Xayah Build Guide : ✔️ Experience My Love For Feathers

Introduction

About The Author
Pros / Cons
Summoner Spells

Information

Runes
Abilities
Skill Sequence

More Info

Items
Gameplay
~~Matchups~~

Conclusion

All About Xayah
Summary
Change Log

Hello summoner and welcome to my Guide! My name is Fruxo, a Gold rated player on the EUW server and I'll be your guide for today. I have been maining the ADC role for a long time (started in season 4) and is one of my favorite AD Carries! ( is one of the three best champions that I have ever played) I really love the champion, her abilities, her super unique play style. and so fourth. To me Is an amazing champion that more people needs to try out.

My Twitch.tv: Fruxo02

If you really like this guide then feel free to check out a few of my other guides by clicking a picture down below! :)

Pros

↑ Very good waveclear especially in the late game
↑ Untargetable (R) -
↑ long range poke with her (Q) - and feathers
↑ Has really good damage once you get some crit items
↑ Excellent pusher
↑ Has some great burst in mid to late game
↑ Has a really strong root

can struggle against aggressive and long range poke lanes. She needs time to scale up as she isn't really that strong in the early game.

Cons

↓ Struggles against very aggressive lanes
↓ Can be tricky to learn
↓ Needs setup time for her feathers
↓ You need to pay attention with your feathers if you want be able to use them with
↓ Poke lanes are hard
↓ Weak to CC and focus when ultimate is down

is quite a tricky to learn as you have to constantly think about aiming your feathers and keeping an eye on when you can use her ultimate.

Summoner Spells
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FLASH: Flash Is great if you are in deep trouble and in need of a fast way to get out.

HEAL: Heal is for when you are really low or your support is about to die, then you can use ur Heal in order to save them or yourself.

BARRIER: Barrier you can use if you are facing a matchup where you dont want to go Heal, because for an example maybe your went heal instead of Exhaust. Barrier gives you the extra shield if you are trying to survive the last auto attack or the last burns from an Ignite

Same as most AD Carries down in the Botlane this current patch, Precision and Inspiration is usually the runes that you'll need to go

Primary Path

Precision

Lethal Tempo

Lethal Tempo: Firstly I would choose Lethal tempo because it allows you to go past the attack speed limit for a couple of seconds in order to deal massive damage and to set up a lot of feathers for a great Bladecaller.

Triumph

Triumph: Next is Triumph which is an extremely good rune at the moment. Gives you extra survivability in lane if you manage to get that clutch kill in the end.

Legend Rune

Legend: Bloodline: After that from the Legend runes we'll take Legend: Bloodline because life steal is really beneficial for ADC's and can really help out in different situations.

Coup De Grace

Coup de Grace: Lastly I'd take Coup de Grace for for one reason. It gives you more damage as you burst down targets.

Secondary Path

Inspiration

Magical Footwear

Magical Footwear: Second tree you should pick is Inspiration. First rune you take is Magical Footwear which will help you be able to use your gold on getting other things instead. Picking this rune is essentially 300g completely for free, the only bad thing is that you have to wait 10 mins (if not less because takedowns) in order to achieve it, and you can't buy any boots before that.

Biscuit Delivery

Biscuit Delivery: Second rune is Biscuit Delivery. This rune will help you a lot with giving sustain in lane and it's especially good to have for heavy poke or rough matchups like Draven and Braum for example.

Rune Stats

First you'll be going for Attack speed because attack speed is really necessary on Xayah in order to dish out a lot of damage. As for the second rune we'll go for Adaptive because of the great damage that it gives for you. And lastly followed with a Armor rune as your last rune. You can also pick the Magic Resist rune if your team is against a very hard AP team comps, otherwise stick to Armor as it's more beneficial for you.

PASSIVE ABILITY

Clean Cuts

✦ After casts an ability, her next 3 basic attacks strike all enemies in their path dealing 100% damage to main target and 30/40/50% to other enemies passed. Feathers stay active for 6 seconds. Feathers can be stored up to 5 basic attacks.

My Thoughts

You can only store 5 empowered attacks at once. So if you use your and your right away, you will be missing one feather each time in a way. That means you are gonna want to manage your feathers as much as possible, and you will want to atleast auto attack once in between your abilities if it is possible to keep that one extra feather to your advantage.

