The Forgemaster Deity has come down from his mountains to finally make his presence known to all of Runeterra. Ornn is one of the strongest tanks in the game with a great balance of damage, tankiness, and crowd control that makes him a formidable teamfight champion. Time for a Top Lane Ornn guide to help aspiring players learn more about how to take advantage of Ornn’s ridiculously strong capabilities whether it’s in the early game or through late game scaling.
The Fire Below the Mountain
Living in solitude in his workshop inside the mountain flowing with molten lava, Ornn works to create unrivaled items that no other being can even come close to replicate. He is the forge god. The deity is disinterested in meddling in the affairs of the outside world, that is until other deities attempt to walk Runeterra to fulfill selfish ambitions. He is in-charge of putting these overzealous gods and goddesses in their place by striking them down with the fury of the mountains… or his hammer if it’s enough.
Ever since Ornn’s release, he has instantly become one of the most favorite top lane tanks that players like to choose. He perfectly encompasses everything that a player wants in a champion despite being forced to play a tank. In this Ornn guide, we’ll be talking about how to utilize his kit so that you can enjoy playing top lane tanks as a utility engage or as the primary carry. This champion is perfect whether you’re playing with a pre-made team or are playing solo queue alone.
Ornn General Gameplay
Ornn is an engage tank that likes to start fights by being the first champion in a fight. He has several utility skills that can immobilize multiple enemies whether it’s in short or long range. Ornn also does a significant amount of damage for a tank which makes him extremely difficult to fight even if it’s 1v1. The Ornn guide will explain more on how to become the biggest threat on the map simply by existing. Let’s take a look at this monster of a tank so that you can play him on your next game.
Ornn Guide – Skills and Abilities
First up on our Ornn guide, we’ll be taking a look at this champion’s abilities so that we have a general idea on how to use them during certain situations. Out of all the tanks, Ornn probably deals the highest amount of damage against champions even if they build pure tank items such as armor, HP, and magic resistance. The only thing that players need to keep in mind is what combos players need to remember when executing them so that you can efficiently deal a ton of damage and catch enemies off guard.
Passive: Living Forge
Innate – Ornn’s increases all bonus armor, magic resistance, and bonus HP from all sources by 10%, increasing by an additional 4% every time he upgrades a masterwork item.
Innate – Ornn can craft non-consumable items even outside the Shop Keeper. Ornn is presented a recommended item menu that he can build but can choose from the regular item menu as long as he has enough gold to craft them. Crafting an item takes 4 seconds which is interrupted if he takes damage from champions or turrets which disables the use of this ability for a few seconds.
Innate – Starting at Level 13, Ornn automatically upgrades a Mythic item he owns or purchases into a Masterwork Item At Level 14 and onwards, Ornn can upgrade a Mythic Item that an allied champion owns by selecting them within range.
Innate – Ornn’s basic attacks against Brittle enemies knock them back a short distance. Any immobilizing ability on a Brittle enemy consumes the debuff to deal bonus magic damage onto the enemy according to Ornn’s max health.
What can we say? That’s a lot of abilities. The most important thing to keep in mind is that players should know which of their teammates are most likely to carry the game so that they can upgrade their Masterwork Item first. During the landing phase, always craft items to slowly secure an advantage against the enemy without losing CS. Remember that Masterwork Items play a big part in late game scaling and will always give you the advantage when all items are locked.
Q: Volcanic Rupture
Active: Ornn smashes the ground with his hammer which creates a fissure towards a direction, dealing physical damage to all enemies hit, extending if it hits another enemy champion. Enemies hit by the fissure are slowed by 40% for 2 seconds. After a second, a magma pillar shoots out from the ground at the endpoint, knocking back all enemies and staying for 4 seconds. The Magma Pillar will extend its duration if Ornn is charging towards it.
Volcanic Rupture is a great ability to poke enemy champions and get some CS. Once you hit a champion with Volcanic Rupture, you can basically continue with a full combo to deal a huge amount of damage. Be careful when using this ability during teamfights because it can hinder the path that your allies can take. Remember that this is a damaging ability first and foremost so the instances where you use this as a utility skill to block enemies is pretty rate and not worth attempting.
W: Bellow’s Breath
Active: Ornn marches forward, breathing fire in a cone in front of him which deals magic damage to all enemies hit every 0.15 seconds. The last breath of flames will cause the enemy to become brittle. While Ornn is marching forward, he becomes immune to all displacement abilities and his movement speed is reduced by 35%.
Bellow’s Breath is Ornn’s main damaging ability that deals a crap ton of damage against both enemy minions and champions. This ability is usually used whenever the enemy champion tries to walk towards you or the wave (during the laning phase) so that they’ll be punished for trying to get resources. This is also a good way to prevent being caught by an enemy CC such as a hook or stun that might cause you to instantly get piled upon by the enemy team.
E: Searing Charge
Active: Ornn charges towards a target direction, dealing physical damage to all enemies he passes through, stopping a short distance, or when he collides with terrain. When Ornn collides with a terrain during the charge, all enemies within in a small area are knocked up and are stunned for 1.25 seconds. If Ornn charges towards a magma pillar, that pillar is destroyed.
