GAMEPLAY

Akali is a high-burst, high mobility champion. This lane match-up need's to be played very aggressively. You cannot let her free farm, try to zone her with Call of the Void and punish her every time she approaches to last hit. After level 6 when she has her Shadow Dance, she gets the high mobility she needs to make your life miserable, so take advantage before she reaches level 6 and use that in your favour to get ahead. After level 6 play cautious and wait for the right moment to strike.

GAMEPLAY

Anivia's one weakness is that she has to slow you before she can do any real damage. Before she hits 6 her ability to combo is horrible. Punish her for this, but don't try to kill her. Unless she is asking for it, passively farm. Due to her passive, Rebirth killing her is a real pain in the ***, as you have to do it twice. Try to always be in lane after 6 as she can push it really hard with her Glacial Storm. AVOID HER Flash Frost, IT'S EASY BUT IT HURTS WHEN SHE HITS YOU!

GAMEPLAY

Annie tends to try and bully you out of the lane, so just "let" her do it for a while. However, every time she gets close, hit her with your Malefic Visions and Call of the Void then run back. Eventually she will have to stop doing this because she is simply losing these trades. Now all that is left to do is out farm her and not over extend. After level six, be extra careful around her when she has Pyromania up; she can easily stun you with it by using Summon: Tibbers. If you do get stunned by her, don't panic. Her range is rather bad, so if you Flash she won't be able to hit you again.

GAMEPLAY

Brand can be a rather easy lane, but don't underestimate him. The key thing to beating him is to harass him after he uses Pillar of Flame and Conflagration on the minion wave (this is his farm combo). After he does this, he can't really fight back, which is why you go after him. Also, if you are always moving while fighting him he will have a higher chance of missing his Sear and Pillar of Flame. Running side to side instead of up and down will throw him off as well. Also, don't bunch up with your team when fighting him, as his Pyroclasm will melt your face off if it's allowed to bounce around!

GAMEPLAY

Cassiopeia is a force to be reckoned with. She has very good CSing and spamming. Her Twin Fang spam is devastating and Petrifying Gaze gives her a almost guaranteed kill if she lands it. Her Noxious Blast gives her a speed up, so she can use this to run right at you to slow and kill you. My best advice is to avoid being hit by her Noxious Blast at all costs, and let her push the minions to your tower so you can CS safely. If you do get into a fight, try to suppress her immediately with Nether Grasp and/or turn around about 1.5 second into fight. She will probably miss her stun because of this, and now she is in trouble. Remember, dodge Noxious Blast and Petrifying Gaze and you're golden.

GAMEPLAY

Diana can be a medium to major problem depending on how you deal with her. Traditionally built as a tanky ap assassin, she can dish it out while still soaking up a surprising large amount of punishment. She also has huge snowball potential. During laning, you'll want to play it safe; her Crescent Strike can be used to quickly clear a minion wave or harass from afar, and her Pale Cascade can negate your Malefic Visions if they jump to her. Once she unlocks her Lunar Rush, try very hard to avoid her Crescent Strike because if she hits you with it she'll be able to cast Lunar Rush twice on you. One thing to keep in mind is that while Diana has amazing chase potential, she doesn't have many escape mechanisms. If she does focus you, a well timed Nether Grasp, especially under your turret, can mess up her whole combo and allow you to punish her in turn.

GAMEPLAY

Better suited as a adc bot, Ezreal occasionally appears in mid as a ap carry. This should be a fairly easy lane since shutting down squishy carries is your job. He will constantly try to snipe you with his Mystic Shot, so just chill behind your minions or ran around hectically. If he manages to burst you down, be extra careful when recalling as he will most likely use Trueshot Barrage to snipe you. If you try to go in for the kill, you have to silence him with Call of the Void first and then burst him down quickly, as his Arcane Shift and Flash allow him to cover large distances very quickly.

GAMEPLAY

Elise can be either rather easy or problematic depending on how you deal with her. Most of her laning power comes from harassing you with her Neurotoxin and when your below 50% health, with her Venomous Bite. The biggest advantage you have over her is that your abilities far out range her's, so use this to your advantage. After she's got several levels, she can basically 100-0 you if she can catch you with her Cocoon, so always stay behind minions. Another thing to keep in mind is that her Rappel has a fairly large range, but a equally long cooldown. Without her Cocoon / Rappel, she has no escape mechanisms so always alert your jungler to this.

