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Lissandra Build Guide by

[NEWEST PATCH] Lissandra Support - A generous Queen that helps

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Lissandra Build Guide By Updated on

Guide Discussion (24) More Lissandra Guides

Runes: Glacial Augment + Resolve

1 2 3

Inspiration

Glacial Augment

Perfect Timing

Biscuit Delivery

Cosmic Insight

Resolve

Overgrowth

Font of Life

Bonus:

+8 ability haste
+6 Armor
+6 Armor

Spells:

Summoner Spells

Exhaust

Flash

Items

Starting items

BUY THESE WHENEVER POSSIBLE

Items to aim for - must have

Boot options

Items to aim for - options

WARDS WARDS WARDS

Ability Order Skill order

Lissandra Passive Ability

Threats & Synergies

Threats

Synergies

Extreme Major Even Minor Tiny

Show All

None Low Ok Strong Ideal

Extreme Threats

Ideal Synergies

Karma

Extreme

Poke mage and enchanter. God I hate playing against her...

Lissandra

Ideal

Lissandra is very compatible to herself uwu

Synergies

Ideal Strong Ok Low None

Lissandra

Ideal

Lissandra is very compatible to herself uwu

Champion Build Guide

An introduction

Hello there, my name's Ivan. Or Vanya. I've been playing League of Legends since the end of Season 6 and my go-to role is support. I started as a Sona-Soraka main and got bored of it eventually. So I decided to go for off-meta way. If I can play it as a support, I will.

My first exposure to Lissandra support was a bet in uni. I was thinking about Lissandra and asked a friend what he thought about Lissandra support. He told me "it probably isn't possible, I bet you won't make it work".

He dared a beer - I won that beer as I got to diamond with Lissandra support. Ever since then I've been testing several champs as a support. From Karthus to Orianna and eventually Lissandra. With this guide I want more people to discover Lissandra and give her more love - if at the very least it will result in more fanart and fanart.

Also yes I know I should write which patch the guide is updated on but tbh unless they remove one of the items I have no urgent reason to add something to the guide ok thanks bai. This means that this guide will always be up to date unless I say so

Why Lissandra?

is, imo, a champion that can offer you a lot of flexibility in playstyle. She has aggressive capabilities with her E as well as defensive capabilities. I would dare to say that she is one of the most flexible champions in League but I might be totally wrong about this.

You need an engage? Liss can do that. Peeling? She can do that aswell. Teamfight presence? The passive got you covered.

Starting items

versus

Lissandra's Q not only can push the lane when it isn't necessary, it also is too short ranged for effective . I personally recommend as the safe way to get your gold.

Maybe Spellthief's if into a very abusable melee matchup but even then do I recommend Relic Shield.

Rune explaination

For Resolve:

Apparantly a lot of Lissandra mains hate Aftershock on her. I personally don't understand why. I mean yeah I guess if you think Lissandra is a burst mage but, imo, she really isnt. With my playstyle I recommend Aftershock - free armour and MR stats to help out any engage you might be planning.

versus

If you had asked me a few months ago, I would've completly disregarded as at least 5HP do not sound like much. However, I have noticed that I rarely got to touch turrets unless I had a very aggressive laner. Besides that, seeing the amount of healing done in the mid- to lategame have proven that Font of Life, imo, is a must have.
However, Demolish is still good if you have a push heavy comp/bot or someone like Jhin who can't really AA a target that often.

versus

SW if against poke, BP if against all in/short burst.

versus

Lissandra isn't really doing much healing or shielding. However, with the recent resurgence of Amumu, I've come into a lot of CC heavy comps. In those situations it might be a better idea to go for Unflinching, as the HP you gain from Overgrowth won't save you.

For Domination:

Your ult simply is too precious to not have it up, every single bit of CDR you can get for it is needed.

versus

Zombie Ward is good if you can expect your enemy to ward. If not, go for Ghost Poro.

For Inspiration:

Well well well... it is the rune I have been looking forward to the most. It is by far my new favourite on Lissandra support. If you go in, you root people with W and then keep them in place even longer with either and/or slows, not to mention that people on top of the frozen fields on the floor deal less damage to the rest of your team. If that isn't compelling enough, I don't know what will.

Due to the lack of Aftershock, Lissandra will lack tankiness until she, at least, get Evenshroud and boots. / has been an iconic Lissandra item since the dawn of time and even though I am not the biggest fan of it, even I cannot deny that one is very useful as it provides pseudo-tankiness.
pales in comparison and , while nice, isn't enough either, considering Liss has .

Due to the lack of , Lissandra support's laning phase is even weaker as it was. This means that you either have to play defensivly until you can afford to get or /. To help out with that, we need as much sustain we can get out of runes - are the rune for that. Besides, if you do not consider building , you will lack mana. While are merely 120 mana increase, it isn't too shabby either.
is not a bad rune, god no. But as I've said, surviving in lane should be the priority.
is a fun rune. One could afford to buy items a bit earlier, so if you prefer that over , I won't stop you.

is not that useful on Lissandra, considering the only time you could use it would be when running away (where the rune won't do its thing) or when you are already in your enemy's face.
would be useful if you want to get trades done early and abuse and 's sustain. I personally prefer having Exhaust up a bit earlier, so this is a choice between and , whichever you prefer.

