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Morgana - The unkillable nuke

Morgana - The unkillable nuke

Updated on January 19, 2011
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League of Legends Build Guide Author flavoracid Build Guide By flavoracid 4 4 12,275 Views 1 Comments
4 4 12,275 Views 1 Comments League of Legends Build Guide Author flavoracid Build Guide By flavoracid Updated on January 19, 2011
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Introduction

Before I say anything about this build--

What you have to understand is that Morgana is one of the most versatile casters in the game. I never ever build her the same back to back. Casters like Ryze and Veigar- 90% of the time those guys are going for pure AP. Their items may vary as far as AP items go, maybe grab a Void Staff vs someone like Galeo, but they ALWAYS go AP. Not so much for Morgana.

There are some games where I know my team is tank heavy, or beefy, allowing me to delve more into an AP build. Some games I am forced to be an initiator, protecting my carries and allowing the squishies the stay back, and come in to clean up, like Yi or Tryn.

Morgana has a very unique niche in the game. She can be a semi tank. I main as Morgana and I know what I'm talking about. I don't want troll comments calling this build horrible. It's not a horrible build, it is a SITUATIONAL build.
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Masteries

9-0-21.

Without blinking.



However, there are times I only put 2/4 (not 3/4 or 4/4) in EXPAND MIND. If I roll with clarvoyance, and I do at time, I will spec it. A spec'd clarvoyance brings it to an almost 30 second cool down (when spec'd, it increases the length of time an area is shown, effectively counting against the cool down imo). Other times I will spec Greed. A middle Morgana can benefit immensely from just an extra 60 gold in 10 minutes, because you will eventually be buying Kage's Lucky Pick with this build. Kage+Greed+Middle will net you gold very fast.

Bottom line is- OFFENSE is always 9, and always try to work down the tree in Utility for Presence of Master. This can be immensely helpful for clarity.
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Summoner Spells

I play middle as Morgana. Clarity is important.


CLARITY
Leveling up Tormented Soil quickly, as I quite often do, can become very expensive. On top of that, I like to often bait DPS champions in when I have low mana. I let my mana LINGER VERY LOW for a while, often just doing auto attack for last hits. I play semi-aggressive and the DPS champion will get angry or brave, and try to harass. When they do get ballsy they still have to deal with minion agro. If they come in for even a single hit you can pop CLARITY, Dark Bind & Tormented Soil, and pop ignite. That, with minion agro can often net you a quick kill VS someone like Teemo or Corky.

IGNITE
Ignite is self explan. It will fill in the gaps of empty DPS for Morgana. Once you pop Dark Binding/Tormented Soil/Ulti the ignite keeps the damage doing, severely depleting HP before your ulti nukes on the echo. And, if you're brave enough to SPEC IGNITE and sacrifice Presence of Master you will increase the damage of everything, increasing your AP by 10 for the ulti echo, and decreasing their MR by 10. Very effective.

CLARVOYANCE
I do not suggest getting CLARV if you will not spec it. Morgana is the slowest champion in the game, tied with others for a base speed of 300. Even with swiftness increasing it to 309 she is very susceptible to ganks. CLARV is a phenomenal way of constantly checking river bushes, golem, lizard, baron, and towers through fog of war. DO NOT underestimate the utility of this spell. Ganks can be coordinated with precision using this, especially when trying to chase down that Yi or Zilean fleeing through the FOW.

TELEPORT

No. Don't. I understand the utility in it, but honestly.. even with her slow speed, if u play her well u shouldn't need this spell. If you haven't much experience with her then fine. But i highly suggest against this spell, which is often recommended in other builds.
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Item Build

Doran's Ring [ FIRST ] + MANA POTION


Health. AP. Mana Regen.
ALL are important to Morgana. Again, I take Morgana to mid where I have one source of incoming damage, the opposing middle champion. Doran's Ring + Mana Potion + Clarity means that even if you are aggressive you should never be Mana starved. Which means that IF NEED BE you can completely rely on your SPELL VAMP (passive) to keep you laning strong. Let the opposing champion think you are pissing away your Mana, or that you are a horrible shot with your Dark Binding (DB). Tormented Soil (TS) and DB should restore you to decent health if you're in trouble. Don't get scared and get an HP potion. Lane strong, relying on your Spell Vamp, and your healthy Mana regen and Mana reserves to keep your health up.

Sorcerer's Shoes


It's a no brainer. When I hit 1100 gold I ***TRY*** to go back. However, I usually am going top or bottom to gank at level 6. However, no matter what, you MUST return at around 2000 Gold. This means you have enough for Sorcerer's Shoes AND your BLASTING WAND. That 40 AP early game, stacked with your flat AP QUINTS, and your scaling GLYPHS make a big difference in tormented soil. It allows you to nuke minion waves quickly, forcing opponents to retreat to the tower as FOG OF WAR washes over you, letting you immediately leave middle to harass and gank top/bottom.