Having out as many feathers as you can is pretty important because of the nuke on your based on the feathers that does pull through on the way back.

PASSIVE ABILITY

Lover's Leap

✦ has a second passive too. If either or is recalling, the other person can move up nearby and join the other while in recall.

My Thoughts

This information is very useful since you can start recalling and can just get back to you with his . Also works the same way around, only difference is that does not have a fast way to instantly go to someone like does.

Q

Double Daggers

✦ After a short wind-up, throws two feather-blades rapidly in the target direction, and leaving 2 Feathers on the ground at maximum range. The feather-blades deal physical damage to all enemies they pass through, reduced to 50% against units beyond the first.

My Thoughts

Your first ability is your (Q) . Each of these feathers produced by does have a 50% Ad ratio which is pretty nice but it does do 50% damage on targets hit after the first one. This means that during lane phase you are not going to be hitting too hard on the enemy champions because it will usually be hitting minions first.

Either way though this ability is pretty nice because it will instantly generate two feathers which will allow you to use your right away, but keep in mind you need to hit three feathers in order to successfully root the target. It is a decent part of your kit, but it is definitely not the best part.

W

Deadly Plumage

✦ surrounds herself with a storm of feathers-blades for 4 seconds, granting her bonus attack speed, 20% increased damage on her attacks, and 30% bonus movement speed for 1.5 seconds whenever she attacks a champion. If is near when casted, he will gain , increasing the bonus damage on each of them to 40%.

My Thoughts

The next ability is your (W) . This ability is going to be great for both kiting the enemy champions but also to chase them if you need to.

So this ability is obviously one of the best parts about 's kit, because it is just straight-up an attack speed steroid that makes you do 20% more damage on top of it. Therefore you will definitely want some points in this ability pretty early off but your ability is a lot better so you do want to max that one first, but this is definitely the one you want to max second.

Use the attack speed you are getting from this ability to pump out a ton of damage and the movement speed to either chase or kite enemies.

E

Bladecaller

✦ recalls all her Feathers, dealing physical damage to enemies they strike on their way toward her, increasing by 0.5% for every 1% of Xayah's Critical Strike Chance. Minions take 50% damage.

If an enemy has been hit by 3 or more feathers on the way back, the target will becomes rooted for 1.25 seconds. This information is very useful when using your (Q), (W) or (R) to quickly be able to get your target rooted for your other teammates to take advantage of.

My Thoughts

Next up is your (E) ability . Which is your main source of damage outside of your auto attacks. So when you do activate this ability as previously mentioned it will call back all of your feathers to you and deal physical damage in the meantime, and increases the damage based on your critical strike chance.

Enemies will take between 100 to 10% based on feathers hit in damage from feathers that has already passed trough minions before the enemy champion.

Now you will want to make sure you hit atleast three if not more feathers onto your target so that they will be rooted so you can easily pump out some damage on to them.

R

Featherstorm

✦ leaps into the air, becoming untargetable for a short amount of time but still able to move. After a short delay, she unleashes a volley of feather-blades forward in a cone, dealing physical damage to all enemies struck and leaving a line of 5 Feathers at the end of Featherstorm's maximum range.

My Thoughts

Finally we move onto your (R) ability . After casting your it will leave 5 feathers on the ground all the time, so you will always have an option of instantly be able to combo with your in order to pull all those feathers trough their targets so that they take a lot of damage, and also gets rooted.

This combo is especially strong in teamfights because it will pull it trough an entire team if they are clumped up and give you and your team a really devastating teamfight.

The better use of the ability however is as a defensive ability. If someone like ultimates you with his or if something like 's comes towards you, you can use this ability to get into the air because you will be untargetable, that way you will take no damage from those abilities. It is incredibly busted in that scenario because it is a really solid defensive, but it does have offensive uses aswell.

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E

W

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Personally i think maxing first out of your basic abilities and i feel like it is the way to go as it deals a ton of damage. Second max for more attack speed so you can increase your DPS and maximize your rooting potential. Lastly max your and of course take those points on your whenever it is possible.

