Ornn Build Guide by mcasterix123

Ahoy! Welcome to my basic guide of how to play Ornn on patch 9.2. Since 9.1, he's been having a rough time due to the changes he received to up his utility, but heavily nerf his trading. However, I'd argue a heavy factor of his winrate going down is people trying to play him the same way as before. This guide is how I'd recommend playing Ornn given the changes to him.

Here's a quick rundown of the changes he received.

Passive/base stats

• 10% increase to his armour and magic resistance
• Automatically receives up to two upgrades for free upon reaching level 13
• Can upgrade an item for a teammate once for every level after level 13
• Brittle damage increased from 7-13% to 12-20.5%
• Several increases to base stats increasing durability
• Can now upgrade a few new items

Q: Volacanic Rupture

• Reduced base damage
• Reduced slow
• Reduced mana cost

W: Bellow's Breath

• No longer gives a shield
• Duration reduced from 1 second to 0.75 seconds
• Now unstoppable for duration
• Cooldown is now 12 seconds at all levels
• Doesn't slow himself as much

E: Searing charge

• Mana cost is now 50 at all levels
• If cast as Q: Volcanic rupture's pillar begins to expire, it will remain until the end of Searing charge.

R: Call of the Forge god

• Slow is now very small at the start of the cast, increasing as the Forge God travels towards Ornn.
• Knock ups reduced in duration.

While Ornn has seen a drop in win-rate, these changes are very much a rebalance as opposed to a flat out nerf. While Ornn's early durability during trades has taken a hit, he can now do more damage if he can look for the right trades. While his teamfighting ability has taken a hit as well, his ultimate is still an extremely powerful tool. The next chapter will discuss how he should be played with these changes in mind.

Originally Ornn would simply W into the opponent if they looked to trade. The shield would absorb the damage, then Ornn could auto the opponent, then look to either continue with a QE combo or retreat with E.

This simply isn't the optimal strategy any more. When Ornn is using his W, his movement is predictable allowing the opponent to plan accordingly. While this is mitigated by the reduction in cast length, it still leaves him open without a shield to make a bad trade more forgiving. In short, he can't really rely on just walking into the enemy and pressing W anymore.

Instead, I think Ornns need to be focussing more on their QEWauto combo, where Q is cast, Ornn E's into the pillar getting the knock up, then casting W during the knock up, proccing Brittle with an auto, then moving back. This is a more viable way of looking for trades because a) you don't have to put yourself at risk if they aren't close enough to the pillar, b) Brittle was buffed, making landing it reliably worth the extra mana and cooldown investment, and c) your W now lasts shorter than the Searing charge knockup length, so you should always land the last proc.

Obviously this is riskier against conqueror abusing bullies such as Daris, Renekton etc who can just go after you after the brittle proc, which leads to my next point.

In my opinion, these changes make maxing Q a lot more favourable, especially in conjunction with the change in trading I mentioned before.

1. Maxing W simply isn't worth it. Now the cooldown is standardised across all levels, 1% max hp damage isn't worth much levels 1-9. Against some squishier teams, it may even be beneficial to max W last. In lane, the buff to Brittle more than makes up for it, as at level 1, brittle was actually buffed by 5 % max hp damage IE more than the increase you get from rank 1 to rank 5 of W.

2. Having Q off CD sooner lets you poke and look for trades sooner. Losing the W shield means you have to take threats more seriously. If you're in a lane where one misstep can result in you dying, being able to pick up some extra CS from safety is very much appreciated. It also means that when you spot a chance to look for a trade, you'll have the initial set up available sooner.

While Ornn can have surprising damage when played properly, there are plenty of match ups you should play with respect against IE Darius, Renekton, Jayce etc. Simply put, play carefully, look to cs and poke with Q, and hope for ganks. You do have the advantage though of building HP and early game items such as Doran's shield without having to recall.

I will also add here that Ornn is fantastic to gank for if the opponent is pushing in. His ultimate travelling down the lane can help corral the other top laner, even if the initial ram doesn't hit, plus is good at getting a flash out at the start of the gank so you can use your follow up CC after.

Ornn has fantastic potential in teamfights. He can be prone to being kited though. Avoid diving too deep, especially if it risks leaving carries exposed. While your ultimate ability is a formidable engage tool, make sure a) your team are positioned to follow up, and b) try use it in conjunction with teammates' engages.

Thank you for reading this brief guide. I'll update it should any further changes to best ram boi occur.