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Your window of opportunity here is before she hits 6. Push push push, safely. Anivia isn't the best at farming under turret. Make her waste mana and focus onto last hitting, once she's 6 she'll easily outpush you and kill your turrets, so place them a bit spaced apart. You have no kill pressure against her, but she does, so try to be careful of jungler ganks by warding as you push. Her wall is effective against champs with no mobility, you're one of them.
Annie
You shouldn't die to her early nor later, atleast until she has 4 or more items, at which point she can surprise you with flash. Save your exhaust for her all ins and counter engage with your upgraded turret and other basic 3. If you can land your stun that's a bonus, but her lack of mobility will leave her vulnerable to your rylai's and she'll be dead before she can escape. Due to her kit's simplicity, you should be able to predict her all ins, even if she flashes onto you, given you have vision.
Aurelion Sol
Can easily take out your turrets, with no effort. Just have them at lvl 1 or 3 (so you can have 2 stored in case a skirmish breaks out) and place them under turret to last hit better.
Azir
If her get's rylai's and nashor's tooth, then just leave turrets at lvl 1 or 3 then max W. He has mobility and knock back, given you're not so mobile, he can push away from your area of safety with turrets and leave you exposed. Try to maintain a certain distance from him after level 6. You shouldn't be able to kill him, unless you land a stun, in which case you can burst him with ease. Late game, he should out range you for you to do anything, and should easily escape if he gets close.
Cassiopeia
She has to get slightly close to take out turrets, so you can use that to catch her off guard, other wise she can easily take them out, hence max W first.
Ahri
A kite mage, she has to get close to deal damage, so it's mostly a skill match up. She has greater kill pressure on you, and can easily escape your zone with her Q speed up and ultimate dashes. Unless she heavily misplays or gets caught in your turrets or takes unnecessary poke, you shouldn't kill her, but, you can make her ineffective the later the game goes by rylai's slow and exh
Ziggs
You might as well not lvl q at all tbh. Has the range and damage to take turrets easily, so max w first and put a single point in q, not 3. It'll be totally wasted. This can be avoided if you decided to push early and make him waste mana on last hitting under turret.
Xerath
Same idea as Ziggs, but this guy doesn't run out of mana, or at least shouldn't. And he should never be too shoved in the lane unless he's bad.
Fizz
Exh renders his lvl 3 power spike meaningless. Max turrets here, and then stun. You need to stun him. Never underestimate his dmg. Zhonya and Abyssal both make his burst significantly less.
Fiddlesticks
If he doesn't have Zhonya and he jumps in with ult, your turrets should die. Ult turret and exh before you're feared if you get the chance. Otherwise hit zhonya and avoid some of his ult damage duration and then fight back using your upgraded turret.
Gragas
Dodge or Zhonya his ult, otherwise you're exposed since you're out of your zone.
Blitzcrank
If he lands a successful hook you should be dead, but you can react by placing turrets to body block, incredibly effective.
Karthus
Same idea as Xerath and Ziggs and out scales you hard. Take tp and try to match his global presence. You can stun to interrupt his ult.
Katarina
You can exh, zhonya, stun and ult and you're done, you win. Her all-ins on to you shouldn't be fruitful.
Morgana
She can match your pushing potential if she maxes W and can reduce your burst with her e and render your CC ineffective. It's a skill match up if you place your turrets well and save your w to pop her black shield.
Zilean
Pushes hard and has speed ups to get outta sticky situations. Neither of you should die to the other, just push towards each other.
Diana
Same idea as Annie, except she has dashes so it can make it tricky to follow her in the battle field.
Jayce
Can poke you from distance and kill your turrets. In melee form you should have the upper hand with the assistance of rylai's.
Lissandra
She shouldn't out push you early on. Later hold on to exh and wait for her to all in you. If she ults you she's vulnerable to your turrets, if she ults herself, you can stay away and deal counter engage after. Her e should be on CD, assuming that's what she used to engage upon you to begin with, if not try to time your stun so she can't e away. She's shouldn't one shot you.
