Morgana/Strategy

Lanes and Roles

 * Morgana is considered to be strong in two roles; as an AP caster at mid lane, or as a disengage and poke-based support.
 * The latter role is, at the moment, the most common, for a variety of reasons; first, Morgana's utility does not rely on her building AP. Second, Morgana is a counter to various popular CC-based aggressive supports, such as and, due to her  and her harass wit .  is also an extremely good CC with long duration, and while somewhat difficult to land, it is very powerful against the enemy ADC and is detrimental if it hits, as it usually results in a kill if the enemy does not play carefully.
 * However, she is also viable at mid lane as a mage. There, Morgana takes advantage of her damage potential with Tormented Soil, Dark Binding, and, as well as her ability to have an extremely safe laning phase due to her spellvamp and the fact that Morgana is difficult to gank due to her Black Shield. Morgana is a good counter to some mid lane mages, although she must watch out for AD assassins, which are her best counters, even though she has far more teamfighting presence and utility than them.
 * When going mid lane, Morgana can afford to rush as her first item. This is good as when going support, she usually has to buy other items first, and can't rush an early Zhonya's Hourglass, which means that if Morgana uses her ult and is focused, she risks dying before she is able to stun her enemies.

Skill usage

 * Spell vamp from and magic damage from  allow  to stay in her lane for a long time.
 * Use to check for enemies in the brush. The projectile stops moving and makes a distinctive sound when it hits something. While this method does work, it is best to save  unless you have maxed cooldown reduction, as it is an essential ability for Morgana's combat and will leave you vulnerable if it is on cooldown.
 * With enough ability power, can deal a fair amount of damage as well as snare the opponent. The projectile moves fairly slowly, though, so always lead your target at any distance longer than close range.
 * is an exceptional zoning tool. If you're being chased, throw it at your enemies so you can get away. Even if you miss, it will cause enemy players to waste time moving around it.
 * damage output is centered around a simple combo, the snare from followed by .  can be used with this combo either after the combo to finish the enemy off or initially to slow the enemy and land  easier.
 * For maximum damage, you can use followed immediately by, then use , followed by  then  again, though this requires significant CDR .  can be used anywhere in that combo, ideally to prevent being stunned while using  so they don't get away.
 * used on an enemy champion and following up immediately with to snare them in place is an excellent harassing tool in the early game. Low health champions can even be killed outright since  deals more damage to lower health champions and will hit for its maximum damage for every tick rather than grow in damage when the target is at much higher health.
 * Note that deals a tick of damage immediately when placed on the ground. Use this knowledge to finish off an enemy fleeing with very low health.
 * When using to harass an enemy, place it somewhat behind them. This is because they will naturally run backwards and doing so will cause them to take at least 2-3 ticks of damage. Eventually they will catch on and run to the side or forwards, use this to your advantage when casting.
 * At rank 3, if leveled early potentially clears a wave of caster minions, and possibly melee minions depending on ability power and time into the game. As the game progresses, minions receive additional health and magic resistance, so either level up the ability, or build more AP and/or magic penetration.
 * Every tick of on every champion procs the Tribute passive from Spellthief's Edge, a quick way to maximize gold generation.
 * If an opposing champion must be killed in a team fight, use and  on that champion - if it doesn't kill them outright, it will at least deal a significant amount of damage and leave them stunned.
 * can be used to detect stealthed units and opponents in the bushes. The icon of will become available only if an enemy champion is near you. It can be used to see where they are the moment you use it, but you can't keep track of them if they are moving.
 * into a group of enemies, using and then using  is excellent to initiate team fights stun many enemies and come out with a fighting chance since they will likely be trying to scatter away.
 * Items that provide survivability make extremely difficult to kill in conjunction with  and.
 * is a vital ability to learn as it stops all forms of crowd control and also makes your target temporarily absorb magic damage. Shrewd use of can determine the outcome of team fights.
 * Try to cast it pre-emptively on your teammates when they initiate, or as soon as you see them targeted by any spell or ability.  If you can get the shield in before your teammate is hit, it just will absorb it.
 * Casting on champions with channeled spells (e.g.  and ) will help keep their abilities from being interrupted.
 * Remember that will only block Magic Damage, it will not block Physical Damage or related spells such as, , , or.
 * It will still block the crowd control effects from Physical Spells and on-hit items, however.
 * If you play  more offensively than supportive (at mid, for instance), it is best to go for higher levels of her other spells for farming unless you are against a heavily Crowd Control orientated team, as you will need damage to lane effectively.

