Hello and welcome to the best Orianna guide you've ever laid eyes on. By the end of this guide, I guarantee you will understand this champion at an essential level and will feel comfortable playing her in your own ranked games.

Marks:
9x Greater Mark of Hybrid Penetration

Seals:
3x Greater Seal of Armor
6x Greater Seal of Health

Glyphs:
3x Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist
6x Greater Glyph of Magic Resist

Quintessence:
3x Greater Quintessence of Ability Power

Runes are the most modifiable component of League of Legends. By this I mean that they are matchup-specific and can also be tuned based on playstyle. I'm an aggressive laner, so I prefer this setup, which is reliant on auto attack trading heavily with the opposing laner.

Marks
I love Hybrid Penetration Marks on almost all mid laners. You don't lose much in terms of Magic Penetration, and the Armor Penetration you gain increases your auto attack damage significantly. For Orianna especially, whose passive is directly related to her auto attacks, these marks will greatly benefit your laning phase.

Seals
The only truly viable Seals in the game right now are Armor or Mana Regeneration. Because I tend to rush Chalice of Harmony, I don't feel the Mana Regeneration runes are all that useful. Also, as I mentioned earlier, my lane phase is reliant on auto attacking. And if you're auto attacking the enemy, then their minions, as well as your lane opponent, are probably going to be attacking you back. These armor runes will help you come out of the trades favorably.

Glyphs
This really depends on the matchup. If you're against an AD mid, like Zed, Yasuo, etc., then you obviously don't need the flat Magic Resistance. It may still be advisable to bring Scaling Magic Resistance, given the enemy team comp, but a viable alternative is Ability Power Glyphs, either scaling or flat.

Quintessences
There really isn't any other option here. For AP carries, AP Quints are the best bang for your buck. Your auto attacks scale off your AP, so by getting AP, you gain AD. This helps you last hit and obviously also helps in trades with the enemy laner.

21/0/9 is pretty standard for almost all AP mid laners. Running 21/9/0 is a viable alternative if you expect difficulty in lane, but I really like the early mana sustain and the Buff Duration mastery from the Utility Tree. One interesting choice to note is that of CDR over Attack speed. Attack Speed is an amazing stat on Orianna, due to her passive, but I don't think it's worth passing up the 5% CDR. Arcane Blade is very powerful because it encourages auto attacking. Orianna's kit is benefited very strongly from the current season's Mastery Tree, more so than previous seasons.

Dangerous game has saved me more times than I can count in very close skirmishes, along with the biscuit upgrade. In Solo Queue I find biscuits to be invaluable, but the increased buff duration is probably better in arranged 5v5 play.

Starting items:
DORAN'S RING PROVIDES STRONG MANA SUSTAIN AS WELL AS AN ABILITY POWER SPIKE TO AID YOUR PASSIVE. THIS ITEM IS VERY STANDARD AND OPTIMAL IN MY OPINION. THE 2 HEALTH POTIONS ARE PRETTY STANDARD AS WELL TO PROVIDE HEALTH SUSTAIN, SINCE YOU'LL VERY OFTEN BE TRADING AGGRESSIVELY IN LANE.

Core Items:
WITH BLUE BUFF, 5% CDR FROM MASTERIES AND 20% FROM ATHENE'S UNHOLY GRAIL, YOU'RE SITTING ON 35% CDR, WHICH MEANS BOOTS OF LUCIDITY WOULD WASTE 10% OF THEIR STAT. FOR THIS REASON I TAKE SORCERER'S SHOES FOR THE ADDED PENETRATION. ATHENE'S UNHOLY GRAIL IS ALMOST MANDATORY, GIVEN THE MANA-HUNGRY NATURE OF ORIANNA. EITHER ARCHANGEL'S STAFF OR ATHENE'S UNHOLY GRAIL IS MANDATORY, BUT I PREFER ATHENE'S BECAUSE THE CDR AND MANA SUSTAIN FITS MORE WITH THE CONSTANT ABILITY SPAMMING FOR ORIANNA, RATHER THAN THE MORE "MELEE-ISH, BURST DAMAGE" PLAYSTYLE ALIGNED WITH ARCHANGEL'S. RABADON'S AND VOID STAFF ARE CORE ON ALMOST ALL MAGES.