Catalyst


I actually had this item save my life today. The increased HP and MANA are simply amazing. Not to mention the restoration values upon leveling. If for some reason you are FORCED to go back and can only afford half of Catalyst I would strongly recommend going for HP. Mana should NOT be a problem for you. Even when you are starved with no pots you can resort to hugging until you have enough for a single TS.

ROD OF AGES
As time goes on, you get stronger. It is self explanitory

Deathfire Grasp


BUILD FROM KAGE'S LUCKY PICK FIRST- NO EXCEPTIONS. Kage's will give you +25 AP, and increased Gold. If you are greedy, like me, and actually SPEC'D GREED you may be shocked at how fast you gain money while laning middle. It will give you a distinct advantage very quickly. Once Kage's is built, and paid for itself build Fiendish Codex, if you don't have enough get AMPLIFYING TOME, or if you keep finding your starved get the Meki. REMEMBER: Morgana suffers heavily from bad cooldowns. Her recommended item is SOUL SHROUD, which gives 15% CDR and 500 HP to bulk her up and turn her into a true support. DEATHFIRE GRASP gives you 15% CDR, +60 AP, +10 Mana Regen/5. Deathfire Grasp is going to be giving you that mana regen you may be craving so badly.


WHY AM I BUILDING DEATHFIRE GRASP WHEN THERE ARE MANY OTHER ITEMS THAT GIVE ME MORE AP

I am glad you asked, grasshopper. The point of this build is to survive, and be able to nuke a single target, yet allow you to stay in battle, supporting your team while tanking heavily. First, 60 AP is great. It's not as good as another ROA, it's not Rabaddon's Hat, and definitely not a Void Staff or Rylai's. However, DFG makes you a nuke, in every sense of the word. Drag DFG to your first inventory slot, so it's bound to your 1 key. Open up your combo with DARK BINDING. Your enemy isn't going anywhere. Now drop Tormented Soil to strip your enemy of 8 Magic Resist. THEN HIT THEM WITH DFG, NUKING THEM FOR 30% OF THEIR CURRENT HP IN MAGIC DAMAGE. Then pop your ultimate. Drop Ignite. Let your Ulti finish them off, if they haven't hit the dirt already. And remember, if you change my build adding more AP, DFG will nuke FOR AN ADDITIONAL 3.5% HP ON YOUR TARGET PER 100 AP. This build is centered around having Deathfire Grasp. You are sacrificing a lot of AP for greatly increased survivability. But this ensures that you will, at the very least, be able to nuke one person, all the time. Great for completely ********* that Ashe, or that Evelyn that keeps getting stacks.


BANSHEE'S VEIL


"WTF BRO!? MORGANA ALREADY HAS A SHIELD."
....yea. Yea I know she does. But Morgana's shield's life is based on her AP. And you are sacrificing AP with this build. Remember, if you don't see Evelyn coming you're not getting your shield up. If Scion ganks you, or Annie ganks you, you're getting stunned, or your shield is getting nuked. Banshee's Veil is going to solidify you never suffering from Mana deficiency for the rest of the game. The increased HP gives you even more survivability. Then, you get 50 Magic Resist. This is going to greatly decrease your damage intake from ANY caster. Remember, Banshee's Veil will discourage people from attacking you. They have to waste a spell to bring the shield down. What some people don't understand is they think BV + Morgana = No disables. BV can be brought down easily. PUT YOUR SHIELD UP EVEN IF BV IS NOT DOWN. Go in an initiate or semi-initiate with your shield up. As soon as it goes down you STILL have BV up. Don't let BV get knocked out and risk for even HALF a second getting stunned or disabled. And, at the end of the day, you can put your shield on the carry or the tank initiator, and run in WITH them, or AFTER them with BV still up.

ABYSSAL SCEPTOR (AS)


"OK, dude, I don't understand your build anymore.."
Remember I told you that you're sacrificing a AP for survivability? Yea. You are. But this item gives you everything. +70 AP to give you more damage. Awesome, right? However, this gives you +57 Magic Resist. BV gives you 50, and this gives you +57. Total is 107. Even when tank characters buy Force of Nature they don't have this much Magic Resist. Trust me, even a fed Annie won't be able to nuke through Banshee's Veil and 107 Magic Resist. OH WAIT, did you forget???????????? AS strips ALL ENEMY CHAMPIONS of 20 Magic Resist. This, for one, is going to improve your nuking capabilities on single targets immensely, but it's going to help ANY caster on your team in team fights. Also, don't forget. Tormented Soil strips 8 magic resist per second. People pay NO attention to TS in team fights. Imagine, you, standing there, lowering everyones MR by 20, as they run over TS losing 8 MR per tick. You have the potential to drop an enemy's MR by as much as 60. SIXTY!