Minor Runes:
First row: AH is always welcome.
Second row: Either armour or MR.
Third row: Depends on what you prefer. I go for more resistances but if you prefer HP go ahead my dude.

Skill order explaination

Probably the weirdest thing in my guide, the skill path.

As explained in my starting item section, Q isn't really all that worth.
Lissandra's level 1 isn't all that good with a Q start, and since you don't need to farm, W is recommended.
If you can rely on your ADC, E second is good to engage.

Item explainations

Explaination for the items:

You get all the things Liss would need: AP, AH/CDR and mana (as mana regen but it's still good).
You also get some bonus damage and, most importantly, more damage for your allies which fits with a more aggressive minded playstyle.
I have added a chapter that revolves around when one should choose which mythic. It is below this chapter.

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Evenshroud is a great item. It will provide you the tankiness you need in the early and will scale really well into the mid- to late game. Considering Liss tends to go in and will get engaged on/will use her CC on people, you can use basically whenever. has become my mythic of choice.
I have added a chapter that revolves around when one should choose which mythic. It is below this chapter.

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is an item you might consider on Liss support sometimes. I have been experimenting with in my past few games and I have a theory for when to build it:
You should build Everfrost, when you genuinely need a bit more CC. An example would be this teamcomp:

This is a teamcomp I've run into today. As you might notice, Lissandra is the only reliable CC on the team. While 3s of CC are good, getting another 1,5s instead of a bit more damage will help peeling/keeping an enemy in place.

To be a bit more meta:

Sure, LB has a bit of CC, but it by far is not enough.
I have added a chapter that revolves around when one should choose which mythic. It is below this chapter.

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Situational
Zhonya's is a big recommendation on Lissandra - the extra second it can give you is very valuable. Great against , not so great against , .

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Situational
Abyssal Mask now has 450 HP, 30 base MR and 10 Ability Haste. That doesn't sound that good until you look at the passive:
With your presence alone you decrease the enemy's MR aswell as increase your own per champion. This item you should only build if your team has either a magic damage champion that carries you or if your team has a lot of magic damage.

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Pretty common
Force of Nature is the MR item to go. Marvelous MR stats and the 20% magic damage reduction. If the enemy has a ton of magic damage champions, pick this. However, if your team also has a lot of magic damage, go for , as you get MR and more damage for your team. However, if you prefer the additional tankiness from , then build that.

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Very uncommon
Zeke's is good if you have someone who can reliably deal damage with unique damage sources (Think a lot of AAs, spamming one ability often, etc. Think Cassio, Jinx, Twitch, etc.). However, it isn't advisable to build Zeke's once you are behind.

Mind you that Zeke's is a consistent 8 second damage steroid!

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Pretty common
Highly recommended against mostly AD comps. Slows, AH, AD reduction and crit reduction - what else would you want in that case? (A Lissandra dakimakura that I actually own kekw)

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Situational
You get these solely if the enemy has some pesky healing problem. Morello's better if you want a bit more HP and AP and you can afford it. Since Putrifier is way cheaper and it gives you a whopping 20 AH (25 less AP and no HP) and costs less, it is worth to consider. Works well if you have Font of Life as a rune, but not necessary.

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Very uncommon
Knight's Vow is a good item if you need your carry to survive a bit more. The HP, HP regen and the AH are welcome additions.

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Situational
These items are very good on Lissandra. You will have to abandon a bit of early game agency as you need to buy a . However, you get a ton of HP and the shields if you hit someone with and/or . The shields you get don't sound like much but feel like much. Highly recommended if you can abandon a bit of early agency.

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Situational
Only if there is some CC your carry cannot avoid and you need them to survive. Only into CC heavy comps tho.

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Very uncommon
Quite situational, but works really well if you have a) , b) enough auto attack based champions and ideally c) have . a)and b) ensure the application of 's passive. With the Healing- and Shielding power, the slow from gets empowered.

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More common than you might think
The theory is simple: Get it if you need to CC someone for a bit longer or if you get focused and need to survive a bit more. The amount of HP you get is bonkers and could definetly help.
After testing it for a while I have to say it has become a worthy item to build. It sure isn't the tankiest item as you still lack a surprising amount of tankiness. But if that annoying Sylas got fed yet again, you will love this item.
Definetly recommended if the enemy has one fed champion in order to survive the damage a bit more. Otherwise only if the enemy has a champion you absolutely need to CC for a bit longer.

