How to Counter: Morgana Part 1

Morgana is arguably one of the safest mid-lane mages in League of Legends. She has a strong laning phase due to her ability to escapes ganks with ease, farm minions from a safe distance and setup easy ganks for her jungler. Morgana’s passive also gives her spell vamp allowing her to stay in lane longer than most other mid lane champs. Before I describe ways of combating Morgana lets take a closer look at Morgana’s Kit.

Passive: Soul Siphone

Morgana has 10/20/30% Spell Vamp, healing herself whenever she deals damage with her spells.

Explanation: Morgana’s passive allows her to have innate lane sustain. After using Tormented Soil (W) on a couple of waves she can heal around half of her health back. This spell vamp does stack with other spell vamp items (Hextech Revolver/WotA).

Q: Dark Binding

Fires a bolt of dark energy towards a target location, binding the first unit hit to the ground for 2/2.25/2.5/2.75/3 seconds and dealing 80/135/190/245/300 (+90% of ability power) magic damage.

Cooldown 11 second  

Cost 60/75/90/105/120 mana

Range 1300

Explanation: This ability distinguishes the skill level of a Morgana Player. If Morgana is able to land a Dark Binding (Q) and follow it up with a Tormented Soil (W) and/or gank from her jungler she will dominate the mid-lane.  The best way to negate this ability is to hide behind your minions and fake which direction you are going. For example, you can pace back and forth behind your minions, but when your minions are killed you start progressing one direction and as soon as you see Morgana fire her Dark Binding press the “s” or “x” key to stop your champion allowing for Morgana’s Dark Binding to whiz past you.

W: Tormented Soil

Curses a large area of the ground. Enemies on it are dealt 25/40/55/70/85 (+20% of ability power) magic damage each second and lose 4/5/6/7/8 magic resistance. Lasts 5 seconds.

Cooldown 12 seconds

Cost 70/85/100/115/130 mana

Range 900

Explanation: Morgana will max this skill (to 4 or 5) first as it allows her to farm easily and efficiently. It also is a great tool for pushing the lane which can allow Morgana to roam to another lane. Note that if you are standing in her pool before Morgana casts her ultimate or Dark Binding you will take increased damage. 

E: Black Shield

Places a shield around target friendly champion, absorbing the next 95/160/225/290/355 (+70% of ability power) magic damage the unit would take. While active, Black Shield prevents the application of negative status effects. Lasts 5 seconds or until the shield has been depleted.

Cooldown 23/21/19/17/15 seconds

Cost 50 mana

Range 750

Explanation: Black Shield makes Morgana a real pain to gank as a jungler or to set up ganks with crowd control as a mid lane ap champ. Remember the shield can be depleted through bursting it with magic damage abilities. Also, remember that the shield does not block auto attack damage or ignite damage. When fighting a Morgana save your cc until Black Shield has been depleted through damage or its entire duration has taken place.

R: Soul Shackles

Deals 175/250/350 (+70% of ability power) magic damage to nearby enemy champions and slows their movement speed by 20% for 3 seconds. Additionally, if Morgana stays within 600 range of the targets for the full 3 seconds, they are dealt an additional 175/250/350 (+140% of ability power) magic damage and become stunned for 1.5 seconds.

Cooldown 120/110/100 seconds

Cost 100/150/200 mana

Range 600 (For activiation) 1000 (Max range after activation)

Explanation: Soul Shackles can cause havoc during a teamfight in close quarters. The key to shutting down Morgana mid and late game relies on ensuring her ult does as little damage and crowd control as possible. Until Morgana gets Zhonyas Hourglass her ult is fairly easy to mitigate using crowd control.

As you can see Morgana’s kit allows her to play either aggressive or passive in lane. Most Morgana’s will play very passive and use their tormented soil to farm/push the lane. An occasional Dark Binding will be shot out especially when Morgana is in the fog of war. As long as you dodge most of Morgana’s Dark Bindings (not that difficult) the lane will be a farm lane. Now farming against Morgana can be easily done with most Ap mages.

I recommend choosing a champion that scales just as good, if not better than Morgana into late game. Morgana’s main weakness is her reliance on landing her Dark Binding or teammates Crowd Control to start her combo. Furthermore, after her initial combo she has a bit of downtime before casting again so if she misses her combo she’s very weak.

 

Listed below are champions that scale at the same rate or better than Morgana.