Situational Items:
ZHONYA'S IS AN AMAZING ITEM IF YOU'RE FACING A SEVERE DIVE COMP WHERE YOU'RE THE MAIN TARGET. IT'S ALSO VERY POTENT AGAINST AD MIDS LIKE ZED OR YASUO. ZHONYA IS ALMOST A CORE ITEM, AND THE ONE THAT I USUALLY GRAB AFTER FINISHING VOID STAFF. BUT IF YOU DON'T FEEL THAT YOU'RE IN DANGER, LICH BANE IS A VERY VIABLE OPTION FOR TOWER PUSHING AND FOR INCREASED DAMAGE DURING FIGHTS. THE GUARDIAN ANGEL OPTION IS AVAILABLE FOR ADDED SECURITY, IF YOU FEEL THAT ZHONYA'S ISN'T ENOUGH TO GUARANTEE YOUR SURVIVAL.

Clockwork Windup (Passive):
Orianna's passive is probably the most important ability for her lane phase. She deals flat magic damage and a % of her AP which stacks up to 2 times when she auto attacks the same target. This, combined with the fact that she has a substantial shield and resistance steroid in her E, can be used to trade aggressively at early levels.

1. Maxing Command Attack (Q):
The most important thing to note about Orianna's Q is the fact that all your damage relies on ball position. Orianna is unique in that you must focus not only on where you and the enemy are, but must also account for a third object: the ball. The best Orianna players never let the Ball stop moving. The most important stat gained by leveling Q is that the cooldown reduces drastically, lowering from 9 seconds at rank 1 to 3 seconds at rank 5 (and that's without the further reduction from your build and masteries).

2. Command Dissonance (W):
This ability gives a large AoE Speed buff for allies who step on it, and a slow for enemies who touch it. As you level this, the % movespeed effect increases, so your utility increases greatly. You can use this as a form of engagement, by landing a slow on a priority enemy target, or to speed your team into the fight.You can also use this as a form of kiting/disengagement. If you are peeling backwards, using Dissonance on yourself or on your ADC provides a massive movement swing and allows your team to disengage very smoothly.

3. Command Protect (E):
Command Protect is powerful at all stages of the game. At early levels in lane phase, it allows you to trade extremely aggressively, because it gives you both a shield and a flat increase in Armor and Magic Resistance. But the true power of this ability comes in the teamfight phase. By using Command Protect on an allied Tank with strong engage (such as Vi, Malphite or Shyvana), you can very easily use this ability to land perfect ultimates "Command Shockwave". This was the concept I was referring to earlier, when speaking of a "ball carrier". The only thing to be careful of is that your ball has a max distance it can be from you, so if your ball carrier leaves this range, the ball "snaps back" to you. I'll admit I've missed my fair share of ultimates by letting the ball get too far out of my range. But as you play Orianna, this range will become second nature, and you will make these mistakes less and less.

4. Command Shockwave (R):
Orianna's ultimate can singlehandedly win teamfights. If you can land her ultimate on 2-3 targets, you're almost guaranteed to win, because it cc's the entire team, and deals an insane amount of damage. Furthermore, if your team has any other followup AoE damage, they are now clumped in a very tight space. The old school wombo combo would be something like Malphite Ult as the ball carrier, then Orianna ult, then something like Ezreal or Miss Fortune.

A word of warning: This ult is game-changing. If you land it on 2-3 of their enemies, you are likely to win. But if you whiff this, a significant amount of your damage and crowd control is gone. Don't be afraid to use it if you see an opportunity, but there's also something to be said for being patient with this. Orianna has plenty of sustained damage and poke for fights, so it's not always necessary to blow your load right at the beginning. I've won plenty of fights by waiting to use my ult til midway through or even at the tail end of a fight. Playing Orianna is all about being completely aware of timing and placement.

Flash:
Flash is a must have on almost all champions. There are a select few who can get away with running Ghost (see what I did there?), but almost universally, Flash is the gold standard. Flash is crucial because it provides the one thing Orianna lacks: an instant dash. I mentioned in the "cons" section that Orianna has no bailout plan built into her kit. Flash is that bailout. However it can also be used aggressively to secure a kill in lane phase.

Ignite:
Orianna can win almost any matchup in mid lane, and as such, you will often find yourself in situations where just a tad more damage would have secured you a kill. This is where ignite comes in handy.


Alternative Summoner Spell: Barrier
There are some matchups that are not favorable for Orianna, and as such, Barrier is sometimes a safer option to guarantee that you can live through lane phase and make it to the teamfight phase without being behind.


Alternative Summoner Spell: Heal
Heal can be used instead of barrier, as it removes the healing reducement from Ignite, making potion popping more effective if you are about to die. It also gives you and your nearby teammates some extra movement speed for a few seconds.

Alternative Summoner Spell: Exhaust
Exhaust is pretty much a must when against Zed mid.

Ahri
It's really easy for you to sidestep Ahri's abilities. Get up in her face early on and fight her. Once she hits level 6, she presents a bit more of a challenge because of her increase in mobility. But pre-6, you should stomp her.

Ziggs
Ziggs is a pain to deal with because his range is significantly longer than yours. The other notable problem with Ziggs is that his Auto attacks are also very potent, since they are enhanced by his AP in a similar fashion to yours. You can just play this lane as a safe-farm lane and wait for jungle pressure, and Ziggs becomes free food at level 6 if you have any kind of hard-engage jungler like Vi or Jarvan.

Fizz
Auto attack, auto attack, auto attack, auto attack!! This lane should be over from level 1. If he tries to last hit, punish him. Don't forget to last hit, but if it comes down to landing 2-3 autos on him and missing a single CS, then by all means, knock his block off.

Gragas
Gragas is a pretty even matchup against Orianna. He can sustain very well with his passive and can pretty safely farm with his Barrel Roll. You can bully him out of lane at very early levels, but I would focus primarily on last hitting if you don't see real potential to get a kill.

Nidalee
Nidalee has an extremely weak lane phase. As long as you don't step on traps or get crushed by spears, you will dominate this lane. Your auto attack trades combined with Q/W combos will guarantee that you can beat her 1v1, especially pre-6. Always use the minions to block spears, and don't overextend past your minion line unless you're really closing in for a kill. If you play behind the minions, she can't land spears, which is her only real damage.

Yasuo
This matchup is pretty annoying. His mobility combined with Wind Wall can result in a lot of misplays with ball control. Mobility is really the answer for Orianna, because her ball can only move so fast. And Yasuo's dashes are faster than Command Move's particle speed. The other problem with this matchup is Yasuo's Flow sustain. When you commit to trades, try to sustain them, because poking every once in a while is a bad idea against Yasuo, since his Flow shield will mitigate a lot of your trade potential. Play this as a farm lane, and wait til the teamfight phase.

Zed
Playing against Zed is a pretty even matchup. His Living Shadow/Shuriken harass is pretty annoying, but you can also typically land harass on him when he does this. Fight him while his Living Shadow is on cooldown, but play relatively passively while has it up, especially once he hits level 6. At level 6, he has strong kill potential on you, and also has multiple ways to dodge your Command Shockwave. Running Barrier against Zed is not a bad idea, as it can allow you to outplay him when he tries to go for dives or all-in plays.

Akali
You should obliterate this lane. But do be careful of her level 6 burst potential especially if she's in her shroud. Remember that a lot of your damage in lane phase comes from auto attacks so be sure to constantly harass Akali early game with auto attacks and Q/W combos. You can often get a kill on bad Akali players at level 3 with your Q/W burst because they won't expect this sudden damage combined with ignite and auto attacks.

