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Lissandra Build Guide by Katasandra

Middle How to bury the world in ice | The Lissandra Guide

Middle How to bury the world in ice | The Lissandra Guide

Updated on August 25, 2021
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League of Legends Build Guide Author Katasandra Build Guide By Katasandra 841 38 1,989,340 Views 97 Comments
841 38 1,989,340 Views 97 Comments League of Legends Build Guide Author Katasandra Lissandra Build Guide By Katasandra Updated on August 25, 2021
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Choose Champion Build:

  • LoL Champion: Lissandra
    Standard
  • LoL Champion: Lissandra
    Item overview

Runes: Standard

1 2 3
Domination
Electrocute
Taste of Blood
Eyeball Collection
Ultimate Hunter

Sorcery
Manaflow Band
Transcendence
Bonus:

+10% Attack Speed
+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP)
+10% Tenacity/Slow Resist

Spells:

1 2
Agressive
LoL Summoner Spell: Flash

Flash

LoL Summoner Spell: Ignite

Ignite

Threats & Synergies

Threats Synergies
Extreme Major Even Minor Tiny
Show All
None Low Ok Strong Ideal
Extreme Threats
Ideal Synergies
Synergies
Ideal Strong Ok Low None
Introduction
Hello reader, welcome to my guide! A few years ago, there was a frustrated Lissandra player that just wanted to learn how to play Lissandra, but there was no decent guide to be found anywhere. That player wrote this guide. This guide is for all of you who are now that player.

Unfortunately my times of being a new player are long past, if there's anything in the guide that confuses you, you have questions or you think I'm going too fast. Please comment! Feedback is key to improving this guide.

This guide will cover anything, from runes and items to combo's and gameplay. Because there are many levels of detail, I decided to split the guide in two pieces.
Part One: For people that are looking for quick information on Lissandra's setup and how to approach the game when playing her. Basically a 'summary'.
Part Two: All the details I skipped over in the first part, from items to gameplay. This part is supposed to be some kind of encyclopedia: look up the details you want to know about, but do not read the entire thing in one go.

Whether you are looking to learn Lissandra, whether you are a seasoned Lissandra player or someone who is just trying to find out whether Lissandra is an interesting champion to play, I got your back!
About me
Now, before getting into all that I figured it would be a good idea to tell something about myself. I am Katasandra, a Lissandra onetrick playing on the EUW server. I am mostly to be found chilling in normal and ARAM games as I do not have the time and drive to grind ranked. I started playing Lissandra slightly after the runes rework (2017) and have accumulated over a thousand games & a million mastery points by now.
At the same time I'm also to be found around Mobafire, whether it be through reviewing guides or catching baddies. If you're interested in writing guides then you'll certainly come across two other guides of mine, as I wrote about writing guides and tables. If that's not your thing, let's get into the Lissandra stuff!
Close your eyes and let the cold take you.
Why
Liss
Lissandra doesn't have a high complexity like Akali or Yasuo, she's also not really like traditional mages that deal heavy damage while staying at a distance. So why would you want to play this chilly ice witch?

In a nutshell, Lissandra is a weak laner. However, if the enemy gives you freedom or you manage to create some yourself, you can get some pretty good roams. Past the laning phase she starts to show her true self, where she excels in skirmishes and making picks. Once she gets a few items she transforms in a teamfight menace due to her AoE damage and CC.

One thing that stands out to me is her agency. Where other champions, mage or assassin, have to pick their moment very carefully, you can decide it will happen now. Her CC and AoE in combination with Glacial Path can easily lead to victory by your hand or demise...

Despite this, Lissandra is definitely not a flashy champ. Although she is very capable of pulling off highlight plays (most notable massive AoE combo's in teamfights), they are not what defines her. You'll find people accusing you of being a "press R champ" or "your jungler ganks so you win champ". This game isn't some honorable duel, it's dirty and unfair. It is often not possible to out-mechanic other champions as Lissandra and therefore she finds other ways...

Finally, be aware of her conflicting identities. She likes to fight up close, like Vladimir and Swain, but she doesn't have the survivability they do. She has glimpses of zone control, but doesn't have quite the damage or range as traditional control mages. And last but not least, she is very skewed towards burst damage, but fails to reach the same heights as champions like Syndra and Annie. Lissandra has a bit of everything, but excels at none.

Interested? The cold, bitter touch of true ice beckons you to continue reading...
Pros
&
cons
In a way, the section above already (implicitly) lists a lot of Lissandra's pros. However I didn't list the cons yet and as I am a fan of lists, here is an overview:
Pros
Good Teamfighter
Lots of CC
Semi-Mobile
Easy to pick up
Versatile
Most of these speak for themselves, but I'll highlight the versatility. As Lissandra you're not forced to always dive like assassins, or to always play back like mages. You can do both, which means that Lissandra also fits in many teamcomps. I also find it to be very refreshing. Although I play the same champion every game I can alternate between playstyles.
Cons
Low Range
Weak Early
Not a 1v9 champ
High Cooldowns
Telegraphed engage
All of the amazing things in her kit come at a cost: Lissandra's range is depressingly low, you'll find that you'll be bullied by champions with higher range. You'll also be heavily punished if you misuse her abilities. Glacial Path is telegraphed and the cooldowns on her abilities are high. Miss/mess up your window and it'll be gone forever...
She also pays dearly for her teamfighting prowess by having a rather bad early game. Not only because of her cooldowns, also her base damage is low. Most of her damage comes from her % AP scalings, which won't be useful until you have a few items...
When to pick Lissandra
Due to Lissandra's versatility, she works in/against a lot of teamcomps. Nonetheless there are teamcomps that feel better to play against, and there are also things that make you go "ughhh" in champ select.

When not to pick Lissandra
1.
Your team picked multiple AP champs already (2+). Enemies will itemize MR sooner, which makes your all-in power significantly weaker.
2.
The enemy team has multiple tanks/enchanters. It can be quite difficult to play against these comps as they counter what Lissandra does. It's still playable but it requires you to play different than usual.
When to pick Lissandra
1.
Your team lacks CC. Lissandra has a lot of CC and can be a good pick if your team doesn't have a lot of (reliable) CC at their disposal. Please note that she is not a replacement for a tank.
2.
Against short ranged teams. Especially ones with assassins. Due to Lissandra's CC and AoE damage it is hard to dive on her.

Abilities
So what does this popsicle woman do exactly? Here's a basic breakdown of each ability.
If you're looking for more in-depth tips & tricks >>go here<<!
Passive: Iceborn Subjugation
Whenever you kill someone or an emey dies near you, they'll spawn an ice zombie. This zombie slows enemies, chases them and explodes after a few seconds.
Official description
This passive literally plays the game by itself. All you have to do is not die. Occasionally it pays off to walk around your thralls/force enemies to walk through your thralls. Be aware that these can add some extra damage, which can let you snowball fights after the initial burst.
Q: Ice Shard
Linear skillshot that deals (the same) damage to everything in its path. It only slows the first enemy hit and its range extends if it hits something.
Official description
This is Lissandra's bread-and-butter ability. It is her main damage tool throughout the game and her only damage source that doesn't require her to be very close to enemies. Try to hit as many enemies as possible whenever you fight!
W: Ring of Frost
AoE instant root that deals magic damage.
Official description
An extremely straightforward ability. It is mostly used in conjunction with other abilities (+ Ice Shard for burst; after Glacial Path for CC; before self- Frozen Tomb to guarantee damage; to CC chain/kite together with Ice Shard/ Frozen Tomb). The damage can sometimes be as impactful as the root. Unfortunately, the range can be a bit tricky sometimes.

Remember this: better get a lil too close to the enemy than not hitting the enemy at all.
E: Glacial Path
Cast a claw of ice that moves forward and deals damage. Reactivating teleports you to the location of the claw.
Official description
This ability is what makes Lissandra fun compared to a lot of other champions. It let's you dive on top of enemy champions, or escape from nasty situations. Avoid wasting it as it will cost you dearly because of its cooldown. Also bear in mind that the enemies can see where the claw will end up, the only thing they do not know is when you will reactivate it (if at all!).
R: Frozen Tomb
Stuns an enemy, or puts you in stasis and heals you. It also creates a damaging field around the target that slowly spreads out and slows enemies as well.
Official description
This is Lissandra's fantastic ultimate. It allows you to catch enemies' by CC-locking them for days. Or you can hop in the middle of the enemy team, go into stasis and deal a ton of damage. And last but not least, you can use it to protect your allies and shut down mobile enemies.

Disguised as 'press R to win', but it is actually much more than that!

Use Hotkeys to Selfult!
Skill sequence
1 2 3 4 5 6
7 8 9 10 11 12
13 14 15 16 17 18
> > >
Setup
Summoner spells
Always
It is probably not a surprise that Flash is always taken on Lissandra. The only choice you got is whether to put it on D or F. It's just too good for both offensive and defensive purposes. If you ever need to escape from tricky situations or just need to cover this little bit of extra distance to land a game-winning combo, Flash got you covered.
Killing
Ignite is mainly taken in matchups where you can kill your enemy or when you think your jungler will fight early on. It's also my recommended summoner for low elo as mistakes are much common there. The 60% GW can also give you an edge versus healing champions.
Macro
Teleport is a much 'slower' summoner. If you don't expect anything to happen early game or you're in a hard matchup then taking Teleport might be a good idea. Although it's often used to return to lane, it's main power lies in (counter)ganking other lanes and allowing you to sidelane later on.
If you still don't feel sure about whether to take Teleport or Ignite, just try both of them for a few games and see how they feel and what you can do with them. You'll notice that they give you different options in terms of playstyle and neither of them is 'right' or 'wrong'. Don't overthink it and just go with the flow :)
Runes
Keystone & minor runes
Electrocute is Lissandra's main keystone. It increases her burst by that little bit she needs and is very easy to proc once she decides to go in.

Taste of Blood gives some extra sustain throughout the laning phase. Although both other options are viable, this one simply is the most reliable.

Eyeball Collection just gives you some raw AP. Considering you'll pick up plenty of kills/assists you should be able to stack it quite reliably. If you consistently ward then Ghost Poro is also an option.
The hunter rune is based on preference. I'm a big fan of Ultimate Hunter as Lissandra is quite dependent on her ultimate. Having it up more often can make a difference and therefore it is my recommended rune of this row.
However, all the other hunter runes are viable as well. Relentless Hunter makes it easier to move around the map (handy for roaming!). Ravenous Hunter gives you a small amount of sustain (mid/lategame), which you normally wouldn't have. Lastly, Ingenious Hunter reduces the cooldowns of passive & active items which can, like Ultimate Hunter, make the difference.

Just try them all a couple of games. You'll figure out which one(s) you like the most!

If you're completely new and just trying to get the hang of Lissandra: stick with the same rune page for a bunch of games. Switching all the time won't help with learning the basics.
Standard secondary tree
Sorcery is taken in all cases where you don't need Inspiration. Transcendence is a must. Lissandra has quite sizeable cooldowns and the haste, as well as the takedown passive can make or break fights. The second rune depends on preference and playstyle.

If you're a newer player I recommend Manaflow Band since Lissandra is quite a mana-hungry champion. But if you're comfortable with managing mana, then Gathering Storm is a very decent rune, especially in gold and below as games tend to drag on.
Alternative secondary tree
Inspiration is often taken in combination with Corrupting Potion (+ Time Warp Tonic) vs melees to bully them and gain leads early in lane. Give it a go and see how it feels!

Nonetheless, the must-take rune of this tree is definitely Biscuit Delivery. They help with mana (sort of like Manaflow Band), especially when you're about to run out. The cookies also make Inspiration a decent choice versus harder ranged matchups as they'll give you extra (health) sustain as well. If you take Inspiration because of this reason, you could also take Cosmic Insight instead of Time Warp Tonic. This rune gives you added utility by lowering both your items' and Flash cooldown, which has more impact later in the game compared to TWT.
Alternatives
One comment that frequently pops up in the Lissmains Discord/Reddit is the fact that Electrocute is hard to proc in lane. This is true, it's harder to proc it compared to a lot of other champions (more in-depth talk about this in the gameplay section). So for those of you that find it hard to get used to Electrocute or just want a keystone that's more useful in lane:
Arcane Comet is the alternative to Electrocute. Definitely much easier to proc (just tag em with a Ice Shard). But less reliable as the projectile can be dodged. It also gives you less single-target burst as Electrocute, but still scales decently due to its AoE and the fact that you can proc it multiple times in fights.

The minor runes to go along with it are Manaflow Band, Transcendence and Gathering Storm. For the secondary tree there are three things you can pick: Resolve for extra defenses which can help a great deal when jumping into things (you can also run Resolve with Electrocute). This is by far the most 'beginner friendly' page as the extra defenses help with not dying while you get used to Lissandra's close-ranged nature. Inspiration or Domination, both of which give lane sustain ( Biscuit Delivery, Taste of Blood), but give different additional benefits (e.g. Hunter runes vs Cosmic Insight).

