Reign of Gaming

Champion Notes: Elise, The Spider Queen!

 Today we cover the elegant and deadly Elise.  Elise is a hard champion to classify but saying she is a mage assassin is a good start.  Elise has been played in professional games in every role but AD and there might even be an argument for that somewhere.  Such role flexibility and general effectiveness has made Elise a common competitive pick for a long time.  With such unparalleled flexibility, she is a fantastic champion to know.

Stats, Abilities, Ratio's Numbers:

http://lol.gamepedia.com/Elise_-_The_Spider_Queen

Spider Swarm

• Generally an ignored passive but it basically allows Elise to function. 
• Individual spiders do not do much but in numbers it adds a significant amount of extra damage. 
• Spiders will jump to targets that Elise jumps too.  Be it through Venomous Bite or Rappel. 
• Spiders die in 1 hit from turrets. 
• Spiders can make it infuriating to land skill shots against Elise when she is in spider form. 

Neurotoxin

• Elise's primary harass tool in lane and overall damage ability. 
• Because it does percentage damage, Elise scales very well with magic penetration. 
• Does more damage the healthier the target is. 
• When you have Rylai's, you can lead with this to make landing a cocoon easier. 
• While it does have an ap ratio, it is very low.
• First skill maxed in most cases. 

Venomous Bite

• Elise's spider form Q acts as a gap closer.
• The ability does more damage, the more health the target is missing.  It makes a great execute and follow-up from a human form Q>W combo. 
• The cooldown on this ability is rather short and scales well with Cooldown reduction. 
• Because it does percentage damage, it scales with magic penetration.
• Costs no mana.

Volatile Spiderling

• The spiderling released moves slowly but tracks towards the nearest target. 
• When you use the spider form Q, it will also jump to your target. 
• It explodes in an AOE and is decent to use for wave clear. 
• Gives sight when it enters a bush.

Skittering Frenzy

• Basic attack speed buff with some restoration. 
• Increases the attack speed of her spiders as well as herself. 
• Basic attacks from spiders will heal Elise for a small amount of health. 
• When possible, let the spiders attack in lane for surprising sustain.  Especially when you consider it does not cost any mana.
• The highest attack speed buff in the game.  As a result, Elise can use on hit effects well. 

Cocoon

• Straight line skill shot nuke into a stun.
• Reveals target and can be used to check bushes. 
• Leveling E does nothing but reduce cooldowns. 

Rappel

• Elsie's escape skill, gap closer and invulnerability tool. 
• Elise can use Rappel to avoid many effects.  Skill shots are a simple example, but proper timing can pop projectiles like a turret shot, Twisted Fates Card or Caitlyn's ultimate. 
• You can jump over long barriers so long as there is an enemy minion, monster or enemy champion to jump too.  Because it only works on foes, you need to be creative sometimes to escape champions coming at you. 
• The range on Rappel is very high.  As a result, you can wait to use it after someone uses their own escape. 
• Leveling the skill only reduces the high cooldown. 

Spider Form

• Much like Elise's passive, this is what makes Elise work. 
• The form switch is available from level 1, just like Jayce. 
• Her ultimate is what provides her with the extra magic damage on auto attacks.  Often times mages do not gain sustained damage while building AP, but Elise has sustained damage from her abilities, spiders and auto attacks. 
• The extra 10 movement speed is not large but when moving across the map and running away, it can save a life. 
• Her ultimate levels increase the number of spiderlings she can have and increases their survivability. 

General Notes

• Because Elise lacks a traditional big ultimate, she has a plethora of good skills to cover a variety of situations.  She has 2 ways to check bushes, has long range poke, has an auto attack steroid and sustain.  These abilities make her very strong in lane and fantastic in Skirmishes.  In full team fights, Elise loses some power as she is not as capable of making huge plays.  Champions like Orianna can turn around a team-fight with a well placed ultimate.  Elise has no such power. 
• Elise is a very flexible champion in terms of item build.  You can go full burst, tank, jungle and support to fit each team.  I have even some some auto attack items in builds.  Having such build flexibility makes Elise even more flexible than she already was.  Ahead, behind, top, mid, jungle and support.  They all have their own build and they all work. 
• Elise fits into most team comps due to her flexibility.  The only exception is when she is the only tank or only form of CC.  Elise has a good stun, but if she is the only beef on the team, you might have a problem. 
• Lane Elise is a huge bully with few counters.  Tanks with high sustain do well against her but many champions will count Elise as a difficult match-up.  The combination of poke, all-in and burst make Elise a real B****.
• Jungle Elise has a decent clear time and offers truly scary ganks with her damage, multiple gap closers and burst damage.
• Elise has a strong early game.  Elise is at full power as early as level 3, while most champions need level 6. 

About the Author, Emeraldw:

• Loves psychology and philosophy.  Then tries to apply it to even simple things like League of Legends. 
  
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• Basics are the most important thing in learning anything
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