Morgana – Guide to the highly aggressive


Ok, so as of late I have looked through the Morgana guides and am fairly disappointed. Even the Melting Faces one, though it has some good advice and tips, still is not nearly as aggressive as I tend to play. Morgana is an interesting champion because she can fill several roles: burst mage, disabler, mage-tank, and the supporter. The favored way that I play, and will be discussed in this guide, is the burst mage/disabler.


Table of Contents:

1. Lore
2. Champion Abilities
3. Recommended Summoner Spells
4. Recommended Masteries/Runes
5. Ability Leveling/Item Progression
6. In-game strategy
7. Tactics
8. Closing Comments

1. Lore


“There is a world far away where an ancient conflict still rages. Like so many wars, this war split families. One side called themselves angels, claiming to be beings of perfect order and justice. Those that fought against them believed the angels to be tyrants, creatures incapable of seeing the larger view. Morgana was one who fought against what she perceived as the tyranny of the angels, and for that she was branded ''fallen''. Morgana was not innocent, having taken to the practice of the black arts in an effort to fight against the general of her enemy's army - her sister, Kayle, who had long ago disavowed any filial connection. Then, as the two were locked in what might be their final conflict, they were suddenly summoned to Valoran. Morgana now fights in the League of Legends, but only with the goal of destroying her sister before returning home.”


2. Champion Abilities:

Though this sounds like a really good ability, it really isn't. I am NOT by any means saying its bad but its just not great like her other spells. If you manage to pop down a tormented soil on 3 champs and snare one while your ulti is going and your teammates are raping face, then you will see a noticeable change but otherwise do not depend on this for healing.


This is an AMAZING spell and my second favorite on Morgana. At level one you have a 2.5 second snare, combine that with an exhaust on a dps champion you lane with and you have one of the easiest first bloods out there. Also notice the AP ratio. 1.2 is insane and stacks ridiculously well. Late game this and tormented soil will take out ½ to 2/3 of non-tank enemies. I would like someone to explain why its range is global though... It clearly has a limit.

BTW: it IS a skill shot and WILL hit the first enemy it touches. Also, its range is about a mouse-width outside the shown bubble.



Do NOT underestimate this skill. It has a really low AP ratio and on the surface it appears weak but please read the description fully. I don't know how many Morgana players I have seen that complain and say it is too weak and skip it and max shield first. They then proceed to feed the entire game and MAYBE get a kill or two. With that said, most enemies will not stand on this for the entire 5 seconds but with your snare, they're staying on it for at least half and possibly another tick as they run off. Starting at level 3 tormented soil, you can farm the mage minions in the back of each spawn. A level 3 with minimal AP will get them to 1 shotting health or dead. Late game you can actually kill entire creep waves (except the catapult thing) with one.


This is one hell of a spell and arguably her best. It has no offensive capabilities but it can save your ass on many occasions and also a teammate that is getting slowed, you can put it on him to keep the next one off, trying to keep him alive. This is great also if you want to put it on your squishy caster to keep other casters from nuking the hell of of him. One misconception that I have seen rages about on more than one occasion is “OMG WTF! I PUT SHIELD ON AND YOUR SPELLS STILL HURT! HAXORZ!” Well the problem with this spell is it does not cleanse things already on you, it simply keeps more from stacking and killing you. A well timed shield can prevent a stun and possibly grab you a kill in the process.
Fun Note: If you are going against teemo, you can put on the shield and run through his shrooms (typical shroom infested areas) and you will take no damage and destroy them.
Also a great thing about this shield is that even if the damage of the spell surpasses what the shield can take, the first effect is negated. Example being annie's single shot spell (cant remember the name). It would fly over to you and even though your level 1 shield cant take the damage, since it is from one source, the stun is negated.


Good god what a fun spell. This spell can rape face (though on more than one occasion it may be yours if you decide to be bad). Do NOT do NOT do NOT run in the middle of three heroes, pop this and your shield and expect to live and triple kill. Any half decent player would wreck you right there and if it was during a teamfight either focus you or spread so your second tick doesn't team stun. The main use for this spell, in my opinion, is single target kills or team kills. Why is that? Because if you pop this on one person with a snare going and a soil, they are usually pretty f***ed especially with movement slow. It is not often I will pop this in a team fight and live (though ganks are the exception which barely count as team fights, because you will catch them by surprise, they are often way too far in your territory, and you have a few buddies to back you up.) Do not be afraid to use this on an escaping champion when your other abilities are on cd, you will get it back

-Use this ALWAYS if it means killing an escaping champion with a sliver of hp or one that you just need to kill. Don't take chances and basic attack because its slow, ur range is horrible, and doesn't do much.