Build usage
is a magic damage caster with strong AoE damage and disables and scales well from ability power.

Damage
 * helps out in boosting her sustained damage; it has decent synergy with . As the item does double damage when the enemy's movement is impaired, using  or  beforehand can dish out more damage.
 * is great on most every mage champion. However, Morgana is best if built a little tougher first and thus it is recommended to delay purchasing this item until at least one other item is finished, though it is not needed directly.
 * For enemies building high magic resist, building a can help negate their MR and provide more damage.
 * is one of the best items for ; in addition to giving armor and massive ability power, the active is absolutely invaluable as it can be used while is still casting and with proper positioning she can hit multiple enemies that would otherwise kill her while staying alive to finish them off after it’s over.

Defenses
 * If laning against a physical damage champion, buying a will help mitigate their damage. It can be later upgraded to.
 * The magic resistance from and the added ability power and magic reduction aura make this item a decent anti-magic damage item but just remember her two primary damage spells far out range the magic reduction aura it provides making it only useful at close range (team fights and melee attackers).
 * is a good choice against a burst heavy enemy team. It contributes more to survivability and gives more chances to get  off successfully.

Utility
 * allows for long-term mana sustain, reduced ability cooldowns, and magic resist.
 * is required to be in the center of a fight so that she can hit on everyone. Thus, items such as  or  are good items if you are unable to survive long enough to be effective in fights.

Health
 * is a very good item due to the good amount of health and mana it provides, albeit it takes some time to fully charge up so it is best when purchased as a first major item.
 * An early provides some good early sustain during the laning phase as well as the mana and health keep her in the lane for extremely long periods of time making this item perfect for early, mid and late game.
 * is decent to replace if another item is needed first, since it provides a good deal of health and ability power and does not take the time to build up strength like . Although the passive slow does not have the full effect for most of her abilities, when coupled with, casting  will deal severely increased damage.
 * While at full health, the slow from will cause  to deal increased % health damage and as their health drops it increases the damage on  to maximize them in synergy, boosting both damage and health significantly.

Countering

 * Be aware of survivability early game because of her passive spell vamp from.
 * Save your heavy CC until duration expires.
 * tends to quickly barrage her spells even if  fails to land; without it you will be able to avoid her other abilities and kill her.
 * Avoid standing above AoE. The spell damage is small but the tick is very fast, making it a dangerous spell.
 * At any moment of the game it can eat your MR in seconds, moving out of the area while confronting her is crucial.
 * However if you are a very fragile champion moving out can easily take you short time of health, bursting her down or outmatching her regeneration may be wiser.
 * high survivability makes her dangerous to DoT based mages such as, or  as she will be able to output the damage long enough to kill her opponent, but is weaker against potent disablers with high burst damage as  or  who can ignore her spell vamp.
 * Moving erratically will make you safer from.
 * Remember that  upon activating no CC will be able to stop the second hit, silences are worthless in such case, but all other forms of CC will cripple her ability to keep you in range, however she can eliminate this problem with her shield. In other words, it is better to use some form of dash or speed up to escape the tether.
 * When uses, quickly move away to break the spell tether and avoid the second damage and the stun.
 * This can be hard however as the spell comes with a slow, remember that killing her will also break the tether.
 * most dangerous form of attack is opening up with and immediately following up with  and —at most stages of the game, this combination can be devastating and in most cases it spells instant death for the one being focused. Taking great care to dodge her  will greatly reduce her danger to your team, as that very same spell is also her method of escape.
 * Due to anti-caster nature, consider using a physical damage champion, such as  or, against her.
 * However as any burst mage she can kill a fragile champion outright so sending a fighter is a more reliable choice, making AD fighters a reliable choice even in lane.

Morgana/Strategy