Hello everyone, my name is Silverb0lte and welcome to my guide. While my primary role is that of a midlaner and Ahri is my OTP, I sometimes have to cheat on her with the subject of this here guide, the Fallen Angel, Morgana. (It's okay, she understands.) However, Morgana is the champion I have the most experience with and I wanted to write a guide to showcase why she is my preferred support pick and help out anyone looking to learn or improve with her. Much of the important information is contained in the build above but I will explain my choices and go into more depth about her strategy below.

Pros

+ Long range for harassing from safety + Extremely useful spell shield + Tons of CC + Dark Binding hits like a truck with its long root and high damage + Free damage out of Tormented Shadow + Fairly durable for a mage support

In my experience, Morgana is a very safe support pick because there is no lane matchup she is guaranteed to lose. Black Shield is an enormously useful ability that allows her to protect herself and anyone on her team from a variety of sources of magic damage and crowd control. In fact, Morgana's entire philosophy revolves around crowd control, whether applying it or preventing it. She excels at locking down targets and shuts down hard engage team comps very efficiently. Even with a support build she also has the damage to clean up kills and even net the occasional solo kill on a soft target.

Cons

- Waveclear is mediocre at best - Have to be in a dangerous position for maximal teamfight ult effectiveness - Not very useful when her abilities are on cooldown - Not a good roaming support - Low mobility and no innate escapes

While Morgana is a strong pick, she does have her clear weaknesses. Your only form of waveclear is Tormented Shadow, which doesn't deal much damage in a support shell. You won't be able to defend a lane by yourself for long, especially when it's flooded with minions. Her ult can be devastating if you maintain the tether, but usually this entails being very close to one or more opponents and thus potentially absorbing huge amounts of damage. I do not consider Morgana to be a good roaming support - she has low mobility and a poor ganking presence.

Soul Siphon gives you a small amount of bonus Spell Vamp. You won't be building spell vamp as support Morgana so you can ignore the word "bonus" in the description; essentially gives you 10/15/20% spell vamp to use as a bit of sustain in lane. Morgana lends herself to an aggressive play style, so each binding you hit or Tormented Soil you throw under minions will heal you up a little bit.
Dark Binding deals damage and roots a target for a long duration. Dark Binding is Morgana's bread and butter ability. A well-placed one of these can secure kills, remove a threat from a fight, produce highly favorable trades, drop someone chasing you, save your teammates from errant minions... the possibilities are endless. Dark Binding is at once Morgana's main source of damage and CC, hence why we max it first over anything else.
Tormented Soil applies an area-of-effect damage-over-time for a short duration. This is the ability you use to zone people and to clear minions if you need to. It's support Morgana's "least useful" ability so we max it last. The best use of it is to throw it under a target you've bound with Q so they take maximal damage. Try to do this as quickly as possible - once you get good at predicting, you can often properly cast this before Dark Binding hits.
Black Shield prevents all crowd control effects and absorbs magic damage when applied. Any ability that can completely and reliably negate a variety of potentially lethal crowd control is pure power. A well-timed Black Shield often means the difference between life and death for a fragile ally. Be aware that it is not like a "regular" shield in that it does not block physical damage. You won't be saving a teammate from bad tower dives or getting domed by auto-attacks with this.
Soul Shackles creates a tether between you and one or many enemy champions that slows and deals damage over time and re-applies the damage and stuns if unbroken. There are a lot of things going on with this ability, and using it correctly and effectively is the difference between a good Morgana and a great one. If you can manage to keep multiple tethers active for the duration of the channel, the resulting stun can change the course of a teamfight. The downside to this ability is that the tethers don't have substantial range - you'll often be right in the line of fire when using it, and you will definitely be taking damage because people usually don't want to be dealt a bunch of damage then CCed.

Though a bit of an odd structure, this page of runes is very effective and very efficient.

• greater mark of hybrid penetration: Allows your harass from both abilities and basic attacks to really hurt; simple as that. A common choice for supports, and a set of these is a good investment if you play a lot of support.
  
• Greater Seal of Scaling Health: Like I said, health is a handy stat for any support and these help your survivability at all points in the game. Flat health seals are also okay but I prefer the scaling ones.
  
• Greater Glyph of Ability Power: A little more early damage from your spells. Gives a nice amount of extra when combined with the single Greater Quintessence of Ability Power we're running and becomes quite impactful considering Dark Binding scales 90% with AP.
  
• Greater Quintessence of Armor: In a lane against an ADC armor is a really handy defensive stat. Two of these quints give us nearly the same armor as a full set of flat armor seals, freeing them up to be used for health while still allowing us to have the all-important armor.

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OFFENSE TREE Tier 1 We take only Sorcery because the other three are of no use to us. Tier 2 We take the point in Expose Weakness for the trading power and assist potential. We also take three points in Mental Force because the extra AP is useful for scaling our spells. Tier 3 We take the point in Arcane Mastery for early harass power. (It's an extra 6 AP.)

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UTILITY TREE Tier 1 I prefer to take the point into Phasewalker and three into Expanded Mind at this tier. While Fleet of Foot and Scout seem to be good picks for a support, we aren't Janna efficiently stacking movement speed and I find Scout to not be all that useful. Shaving a second off Recall and having a bit of extra mana in the early levels outweighs the benefits of the other two options in this case. Tier 2 Take everything as it is all useful to us. There's never a reason to not take 10% off the cooldowns of Flash and Exhaust and we'll be building a fair amount of mana so Strength of Spirit is a good survivability boost. Alchemist improves your sustain with potions and also allows you to milk a late-game elixir for everything it's worth. It is also necessary to get to the all-important Culinary Master . Tier 3 Take three points in Greed to keep your gold income up to snuff and of course your one point into Culinary Master . Don't fall into the trap of looking at Soul Siphon and thinking "Oh Vampirism will be good on support Morgana" because it isn't. Tier 4 Scavenger is further income for you and Wealth allows you to buy plenty of potions to keep yourself healthy in intense lanes. I strongly prefer getting both points into Inspiration as it ensures that you and your ADC will be on the same page power-wise; I too often see lanes where the ADC falls a bit behind and their support falls much further behind because of your dependence on your lane partner doing things to gain experience for yourself. Tier 5 Take the point into Bandit as it has good synergy with Morgana's aggressive play-style and Spellthief's Edge passive. More gold is mo'better. Since I like to take points into Inspiration, I take only two points into Intelligence so we can complete the tree. Also, support items tend to come with lots of CDR attached and Morgana doesn't use that many items with actives so two points here is fine. Tier 6 Get the point in Wanderer to complete the tree. A bit of speed for you to return to lane faster and dodge skillshots.

There is little deviation from this set of summoners for support Morgana. Flash is always necessary because she has no other form of escape and useful because of her ability to flash-ult or flash-Q to great effect. Exhaust is a typical support choice and really the only viable one on Morg, as it allows her to secure kills without stealing them or save someone being cheesed. Any potential applications of other summoners spells don't eclipse the versatility and power of these two.

Noticeable immediately is that you don't build Morgana like any old support. In fact, this set of core items doesn't look much like a support at all. Items that provide defense and utility are the name of the game; Morgana can do a whole heck of a lot with these three items alone, and I don't play her without getting them all. In the early game, you want to rush a Sightstone. This is a staple support item, and for good reason - building health on a support is always helpful, and the vision it grants is critical to you doing your job. Rod of Ages is a one-stop shop for everything important to Morgana, and the item you'll want to complete next. The extra health and Valor's Reward passive improve her survivability greatly, while the extra mana is plenty to keep her sated throughout a match. The extra AP is very useful for increasing the damage out of her Q, W and R and for strengthening Black Shield. Finally, Zhonya's Hourglass is primarily interesting to us because of its active, which allows you to get as close as you need to be for as long as you need to be to pull off great ultimates. The sizeable amount of armor and AP further assist her defenses and utility as dictated by our mantra.

A classic support pickup when you need to defend against one or more dangerous sources of magic damage, and a good fit for our lady in purple. It comes with loads of health, a team-wide MR and health regen buff, an AoE shield and a bit of CDR. The important component of this item is of course Aegis of the Legion, and I have seen and myself built Banner of Command on this champion. Locket is however usually the better choice.

Equally as good as Locket in a different scenario, namely one where you must defend against one or more dangerous sources of physical damage and/or a fed ADC. All of this item is pure gold on Morg; the passive is great against someone stacking attack speed, the substantial amount of armor helps take the edge off what does connect, and more mana+CDR means more spells which means more playing with CC.

I often do not complete this item (and even sell its component to make room for something else) simply because you can sit on Spellthief's Edge for a really long time and still have it be value. The amount of harass you can put out means you'll be proc'ing Tribute all the time. Despite this, it is a really good option firstly because of the CDR it provides and secondly the active adds more solid CC to someone already rolling in it for a fairly meager amount of gold. If you're thinking of getting one, pick up a Frostfang whenever you have some spare change.

A pickup for later in the game if you're doing well and/or they start to stack MR. I have had games where neither Locket nor Frozen Heart were necessary and the extra damage out of Void Staff helped a lot in fights.

So what about the other typical support items?

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There are a number of perfectly good support items that just aren't the right choices for Morgana for a variety of reasons and I haven't neglected to consider them. Mikael's Blessing is not that great a buy because you want to be proactive with Black Shield rather than reactive with Mikael's. Morgana is also not all that mana hungry if you play judiciously and Rod of Ages comes with plenty of extra attached to many more useful things. Relic Shield, Ancient Coin and their evolutions are no-nos because the stats they offer aren't ideal for Morgana and neither fits her playstyle well. Morgana doesn't heal and her shield is not spammable like some other champions so Ardent Censer is useless. Frozen Heart offers better utility than Randuin's Omen so we don't consider the latter.

Don't forget to buy and use wards. Wards save lives!

Morgana synergizes particularly well with:

Although Sivir is one of the matchups Morgana has a little trouble with, supporting one is a recipe for success. With Sivir in your lane she has not one but two strong spell-shields at her disposal, meaning that she is very well protected to make up for her short-for-an-ADC range. Using Dark Binding to keep someone in the range where she can wail on them is another bonus of this pairing.

Another difficult opponent that becomes a frightening ally. Kalista has a pretty safe laning phase due to her ability to avoid skillshots with Martial Poise, so you can focus on lockdown in order for her to get maximum Rend damage on a target with her insane synergy with attack speed. Morgana is also a great projectile for Fate's Call, since she can be thrown into a pile of enemies without instantly dying and still create chaos. Imagine this: Fate's Call into Soul Shackles followed if necessary by Zhonya's Hourglass on multiple targets or Fate's Call followed by Dark Binding immediately after your single target lands. Need I say more?

Your quintessential hyper-carry, as long as you can keep Jinx protected she does all the carrying for you. Her damage output is insane in the mid and late game so you use your CC to peel for her and ensure she gets her kills. Morgana works well with any hyper-carry ADC because locking someone down for three whole seconds is usually lethal under the relentless barrage of damage they can output.

Laning Phase

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You begin the game with Spellthief's Edge, a Stealth Ward and four Health Potions. Start Q and go leash for your jungler before getting to lane if they start bottom. While in lane, your job will be to provide vision and harass your opponents. You aren't a Relic Shield support so you can focus all your energy on being annoying. Trade with auto-attacks and Dark Binding as often as possible, but you should only be casting Binding if you are reasonably certain it will hit a champion. It is commonly stated that Dark Binding's hitbox is "like a school bus", so keep this in mind when looking for an opportunity to use it. On one hand, it will often connect at the very edge of its visible projectile, which is advantageous for you. However, the likelihood of you threading it through minions to hit a champion standing among them is very, very low, and minions don't much care for single-target CC. Also, do not use Tormented Shadow to harass. While the likelihood of dealing damage with it is higher than with Binding, it takes a while to ramp up in damage and your opponents will instinctively step out of it before it can do much. What's worse is that it has the potential to screw up your ADC's farm by dealing damage to many minions wherever it remains. Most of them don't appreciate this so don't do it. The correct thing to do is place one of these underneath a freshly-bound opponent - they will take lots of damage they can do nothing about. It is for these reasons that I say that Morgana is not very mana hungry - rather than wasting mana spamming spells, you are instead looking for precision applications of your abilities. The time between skills you cast should be plenty to regenerate a good portion of mana so you won't often find yourself low. Once you back and get Sapphire Crystal it's typically the end of your mana issues. At the same time, don't be afraid to get a good Binding off without follow-up, as the poke damage is often its own reward and keeping one lane opponent away from yourselves for 2-3s is a nice bonus. Dark Binding also has a very long range, meaning you can do decent damage from complete safety most of the time. Be on the lookout to shield away dangerous crowd control or abilities that would deal large chunks of damage. Morgana shuts down hard engage because Black Shield vaporizes pretty much every hard-engage ability and Dark Binding is great at stopping chases.