THORNMAIL

Why Thornmail? Because you've been completely focusing on MR and NOT being stunned with BV and your shield. Thornmail is cheap. The passive isn't great, but it's 100 Armor, and it's cheap. Plus, by this point in the game, if it isn't GG already, you may not be able to afford or have time to get Randuin's or Frozen Heart (better choices, but not as cost effective late game).
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SKILLS

Tormented Soil first. **** DARK BINDING. You don't need it unless you're planning a gank on a jungler or some dumb ****. Get TS first to immediately start denting the first minion wave.

Dark Binding - Second. Why? Because nothing is better than rooting an enemy in place if they get aggressive on you. Remember, if they hit you early game they are forced to deal with minion agro. That means Bind + TS + minion Agro + Ignite can be devastating early game.

Shield - The ONLY time I don't get my shield at lvl 3 is when I have a pure DPS in the middle that has no disable or low magic damage.

LvL 4- TS. By Level 4, with the rune page, and build, you should be close to nuking a whole wave with 1 TS.

LvL 5- DB. Increased damage.

LvL 6- Ulti. Duh

Lvl 7- By now you should have a blasting wand, or enough base AP that TS is nuking a whole wave. IF NOT THEN GET TS.


I left a lot blank because I feel it is situational. However, by RANK 3 TORMENTED SOIL you should be able to NUKE a WHOLE minion wave. This means you should not be leveling it again unless you are forced to. Are your opponents stun/CC/AP heavy? Get shield. But DB is very powerful, and leveling it fast can be the difference in a kill vs them running away with 100 HP.

I leave the skills up to you, just try to remember that your goal is to get TS to the strength that it takes out a whole wave.
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Final Commentary

Now that you've read this build you should understand it.

Early game I do not deviate from the recommended build. Doran's ring, Sor Boots, and Rod of Ages is fairly standard. It raises AP, HP, Mana, and overall damage and survivability.

The Deathfire Grasp comes in early/mid game, allowing you to completely nuke a squishy target. DB + TS + Ignite + DFG + Ulti is a nuke. It is unmatched burst damage early game.

Towards mid game you start to sacrifice your dmg for survivability, turning yourself into a support nuker. BV allows you a lot of versatility, being able to initiate by not allowing yourself to get stunned. Black Shield over BV means even if the shield is nuked out you still dodge one disable. This also means you need to man up and start shielding your carries.

Then we take a Uturn at AS. Whether you agree or not, stripping nearby enemy champions of 20 MR is a support characteristic. That fiddlesticks or annie will be doing a lot more damage with you around. The MR from your base, AS, and BV will total 138 end game. No ****ing caster is going to touch you. Nobody. 138 MR is insane. That, with your shield, and the Banshee shield is going to make you unslowable, untouchable, and you will soon find casters ignoring you because they know they can't hurt you.

Late game, when AS is bought and you're thinking about a last item, ditch Doran's Ring of course. Maybe I was wrong and you have TONS of gold from effective jungling and ganking. That's fine, don't get thornmail. It's meant to bridge the big hole you may have been suffering from all game where melee DPS are focusing you. The point is that maybe you DO have a lot of gold, then ditch Thornmail and go for something more effective as far as armor goes. You may find that since your team has been raping and their DPS are underleveled that armor is a complete waste. Cool. don't get armor. Go get rabbadon's hat, get void staff. Remember, you have 20 Magic Pen from boots, 9.8 from your runes, and another 20 Pen from removing 20 magic resist on AS... get void staff and dent them even further with more AP and 40% more magic penetration after your almost 50 Magic Pen.

Just remember, this whole build is built around Deathfire Grasp. You are giving yourself the ability to nuke a squishy target for 30% of his/her current health. I nuke people without DFG most games, but this puts the nail in the coffin. And team fights allow you to coordinate a focus. Open up a focus on the carry/squishy with DFG. Save your ulti and ignite. Once the squishy hits the deck, and the other team has fully committed and initiated pop your ulti, drop ignite on the next most squishy, or slap it on Yi, or Tryn, or Scion to prevent their HP Regen/lifesteal.

The last item, TM, is completely situational. I recommend it because it's cheap, it's 100 Armor, and the other team may understand your build and send their AD's after you.

Enjoy
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Morgana - The unkillable nuke

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