Ornn is one of the most stable and reliable tanks in League of Legends. His durability and strong presence in team fights makes him a highly sought after pick in all levels of play. Here’s how you can get started playing him.

Out of all the tanks used in the top lane, Ornn is probably the safest pick you can choose in any matchup and in any team composition. His combination of durability, self sustain, and crowd control make him the perfect top lane tank. This plug and play versatility is a big reason why Ornn is a champion worth investing your time into. So what exactly makes Ornn a strong pick?

Champion Abilities

Just like we’ve mentioned before, Ornn’s kit gives him a little bit of everything but it’s overall geared towards giving him a lot of crowd control which in turn makes him more effective in team fights. Ornn in general is more of a team player so he might struggle a bit individually especially in specific matchups that counter his playstyle.

Passive – Living Forge

Ornn’s bonus health from all sources and resistances are increased by 10%. Whenever he upgrades a Mythic item, his bonus health and resistances are increased by 4%.

Ornn can spend gold to forge non-consumable items anywhere.

Additionally, when Ornn reaches level 13, he will upgrade any eligible items into masterwork items for himself. For each level after 14, Ornn can upgrade an item for an ally by going near them and clicking on them, max 1 per ally.

Ornn can smithy directly from his forge menu or shop.

Ornn’s passive is arguably the best one in the game. When you consider his role and playstyle, this passive fits him like a glove. It gives him everything he needs to succeed in his role in the top lane as a tank. Not only that, he can spend gold to forge non-consumable items directly while in lane so technically, he does not have to return to base to buy items. This is incredibly useful especially when you power spike when purchasing certain items. Being able to stay in lane longer than your opponent also lets you farm more minions and push the wave more efficiently. Ornn can also upgrade all the Mythic items that he and his teammates have purchased to give them enhanced stats and effects.

Q – Volcanic Rupture

Ornn slams the ground, creating a fissure which deals physical damage and slows by 40% for 2 seconds. A magma pillar then forms at the fissure’s end for 4 seconds.

Apart from his ultimate, this is Ornn’s ability with the most range. Volcanic Rupture is best used in conjunction with your other abilities. The magma pillar also essentially functions as terrain so all abilities that get bonus effects when applied to terrain will apply. 

W – Bellows Breath

Ornn stomps forward, breathing fire and becoming unstoppable for 0.75 seconds. The fire deals magic damage. Enemies hit by the final gout of flame become Brittle for 3 seconds. Ornn’s basic attacks knock back Brittle targets. The next immobilizing effect against a Brittle enemy has its duration increased by 30% and deals magic damage.

Bellows Breath works similar to Rumble’s Flamespitter but with a lower range. It also gives enemies the Brittle debuff and makes them more vulnerable when you or your team follows up with damage after using this ability. This is your main trading tool and make sure you have it up when engaging your opponent.

E – Searing Charge

Ornn charges, dealing magic physical damage to enemies hit. If Ornn rams into terrain, the resulting shockwave will knock up enemies for 1 second. The shockwave destroys magma pillars and terrain created by enemy champions.

Searing Charge works similar to another ability, namely Poppy’s Heroic Charge. This gives Ornn a good deal of crowd control and can be game changing in the right circumstance. It’s great for engaging and initiating fights as well as escaping. It’s basically an all purpose dash that doesn’t require a target so you can get creative with its use.

R – Call of the Forged God

Ornn summons a massive lava elemental which stampedes toward him. Enemies run over by the elemental take magic damage, are slowed for 2 seconds and become Brittle for 6 seconds. Ornn can recast this ability to smash into the elemental to redirect and empower it. The empowered elemental knocks up the first enemy for 1 second, and all subsequent enemies by 0.5, deals magic damage, and applies Brittle.

Ornn’s ultimate gives him a very strong presence in team fights. The aoe crowd control from this ability is amazing and can buy enough time for you and your team to follow up with damage. It’s crowd control has two parts, the first part being a slow and the second part being a knock up. It can be difficult to land this on your first few tries but overtime, you’ll get used to it. Once you master this ability, you can absolutely dominate every team fight you’ll be participating in.

