Orianna in League of Legends: What does she do, exactly?

For many of the past seasons, Orianna in league of legends has been one of the strongest picks, particularly in the mid lane. This presses some pretty crucial questions, such as why is she considered so good? What makes her such a great pick for the mid lane and what makes her so playable in so many different metas? Perhaps most important of all, how and when should you use her, if ever?

What roles does she play?

Orianna in league of legends is by far most used in the mid lane. The reason comes down to two words: tactical advantage. First of all, Ori has a glaring lack of mobility. In other words, she doesn’t have the kind of mad dash you’d get from Fiora or Yasuo or any jump, nor does she have any CC before level 6. This makes her a pretty easy target for ganks since there’s virtually not top lane. In other words, if Ori was to push that lane, she’d be a pretty easy target. Compare this with the mid lane which is a much shorter distance to her tower, where, should anyone try to raid her, she has a much easier chance of escape.

Aside from that, she’s also pretty powerful after level 6. Since the mid lane is where she’s best suited to play, and it’s also the best place to gank without having a teleport. This means she can easily move to whichever lane she wants in order to gank.

She’s also been put through a fair bit of experimentation, and at one point, she was proposed to be a support champion. Through experience, though, it’s unlikely she’ll ever pass the obstacle of her unreliable ult: it can be easily dodged. Additionally, once her ult is down, there isn’t much utility she can offer.

Meta

During competitive play, Ori is often picked as the fallback champion for many mid-laners. While she may not exactly be the most powerful of champions in every meta, she provides a decent amount of versatility. This is an excellent choice of champion should other mid-laners be banned out.

It’s not always that she’s the best pick in every possible meta, though. For instance, in the assassin meta, she would be a heinous pick thanks to her lack of mobility. This means she’d be far easier to pick on than other mid-laners.

On the other hand, Ori is a very probable and indeed very decent pick in a teamfighting meta, especially if the game is going to last for a relatively long amount of time. Her ability to get herself of tight spots like ADCs and her  high-impact ult.

How is Orianna used?

It’s been said before that Orianna in league of legends is pretty versatile in the mid-lane. So, what’s meant by that, exactly?  The way she’s built allows her to be used in lots of varying team comps. For instance, in a pick comp, she’s a strong pick since she can put her ball on other champions, eg. Rengar. Thanks to her Ult, she can place the ball on him and when he jumps onto the enemy, she can use her ult and burst out together with Rengar. There are various other champions together with whom this same technique can be used, including Leona, Twitch and Elise.

Another team comp where Ori can be a strong pick is in a protect the ADC comp. The idea in this case is to have your ADC play a hyper carry then keep them alive with champions like Ori. When it comes to comps such as these, Orianna in league of legends is excellent thanks to her shield, and due to her ability to use her ult to slow down and peel for an ADC.

An interesting comp in which Orianna can be featured is a team fight comp. In such a comp, she can be very efficient because of her ult, which, as was mentioned before, is very high-impact. In team fights, there are three different ways in which her ult is regularly used.

• The first way to use her ult would be to start a fight. Since the team comp is built on the pinnacle of team fighting, there should always be a champion on whom she can put her ball. Great choices for this would be someone like Shyvana or Renekton who can easily utilise their gap closers to get in the enemies’ midst to set up an ult for Ori. Alternatively, a champion like Lee who has a sonic wave can get to the enemy team with a ball on him, then Orianna can use her ult to let the rest of the team through.
• Next, Ori’s ult can also be used is in a team fight is when you want to zone. One of the most fantastic features about Ori’s ult is that it can be used as a very efficient zoning tool, because when combined with her Q and W, she produces a ton of burst. However, this will also lock her up for some time, which you should be on the lookout for if you’re playing as an ADC.
• Finally, the last way Ori’s ult can be put to good use during a team fight is when you want to retreat from a losing battle. It happens quite often that you’re losing a fight and need to duck for cover and run. It would be a pretty horrible choice to just turn on your heal and run because it would put you in a very compromising position. Instead, try and land a few blows as you try to disengage. Deal some damage, at least, then slow them down enough that they back off, perhaps stun them for a second or so then run.

The final comp where Ori would be an excellent pick would be a siege comp. To reiterate, her shield is a very effective tool if you know how to use it right. In this case, she can use her ult to

The main reason Orianna can be effective in this team comp is because of her shield and the fact that she can use ult to withdraw from a tricky situation if someone jumps on her while you’re sieging. A perfect example would be throwing a Thresh lantern before a tower then put her shield on an ADC in order to tank some tower shots. This is a really helpful technique if the enemy has efficient wave clearing abilities since the ADC can simply get free damage from the tower,

And finally, a simple note on why Ori is so widely used. One thing that most mid-laners find favorable in her but isn’t very often mentioned is the fact that she’s able to farm much more safely than other players in mid lane. If you didn’t guess it, it’s because her shield allows her to do as she wishes without anyone poking her out as often as is the case with lots of other champions. Players who just want a safe laning phase are in great hands picking Ori to do their battles for them.