Hi guys, JefferXpr3ss here with another guide. This time I have made a competitive, serious guide toOrnn in top lane. I would like to start by saying that I am mastery level seven onOrnn. He is by far, my most played champ. And I just love everything about his concept, his lore, his gameplay, and in general, everything about him. With that being said I think that I am a credible source on the topic ofOrnn.
Ornn is a very interesting champ allowing himself through his passive to forge items away from spawn making for extra sustain and allowing himself to stay in lane loner resulting in more lanes won. He also has a special set of items called “masterwork upgrades” that are purchasable by him and all his teammates and only his team that are basically better versions of items they already have. The only requirement to purchase one is thatOrnn is level 13. These items are definitely beneficial as they allow him and his teammates to scale better than the opponents into the late game.

Before I go into the guide, I would like to share a little bit more about myself. I am currently silver in solo/duo and gold in flex (not that flex matters, but still). For the longest time I was a one trickOrnn player, but now I at least have a larger champion pool for top lane and other lanes. Top is probably my favorite lane, just because it’s sort of a you’re on your own lane for most of the game, and just nonstop farm a lot of the time. This just fits my play style perfectly which is why I like top, andOrnn so much. In addition to that, I don’t like carrying that much, I love to play a champ that has a ton of team utility, someone likeOrnn that I can use for the benefits of my teammates. Now, let’s get into the guide.

- High health and tank
- Effective Crowd Control
- High utility
- Great engage
- Great peel
- Scales very well and allows teammates to scale better
- Great sustain

- Low Damage
- Bad dueling potential
- Difficult to play
- Difficult to farm with if not experience
- Limited to armor, health, and magic resist
- Has a fair amount of counters

The runes that I have chosen for this build based on experience and what just seems logical are Resolve, Grasp of the Undying, Shield Bash, Conditioning, and Revitalize. This is all for the Resolve path which just seems logical forOrnn because, well, he is a tank and should be played as a tank which Resolve helps him accelerate with. Grasp of the Undying is really the only viable option for Ornn because Guardian implies that he basically has a lane ally which really should never be the case in top, and then you don’t really use Aftershock just becauseOrnn typically doesn’t need the extra defense to make effective use of it, leaving Grasp of the Undying as the best option as a keystone for Ornn. Aftershock is just objectively the best tank rune for that part of the Resolve path, Conditioning is in the same boat, and basically it has been tested by so many people that it is the only viable option for Ornn. But where I change it up is with Revitalize.Ornn's W (Bellows Breath) ability grants himself a shield for a short duration, but it is actually a very effective shield which I want to utilize by givingOrnn the Revitalize rune. Then, the secondary path for a Ornn is Inspiration which is basically for giving Ornn extra sustain that he needs. First, after Inspiration we take Biscuit Deliveryfor the sustain, then we take Cosmic Insight, for extra CDR. These are what I believe to be the best Runes for Ornn to utilize his tank with his sustain.
Then, for the extra runes, we take CDR because it is just really strong on basically any champ. Then to gain extra defense, we take armor in the flex spot, and then magic resist in the defense spot. This can of course be changed to accommodate for the enemy teams type of damage.

Starting Items:Ornn takes a Doran’s shield, a health potion and a warding totem. These are very typical for a tank likeOrnn giving him the optimal chance for the beginning of the Laning phase.
Core Items:Ornn's core items are Sunfire cape, Ninja Tabi, and spirit visage which all compliment his abilities while still maintaining tank, making these the most optimal items forOrnn's core build. Needless to say, these are effective against almost any team comp.
Situationals:
I will not go over every single one of these for the sake of keeping this guide concise but what I will say is that they all are either for MR or armor to accommodate whatever the enemy team may be building. They are items like Thornmail that are extremely useful against heavy AD team comps but only against heavy AD team comps.
Standard Final Build:
This build basically accommodates for both AD and AP while still giving a large amount of health. This is basically a middle ground against AD and AP. You take the core build plus black cleaver for a little bit of extra damage, you add Randuin's Omen and Warmog’s for health and a little bit of armor.
Final Build Against Heavy AD:
This build simply put is a bunch of health and armor plus Thornmail to deal extra damage thatOrnn could not deal otherwise. You take his core build minus spirit visage plus Randuin’s Omen, Thornmail, righteous glory, and Warmog’s.
Final Build Against Heavy AP:
This build is basically just a ton of magic resist. I think this to be much better in the current meta now because it is the so called “rip ADC” meta now that they all basically got nerfed and AP is the only option for some damage carries. This takes the core build plus Abyssal mask, Adaptive Helm, and Warmog’s.

