You kind of just play to scale because he beats you at every stage of the laning phase. If you can trade 1 Q with him go for it but you usually won't be able to.
IF HE GETS NO KILLS AND NO CHANCE TO SNOWBALL YOU ARE WINNING BECAUSE HE IS USELESS WITHOUT HIS PASSIVE GOLD,
PLAY SAFE AND SCALE, YOU OUTSCALE HIM
Syndra
good ban in master+, i perma ban it rn bc syndra apc/mid is so disgustingly op
Caitlyn
MATCHUP NOTES:
You can't really trade with her unless she severely mispositions. You just wait for her to make a mistake and then you run her down with PTA, Last Stand and Barrier. The only time I would go in to trade is if she wastes cooldowns or your support makes an opportunity to fight her. If there aren't any opportunities to then you would ask for help from your jungler because she is very immobile and prone to ganks since she perma shoves you under tower and is usually paired with a mage support. Make sure to give up creeps that you will lose HP for so you have enough HP to all-in her if she missteps. Engage supports are best in this matchup because they can heavily punish her and you are naturally stronger in all-ins, if you have an enchanter or mage support just play safely and wait for your item spikes.
Zeri
MATCHUP NOTES:
Very easy lane, you beat her at all stages of the lane and can trade onto her freely without worrying about her outdamaging you or outranging you. Abuse your Q auto trading pattern to chunk her and then all-in her when she's low enough. You want to stay behind minions so she can't hit you with Q since it doesn't go through targets without her E. If she ever uses E to escape you can cancel it with Condemn.
After level 6, when you unlock your ultimate you want to use your stealth on Tumble unpredictably so she can't auto attack you since her auto attack is a skillshot.
Aphelios
MATCHUP NOTES:
Hard matchup, you have to play safe level 1 unless you are able to cheese him with Lethal Tempo since he doesn't get his Q ability until level 2. Going crit makes this matchup a lot more playable since you can oneshot him in mid-late game teamfights, if you are forced to go On-Hit I would try to get a Randuin's. If he has the green gun (Calibrum) respect his auto range since it is one of the longest auto ranges in the game, give up creeps that you will lose HP for so that you have enough to all-in him. I wouldn't try and fight him in lane if he has the red and white gun combination since it greatly increases his dps and sustain. If he ever uses his Q cooldown it is an opportunity to fight him since it is his only ability besides his ultimate. You want to bait out his Q ability and then fight him while it's off cooldown.
Ashe
MATCHUP NOTES:
In this matchup you have to respect her auto range since it is one of the longest auto ranges in the game. Stay behind minions or use your Q to not get hit by her W. You don't want to fight in the early levels since she is naturally strong in all-ins with her slow, and can trade onto you easily with her long auto attack range. Play around your first item spike.
Ezreal
MATCHUP NOTES:
In this matchup you're just playing a game of dodgeball with his Q and W with your Q, if he ever wastes E or oversteps it's an opportunity to all-in him with Ghost. You can easily keep up in farm since he doesn't have a lot of pressure until later in the game which helps you scale.
Jhin
MATCHUP NOTES:
In this matchup you are looking to punish him with Q auto trades on every last hit or when he uses his 4th shot. Respect the 4th shot whenever he has it up. Save your Q to dodge his W root and his Q bounce damage, he loses a lot of his pressure when you do this. Save your Barrier for his 4th shot in all-ins and use your E to interrupt his ultimate.
Jinx
MATCHUP NOTES:
In lane you want to try and avoid her rocket poke as much as possible, don't take hits for free, give up minions when you have to. Avoid long trades early on since she has mini-gun attack speed and Lethal Tempo. Tumble auto her every time she goes for a last hit. After 6 and also when you get your first item. she is kind of just a sitting duck and you can all-in her really easily since she has 0 mobility outside of her conditional passive. If she gets ahead she's really hard to play against but in lane she's definitely not too bad.
Kai'Sa
MATCHUP NOTES:
In this matchup you can easily trade onto her with Q auto since she is short ranged. you don't want her to get isolated Qs on you in lane, so play inside the minion wave to reduce its damage. Dodge her W since she can R onto you. If she ever wastes W for any reason it is a good opportunity to fight her because it is a big portion of her burst damage. Kai'sa may have a better early game but you scale better so take advantage of that.