Starting Items

is one of the items you usually go when playing , if you are going for a really aggressive lane. It will give you a decent amount of AD, Health but also Life steal. is the one item that you usually pick if you are against a matchup that should be significally easy for you, that way together with this item you will do way more damage in the early game. Buying this item, will only leave a spot for one and that is it, if you play safe, then just having one potion will be enough.

This item is the other option you can go, mostly used if you are facing a matchup that is really agressive, and you feel like going defensive, also a really good item if you have a that isnt usually very aggressive either, like or etc. will regenerate 30 health for you in the time of 10 seconds (based on your missing health, which has a cap on 25%), which will make it very great for laning and/or poking if possible. You will not have the same poking damage as if you went with but going is still a very good option.

's is a really good item for you, as a ranged , you will always be in danger every single time by the enemy teams because he/she will try to poke you down. 's will give you the necessary health needed in order to survive and maybe get a really clutch kill in the end that you got from just being lucky, and that you can be proud of, it will also make it easier for your if you are able to go in for trades whenever your does.

is and will always be your first -starting- totem. You will get this item together with your or together with the number one at the very start of the game. This totem will let you place down wards all around the map, it can stock 2 wards and has a cooldown of 90-120 seconds based on the average level of your team. Try to use your to place wards all around the botlane bushes, (if your hasn't done so already). That way you will always be aware when the enemy teams is preparing to gank you.

Trinkets & Consumables

's is really useful for you to be able to keep an eye out in bushes that the tends to go into in order to prepare a gank. It has five hits before it goes down and it will show any hidden enemy wards while being in the bush. You can stock two 's at a time of every buy.

You usually tend to buy when you enter the late game. is really useful to be able to ward places like the Baron pit, Dragon pit, bushes where the enemy team might go into, or other useful places. It has one use before going on cooldown and it has only one hit before going down.

Pretty self-explanatory, you buy lastly once you have maximum items, it gives you 30 Attack damage and a buff that will heal you whenever you deal physical damage to a champion, will last for 3 minutes.

Core Items

This is a great item for , has a Lifeline passive that shields you when you drop below 30% health. Spectral Waltz triggers on basic attacking an enemy champion, you gain 7% movement speed and pass through units.

Great item for . Often times I go this item as it helps you poke your opponents. It gives you extra range on the empowered auto attack once this item stacks up.

is a really good first item at the minute on . You will get 80 AD and 25% Critical Strike Chance which is really good to have early on, and will help you be able to put out the damage needed for the early game.

This is a great item for , has a Lifeline passive that shields you when you drop below 30% health. Spectral Waltz triggers on basic attacking an enemy champion, you gain 7% movement speed and pass through units.

Although has her ultimate to avoid ultis from , , etc, but it isn't always up when needed so helps really a lot especially if you are getting focused down in fights which in most cases happens.

Boots

Pretty standard boots for ADC's. Gives you attack speed and movespeed. In some cases you can substitute for but in my opinion this is important for your DPS especially early.

In situations where the enemy team has a lot of AD damage. In my opinion are a much better choice then this, but if absolute necessary then you can go these boots.

These boots gives you some AP protection against team comps with a lot of AP bursts, it's not really needed at all, 's or is a better choice, however, if you feel like the situation needs it then you go these boots.

Situational Items

This is a really good situational item that you can use if you have your full build and you want to get some extra attack speed for poking or if you need the 25% crit chance to get that 100% to be able to deal a ton of damage.

I personally think this item is really good on her, as it is relatively cheap, (2600g) gives her lot's of attack speed and overall increases your DPS a good amount since you are throwing 3 autos instead of 1. Also it gives you more damage, and the 25% Crit chance is always great to have.

Really decent item in my opinion. It gives you a one time use which will remove all crowd control debuffs from your champion and it will give you 50% movement speed for 1 second. Then it will go on cooldown for 90 seconds. Could be a complete life saver in a teamfight if you got hit by a stun in the start of the teamfight but then use your in order to cancel out the effects and to possibly save the day for your team.

Gives you lot's of sustain and damage, and the shield helps especially a lot in teamfight's once you stack it up.

