Short introduction

Orianna has great team fight presence and utility making her very good for the brawling environment of ARAM. Her relative short range and the delay in her spells due to the movements of the ball is holding her down from being a major presence but also makes her often underestimated.

As this guide is champion specific, I won't talk about general tips but some good tips can be found here.

About me

Welcome to my guide. I'm Ephemerion on EUW and have been playing mostly ARAM since the game mode came out. With around 4000 ARAM games and a 53-54 winrate under my belt, I made this guide of one of my favorite champions in hopes to be of use to some less experienced players. I am by no means a top ARAM player though, so feel free to discuss and help me improve this guide.

Also, as this is my first guide here, there will be some typo issues that I hope to fix later.

Summoner spells

In every case, Flash is a very reliable summoner for both surviving and securing kills.

The other one is kept for a more supportive summoner spell. Try to always use it to benefit your team.

• Exhaust: It should be favored as it gives a reliable way to survive all ins and make assassins' life harder.
• Clarity: If you have a lot of mana users and they don't take one, or if you are the only waveclear and will need the extra mana (as of 6.12, Health relics give less mana and Clarity give more).
• Heal: Can be good.
• Ignite: Not the best as you need to get quite close and you don't need grievous wounds usually since Morellonomicon gives it.
• Mark/Dash: The problem with this is that it is very hard to not listen to your body. Low enemies aren't very impactful so using it to trade kills isn't worth it usually. This should be taken if your team as low poke and no all in potential, as a means to hard engage a potential stall/poke comp, and should be paired with Zhonya's Hourglass.

Runes

• 9x Greater Glyph of Scaling Ability Power: They equal flat Glyphs at level 7. You won't miss much early power with them as you won't really be poking or anything early anyway.
• 2x Greater Quintessence of Scaling Cooldown Reduction+1x Greater Quintessence of Ability Power/ Greater Quintessence of Magic Penetration: Scaling cdr makes you recover your ulti faster late game which is a must since fights happens more frequently. You don't need early cdr much, as you would run out of mana fast and your range isn't enough to safely poke anyway.
• 3x Greater Quintessence of Ability Power can be used if you need waveclear early, or if you plan on getting to 40% cdr with items which is quite easy nowadays. Conversely, scaling AP can be good if you think it will go to late game and you don't need waveclear (it bests flat at level 12 though)
• 9x Greater Mark of Magic Penetration: Definitely the best choice.
• 9x Greater Seal of Scaling Health: Equals flat at level 6, simply the best defense overall at the moment.

You can get to 20% cdr @lvl18 with 3 Scaling CDR Glyphs and Quints, but if you need Morellonomicon and Zhonya's Hourglass/ Abyssal Mask then it's too much.

Keystones

Thunderlord's Decree works well with your full combo, or else you need either one auto, Everfrost or Luden's Tempest to get a third hit.
Windspeaker's Blessing can be used if you plan to support. (Get Intelligence then instead of Precision)

Mandatory

Expose Weakness is so good on ARAM on anything that has some AoEs that not taking it would be a crime.

Introduction

Orianna is an AP caster (I know that's not new information) so the main stats for her are AP, CDR, Mana and Mpen. That being said, she has great utility too, and her E resists makes health also a valuable stat especially in ARAM where you can't back easily.

Suggested build order

-> / / -> -> + / / +

First buy

• Catalyst of Aeons: A good item to start with in most games. Reliable stats and a good passive that gives you some regen. You will have no AP early, but that's fine if you are not on waveclear duty. The Catalyst can be kept for a long time, but don't upgrade to Rod of Ages at 30 min. Pair it with a few Health Potion or with a Refillable Potion.

Situational starts

• Sapphire Crystal+ Amplifying Tome+ Amplifying Tome: Alternatively gives you early power.
• Lost Chapter+ Amplifying Tome+ Health Potion: Building pieces for Morellonomicon, if you need Grievous Wounds fast.

Core items

These are supposed to be items you will need in your full build. It is however not necessary to rush all of them in order.

Mana

These are for solving mana issues. You can buy only one, or both.