Regarding warding, I like to place a trinket ward here at around 3:00 and keep it refreshed as long as I'm in lane to defend against ganks. (I place Sightstone wards in that spot once I pick it up). After I pick up Sightstone, I usually go ward dragon pit for knowledge of any early attempts or to set up one of our own. The map below shows good places to ward: pink denotes spots for Vision Wards and green denotes spots for Stealth Wards, Sightstone wards or trinket wards. Dragon and Baron pits should be warded situationally so I didn't mark them down.

Mid-Game and Teamfighting

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Once you have bot tower down, or if your tower goes down, focus on getting ward coverage all around the map and help your other teammates take down their first-tier towers. If you're in a convenient position to help push do it. Lots of mid-game fights will happen either due to a mass gank or around dragon pit. Your role in a teamfight can be either an initiator or a defender, however the initiator role is usually the one we go with. You can do this one of two ways: try and find a target to Bind so that your team can lay down follow-up damage (and hopefully get a kill) or jump right in and ult the lot of them. Be very careful about doing this without Zhonya's Hourglass though, as often engaging in this manner will cost you your life. Don't jump in if you're going to get CC-locked and killed instantly. Don't jump in unless your ult will result in something worthwhile (having people flash away from you is worthwhile, by the way). Morgana doesn't have much sticking power so sometimes your ults will go nowhere, but don't be discouraged. With time you'll learn how to maximize their effectiveness. Keep people locked down as much as you can manage. The role of defender usually entails preemptively shielding a particular teammate to save them or assist in a kill. If someone on your team goes ham and dives a carry, shield them. If someone is about to be yanked into lethal damage, shield them. If someone would be disabled enough to allow a chase party to catch up to and kill them, shield them, etc. etc. Remember that sometimes "someone" is yourself. Supports generally don't mind dying for the good of the team (many, this one included, can still do a lot even when they've fed) but if you're the only one you can save do it.

In general, try to telegraph your Bindings as little as possible. With practice you can get good at casting them while walking in a totally different direction. Try not to just walk directly at someone and cast it in a place where they have space to move, and make use of angles to increase your likelihood of impact. One of my favorite places to fish for a bind early on is over the walls in the below image. Remember to chain Q and W for maximum damage.

Late Game

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Late game your philosophy isn't much different than mid-game. Ward appropriately for the scenario and be on the lookout for potential assists. When death timers get to 1+ minutes, dying becomes a huge disadvantage and you are good at ensuring people do die by locking them in place for huge amounts of time. If you are going for dragon or Baron, your contribution will be to keep Tormented Shadow underneath the monster of choice and auto-attack. Save your Binding in case an enemy decides to crash your party and leave the big damage to the big-damage dealers. One exception to this rule is with Scuttle Crab where Binding it down can really help teammates with poor sticking power. Upgrade to a Ruby Sightstone if you have nothing else to do.

Defending

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Support Morgana's wave clear is really bad, so if you have many many minions knocking on your door get someone who can deal with it to do so and go somewhere else. Trapping someone besieging you inside your tower range is a good way to stop an offensive, as is halting a quickly advancing carry. Ward so that you can see the positions of your opponents and sweep away theirs. Don't leave enemy wards inside your base, as in many cases they offer avenues for unstoppable backdoors (if you're going for a last-breath push and are down two inhibitors and a Nexus turret, a Gnar Teleporting into your base while you're all faffing about at the enemy's inhibitor turret is certain death. Trust me, it's happened to me and it sucks). Because of your bad wave clear and lack of damage output you aren't well-suited to staying back to defend while others go elsewhere. You're better off going with the party that's rushing dragon or split-pushing. Remember to use the actives on Locket and Frost Queen's Claim as they can easily make the difference between life and death. Grab Enchantment: Homeguard on your boots as soon as possible if you need to defend. Homeguards are arguably useful on the offensive as well as they let you back and return to a lane quickly (also basically the entire reason why we run Wanderer as part of our masteries).

Thanks for taking the time to read my Morgana guide. I am very fond of this champion because she is a safe support pick that is useful at all stages of the game due to her incredible amount of CC. I hope you've learned something reading this and appreciate how Morgana's unique kit makes her a fantastic support. I will be happy to answer any questions you have for me. Feedback is always accepted and greatly appreciated - whether you liked it or not, please tell me why!

Also a big thanks to jhoijhoi's Making a Guide guide, this is my first guide ever and her tips and code templates really helped me make it look professional. Comes highly recommended! :D

Happy climbing,

Silverb0lte // 2015