This is a really good item to pick up if the enemy team has a lot of healing, especially like , it will the healing she can give others, and it will reduce regeneration by 40%. The armor penetration you get from it is always a good thing to have aswell.

Teamfights
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In teamfights should stay back and not be in the frontline, she needs to be in the backline or she will get focused and may die early on, and we dont want that.

While being in the backline she should use her and auto attacks to poke and peel the enemy. Make sure to put on before to make sure to get the extra attack speed when poking. Also use your to both stun the enemy team if they are in the area or to return ur feathers in order to get more feathers/range to attack.

Make sure to wait with your . until the right time (most likely when enemy team is in a group or knockuped by ult.

If you have a on your team this will be a great opportunity with the and combo. Make sure to get your in range of this combo. If you dont have those champions on your team. Make sure to get your in range of the enemy team while your team is fighting them.

Then afterwards use your as it should be up again and not be on cooldown. And then you will have a great root for your team to take advantage of.

Team fights are almost similar throughout most of the game being strongest in the late game. As a you will pretty much be targeting whoever is closest to you most of the times. As the enemy carry will also try to sit towards the back line and it is best to leave them to the front liners to distract or kill while you try to focus on getting rid of the enemy front line. Now this isn't always the case as you will sometimes have to help with killing the enemy carry. But again it's situational and you should just follow this as a general rule.

Early Game
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In the Pre game, you will first want to focus on farming as much as possible. You are of course an Ad carry and your core items are pretty expensive, and you really need those in order to carry the game. In between those last hits you want to be poking with your and your passive, these will have a really nice range and they are great for poking the enemy. You want to use both of these to build up your feathers as much as possible and then root the enemy whenever you get the chance with your .

It will do a large chunk of damage onto the enemy and it will hold them in place so that you can easily delete them with your . Finally just remember that you dont have the best mobility out there so make sure you position yourself really safely.

Now later on when you finally reach level 6 and you have your will be able to play aggressively from here and forward on. You will be able to go in more aggresive in duels or teamfights that may break out early on, because if you manage to mess up you have your there to help you in that situation. You will be able to use your both on the defense as well as on the offense, if it is with trying to kill the enemy that managed to position wrong or if it is the enemy that went in too deep. You will also be able to use your under the turret in order to get that last root or damage needed to kill that enemy champion, or if it is needed in order to escape from almost dying. This ability combined together with your will be able to put out massive amounts of damage and will make you into a serious treat for everyone.

It is very important that you know that your is able to dodge most abilities that may come towards you, it can be anything from 's , 's to 's + many many more.

Mid Game
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Then comes the Mid game. Due to her feathers passing trough minions it is much easier to hit the backline which will keep them moving and from being safe. This is where her ability to strike multiple targets at once starts to be very handy, she can do good damage to teams that are clumped together in a group while also rooting them for a great potential to turn a fight around.

During the Mid game you will mostly be focusing on taking down turrets, because of your which gives you attack speed, you are able to completely shred down turrets while also making the enemy team focus more on you then on the rest of your team, that way for an example your team will be able to secure a or if there is enough damage from your team without you, they might even be able to get a free out of that splitpush. Your can shred both turrets and 's so make sure to rotate around the map to help support your team whenever it seems necessary.

Late Game
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Late game is usually the time where gets really strong. Just like any other Ad carry you are trying to stay in the backline, so that you won't get focused down by the enemy teams , or . If you position yourself well, then your Auto attacks will deal so much AoE damage that you are able to completely turn a fight or a teamfight into your favour.

Always try to get down as many feathers as possible before you use your for the maximized damage potential. Always try to kite the enemy back if you see the chance, because then your enemy almost won't be able to dodge your at most times, if you position yourself well. Always try to attack the enemy champion next to you that is the biggest threat, like for an example the enemy teams or an / , dont focus down the 's if it isnt necessary, let the front line of your team take care of them, while you focus on the squishier targets that will be trying to kill you.

During the Late game you want to stay with your team at mostly all times. Since during this phase, teamfights will break out almost wherever you go. If you decide to splitpush you need to be careful and check your map at all times, since there will be 's, 's and even the enemy teams that will try to stop you from pushing.