• Everfrost: This gives you early power while providing decent mana and health. It is also possible to delay it, since Catalyst of Aeons Catalyst is already useful by itself. The very nice part is the active which helps proc Thunderlord's Decree while providing decent utility. Catalyst of Aeons Catalyst can be made into Rod of Ages Rod of Ages too if you want a bit more late game power and mana, but you lose the active.
• Morellonomicon: Provides AP, CDR and a bit of mana with regen on kills/assists. Mandatory against healing based champions like , etc.
• Rod of Ages: Provides more AP and mana late game than Everfrost but needs time to scale and does not have its active. This is better if you don't run Thunderlord Decree, or plan to go crisis mode afterwards.

Damage

These are your main source of damage.

• Rabadon's Deathcap: It is an essential item on Orianna as it gives a lot of Ability Power late game. This will greatly enhance her damage and bulk up her shields.
• Void Staff: This one is mandatory on every AP carry, and it is the same for Orianna. It's probably the item that will give you the most damage out of any 3rd choice.

Situationally core items

These items can or should be included in a build depending on situations. It is possible to include parts of them before finishing your first or second core item. You can for example buy an early Negatron Cloak vs all AP teams.

• Abyssal Mask: A good defensive item providing magic resist and AP as well as CDR. Good versus magic damage oriented teams or tanks like , as it will reduce their damage by a lot since they don't buy magic penetration, as well as reducing their magic resist resist when they are close (and they will want to get close for sure).
• Zhonya's Hourglass: A good defensive item providing AP, CDR and Armor. Get it when against AD oriented teams, or versus assassins of all kinds.
• Rylai's Crystal Scepter: This item is good in a lot of cases, providing a decent amount of survivability as well as AP. With the slow passive paired with Everfrost and your W, you become a slowing machine. Best against low mobility champions especially melee.
• Lich Bane: Provides movement speed, AP and CDR. Good late game if you need more sustained damage against heavy tanks or objectives. Aether Wisp can provide early mobility.
• Liandry's Torment: Pretty bad in most cases, it gives decent stats and can be useful against beefy (or less beefy) teams if you have a lot of CDR and a Rylai.
• Sorcerer's Shoes Mercury's Treads Ionian Boots of Lucidity Ninja Tabi Boots: Highly situational, it is quite rare to need them on most ranged champions in ARAM. Chose one between (in order) damage, utility, vs magic or vs attack-based if you want them.

Supportive items

You can either decide to go more towards support before or during the game. Getting only one of those items won't hurt your damage much, and they may very well make the difference. Be careful as most of them provide CDR so it is easy to go over the 40% cap.

• Athene's Unholy Grail: Provides a good mix of stats for a starter, and a heal on your E.
• Banner of Command: Provides the magic resist aura which is very valuable in ARAM, as well as a decent amount of CDR and AP. The active is very good against teams that lack waveclear, or all AP teams.
• Zeke's Harbinger: If you have a fed ADC or APC, that may very well bring more damage than getting AP for yourself. Also provides CDR and Armor although only a little.
• Mikael's Blessing: Can save a fed ally's sweet buttocks. Works with Windspeaker's Blessing.
• Frost Queen's Claim: Can make a decent starting item. Orianna can still have a hard time using the passive versus longer ranged or high threat champions.
• Oracle's Extract: For the holy crusade

Special mentions

• Luden's Tempest: The only place it can fit is as second item when ahead, and that is only against team you can reliably poke, but Orianna does not have a huge range. The stats are similar to Lich Bane without CDR and the latter is better as a late game purchase. Can be bought after Morello against shorter range teams to proc Thunderlord's Decree with Q+W combo.
• Hextech Rocketbelt: yeah, if you get this you are the same one that takes Mark and yolo in the enemy team. You will have a hard time convincing me it is more efficient than Everfrost (and the passives do not stack). It is fun however.
• Banshee's Veil/ Spirit Visage/ Randuin's Omen/ Frozen Heart can be good as defensive items.
• Warmog's Armor: decent last item if you need the health regen and have enough raw health to get the passive.
• Ardent Censer: ...the least useful supportive item you can get without trolling.
• Seraph's Embrace: Late game power at its finest, it takes time to stack without giving survivability until late in the game. Good versus non poke teams.
• Nashor's Tooth: Paired with a Rod of Ages, you should have enough mana to go with the CDR, and it gives better sustained damage than Morellonomicon though you can as well get both.
• Guardian's Orb: viable first item especially in the case you use a setup with a lot of cdr in runes.

