Ever been in a situation where you want to play as the Bot Laner but was autofilled into Support? So now, you’re stuck playing Support but you’re itching to be the primary damage dealer. What do you do? You play Senna! In this guide, we’ll show you everything you need to know to get you started playing the Redeemer.

Senna is a godsend for all players who are forced to play Support but don’t find the playstyle all that appealing. With this champion, you can be very aggressive and trade with your opponent the way a Bot Lane carry does. But at the same time, she has a ton of utility in her kit that makes her a very good Support. She has great poke, a heal, decent crowd control, and an AoE ultimate that deals pretty massive damage. In fact, if you play your cards right, Senna can end up as a hyper carry by the late game.

Abilities

Senna’s kit is very unique for a Support. She has a nice blend of damage and utility that makes her a force to be reckoned with.

Passive – Absolution

Weakened Soul: Senna’s basic attacks apply Mist on enemy champions for 4 seconds. Her next attack collects the Mist and deals bonus physical damage.

Absolution: Mist Wraiths may spawn from dead enemies, and Senna can kill them for 8 gold and a Mist. Each Mist stack grants her 0.75 attack damage. For 20 stacks, she gains 20 range and 10% crit chance (35% of crit chance above 100% is converted to lifesteal).

Relic Cannon: Senna’s Relic Cannon fires slowly and does not gain AD through growth, but her basic attacks deal (+20% total) bonus damage and grant her movement speed equal to her target’s for 0.5 seconds. However, her Crits deal 14% reduced damage.

Senna’s passive is a three part ability and each produces different effects. They’re all pretty self explanatory and are a core part of her play style.

Q – Piercing Darkness

Senna fires a bolt in the direction of an enemy unit, healing allied champions, damaging enemies and slowing them by 20% (+10% per 100) (+6% per 100) for 2 seconds.

Basic attacks reduce Piercing Darkness’ cooldown by 1 second.

This is both your primary damage and support ability. Piercing Darkness has good range which you can use to damage enemies and heal your allies. 

W – Last Embrace

Senna throws a globule of Black Mist at the target area, dealing damage and sticking to the first enemy champion hit. After a brief delay or when the target dies, the Mist spreads, rooting them and nearby enemies.

This is Senna’s only source of crowd control but it’s really good. Last Embrace is essentially a snare that roots enemies down. Use this wisely as it can open up a lot of outplay opportunities.

E – Curse of the Black Mist

Senna dissolves into a cloud of mist, granting Camouflage to herself and nearby allied champions until they attack, gaining Wraith Form afterward.

Wraith Form: Gain 20% (+5% per 100) bonus movement speed and appear as an unclickable wraith to enemies. Attacking or casting spells break Wraith Form.

This is a great ability to have thanks to all the utility it provides. You and your allies get to hide behind a cloud of mist where you all can emerge to initiate or disengage from fights.

R – Dawning Shadow

Senna fires two beams, damaging enemies caught in the center beam. She and her allies hit by the broad beam get shielded. Both beams collect Mist Wraiths hit.

Dawning Shadow is an amazing global ult that allows you to impact team fights from across the map. Even if you are not there, this ability can be the one that puts your team over the edge.

Runes and Item Builds

When it comes to items, there are several build paths you can choose. The best items to focus on are the ones that increase her overall damage output. 

Starting Items

For your starting items, always go with Spectral Sickle. This gives you everything you need as a Support to go on. Once you complete the quest, you can use this to have an active that allows you to place wards around the map. Tear of the Goddess is also a good starting item but you’ll miss out on the utility and sustain that Spectral Sickle can provide.

Mythic Items

For your Mythic item, you got two choices: Eclipse and Frostfire Gauntlet. Both of these are good options and what you choose should depend on your preference. If you’d like to deal more damage, you should go with Eclipse. If you’d like to be more of a Support and give your team more utility, go with Frostfire Gauntlet.

Full Build

After purchasing your Mythic, it’s time to upgrade to your tier 2 boots. In Senna’s case, the best boots are Boots of Swiftness since it covers your lack of mobility. Next, go with Manamune for the mana and damage it provides. Up next, go with Rapid Firecannon for the attack speed and bonus damage that you’ll get from it. At this point, the enemy might have a lot of healing or shielding abilities so you’ll need Mortal Reminder to counter their effectiveness. Finally, top off your build with a Guardian Angel for survivability and even more damage.

Other Viable Items

While the full build we’ve shown above is generally considered the standard for Senna, it is not set in stone. There are plenty of other items that you can purchase depending on your preference or what your situation currently needs. Items like Black Cleaver, Chempunk Chainsword, Maw of Malmortius, Phantom Dancer, and Serylda’s Grudge are all good items to have especially if you’re leaning towards dealing more damage. Try to mix and match these item sets to see what works best for you. Doing so will help you develop a better understanding of the game’s deeper mechanics.

Runes

For your runes, go with the Precision tree and take Fleet Footwork as your keystone. This will increase your sustain in the early game. Next, take Presence of Mind for the mana restoration, Legend: Alacrity for the attack speed, and Cut Down to help you take down champions with more health than you. For your secondaries, take Magical Footwear and Approach Velocity from the Inspiration tree. Magical Footwear gives you free boots while Approach Velocity will increase your move speed when you move towards enemy champions whose movements are impaired. For your rune shards, take double Adaptive Force and Armor.

Useful Tips

1. Senna’s passive makes her scale without any limits. Keep this in mind so that you’ll know or be aware of how much damage you can deal in the late game. 
2. Senna goes toe to toe with most meta Support champions in the game. However, she is easily countered by Pyke who can severely limit her efficiency. When matched up against this champion, try your best to play it safe.
3. For your summoner spells, always take Flash and Exhaust. If you’re confident about the crowd control you and your lane partner possess, you can swap out Exhaust for Ignite.

So there you have it! That’s all you need to know about playing Senna 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!