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Situational
I've said it once but I'll say it again - these items are extremly underapprechiated and are worth their gold. Dont rush them but keep them in mind.
If you definetly need to ward a bit more often, build this item sooner. Alternativly, build this item if you have enough money for it (And are level 13), you cannot finish an item you were aiming for but you desperately need more stats.
(An example I've run into: I have built , aiming for , but the next fight might decide the game, but I do not have enough money to finish . In this case it might be good to get the ~300 HP and other stats it provides)

Otherwise it should be the last item to finish.

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Very uncommon
Now, I know what you might be thinking. "Why Thornmail? Applying Anti-Heal with is way easier than forcing the enemy to auto attack you!". And you are right Jimmy! However, consider the following:
What if the enemy has a lot of healing champions that are AD based and you desperately need armour but anti-heal is a priority? (consider against , , ).
In these cases, it is actually worth to go for since the full item also reduces healing once you hard CC them.

Mythics - Which one do I choose?

versus

I have personally switched over to from as my go-to mythic item. However, is better if you need to win the game ASAP and need just a bit more damage as the damage from is higher than 's puny 9%.
However, I personally recommend for the sole fact of it being a tanky item. Whenever I chose as my mythic, I felt naked. Which makes sense, considering gives you no proper defensive stats besides 200HP. Not bad, but I don't think it is enough.
And then there is . Well... the main explaination is above. I don't know what else to really say here.

General playstyle

The playstyle depends on who you are playing with but generally ends up being the same in the mid- to lategame.

If you have an ADC who can be aggressive and doesn't just want to farm 24/7, you can actually do stuff in lane. Liss has a good engage and dish out a bit of damage while doing that. Don't forget to add some AAs while you're at it. If lane ain't doing well go for some roams but don't forget your own lane - ideally get your jungler to help.

However, if your ADC just doesn't want to do anything, roaming and mainly surviving until level 6 is the way to go. Of course if your jungler does acknowledge that you exist go ahead and do things and be aggressive but otherwise try to get damage done, if possible and if it doesn't kill you.

Midgame's where you will want to be where action's going on on the map. If at least one enemy dies you are emitting way more pressure in a fight - thralls aid that.
Other than that you want to stick with whoever's the win condition. I have recently noticed that with Zeke's and Imperial Mandate you can help your teammate out a ton. Kinda like a Yuumi but you can actually peel.

Fun facts

This section is mostly about adding a few fun facts I have discovered:

Lissandra Frozen Tomb is not only a stun, but also a knockdown! Great to annoy dash users.
People can see your claw...well, not always. If the claw is within 600 units of a champion within a wall, the enemy team can see the claw. However, beyond the 600 units your claw cannot be seen.
Adding to the last point: You can use Liss Glacial Path into a wall. As long as the claw indicator is positioned more towards the end of the wall you wanna get out of, you will pop out of that wall. I'll drop a picture to roughly illustrate what I mean.If you put your E to the left of the line, you will land on the left side. To the right - right wall. Take the line with a grain of salt tho; it's a rough estimation
To quote Katasandra:

Quoted:

I often get out of CC by casting E - getting hit by CC - recasting E. This could maybe be used to bodyblock CC for your teammates. Although, you can cast E after the CC runs out as well

Thanks for the tip!
Rakan W can be stopped with Lissandra W. If Rakan hasn't reached his destination yet, he can be stopped with any kind of CC. Neat thing I found out on accident.

Last Thoughts

Well, this is kinda short isn't it?
This is all I have on the pick that I love! I will try to keep this guide updated for the future as I have been branching out a bit in terms of builds. For example, right now I am trying Zeke's second instead of Zhonya's second. And maybe even ditching Zhonas's alltogether but that one's still up for debate.

Have a good one and obey our ice queen - and most importantly draw more art. She deserves more fanart.

Currently Testing

This segment is about things I'm wondering about and testing. I will add my thoughts into the corresponding segments.

Seeing if into into is any good.

Hall of Fame - My warding

Now, I do not want to brag too much, however...

I would say I know how to ward, maybe

Changelog

I swear I still remember this guide, I've just been busy
My opinion on the durability update:
Is gud

11.8.2022 - Added "rarity" to how often one buys which item, excluding mythics, Updated testing tab again.
(**** me, it has been quite a while, huh)
26.7.2021 - Added opinion about Anathema's. Added explaination when to prioritize the Wardstone items. Polished the guide a bit. Added a few synergies/threats. Changed the title to something I feel like fits more.
3.8.2021 - Added further details about Zeke's. Updated Testing tab.
11.8.2021 - Added opinion on Mobi Boots. Updated Testing tab.
14.8.2021 .bat gnitseT detadpU . Tidied up the Items tab a bit.
11.9.2021 Tab testing updated. Added more details on when to build the wardstone items. Added more details on when is a viable buy. Added counter trick.
19.10.2021 - Added opinion on vs.
20.10.2021 - Added a tab about Season 12, being about my thoughts on the new items and runes
21.10.2021 - Changed opinion about Lucian and potentially more to follow. I dont want to see him again...
18.11.2021 - Added runepages, added explaination for the runes in the inspiration tree