GAMEPLAY

Fiddlesticks can be pretty annoying mid. His silence from Reap is killer, and God forbid you get caught in his Crowstorm. Most Fiddles max their Bountiful Harvest and Terrify first, so the silence doesn't last long. Just let him fear drain and silence you, but after the fear land your Call of the Void on him. This will break the cast of Bountiful Harvest, and at this point you can just eat him. Don't try and out DPS his Bountiful Harvest, YOU WILL LOSE. If you see him casting Crowstorm you can interrupt it with Call of the Void, which will stop it and reset it's cooldown. A real pisser if you are fiddlestick =D.

GAMEPLAY

This is a very hard and very annoying lane match-up. His Playful / Trickster can be used to dodge all of your abilities, which can be extremely annoying. Fizz is an assassin, and therefore he is very weak at pushing a lane, meaning you tremendously outclass him in terms of farming potential, so what I would recommend is warding both sides of your river and keeping Fizz pushed as much as possible, then call in your jungler. If he hits you with Chum the Waters's, wait until he casts Playful / Trickster, then melt his face with your combo.

GAMEPLAY

In theory, Gragas is a morbidly obese hill-billy with a serious drinking problem (remember kids, alcohol destroys families), which should equate into a easy lane, though practice is often different from theory. He has a potentially high damage output, but 3 of his abilities are all skill shots. Dodge his annoying Barrel Roll and you should be all-right for the most part. Try to land a Call of the Void on him, otherwise just farm and dodge. After level 6 when he unlocks his Explosive Cask his damage output hugely escalates. If he manages to land a full combo, you'll be seeing a grey screen for a little bit.

GAMEPLAY

Karthus can be really annoying, he's going try to zone you with his Lay Waste and the worst thing is, he won't even run out of mana because it costs almost nothing and his Defile grants him mana regen everytime he kills something. That won't make it a hard lane, you are just going to need to be paying more attention to it. Try to zone him with your Call of the Void and Malefic Visions, but otherwise just farm and run "around" to avoid his Lay Waste. Go for the kill whenever the chance presents itself, though keep in mind that you can't have low HP when you go in for the kill or he will kill you with his Death Defied and Requiem.

GAMEPLAY

Ladies and Gentlemen, give it up for the one, the only, the original ANTI-MAGE! Kassadin is the ban of most ap carries, and your no exception. He's weaker than you earlier game, so use this to your advantage. Deny him as much farm as possible, and try to get your jungler to gank him before level six. Once he unlocks Riftwalk your life can become a living nightmare. Virtually any gank is rendered useless, and you'll have a slim chance of getting away from or catching him.

GAMEPLAY

Katarina shouldn't be too horrible. Shunpo will make it hard to land Call of the Void, so it's better to harass her with your Malefic Visions. Her daggers hurt, and she has no mana so she can spam pretty much all day. Try and bait her into fighting you. If she does use her jump on you, you will win. If she walks up to you, then don't full combo her. Fight her when her Shunpo is down! Lastly, whenever she attempts to use Death Lotus, hit her with your Nether Grasp, cancelling her ult!

GAMEPLAY

Her Divine Blessing is annoying as it boosts her movement speed and gives her health back, making harass harder. You can out damage her immediate burst, but be careful when fighting her when her Intervention up. Don't blow your load all at once, watch her for an ultimate and back off. Only engage her when you have at least 30% more HP.

GAMEPLAY

Usually sent mid to shut down the AP carry, Kha'Zix can be a real pain in the ***. If you stand behind minions, then he can't harass you with his Void Spikes, and his Taste Their Fear will deal substantially less damage than if you were standing alone. You need to keep a close eye on which abilities he evolves; also if he has the audacity to evolve his abilities in the middle of the lane, punish him as he's immobile for a brief time while he transforms. Early game, your combo's much stronger than his and your Nether Grasp can really throw him off, but you need to be extra careful of him late game. He has a tendency to unstealth right next to you, eat you alive, then run away before your teammates can even retaliate. It would be a very good idea for someone on your team to buy a Oracle's Elixir to counter him.