Syndra
If you see this picked, then you pick heimer, your laning is gonna be HELL. Level 1 turrets under tower. then max w. Even if she doesn't kill your turrets she can w them to useless places. She's, hands down your worst match up, imo.
Zed
Exh + 1st item zhonya should make him useless, but good Zed's always have room to catch you off guard due to their mobility and deceptive playstyle.
Kassadin
His ult cooldown doesn't allow him to go in and out like LB, what applies to Katarina applies here.
LeBlanc
Highly skill based match up. If you run around your turrets her e can be really hard to hit, if you land your stun on her, she's dead, specially if she's stunned after W-ing in to your zone.
Brand
Can kill turrets easily early, and push well. Place turrets away from wave but in range to push. He should run oom due to the mana costs. He's not so good at setting up ganks if you use your turrets well to block his Q skill shot. After 6 your turrets could back fire since they can allow his ult to bounce off of them and onto you, so keep in mind his bounce range and keep a certain distance from your wave and turrets. He's shines in team fights so buying a banner relatively early gives your turrets and your allies the tankiness needed to not be chunked by his % hp dmg. Avoid building RoA or other hp items if you're not buying mr along side since it's just gonna be subject to %hp damage.
Taliyah
A skill match up for most part, she can easily push waves back but is limited since her Q consumes the ground to fire 5 shots so it can't be spammed for long. Place turrets in the wave so it's not easily killed. She shouldn't out push you during the early game. She can set up ganks with her e and w combo and deal tons of damage with cc over a certain area, so you're sorta trapped. After 6 she'll have good roaming potential with her passive mov speed and ult to set up incredible ganks and trap your allies. TP is highly recommended so, for 1 you match her global presence, and 2, when she traps your allies and you tp there with your ult and 3 turrets, her team and herself are the ones trapped there with all of your damage, turning around the tides incredibly well. This will either force her to undo her wall or if she chooses to fight she and her team shouldn't live. This works better in botlane rather than top since it;s ore likely to have a support with some CC rather than a top laner, and heimer needs CC to become a constant source of dps.
Twisted Fate
Before 6 he can match your pushing pressure at the cost of mana given he uses red card and Q. Try to not overextend due to his unmatched ability to set up ganks with his yellow card, so push back if he pushes and enough to pressure him but not exposing your self in danger. You can set up turrets a bit further in the lane and you can stand back and walk back and forth so your turrets don't get disabled. This requires you to be in sync with your turrets so you don't miss CS; pay attention to the laser beam charge. TFs tend to take ghost or tp, which doesn;t give them direct combat stats, so in the case of a gank you can 1v2 if you have ignite of exhaust. Keep in mind you can cast both even when suppressed or stunned. If you choose to match his global presence you can take tp and play more passively. Keep in mind that if he takes ghost he doesn't even need to burn flash to land a stun. Due to your immobility you'll be stunned before your safe under tower. Asking for a gank may not be very effective unless he's over extended or he took TP instead of ghost. TF is immobile so someone like lee eve or any decent damage dealing jungler with some cc or gap closing of sort can be effective in forcing summs, chunking or even killing him.
Cho'Gath
Has sustain, long range damage dealing AoE CC and true damage. He can take turrets easily, so maxing turrets may not be very viable. But you can pressure lane by pushing and forcing him to focus on CSing, but he should be able to push back too. Max Q but place them slightly away from the wave but still within range to push waves. When you back you should go for a HP item due to his ultimate that deals true damage with high base damage with 70% AP scaling. Going RoA gives you HP and sustain with both hp and mana in lane. Rylai's gives you pure HP. Getting both scale really well into late game so you don't get one shot with his ult + Q + W combo. Rylai also help slow him since he's melee. Cho is tanky while dealing tons of damage so liandry's is a good item to build since you can't one shot him, and it also gives you HP. Merc treads are good for his silence, since it just makes you a siting duck for him to deal dmg to. Your final build should look something like: merc treads, roa, rylai, liandry's, rabadon's and zhonya. Going for zhonyas is better over going for Abyssal since it allows you totally evade his 100% AP ratio Q, which abyssal allows you to negate partial damage and reduce him mr by 15. Not where nearly as valuable.