Ornn’s greatest AoE CC ability that both knocks up and stuns the enemies in one go. It’s a good idea to combo this with Volcanic Rupture. The main combo goes Q > W > E to deal the maximum amount of damage. Searing Charge is also a good way to escape enemies but as much as possible use this to CC enemies into the air. Try to wait until you can hit multiple enemies at the same time so that your team will have more incentive to follow up your play and win the teamfight.
R: Call of the Forge God
Active: Ornn sounds his Ornn, calling forth a Lava Elemental that stampedes towards him from his casting direction and deals magic damage to all enemies trampled and slows them for 2 seconds. The slow scales depending on the distance traveled by the elemental. This ability can be recast.
Recast: Ornn charges a short distance in a direction while doing a headbutt. If Ornn hits the elemental with his headbutt, the Lava Elemental is sent back in the direction Ornn was facing. The Lava Elemental knocks up all enemy champions hit by the ability and stuns them for 1 second, reduced by 0.5 seconds after the 1st champion hit.
Both casts of Call of the Forge God apply Brittle to all enemy champions hit by this ability but will only affect enemies once.
Call of the Forge God is one of the strongest ultimates in the game. This ability is a great long-range engage that you can use to start a fight once you think your team is in range to respond to your play. When using this ability, try to find opportunities where you can hit as many champions as possible. Be careful when playing against champions like Braum, Yasuo, and Samira because their abilities can cancel your ultimate by blocking it using their wall abilities.
Ornn Guide – Items and Builds
Next up on our Ornn guide, we’ll be looking at this champion’s items. This champion likes to build full tank no matter what because he has extraordinary damage despite only having defensive. Armor vs Magic Defense depends entirely on the enemy’s team composition.
Starting Item
Doran’s Shield – Doran’s Shield is the best item to start with because it allows Ornn to stay longer in lane when being harassed by the enemy. Remember that Ornn can build items even if he’s in the lane so sustain plays a big part in his itemization.
Core Items
Sunfire Aegis/ Frostfire Gauntlet (Mythics) – Both items have essentially the same stats. Use Sunfire Aegis when the enemy has a lot of CC and you need some backline access to knockup multiple enemies at once. Frostfire Gauntlet is generally good because it boosts your overall tankiness and adds another layer of crowd control with the slow. Either item should be considered.
Thornmail – Unless the enemy team has a full AP composition, Thornmail is a good item to build as a part of your core items since it allows you gain not only a huge amount of armor but also the Grievous Wounds bonus plays a big role when everybody will most likely hit you.
Warmog’s Armor – Building Warmogs early for Ornn can be really devastating for the enemy since its already really hard to kill you even without the free healing.
Recommended Items
Abyssal Mask – A good Magic Resist item that also increases the amount of damage your Bellow’s Breath does against enemies alongside the allied mage. Get this item if an enemy AP user is getting a bit out of hand.
Gargoyle’s Stoneplate – A great source of burst defensive stats with the shield bonus armor/magic resist when tanking multiple enemies at once. Don’t build this too early since teamfights are pretty rare during this stage when playing non-professional games.
Anathema’s Chains – This item really sets the enemy ADC back really hard since their attacks against you become really weak while your attacks against them become devastating.
Frozen Heart – When the enemy uses a lot of auto-attackers, this item can really help you survive more by tanking more damage.
Ornn Guide – Runes
Primary: Resolve
Keystone: Grasp of the Undying – Great source of bonus damage since we’ve emphasized over and over again in this Ornn guide that this champion only likes to build tank stats. The extra sustain and bonus health stacking will carry you into the late game.
Demolish – A rune that allows Ornn to fulfill his duties as a split pusher. The extra gold that you gain from turret plating will definitely help in building towards your items in the lane and allow you to stay longer against enemy players.
Conditioning – Extra defensive stats allow you to tank more damage. This goes a long way as the game starts creeping towards the later stages of the game.
Overgrowth – Same idea as Conditioning. This will also boost the damage and healing that you deal from Grasp of the Undying. Try to hit the enemy as often as possible to start stacking.
Secondary: Inspiration
Magical Footwear – Free items are always something good especially if you’re a champion that can build items in lane. This saves a lot of gold that you can use to build important stuff.
Biscuit Delivery – Provides Ornn more consumables that restore his mana and health that will help him sustain more in the landing phase.
Ornn General Overview
Ornn is one of the strongest tanks in the game with both ridiculous tank stats and survivability combining it with his crowd control and damage. Using this champion takes a while to master since his combos are really reliant on proper timing and positioning that new players will have to get used to. Be patient when using this champion and you’ll be rewarded for your efforts by having a pocket pick that will last you a long time.
How to counter Ornn?
One of the best counters to Ornn is having a champion in your team that can block his abilities such as Yasuo, Braum, or Samira. When laning against this champion, stay away from walls or his Magma Pillar so that you won’t get full combo’ed to death.