1.0.0 -- A rough foundation for Orianna, the Lady of Clockwork. Recent Match History to come soon as well as some definite changes as I explore suggestions by friends, by you, and by experience.

To come soon!!

Hello, and welcome to my guide for Orianna, The Lady of Clockwork. This is an AP DPS/Support guide on how to be effective in laning as well as team fights. Please Rate/Comment after you try it out a few games and throw me some constructive feedback.

Pros:
Fun to play
Easy to harass enemies
Intimidation of her ball makes it easy to control your enemies
A lot of utility
Never an idle moment
High early game dmg output
Sounds like GLaDOS

Cons:
Hard to play
A lot of micro
Very squishy (as all Mages)
Low mana early game
No real Burst dmg
Very situational
Positioning is a constant requirement

9x Greater Mark of Magic Penetration are the standard Runes used for most AP characters. Why is self-explanatory as they are the most commonly used and useful runes in the Red category.

9x Greater Seal of Replenishment will fix your early game mana issues. Orianna is a character that needs to spam her abilities in order to be effective. Without mana, there is no spam. Plain and simple. You can use Vitality Runes if you wish to lessen her squishieness early game or AP if you'd like that extra nuke, however I feel as though the flat MP5 runes will allow you to stay in lane longer, which helps to get this semi-expensive build going.

9x Greater Glyph of Scaling Cooldown Reduction. As I said earlier, Orianna is an ability spam character. You are constantly moving your Ball every which way, and you need to do so quickly, lest your enemies make a quick escape. Being that Orianna is a pretty weak nuker, you need to be able to use your abilities to control the battlefield as much as possible. You could also use AP Runes if you wanted to raise your nuke capabilities.

Masteries
I go with the standard 9/0/21 Caster build. The CDR in the Utility tree is too much to pass up, as well as a bigger mana pool and MP5. You could move a point into Greed if you felt it necessary, but 1g/10 sec just doesn't feel worth it in most builds. Yes, this build is a little on the expensive side, but being that you should be participating in most fights anyway, you should be able to feed off enough kills or assists early to build up your Kage's Lucky Pick relatively early.

Summoner Spells
Top Summoner Choices:




I choose Ghost for a few reasons. It helps to escape and pursue as well as it combines well with your Dissonance for both purposes on top of trying to get back into battle quickly. Orianna has a base run speed of 300. It. Is. Low. While spamming Dissonance is cool for a 2 second increase, it just doesn't cut it when you really need to get somewhere FAST. Ghost has the best synergy with it.

Flash is awesome for a lot of the same reasons as Ghost. Hopping over walls for escapes/pursues is a great option, plus getting the hell out of a fight you're about to die in, or Flashing close enough to pop your Ball on their heads. I'm all about controlling the battlefield, and these 2 spells are just the best for that.

Other Options:





Teleport is good for controlling key locations around the map. Teleport in to a tower that's getting beat on, hop on a minion next to a friend, etc. It's definitely a great utility to get around the map, I just prefer something that suits battle ferocity.

Clairvoyance really doesn't have much else to say about it. I like to spam it around mid to make sure myself or whomever is midding doesn't get ganked. Junglers hate this spell as well since it can screw them over.

Clarity can be used early game when you have some general mana issues. However, I rarely use this mid-late game as Orianna's mana pool increases due to Tear and Archangel.

All of Orianna's attacks are centered around the Ball. It is your primary weapon, as well as a unique one. It's the only pet currently in game that cannot be targeted by abilities and, thus, not killed. The only other Champion currently in game with a difficulty of 100 is Cassiopia. This derives from the pure fact that Orianna requires a LOT of micromanagement (micro). You must ALWAYS know where your Ball is in order to accomplish this amount of micro effectively. Losing your Ball may lead to slower attacking sequences, and losing yourself will mean death. I can't stress enough how you must keep track of both in and out of fights, especially Team fights.

Clockwork Windup
Orianna's passive. Basically, her AP is fed into her Basic Attacks. As it states, subsequent attacks against the same target will increase the amount of magic dmg caused by said Basic Attacks. There are builds that do focus themselves around this, such as a hybrid build with a Guinsoo's Rageblade. This, however, is not the purpose of this guide. Nevertheless, it's still a useful passive, especially early in the game.

Command: Attack
Your bread and butter attack. Your Ball will move to a designated location, hitting any enemies that it comes into contact with, including minions. The more targets it passes through, the less dmg it does to each target behind it in the same swing. Try to hit as little minions as possible while trying to harass early game, as one shot on a squishy will take out roughly 1 bar of their health. With such a low CD, this is a big deal. Command: Attack will also set you and your teammates up for your other combo attacks.