Kalista
MATCHUP NOTES:
This matchup is super annoying because she is a lane bully champion with her E resets and poke with Q. You should be pressuring her with a Tumble auto whenever she goes for a minion since she is stuck in a jump animation and unable to auto you. This can get control of the lane if you do it well. You want to use your Q to dodge her Q since that is her main way of trading onto you with her E reset. Be careful of her level 6 because it greatly increases her engage potential and ability to be aggressive with her ultimate. If she has an engage support it is important that you don't get caught out by this and make sure to keep your wave in a safe spot on your side of the lane. If you ever get the chance to 1v1 her when supports are roaming, exhaust her at the start of the duel so she can't get as many spears off.
If you get your item spikes you will outscale her, so make sure to keep up farm, if you are even you are winning the matchup.
Kog'Maw
MATCHUP NOTES:
In this matchup you are trying to bait his W cooldown and then you have a window to run him down since he won't be as strong. Disengage whenever he uses W. Pressure him when it is on cooldown and look for trades/all-ins.
Lucian
MATCHUP NOTES:
This matchup is really annoying because he is usually paired with oppressive laning phase supports and you can't outdamage him or out trade him in lane unless he wastes his dash or his Q. Avoid short trades early in the lane and save your Tumble to dodge his Q. You only want to fight in this lane when you have a minion advantage since the minions will help you fight and also block his ultimate. Save your Condemn for when his dash is on cooldown since he is a sitting duck without it. You scale a lot better than Lucian so play around your item spikes to make an impact in mid and late game.
Miss Fortune
MATCHUP NOTES:
Miss Fortune is the queen of short trades in bot lane, you want to make sure you don't get hit by her Q bounces off of minions. Position in a way so that it can't bounce onto you while not being able to be traded onto by the enemy support.Try not to get caught out with by her E since it can be a dangerous ability if she is paired with an engage or mage support. Past level 6 you can fight her and you shouldinterrupt her ultimate with your condemn (E) so save your condemn for her ultimate.
Nilah
MATCHUP NOTES:
At level 1 pressure her off the wave hard if your matchup allows it to secure lane priority since she is not a champion until level 3. After level 3 respect her all-in potential, don't fight her with her cooldowns up. If she ever wastes her W then you have about a 20 second window to go in on her. Tumble (Q) auto everytime she goes for a minion. Before level 6 save your condemn (E) for her 2nd dash cooldown if she ever gets on top of you and use your Tumble (Q) to space her. At level 6, save your condemn (E) for her dash>ultimate combo.
Samira
MATCHUP NOTES:
You have more range so look for short trades with Tumble autos whenever she goes for a last hit. Avoid her all-in and contest her in the early levels (levels 1-2) since she is not strong until level 3. After level 6, save your Condemn (E) for her ultimate since it interrupts it and her ultimate is pretty much all of her damage. Never use your E before her W cooldown is used. You usually want to play for your first item since you are stronger than her at that point.
Sivir
MATCHUP NOTES:
Level 1 you don't touch the wave unless you have a ranged vs melee support matchup. She will W the wave to shove it and it is important you stay behind the wave, but not close enough to get hit by the W bounces since they do a decent amount of damage early. Avoid her Q and play around her cooldowns since they are long in the early game before she gets ability haste and you can use that time to short trade with your Tumble.
You beat her after level 6, when she uses her ultimate just pop your Ghost to match the movement speed.
Smolder
MATCHUP NOTES:
Avoid trades until your first item because you will get out traded early on. Avoid his poke from his abilities. After first item you are able to fight him.
Tristana
MATCHUP NOTES:
Play around her E cooldown, if she uses it its a good time to short trade with your Tumble (Q) auto or all-in her. You can cancel her W jump with your Condemn (E). Use your Tumble to punish her when she last hits.
Twitch
MATCHUP NOTES:
Avoid trading until level 3.
Tumble (Q) auto trade him. Ideally, do this when he is going for a minion and stuck in his auto attack animation.
At the start of laning phase be wary of his stealth because sometimes they will stealth at level 1 and auto you to pressure you off the wave.
During laning phase, play around his cooldowns. If he ever uses any of them it is an opportunity to fight since his abilities have long cooldowns
Varus
Xayah
Yunara
Ziggs
Aatrox
IMPORTANT READ THIS FIRST!!!
