Morgana, the Fallen Angel, is one of the most potent support counter pick in League of Legends. With a 48.27% win rate and a 5.14% pick rate is Solo Queue, she doesn’t shine in every situation, but her unique kit is perfect for shutting down certain picks. Let’s see how you can exploit Morgana to climb the Solo Queue ladder, and when you should pick her!
Ability Overview
Passive: Soul Siphon
Morgana gains permanent 10/15/20% bonus spell vamp at level 1/7/13.
How to use: This passive… isn’t that good. Back in the old days, Morgana was primarily a mid laner, and Soul Siphon is a remnant of those days. The small amount of spell vamp will give you some sustain, but it’s not enough to make a meaningful impact in the laning phase.
Q: Dark Binding
Morgana conjures a sphere of dark energy and sends it in the target direction, dealing damage to the first enemy hit and rooting them in place.
How to Use: The one thing that stands out about Dark Binding is its ridiculous range. Not only that but the skill shot itself is as wide as a truck, which more than makes up for the slow projectile speed. You always want to be moving around and looking for a good angle to fire your Q.
If you manage to connect it, you’ll be rewarded with a 2-second root at rank 1, and provided you have a strong marksman by your side, this means either getting a kill or forcing summoner spells. Of course, when Dark Binding is on cooldown, you should play safe. But don’t be shy to shoot some ambiguous Qs to keep your opponents on their toes.
W: Tormented Soil
Morgana creates a corrupting pool at the target area for 5 seconds. Enemies that stand in the pool take magic damage every half a second. The damage is increased based on target’s missing health.
How to use: Tormented Soil is great for pushing minion waves and proccing Spellthief’s Edge, Summon Aery, and Arcane Comet. The spell is pretty much unavoidable, but your enemies will have to stand in it for a while to actually feel the burn. Make sure to cast your W every time you hit a Dark Binding [Q] or a Soul Shackles [R] slow.
E: Black Shield
Morgana surrounds the target allied champion or herself with a protective barrier for 5 seconds. The barrier absorbs magic damage and makes its target immune to crowd control.
How to use: Black Shield is the main reason to pick Morgana. Most of the time, you want to shield your carries to prevent them from being disrupted by Blitzcrank’s hook, Twisted Fate’s gold card, or other crowd control spells. However, there is a merit to casting E on tanks and bruisers since it allows them to find a better initiation. In a similar fashion, you want to envelop yourself with Black Shield whenever you’re moving (or flashing) in to cast your ultimate. Keep in mind that this spell procs Ardent Censer, which is a nice bonus when you’re playing with a hypercarry.
R: Soul Shackles
After a brief delay, Morgana conjures tethers between herself and nearby enemy champions, dealing magic damage and slowing them by 20%. Enemies that didn’t leave the tether range within 3 seconds are stunned for 1.5 seconds and receive more magic damage.
How to Use: Soul Shackles is the perfect peeling tool, and you should always cast it to deal with enemy bruisers and divers. Theoretically, you can affect the entire enemy team with your ultimate. But in practice, people will scramble to avoid the second part of Soul Shackles, which means you have to do anything it takes to stick to priority targets.
In some cases, Soul Shackles can act as a great initiation tool. Simply surround yourself with a Black Shield [E] to avoid getting CC’d and flash in to blindside your foes with a split-second ultimate. Bonus points if you have Zhonya’s Hourglass to mitigate incoming damage. Plus, the 20% slow will make it easier to land Dark Binding [Q] and CC someone to death. Alternatively, you can just walk in with Boots of Mobility and cast your ultimate afterward, but that takes away the surprise factor.
Skill Order
R > Q > E > W
Dark Binding [Q] is your main source of damage and crowd control, so always max it first. Follow up with Tormented Soil [W] to increase your DPS in the mid game. Finally, round out your build with Black Shield [E]—most of the time, the spell is perfectly capable of fulfilling its purpose at rank 1, but don’t hesitate to put points into it earlier if you’re facing a heavy AP team comp. As always, level up Soul Shackles [R] whenever you can.
Morgana Runes and Summoner Spells
Runes
You want to go with Sorcery and Inspiration runes on Morgana. On paper, it might seem like Arcane Comet is the way to go. However, its damage only goes through 100% when you land Dark Binding [Q], and Summon Aery is a much more consistent option. Follow up with Manaflow Band to increase your mana regen in lane and Celerity to give you more movement speed for roams and Soul Shackles [R]. Last but not least, grab Scorch to ramp up your poke damage.
Next is the Inspiration tree. Cosmic Insight is always good for the additional CDR, and your second rune slot can be occupied by either Magical Footwear (more movement speed) or Perfect Timing (free Stopwatch).
Summoner Spells
For the first Morgana summoner spell, you always want to take Flash. The gap closer is necessary for surprising your enemies with a quick Dark Binding [Q] or Soul Shackles [R], and it will be your only escape when things go south. The second summoner is a tossup between Ignite and Exhaust. Take the former if you’re confident in your ability to connect Qs and push your edge in the laning phase, and grab the latter if you want to offer more protection to your AD carry.
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Morgana Build
Standard Build
1.) Eye of the Watchers > Ionian Boots of Lucidity > Ardent Censer > Locket of the Iron Solari > Zhonya’s Hourglass > Redemption
Morgana’s core build is a mix of mage and support items. Spellthief’s Edge is the best starting choice for her, and Eye of the Watchers is the logical upgrade for it. Meanwhile, Ionian Boots of Lucidity bring some much-needed CDR to the table and reduce the cooldown on your Flash. Ardent Censer has a great mix of AP, CDR, and movement speed, not to mention that Black Shield [E] synergizes with its unique passive.
