Every week we explore a new League of Legends champion. This week we take on Ornn, The Fire Below the Mountain.
Do you like beer? Dark beer? Have you enjoyed social distancing inside your home for days on end? Are you a fan of chocolate and most importantly, “ramming” your enemies into the ground? Then Ornn is the champion for you, and we’re here to explain some of his basic mechanics.
The Basics
Ornn is a role model when it comes to tanks. He brings damage, crowd control, tankiness and even item upgrades to the party, and is probably the most versatile and stacked tank in the game. His abilities are slow and telegraphed with extremely long cooldowns, which is why efficient usage is essential when it comes to piloting him.
First off, his Volcanic Rupture (Q) is your primary source of damage in the early game. You can use it to poke, farm and waveclear, so we’re maxing it first. Furthermore, the majority of Ornn combos start with your Q, as the slow is extremely helpful with setting up the rest of your abilities.
Ornnstoppable by the way.
His Bellows Breath (W) is one of those abilities. Hitting it in lane can very quickly win you short trades, and is unavoidable without dashes when the enemy is slowed. Thus, our first combo of today will be: Q > W > Auto Attack. The auto attack is the easiest way to consume the “Brittle” debuff on your opponent applied by your Breath.
Next up, his Searing Charge (E), is the final piece to the puzzle to the full basic Ornn combo. Colliding into Q-pillars and walls lets you knock up the enemy, which also consumes the Brittle debuff. It’s also very handy to use this while the enemy is slowed by your Q, as the windup animation is pretty long. Of course, we can thus adjust the combo: Q > W > E > Auto Attack. The final auto attack is luxury, but since the enemy has no way to respond while knocked up, you might as well do it, usually activating Grasp of the Undying as well.
Sound the Hornn Combo
At level 6, you acquire your largest spike, the Call of the Forge God (R). This will be your primary all-in tool, as using it correctly usually guarantees you a knockup. While the ultimate has an extremely long range, hitting it from afar might be more difficult than expected, so keeping it for close to medium range engages is always more effective. Because it’s what you’re truly here for, here is the deadliest Ornn combo to all-in your opponent with: Q > R1 > E > R2 > Auto Attack > W > Auto Attack.
This combo might be difficult to execute at first, so use the practice tool if you have to. We set up the combo by slowing down the enemy. If the Q hits, we can start calling in our ultimate, which will often hit because of the slow. Since the enemy can’t run, we use the time we have to knock the opponent up with our Searing Charge (E). Once again, because your opponent is knocked up, the ultimate is free to land, which consumes the first brittle debuff. Then, we auto attack to consume the second brittle, and finish off with a W – Auto Attack combo to get a third brittle stack. This translates into tons of damage.
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Other Tips and Tricks
During the laning phase, focus on poking down your enemy with repeated Volcanic Ruptures (Q). The best time to use these is when your enemy is standing still while trying to last hit, or while they use an ability of their own. Since your Base Attack Damage is extremely high, and since we take Grasp of the Undying in our runes, auto attacking the enemy will quickly net you a lot of free damage, so try to look for sneaky auto’s in between.
While Ornn is extremely introverted, sometimes grouping is the best thing to do. In the midgame, be sure to help your team out where they need you. You’re a tank, and thus killing minions for gold is not your first priority. However, be sure to try and catch as much experience as you can, as getting to the higher levels for your upgraded items is very beneficial to yourself and your team.
A big part of your teamfighting power comes from your Q – E combo. When using your Q before fights, try to place the pillars in places where you expect to find a good knockup. Enemies will naturally be afraid of your pillar, so it’s a very handy zoning tool against clumped up teams.
Don’t bother too much with trying to stop quick assassins from reaching your backline. You wasting cooldowns on them is exactly what they want you to do, as they can easily dodge your slow abilities and leave you defenseless on the frontline.
Now that you’re equipped with some extra nifty tools to help you win games, be sure to put it to the test in the real world. Practice tool is your friend when practicing the difficult combos, so be sure to hop in there before you start. Also, bring chocolate cake, Ornn loves that stuff.
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Image credit: Riot Games