Lastly, here's a general overview of all the minor runes I consider to (not) be viable on Lissandra:
Inspiration
Precision

In the spoiler below there is an explanation on some of the runes. I won't repeat things I said above and if I don't mention a rune at all, it means that it doesn't synergize with Lissandra at all. I do not give a concise summary of take X or take Y. The choice depends on your playstyle, just as Riot intended it to be...
Explanation
Rune shards
In the first row you should always go Attack Speed. Autoattacks are extremely important for Lissandra in the early game, both for trading and wave control.
Adaptive is basically the "only" option in the second row.
Take Armor vs AD matchups and MR vs AP matchups in the last row. If you're uncertain of what your matchup is, take Armor. It'll still help vs auto damage and AD matchups tend to be harder if you take the wrong shard.
Items
How do I import item sets?

Lissandra item set
Starting items
The premier starting item is Doran's Ring (+2x Health Potion). It synergizes well with what you want to do as Lissandra early: farm and chill.

Then there's also Corrupting Potion. The major advantage of Corrupting over Doran's is that it gives more mana sustain + burn on abilities/autoattacks. This makes it ideal if you were to lane aggressively and burn through your mana rather quickly. This is pretty much only possible in melee (assassin) matchups. Think of things like Yone, Fizz, Katarina and Akali. To increase combat power you can combine it with Biscuit Delivery and Time Warp Tonic. The 'burst' healing can save your life in close fights.

All that being said, playing this aggressive is a personal choice. It could help create a lead, but at the same time, playing even against these assassins means that you're winning. That's why I myself prefer to stick with Doran's Ring and play the game a bit slower.

First base
The dream base
If you end up going a mana mythic, then Lost Chapter is the "ideal" base. If you have pristine CSing skills you should be able to get this right before level 6. However, most of the time you'll be unable to acquire 1300g before basing (I almost never do!). This is completely okay, get some components.
There are also two other items: Seeker's Armguard and Verdant Barrier, however at the time of writing they're not worth their cost. If you need defenses stick with Cloth Armor or Null-Magic Mantle, don't upgrade them (before completing your mythic).
Your actual base
These are all items you could get on a 1st base. My favorite, by far, are Boots and Sapphire Crystal. Lissandra is has a minimal base movement speed and T1 boots help a ton with dodging skillshots and roaming. She is also quite mana hungry, and a Sapphire Crystal gives you the mana needed to stay on the map for an extended period of time (so you can get that Lost Chapter!).
Then there are also the raw AP options, Amplifying Tome and Dark Seal. The former is kinda the 'I have enough gold, and I don't need anything else so I buy this' item. Dark Seal on the other hand has a clear purpose: if you're snowballing or there are a lot of skirmishes/fights in the game, it is an incredibly good buy.

If you're struggling in a matchup, Null-Magic Mantle or Cloth Armor give you some additional defenses which can help you survive.

Whatever you end up buying on a base, make sure to buy (health) sustain as well! This means a Refillable Potion or Health Potion if you don't have enough gold. If you still have gold left, you should buy a Control Ward as well.
Mythics
Luden's Tempest
Standard Choice
Raw power
Kiting/Fluid fighting
Everfrost
VS Mobility
More forgivable (HP)
Chaining CC
Liandry's Anguish
VS Tanky
Less burst
Slow fighting
Luden's Tempest is the "standard mythic". It synergizes with Lissandra's burst heavy kit and the movement speed can come in clutch in fights. It is also by far the most 'selfish' mythic as it offers raw damage instead of utility.

Everfrost is the 'beginner friendly' mythic in my eyes. It offers an active that allows you to chain CC enemies, or keep them off you in case you mess up. It is also the only mana mythic that offers health, which makes making mistakes a bit more forgivable. It does not give as much raw combat power as the other two mythics however. Nonetheless, it is a great buy when you want to shut down a specific (mobile) member of the enemy team and one (or more) of your teammates have the potential to carry.

Liandry's Torment is a good buy if the enemy team has multiple bruisers and tanks. Although you won't be killing them as quickly as squishies in other games, the bonus damage and burn will help a ton. It takes time to get going though, you'll need 3+ items to feel powerful. Also mind that is synergizes well with Morellonomicon since the burn reapplies the passive!
Legendaries
Utility
Cosmic Drive is an item that's not often build, but it is actually very good. Together with your mythic, it'll give the minimum amount of haste to fight fluidly (can do Q - stasis - Q). It also gives you more opportunities to go in, since E is maxed last it has a very high CD with non-haste focused builds. Can be bought anytime, but is most effective in games where the enemy team consists of lots of tanks, other melees or when they have a champion with a lot of shielding.
Zhonya's Hourglass is often regarded as a core item on Lissandra. It basically allows you to buy more time and stall for your team. Either go this item second if you're setting up plays for your team, or later on if your intention is to dive into the enemy team and you have trouble staying alive.
Buy Oblivion Orb when the enemy team has healing (e.g. Immortal Shieldbow, Goredrinker, Yuumi, Viego etc). Lissandra is actually extremely good at applying the passive in fights, so don't hesitate to buy it. Get it right after completing your mythic. Upgrade into Morellonomicon when nearing full build or when you need "stronger" GW.
Damage
When the time is there, and you feel like YOU need to be the one to deal the damage, then you should get (one of) these items.
Is more or less THE damage item. Since Lissandra has respectable ratios and a rather ****ty base damage, it is a better buy than Horizon Focus at all points in the game. The later you build it, the more effective it is.
Buy a Void Staff if you want damage, but the enemy team builds MR. It's more gold efficient than Rabadon's Deathcap if the enemy has more than 50-60 MR. This is basically all melee champs (they have high base MR) and ranged champs with any kind of MR item. Note that it flat out deals more damage than Rabadon's Deathcap if enemies have +100MR.
There are two other items: Horizon Focus, which is a bit worse than Rabadon's Deathcap, but can be build if you want more damage but already have dcap & void. And there is also Archangel's Staff which is on par with Horizon Focus but takes too long to stack (and the extra mana is kinda redundant).
Tanky
Tanky?! What kind of heresy is this! Turns out that if your team picks a whole lot of damage champs (and they aren't doing too bad), you can perhaps build one or two items that are definitely not supposed to be build by mages. Makes you more annoying and harder to kill.
"Press W to give your team 15% increased damage". This item enables your team and gives you major defenses against any AP damage dealer. Turns out it is better (defensive AND offensive) than Banshee's Veil... If the enemy team has a bunch of AP champions (that are fed) then this is a good buy. Buy it as a 3rd item or later.
It should be no surprise that this item pairs extremely well with Everfrost, as that mythic also applies the passive.
Other items
Demonic Embrace is mainly good in games where fights are long and the enemy team is on the tanky side. However it loses compared to other damage options and even Cosmic Drive. Can be build as a final item, when you do not really want any of the other situational/utility options.
Just bad compared to Abyssal Mask.
Builds and allies
When choosing your items, it is important to take your allies' items into account. For example, if you have an AP jungler that decided to build Liandry's Torment, you should avoid building that item because the burn doesn't stack.

If you have a lot of allies that are building tank/defensive items, try going into pure damage yourself. Unless your team is significantly ahead, everyone building defenses might lead to a lack of damage. This also applies to grievous wounds: if your team already has 3-4 people building it, it makes no sense to also get it yourself.

Last but not least, if you aren't doing too hot (you're feeding), but your team is doing well. Focus on 'utility' options, like Morellonomicon, Zhonya's Hourglass or even a Abyssal Mask. It is not really your job to do damage, but to stick with your teammates so that they can.
Gameplay
Laning phase
Laning phase can roughly be divided into two parts: the early laning phase and the late laning phase. The former is the window between levels 1-6 and the latter is from level 6 till midgame.
Early laning phase
In this phase of the game, your main objective is farming. Sometimes you'll end up killing your opponent, but getting ahead (or putting them behind) is not your main objective. You also won't have to worry about roaming yet, but perhaps your jungler (or the enemy's) will grace your lane.
Abilities
At this point in the game, you essentially have three important 'abilities': your autoattacks, Ice Shard and your minions. Ring of Frost and Glacial Path are only used situationally. Ring of Frost is used in all-ins or when setting up a gank for your jungler, or when a melee champion starts trading with you. Glacial Path is only used in all-ins or to escape ganks.

Especially in the early laning phase, you cannot spam Ice Shard. You'll run out of mana in no time. Use autoattacks to pick up CS, most of the trading will be done with autoattacks as well.
Basic gameplan
In melee matchups you should look to damage the minions such that your minions have slightly more health than the enemies. This will make the wave slowly push towards the enemy side. Keep lasthitting/maintaining a minion health lead till the wave crashes. While doing this you should look to harass the enemy with autoattacks and/or Ice Shard when they go for CS. Make sure to hit not too many minions with Ice Shard as that may make the wave push too fast.
Note that I use Ring of Frost here. Since Yone is only lvl 1 he cannot jump on me and I can use it for harass. Otherwise I'd save it for his Soul Unbound. Also notice that I retreat immediately after proccing Electrocute. If I stay the ranged minions will do massive amounts of damage.
Another example
After hitting the tower the minion wave starts slowpushing back to you. Make sure it does so (do not push it back). Now you have to be a bit careful about harassing because you got less minions around you. You can choose to either thin the wave and setup a freeze, or you can let the wave crash into your tower and start another slowpush. In case you need to base you can spam Ice Shard on the wave.

Versus ranged matchups the gameplan isn't so straightforward. A lot of mages struggle with farming under their tower ( Vladimir, Lux, Veigar, etc) so trying to push them in can be a good idea. Also, pushing an enemy to their tower forces them to use spells to farm, so they can't use them to poke you. On the other hand, pushing does make you vulnerable to ganks. Although Glacial Path exists, you can still take a sizeable amount of damage if a jungler decides to gank.

The main objective is to farm, you can try to push the wave before scuttle spawns so you can accompany/help your jungler. When you are level 5 you can push the wave into the enemy, base and get fresh items so you can look for a kill/roam once you hit 6.
Trading with Lissandra
As Lissandra your trades are either quick pokes (autoattacks, Ice Shard) or small rotations where you proc Electrocute. (AA - Ice Shard - AA; AA - auto - Ice Shard). If melees jump into you ( Ring of Frost - AA - Ice Shard - AA) is common as well.

Either trade when the enemy goes for CS or when one/multiple of their abilities are down. Also be careful around minions, avoid autoattacking the enemy when you're close to the ranged creeps/the enemy minion wave is very big.
The importance of autoattacks
Especially in melee matchups, autoattacking is extremely important. Not only weaving them between abilities, but also when the enemy starts retreating. A lot of people scuttle away in fear, but since the enemy just burned all of their abilities you should chase them a bit with autoattacks. This can really make the difference between you trading even/winning the trade and losing it really hard!

In the example above, as soon as the Sylas tries to go onto me all my minions start hitting him. This can also do loads of damage and help you win trades (or lose them, if the enemy cannon/ranged creeps start hitting you). Be aware of this, stay near your minions or be careful when you do not have a lot of them around you.
Late laning phase
In this phase of poking with Ice Shard and shoving the wave & roaming becomes more important. Especially in ranged matchups you should rarely look to proc Electrocute utilizing autoattacks. Most of the time you chip them down from a distance with Ice Shard (or just don't interact at all). You can Glacial Path forward when the enemy wastes an important ability ( Scatter the Weak, Sleepy Trouble Bubble, Pick A Card), but be careful of the enemy jungler!

If your own jungler ganks your lane, Glacial Path forward and either use Ring of Frost or Frozen Tomb. Then use the other CC ability right before the CC effect of the former expires. The enemy laner either dies or has to burn all their summoners. If your jungler has any kind of CC you can also try to play around that.

In some matchups you'll find that you get completely outmatched or fall behind. In that case, just try to farm and avoid fighting with your opponent. If you can walk up to the wave & hit it, do so. But if that isn't possible, wait for the wave to come to you.

You can also look to push the wave and roam. If there isn't anywhere to roam to, just sit out of vision or place a ward. If your opponent roams, only follow if you have vision and you're very close behind them. If you are very far behind them you won't be able to help much, just stay mid, push the wave & try to get a plate.
Midgame
At some point in the late laning phase skirmishing starts to become important (drake fights, botlane parties). Your main goal is picking off targets and bursting them. Your damage won't be that flattering yet and your CC will be much more valuable.

Whether you want to fight or not depends on your ultimate and objectives: you do not want to fight when Frozen Tomb is on cooldown and you do not want to use it right before objectives spawn (because then fighting over that objective becomes pretty hard).

You should always be on the lookout for picks: enemies that run around alone and end up within your range. If you can oneshot the enemy, you can look to do this on your own. But if you cannot you should look to stay near some of your allies so they can follow up.