3. Summoner Spells:
If you are solo queuing and want to push mid by yourself, get teleport and smite. Why smite? Because at level one you can kill a melee minion as long as it has a little damage on it, and you creeps will stack quite nicely. Later on, your tormented soil will take down the mages and smite will kill the siege machine, leaving 3 melee versus your full force.


If you are in a premade (even a partial one) or have people you trust and want to be a primary dpser, go Clarity and Teleport/flash. Clarity will keep you in lane and staying aggressive for the first twenty minutes. It, much like smite, gets very little use late game but it is still a great spell and will benefit you beyond other spells.


If you are in a premade and wish to be more of a supporter but still wail on your opponents, teleport and clairvoyance works nicely. Clairvoyance is great because it can allow you to aim your skill shot better and keep your team from getting ganked. If you are not good at keeping track of players on the map don't ever get this spell. You can still be quite the supporter without it but if you don't use it correctly, why even have it?


Why is teleport in all of em? Because you are so f***ing slow. With boots you have a 370 movespeed which is laughable. Teleport is needed to push a lane or help a teammate.


4. Masteries and Runes:


My usual mastery build is a 9/0/21. There is very little variation that can be done here because she is not a tank (and the defense tree pretty much blows atm) and the offensive tree does little to augment her ability past the first nine.


Runes:
Updated:
Ok so I did some more research and some more playing with the runes and I have fallen in love with a new and better build for the aggressive morgana.
Marks - Greater Marks of Insight
These will give you a flat +8.22 Magic Penetration
Seals - Greater Seals of Vitality
These will give you +174 HP at level 18. Seals give very little for burst mages so this is the best in my opinion.
Glyphs - Greater Glyphs of Celerity
These with give you -8.1% Cooldowns at level 18. Same with the seals, besides this there is very little in glyphs worth mentioning. The AP is nice but only when it is stacked with AP in all other parts.
Quinessence - Greater Quentessences of Insight
These will give you a flat +5.67 Magic Penetration.

All Together the magic penetration combined with the abyssal scepter (shown later) will let you hit enemies at negative magic resistance unless they get any magic resist items. Even with MR items this is superior by far for damage.


5. Ability Leveling:

1. Dark Binding
2. Tormented Soil
3. Black Shield
4. Dark Binding
5. Tormented Soil
6. Soul Shackles

7-18 keep switch off Dark Binding and Tormented soil (taking shackles at 11 and 16) then getting black shield last.


My reasoning for maxing black shield last is simple: the ap early game is not worth the points and the many many fewer kills you will get. A decent Morgana can time the shield so it is on right when a spell hits you, leaving you unscathed. This IS an aggressive build guide so it is only logical that I level her offensive spells over her defensive one.
Note: if your team is doing really well and you feel you would be better off without shield, by all means go for it however a fun stun can ruin that kill streak.


Item Progression:
If you are confident in your abilities as a Morgana player and do not thing you will take much damage nor be spamming for kills, start with an amplifying tome and a health pot. The additional ap will boost your spells and get you on your way for a soulstealer. If you are going mid against a harasser (tf, ashe, sivir) I would suggest you instead take doran's ring for the extra mp5, ap, and a small health boost.


1. Tome/Ring + health pot
2. Norm boots
3. Recipe: Sorcerer's Shoes
4. Recipe: Mejai's Soulstealer
5. Sapphire/Ruby
6. Recipe: Catalyst the Protector
7. Blasting Wand
8. Recipe: Rod of Ages
9. Negatron Cloak
10. Blasting Wand
11. Abyssal Scepter
12. Blasting Wand x2
13. Sage's Ring
14. Zhonya's Ring
15. Something Else you think you may need (another RoA, Archangel's, Guardian Angel, etc)

Please note, this is a build meant for a decent game. If you are not doing well and taking way too much damage, skip the soulstealer because you will not be getting enough kills to make it worth it. Instead go straight for RoA and then start building AP without it. It is a MUCH slower build but it will keep you alive and you are still very effective. I expect to see flames on here about the lack of survivability until Catalyst but I have reasoning for it. I am an aggressive player and a good Morgana Typically I am up 2-4 kills by the 15 minute mark and have the enemy running in terror. Though I am aggressive, I am also smart. Do NOT tower dive (until at least your first RoA :P) and don't be greedy because dying will set you back on the needed exp and cash for this build to be effective. Being smart is important because if you start dying 3 things will happen: your opponents get stronger, you get weaker, and your teammates will get frustrated. You are not a tank though later on you can take a beating pretty well.