These are just a few of things that you have to keep in mind during the late game, before trying to engage the enemy team in an all out teamfight or a trade. Keep in mind that if you die before a teamfight then your team will be significally weaker because they won't have a to be able to carry them. A is just a champion that starts teamfights with a lot of health but no damage, 's are meant for even more CC potentials, 's or 's sure can do a lot of damage but they are really squishy and can die easily. Without you to help your team, you will lose that one important teamfight that could of been the game for sure.

Kiting
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What is Kiting?

First things first, kiting is moving in between your auto attacks to keep distance from your opponent. This can also be called Stutter stepping or Blocking, but we'll call it Kiting for short. Every champion has a delay in which they can auto attack, during this time it is very efficient to keep on walking because you can't auto attack anyways and it keeps distance from the enemy player. While this can be used to create distance between you and your opponent it can also be used to stick on to someone while trying to deal damage.

For example if you're chasing someone and you want to be able to deal damage to be able to kill him, it might be better to fit in some auto attacks while you are chasing your opponent which is way more effecient and it will have a higher chance of not letting him get away because, the more time you waste, the more time your opponent is going to have to get away.

How do I Kite?

There is a spot during your auto attack animation that is not necessary to dealing damage as part of the animation is called the rewind animation, and is the ending animation of your auto attack, this is where your character sets up for the next upcoming Auto attack animation. It has to reset back to its original attack animation state so, you can use that little bit of time to walk away from your opponent while still dealing damage in the meantime.

The basic kite is that you auto attack and while the rewind animation is going, you proceed to walk away from your opponent. For an example lets say a random melee champion like is going very aggressive on to you, you want to be able to deal damage to her while not letting her get close to you, you auto attack her and while the animation is about to rewind, you walk away from to keep distance from her but also to be able to avoid her specific abilities. And then you start over again, so you continue to auto attack and move away from until she either dies, or you die.

The time you have to walk away is something you will have to get used to, sometimes you have more movement speed so you can keep your distance by just taking one step, or you have less movement speed so it will take longer for you when moving. Practice tool is something that is the best way in order to train on how to kite, just put in a dummy and train your auto attacks and movement on to it. It is only practice, practice and more practice in order to become better with it.

Fighting is one of the most importnat skills of any in the Ad Carry role to practice, because this is one of the core-mechanics of the role. Keeping distance from a bruiser that tries to chase you happens all the time, and being prepared for that is the key to winning the game for your team.

Combos
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Fast Root Combo
(W > AA > E) Your (W) doesnt interrupt your auto attack timer meaning you can (W + AA) very fast for a free and quick snare together with your (E). Very useful if you need fast CC.

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Ult Flash Combo
(R > Flash) You can use to reposition yourself while in mid-ult. Great combo for setting up mass-snares.

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Lovable Feathers Combo
(Q > R > E) You can use your ult immediately after pressing (Q) to be able to cancel the animation. Together with your (E) this combo is really great for getting maximum burst damage

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Root Combo
(W > AA > Q > E) Much smoother root combo, very reliable in my opinion. Works 84% of the time. The time it doesnt work is if the is there to CC you before you can use your (E).

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Delayed Root Combo
(W > AA > Q > AA > E) Sometimes the usual (Q > AA > E) combo is expected to come, therefore delaying the root a bit will open up a potential for a kill for sure.

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Full Burst Combo
(W > AA > Q > R > AA > E) The max amount of damage you are able to put out with , making it a "Full Combo".

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E Flash Combo
(E > Flash) You can cancel the small cast animation on 's (E) with leading to some amazing surprise snares.

Objectives
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Infernal Drake

is by far the best drake because of it's strong power boost. If you see the chance, then contest for the dragon at all cost. In the early game the increased damage from the buff won't do much, but the 's late game power is massive, especially together with .

Ocean Drake

is very strong during the laning phase, it will make it even harder for poke lanes, forcing the enemy team to spend much more mana then usually and could prevent potential ganks from happening.

Mountain Drake

is really strong during the late game, and it will make it much easier to take down for your team if needs be. will also help out and make it easier whenever you are pushing down turrets.

Cloud Drake

Cloud Drake will be useful for both teams, the leading team can both create pressure, split push, or rotate around the map faster for positioning, while teams that are behind can still use it to expand vision, respond to split pushing, or position defensively.

