Hey!
Welcome to my third guide on MOBAfire, as always, this guide is aimed towards being effective in ranked play. Orianna has the potential to absolutely wreck havoc on the enemy team, however in many of my games I find that people build her wrong and play her more like a support, when they don't realize how much damage she is capable of doing.

Although Orianna may have some qualities of a support champion, she is much better played as a carry (much like Nidalee or Kayle). Due to her squishiness and vulnerability early game it is important that you always go mid lane, no matter the situation, that way it will be much harder for the jungler or roamer to gank you, if you absolutely can't get mid lane, then at least try and get the top solo lane.

As always, this is only a guide, you do not need to strictly follow the item order or take anything I say as the words of god, however I do hope that it will help you understand how devastating of an AP carry Orianna can be.

Pros
- decent laner
- great ap ratios
- great AOE damage (amazing in teamfights)
- hard to harass due to great range
- great harass herself
- amazing utility
- game changing ultimate
- can easily facecheck bushes with her ball
- good chase and escape abilities

Cons
- squishy
- it's true that she isn't exactly easy to play, you need to learn how to use her ball effectively and pull off good combos
- runs out of mana easily early game if you spam

RUNES

Greater Mark of Magic Penetration x9
The standard AP carry runes, important to get through that Magic Resist

Greater Seal of Scaling Mana Regeneration x9
Another standard on most AP carries, these are very important on Orianna though as early game her spells are very mana intensive.

Greater Glyph of Scaling Cooldown Reduction x9
Early game, I really don't need extra cooldowns as this will only help me lose my mana quicker, so I find it much more useful to get the cooldown per level runes rather than the flat CDR runes.

OR

Greater Glyph of Scaling Ability Power x9
I can also understand if you would want to focus more on your AP ratios and less on spamming your abilities lategame, I'd suggest to experiment between the two and see which one you prefer.

Greater Quintessence of Ability Power x3
AP is important for an AP carry...

MASTERIES
Standard AP carry runes, I go Good Hands over Perseverence because it is important for you to be alive for as long as possible, you are the one is able to burst down enemies quickest and quickly kill waves of creeps. One point is put into the Utility Mastery because you will most often take the blue buff once the jungler doesn't need it anymore.

I like to smartcast all abilities except her Command: Attack (q spell) as I find it harder to aim with her q if it is on smartcast

Clockwork Windup
This is a decent passive but nothing too special, it helps slightly with farming and in close fights between you and another player, it's nothing to write home about though.

Command: Attack
I level this at level 1 because you need to be able to move your ball around to be able to effectively use your w. It is a good harassing tool, and a good way to zone out your enemy champion or champions. Also use this to facecheck bushes before you enter them. Typically I keep this ability off smartcast, however I will put the rest of Orianna's abilities on smartcast.

Command: Dissonance
This is my priority skill as it is my main source of AOE damage. It may also be used a slow on enemy champs or to speed up friendly allies... OR both. It is also a great farming tool and with this skill you can easily farm huge waves of minions should you wish.

Command: Protect
I prioritize this skill second because you are literally able to save lives with this skill, when leveled up, it gives a huge health and armor boost. I put it on smartcast since I find it very easy to simply press e and the ball will immediately shield my ally. Also, if the enemy champion is between you and the ball, use this on yourself to damage him as he passes through your ball.

Command: Shockwave
Great ultimate, it basically throws off whoever is within the ball's perimeter in the opposite direction and deals a huge amount of damage. Use it to chase/kill enemies and to set the tone of a teamfight.

Flash
Very important to be able to get out of tough spots and to be able to do a surprise flash>Q>R

Ignite
As an AP carry, you will often be in a situation where the enemy gets away with extremely low health and your spells are on cooldown, this is when ignite is necessary. If you intend to kill your enemy in a burst, don't hesitate to use ignite early as you want to make sure he can't get away.

Basic harassing combo
Use Command: Attack to get as near as the enemy champion as possible, usually it is best to aim a bit behind him, that way he needs to move backwards to be able to dodge your Q. If you hit him and he is in range, then immediately use your Command: Dissonance in order to deal a good amount of damage. If he is not close enough then don't bother obviously, however leave your ball there and if he ever gets near, then use your W whenever he gets close to the ball. Finally, if he ever steps between the ball and you, then use your Command: Protect on yourself to deal some nice damage on the enemy.
Q>W>maybe>E

If someone on your team comes to gank your midlane
You will usually want to start off with getting your ball to him and then Command: Shockwave, then immediately Command: Dissonance. By now, he should be at very low health already and whoever came to gank should be able to deal huge damage to them. Use your Command: Protect on your ally (if he is melee) so that this way the ball will automatically follow the enemy as he chases the enemy down. Use your w spell whenever it gets off cooldown now to finish them off as this will deal damage to the enemy, slow them down, and speed your ally up. There should be no way he could get away.
Q>R>W>E>W (you may have to use ignite somewhere here)