GAMEPLAY

Kennen can be really tricky to deal with because he has a lot of stuns and speed. However for him to combo he has to get close to you. When he charges you, just back off and Flash away from him if he use Slicing Maelstrom and beat him up from a distance. DO NOT STAND IN HIS Slicing Maelstrom! Hide behind your minions so his Thundering Shuriken can't hit you. A large majority of his damage and the beginning of his combo comes from you being hit by his Q, but that can only happen if you are in the open. Avoid getting a Q, kill his damage. If he does rush up to you, try and kite him. Distance is your friend, slows and stuns are your... SUPAH best friends!

GAMEPLAY

LeBlanc's burst is stupidly strong, but if you can live through her burst she is dead in the water. Try at all costs to dodge her Distortion and her Ethereal Chains. If you don't get snared and can live through her silence you can eat her alive. Be careful when she gets low, as her passive will momentarily make her invincible, and be sure to target the real LeBlanc and not her clone.

GAMEPLAY

Lux is a champion with a very strong early game, though if you can shut her down early, she won't be much of a threat. Play real safe and don't let her free kill you. All of her abilities are long cooldown skill shots, so if you can dodge her Light Binding and/or Lucent Singularity you will win most of the trades. She is a high range caster, and will be spend most of the day trying to harass you from afar. If she burns her abilities, don't waste the opportunity; close the distance with Flash or Ghost and burst her down.

GAMEPLAY

Your evil doppelgänger, Malzahar v2 can deal some serious burst damage with his Nether Grasp, especially if it's cast on top of his Null Zone, since it deals health % damage. His Malefic Visions are very strong for farming and harass. Never get close to a minion with visions, because if it dies you will get it. Stay far away and wear him down gradually, and try not to engage in a 1v1 if you know his ultimate is up; chances are, you will most likely lose if you do. If you can survive his combo though, there's not much he can do since all his abilities have fairly long cooldowns.

GAMEPLAY

Mordekaiser has a short range but his passive, Iron Man, can actually block a ridiculous amount of damage, especially when combined with his Creeping Death. Your best bet is to only hit him when his shield is down, and be careful when his ult is up; he will steal a lot of your HP with it. Try and kite him if you can, which is easier said than done. His shield is charged based on how much damage he does, so if he hits a whole minion wave he will get a lot more than if he hit one wraith. Therefore harass him before he can use his skills on the wave, not after.

GAMEPLAY

Morgana is not a hard lane, though if you make mistakes you will pay for them with your life. She will try to land her Dark Binding on you, so just hide behind your minions. If you try to burst her down, she will pop her Black Shield (which cancels your ult's suppress), so the best thing to do is farm farm farm. And after that farm some more. In the mean while, try to zone her with your Call of the Void. Call for ganks often but whatever you, don't get her fed! I would highly recommend a Quicksilver Sash against her since it counters her Dark Binding and Soul Shackles, several limiting her damage.

GAMEPLAY

It's really important to punish Nidalee from levels 1-5. Try to spam your Call of the Void and Malefic Visions, though don't burn all of your mana. It's also important to push up the lane a lot, as though this will leave you susceptible to ganks, there's nothing a Nidalee can do really do aid a jungler gank pre-6, so you should be fairly safe if you buy wards. Nidalee isn't good at last hitting at the tower, unless it's a very good player, in which case they'll still miss a few last hits. After level 6 you need to play extremely cautiously because she can punish you with Aspect Of The Cougar, maybe even kill you with 1 burst and a Javelin Toss. The two most important things is to force her to burn her mana for heals, and to avoid her Javelin Toss at all costs.

GAMEPLAY

Truth be told, I haven't seen Orianna too much, so my information might be slightly off. Don't get to close to her, and remember that the ball can deal damage when it passes through you, so don't stand in her general direction with the ball behind you. If she casts Command: Shockwave, it's likely that a immediate gank is incoming. Like Lux, this lane will largely come down to the skill of the Orianna player. If you want to bully her out of lane, her Command: Protect can negate a large chunk of your damage, and she can very easily harass you whenever you attempt to farm with Malefic Visions. Additionally, her Command: Shockwave can easily disrupt your ult assuming it's not her you ulted.

