Aatrox

This matchup is highly dependant on the player playing Aatrox, a good Aatrox can absolutely obliterate you if you aren't careful enough, although most Aatrox players are bad so you might have easier time against them.



If he snowballs, you're in big, big trouble, his damage numbers are insane with him being to kill you with just 2x Q and 2 autos with just a slight lead.



The big part about this matchup is knowing the range of his E + Q (mostly the 1st and 2nd part). If you ever get hit by 2 of them you'll be at about 2/3rd's of your hp at like lvl 3/4. His all-in's are incredibly dangerous, especially after 6 where he can just tower dive you by himself. If he does, try to pop his ult asap before he gets too much damage.



Once you get 2 items, your job is to trap him in the cage and pop his hp bar asap before he gets too much damage in and try to kill him before his R starts holding too much of his HP, so he's either forced to immediately back off after he revives or just dies.



I don't have a lot of experience in this matchup though, especially that he has been hit by nerfs incredibly hard. Still something to watch out for though.

Ahri

Take Cleanse, don't let her hit her Q and the wave at the same time.

Don't let her hit her charm, cleanse it instantly after lvl 6. (Hide behind creeps, try to sidestep etc. the usual)

This matchup gets easier over time.

Trading with her is fine, as long as you dodge her Q and get your Electrocute proc off.

After 2 items, you should be able to beat her without any bigger trouble, just don't use cage carelessly and try to trap her inside so she can't R out of it.

You can grab Banshee's Veil later on for the MR and spell shield (although it isn't really effective due to that most Ahri's build Luden's so it's just gonna pop because of it's proc).

Mercury's Treads is also a nice option but you're gonna miss the magic pen from Sorcerer's.

Akali

This matchup isn't necessarily hard but it's INCREDIBLY annoying to deal with.

Through levels 1 and 2 try to poke her for every cs she tries to take (an auto or auto q auto for the electrocute proc). Try to freeze it closer to your tower so you can farm safely after she gets lvl 3 and be at less of a risk after lvl 6.

What you shouldn't do is ever try to trade with her in her shroud, just walk away and wait for it to time out, then you can try to get some free autos and q's.

If she hits her E on you, wait like 1 second to see if she immediately follows it (if she does drop your cage so that the edge of it is just right under your feet). If she doesn't, just wait cautiously prepared to drop the cage.

If you ever waste your cage and she's close enough to land the first part of her R and she does it, Flash instantly and try to dodge the E, if you don't.... Well, you're dead unless she's really behind and you've got MR.

In the mid game and late game this matchup is easy, again, as long as you don't waste your cage you should be able to burst her down with GLP W Q if she doesn't have her Banshee's up and she doesn't dodge them. (Zhonya's is a death sentence for her late game due to W Q having ~2 sec cd).

Anivia

This matchup is just annoying, you should be able to poke her before lvl 6 but after that she'll probably back, get a tear and just permashove the wave, you can't do much about it until like 2 items without help of a jungler.

Avoid getting close to her after 6, despite her being a scaling/late game champ, she can just use her wall and just trap you in her R and deal a lot of damage to you if you aren't careful enough.

She can stall the game too.

Annie

Avoid getting close to her after she gets her stun and after lvl 6, get some early hp and MR and you should be fine, you outscale her by having longer range than her, the thing to watch out for is the Flash W/R combo with stun up. You should be able to get free Q's on her if she mispositions, also later on in the game you outpush her.

Aurelion Sol

Permanently shoves you in and roams. Nothing you can do about it unless your jungler ganks. Then you can force a summoner spell. Mid game/Late game you outscale him and shut him down hard as long as he and his team aren't ahead.

Azir

Annoying poke with his W Q and outshoves you early, but after getting full mana item you should be able to stomp him due to him not being able to ever dive the backline with his E Q R combo if you use your cage properly and being easily killed with your combo.

Brand

As long as you dodge his Q and W you should be fine and just beat him due to him having about the same range as you do.

Avoid getting close to other teammates in teamfights due to his huge AoE damage.

You should be able to win against him without much trouble due to being able to just burst him if he gets close.

Cassiopeia

She'll zone you off and won't let you cs early, don't let her all-in you and try to farm from as far away as possible.

Try to get the jungler to gank her due to her being an easy target to gank.

You outscale her but until like 2 items you she'll do more in skirmishes and teamfights.

Cho'Gath

AP Cho'Gath is an interesting matchup (I know that you rarely ever see him being picked as an AP mid).

Early game he outshoves you and does more due to him having more damage and easier to hit spells.

After 6 he can just kill you from 100 to 0 if you aren't careful enough.
His silence and cc is really annoying to deal with.

Also his poke is really strong too with his Q having a 300 base damage (+1.0AP ratio).

Corki

An easy matchup, you just outscale him. He does a considerable amount of damage later on but he will just get obliterated if he gets close.

Try to avoid his Q and taking longer trades, you can force a Cleanse/Flash if you trap him in the cage and your jgler comes.

Very easy to kill after 2 items.

Diana

Through levels 1-5 it's easy as you can just get free poke on her, although you get pushed in and have no lane priority. After 6, this matchup gets kinda a struggle, watch out for her Q and try to avoid being in range of her R if you don't have her trapped in the cage.

Respect her all-in, take 2x MR in runes and possibly some MR + HP early. Mid game you just burst her down as long as you respect her range.

If she gets ahead, buy Banshee's or Abyssal Mask, try to avoid getting close to her until you'll be able to kill her with one rotation of spells.

Ekko

Shoves you in early, you can take trades with him as long as he doesn't have shield, try to poke him whenever he tries to cs/push the wave. Always watch out for his ult's hologram.

Mid game/Late game this matchup is kinda easy, as long as you land your stun you should be able to burst him down before he can even use his Chronobreak.

If he gets ahead/you're afraid that you might get bursted down by him, take Banshee's Veil.

Fiddlesticks

This matchup is a headache early with him being able to zone you off cs and dealing a bunch of damage with his E W if you're close to creeps. His lvl 6 is really scary due to him being able to hide behind a wall or in a bush and just catch you off guard.

Late game you just burst him down and if he uses Zhonya you can always prepare your cage/W - Q combo to just nuke him before he's able to do anything out of statis.

Take Cleanse and 2x MR. You can also build Banshee's if you're afraid that he'll try to flash on you or smth.

Fizz

This matchup is really tough, lvl 1 and 2 you should try to get as much poke damage as possible on him.

After he hits 3 you try to stay at max range and if he uses E poke him some more before it comes back up (approx. 14 seconds cd)

After 6 stay away from him as far as possible, he can just burst you down 100 to 0 even through Barrier and 2x MR stat shards.

Rush Zhonya's in this matchup, if he somehow falls behind or is even, you can buy something like Negatron Cloak + Ruby Crystal but it's a very, very risky and cocky buy since he won't be able to 100 to 0 you but if he gets ahead or has a jungler you'll still die to him.

In the mid game and late game, watch out for him and try to stay away from his R range, if he hits it on you, wait a bit until he uses his E or the fish is about to come out of the water and use Hourglass to prevent the damage.

His E goes through your cage so you have to bait it out first. Stick with teammates that can peel you and don't go solo in a side lane if your team can't shadow you.

Galio

Gangplank

Aatrox