If you and someone else (melee) is chasing someone down
You should immediately shield your ally with E, that way you can do a simple Command: Dissonance and this will both speed up your ally, slow the enemy down, and deal significant damage to them. From here it should be easy to catch up and do whatever you have to do to kill him off. Note that sometimes it is better to R instead of E depending on the situation.
E>W/R>kill

If you are running away from someone
If you are getting chased, then you should immediately cast Command: Dissonance (when the ball is on you). This will boost your speed, while forcing the enemy to have to walk around the sphere OR get slowed down. If the enemy continues the chase, the use Command: Protect on yourself to both hurt them and to protect yourself from any extra damage. This way, hopefully you should be able to safely get away.
W>run>E (in desperate situations you may have to use your R when the enemy passes through your ball)

Core items
Doran's Ring, Sorceror's Shoes, Rabadon's Deathcap

Once you have these core items, you should build Orianna according to the team you are facing and how your game is going.

My general item sequence
I always start off with a Doran's Ring because this gives you a nice health boost, AP boost and mana regen boost, all of which help out with her a lot early game. Depending on when you go back to base, I will always get the Boots. If I have enough gold, I will either start building into my Rabadon's Deathcap or I will get another Doran's Ring. Don't forget that early game, it is always an investment to get a few Health Potion. Also throughout the game, buy some Sight ward to protect your lane and help your team out whenever you got some spare gold.

I prefer Sorceror's Shoes over the CDR boots because your cooldowns are already quite low and you will really benefit from extra AP as you will simply dish out so much extra damage.

I always go straight for the Rabadon's Deathcap because it just provides such good extra damage. You must remember that Orianna's shield is a great defensive ability and considering how it is possible to safely harass the enemy champion with Orianna I like don't see the point of building defensive until the teamfights will start out.

It is usually when the laning phase has ended or is coming to an end that I will start my work on the Rod of Ages. This item will give you some nice extra survivability and it will still provide you with a great amount of AP. Sometimes I will delay the ROA to build it later, it really all depends on whether or not you think you need the extra survivability, but it is a formidable item as it gives a ton of hp and AP.

After my ROA, I like to build a Void Staff because it is usually at this point that the enemy will have or will start to stack MR against your deadly Orianna. (If they don't then they are quite clearly idiots and you should win).

At this point you are already very powerful. Usually I will go for another AP item that gives you some defense. If they have a lot of AD that dives you then I prefer to go with Zhonya's Hourglass, however if you feel like your team can protect you well enough and you just need good positioning I prefer to go with Rylai's Crystal Sceptor. Do you need some magic resist? Then go ahead and get the Abyssal Sceptor. Finally, another great item to get on Orianna,would be Morello's Evil Tome as this item will give extra AP and lower your cooldowns. What's important here is to just think of what items are important to get in what situation and then adapt.

When the laning phase starts you will have to aim to last hit creeps with your autoattacks whilst harassing and zoning your enemy with your skills. One thing you do not want to do though is to spam your abilities early game as you are very mana dependent. Never use W unless you may use it to kill several creeps at once, or you may use it to hurt the enemy hero. There really isn't that much to explain here, it's the typical AP way of playing a lane, you just need to learn to master your skills so you don't get low whilst harassing the enemy. In most cases it is possible to avoid exchanges altogether and simply slowly zone the enemy out while all the while last hitting yourself.

As the laning phase continues, your spells will get stronger and you will want to use the combos discussed above to kill the enemy. Also, once you are level 5 you should be able to clear waves of creeps much faster with you abilities. Do not forget to ask your jungler for blue whenever you can to gain a significant advantage above your enemy.

Unless you are absolutely sure you can kill your enemy, you really don't want to dive as you are quite squishy.

Orianna excels in teamfights because she simply does so much AOE damage and has a huge amount of utility. What you want to do is shield whoever is getting focused to make sure he doesn't die. When the opportunity arises you want to use your ultimate Command: Shockwave to completely decimate and disorientate the enemy team. It is important that you try to get 3 or more of their players caught in your ultimate to decimate their team, just look for the right moment. Other than that, stay on the outskirts of the battle while hitting them with your q+w+e combo and spamming those abilities.

I found this youtube video to be a great example of how to carry with Orianna and how to carry in general. The maker of this video, ColbyCheeze is well known and is quite a good player. His build may be slightly different from mine, however the things to take away from this video would be his general gameplay. Play Video Play Video