Quick Note - When people, good players at least, figure out they are against a good morgana, they get a Banshee's Veil, planning on shutting down our rampage. The problem is the BV procs on all single shot spells. To counter this, you can easily grab yourself a Deathfire Grasp item, technically a high end item but still one of the cheapest. This will serve two purposes - for those with a shield, knock it down and proceed with your normal combo. For those without a shield, it will take down 30-40% of their hp in one shot. Great huh?

Final Results:
18 With Bonuses
Health
Hit Points 2775.96 (+824.96)
Health Regen (per 1) 3.1 (+0)
Health Regen (per 5) 15.5 (+0)
Physical Damage Health 5091.11 (+1512.98)
Magical Damage Health 5191.05 (+2654.75)
Effective Health 5141.08 (+2083.86)
Mana
Mana 3545 (+2225)
Mana Regen (per 1) 7.48 (+5)
Mana Regen (per 5) 37.4 (+25)
Damage
Attack Speed 0.698 (+0)
Damage 100 (+0)
Ability Power 714.65 (+714.65)
Armor Penetration 0 (+0)
Armor Penetration 0% (+0)
Magic Penetration 34.22 (+34.22)
Magic Penetration 0% (+0)
Critical Chance 7.3% (+0)
Critical Damage 200% (+0)
Resistances
Armor 83.4 (+0)
Magic Resist 87 (+57)
Dodge 0% (+0)
Bonuses
Lifesteal 0% (+0)
Mana Burn 0.00 (+0)
Cooldown Reduction 23.1% (+23.1)
General
Range 350 (+0)
Movement Speed 370 (+70)

6. In-Game Strategy:
You will typically get more kills if you lane with someone else but your mid can be just as deadly if played right.
Playing Mid:
1-5 stay conservative and passive, though if you get the chance throw down your snare + soil and take down a good chunk of your opponents health. Early kills are great if you can manage them but don't sacrifice half your health for a meager hit on your opponent.
6 if you played correctly, your mid opponent should be sitting at 400-500 health. This is the point where you make a careful skillshot, soil, and pop your ulti all within a 1.5 second interval. That will almost always kill them and give you time to bp and grab some items.
7-11 this is when it starts getting interesting. You can start pushing lanes but I would suggest maximizing your soulstealer here because you are strongest mid-game, and getting a good amount of stacks will almost guarentee a good late game.
12-18 be careful but still kick some ass. Your burst is quite often the majority of a gank and you will get some serious gold simply off of demolishing entire creep waves so don't complain that someone took your kill. If played right, your stacks on soulstealer should be 14+ and you AP reaching the 400 mark. If the game drags on and on, your AP will reach a cap (on my build) of 714 but I have only ever fully completed my build once so don't expect to get above 400 too often.

Playing Lanes:
1-5 be a bit more aggressive than when playing mid because you have backup. Your snare + soil wrecks most early heroes and can grab you a few early kills barely breaking a sweat.
6 have fun. With a good partner, now is when you will get kills every few minutes and own wannabe gankers.
7-18 mostly follow the mid guide except gank more often than pushing because you will probably be farmed more if you are laning with someone.

-Be careful the first 20 minutes or so of the game, as you will be quite squishy, however do not underestimate yourself. At level 4 (2 snare, 1 soil) you can generally take out half of a champions hp.
-My favorite lane partner is the almighty Blitzcrank. There is nothing better than a grab + fist + snare + soil + dead. If blitz gets exhaust at the beginning (or any decent dps lane partner really) you can usually grab a first blood.

7. Tactics:

Intimidation Tactics: this is going to be your primary way of lane control early game. The intimidation factor can quickly go away if you do not play a smart game and let them get a few kills off of you. The great thing about this is that they will actually lose experience. On either top or bottom lane, what you want to do is let them see you run into the bushes and then move up. The idea here is that they know if they get close, they are snared and dead; if they do go away then our tactic worked. Most will go far away, losing the biggest exp gain (from the melee creeps up front.) I have used this countless times and it works to the point that a 2v1 lane will stay at even levels. This tactic starts becoming dangerous at around the 7-9 lvl mark because people can start to take a hit.

Baiting: Morgana is by far one of the best baiters in the game. This does NOT work with really experienced players but for most it's just fine. Anyway, you are a helpless little girl sitting out in lane, alone, helpless, and with no hope of surviving. Well, not exactly. With you sitting there, you cast a black shield on yourself as soon as they arrive and snare one of them thats closest. Your buddies then pop out and mop the floor with the 2-3 that tried to jump you. She is so great at baiting because spells won't work in disabling her, and she can snare whoever is closest for 2.5-3.5 seconds. If all else fails, she has her ulti which will slow them for 20% and then stun them.