Runes and Item Builds

When building items on Ornn, your primary focus should be to increase your overall tankiness. You need to work on Ornn’s stronger areas and focus on how to enhance it. Generally, you’ll want items that increase resistances, health, and health regeneration.

Starting Items

For starting items, you have two options. The first option is to go with Corrupting Potion. Since Ornn can be mana hungry early game, you’ll need the sustain that Corrupting Potion provides. He has poor wave clear early on as well so he could fall behind if he’s against a particularly aggressive laner. Corrupting Potion allows you to stay in lane a bit longer without having to go back plus your passive allows you to buy non-consumable items without having to go back to your base. The alternative would be to go with the standard tank top starting items which are Doran’s Shield and a Health Potion. Corrupting Potion is the better starting item and what you should go for most of the time. Doran’s Shield is great when against ranged opponents.

Mythic Items

While technically all three of the tank Mythics can be useful on Ornn, only two of them are actually great on him. Sunfire Aegis is the go to Mythic item you should be purchasing 90% of the time. It has all the stats Ornn needs from health, to armor, and even magic resist. It also has the empowered immolate passive that increases your overall DPS. The other viable item is Frostfire Gauntlet. It gives you similar stats and the immolate passive like Sunfire Aegis but to a lesser extent. However, it does give you a slow on your basic attack right after using an ability. This is a great option if you’re against slippery champions and could use the extra crowd control to lock them down.

Full Build

Right after your Mythic, the next item you should buy are boots. For boots, go with Plated Steelcaps if against AD champions or Mercury’s Treads when against AP Champions. Next, go for Thornmail to increase your durability and DPS. Since you’ll be mostly matching up with AD champions in the top lane, Thornmail will greatly help you keep up against them. Next, go for Abyssal Mask since it increases your magic resistance, health, and allows you to deal more damage to immobilized enemy champions. Warmog’s Armor comes next to greatly increase your health and health regeneration. Having this item essentially eliminates your need to go home since you can just quickly regenerate your health. Top off your build with Randuin’s Omen for armor and health. It also has a passive ability that reduces incoming damage from attacks and an active ability that briefly slows enemies as well as reducing their attack damage and critical strike damage. 

Other Viable Items

Like most tanks, items that give you health and resistances can be viable on a champion like Ornn. There are plenty of good items that you can use depending on your situation. Gargoyle Stoneplate is a great item to pick up since it increases your armor and magic resist while giving you an active shield that can help you soak up damage. Dead Man’s Plate has excellent stats and also boosts your damage. Anathema’s Chains is a relatively new item that can be excellent when you want to reduce a particular target’s damage on you. Spirit Visage is probably the best item to slot in Ornn’s core build especially when you’re against mages or AP heavy opponents. It synergizes well with Warmog’s Armor and increases your health regeneration by a mile. Swap it for Randuin’s Omen when you’re against a team comp that deals a lot of magic damage. 

Runes

For runes, go with Grasp of the Undying to increase your sustain early on. It helps you scale well into the late game too plus it prevents you from getting bullied too hard by aggressive top laners. Next, take Demolish to help you push turrets, Bone Plating to reduce the damage you receive from abilities, and Overgrowth to passively increase your overall health. For secondaries, go with Biscuit Delivery and Cosmic Insight. These runes help address your weakness in the early game: sustain and cooldown reduction.For rune shards, take Ability Haste and double Armor. 

Useful Tips

1. The knock up combo from Volcanic Rupture and Searing Charge is great for zoning enemies. Lead with a Volcanic Rupture to scare off all-ins or to just initiate a fight.
2. Ornn does well against most matchups but can have a difficult time against champions who can effectively kite him since he is immobile without his E. Consider banning champions like Gangplank, Irelia, or Akali when playing as Ornn in the top lane.
3. For summoner spells, take Flash and Teleport. There really isn’t any other alternative since this is the best set to use as Ornn. Teleport gives you a global presence and can be useful to get back into lane without missing CS while Flash is just a great utility spell overall.

So there you have it! That’s all you need to know about playing Ornn in League of Legends. Be sure to check back with us again for more awesome guides on your favorite games. Have fun and we’ll see you on the Rift!