Anivia
This really depends on the skill of the Anivia player. Anivia is an uncommonly picked champion but a good Anivia player can decimate Orianna with her Q/E combos. Anivia players will often place their walls directly behind you to guide you into her Q, so stepping the opposite direction that the wall guides you is often a solid way to dodge her Q. Once her Q is down, play very aggressively, as it has about a 10-12 second cooldown. After 6, Anivia's E/R harass is very potent, but your Q/W range is long enough to smash her whenever she tries to land E on you. Don't be afraid to duel an Anivia, but if you can't dodge her Q's, you will likely lose the lane. Also make sure not to get baited by her egg.

Annie
This lane is usually in favor of the Orianna player because her Q/W combos are longer range than Annie's Q and W, however she can definitely punish you if you position poorly, especially post-6. Just be aware of her burst but try to work her down with Q/W harass and auto attacks while Annie's stun is down. Stay a respectable distance away while the stun is active, since this will allow her to trade for free against you.

Brand
This lane is actually pretty difficult. His spell range is significantly longer than yours and his burst potential if he lands his stun on you is immense. Fight him while his W is down and stay out of the minions because he will often want to hit the minions with his Pillar of Fire. Also stay away from minions that have his passive activated on them because he can use his E to proc free damage on you. You can win this lane, but it's definitely harder than average.

Cassiopeia
This is a skill matchup. If you can dodge her Q's you will win the lane 100%. Your ranges are almost exactly the same, and you both have movement steroids/slows, so your playstyles will be similar. Back off if she lands a Q on you, because her trade potential with poison active on you is very strong if she can land multiple Twin Fangs.

Diana
Similar to most of the other melee assassin matchups. You win early game significantly, so try to bully her. However her sustain is somewhat annoying with her double shield. Try to bait out her shield with auto attacks, then wait for it to fall off to use your Q/W combos. Be very careful post-6 unless you have a significant advantage in items/gold, as her damage potential is quite strong.

Galio
Just plain annoying. He probably won't kill you and you probably won't kill him. Don't fight him inside minion waves because he benefits strongly from multiple sources of damage when he has his Bulwark active. The only real window you have to kill him is level 2, before he gets his W, as most Galio's will skill into Q then E (his slow and speed abilities). Try to keep wards up though because his kill potential is strong if he gets jungle pressure combined with his CC.

Heimerdinger
This guy is annoying as hell, but he's not really a threat. Chances are he'll shove you into your tower, so just focus on last hitting and wait for your jungler to gank. DO NOT overcommit into his turrets. They deal absurd amounts of damage, especially once he gets his level 6 turret. One way to win this lane is to kill his turrets off before minions spawn. You can sidestep the laser attack and put your shield on to absorb its auto attack damage. Also his turrets go quiet when he recalls, so be sure to kill them if possible before you recall.

Jayce
Jayce isn't as strong as he used to be, but his E/Q combos still hurt a lot. Focus on hiding behind minion waves and keeping the lane in the middle of the lane. You don't want to get pushed under tower or you become an easy target for his Shock Blasts, but you also don't want to overpush because Jayce has real kill potential on you if a jungler comes. If you have good ward coverage feel free to play aggressively, but just be aware of his sudden burst with E\Q and shapeshift.

Kassadin
You can dumpster Kassadin pre-6, but after that he starts to hurt unless you've grown yourself an advantage. You need to bully him early or you will likely lose the game because he snowballs out of control if given an easy lane phase. Focus on auto attacking him regularly and just shield his Q's, since that's his only real source of harass pre-6. You should be able to get a kill on him pre-6 if you play properly.

Katarina
She can be somewhat hard to pin down and she's honestly one of the harder laners to deal with. The real mechanic you need to outplay is her E (Shunpo), since that allows her to dodge your skills very easily. Try to bait it out with auto attacks and Q (Command Move) then go for your combos and play aggressively while her Shunpo is down.

LeBlanc
You can obliterate her at level 1 with auto attacks, but her level 2 and 3 provide her with very strong dueling potential. Try to bait out her Q then back off to wait for the Sigil mark to fall off, then re-engage. You have a few seconds to fight her inbetween the time when the Sigil wears off and her Q comes back off cooldown. You can certainly kill her pre-6, but she can also kill you, and post-6 she has the up-front damage advantage provided she doesn't miss her Ethereal Chain. Play a bit more passively post-6 but don't be afraid to duke it out pre-6. This lane is a skill matchup, but you have a better chance of winning early and then play more of a farm game mid-late to wait for teamfights where you're more effective. She's a 1v1 assassin; you have an AoE ultimate that can 1 shot an entire team. So just play accordingly.

Karma
Good Karma players can be a pain, but what you want to focus on is avoiding her tether, because she will combo it with a Mantra Q to deal a huge chunk of damage. The best way to do this is to let her land the tether at max range, then land your Q/W on her to disengage. You can also just Command Dissonance yourself which should effectively disengage the tether, but this lessens your trade damage potential on her. The skill here is learning the range at which her tether engages and falls off, so it just takes some practice. Stay out of the minions so she can't use her Mantra Q on the minion waves AND you; make her pick one. You can definitely win this lane, provided you consistently pull that off and dodge the Mantra Q. Karma is unique in being able to compete with Orianna at level 1. Her Mantra Q deals substantial damage and offers her level 1 CC to give her the movement advantage in trading. You can still win this level 1 trade if you hide properly in the minion wave, but do remember that you'll pick up minion aggro if you stay in there for too long. Typically just go for Q/W combos from range, and rely less on your auto attacks in this lane, because she can punish you with W into Mantra Q.

Kayle
Kayle is extremely strong right now and has a very optimal build to scale into late game. You will lose trades 100% if she lands more than 2 auto attacks on you. DO NOT attempt to trade auto attacks with a Kayle unless her E is down or unless you're baiting her in for a jungle gank. Kayle has great sustain and insane trade damage; typically just play this lane as a farmfest and wait for teamfights.

Lissandra
This is a relatively easy matchup. Just be careful of jungler ganks as her lockdown and CC is very potent. She will try to position herself to land Q's off the minions into you, so always position yourself at awkward angles to the minions so that she can't land harass on you through the minion line. You win level 1 substantially, especially if you dodge her Q. Bear in mind that her Q is a very small particle until it impacts and spreads, so dodging this in a 1v1 setting or outside the minion wave is optimal. Her burst damage and lockdown post-6 is strong, but you should have built an advantage pre-6 to the point that you can 1v1 her post-6.

Lux
Really hard to lock her down. This matchup is similar to Ziggs, but her damage relies more on her following up with auto attacks. Also her snare is relatively easy to dodge as long as you can predict it. Stay outside of the minion wave since she will want to use her E (Lucent Singularity) on the wave to push it. Lux is pretty bad at last hitting under tower, so if you don't feel confident dueling, you can always just push the wave and make her last hit under tower.

Morgana
She has no kill potential pre-6, but post-6 if she lands a binding on you, you're screwed. Also make sure to mind your spacing with her. Once she hits 6, she can literally just walk up to you and ult. You can outplay this with Q/W to break her shield and ult to pull her away from you, but this is a hard mechanical play. So if you're not comfortable with that, I'd recommend just fighting aggressively pre-6 and playing a bit more passively / farm-focused post-6. Her lane pressure pre-6 is immense with her tormented soil, I've found that it's pretty strong to frontline the minions and try to harass her before she can cast it on the wave. Otherwise you'll spend all of lane phase csing under your tower, and she'll be free to roam.

Pros:
Extremely good utility
Great harass
Great lane phase
Amazing teamfight
Multidirectional champion (can engage or disengage equally well).


Cons:
For full effectiveness, she does require a "ball carrier", which is something I'll discuss later.
No dash or instant bailout escape.

Early Game (Pre-6)
Orianna wins almost all lane matchups, and even if she doesn't win, she's extremely safe and can still farm well. Don't be afraid to play aggressively early, but just bear in mind that the more you pressure the enemy mid, the more likely it is their jungler will come help. If you can attract jungler pressure without dying or losing farm, you've directly benefited your team, because they should all be able to play more aggressively in their own lanes. Emphasize farming, because Orianna is a champion who is heavily reliant on hitting certain items to get her power spikes. Expect to have tier 1 boots, Chalice of Harmony and if you're ahead, Fiendish Codex by the end of this phase.