Locked of the Iron Solari is amazing for providing your team with more protection, but if you’re getting fed, don’t hesitate to get Zhonya’s Hourglass instead. Zhonya’s active will be key for pulling off ultimates and avoiding enemy burst in the late game. Round out your build with Redemption for that massive AoE heal.
Despite the fact that we’ve mentioned 6 items in our build, it’s much better to leave one slot open for Control Wards. Securing vision in key areas will open up multiple playmaking opportunities, which is more valuable than any sixth item could ever be. Only finish your build if there are no objectives coming up and you need more raw teamfighting power.
Situational Items
Supports always need to consider different situational items, and Morgana is no exception. For starters, look at your boots options. Even though Ionian Boots of Lucidity provide a ton of cheap CDR, Sorcerer’s Shoes offer more upfront damage, and Boots of Mobility are incredible for roaming and making cross-map plays.
In a similar fashion, Frost Queen’s Claim is a very powerful Spellthief’s Edge upgrade that lets you catch out people with a long-range slow. The only downside is that it’s more expensive than Eye of the Watchers, but if you manage to save up enough gold, you’ll also be able to get Ruby Sightstone to decrease the cooldown on your active items.
Athene’s Unholy Grail offers a ton of useful stats while enhancing your Black Shield [E], although you should get Mikael’s Crucible in its stead against a team comp with a ton of heavy CC. Finally, Morgana is a mage support, so items like Liandry’s Torment, Mejai’s Soulstealer, Rylai’s Crystal Scepter, and Rabadon’s Deathcap all have their uses. Don’t build them in every situation, but if you’ve managed to secure a lead, these purchases will definitely help you snowball it.
Morgana Playstyle
When to pick Morgana?
As we’ve mentioned in the beginning of this guide, Morgana is a counter pick, and her viability depends on enemy champions. Of course, you could make her work almost every time if you’re an outstanding Morgana player, but it’s still best to pick the Fallen Angel into teams with a lot of CC and AP damage. Also, keep in mind that she synergizes well with long-ranged AD carries and lane bullies that can get the initiative in the laning phase.
Morgana Matchups and Counters
Most of Morgana’s strength comes down to countering other supports. All LoL Champions that rely on landing crowd control (Bard, Rakan, Thresh, Braum, Blizcrank, Leona, Alistar) will struggle to find a good initiation onto the Fallen Angel or her teammates. Meanwhile, traditional supports like Soraka, Nami, Sona, Janna, and Lulu can exploit Morgana’s lack of sustainability to bully her out of the laning phase. In a similar fashion, mage supports like Vel’Koz or Zyra simply have too much AP damage for Morgana to Black Shield [E].
Laning Phase and Early Game
From the very first level, you should put a point into Dark Binding [Q] and position aggressively to threaten the enemy AD carry. If you manage to land your CC, go in for an auto attack to proc Spellhief’s Edge. Otherwise, hit minions to make sure you get to the level 2 powerspike.
If you have lane priority (i.e. you’re pushing), it’s relatively safe to take Tormented Soil [W] and look for Q > W combos. But if the enemy duo is pressuring you, unlocking Black Shield [E] to counter initiating supports is a far safer option. Either way, your windows of aggression revolve entirely around connecting Qs and following up together with your marksman.
Tormented Soil [W] doesn’t proc numerous Spellthief’s Edge stacks, which means you have to constantly weave in auto attacks between your abilities. Also, don’t be afraid to walk up. If you’re playing Morgana into an initiating support, you can always protect yourself with Black Shield [E], so go in for poke as much as possible. Still, keep an eye out for the enemy jungler. After all, if you’re being aggressive, he’s bound to show up for a gank.
Another way of pressuring your opponents is roaming. Dark Binding and Soul Shackles make Morgana a very powerful roamer, and you should use this to make your presence known in the mid lane. Loop around the jungle and catch out the enemy laner with Q or R. Chances are he won’t expect this, and you’ll secure a kill or a summoner advantage for your teammate.
Mid Game
In the mid game, Morgana is all about making picks. You want to have an iron grip on vision control in brushes and enemy jungle because this will make it much easier to catch your foes with Dark Bindings [Q]. Alternatively, you can wait for them to approach you and flash in with Soul Shackles [R]. Of course, the latter approach requires you to have Zhonya’s Hourglass, or—at the very least—Stopwatch to survive long enough for the second part of your ultimate to go through.
But you won’t always be on the offensive. In fact, Morgana’s main strength is protecting her allies from heavy crowd control. Most of the time, you want to do this by casting Black Shield [E] right before the enemy skill shot hits, but you can also use your E preemptively when you see a teammate playing aggressively. Keep in mind that even though Black Shield lasts for 5 seconds, it can disappear much faster if your all takes a lot of magic damage.
If you’re not the one starting a teamfight, stay next to your AD carry. Your job is to peel for him with Dark Bindings and Soul Shackles while negating crowd control with well-timed Black Shields. Still, if an enemy carry oversteps his limits, it’s usually a good idea to flash in and CC him to death.
Late Game
The late game is more of the same for Morgana, but you have to be much more precise with your item usage. Not activating Zhonya’s Hourglass after flashing in for Soul Shackles [R] will lead to certain death, and it’s absolutely paramount to cast Locket of the Iron Solari and make use of Ardent Censer.
Baron Nashor presents countless opportunities for Morgana players. If your team has the initiative, you should secure vision control and set up an ambush in the pit or in one of the brushes. Meanwhile, if the enemy team makes the mistake of trying to rush the objective while you’re nearby, go for the Flash > ult combo to punish them for the misstep.
Conclusion
Morgana is a decent support that becomes borderline broken in niche scenarios. If you manage to use her as a counter pick, you’ll find it easier than ever to overwhelm the enemy duo and take over the game. And ultimately, that’s exactly what you need to do to climb the Solo Queue ladder.