to a separate guide, they're still being updated. Click here to go to them!

If you read this, it means that you managed to reach the end of my guide.
I hope you enjoy playing Lissandra as much as I do, as her unique kit and playstyle are really interesting to utilize.
If you have any questions, suggestions or feedback, feel free to leave them in the comments. You can also check out the Lissandra mains subreddit or Lissandra mains Discord (click the text below).

And last but not least: Huge thanks to YOU for reading this guide!

Click for subreddit!

Click for discord!

Huge thanks to jhoijhoi's Making a Guide guide! I wouldn't have been able to create this guide without it!
Thanks to Foxy's table coding guide for expanding my coding knowledge (and a very very helpful preset). Sadly all the images are broken, if you want to learn about tables check this out instead!
Huge thanks to Psiguard for taking a peek at my guide and helping me with the cheatsheet!
Lots of thanks to Fruxo for reviewing my guide and giving me feedback!
Thanks to Silverman43 and Jovy for helping me with banners!
Thanks to TheBlueImperial for helping me out and just being there!
Thanks to everyone that left a comment on my guide! I wouldn't have known whether I my guide went in the right direction or not without you.
Thanks to the Mobafire Discord! All of you are the best <3

dd/mm/yy
20/02/21 Messed around with build. Runes/items section removed till later notice. Guide needs work.
03/02/21 Removed Abyssal Mask,
21/01/21 Some minor tweaks here and there
06/01/21 Updated for new patch
01/01/21 Some proofreading and minor changes
24/12/20 Added a waveclearing section to laning & a bit on fighting without ult to post & lane
20/12/20 Item changes of course
12/12/20 More changes to items
03/12/20 Added some example builds since the other mythics felt left out
29/11/20 Hit 1M mastery :D
28/11/20 Yeeted Imperial Mandate, it simply lacks the powerspike other mythics have and force you into specific runes/itemization to make it work.
27/11/20 Some minor fixes and tweaks
26/11/20 New version published!
- Changed items & runes
- New graphicals
- Changes to combo's, gameplay sections, etc (new clips/images)
- Matchups will come/be finished later

Version 4

28/10/2020 No changes - see introduction. Enjoy this version of the guide while you can <3 next update will be a new version.
16/10/2020 Preseason plans added - see introduction, avoid Coven Liss since hair is bugged
30/09/2020 No changes, excited for preseason! :D
16/09/2020 No changes, excited for preseason announcements!
02/09/2020 No changes, I hope rito fixes annoying white squares soon^TM
22/08/2020 Messed around with the core build, added precision tree to runes and changed some descriptions in the cheat sheet. Added precision secondary.
13/08/2020 Added Yone to matchups. (14/08/2020: Changed a lil thing abt the banners)
09/08/2020 Hexflash E was a bug (3 years lol) so it ain't coming back - section deleted
05/08/2020 No changes this patch, except that Hextech Flashtraption + Glacial Path has been removed. Will keep respective section to see if this will be fixed or not.
01/08/2020 Added an item, changed some sections. You'll see :)
23/07/2020 Nothing new, will look to do update soonTM
26/06/2020 More time to do changes now, so here you go:
- Fixed op.gg link in intro
- Removed 'low damage' con
- Passive bug has vanished so relating note has been removed
- Added a fact on Ring of Frost
- Rewrote DH description
- Adjusted Dcap description
- Made links in special thanks visible (oops).
- Fixed minor errors througout the guide
Matchup section looks to scary so that'll come sometime later!
24/06/2020 No changes
19/06/2020 Fixed some minor errors (skill sequence, wrong reference in conclusion). And no, Ghost Liss aint it :(
10/06/2020 No changes, a bit worried about Ghost buffs & buffs to some annoying matchups. Gonna try zooming around with Ghost on Lissandra :>
15/05/2020 Adjusted passive explanation slightly due to the current bugs. Also added a source to the "other sources on midlane fundamentals" in the laning gameplay chapter.
29/04/2020 Adjusted ability info (Q cooldown buff), nothing has changed besides that.
17/04/2020 No changes, not really anything new this patch aside from a passive bugfix
10/04/2020 Fixed some minor spelling errors
07/04/2020 Launched version 4! Main changes are design, here and there some slight adjustments to text but overall the guide is the same.

Version 3

Version 1&2

03/08/19 Finished matchup section
01/08/19 Fixed changelog (forgot to adjust for yesterday) and finished some more matchups. Also incorporated some feedback (hextech flashtraption & perfect timing have been removed from rune section and comet has been removed till I determine what to do with it).
31/07/19 Adjusted Frozen Tomb info due to buff, deleted threats & synergies and added some matchups to the matchup section (still WIP). Also added banners.
25/07/19 Changed cheat sheet, changed some runes/items discriptions and started with a matchup section.
21/07/19 Just some grammar fixing/polishing & updated E tips & tricks
06/07/19 Updated the gameplay, items and combo sections. It's not polished yet so expect more in some time...
21/06/19 Updated all sections from the ToC to the runes aesthetically and updated some info in the pros&cons, summoner spells, runes and changed the intro a bit. Accidentally hit the publish button, hence why the overhaul is now halfway done instead of fully done :(.
20/06/19 Updated the ability section (both information and aesthetics) currently thinking whether I should change the rest of the guide to this style as well.
07/06/19 Fixed some minor errors
01/06/19 Changed the chapter order, updated runes & items (changed some coding there too!), rewrote gameplay: laning section and added/adjusted ability info & skill sequence a bit. Still looking to update matchups and post lane gameplay.
03/05/19 Adjusted some matchups (rated some of them as more difficult as you cannot punish weak early champs as well as you could before).
27/04/19 Adjusted for buffs/nerfs this patch. Some changes in rune descriptions, change in skill order and some adjustments to gameplay.
03/04/19 Adjusted for nerfs this patch (items, combo's). 2nd row of domination tree changed as well.
25/03/19 Fixed coding in items for protobelt, nothing new this patch. (next patch might bring some changes though!).
07/03/19 Re-added protobelt, added Sylas matchup, added two tips on W. Aftershock still viable (-0,5 duration nerf doesn't kill it).
06/02/19 Adjusted some things because of this awful patch.
27/01/19 Rewrote almost the entire guide and recoded the whole thing.
12/10/18 Fixed discord link & unavailable video. Slightly adjusted some matchups and items. Adjusted margins.
13/10/18 Adjusted some more matchups, added two paragraphs (teamfighting with aftershock and GLP-E).
18/10/18 Slightly changed some aesthetics.
07/11/18 Changed some runes and other things throughout the guide.
20/11/18 Graphical/format changes
Updated guide for the new guide format: slightly changed chapter/subchapter colours. Also changed parts of the guide so that the style stays the same througout the guide. Changed the place of the E Tips & Tricks section. Swapped Counters & synergies with the matchups (it's hard to miss, uh?). Last but not least, added banners for the chapters.
Patch changes
Of course, adjusted ability info section. Also changed runes and items (rip protobelt).
21/11/18 Fixed some text and added pros/cons to secondary rune trees.
23/11/18 Changed some visuals (skill sequence) and added bbcode to matchups. Also changed (some) keystone descriptions.
28/11/18 Expanded some matchups (Ahri-Azir) and added a teamfight example clip.
09/12/18 Changed some runes and items (and added some). Added a build on nexus blitz (because it's fun! right?). Expanded some matchups (Brand, Cassio and Irelia). Fixed some spelling/grammar mistakes.