8. Closing Comments:
I play Morgana more than any other hero and when I premake with the clan (which is most games) 4/5 games I will play her. She is by far my favorite champion and is one of the most underestimated champions in the game simply because very few people can play her correctly. I hope this guide has helped rape many faces and maybe give a tip or two to some Morgana veterans.

I play morgana as a support tank, whenever I actually do play morgana (used to be alot, but due to her good premade dependency not so much anymore). As the paranthesis say, I feel that she is a bit too dependant on good teammates that could capitalize off her many skills. That being said, her snare, shield, and slow/stun ult is great utility, as well as tormented soil causing everybody to psychologically scatter as soon as they see it (though as support tank, it doesnt really do much damage at all). This means I tend to get frozen heart, soul shroud, and warmogs/armor items, merc threads (so i can shield other people), etc.

I have tried dps builds with her that are similar to yours, except I get chalice and archangels before zhonya's. I have done well too, but I also play annie and viegar to an extent (mostly play karthus though). I think that in terms of dps, annie and viegar are generally better burst mages. They burst harder, can mass slow/stun more reliably (event horizon is really one of the best spells in the game), and, most importantly less reliant on a skillshot. While you say that skillshots are trademarks of skill (and yes I do agree and am quite good at landing them), I think they limit your targets to those that are on the outer ring of a teamfight. Rarely will you see a squishy in the front lines, and thats who you'd want to kill first, since as Morgana you are not going to have too much luck killing a competant tank.

For steady dps, I think karthus is better, as defile is amazing, and lay waste is excellent burst. I just think that Morgana is sub par at damage as there are other casters that do the job far better. I think she is far better suited to a support/tank role, but hey, if you make it work kudos to you.

I will heavily disagree with you on the fact that the runes are meaningless, you could get over 15% cdr from runes/masteries alone, which is huge. Since Morgana is extremely reliant on cooldowns, and especially skillshot for landing ganks, I would stress going cdr runes.

Another thing is dont be afraid to use ult to finish somebody low off, a kill is a kill

Finally, morgana has great synergy with kayle (even though they are mortal enemies/sisters). if you black shield and kayle ults a tryndamere or yi or some absurd carry, it usually means you win, as the carry is both unkillable and un ccable.

As far as the guide goes, good work

I do agree that a decent team is preferable but she can do ok in pubs. To be exceptional, the teammates do need to be trusted. As for your items, that is a support build, as you said, which has very little meaning in this guide which is meant to be aggressive.

The difference is that veigar has one stun which is also more or less a skill shot. Event horizon IS by far one of the best spells in game, that much is agreed, however for snaring/disabling ability, morgana wins no contest. Annie CAN aoe stun but both of those require aiming and 5 spells already cast and for you to wait out the 6th spell for that perfect moment (whereas both veigar and morgana do not), the single shot is good dmg but its just that, a single shot. As for veigar he is an amazing burster but he has one stun (already commented on it) and for an intelligent player is not really difficult to shut down. His only defensive ability is event horizon (which you can get out of by flashing or staying in the middle of it).

You also dont need to aim for the squishies for the kill. Its a team game and though i love kills, she does not require them past mid game. In a team fight, landing a snare + soil on an incoming yi (or some other huge dpser) while letting yours wail on someone else can easily turn the tide of battle. Plus her ult DOES hit all enemy heroes nearby. Though i do not recommend it on most situations, sometimes popping it mid fight can help your team win.
As for tanks, I do not expect to 3 shot them (unless they are total phail tanks) but I could easily bring one to a third or less while taking no damage myself (if you shield while theyre snared, they cant shoot spells at you either so only ranged heroes hurt) This would allow for either myself to get away (if they are damage tanks) or to give time for another player to arrive and cut them to pieces.

Shes not meant for steady dps, in fact she is useless when on cd. As for better at damage, for straight damage there are better but no one can match her disabling + dmg bursting. The only other mage that can burst that hard without getting touched is veigar but he also only has one defensive ability, as said before.

