Best Orianna counters in LoL

If you feel powerless against Orianna when playing LoL, here are the best counters you should play to win more games this season.

Orianna counters in LoL – the top three picks

Orianna is a staple in the mid lane. Unless she is in a super weak spot, the mid lane mage will always be a powerful pick thanks to her zone control and teamfighting capability. A great Shockwave can single-handedly win a teamfight and deal an absurd amount of damage.

While the champion has a relatively safe laning phase, she does have a few counters that she struggles against. Let’s go over the best three champions to beat her.

If you’re fairly new to the game, check out our guide on how counter picks work in League of Legends. You will understand why counter picks are important, and how you need to take advantage of them to increase your win rate. Make sure to also understand how classes counter one another in LoL so you always know what to pick in each game.

Diana – the evergreen counter

One of the things Orianna struggles the most is mobility. Her skill shots and abilities are hard to hit on champions that have quick dashes, which makes Diana a great counter to Orianna. The former has stronger short trades and burst damage, making it easy to get an advantage during the laning phase.

That said, the Diana player must wait a few levels and not get harassed by Orianna in the first three levels, given the range advantage it has. Depending on how well you can play around that, it will give you the chance to go for a kill later on.

Talon – the AD counter

If Diana is the AP assassin counter, then Talon is the AD version. Compared to Diana, the champion has better trading early on. That said, killing Orianna can be tricky post-level six as she can always land the Shockwave if Talon tries to approach her. What you should be doing as Talon is utilize the better roaming power to snowball the other lanes: Orianna won’t be able to match you in any way.

Veigar – the better scaling

Orianna is a champion that scales with both levels and items, but Veigar does scale even more. The great thing about this matchup is that Veigar gets a free laning phase due to Orianna’s low early-game damage, and then scales harder later on. Unless you get camped or mess up heavily, you will always be in a leading position. Farm the stacks with your Q and then wait to blow her up with your abilities.

Worst Orianna counters

Yone – harass is too high

The issue in this matchup is that Yone can’t kill Orianna unless heavy mechanical mistakes occur. This is because the mid lane mage can harass Yone early on with the range advantage. On top of that, Yone is quite susceptible to Orianna’s Shockwave whenever Yone uses his own ultimate. The teleport behind the enemies makes him stand still for a brief moment, which allows Orianna to position her ball (with E or Q).

Lissandra – countering yourself

Lissandra’s only way to win this lane is by coordinating with the jungler and camping the enemy. In a vacuum matchup, Lissandra will rarely win against Orianna. They have similar wave clearing but Orianna scales harder, and given Lissandra’s telegraphed engages with her E, the Lady of Clockwork will always place the ball close to where she will teleport and then hit the Shockwave.

How do you counter Zoe with the items?

When going up against Zoe, it’s recommended to stack magic resistance to lower her burst damage. Below is a list of items to build you should consider, based on the class of champion you’re playing:

Bruisers: Maw of Malmortius, Kaenic Rookern, Force of Nature
AD assassins: Maw of Malmortius
ADC champions: Maw of Malmortius, Wit’s End
AP champions: Banshee’s Veil
Tanks: Kaenic Rookern, Force of Nature

What Champion counters Orianna?

The three best counters are Diana, Talon and Veigar. Other strong counters are Jayce, Aurelion Sol, and Neeko.

Does Syndra counter Orianna?

Syndra does have a small advantage over Orianna since she excels at punishing immobile champions. She also has a small range advantage and more burst damage compared to her counterpart. That said, the matchup can become more volatile when junglers and the rest of the team composition are added to the equation. Depending on how impactful those elements can be, the matchup can be balanced out.