Masterwork Upgrades are special upgrades to items that normally can be purchased by any champion but can only be purchased if you have anOrnn on your team that is level 13 or higher.Ornn can also purchase these. These items are added in to the same build tree of the items that they are upgrades for. You can only have one masterwork upgrade item in your inventory. These add on to the stats of the items they upgrade makingOrnn and his team able to scale better into late game.

The skill sequence forOrnn is fairly straightforward. You max out yourW Bellows Breath first followed by yourQ Volcanic Rupture and then yourE Searing Charge, while upgrading yourR Call of the Forge God whenever possible. This is because yourW Bellows Breath grants a shield which compliments the rune Revitalize. YourQ Volcanic Rupture is just objectively stronger than yourE Searing Charge because it deals good damage and puts a slow on any enemies hit by it. But also it is not reliant on any other abilities while yourE Searing Charge somewhat requires the after effect of yourQ Volcanic Rupture to be near the enemies because if there are smart they will not stand next to a wall which means they can’t be knocked up by yourE Searing Charge. So simplified, max yourW Bellows Breath, thenQ Volcanic Rupture, thenE Searing Charge, while upgrading yourR Call of the Forge God whenever possible.

Ornn is a very combo based champion with his abilities. He has a basic combo with his Q into his E giving a slow and a knock up to the enemy champions. Another nice combo is within a one on one fight where he’s done his W and then uses his E to get to the enemy to make use of the Brittle effect as a result of the W. To give a brief explanation ofOrnn's abilities, his Q is a rupture on the ground that slows enemies and at the end after a few seconds sends up a pillar of rock that if impacted by his E being a dash knocks up the enemies in a radius for a few seconds. He can also do this with his E on any wall-like surface.Ornn's W is a short ranged fire breath that deals damage over time to any enemies inside the fire and if they are hit by it, they get a brittle effect for a few seconds after. IfOrnn hits them and they have a brittle effect, they will be briefly knocked up and take good damage as well.Ornn's Ultimate is where he calls a big fiery ram that runs towards him that he can hit back towards an enemy in any direction slowing upon cast and knocking up on recast. To put it simply, hit your Q pillar with your E to make the most use out ofOrnn's kit.

For summoner spells, it is pretty basic. You use the typical top laner summoner spells, Flash and Teleport. I don’t think much explanation is needed other than Ornn is your typical top laner and that is the summoner spells he should use.

At first, I found farming very difficult withOrnn. Typically , from my experience, it is easier to farm using abilities, particularly you W, or you Q from range, and you E for aggressive farming but that usually leaves you low on mana only letting you last hit which can be difficult with the low damageOrnn. All I can say is be efficient with your mana and don’t waste it. Be sure you get the most out of your abilities and focus on good mechanics because that is very important with any champ really, but especiallyOrnn.

Ornn is EXTREMELY good at engaging in team fights, with his insane CC as well as tankiness. This means he can basically jump in a fight, airborne everyone with his E, and let his teammates do the rest and he still can get out alive. He usually engages a team fight by activating his Q, then using his E to airborne nearby enemies giving your team a better chance of winning the team fight.Ornn also has insane peel because of just how much CC he has. He is a great team player if used properly.

That’s it, this is my hopefully helpful guide toOrnn. I will try to keep this updated to the best of my ability. What you need to keep in mind is thatOrnn is not easy to play, he has a very effective combo with his abilities, cannot and should not try to do a lot of damage (I have tried and it didn’t work so well), is meant for CC and team utility, and can beget VERY tanky. He can also easily bend his build to accommodate for his team and what the enemy team is building. Overall, I thinkOrnn is a very fun but difficult champ that has a lot of strengths with minimal weaknesses for his kit and should definitely be considered for your top lane champion pool. Thank you all if you read this far and I hope to see you out on the rift!