GAMEPLAY

Ryze is a weak early game champ, and you need to take advantage of it. Zone him hard with Call of the Void and Malefic Visions to deny him farm, though don't burn all of your mana! After level 6 things get a little different but you'll remain in front. Keep the harass and go for the kill when you're sure you'll get it. One thing you do not want is a fed late game Ryze.

GAMEPLAY

Swain's lane sustain is killer at level 6, so burst is your best friend. Don't get snared in his Nevermove and try not to stand near him when he casts Ravenous Flock, since he will just heal back most of the damage you deal, while your own health is slowly whittled away! If you get caught in his Nevermove, chances are you're gonna die. If you Ignite him early on in a fight, it will severely negate a large chunk of health he can heal back with Ravenous Flock.

GAMEPLAY

Talon is one of the hardest lanes you can get with Malzahar, or any mage for that matter. He's a high mobility burst assassin with a blink/dash that silences you. This alone will make your lane annoyingly hard. Try to zone him with Malefic Visions but always stay out of range of Cutthroat. Try to rush an early Seeker's Armguard because it will offer a brief reprieve from his burst and can be built into a Zhonya's Hourglass. Try to push the minion wave and then go for ganks, or stay in lane and ask your jungler for a gank.

GAMEPLAY

His Wild Cards is very easy to dodge, and until he gets Lich Bane and some attack speed his damage is not very good. If he has his yellow card primed be prepared for a Flash stun gank. Announce when he hits 6 so no one yells at you for not calling mia if he teleports to their lane.

GAMEPLAY

His early game is just bad, and until 6 he deals little damage. Your primary goal in this lane to prevent him from farming up his Baleful Strike, with killing him coming second. It's very important to stack magic resist against Veigar since his Primordial Burst will use your AP against you. If he stuns with his Event Horizon you're pretty much screwed if he has a Rabadon's Deathcap, so yah... don't get stunned =D

GAMEPLAY

Your best bet against Vlad is actually your Null Zone, since Vlad relies on stacking health, though by no means should you prioritize maxing it. He can heal through a lot of your harass and dodge your spells with his Sanguine Pool. Ignite and range are your best friends, so use both of them to your advantage. Though his Hemoplague does a rather small amount of damage in and of itself, it amplifies all his damage against you, so if he casts it on you try to get away with Flash or Ghost to avoid most of his ensuing burst. I would highly recommend not attempting to tower dive him even when he has low health, on account of his Sanguine Pool.

GAMEPLAY

The definition of a poker. Pre-six, he will mostly try to farm with Arcanopulse and harass you. Post level six, if he uses his Mage Chains, you can't dodge his ult, but you may be able to dodge 1 or even 2 if you are lucky. Excluding his Mage Chains, he is 100% skillshots so if you are good at dodging (or, most likely, he is a bad shot) the lane is yours. He has range on you, so you might as well poke him and try to dodge his burst. Remember that both his Arcanopulse and Arcane Barrage indicate where they are going to hit.

GAMEPLAY

One of the newest additions to the League, Zed should be considered much the same as Talon. He uses energy instead of mana, so he's going to probably spam his Razor Shuriken all day. Try to move erratically and unpredictably around him. You CAN try to kite him, but he has a deceptive amount of range when his Razor Shuriken is combined with his Living Shadow, and he has a strong slow also. If he casts Death Mark on you, quickly Flash away to avoid the brunt of his attack, as much of the damage from it comes from the repercussions of his other attacks on you.

GAMEPLAY

Ziggs kit is entirely based around skill shots, so try to keep your distance and move around hectically and unpredictably. If you engage him, he can burst you down or instead escape with a Satchel Charge + Hexplosive Minefield combo. If he gets you low, it's important to watch out for his Mega Inferno Bomb. You should generally save your Flash to avoid the majority of his retaliation.

GAMEPLAY

Zyra is an very powerful mid, with both a strong burst and lane presence. Try to avoid getting rooted by her Grasping Roots, but if you do (assuming you have equal gold and hp) you should win the engagement. Poke her a lot, out damage her, watch for roots. They are very slow, so it's relatively easy to dodge them. Finally, don't fight near her plants. They account for half of her damage. If you get caught in her Stranglethorns, then you're gonna have a bad time!