Crisis Mode

Those itemization can bring great fortune and misery and should be tried in desperate situations (skip this part if you don't want to see weird things). This is for when you are bored or need to fend off a line up of doom with at least 3-4 of those abominations (etc).

Can be fun against low damage teams.

• Hextech Gunblade: A robot with a gun may be the savior for your team. Provides damage on both attacks and abilities, a little slow as well as sustain. Sustain is important if you go towards an attack-based build.
• Iceborn Gauntlet: Provides some physical damage if your team lacks AD, though do not rely on only that. Decent stats, and slows on attack. It however does not provide ability power.
• Wit's End: When sustained damage is needed and you can attack safely, or paired with Nashor's Tooth Hextech Gunblade Guinsoo's Rageblade. Consider it only if you have an ap team vs a beefy ap team.
• Guinsoo's Rageblade: If you have the money for it in a difficult game, there is something wrong. Synergy with Orianna's passive, but you get better damage out of it with Nashor's Tooth and Void Staff.
• [[boots of swiftness]: For running away more efficiently.
• Executioner's Calling: For the time when nobody has Morellonomicon against /etc

R>W>Q>E

Maxing W first makes your nuke better overall especially at 6. Q's low mana cost early makes repositioning the ball easy in order to check bushes, farm or zone.

Max Q first if you need waveclear or need to stack a Tear, though W max still works.

First, if you never played Orianna, learn about her abilities (in bold are what's not evident if you didn't play her):

P: Deals extra damage when you auto-attack depending on your AP. Stacks twice if you attack the same target

Q: Displace the ball, deals damage when the ball pass through enemies. Check the radius of the AoE to know what to expect.

W: AoE damage. Leaves a zone behind that slows enemies and speed up allies.

E: Shield an ally or yourself. The ball will travel to the target dealing damage when it passes through enemies. Also gives bonus armor and magic resist.

R: AoE damage with displacement. The displacement happens towards the ball, and has a set distance. Huge radius (check it)

Before level 6

You should play like a support, since at this point your damage is low but utility is high. Waveclear if needed and shield your team mates to soak up poke. You should preserve your mana to have enough at level 6, so play pretty passively while farming.

Try to land a W/Q-W and use your basic attacks if the enemy commits to a fight. Don't hesitate to play aggressively in those cases as long as you have Flash. Do not hesitate to use it to survive or put an enemy using Dash in a precarious situation. You can be useful without taking risk, so trading Flash is ok.

Level 6 and early mid game

Stay at the edge of the fights while shielding important targets (your E also gives bonus armor&magic resist so it is very useful agianst DoTs and delayed damage procs too). It's easier to know what to do with your ball after shielding as you see how the fight develops. W can be used after the shield for more peel and a bit of burst, or kept for after using Q on a priority location. I say location here, as you can put the ball on top of someone but also in front of them, so that if they go on top of it you can R+W them.

Unless you are well coordinated with a team mate (voice comms or very easy combos like with Malphite), you should hold on to your R. People will often forget about the ball in the midst of a fight, and you can surprise them later by leaving it in the middle of the path. This is especially true if your team tends to lose fights, as the enemy getting overconfident or chasing is a common occurrence.

You can try to hide the ball in bushes or behind a turret. The leash on your ball is longer than your Q range so if you are far it's only possible to move it towards you. The travel time of the ball has to be taken into account too. People tend to think you have slow skillshots but if the ball is already close, it can be surprisingly fast. It can also go beyond the apparent range if you move the other way, due to the travel time.

If the target on which the ball is attached move when you press R, it will work at the end of the dash in most cases. If the target goes out of the leash range it still works, so it has good synergy with Mark/Dash if timed well.

Late game

This is where you deal the most damage. You should have one goal in mind at this point, and that is staying alive during fights (while still fighting). This is because you are always useful to the team (if you compare to Talon without his R for example. You have waveclear and damage, and it is also dangerous to follow you when you are retreating as Q+W deals a lot of damage at this point. Always try to coordinate with your team mates at this point. If you are going to try to engage with R or have a hard time to follow up on engages, communicate. After the engage (without necessarily having used R), concentrate on peeling. Orianna can deal with most tanks pretty well with Rylai, and her sustained damage isn't negligible.

Here is what was changed and when:

Patch 6.12: added Guardian's Orb as a "special mention". Renamed the "Gameplay" section. Added a little description of the abilities for people who never played her in said section.