Command: Dissonance
Command: Dissonance will usually be the 2nd or 3rd attack in your combo. Command: Attack --> Command: Dissonance has an intimidating dmg output as well as causing a percentage of Slowing effects depending on it's rank. Not only that, but it will also speed up any teammates that step in it for the same amount it slows, doubling the catch speed of you and your allies. While you or your teammates are holding the ball, you can activate this ability as well for a short burst of speed to maneuver the map better.

Command: Protect
Another attack that does just what the title says; it will pop a Shield on you or an ally for a few seconds, mitigating dmg taken by that person. While an ally is holding the Ball, they also gain an increase in Armour as well as MR. This ability WILL dmg enemies it comes into contact with for flat dmg calculated by 75% of the shield amount itself + some of your AP. It's a great deal in the middle of team fights when Attack and Dissonance are on CD.

Command: Shockwave
Your Ultimate, and by far my favorite. The dmg it does is a little negligible, but the dmg it CAUSES is extremely beneficial. Scenario: Rammus just ported back to base to Heal and Kat just will not leave her Tower. You and your partner need to shut her down, as she's really messing up your day. Command: Attack close to her (hopefully causing some dmg). As soon as she's in range, pop Shockwave and she will fly a distance to your ball (and if you timed it right, over) which will pull her close enough to get a few shots on her while you Dissonance to slow her escape. Free gold for you and your partner. This spell can also jumble up your opponents, giving your Renekton that last second he needed to escape death safely, or pull that Teemo out of stealth so your friends can pound on him. I generally try to make it my 2nd or 3rd attack in my combo, only replacing it with Dissonance.

One instance you can do with your Ball is Command: Protect to shield your initiator. We'll say in this case Amumu. Protect Amumu before he Bandaid > Ults. As soon as it wears off, pop Dissonance > Shockwave > Attack. Not only are they slowed for the duration, but they just got pulled BACK into the team fight for more dmg, as well as probably saving Amumu from near death. If someone on your team is being outrun, you can also hit them with Command: Protect > Dissonance > Shockwave to speed up your ally, give him a handy shield, AND pull in his prey for the kill, leaving you with some gold and them one less teammate.

Now to get down to why you're REALLY here: Item build. It took me some time and a few games to trouble shoot, but I found what build works very well for me.

Core Items:



First Buy:
Start out by grabbing either a Sapphire Crystal or a Meki Pendant (my choice) and 2 Health Potions. Run to your lane and have some fun with your Ball.

First Trip Back
Try to amass at least 1k before you get back to base. I generally aim for about 1500+ on all of my toons as this will give you the best and most intimidating upgrades when they see you next. Pick up your Boots and Tear of the Goddess. If you can max out your Ionian Boots of Lucidity or pick up another Sapphire Crystal or Ruby Crystal while you're there, awesome. Whichever you pick is purely situational and personal preference.

Second Trip
Kage's Lucky Pick should be purchased by now, as well as the makings of or a full Catalyst the Protector. You are going to need the Pick for a later item, but it will also provide with some extra gold to help more with this extensive build.

Third Trip and Beyond
Finish off your Rod of Ages as soon as you possibly can. The health helps your squishiness, the mana adds to your ever expanding mana pool, and growing AP is lovely. If you're doing well after this, try to rush your Rabadon's Deathcap as quickly as you can, starting with your Needlessly Large Rod. If you find yourself getting hit a lot, snatch up the Giant's Belt and try to get your Rylai's Crystal Scepter finished as soon as possible. At this point, you will benefit greatly from finishing up your Archangel's Staff. If the game is still continuing, buy your Deathfire Grasp and have some fun. However, you can replace Deathfire with any of the following:

Banshee's Veil Chances are if you have a Karthas, you will want this. Negating one spell every 45 seconds in ANY situation is always good, however. It can only help.
Will of the Ancients If you have a lot of AP characters in your group, this will provide some welcomed Spell Vamp for your team while they help you nuke down your opponents.
Aegis of the Legion Everyone loves more Armour, MR, and extra dmg. I would not prefer to look at this item, however. Still viable, it is just not my preference.
Abyssal Mask or Void Staff, as with all AP caster builds, can only help your dmg output. Negating resistances with the Scepter will also increase most other allied Champions' dmg as well.
Zhonya's Hourglass will provide you with some extra Armour as well as a hefty bit of AP on top of becoming Immune to dmg for 2 seconds, helping your escape or keeping you alive just long enough to clean up the last kill or 2 while you get some Healing from a teammate.

Orianna is a lot of fun to play, but she also requires your CONSTANT attention to detail. Again, you NEED to be aware of your positioning as well as that of your Ball and your Enemies. However, once you master her huge amounts of micro, you will be able to push and pull your enemies wherever you need or want them to be. People are afraid of your Ball. They should be.