Mid Game (6-11)
Alright, so you're getting into teamfight phase. Maybe it's time for a contested dragon or bot tower has fallen and the lanes are starting to roam. You're not quite able to 1v5 at this point, but your teamfight presence is still significant. Many times, roaming bottom with your jungler before lane phase has ended is a great way to get your team a power spike. A 4v2 at bot almost guarantees 2 kills for you and will usually lead to either taking bot tower or getting dragon, or both. Emphasis in mid-game should be on continuing to farm but also looking for opportunistic teamfights. If you can finish Sorcerer's Shoes, Athene's Unholy Grail and Rabadon's Deathcap by 20-25 minutes, you're in a great spot.

Late Game (12-18)
Alright. You've farmed your face off and you're pretty fed. You have your core build and you're ready to deal some damage. How you approach teamfights is largely reliant on your team. If they're behind, you need to way for the enemy to overcommit to you, and you can counterengage strongly. If you're far ahead, don't be afraid to dive. I can't emphasize this enough. A fed Orianna can literally deal 75% of the entire enemy team's health in a single combo. It's just a matter of coaxing your team into committing to it.

Orianna, as noted in the introduction, is a multidirectional champion. By this I mean she has the versatility to either engage full on, or to peel backwards very efficiently for her team. Her Command Dissonance can be used either as engage or as disengage, or even as a means to get your team between lanes more quickly, if you're playing a poke/splitpush team composition. I very often use Dissonance liberally to get myself back to lane more quickly, or to speed my rotations if I'm ganking a side lane.

How you play Orianna really depends on where the gold distribution lies. If you're only at an average gold level (maybe you had a rough lane phase), but your ADC is extremely fed, then by all means, use yourself as a utility, protection champion. Orianna on peel mode is an ADC's dream. She provides resistances, shields and insane amounts of crowd control.

But like I said, if you're ahead, and you have a good means for diving/engaging like Vi, Jarvan, Shyvana, etc., don't be afraid to commit to an all-in wombo combo play. I've literally gotten pentakills by pressing R. Sometimes Orianna can be painfully easy to play, if you do all the small things right early and mid game.

In lane, you can use your ball as a great form of zone control. Enemies will always be wary of the ball, because they know it is your source of damage. Use this to your advantage, and try to always keep the ball in a threatening position. I like to keep it slightly behind the enemy mage minions, so that if they come up to last hit, I can move aggressively forward to land my Q/W combo'd with auto attacks.
Another great trick with this is that enemies will naturally tend to stay away from the ball. You can use this to force them to one side of the lane, if your jungler is trying to gank. So zone them to one half of the lane, and then use Command Protect on your jungler once they've engaged to guarantee your followup Command Shockwave/Dissonance.

A very standard combo for Orianna in lane phase is the following: Command Move (Q), Command Dissonance (W), Command Protect (E). To get the maximum benefit out of this, you should try to land the Command Move behind the enemy, so that your Command Protect damages them when it travels back to you. However, this is an advanced level of control, so don't overemphasize that too much. The important part is to land the Q/W damage, and to get the ball back to yourself to provide the shield before they retaliate. If you realize they aren't able to attack back, then don't worry about the Command Protect. Go full offensive and continue landing Command Moves combo'd with auto attacks.

Orianna is a very strong laner with incredible teamfight potential. She has great utility as well as sustained and burst damage. She requires significant mechanical skill to be played at a high level, but over time, you will develop these skills and get used to the concept of moving both the ball and yourself. Don't be afraid to play aggressively, but if you do, know that you will attract attention from the enemy team, so always be aware of potential ganks from side lanes or the jungler. Likewise, in teamfights, if you're doing particularly well, the enemy team will decide that you are the focus. So always be wary of all-in/dive attempts on you. Orianna is an extremely rewarding and fun champion to play, because she has a wide range of use. I guarantee Orianna is a champion that you can play for hundreds of games without getting bored, due to her high skill cap and versatile playstyle.