While it is important to keep in mind the ADC matchup, it is also important to keep in mind the support matchup and what your support wants to do. Sometimes a good support matchup can nullify a bad ADC matchup.
You would want to position the wave based on the support matchup as well.
Trade/Sustain Support? Play around short trades and off their abilities and slow push the wave so they can harass easier with minions. If you are vs an engage support with this kind of support you would want to freeze so they don't get engaged on and so that you both have safer scaling.
All-in/engage support? Keep your HP high and all-in the enemy ADC when your support lands something. Keep the wave frozen so they have an easier time landing crucial CC.
Poke Support? While not synergistic with Vayne at all since you can't perma shove in most matchups for them to harass, play off of their CC and high burst damage to kill the enemy ADC and/or support. Also, keep in mind that these kinds of supports can help cover Vayne's weakness in laning phase of 0 waveclear by helping you shove waves for better resets. You would position the wave dynamically based on what you think is best based on the enemy bot lane/state of the game because you have a hard time meeting the conditions (shoving waves) for your support to have an easier time.
Support Matchups:
Poke Beats All-in/Engage
All-in/Engage beats Trade/Sustain
Trade/Sustain beats Poke
Yuumi
probably her best pairing for a support if the yuumi has hands and doesn't afk the entire lane, she also has 2 combat summoner spells which gives you a big advantage when fighting.
Play around level 6 and first item powerspikes for both of your champs since you both spike extremely hard at 6 and first item
Lulu
Milio
Zilean
Nidalee
lowkey vayne is decent with nidalee support because of the attack speed steroid on her heal and her high damage early game,, jungle not so much bc you won't have prio a lot of the time for invades
Ivern
Thresh
Sona
Soraka
Renata Glasc
Senna
Seraphine
Swain
Vel'Koz
Xerath
Zyra
Taric
Rell
Rakan
Pyke
Poppy
Pantheon
Neeko
Nautilus
can all-in level 1 if he starts Q if you are in a winning matchup. same as blitzcrank, play around his hook cooldown. he's very good at level 6 since his ult is usually a guaranteed kill if they step up too far paired with vayne ult and passive.
Nami
Morgana
Mel
only thing mage supports are good for with vayne is helping you one shot the wave to reset/for prio and helping you cs because of their high base damage early,
let mel poke with Q and play around level 6 because she spikes hard at 6 with her passive stacks and ult.
Maokai
Lux
only thing mage supports are good for with vayne is helping you one shot the wave to reset/for prio and helping you cs because of their high base damage early, play around lux's E poke and if they get low you can run them down, also if she lands a Q in range of a wall its a free condemn.
Leona
leona is a pretty good combination wtih vayne since she has great peel and all-in power which vayne loves. she's not that strong until level 3 and 6 so play around that if you're in a matchup where you can fight early.
Karma
very good poke early game to help you farm and her E synergizes very well with vayne's passive, let her poke and play around her shield for trades. if she lands a few mantra Q's you should be able to run them down.
Janna
great disengage and peel, very helpful because of vayne's short auto attack range, if they are good you are basically unkillable with your self peel from your invisibility and condemn and her CC. laning might be a little rough depending on the matchup and the runes the janna is running but it's a super nice combo mid and late game. play around her shield for trades and if you're vs an all-in matchup trust that she will use Q to peel their support off of you so you can fight.
Braum
great combo for similar reasons as janna, has great disengage and peel, you can all-in level 1 if the matchup allows since he is really good level 1 with his stun.
Brand
only thing mage supports are good for with vayne is helping you one shot the wave to reset/for prio and helping you cs because of their high base damage early,
Blitzcrank
play around his hook cooldown, if he lands a hook go crazy but how well you will do in lane is largely dependent on if the blitzcrank can find angles to hook. if he lands one its usually a guaranteed kill or at least gets their flash.
Bard
not my favorite to play with as vayne since his laning isnt that great so it's sometimes rough early game, he has great roaming though, if the enemy support matches his roam vayne loves isolated 1v1s with the enemy ADC. they don't really have that much synergy with their kits.
Alistar
Synergies
IdealStrongOkLowNone
Aatrox
IMPORTANT READ THIS FIRST!!!