Once the botlane tower falls the game moves into the phase called the midgame. Your ADC might move to midlane and farm over there. You should vacate the empty lane to avoid sharing farm. If there is a lot of fighting happening for no reason, it is often better to stick with your team. Although having less farm sucks, if you aren't present the game can easily swing out of control if your team loses these fights.

In skirmishes you should look to pick off important targets/burst enemies. For example if there is a fight over the drake I will be trying to single out the enemy jungler. Of course if the enemy ADC or midlane are out of position I can turn onto them as well.
Teamfighting
Teamfighting defines whether a Lissandra player is good or not. There is a thin line between life and death and you have to walk that. In some games it is very easy, as the enemy team decided to clump up and you just hop in there for a 4-5 man combo. In other games the enemies stay away from each other, they got heavy peel or maybe you are behind and then life ain't as easy.

I play a fair bit of ARAM and also run into a fair amount of Lissandra's there. The main issues I see is that they either going in too eagerly (like a tank/engage) or being too slow when jumping in (enemies can run away/get CCed and die). It is extremely easy for you to jump into the enemy team, but a lot of the time this will lead to your doom. Although Lissandra is not a mechanical champion, you need to execute combo's at high speed. If you are too slow either the enemies get away or you get CCed and die.
Comboing in teamfights
Lissandra has a signature combo: E - E - (F) - W - Q - self R - (Q - Zhonya - Q - E - W - E).

This combo is the 'standard' whenever you dive in the middle of the enemy team. And it is very important to execute it quickly. You need to limit the time window where you are vulnerable. It is necessary to understand where the damage of this combo comes from: about 1/3th is from Ice Shard, 1/3th is from Frozen Tomb and the last 1/3th is from Ring of Frost + Electrocute. In some fights throwing Ice Shard can be dangerous due to CC (as it's cast time increases the window of vulnerability), however not using it means you'll miss out on a lot of damage. I personally always throw Ice Shard as not throwing it means that there is no point in diving in the first place.

Always use hotkeys to selfult. It's faster and it's more consistent. You can either use ALT + R or set another keybind in the settings.
When you can't dive
In some games diving will not be an option. Then you should look to play front-to-back. CC their divers and/or CC their frontline. This will happen mostly where the enemy team has a lot of tanks/bruisers or enchanters. It is hard to do threatening damage to both of these due to their HP or shielding. Therefore you should focus less on diving and more on keeping your own team safe. In these kinds of fights you'll rely a lot on spamming Ice Shard and continuously using Glacial Path to reposition. Therefore having high amounts of haste ( Cosmic Drive, wink wink) is favored over stacking flat damage.
Fight example

There is not really a set way of using your abilities in these types of fights. Most of the time you spam Ice Shard, use Ring of Frost to CC divers/frontline. Hold Frozen Tomb for defining moments, to either make sure an enemy dies, to prevent the enemy team from running into your team or to protect yourself.
Fight example
Fight example

Abilities
Passive: Iceborn Subjugation
❄ Has a high base damage so is effective even when behind.
❄ Multiple thralls exploding at the same time will deal massive damage
❄ Walk into/around thralls so that enemies have to follow you through them.
❄ If you have Zhonya's Hourglass you can activate it to buy time for the passive explosion.
Boom!
Thralls can really contribute to your damage. It turns out that it outdamages all other abilities (except Frozen Tomb at high AP numbers). This is true for one thrall already, so spawning multiple can do a lot of damage:
Passive Explosion Damage
You can incorporate the thrall explosion in your combo to kill an enemy. The best way to do is to chain CC them just so that they'll be unable to move right when the passive explodes.

Last but not least, if you're certain that a passive explosion will kill an enemy you can walk away (+ mastery emote) to flex on your enemies (if you're into that sort of thing). Warning: this can backfire
Cool Liss players don't look at explosions
Setting up Thralls
Of course, before the thrall goes boom it needs to hug an enemy. If your enemies are running away from you, getting them to stay next to one is quite difficult (or even impossible). On the other hand, if they're trying to kill you can attempt to walk them into your passive. Sometimes this means walking away from the enemy in a straight line, sometimes this means wandering in all kinds of directions (the Thrall will help with this since it applies a slow).

Of course, only run into directions that won't get you killed. If you're really close to dying and you're being chased by a full HP enemy it might be a better idea to choose the shortest path to safety.

You can also use Frozen Tomb and Zhonya's Hourglass to buy time for the passive to explode. Often when you enter stasis, people will sit around and wait for you to come out (despite your passive sitting right there). This can swing fights in your favor!
Passive + Stasis
Q: Ice Shard
❄ Only slows the first target hit
❄ Has a small cast time
❄ Do not spam this ability early on, you'll run out of mana!
❄ Use it to check bushes: it'll shatter if someone is in it
Clip example
A deceptive range
The max range of this ability increases once you hit something, but unfortunately there isn't any kind of indicator that shows this range. Finding it requires fiddling some time in practice tool, a lot of games and the knowledge that the range goes a little bit beyond the particle effect (Bazinga!). Fortunately, I made a vid that shows this range:
Vague attempt on showing Q range
Interaction with Flash
Unlike a lot of other abilities, it is not possible to Flash buffer Ice Shard. (E.g. when you cast an ability and Flash during the windup time it will be fired from your new position). So if you want to Flash + Ice Shard to kill an enemy, you should make sure you don't cast them in the wrong order or you look like an idiot.

This mechanic can also be used to your advantage. Ice Shard - Flash can be used to create more distance when kiting away. However it can also be used for some really fast all-in combo's.
Hitting every single minion
This ability is your main waveclear tool and you got to use it correctly. If you want to shove/clear the wave you should hit the entire wave with a single Ice Shard. This often requires you to stand in specific spots as you'll only hit 5/6 minions otherwise.
Maximizing damage
You shouldn't look to hit as many minions as possible with Ice Shard. You should also look to hit as many champions with a single Ice Shard in fights. Taking half a second to reposition so you can hit two people instead of one can be worth it!
Gif is under construction :(

Regardless of whether you are fighting minions or champions, try to hit as many targets as possible. If you need half a second to reposition to hit two people instead of one it is worth it.
W: Ring of Frost
❄ Has no cast time: can be used while moving
❄ Does not interrupt dashes
❄ One of, if not the only ability in the game with hard CC without a cast time.
❄ Is not a projectile, goes through abilities such as Yasuo's Wind Wall and Braum's Unbreakable
❄ The range is center to center, it might be a bit lower than it seems
Try hitting a Cho'Gath XD
The main trick of this ability lies in knowing it's max range.
Instantaneous cast
The most important detail of Ring of Frost is that it has no cast time. This means that it can be used while moving and it can be used for instantaneous lockdown after using Flash or Glacial Path, leaving enemies with no time to react.

This can be used at all points in the game, whether roaming to botlane or in teamfights, as the main teamfight combo makes use of this.
Catching invisible enemies
It's AoE radius also makes it an excellent ability for catching invisible targets. If it hits one, a outline will show. Your team and you can throw abilities at the enemies' location, which will kill them more often than not.
E: Glacial Path
❄ Cannot be recasted when you're disabled (stunned, grounded, silenced, etc)
❄ Don't panic if you get stunned; the claw needs ~1.5s to travel to the end location and can be reactivated ~0.2s after it vanishes. You might still be able to teleport after the CC ends (Just keep mashing that button!).
❄ Reactivate Glacial Path after it has traveled a short distance or after it has vanished to surprise your enemies
❄ The enemy can see the indicator as long as they are within range (600 units) of it
❄ The speed of the claw is not constant, it goes faster at the start and slows down at the end

The travel speed of the claw almost halves over the duration. Unless you want to surprise enemies it is rarely useful to wait for it to get to it's maximum range (especially since enemies will run away from it).
Dodging skillshots
You can do really dope things with this ability. I don't know where to start! So let's start with the coolest thing: you can dodge skillshots with it.
Coolest dodge I ever did
This is almost always done preemptively: you see an enemy walk at you (for example: Gragas is ganking you). You know he's going to use a skillshot and therefore cast Glacial Path. Then as soon as you see them throw the skillshot, reactivate Glacial Path.
The nexus trick
An extremely common use is to use Glacial Path over the nexus to get to lane faster. This saves a few seconds which can result in you not missing xp/gold to the tower. It is also a way to extend the homeguard buff as you can cast Glacial Path, run back into the fountain and reactivate.
If Glacial Path is on cooldown at the time, you can also use it a little later to save time anyway. The travel speed of the claw (1200-640) is almost always greater than your own movement speed.
Playing around CC
You can recast Glacial Path for about 1.8s. If you end up getting CCed after casting it, keep trying to recast it (once the CC times out) in some cases you can still get out.
In general, whenever enemies have CC available, make sure to stay out of their range after you cast Glacial Path or recast it to dodge whatever skillshot they throw at you.
Some silly trick
Using it in all-ins
When all-inning/soloing opponents you can time Glacial Path such that it can be recasted slightly after the CC on my target ends. In case you do not have enough damage to immediately oneshot them, you can follow enemies once they try to flee from me. This greatly limits their escape routes and most of the time will result in their death since you can throw another Ice Shard.
Glacial Path can also be used like this when diving turrets. You essentially use it on the enemy and reactivate to get out. But again, this combo can be very dangerous if there are other enemies nearby.
Tower dive

Wall jumping
Last but not least, wall jumping. With Glacial Path you can cross about any wall in Summoners Rift (as long as the claw is halfway through). But there are some places where you can cross two walls at once, shown on the map below. This can come in really handy for escape maneuvers. I recommend trying them a few times in practice tool, if you randomly try them ingame you might end up smacking your face into a wall.
Can be mirrored for the topside

The jumps I end up using most of the time are the ones around the tribush areas and the ones to/from the drake/baron pits (but not the ones to the red buff). The jumps to the T1 turret are also handy sometimes.
Some clips of difficult jumps
R: Frozen Tomb
❄ Use hotkeys to self ult! You can assign these in Options > Hotkeys > Abilities and Summoner Spells > Self cast (spell 4) (Or use ALT + R). This is vital for speed and preventing accidents!
Frozen Tomb will damage (and slow) anything on top of the target instantly. At rank 3 the slow is almost as powerful as the stun.
❄ If you cast Frozen Tomb from max range, make sure to walk a little towards the enemy before using Ring of Frost.
❄ Space out the timings of Frozen Tomb and Ring of Frost to CC enemies as long as possible.
❄ You cast Frozen Tomb on a target that is not in range and then use Flash and it will cast instantaneously. This makes it almost impossible for your target to react.
❄ Not only who you ult is important, the place where you ult is important too.
Avoid lethal damage
One (uncommon) use of Frozen Tomb is to avoid lethal damage. Whether it be Ignite, Death Mark or Requiem. It won't do damage as long as you're in stasis.
Do not ever waste Glacial Path and Ring of Frost in front of your enemy...
Interrupts dashes
Frozen Tomb also has a knockdown effect: it interrupts dashes. Unfortunately, it is hard to interrupt dashes consistently due to it's cast time. Most of the time you'll only interrupt 'slow' dashes (such as Rocket Jump). For the rest you'll have to use it preemtively (e.g. Lee Sin stuck in the drake pit walking towards the wall, enemies attacking blast cones, interrupting Dark Passage).
If you Frozen Tomb too late, the dash can complete but the ultimate will follow enemies. This often leads to wonky situations where you (seemingly) ult enemies that are out of range. It can then be hard to chain CC them with Ring of Frost due to the increased distance (although having a Luden's Tempest makes this significantly easier due to the MS).
E - R on dashing enemy
Towerdiving
As Lissandra you can easily towerdive enemies with Frozen Tomb. There is the way all other champions do it: they walk in and out of range to juggle aggro while dumping abilities on whoever is under the tower. Or you grab turret aggro, you get on top of the enemies and then you Frozen Tomb yourself to reset the turret aggro.
This can be done when diving midlane, toplane, botlane, whatnot. Just make sure you can actually leave the tower range after you've ulted yourself.
Major damage source
One detail you should be aware of is that Lissandra's Frozen Tomb also deals a significant amount of damage. Most people just think of the stasis or the CC, but the ability is actually also responsible for 1/3th of your damage. In the image to the right you can see Frozen Tomb (top) and Ice Shard (bottom) damage at three different points in the game. In some cases Frozen Tomb is used as a finisher and the CC effect is completely disregarded.

This is also a major reason why you shouldn't fight without Frozen Tomb unless full build/ridiculously fed.
Chain CCing
Since Lissandra has multiple sources of CC at her disposal, you should spread them out such that enemies get CCed for the maximum amount of time. The key thing to keep an eye on is the CC bar that's just above the enemies' health bar:

Once you use your first CC ability, you should time your next on such that it applies the CC just before the bar vanishes (let the CC overlap a little bit, otherwise there might be a small gap where the enemy can use Flash). This is very easy to do with Ring of Frost since it has an instant cast time, but requires some practice with Frozen Tomb and Everfrost due to their cast/travel times.
The order of the abilities depends on the situation, but every ability/item has a certain advantage over the others:
Combo's
Key combo: W - R
Because Ring of Frost is instantaneous you should always use it right before self- Frozen Tomb. The root guarantees the spread damage. If you hit people at the edge of Ring of Frost, the slow zone of Frozen Tomb will slowly crawl out before eventually hitting the enemy and possibly killing them.

Together with an Ice Shard this can do up to 2.6k(!) damage (Maximum at full build, lvl 18, vs a target with 70MR). This is often enough to delete any ADC/mid laner as long as they do not have extra health/shielding.
Video example
Animation Canceling
It is possible to cancel Frozen Tomb and Ice Shard animations by using them right before reactivating Glacial Path.
Canceling Frozen Tomb' is extremely rare. However, animation canceling Ice Shard is quite common. Whenever you use Glacial Path as an escape, you can throw Ice Shard at the enemy without repercussions. Especially if they are chasing you this can be a good idea as the slow will make it harder for them to catch up.

Instead of Ice Shard you can also use Ring of Frost (but since that ability is instant, it's not an animation cancel). You can also combine those two abilities:
Escape combo
Trading combo's
The main trading combo is AA - Q - AA. It is the most 'fluid' way of proccing Electrocute in the laning phase. Having an attack speed shard makes this combo quite fluid, which is why I recommend to take that shard at all times.
There are also other ways to proc Electrocute. These are used less, or in other scenario's.
Alternatives
Pre 6 all-in combo's
Used to all-in your opponent before level 6, or if your ult is on cooldown. The damage varies depending on level. Having Ignite can make a big difference, especially at lower levels. Most enemies will Flash away from you as soon as Ring of Frost root ends, but you can reactivate Glacial Path to follow them. Be careful of the enemy jungler since you're using both your escapes offensively (or alternatively, do not use Glacial Path).
Alternative
Post 6 all-in combo's
A common combo to all-in your opponent after level 6. You can switch Frozen Tomb and Ring of Frost (if the enemy is range of the latter). Using Ring of Frost first is slightly more reliable as it does not have a cast time. This combo is also often used when setting up a gank for your jungler. Weaving autoattacks is very important, they can make the difference between killing an enemy and them surviving.
Alternatives
This combo also continues to be used throughout the game (without weaving autoattacks) to pick off targets. The trick is to use Glacial Path to reposition such that you can hit your intended target, but other enemies cannot collapse onto you (In other words, don't yeet yourself in the middle of the enemy team). It (again) is more reliable to lead with Ring of Frost. This will also lead to Electrocute proccing on Frozen Tomb cast, which results in a decent amount of damage.

As seen in the clip, it is custom to retreat a bit after casting Ring of Frost. The main reason for this is to reduce the chances of retaliation of the enemy team. This is possible since Frozen Tomb's range is slightly larger. The combo is extremely effective in chokepoints as the enemy team has to run over Frozen Tomb to get to you.
Teamfight combo's
Lissandra's staple combo. If you have 60 haste or higher, you can use Ice Shard right after Frozen Tomb stasis ends. This combo can make or break teamfights, by either removing key carries from the fight in an instant or dealing massive AoE damage overall.

The engage range of this combo is quite high, so should you use it you have to make sure your team is able to follow up. Even if you land a very good combo, if your team is not nearby it might be wasted anyway.
Alternatives
Note that Everfrost can be used in these combo's as well. ( Everfrost - Ice Shard is slightly smoother than vice versa). However, I do not recommend using it like that. Try to utilize the root, rather then treating it like a budget Luden's Tempest.
Setup
Items
Numbers as of patch 11.14. Click to enlarge graphs.
I've always been not much of a fan of the vague descriptions of 'buy Void Staff when they have MR' blah blah blah, I want to see cold, hard numbers. So therefore I'll be comparing the damage of the four pure damage items ( Rabadon's Deathcap, Void Staff, Horizon Focus). I won't be doing any maths on the utility items, as utility is rather hard to convert into numbers.

The setup is as follows:
Let's start with an 'unfair' comparison: take Luden's Tempest + Sorcerer's Shoes + pure damage item and compare their damage versus enemy MR. It shouldn't come as a surprise that Rabadon's Deathcap outdamages the rest. But it is interesting to see how much damage Void Staff actually does. (It's effectivity is amplified by the flat pen from sorcs and Ludens!)

To make it a fair comparison, we can do two things: either divide the damage by the total gold cost of the build (the higher this number, the more 'gold efficient') this build. Or ''add'' Needlessly Large Rod, Blasting Wand or Amplifying Tome to the builds to sort of even out their costs.

Blasting Wand is added to Void Staff and Amplifying Tome is added to Horizon Focus.

Damage/gold for the four different items.

Damage of the four different item adding AP components to even out the cost.
From all of this you can derive two things:
1) Void Staff is insanely good.
2) Horizon Focus is more gold-efficient than Rabadon's Deathcap at 2nd item, but worse after. However, it is less reliable (the damage enhance is not always active) and scales worse. So to phrase it differently: if you think the game will end after the 2nd item, then Horizon Focus > Rabadon's Deathcap and in all other cases Rabadon's Deathcap > Horizon Focus.

I could leave it like this and just claim that Void Staff is OP. However let's look what happens if we buy Ionian Boots of Lucidity instead of Sorcerer's Shoes:
Utilizing the method of adding AP components, it turns out that Void Staff is still super good. However this graph shows something else: if you buy Ionian Boots of Lucidity, you'll do A LOT less damage than if you bought Sorcerer's Shoes.

At 38 MR (standard value for a lot of ADCs and mage mids at lvl 16) the difference in damage is about 250-350 for a full combo (Void and Dcap respectively). And at 100 MR the difference is about 300-150 (Void and Dcap respectively). This reinforces my statement that Ionian Boots of Lucidity are there for a supportive playstyle & utility. They are definitely not your boots-to-go for oneshots. It's also a major reason as to why I do not buy defensive boots on Lissandra.
One last graph: Lucidities vs Sorcerer's Shoes
Matchups
TLDR
Lissandra struggles the most vs lane bullies and also has some trouble vs high ranged champions. The difficulty of the matchups is judged from a laning perspective. Please keep in mind that these difficulties are personal, they'll vary from player to player and from game to game.

The champions marked in red are my go-to bans in champ select.

Easy matchups
Ahri
Aurelion Sol
Corki
Fizz
Kennen
LeBlanc
Veigar
Descriptions

Even/skill matchups
Akali
Annie
Diana
Ekko
Jayce
Malzahar
Karthus
Katarina
Kayle
Lux
Galio
Morgana
Nocturne
Qiyana
Seraphine
Swain
Taliyah
Talon
Vladimir
Yasuo
Yone
Ziggs
Zilean
Descriptions (1st column)
Descriptions (2nd column)
Descriptions (3rd column)
Descriptions (4th column)
Hard matchups
Anivia
Azir
Brand
Cassiopeia
Heimerdinger
Irelia
Kassadin
Lucian
Neeko
Orianna
Ryze
Sylas
Syndra
Tristana
Vel'Koz
Viktor
Xerath
Zed
Zoe
Descriptions (1st column)
Descriptions (2nd column)
Descriptions (3rd column)
Descriptions (4th column)
Synergies
Jungle synergies
TLDR
Lissandra synergizes best with AD champions that like to dive in. She doesn't really like AP junglers. Then there are a whole lot of junglers who do neither have bad or good synergy. Most notably the tank junglers (excellent teamfighting, poor early) as well as some AD junglers (diving AD, but poor scaling/teamfighting).

Good Synergies
Hecarim
Kayn
Kha'Zix
Nocturne
Olaf
Rengar
(AD) Shyvana
Viego
Vi
Xin Zhao

Okay synergies
Amumu
Dr. Mundo
Graves
Jax
Kindred
Lee Sin
Nunu & Willump
Poppy
Rammus
Rek'Sai
Sejuani
Shaco
Skarner
Taliyah
Trundle
Udyr
Zac
Warwick
Bad synergies
Elise
Evelynn
Fiddlesticks
Gragas
Ivern
Karthus
Lillia
Nidalee
Volibear
(AP) Shyvana

Notes
Support synergies
TLDR
Lissandra synergizes best with supports that can setup engages or follow up on her. She doesn't really like enchanters. There are some exceptions, but in general they rarely provide offensive power. Champions that fall in other categories mostly have an ok synergy.

Good Synergies
Alistar
Leona
Nautilus
Pyke
Sett
Rakan
Rell
Seraphine
Thresh

Okay synergies
Bard
Blitzcrank
Braum
Brand
Galio
Karma
Lux
Maokai
Morgana
Nami
Senna
Swain
Tahm Kench
Taric
Vel'Koz
Yuumi
Zilean
Zyra
Bad synergies
Janna
Lulu
Sona
Soraka
Laning
And now, gameplay. League is a complex game and truth to be told, trying to explain all of it at once would lead to a dense incomprehensible jungle of information. Therefore this chapter will only be about laning and things that have to do with laning.


Laning is perhaps the most important subject of the entire guide. Lane is the basis of all games, it happens in every single one and is therefore the one thing that influences its outcome the most! And to kick it off, let's launch into the first and most basic subject of laning:
Farming
Farm is perhaps the most important thing in the game. Farm gives gold, which gives items, which then leads to you doing more damage, having more survivability etc.

This is NOT about getting 10 cspm or that kind of thing. This is about when you miss minions because you mistime autoattacks, because you don't know the damage of your abilities. Like maybe you tried to use Glacial Path, it moved way to slow and then it dealt no damage so you missed the minion anyway. The key word here is practice, but I'll give you a general idea of what you use to CS on Lissandra:
Farming - Abilities
Levels 1 - 4
90% of the time
Sometimes
Under tower
Never
Levels 5 - 9
Mostly melee minions
Most of the time
To push waves quickly (QWQ)
Still not used*

Glacial Path is not used for CS due to it's high cooldown, it's high mana cost, it's slow missile speed, it's low damage and the fact that it is your only escape. Sometimes I see people using it to CS under tower, but I don't consider that to be necessary.

❄ During the levels 1-4 most of the CS is secured with autoattacks

Yes you are playing a mage, no that doesn't mean you shouldn't autoattack. Especially on Lissandra, autoattacks are extremely important. But we'll get to that later. To keep things short: you'll have to practice this. Either by grinding out a lot of games, or using this wonderful thing called "practice tool" and actively trying to get better at CSing.
CSing drills
Farming under tower
A lot of farm is lost when farming under the tower. Here's an overview of how much damage tower does to minions and what abilities help with last hitting them.
Farming - Under Tower
Damage needed to kill
2x Tower shot + 1x AA
2x Tower shot + Ice Shard
2x Tower shot + Ring of Frost
1x Tower shot + 2x AA
1x Tower shot + 1x Ice Shard (level 4+)
1x Tower shot + 1x AA + 1x Ring of Frost (level 3-5)*
1x Tower shot + 1x Ring of Frost (level 6+)
Tower targeting
The tower will always target minions in the following priority: cannon - melee - caster and it will always target the closest minion of that type. Use this to determine the next minion that will die.
Abilities
With the attack speed shard you can AA - tower shot - AA ranged minions when the tower targets them (you need to know which one it will target, otherwise you'll be too late). You'll have just enough time to secure the CS. You need to stand somewhat close to the minions.
Ring of Frost damage will kill casters combined with a tower shot once it is rank 2 or once you get additional AP on top of Doran's Ring + adaptive rune shard.

Last hitting under tower often needs some planning, sometimes your own minions will come in and start hitting the enemy minions. Then you might need to use more or less autoattacks/abilities to secure the CS. Ultimately this comes down to lots of practice.

Please note that if you know that if using an ability on a minion will still not end up in you getting a last hit, don't throw the ability at all. I catch myself doing this from time to time (it feels so bad to let the minion just die!). But you're basically throwing your mana in the garbage can...
Trading
Trading - Abilities
Especially before level 3, very important in melee matchups. Is the main way to proc Electrocute, but utilizing them is very matchup dependent.
Always used in trades, don't look for trades when this is on cooldown.
Versus melees when they jump on you / ranged champs when they walk in range.
Only used in all-ins or when jungle ganks.

Lissandra's 'problem' is that she has a lot less tools to trade with compared to other champions. Where Syndra has Dark Sphere, Force of Will and Scatter the Weak to trade, you basically only got Ice Shard. And that ability also costs a LOT of mana, has a fairly high CD and a disappointing range. The solution? Trading smart, dodging skillshots and mindgames.
Trading stance
This is what some call "A SECRET TIP FOR CLIMBING" and it's a neat concept that can make it a lot easier to land harass on your opponent. In essence it is very easy:

❄ Harass enemies when they go for a last hit
Trading Stance - Recipe
1.
Identify which one your minions will die first.
2.
Position so that you can hit the enemy right when they are going to last hit the minion.
3.
Throw harass, since they are in AA animation they can't hit back*
4.
Back off and restart process.
*This is true if the opponent autoattacks. Sometimes they'll end up throwing an ability at the minion instead: make sure you don't get hit by that. This also means you'll have to position such that the enemy cannot hit you with that ability, should he/she throw it.

Here's an example: Syndra get's all the minions low at the same time, so she can grab all of them at once with a Dark Sphere. I do not walk into my minions (otherwise I'd get hit too) and throw an Ice Shard at her right when she autoattacks the last minion. It may not seem like much, but little bits of chip damage like this will help you tremendously.

It is also possible to autoattack the enemy, but this depends on the matchup. You can do this versus most melee champions, and some ranged champs depending on their level and whether their abilities are up.
A few examples where you don't want to autoattack

If you want to know more about the trading stance, here is the original video I got it from. Although it was made years ago, the concept and ideas remain relevant to this day.
Retaliation trade
There will also be times when the opponent trades with you. They'll use their cooldowns and.. what then?

❄ Look for trades when the enemies' abilities are on cooldown

A lot of people will eat damage and do... nothing. They get scared because of all the damage and will run away. This is NOT good. When the enemy champion dunks their entire kit on you, you'll have to do something in the window where their abilities are on cooldown.
Clip background: earlier in this lane I traded really badly and I do not have any potion stacks whereas Twisted Fate does, so I want to avoid trades.
At the start of the clip my Ice Shard is on CD. Since Twisted Fate knows that I cannot trade back he starts to walk forward, my reaction is to back off. I dodge his Wild Cards and my own Ice Shard is coming off CD, so I move back up. He then walks back into me which enables me to use Ring of Frost + Ice Shard and land a few more autoattacks. At this point Twisted Fate took wayy too much damage and has to Flash away.

Wait.

Did you notice that I apparently did 85% of Twisted Fates health with four autoattacks, Ice Shard and Ring of Frost, at level 3?! The truth is, I didn't. My minions did. The major reason why I won this trade is because of my minions.
Minions
❄ Minions have massive influence on trades during the early levels

Whenever enemies walk past/next to your ranged creeps you can often win trades (unless you're really low already, then you'll get yourself killed). Even though their champion may be stronger, or if they have more abilities at their disposal. The truth is, your minions are a 'hidden' ability of your own. One that can hurt, a lot, if used correctly. This is also a major reason why you immediately back off after YOU trade on your enemy with autoattacks. If their minions start targeting you. If you stay the minions will murder you!

Especially in melee matchups you can assemble a minion army by pushing very slowly. They can then protect you, because if the enemy melee champions tries to jump on the minions will do massive damage to them.

An excellent example. I almost killed myself at the end trying to autoattack Zed instead of letting my minions finish him off. A matchup specific note: Zed's Death Mark damage depends on how much damage he deals to you during the mark duration. Since he used both Shadow Slash and Razor Shuriken before using it , it didn't deal any meaningful damage. Otherwise I'd Frozen Tomb myself.
Dodging skillshots
One big part of laning phase, especially on a short ranged champion like Lissandra, is dodging skillshots. What better way to trade, than not get hit by your opponent at all? Unfortunately you don't have a dash and Lissandra's base MS sits at the rock bottom level of 325. Therefore dodging skillshots may seem like a challenge.
Dodging - Recipe
1.
Identify what skillshots your opponent can throw at you. Know which ones are possible to dodge. Be mentally prepared to dodge (eg: after Glacial Path onto an Ahri, immediately sidestep to dodge Charm)
2.
Move. Don't stand still, but don't walk in straight (predictable) paths either. Keep changing directions.
3.
Mindgame your opponent. You can walk in and out of the skillshot range*, dodge in different directions/alternating patterns.
4.
Buy Boots. I'm not joking, these things genuinely help with dodging skillshots.
*Is also called tethering. This is actually quite advanced as you need to know the range of your opponent. I dont't cover it in the guide.

Whether you are able to dodge skillshots depends mostly on where you click on your screen. The closer you click to your character, the more likely you are to be able to dodge skillshots as you can easily switch directions.

Ultimately dodging skillshots is something you can and should practice. ARAM is a commonly named practice ground, but there's also an app (https://loldodgegame.com/) where you can practice this kind of thing.
Mistakes
League of Legends is game of mistakes, and the laning phase is no exception. If you end up making a big mistake, you might die for it. If the enemy makes a mistake, you can use one of the all-in combo's to kill them. However the difficulty is that a lot of people don't know what a 'mistake' is. So let's get into a few common ones:
Overstaying
Sometimes trades go poorly, sometimes you take a lot of poke or maybe you got ganked. You run out of resources and deep down you know: you have to recall. But right there! A minion wave! And farm is oh so important, you can't pass it up. You stay. You walk up to the wave, to get that cannon. The enemy flashes onto you, your screen turns grey. The cannon minion lived.

When you run out of resources (and your opponent does not), then it's time to go base. Yes, you will lose farm and xp for this, but that's better than dying and losing MORE farm and XP.
Resources
Your health is the most obvious resource. If you run out, you die and obviously you don't want that to happen. If an opponent does get you low during a trade, try to push the wave when their abilities are on cooldown.
Sustain is basically health, but delayed*. You should check the scoreboard from time to time to check whether and how much sustain your opponent has.
Mana is the last resource. It is often overlooked, but if you run out of mana while playing a mage, you're almost a walking ward. And wards can't fight back...
*Make sure to use potions in time! Especially versus assassins you have to keep your health at 80%+. Potions don't heal when you are dead my friend :(

Whenever an enemy is in kill range, it's best to wait for them to go for a last hit. The importance of farm and last hits is so ingrained that people are willing to die for it. People greed especially for cannon minions and get themselves killed for it. Avoid falling victim to it yourself...
Wasting important cooldowns
A lot of champions have a 'key' ability that allows them to protect themselves. Like Zoe's Sleepy Trouble Bubble, Twisted Fate's Pick A Card or Syndra's Scatter the Weak. For you it would be Glacial Path. Depending on the champion you can look for a trade (since they don't have an important setup ability) and/or they become vulnerable to all-ins. If an enemy is in kill range, and you see them use their key ability you can pounce on them.

This is also a prime example of a completely senseless use of an ability. Twisted Fate uses Pick A Card to last hit a minion. However he is full mana anyway and if he just waits half a second he can last hit it with an autoattack.
Disrespecting range advantage
This only applies to melee matchups. Sometimes assassin players try to CS with autoattacks in front of your face. In the early levels (1-3) you can basically auto them to death if they try this. At higher levels you can also throw in Ice Shard and Ring of Frost for significant amounts of harass. Basically: if they try to ignore you, make them pay for it.

This doesn't necessarily have to kill them. However just landing a ton of harass will force them into overstaying or getting a bad base.
Disrespecting CC
This is Lissandra specific. You got a huge amount of CC and if you manage to lock someone down under your turret while the turret is targeting them... It's basically a free kill. There are a few ways to do this:

When the minion wave is getting low (e.g. one low health melee minion & a bunch of casters) while the enemy is hitting the tower you can Glacial Path forward. Then clear the remaining minions with your abilities and chain CC the enemy. If done correctly, the enemy will be chain-CCed while being hit by the turret.

You can also 'dare' your opponent under the turret if you know you're not able to oneshot the wave. You basically Glacial Path at them, use Ring of Frost + autoattack. If the enemy hits you, you use Frozen Tomb on them and laugh while they die to turret. If they don''t you back off immediately before they can walk out of tower range and hit you.

This is effective especially at low elo. People will be surprised at you popping up and dealing a whole lot of damage to them. It takes some steel nerves or mental preparation to not hit you back.

This also applies to enemies trying to turret dive you or accidentally walking/dashing in its range ( Yasuo's sometimes do this...). Know the turret range and use it to your advantage. The turret is your best friend!
A good moment to advocate world peace: sometimes your teammates do annoying stuff, they steal your kills, they flame, w/e. Keep your chill and keep playing.
Positioning
Where do you stand in lane? Although walking around may seem like an innocent activity it can determine whether you win or lose lanes & games. There are a few choices where you can stand in lane, depending on the matchup and the overall game state:
1. Inside or outside the minion wave
Inside the wave
Outside the wave
Whether to position inside or outside the wave gets dictated almost completely by what champion you are playing against. If it is a champion with AoE abilities, for example: Xerath, then you should position outside the wave. This way they have to choose between hitting you or the minions with their ability. It also prevents you from getting pushed in & harassed at the same time.

Alternatively, if the enemy champion has skillshots that get blocked by minions, then you should position inside the wave. A great example is Zoe. However there are champions like Lux that have both types of ability. Then you should position outside the wave, but on the opposite side of the lane as them.
2. Forward or back
Forward
Back
To position forward or back should change continuously throughout the whole laning phase. Typically, if you want to trade, you position forward and if you don't you position back. So for example, level 1 versus melee's (let's say, Yone) you should position forward since you got a range advantage (which you want to utilize!). Alternatively, if the opponent's abilities are on cooldown you can position forward looking to utilize the trading stance or look for an Ice Shard. Whenever you utilize the trading stance you essentially position forward, hit the enemy and retreat.

On the other hand, if your abilities are on cooldown you should position back. You should also position back if your opponent has an advantage in trades or is flat out stronger than you. A prime example of this is Lucian, he can easily dash forward and land a very onesided trade onto you, so you should position back so that when he does so, he also takes damage from minions which will make it less onesided.
3. Left or right
Left
Right
You should position on the side where you wards are, or the side where the enemy jungler is not on. For example, let's say you placed a ward in the botside pixel brush. Then you should position on the right. Now, if the enemy jungler is looking to gank you he either has to walk over your ward (which you should see, and react to) or he has to cross the entire lane to get to you.

Typically, standing on the opposite side of the lane compared to your opponent is standard. This is way there is more distance between you and your opponent so it's easier to reach the wave without taking harass. Lissandra specifically, Ice Shard gains increased range when hitting targets (=minions). So by positioning on the other side of the lane, you'll ensure there'll be minions you can shatter Ice Shard on.

These two things can contradict each other. Positioning based on vision/jungler is more important (imo) than positioning based on harass/access capabilities. The latter is something people do subconsciously and it is actually a great way of tricking your enemy laner into a jungle gank: when your jungler is coming to your lane, stand on the side your jungler is not on. The enemy will position as far as way from you, which will be closer to your jungler!
Warding
Warding is an incredibly important aspect of League of Legends as it gives you information on the enemy's whereabouts. Therefore I made a map. The circles indicate blue/red side and the icons in them represent the type of ward (control/stealth ward). Keep in mind that wards not only tell you where the enemies are, but they also tell you where the enemies are not.
Placing the wards is only half of the process. You also need to look at your minimap. It's no use placing vision and then not looking at it. Although your teammates can also benefit from your wards, you should be able to benefit from it yourself.
1. River bush wards
Indeed, they are not in this map. That's because I think these wards are a waste, they don't tell you anything aside from the fact that the enemy is (not) about the gank you. You at least could go through the trouble of placing a ward slightly in the river (so you can see the ramp) or in the pixel brush. The only time where they should be utilized is later in the game, to avoid facechecking when moving into objectives.
2. Pixel brush wards
These are the most important. Try to put a control ward in the side you prefer to roam to (often botlane). You can then put stealth wards in the other. If your control ward keeps getting removed, you can also place a stealth ward.
3. Ramp wards
These are the wards just over the wall. They are great for spotting out enemy jungle movements/possible roams. If the enemy enters the river, you'll know it. They are effective especially versus early level 2 gankers ( Shaco, Twitch, Jarvan IV).
4. Jungle wards
I'm a big fan of warding enemy jungle camps. If I manage to push up in the early levels (1-3) then I often plop a ward in the enemy raptors. Later in the laning phase, if I managed to open up time for a roam, but there isn't anything to roam to, I waltz into the jungle (preferably when the enemy jungler is on the opposite side of the map or my own jungler is with me) to place a ward on one of the camps/bushes.
5. Lane wards
Whenever you're up against roaming champions and you cannot keep the lane pushed anymore (e.g. you cannot prevent them from roaming). Put a ward in the middle of the lane and you'll be able to see where they go. That way you can warn the side of the map your laner is on, rather than making everyone worry where he went.
Wave management
This is one of the more complex parts of the early game. Essentially this is the study on how minions act and how to manipulate that to your benefits. How can this be useful? Understanding and being able to apply this can give you leads in gold, experience or "time". It can also help you in matchups, whether it be winning ones or losing ones.
The Even Minion Rule
Let's start with the most basic concept of wave management: the Even Minion Rule. Essentially, if two minion waves with an equal amount of minions meet somewhere in the lane they will push towards the side they are not on. If they meet in the center the minion line will initially stay in the center, but will start pushing to one side eventually.

IMPORTANT NOTE: The minion wave will be in a "neutral" spot at the start of the game. When this occurs later in the game it is commonly referred to as a "reset".

This rule tells you what the minion wave will do and therefore what you can do with it. Are you behind and is the wave pushing towards you? Let it come, no need to overextend. Is the wave pushing towards the enemy? No way you can setup a freeze without the enemy pushing the wave.
Fast pushing
Fast pushing is the simplest of techniques, you just dump your abilities on the wave to make it push as quickly as possible. Avoid dumping abilities onto the wave without knowing why though. You mainly should look to fast push when:
>>You want to recall
>>You want to roam
>>Your opponent has gone base
>>Your opponent roams
>>Your opponent is freezing
These are just some examples of when you can look to fast push. It doesn't mean that fast pushing is always the right thing to do in these cases.

Sometimes it is too dangerous to use all your abilities on the wave. You should always be using Ice Shard and autoattacks. If there is no enemy nearby or the enemy is not able to jump on you then you can use Ring of Frost as well. If the enemy jungler is also not in the area, you can use Glacial Path. A few thresholds that are interesting (if you started Doran's Ring):

Waveclear thresholds
Level
4
Can clear casters with 2x Ice Shard + AA
5
Can clear casters with 2x Ice Shard
7
Can clear casters with Ice Shard + Ring of Frost
9
Can clear entire wave with Ice Shard + Ring of Frost + Glacial Path + AAs (rarely used, only if basing immediately after)
Slow pushing
A slow push happens when you have a pushing minion wave and you match the amount of damage the enemy laner does to the wave and only last hit the minions. The result is that you will get a large wave of minions which will start pushing slowly towards the enemy tower.

You can accomplish the same things with a slow push as with a fast push, however the enemy will not be able to clear the wave as quickly though. Slow pushing also has other advantages:


>>It becomes hard for your enemy to all-in you since you have a large minion wave to back you up.
>>You can look for harass on the enemy once the wave crashes into the turret unless:
1. There is a roaming opportunity
2. It is a ranged matchup or Zed
3. You are low on health (~55%)
>>Slow pushes are usually better than fastpushes unless you need to get out of lane quickly.

It is not hard to create a slowpush against a melee assassin, but it can be almost impossible to do against a mage. The difference between the two is that Lissandra has more waveclear and range than most assassins whereas mages have the same (or more) range and waveclear. This allows them to "thin" the wave, killing minions to prevent the wave from getting too large. After a certain point they'll be able to clear the entire wave in no time.

When the minion wave is slow pushing towards you, play with caution. Avoid positioning forward to trade with your opponent as their massive minion advantage will win them any trade. Position back. Also be careful of ganks, if you die to a gank or an all-in you will lose 2/3 minion waves. You'll instantly lose your lane because of this you will have to play from behind.

When you 1v1 your opponent, try to avoid fights (near the minion wave) where both of you die. If this happens then Iceborn Subjugation might end up damaging the wave slightly, creating a slowpush towards the enemy. This will put you behind as the enemy will have a large minion wave to collect and you will get absolutely nothing.
Crashing & Bouncing
Let's go back to some concepts: crashing the wave & bouncing the wave. Once an entire minion wave gets in range of the enemy turret (so not only the melees, but also the casters and the cannon), the minion wave has "crashed".

When you push the wave fast enough for the tower to clear all the minions before the upcoming wave arrives, it is called a "reset". The next wave will then meet in the middle of the lane, like at the start of the game!

When you push too slowly or when a slow push crashes into the turret, the turret will not be able to kill all the minions before the upcoming minion wave arrives. This will delay the new minion wave so the minion waves will not meet in the middle of the lane. Because of the even minion rule, the wave, if left unattended it will start slow pushing to the other side of the lane! This phenomenon is called "bouncing".

Why is this useful? Well, imagine that you crash a slow push, go on a roam and your opponent decides to follow you. Then something happens (a fight, you abandon the roam, w/e) and both of you return to lane. Now you can collect more minions compared to your opponent since the wave was slow pushing towards you, putting you ahead in xp/gold. This is essentially another reason why slow pushing is better than fast pushing.
Freezing
At last, the mysterious elusive technique everyone always talks about: Freezing. So first of all, what is a freeze? You have a freeze when you keep the minions in a certain spot for an extended amount of time.

Freezing will force the enemy laner to overextend for farm and will keep you safe since you will be close to the turret. The downside is that you won't be applying any pressure, leaving your opponent free to roam. It is a great technique to stall and reduce losses when you are behind. However when you are ahead you don't have to freeze and are usually better off impacting the map instead.

Freezing is commonly done against assassins/melee matchups so you can freely poke them whilst making it almost impossible for them to trade with you. Make sure to place lane wards to see where they roam though.
I actually mess up and walk back into Rake for no reason. However, since I'm under my turret Talon can't kill me and I manage to trade evenly.

Freezing for a long period of time against non-assassins is almost impossible[/color] since they have more waveclear. You can still freeze for a short time to make them an easy gank target or force them to dump spells on the wave.

How to freeze
1.
Create a slowpush. First, the minions have to be pushing towards you (if they are, skip to step 4.).
2.
Bounce the minion wave. Either place a ward or look for harass when the enemy is under tower.
3.
Let the wave push back. Follow the Even Minion Rule. Do not carelessly throw Ice Shard into the minion wave.
4.
Thin the wave. For the wave to freeze close to the turret you'll need around ~4 (enemy) caster minions more and if you are around the middle of the lane 1-2 caster minions are enough. To get this amount of minions you'll have to kill some enemy minions, if you do not the wave will be too large and crash into your turret.
5.
Hold the wave. Once the enemy wave killed all your minions you tank the enemy minions to prevent them from advancing from the spot where you want them to be*.
*This is also what makes freezing in midlane pretty hard: If you hold too many minions you will take a lot of damage and if the enemy is ranged they can walk up and hit you with abilities or force you to retreat. This is also the reason why the wave shouldn't be too large, otherwise there might be too many minions for you to tank or you might have to hold it for too long since the wave killed your too quickly.
Roaming
Roaming is one of the hottest topics of midlane. One of the most asked questions is: how do you roam? Although roaming itself is merely the act of leaving your lane, trying to determine when a roam is good or bad can be extremely hard.

I think roaming is often displayed as this 'easy' thing to do, but in reality it is very complex. Therefore you shouldn't feel bad for not knowing how to/when to roam. View it as something you can improve on over time, not something you immediately should know. In this section I'll be talking about various aspects of roams. and some of my own roams and why they were good or bad. However I will not, and cannot, give you some golden rule for roaming.
A few tips
1.
Before going on a roam, ask yourself if you're able to roam at all (are you healthy, do you have Frozen Tomb up?)
2.
Try to think of your roam targets in advance rather than on the fly. This way you can execute the roam quicker and lose less resources for it.
3.
You don't always have to roam. You can also duck out of vision and make the enemy wonder where you are. Or you can run into the enemy jungle to place a ward or even recall and buy items!
4.
Once a roam is finished you can either base or run straight back to lane. If doing the latter, be cautious as the enemy laner may be lying in wait to ambush you.
Roam preparation
There are couple of things you need to take care of/think about before going on a roam:

Checklist - Can you roam?
1.
Resources. If you're too low on health and/or mana* roaming is a terrible idea. You might die, putting yourself and your allies behind. It's much better to recall instead.
2.
Cooldowns. Roaming with Frozen Tomb is much better than without. You might not always have to use it, but that's not something you can know in advance.
3.
Pushed the wave. Before roaming you need to push the minions into the enemy tower. Not doing so will result is a huge loss of xp/gold which will offset whatever you can get from the roam.
*This may not seem so obvious to you, however if you roam when having below 1/3th mana you might run out in the middle of a combo. Not being able to cast Ice Shard/ Frozen Tomb can easily lose fights or get you killed.
An example
Alright, so let's say all three conditions up here are fulfilled. Now, the next part of the preparation: the place where you will roam. It's not like you push the wave and sit there like "alright, done all this, where do I roam now?" Roams are usually planned in advance. During the game you check the conditions of the possible roam targets (bot/top/jungle).

Roam target
1.
Champion picks. Some champions are easier to gank than others due to innate CC. There are also champions that need to get ahead, making ganking them a priority.
2.
State of the lane. How healthy are your allies/enemies. Are they ahead/behind?
3.
State of the wave. If the minions are pushing towards the enemy / they are under their tower roaming there is very unlikely to be a success.
4.
The side your jungler is on. Roaming towards the side your jungler is (going to be) on tends to have a higher success chance as it increases your number advantage.
5.
If the enemies don't have their cooldowns (e.g. Flash) up. Ganking them is much more likely to be a success!
Champion picks
Whether lanes are gankable depends a lot on what champion your ally is playing, what champion the enemy is playing AND how the matchup between the two plays out.

To give an example: let's say the toplane matchup is Camille (ally) versus Jayce (enemy). Based on the matchup, this is a good roam target. The roam is very likely to succeed (unless Jayce is under his tower) and ganking him puts Jayce behind (which makes him useless) and gets Camille ahead (which enables her to beat Jayce on her own in the future).
(Allied) toplane picks

An example for the botlane: Ezreal Janna (ally) versus Samira Nautilus (enemy).
Essentially: Samira Nautilus want to fight while Ezreal Janna just want to sit back, farm and poke. Roaming to this lane is tricky because 1. your team doesn't have setup, 2. the enemy is much stronger in the all-in than your team. Therefore this isn't really a good place to roam to.
ADC picks
Support picks
State of the lane
❄ If any enemy is pushed up very far (e.g. under ally tower), then roaming there can still be a good idea, even though your allies may not have the best setup.

The main reason behind is that Lissandra has extremely good setup: you can make up for the CC your allies do not have.

❄ Especially in low elo, people will see roaming as some kind of get-out-of-jail card when their lane goes bad. These are actually the worst types of roams and I try to avoid them.

Botlane: Draven Pyke (allies) versus Varus Nami (enemies). However, your allies are under their tower at 30% HP while the enemies sit comfortably at 80% HP. Although the gank target is good, trying to gank them at that moment is a terrible idea. Even if you gank them, the chances are high that Draven and Pyke will die during the play since they're so low. It's also possible that you die because you essentially have to 1v2, which is something you cannot really do as Lissandra.

This logic also applies to allies that are (several) levels down on their opponents or opponents that are ahead. For example: Mordekaiser (ally; 0/2/0) versus Aatrox (enemy; 2/0/0). If you try to gank this lane the following is extremely likely to happen: Aatrox gets very low, your CC runs out, he presses R and proceeds to 1v2 you. Some toplaners are notorious for 1v2ing when ahead. A couple of them: Aatrox, Sett and Darius. It's also the question whether ganking them will bring your ally back in the game, or if it's better to put your effort elsewhere.

In some cases you can catch the enemy and kill them together with your team. In other cases, the enemy will end up killing your allies and you which is the worst that can happen. Even though you may want to help your allies, you should be aware that sometimes you just aren't able to and you shouldn't make things worse by trying to help them.
Pushing the wave
Some people make this sound so easy "just push the wave and roam". But when exactly can you do this?

Pushing the wave to roam
1.
Within the matchup. In some matchups you can push the waves whenever you want. Sometimes it's not possible matchup wise, but the enemy doesn't realize it and lets you do it anyway.
2.
When the opponent recalls there is a time window where you can push the wave freely and go somewhere else.
3.
When the opponent roams you can also push the wave freely. Then it's common to go to the other side of the map, as your enemy will complete their roam before you're able to get there.
4.
After the opponent dies you have time to push the wave. Unfortunately, in most cases you'll have to recall because you have no resources or cooldowns. In some cases, if you still have both up you can look to roam.

In harder matchups, 2. is the most common way of roaming. Here's an example of a game of mine where I was able to utilize this window:
Alternatively, if the opponent goes to ward you can also get a 'headstart' on clearing the wave, which can lead to a roaming opportunity.
Roam execution
Execution
1.
Time is everything. Don't dither and go straight where you need to go. Think about whether to 'complete' to roam while walking, not when standing around. If it's not going to work, return to lane.
2.
Choose your path. There are multiple ways to go somewhere, and as Lissandra you got a few champion specific ones too!
3.
The final play
Roaming paths
As a midlaner there are a variety of 'standard' paths you can take:
Click image for source

Some paths are safer, other paths are more dangerous. If you do take a path through the enemy jungle, be careful of the enemy jungler. Especially when the enemies in your target lane suddenly disappear, you should abort (and Glacial Path over a wall towards the river). They might be coming towards you to spring a trap!

A succesful use of one of the more dangerous paths:

However, as Lissandra you got this marvelous ability called Glacial Path. With this you can jump over some of the walls around bot/toplane, giving you some extra paths (Yellow indicates where to cast Glacial Path):
Redside paths
Blueside paths
My favorite is the paths over the really big walls on the blue topside and red botside. By taking these you can appear behind your enemies and cut off their escape path. Roam preferences can depend on what side you're playing on! Here's an example of this path in action:
Be careful of the enemy jungler when using this path. Since you have to path a short bit through the enemy jungle, you might run into them.
The final play
When you finally arrive at the target lane, the execution is pretty simple. The standard initiation is Glacial Path (+ Flash) first, then Ring of Frost (if in range) or Frozen Tomb. Then cast Ice Shard + autoattack followed by the CC ability you didn't use.

❄ Try to chain CC the enemy, also take you allies' abilities into account!

There is also a more tricky alternative to gank a lane. In botlane I like to use a 'greedy' combo:


Flash - Ring of Frost is used such that all enemies are rooted, Ice Shard + autoattack is then used on a target of choice, followed by Frozen Tomb on the target that is closest to safety. The enemy you Frozen Tomb isn't going anywhere and the idea is that all other enemies have trouble getting away as well because of the AoE slow. Sometimes this combo can backfire if the enemies have Flash / other dashes up and can result in everyone getting away.
When the roam doesn't work
It happens, you do everything right but the enemies end up backing off in time/getting away. But wait, they seem to be walking back! Perhaps it's possible to make this work anyway...

❄ If a roam fails you should immediately go back to your lane.

Staying around because "perhaps the roam might work anyway!" is going to cost you an enormous amount of xp/gold. It's not worth it. Go back.
Roaming with Teleport
How teleport can assist your roams
1.
Teleporting behind enemies. Watch the botlane brushes/rivers for wards. You can also Teleport on minions if the enemies walk past them.
2.
Teleporting back to lane after you and your enemy recalled. By doing so you can freely push the wave and then immediately walk to the target location.
3.
Teleporting back to lane after a roam is another classic. If you have Teleport you can spend more time on a roam without missing too much xp/gold.
4.
Following your opponent roam with Teleport. If this can make a difference then doing so could turn a bad situation in a good one.
When your opponent roams
When your opponent roams you can:
1.
Follow them
2.
Get plates
3.
Make a play on the other side of the map. This can be roaming to the other sidelane, or teaming up with your jungler to invade/take objectives.

❄ A lot of people pick option 1, because they feel bad about their opponent roaming and want to make up for it.

Especially in low elo people fall victim to this. Sidelanes will just see an extra enemy champion in their lane and a severe lack of an extra allied champion (and thus become angry). They will often blame you for the enemy roaming toward them. Even if you couldn't do anything about it. A lot of people will then try to compensate, trying to follow even though it's bad to do so.

You can follow a roam when
1.
You know where the enemy went. Either through wards or logic, if a lane is pushed up then they are gankable.
2.
You are able to take a safe path. Some champions wait in bushes, so they can ambush and kill you in case you try to follow.
3.
You are not too far behind them. This is the major condition. If you are 10 seconds late then you are not going to be able to do anything!

Condition 3 is the hardest. Sometimes your opponent roams and your allies just get oneshot/deleted. Sometimes a long dragged out fight follows. It's almost impossible to predict in advance and therefore following is a coinflip. On the other hand, getting plates / making a play on the other side of the map is often guaranteed/more likely to work. If you are very close behind your enemy (1-2 seconds at most) then following might work out. If not then following is probably not a good idea.

❄ Regardless of whether you follow or not, you must alert your allies
  1. You ping "missing" on your lane 2-3 times
  2. You ping "danger" at the river entrance of the lane the enemy roams to
  3. You ping "back off"/"danger" on top of your allies
  4. You ping "missing" on your lane, again.

Doing just 1. is not sufficient. Your allies may not see it, this is why you ping directly on top of them as well. Since this may cause confusion, you ping missing again.

Playing from behind
Sometimes you get killed, or you lose a lot of CS/gold because of a bad roam. In whatever way it happened: you are behind. The first thing you'll have to do is keep your mental up: the game isn't lost yet! Don't give up, playing from behind is something you got to learn. This extends to both in lane & out of lane gameplay. But I'll focus on laning for now.

Your general focus should be on farming and avoiding fights. Also avoid roaming and utilize lane wards so you can warn your team when your opponent goes somewhere. Do not follow their roams. Even if you do get there in time, your impact will be severly limited due to being behind.

Playing from behind versus specific classes
1. Medium ranged mages ( Twisted Fate, Malzahar, Ryze, ...)
This is in my opinion the easiest class to play against from behind, if they try to threaten you, you can simply walk back and if you are unable to push the wave you can easily farm under your turret. Utilize lane wards as some of these champions roam a lot.
2. Assassins ( Zed, Fizz, LeBlanc, ...)
It's pretty safe to farm close/under your turret against these champions as they cannot dive you due to your CC & ult. However, if you don't have Frozen Tomb up, be EXTREMELY careful. It's also likely they are going to roam around the map, warn your team but avoid following.
3. Poke mages ( Brand, Xerath, Lux, ...)
It is downright awful to play against these champions, your best hope is a jungle gank. At later levels, they'll push you towards your turret (just stay out of range till they start doing so), try to clear the wave as quickly as possible so they won't be able to poke you. I recommend getting a Null-Magic Mantle or even a Negatron Cloak if you're having a lot of trouble.
4. Lane bullies ( Syndra, Cassiopeia, Orianna, ...)
This is in my opinion the easiest class to play against from behind, if they try to threaten you, you can simply walk back and if you are unable to push the wave you can easily farm under your turret. Utilize lane wards as some of these champions roam a lot. Again, I recommend getting a Null-Magic Mantle or even a Negatron Cloak if you're having a lot of trouble.
Post lane
Where to go
Once the laning phase ends, some lane assignments might shift. Midlane isn't really yours anymore. Sometimes your botlane and/or toplane might come mid and start taking CS as well, so what do you do?

Staying means you'll be sharing farm and XP. This is bad. As Lissandra you need gold for your items and all the XP you can get.

❄ Vacate the 'empty' lane

So let's say your botlane went midlane, your toplane is still top. Then you should 'pick up' the waves in botlane. You only pick up the waves that are safe. I'll talk more about this in the grouping vs splitting subchapter.
Sometimes you cannot follow the rule of thumb though. There are two causes: the first is objectives and the second one is ARAM. Ask yourself whether the following two conditions are fulfilled:

Checklist - objectives
1.
An objective is coming up in <1 minute.
2.
You don't have Teleport.

If the answer is yes, then you should go to one of the lanes next to the objective. If one of them is empty, then this is very convenient. But if they're both occupied you'll just have to go along with it. Even though you'll miss farm, grouping for the objective so you can contest is more important.

Onto the 2nd reason: ARAM. In this scenario, all players on both teams are midlane. If there's a lot of fighting then you should be there too. Not being there leads to a number advantage for the enemy team which leads to them winning fights and your team falling behind. Fortunately, every game has 'downtimes' where you can actually pick up farm.

Downtimes
1.
People are dead after a fight. Dead people can't fight.
2.
Abilities are on cooldown. Allies and enemies have a much harder time starting fights when their ultimates are on cooldown.
3.
Everyone is recalling. You recall too, then run straight towards the sidelane, push the wave as far as you can safely* (don't go beyond the middle of the map) and run straight back to your team.
*What is safe? As a guideline: if your team is even/ahead then the middle of the map tends to be safe. If your team is behind then you should push a little bit past the inner tower (the green areas in the images of the next part) and then run back to your team.
Sidelaning
Since Lissandra is such a good teamfighting champion, you should very rarely look to pressure turrets through splitpushing. The usual course of action is to clear the farm in the lane you chose and then running over to your team to group with them. Then, once the wave in the sidelane starts pushing towards you again, catch it and run back to your team again. This may sound very simple, but there's more to it than you think.

Is pushing the sidelane a good idea?
1.
Look at the minimap, where are the enemies? Can you handle the missing enemies? What if all of them suddenly show up next to you?
2.
Is the wave in a 'safe' zone? Depending on the game, there are zones where you can always pick up waves.

Keeping track of where enemies are is extremely important. You'll have to do this all the time. Imagine you're pushing into enemy territory and all the enemies suddenly vanish from the minimap: they might be coming for you! Then you have to retreat till you can spot them again.

Safe zones are something else again. When multiple enemies are missing (and you can't handle them), you'll need vision. If you don't have vision, walking up to clear the wave is very risky. You're essentially gambling whether the enemies are there or not. Here are two maps that show different areas where you can farm + the wards 'needed' to farm safely.
Blueside
Redside
These maps are just a guideline and don't always work. In games where the enemy team has (multiple) champions with global abilities or invisibility you'll need to be more careful. If any of these are fed, walking up to farm can lead to a certain death.
champions
Once you've pushed the wave as far as you safely can, you walk back to your team. The path you take depends again on whether enemies are missing and if you can handle them. If the answer is yes, you can take the quickest path. IF the answer is no, then you'll have to take a slightly longer path, behind your teams vision.

If there's an enemy in the lane where you go
1.
If you can 1v1 them: ask yourself whether you can handle them + the missing enemies. If the answer is no, follow the maps.
2.
If you cannot 1v1 them: Avoid fighting them, wait for them to push the wave, then collect it.

Objectives
Jungle camps
It may seem weird that I call these an 'objective' but they sort of are. As Lissandra, I don't like clearing jungle camps that much in the early game. There are some mid champs that take them, but as Lissandra you shouldn't try to do so as it takes way too much time and mana to kill them. This changes in the midgame as you can clear Chickens & Wolves quite easily. Gromp takes some time, but replenishes health and mana. Only Krugs can take a fair bit of mana to clear. In the lategame it becomes even easier to clear the camps.

When to take jungle camps
If your jungler isn't taking them. It's just free gold, especially if your team is ARAMing. If your jungler starts pinging angrily, back off immediately.
After sieging it's common practice to retreat into the enemy jungle and take all the jungle camps that are up.
Baron Nashor
The great purple worm. Slaying it gives you a teamwide buff of empowered recalls and the ability to buff up minions that are nearby. These minions will be much harder to kill and cannon minions gain increased range. In other words: Baron is a great sieging buff. But before getting into all that, you'll have to take it first.

As Lissandra, trying to kill baron nashor together with your team can be a mistake. Unless you have Liandry's Torment as your mythic, your damage to baron is underwhelming. Most of the time it'll drain your mana bar, leaving you unable to fight in case enemies show up.

❄ The only time where you should hit Baron is when your team needs to rush it

In all other cases there are two things you can do:

1. Zoning the enemy jungler

If the enemy jungler gets into the pit when the Baron is low, then it becomes a coinflip. You cannot blame your jungler for missing his smite when you let the enemy jungler get into the pit. So in some games you just need to keep out of the pit. Fortunately, as Lissandra you have more than enough tools to make sure he doesn't get in there.

2. Hiding out of vision to ambush the enemy team

You sit in a spot with no vision, then once the enemy team walks up you go in with Glacial Path and either use the standard teamfight combo or the pick combo.


Some common angles of attack:
Blueside
Redside

It's very important that you are not sitting on an enemy ward. Either you or your team needs to sweep the area with Oracle Lens, or you need a Control Ward.

Lissandra is also quite good at messing up an enemy attempt of taking the Baron. Especially on redside, she can jump over the baron wall and dump all of her AoE damage on the enemies trying to hit the objective. It's harder to get a good angle on blueside since the enemies can see you coming. You can walk to the same spots as on redside, but it takes longer and can be dangerous since you have to walk into enemy territory to reach on of the spots.
Blueside
Redside
What makes Lissandra so nasty while fighting in the Baron pit, is not only her AoE. She can also lock the enemies inside the baron pit with Ring of Frost root and Frozen Tomb slow, so they take a lot of damage from baron nashor too.
Dragon
Dragons are the 'easiest' win condition: you stack dragons, get dragon soul, get baron, etc etc. The very first thing you need to do is to keep an eye on the dragon timer. If it's one minute away you should base, buy items and move to the location (if your team is going to contest it).

❄ You don't always have to fight over dragon, sometimes it's okay to give it up.

If your team is behind, all your abilities are on cooldown or some of your allies are dead, then trying to fight the enemy team over drake can be a very bad idea. Try to ping your team back so that things do not get worse. You can give up three drakes in total, but you'll have to fight at dragon soul (or outscale the enemy team really hard).

Contesting is a team decision. If you want to give the objective up, but your team stubbornly tries to contest it, you should be there to disengage the fight / stop turning the game into a disaster. In this game you should go for the best play available, which won't always be the theoretically correct play.

Much like when taking baron, you can either 1. hit the drake, 2. keep the enemy jungler away or 3. ambush the enemy team.

1. is a bit better than when your team is taking baron, since drakes have less health and regen. However avoid bursting the drake when it gets low as the sudden damage from Ring of Frost + Ice Shard can mess up your junglers' smite. Since Ice Shard itself does quite a bit of damage in the lategame, I often don't hit the drake at all once it gets low, unless the enemy team is nowhere near the objective.

3. is a fine thing to do. There are once again a few ambush spots (which are similar to the baron ones):
Blueside
Redside
Again, make sure the spot where you sit is unwarded.
Dragon soul
Once your team slays four dragons, you get granted a strong buff: the dragon soul.