Elder Drake

The 's buff, called will boost all other dragon buffs for your team, meaning the more drakes you have, the more effective this buff will be.

-Dragons-

So to end it off shortly, there are four types of dragons, when you kill them it will give a permanent Dragon buff aswell as a Dragon stack which can be stacked up depending on the drakes you kill of the same sort, which will grant different effects based on the dragon that you have killed. however, will only grant a temporary buff called . 's after the first one on the same team will grant the buff called Empowered Aspect Of The Dragon instead, which is twice as strong, and lasts longer.

Best way to take any type of drake during a game is to either sneak it if your wave is pushed and the enemy botlane hasn't gotten back to lane yet. Or if the enemy team's jungler is dead you may be able to see a chance to take drake out with your and your .

-Baron-

is the most powerful neutral monster in the game. Killing will grant a buff called . Best way to take out baron is when your team manages to get an Ace on the enemy team, or if you are trying to force it, although forcing it could go wrong because your Jungler might miss etc. and you could lose it, so it is a very risky choice but if it works out it will be a very valuable asset to your team.

lasts for a maximum of 3 minutes so take advantage of that early on to take objectives or to get a few kills here and there before you lose it. The buff massively increases attack damage and ability power but it also has an aura that affects nearby minions in order to make them very strong. Aswell as a recall time decrease.

Never try to solo Baron since most of the times it won't work, the only times you can really solo a baron is only if there is a really fed , or other related champions with either massive tankiness, outrageous attack speed or massive damage capabilities which doesn't happen very often. So, if you want to take baron because you have seen a great opportunity to do so, then tell your whole team since it is significally easier to take baron if you are five or four people instead of one or two. If you or your team knows that you are able to get for free, then set up someone to be able to splitpush another lane and take use of the buff so that you can manage to both get the Baron buff, but also to make a massive dent into the enemy teams base while they are putting all their focus down in the Baron pit.

As said, taking down the Baron with a full team of either five or four is really simple, especially if there is a tank or bruiser etc. that will be able to take most of the damage.

Skins

X A Y A H

The Rebel

Lore

You can find her lore here

Thank you for Reading!

is a very unique champion, she can be hard to master at first but once you get the grip of her playstyle and her abilities, you will have a really fun time playing her. She has a unique playstyle as mentioned before because she isn't like other 's she doesn't have a bow or a gun of some sort, instead she uses feathers. She also has a ton of damage together with her abilities if you manage to position your feathers correctly meaning that you can pick up kills very fast and be super useful for your team during teamfights.

If you enjoyed the guide, please upvote it if you want as it will always make my day better, or downvote if absolute necessary and please, tell me what i did wrong or if i did any mistakes, so that i can make the guide better to try and fit your expectations. If my guide was helpful to you then feel free to also give me a +Rep too as it means a lot. Feel free to give me a PM or leave a comment in the discussion section if you have any questions and I will try to get back to you as soon as i can. :)

Have a great time feathering your way to victory as Xayah!

Special Thanks

Milestones

Cheers, Fruxo

S8 Updates

S9 Updates

✔️ Experience My Love For Feathers

✔️ Experience My Love For Feathers

Recommended Items

Runes:

Spells:

Flash

Heal

Barrier

Flash

Items

Ability Order Abilities

Clean Cuts (PASSIVE)

Double Daggers (Q)

Deadly Plumage (W)

Bladecaller (E)

Featherstorm (R)

Threats & Synergies

Twitch

Miss Fortune

Sivir

Vayne

Soraka

Ashe

Brand

Tristana

Alistar

Blitzcrank

Caitlyn

Ezreal

Annie

Leona

Draven

Braum

Bard

Galio

Heimerdinger

Fiddlesticks

Janna

Graves

Jhin

Jinx

Kai'Sa

Kalista

Karma

Kennen

Kayle

Kog'Maw

Lucian

Lulu

Lux

Nautilus

Nami

Morgana

Pyke

Quinn

Rakan

Sona

Tahm Kench

Taric

Teemo

Thresh

Vel'Koz

Veigar

Varus

Yasuo

Zyra

Zilean

Corki

Malzahar

League of Legends Champions: