Tips and Tricks for Ornn, the Forge-God

I'm currently OBSESSING over this new champ and I really don't know why. Maybe because of his character, maybe because of his high skill-cap, maybe because i feel he's pretty weak atm and the challenge to do well is addicting. Either way, I want to get better and help others understand him in the same process. So if you have build paths, strats, combos, and other info that you've gathered that prove effective, throw it in the comments below!

I love this guy. When I first saw his abilities in the PBE, I was very disappointed. In my first couple games I really felt useless playing him. Currently I'm 9 games in and I'm mixed. He's definitely not weak or trash but he isn't great either. He IS fairly balanced, but "balanced" doesn't really compete with most champs in the current meta. Personally, I feel like Ornn's kit is quite lackluster and could use a buff. Most of his abilities require certain circumstances to be met or are just simply difficult to land. That being said, why I enjoy playing him is because it feels so REWARDING when I win 1v1 trades or turn the tide with one well-landed ultimate. I don't think he should get a buff any time soon, but I definitely think within a few months after people have gotten the hang of his kit.

Passive - Living Forge: This first part is Ornn's main strength. He wouldn't be much without it. The primary benefit is allowing him to sustain in lane. Know you're gonna have to use a lot of mana for the matchup? Buying not only increases your max amount but gives you additional mana for free. It balances out the high costs of your abilities. Know you're gonna get harassed heavily in lane? Slow your roll, build , maybe rush . You get additional health and increase the max available. The only reason you should back is if you can't keep up with the price of the gold to buy a new item, or desperately need more refillables for future trades in-lane. Passive - Master Craftsman: This is not something for you to abuse. I personally feel it's a weak passive and only a benefit for if you manage to make it to late-game. I have played 9 games with Ornn, I'm no 1-trick by any means, but I have rarely bought anything from it. By the time I'm almost full build, the enemy team has lost the majority of their towers or visa versa. The minor stat buffs are nothing in comparable to another item of equal value that includes a free unique passive. Most people that I've seen also agree that rushing a buffed item is bad news. I'd LIKE to see the upgraded items maybe actually giving an additional unique passive making the emphasis less on "late game buff" and more on "is it worth it for the situation".

Q - Volcanic Rupture: Many people say this ability is bad and needs to be quicker and I would agree with that. It's unreliable and almost useless 75% of the time I use it. The range is short, the width is thin, the pillar takes too long to erupt. (Pillar is on a 1.5 second delay, I'd like to see it come down to 1 or 1.2). If you land the skillshot, you slow your opponent for 2 seconds. The slow is fantastic and it sets you up for a beautiful combo. The ability is just a little difficult to land with it being so short and thin. In my opinion, either reduce the mana cost or cooldown, or decrease the delay of the pillar. It's decent for zoning however.

W - Bellows Breath: Ornn's best ability and his source of damage. The shield it offers is AMAZING. The benefit of survivability and reduction of crowd control is the difference between life & death. You also march forward belching fire in a cone, locked in a fixed position, for 2.5 seconds. My problem with it is that it locks you in a fixed position. The range itself is SO SMALL and you move so slow as is, why handicap the player even more by forcing you to face one direction the entire time? The enemy player's ability to walk out of the way or passed Ornn within those 2.5 seconds is so easy. If you don't land your slow or knockup, or predict the enemy players pathing, you're not going to land the last bout of flame that applies the brittle. If Ornn could still turn while using it, it would be a much more accessible ability. I don't see why it has to have such a trade-off.

E - Searing Charge: Short distance, slow speed. It's more punishing than it is beneficial. I find myself constantly having to flash-E to use it effectively. And its practically useless if you don't hit a wall. Don't get me wrong, the gap-close potential is great to help land those Qs and its ultimately an important ability on his kit but it feels lackluster. It would be cool if it were shaped more like a tiny sion ult (make it a really short running dash without the unstoppable perk obviously) and less of a sejuani Q. Maybe, idk.

R - Call of the Forge God: Quite awesome ability. Though I feel like either the summon time needs to get reduced or the ram needs to move faster. It's VERY easy to dodge the ability once you see the path and hear the horn blow. Maybe remove the path from the enemies screen, that would definitely make it more reliable and intense. I want to think "oh god here it comes" when I hear an enemy Ornn blow the horn somewhere nearby. Not "walk out of the path and i'll be okay". It's a skillshot that isn't very wide, why does it need warn the enemy team twice that it's coming? It's strange to think that it was once similar to Nami's ult and yet ended up this way. Add on the fact that Ornn can be disrupted and denied a second cast, it has so many weaknesses that don't balance out it's strengths.

Ability combinations: Basic combo: Q - W - E. If you don't land your Q, reset, because there's a VERY low chance you're going to land your W. Also great combo for clearing huge waves. Full combo: Q - R - R - W - E (or E - W depending on your need to close a gap). The slow from the Q makes your ult A LOT easier to hit. That's my biggest secret and MOST EFFECTIVE combo I have seen from any Ornn, and not many people do it. This is by far my most important tip as this is what wins lanes.

Masteries: I haven't looked too deeply into the runes and masteries yet, but from my experience 0/12/18 is the best bet. Courage is obvious keystone. The important take-away is putting points into Secret Stash for corruption potion and Meditation for the extra mana sustain in-lane.

Tips! -Max your W first. Never start Q, the level 1 poke is not worth it. Your W is crucial for wave-clear. You can harass safely with W too since it gives a shield. Just be careful, if you don't land it you will get punished. -When you AA a brittle'd target, courage of the colossus gets proc'd so you gain a shield. -Use your E just before the Q pillar erupts. If you time it well, you can get a surprise knock-up. -Use your Q to block off paths in the jungle. - is a great item for the movement speed buff. Since your Q and E are very short distances, you need to be as close as possible to your enemies to land them. -Take Ornn top and treat him as a VANGUARD. He is nothing more. He's specifically designed to sit top while the rest of the players do their thing. He is too slow and does too little of damage to have a serious presence as the jungler. And as a vanguard, he is meant to engage. That being said, he CANNOT disengage. His peel is not instant. So if you take him in the support lane, your adc needs to be someone who can make up for that. Champs like . -Use your ultimate to zone the enemy team. Since they see where they ram is coming from, they're going to run every other direction. Block a path or funnel them down one path. As an added benefit, in SoloQ, uncoordinated players blow their formation when they see it coming. Use that to your advantage by getting the adcs away from their peelers. -Build path: First item is corruption potion. Never turn it down. I almost always build two item paths simultaneously early game: and or depending on my match-up. I start with and . If i can out-trade my enemy, I'll then continue to rush iceborn gauntlet. If I can't and need more sustain, I'll focus on building abyssal for MR or Warmog's to stay in lane. Remember, the most important thing to do is to STAY IN LANE. If you keep getting harassed and need to back constantly, your opponent wins. Keep them in lane and don't let them roam by keeping constant pressure up top. Even if you can't win the match-up. is great against melee opponents but doesn't offer the mana that iceborn offers. I've heard steraks can be good against certain opponents but I really don't feel like building damage on Ornn is a great strategy (other than sheen). He doesn't scale well, his strength is tanking the enemy team. So don't hold back in building full-tank items.

Anyway, that's all I've gathered so far. Once again I'd like to state that I am a low-elo player and have only played Ornn 9 times. I'm not an expert, nothing I say is proven the best way to play Ornn. We're all learning him after all. If you have other suggestions/tips or think I'm wrong in certain areas leave a comment!