While it is important to keep in mind the ADC matchup, it is also important to keep in mind the support matchup and what your support wants to do. Sometimes a good support matchup can nullify a bad ADC matchup.
You would want to position the wave based on the support matchup as well.
Trade/Sustain Support? Play around short trades and off their abilities and slow push the wave so they can harass easier with minions. If you are vs an engage support with this kind of support you would want to freeze so they don't get engaged on and so that you both have safer scaling.
All-in/engage support? Keep your HP high and all-in the enemy ADC when your support lands something. Keep the wave frozen so they have an easier time landing crucial CC.
Poke Support? While not synergistic with Vayne at all since you can't perma shove in most matchups for them to harass, play off of their CC and high burst damage to kill the enemy ADC and/or support. Also, keep in mind that these kinds of supports can help cover Vayne's weakness in laning phase of 0 waveclear by helping you shove waves for better resets. You would position the wave dynamically based on what you think is best based on the enemy bot lane/state of the game because you have a hard time meeting the conditions (shoving waves) for your support to have an easier time.
Support Matchups:
Poke Beats All-in/Engage
All-in/Engage beats Trade/Sustain
Trade/Sustain beats Poke
Yuumi
probably her best pairing for a support if the yuumi has hands and doesn't afk the entire lane, she also has 2 combat summoner spells which gives you a big advantage when fighting.
Play around level 6 and first item powerspikes for both of your champs since you both spike extremely hard at 6 and first item
Lulu
Milio
Zilean
Nidalee
lowkey vayne is decent with nidalee support because of the attack speed steroid on her heal and her high damage early game,, jungle not so much bc you won't have prio a lot of the time for invades
Ivern
Thresh
Sona
Soraka
Renata Glasc
Senna
Seraphine
Swain
Vel'Koz
Xerath
Zyra
Taric
Rell
Rakan
Pyke
Poppy
Pantheon
Neeko
Nautilus
can all-in level 1 if he starts Q if you are in a winning matchup. same as blitzcrank, play around his hook cooldown. he's very good at level 6 since his ult is usually a guaranteed kill if they step up too far paired with vayne ult and passive.
Nami
Morgana
Mel
only thing mage supports are good for with vayne is helping you one shot the wave to reset/for prio and helping you cs because of their high base damage early,
let mel poke with Q and play around level 6 because she spikes hard at 6 with her passive stacks and ult.
Maokai
Lux
only thing mage supports are good for with vayne is helping you one shot the wave to reset/for prio and helping you cs because of their high base damage early, play around lux's E poke and if they get low you can run them down, also if she lands a Q in range of a wall its a free condemn.
Leona
leona is a pretty good combination wtih vayne since she has great peel and all-in power which vayne loves. she's not that strong until level 3 and 6 so play around that if you're in a matchup where you can fight early.
Karma
very good poke early game to help you farm and her E synergizes very well with vayne's passive, let her poke and play around her shield for trades. if she lands a few mantra Q's you should be able to run them down.
Janna
great disengage and peel, very helpful because of vayne's short auto attack range, if they are good you are basically unkillable with your self peel from your invisibility and condemn and her CC. laning might be a little rough depending on the matchup and the runes the janna is running but it's a super nice combo mid and late game. play around her shield for trades and if you're vs an all-in matchup trust that she will use Q to peel their support off of you so you can fight.
Braum
great combo for similar reasons as janna, has great disengage and peel, you can all-in level 1 if the matchup allows since he is really good level 1 with his stun.
Brand
only thing mage supports are good for with vayne is helping you one shot the wave to reset/for prio and helping you cs because of their high base damage early,
Blitzcrank
play around his hook cooldown, if he lands a hook go crazy but how well you will do in lane is largely dependent on if the blitzcrank can find angles to hook. if he lands one its usually a guaranteed kill or at least gets their flash.
Bard
not my favorite to play with as vayne since his laning isnt that great so it's sometimes rough early game, he has great roaming though, if the enemy support matches his roam vayne loves isolated 1v1s with the enemy ADC. they don't really have that much synergy with their kits.
3/13/2026 - added build paths, added matchups (still polishing the matchup notes), working on synergies section
3/14/2026 - added some notes to matchups
3/15/2026 - updated build paths and runes, removed some clutter from matchups section,
8/5/2026 - updated build and runes for season 3
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