Gangplank
Laning phase becomes him killing your turrets (and getting tons of gold) and trying to poke and kill you. Don't max turrets, go for rockets with lvl 1 turrets under your tower to help you CS under tower. Tough laning phase pre 6. He has no cc so as long as you're not over extended he shouldn't kill you. Going the regen build helps with his poke, specially after he gets sheen, which procs on his Q aswell, since it's recognized as an auto. So you just have to auto to CS and use rockets to push back waves if necessary or just poke. No need to ask for jungler's assistance since you shouldn't have any killing pressure unless he misplays. After 6 you can try all-in-ing him with 3 turrets and an upgraded one, but his ult will take them down so easily (and if it can't it means your turrets are spaced apart so far that they're ineffective in your all-ins) and you're left with an ulted turret only, which he can effortlessly walk away from. After maxing rockets, max turrets and save 3 of them in his presence. In the case a fight breaks out place them slightly spaced apart but as you see fit. Heimer thrives in chaotic team fights so GP probably won't recognize the threat of your turrets and will just ult to deal damage to champions rather than to kill turrets. As he worries about his barrels' mechanics and prep he should fall pray to your rylai's and field of turrets and should take tons of dmg. Keep in mind he has oranges, so don't use your stun on him. Instead either burst him with ulted rockets, drop a big turret or use grenades to stun multiple targets. Try to keep your self and your turrets away from his barrels, they deal so much damage, if he gets ahead he can one shot your big turret, so keep that and his items in mind.
Akali
Pink is invaluable vs Akali since she is most exposed when invisible as she uses when her abilities are on CD and she's waiting for them to come back, this applies throughout the game. She is melee, giving you an advantage in lane, specially pre 6. She tends to use her Q to harass and zone you since the duration if her Q lasts longer than the CD, zoning you from auto range. You should place your turrets and your self in your minion wave so that if she does come close to auto you or your turrets, she'll take damage from the wave, you and your turrets, meaning even if she does proc her q, it's just not a worth trade, plus you have good hp regen. After 6 you'll need a pink to ensure you win trades and get kills. She can dash with ult proc her q do tons of damage and back off only to do so again with the use of her shroud to escape, and repeat when it's off of CD. Keep in mind her ult stacks up to 3 times. Pink wards allow you to not let her escape so easily, and burst her or force her to use a stack to escape to a nearby minion; which if you turrets are placed well, shouldn't be out of reach for you. The later the game goes this tactic becomes less and less effective due to her increasingly high one shot potential. In which case you'd try to drop a pink followed by a stun and a wave of rockets. It becomes more of who one shots who first. If that's too risky to do, you can get zhonya pink and drop 3 turrets and an upgraded one to slow and her kill her while you're invulnerable. Rylai's is recommended since can walk off + flash + ult a nearby minion of whatever. You're better off avoiding her later in the game however, and try to stick with your team and counter her in team fights. Again, pinks are her biggest weakness.
Veigar
Early levels he could use your turrets and minions to stack easy AP using Q, hence you should push. He doesn't farm very well under turret using his q, he;d focus in last hitting rather getting AP while last hitting. Avoid building rabadon's, his ult scales with your AP aswell. Banshee's will help, if he gets rolling, avoids his catch and burst potential. Abyssal is pretty good, doesn't give you much AP but gives you pen. The later the game goes he cane easily take down your turrets, your upgraded turret included, if he chooses to focus it, given it'll be his biggest threat. So if you're in a 1v1 situation it'll be about who lands his stun first, if you do you can follow up with upgraded rockets and chunk him and force him to back off, but you shouldn't be able to kill him, since you shouldn't have rabadon's. Only fight with your team and consider getting banner early, it'll help your team survive his burst and help push a bit.