The 15% CDR is great and all but shes a burster so CDR is not the best for her. If you miss the shot for the gank, unless there is anotther stunner the gank doesnt usually happen anyway so a 13 second snare cd as opposed to a 15 makes very little difference. It is also all situational whereas the hp will always help you. If you really want the CDR go grab a golem buff or a diff item with it. CDR is dirt cheap in game and can also provide with with more AP whereas health is usually expensive and most items with it give you little benefit besides it (RoA and Doran's ring are the only good ones that come to mind for morgana)
Going CDR is more of a support build instead of bursting because you would be using her skills as ultility as opposed to damaging disablers.

Hellz yea brother! Thought I mentioned it but i guess I simply skipped over it by accident. Her ult is amazing for a simple last hit before they reach towers or teammates

/agree

Ty I appreciate it. Don't take my comments as angry arguments just in case it comes out that way only wanting to make my points in case someone else, or you, wants to argue further (dunno I learn new ideas and info from the most random of sources)

If Morgana is weak when she is on cooldown, then 40% cooldown reduction would logically make her more substantively more powerful.

...you only read half of my comments didnt you...
She is a burst dpser not a steady mage like karthus is. You want to do damage, fast and hard and if you stack for CD thats just not going to happen. You can always take down golem if you want some CDR but it is way better if you stack AP. Runewise its a diff arguement and IMO cdr runes is meant for the support morgana but that's just me.

I used to play AP Morgana - it's fun, and you can put out tons of damage relatively quickly, but I've since realized that AP Morgana loses a significant amount of effectiveness compared to support/tank Morgana the higher up you go in terms of ELO match-ups. The specific reasons are actually alluded to in your guide, if not intentionally.

As far as I'm concerned, Morgana exists to do a few things -

1. Drop clutch Black Shields to save teammates as often as possible.
2. Disable melee carries in team fights via Dark Binding.
3. Stun as many enemy champions as possible in the middle of a team fight with her ult (the damage is just icing).

AP doesn't really help you do any of these things. Built for survivability and CDR, you'll be able to throw shields all over the place and you will be able to get your ultimate off in the middle of 3+ enemy champions without dying, which will make it way easier for the dedicated DPS on your team to clean up.

I usually build Morgana as such -

Doran's Ring
Catalyst x2
Boots of Swiftness (usually, sometimes Merc's or Tabi)
Catalyst x2 -> Rod of Ages x2
Glacial Shroud (upgrade to Frozen Heart if necessary)
Guardian Angel
Void Staff (sell Doran's Ring)

For spells, I take Clarity/Flash almost exclusively. Runes are a combination of flat HP (quints), HP/level (yellows), and CDR (blues and reds).

Again though, AP Morgana is pretty fun and can definitely work - I just don't think it's the most effective way to build her. I'll also say that when I'm playing *against* Morgana, one built for tanking scares me a lot more than one built for AP, because you won't be able to kill her and she's just gonna harass the hell out of your team while saving everyone on her team.

I have played the support Morgana and agree that she is one scary champion. I am also in low-mid Elo (i assume anyway) so I can't give my opinion in high elo matches. When I start reaching that point I may have to change to a more defensive morgana but for now ill stick with ap. I am normally pretty good on survivability (2.8k or so hp usually by end game) but I will have to consider a change once I reach high elo.

Theres still a few things I am going to add to the guide, but atm I just dont have the time. I appreciate the critiquing all and its really making me think

Keep em comin

Hey all
I played Morgana quite a bit and really enjoy her. I usually went with an AP build similar to the OP's, except my runes are all CD (when I bought my runes I was playing a cleaver-spam Mundo)
I really enjoy being able to toss off stuns and shields like mad, popping my ulti if people with low HP try and run down fleeing teammates (it's so awesome for that. You can lock down a low HP carry like Yi and save your TM AND if you're lucky, get a kill or an assist)
I play a fairly defensive team game when everyone groups up but when laning with my partner I'm aggressive. She's good at even just intimidating people after you've gotten 1-2 early game ganks. They'll spend a lot of time trying to avoid you and not pushing back.

I do find she's pretty reliant on good teammates if you want steady kills and assists but even just doing PuGs I'll take her 1/4 games if I think she'll be better than my Mundo or Singed. She's an incredibly fun champ to play as and I really like this build. When I have the points I'm going to slot HP runes and see how it helps.

GLHF people!

well at least someone out there plays a consistent morgana lol
I see less and less morgana players out there which is sad because she is one of the most underrated champs imo (or simply least played because no one likes her). But yea early game is best for intimidation tactics. ill add a section on there eventually now that i think about it.

By far my favorite build for Morgana is as a tank. Nothing is better than carrying a team and practically unable to die. Also it counters anyone who goes massive ap or dps . I usually have anywhere between 3-10 kills, 0-4 deaths, and 10+ assists.