The Four souls
Mountain soul gives you a big shield whenever you spend some time out of combat. This soul makes it much harder for enemy champions to dive into your team, while also making diving more forgiving as you got more health to play with.
Infernal soul is a pure offensive buff. It's especially effective when diving as the additional damage and AoE can finish off targets.
Cloud soul gives 'invisible' power. 10% bonus MS makes it much easier to navigate the map and kite in fights. The additional bonus after using Frozen Tomb can be insanely useful for getting away after ulting yourself or following up on enemies you've ulted.
Ocean soul is often seen as the strongest soul of all. This soul greatly favors kiting. As long as you continously deal damage to enemies, you'll eventually outheal them due to this buff.

This buff is on level with Baron due to the combat power it gives. Getting it makes it much more likely for your team to win the game. If you get it, try to play according to the strengths of the soul (and your team).
Elder dragon

Everything I said about dragons is still applicable to the elder dragon. It gives a super powerful combat buff (20% health execute, anyone?). When the enemy team gets it, you should avoid fighting with them at all costs. Lissandra can delay the execute somewhat with Frozen Tomb and Zhonya's Hourglass, but it'll eventually hit you and you'll end up dead anyway.

If your team gets it, then you'll be a very happy Lissandra since one of the issues she tends to run into is that the enemy team runs away at 20% health after a good combo. They won't be able to do that this time!
Some elder liss

Fighting with Lissandra
Alright, almost done with all the general tactics and stuff. After that it'll get champion specific.
When to fight
Before talking about how to fight, you should know when to fight. Especially in lower elos people will fight for no reason at all (the enemy being on their screen is a reason I guess).

A fight is good when
1.
The fight is uneven (in your favor). Having five ally champions versus four enemy champions can make quite a difference.
2.
The enemy team is split. Unless one of the split champions likes to flank (a bruiser/assassin) then you can engage on either.
3.
The enemy team doesn't have their cooldowns.

An example of 2:

In any other scenario, the fight is even. Even fights are coinflip. Of course you can always look to win them through fighting well and playing to your win condition, but this takes time and experience. And it is hard to tell this through the written word.
Fighting styles
The Two styles
1.
Diving is my favorite style. You dive into the enemy team, either to disrupt them or to assassinate an enemy carry (or two).
2.
Peel is the other style. Now you're a bodyguard, you protect your team from divers/assassins and kite the enemy team.

Since there are plenty of diving examples throughout this guide, have a clear peeling example instead:

A big question is: when do you use which style? In other words, what is the win condition?. This depends on the following factors:

Factors
1.
Allied team composition
2.
Enemy team composition
3.
Which of your allies are doing well and which ones are not.
4.
Which of the enemies are doing well and which ones are not.


If your team has a lot of champions that like diving / are able to dive, then doing so along with them is a good idea. On the other hand, if your team doesn't have a lot of these champions then you should look to peel.

The majority of toplaners and junglers are champions that like to dive. The only exceptions are ranged toplaners and junglers.

Most ADCs don't like jumping into the enemy team and therefore favor peel. The only two exceptions are Samira, who does actually want to jump into the enemy team. And Kai'Sa, whose ultimate can reposition her so she can follow your dive.

For the rest of the ADCs it depends on the enemy composition. If the enemy team has multiple divers / assasins, your ADC cannot follow up on you when you dive. If they're strong you're better off peeling for them rather than diving.

The job subscription of support is usually 'protect the ADC', which is something all supports are capable of. However a lot of them can also dive with you (most notably the engage supports) or are able to create some kind of follow up. There are however, a few that cannot do that:
Support picks that don't really dive or facilitate dives

It ultimately comes down to ally strength. Have a really fed toplaner? Diving is probably the way to go. Is your botlane ahead? Peeling may be a better idea.

You can apply the same logic to the enemy team.. If the enemy team has a lot of divers / assassins you're better off letting them run into you and peeling for your ADC rather than trying to dive them. On the other hand, if the enemy composition counters divers (multiple tanks, enchanters), then peeling is the way to go.

Who to ult
A question that is often asked by newer Lissandra players is when do you ult enemies and when do you ult yourself? This actually will mostly come from experience, in short: you ult yourself to protect yourself/prevent enemies from retaliating and you ult enemies to either keep them away or pick them off.

If you are diving into the enemy team you should ult yourself 95% of the time.

What diving does depends on the phase of the game: if you have 1-2 items it'll be mainly for disruption and kicking the enemy team into chaos. If you have 3-5 items it still disrupts the enemy team, but can also do massive AoE damage depending on your build.
When diving for disruption, the enemy team will often try to turn on you after Frozen Tomb ends. To prevent dying, you can Flash away from the enemies (if it's up).
An example of how lethal Lissandra can be if the enemy team clumps up. This is one of the scenarios where she really shines.

The other 5%
1.
If you have Zhonya's Hourglass, then you can still stall for a bit.
2.
If your build is on the tankier side. E.g. Everfrost + other health items, Abyssal Mask.
3.
Enemy has a single threat which you can take down by ulting them. If their only threat is down then your team should win the fight.
1. and 3. are used if you cannot onetap said carry with a regular Ice Shard + Ring of Frost + Frozen Tomb combo. Then you need your team to follow up.
In this example I am actually able to onetap the enemy carry with my combo. I perhaps should have ulted myself in this scenario, but I probably would've died anyway. My main incentive for going in was that Aphelios ran out of the bush without Lulu by his side. If she had been there, going in would've been a very bad idea.

If you are not diving into the enemy team you should ult enemies 95% of the time.

This manifests as two scenario's: either you are playing 'at the edge' of the enemy team and picking off targets. Or the enemy team is diving into your team and you use Frozen Tomb to stop them. The last 5% is when the enemy team dives onto you, and you cannot use Glacial Path to get away for some reason.
One way to pick off targets iwth ult is by ulting enemy frontline champions so your team can finish them off.
Alternatively, you can pick off enemies that are not entirely grouped with their team. If you're far ahead you can probably oneshot them, but if you're not then you'll need some follow-up. This brings me to the next topic:
Ultimate placement

Frozen Tomb is not just a 1.5 second stun, or a 2.5 second stasis. It's also a large slow + damage field. You can use this to divide enemies, or to make it very hard for them to jump on you. In the following clip I again play 'at the edge' of a fight:
Notice how I use Ring of Frost + Ice Shard and then start walking back. Once the root ends (and I'm almost out of range), I use Frozen Tomb to finish Twitch off. You can see how hard it is for Pantheon and Gangplank to do something.

You can also use ultimate to 'divide' the enemy team. If some of them dive your team you can jump in the middle of them and Frozen Tomb yourself to force the rest of the enemies back, so their divers have to fight your team alone.
Only do this if your team can handle the divers by themselves. If they cannot, you'll have to use a different tactic.

Lissandra loves fighting in chokepoints. All her abilities are AoE and it becomes impossible to walk around Frozen Tomb since it covers the entirity of the corridor. Enemies that don't get hit by it have to either walk through the entire thing or wait for your ultimate to go away.
Chokepoint map
Sometimes it's worth being patient and not comitting Glacial Path + Frozen Tomb until the enemy team walks through a chokepoint. Once they finally do so you can jump on them and obliterate everyone.
Fighting within chokepoints is especially effective if your allies have high impact AoE abilities, such as Encore, Powder Keg and Bullet Time. If you hit your combo then the enemy team will almost certainly be obliterated.


Bush Lissandra
Lissandra feels much better to play if enemies run at you compared to if you have to run at them. It's significantly easier to hit big combo's and damage them. One way to accomplish this is by sitting in darkness. And to be specific: in bushes.
The theory is easy: you sit in a bush where an enemy might pass through. Then you wait and if they show up you kill them. Make sure the bush isn't warded. Either place a Control Ward or use Oracle Lens.

The key word is patience. If an objective is spawning in the future, there's a high chance that an enemy walks up. Just keep chilling in your bush.
another one

Other roles
Lissandra's best and main role is in midlane. However she is somewhat playable in other roles. It all plays different from Lissandra mid though, not only in terms of lane and matchups, but also in terms of goals and your role in a team. Bear in mind that all of this is basically off-meta. Do not attempt to first time it in ranked.
Toplane
Although toplane doesn't seem that different from midlane, they are in fact like day and night. Midlane is fast, things can happen in the blink of an eye. Fights in the river, roams and jungle interference. Toplane is this isolated place where you sit farming in lane for 10 minutes, then you look at the rest of the map and everything is burning.

When you are toplane I think you have a fundamentally different role than if you were playing mid. The one-shot glass cannon builds are much less prevalent and you should be much more focused on overall disruption/setup.

The main reason for this is the matchups: most of them suck. Although midlane matchups can be annoying/hard sometimes, toplane matchups are worse. They are either able to walk up and punch you in the face, and you have not enough damage to fight back. Or when you try to poke them you tickle them. Almost all trades/fights are losing ones and your main focus should be on poking the enemy with Ice Shard.

Because of this, builds that offer high haste early are favored: Liandry's Torment and Everfrost are the go-to mythics. This is then followed up by Cosmic Drive / Zhonya's Hourglass. Beyond that the build is pretty much the same as mid, Void Staff and Rabadon's Deathcap remain to be very good items.
Matchups to watch out for
Champions that can easily jump and excel in short trades are the hardest to deal with. Think of champions like Camille, Wukong and Jax. Then there are champions who are quite resistant to poke and simply soak all the damage you (try) to throw at them: tanks like Sion, Maokai. But also bruisers with high regen such as Sett or even Garen. The best matchups are low-mobility champions that have a low range. Most notable examples are Mordekaiser and Gwen.
Botlane
Botlane is actually very close to what you'd do as midlane Lissandra. The main difference is that you'll be lacking an ADC. Only try this when your team has a source of AD damage. I like to pick it when my midlaner picks AD or when both jungle/toplane pick AD bruisers of some sort. Unlike compared to toplane, the build of mid/botlane Lissandra is mostly the same.

Lissandra pairs well with poke mage supports. They tend to deal massive damage and you can add some extra poke as you outrange all ADCs with Ice Shard. This can pull you through the early laning phase and post 6 you can keep the enemy in one place for long enough so that your 'support' can hit all of their abilities.

There is also an interesting synergy with CC/engage supports. Lissandra combined with Rakan or Leona can keep an enemy in one place for so long that they're guaranteed to die. However the early levels can be though, before level 6 you are not able to fight the enemies.

The main issue for midlaners going botlane is that they'll be lower level than the rest. However this is not as big of a problem for Lissandra as she relies more on items rather than levels.
Support
Unfortunately, I do not play support. Therefore my knowledge on this is limited, but I see others playing from time to time. However, another kind soul made a guide on the site so if you have interested in support Lissandra you might wanna check them out.
That's all. A keen eye will notice that jungle Lissandra is missing. Although her ganks are insane, her clear is so atrocious that attempting to play Lissandra jungle will just make you sad :(
Conclusion
If you read this, it means that you managed to reach the end of my guide.
I hope you enjoy playing Lissandra as much as I do, as her unique kit and playstyle are really interesting to utilize.
If you have any questions, suggestions or feedback, feel free to leave them in the comments. You can also check out the Lissandra mains subreddit or Lissandra mains Discord (click the text below).

And last but not least: Huge thanks to YOU for reading this guide!
Other Resources
Click on the words to go there!
Lissmains Subreddit (Link) Lissmains Discord (Link)
Lissandra Streamers

Not a lot, also consider looking at YT vods if you'd like to see Lissandra gameplay.
Elsa of Garendel (Twitch)
Ice Witch Elsa (Twitch)
FearOfIce (Twitch)
Special Thanks
  • Huge thanks to jhoijhoi's Making a Guide guide! I wouldn't have been able to create this guide without it!
  • Thanks to Foxy's table coding guide for expanding my coding knowledge (and a very very helpful preset). Sadly all the images are broken, if you want to learn about tables check this out instead!
  • Huge thanks to Psiguard for taking a peek at my guide and helping me with the cheatsheet!
  • Lots of thanks to Fruxo for reviewing my guide and giving me feedback!
  • Thanks to Jovy for helping me with banners!
  • Thanks to Silverman43 for helping with banners and jungle synergies!
  • Thanks to TheBlueImperial for helping me out and just being there!
  • Thanks to everyone that left a comment on my guide! I wouldn't have known whether I my guide went in the right direction or not without you.
  • Thanks to the Mobafire Discord! All of you are the best <3
Changelog
  • dd/mm/yy
  • 15/08/21 Added post lane chapter
  • 10/08/21 Some format changes + finished the laning part of gameplay
  • 04/08/21 Updated gameplay - still wip
  • 20/07/21 Bit of a larger update, mostly format changes. 2nd gameplay chapter will be updated in the future.
  • 08/05/21 Some format changes
  • 27/04/21 Some changes (especially to the cheatsheet).
  • 22/04/21 Worked on roaming section, section on Liss in other roles
  • 07/04/21 Added matchups
  • 05/04/21 Published Final version (No more overhauls coming after this). Still adding minor sections/tweaks.
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