Yasuo
All of your abilities can be windwalled. Early game space your turrets decently far apart but within range of your minion wave. Yasuo likes to dash in and out in your wave to poke and back off, having your turrets near by punishes him for it. After level 6, use your ult to upgrade your turrets only. Rockets and grenades can be windwalled and made absolutely ineffective, literally a waste of CD, this applies in late game teamfights as well. Once you place 4 turrets run around them and kite as much as possible and place yourself such that you're in a postiion where his windwall isn't effective against all your turrets; ie if he windwalls a turret walk to another one a bit far away whose damage can't be blocked. Keep doing this and don't stop walking around. Exh him while doing so to slow him in there if you don't have rylai's, even if you do, do so if his damage is threatening. Save your stun so it's not wasted by his windwall, same applies to your rockets. If you hit late game, do the same but avoid fighting him solo, he can tank your damage and kill you, just make sure you run away as he's occupied with your turrets and slows.
Vel'Koz
He can push decently well early, although not as well as you and he has high mana costs. Prior to level 6, he lacks killing pressure, he only has poke. His Q deals most damage, so sticking within minion waves helps negate the damage. After 6, he can easily one shot you with a single rotation of spells, even easier if he lands his stun/knock up. His ult deals true damage once his passive is triggered, so don't count on your resistances in this scenario. Maintain your distance and ward carefully, he doesn't need much items to deal damage.
Ekko
Before level 6 you have the upper hand in lane. If you keep pressuring him he'll be forced to focus on last hitting with his spells. His Q does respectable damage, so he will use it to push back the wave and so to avoid your turrets dying keep them away from your wave, since he can guide his Q's return path. After level 6 your kill pressure on him should be low when his ult's not on CD, it's a free get-out-of-jail card unless he chooses to use it for damage. You can kill him after 6 if you exhaust him while he's in your field of turrets or you land a stun followed by waves of upgraded rockets. The latter's window of opportunity is slim, hence it's most reliable if he's under heavy CC or his ult is on CD. Watch out for his ult's shadow, it has a 150% AP ratio, so even if you have exhaust, it will still deal heavy damage.
Heimerdinger is a flexible champion and can do so much. He can engage, counter engage, follow up on an engage, defend the back line, control a zone and much more, unlike Annie or LB for example, who jump in attempt to chunk and one shot the back line and voila. It really depends on what you build and how you play him.
Pros and Cons of Heimer
Pros and Cons of Heimer
Pros:
You're not a popular champion and your damage dealing capability is deceptive. People know your turrets deal a lot of damage, but don't respect them. They'll see you with one turret and after taking a couple of autos from it they'd misjudge your damage output and be fooled into thinking they can tank the turret and what's more to come for the duration it takes to kill you, which where you get most of your lane kills. This applies to junglers too, where they think they can 1v2 you with the laner because you're overextended. They also tend to forget you have a stun/slow and rockets (both of which deal respectable damage early and a lot more later); not just turrets.
You're versatile with your ult. You can over kill with R + W, zone and control an area with R + Q, or land a linear hard CC with R + E. The enemy doesn't know what to expect so you zone and have amazing objective control specially with rylai; be it baron, towers or drake (with your impressive dps for a mage).
Solo tower diving with upgraded turret chokes enemy and they have NO WHERE safe to be. Tilt. This takes quite some practice and preparation to do and consumes everything in your arsenal, so make sure you're safe afterwards and have enough tank stats to initiate the dive.
Cons:
Very useless without turrets during laning phase, so in an unfavorable match-up you can be rendered useless. Hard match ups for Heimer are worse than hard match ups for any other champion due to his reliance in turrets to be a reliable dps source.
You have a lot of micro to deal with. You have to place your turrets so that they don't die to AoE and they're not so far to be ineffective, so they don't push when you don't want them to or don't push when you want them to, they go for the desired target, are out of range from certain champions or skill shots like Jinx's Q or Zigg's Q and much more. All this adds great depth to him and one thing done wrong could easily cost you your influence in a team fight.
Deciding what upgrade to go for and knowing where and who to target. Eg using ult on rockets or e to yasuo or braum is just you giving in in a team fight or using q when Nunu jungle is around. Landing W and E is also quite hard to do, sometimes may even seem glitchy, specially with an un-upgraded e so knowing its interaction with certain champions/abilities and getting a feel for the hitbox
Heimerdinger Mid Guide
Build Guide By Wedi Asmera
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