Ahri

Summoners: Flash, Ignite
Masteries (21-0-9)
Skill Order: R > Q > W > E
Items: Dorans (x2), (possible-Hextech Revolver) , Abyssal/Rylais/Wota/Rabadon's

Strategy: 

Ahri's matchup against Morgana relies on both your ability to land your Q: Orb of Deception onto Morgana when she attempts to use Tormented Soil and your ability to roam efficiently. For this matchup you'll want to max Orb of Deception first for both poke and the ability to push the lane.

With all ap laners that can push when facing Morgana wait for her to cast her tormented soil then cast your abilites and push the lane so your minions move outside of Morgana's tormented soil denying her a few creeps. Lastly, Ahri's ultimate: Spirit Rush is great for disengaging out of Soul Shackles and for getting to the enemy team's AD carry. I'd recommend rushing an abyssal scepter for this matchup after purchasing 1-2 Dorans' Blades. 

Tip 1: If near max range of Morgana one use of Spirit Rush will cancel the second part of Morgana's ult. You can quickly ult out once to destroy the chain then ult twice back in to counter engage on Morgana. 

Tip 2: Use your Orb of Deception when your Passive: Essence Theft is available as it will always deal the most damage. Using your Essence Theft properly will allow you to out sustain Morgana

Tip 3: Your ult will always be on a lower cooldown then Morgana's.

Cassiopeia

Summoners: Flash, Ignite
Masteries: (21-0-9)
Skill Order: R > Q > E > W
Items: Dorans (x2), Hextech Revolver, Rylais/Rabadon's/Abyssal, WotA

Strategy:

First up, is Cassiopeia. Cassiopeia has great burst, but more importantly amazing sustain damage. Cassiopeia can from level 1 start to bully Morgana by using her Q: Noxious Blast. At level 2 she can follow her Noxious Blast with twin fang, however I recommend waiting until you’re level 3 with 2 points into your Noxious Blast. With Cassiopeia you can either attack Morgana directly or push the lane to her turret forcing her to use mana to farm with you.

Be very careful of Morgana’s Dark Binding as if she lands a Dark Binding with a Jungler nearby you may end up losing your flash or even giving up first blood. When level 6 as Cassiopeia wait for Morgana’s Blackshield to either go on cooldown or be depeleted from your Noxious Blast/Twin Fang harass before using your ult. I highly recommend getting an early Hextech Revolver so you can stand toe to toe with Morgana’s spell vamp. Late game, Cassiopeia has much more sustained damaged compared to Morgana and the ability to stun all 5 members on the enemy team easily.

Tip 1: Remember your Q: Noxious Blast gives temporary increased movement speed, use this to your advantage when dodging or baiting out Morgana's Dark Binding.

Tip 2: Cassiopeia's W: Miasma provides vision in a brush for the surface area of the spell.

Tip 3: With Blue Buff Cassiopeia can cast 3 back to back Twin Fang's after a successful Noxious Blast.

Tip 4: Cassiopeia's ult has a longer cooldown then Morgana's.

Gragas

Summoners: Flash, Ignite
Masteries: (21-0-9)
Skill Order: R > Q > W > E (If you're going hyper aggressive max E above W)
Items: Dorans (x2-3), Rabadons, Voidstaff/Abyssal

Strategy:

Gragas is my personal favorite counter to Morgana. Gragas can easily dodge Morgana’s Dark Binding with his Body Slam. While this is trivial Gragas is nearly as hard to gank as Morgana herself. He also can farm from afar easily, roam faster than Morgana, andburst through her spellshield with only his Q: Barrel Roll. The biggest part of Gragas’ counter to Morgana is the use of his ultimate. By bursting through Morgana’s Blacksheild (before Morgana has Zhonya’s) Gragas can use his ultimate: Explosive Cask to move Morgana away from his team, or use Explosive Cask onto Morgana’s teammates so she resides alone in the middle of your team. Gragas notably has much more burst than Morgana does and has an easier job destroying the enemy team's AD carry. 

Tip 1: You can use your E: Body Slam to travel through various parts of terrain.

Tip 2: When using your Q: Barrel Roll, it goes on cooldown the second you intially throw the barrel, not when it explodes. 

Tip 3: A Barrel Roll to Body Slam combo will always destory Morgana's Black Shield allowing for your Explosive Cask to move Morgana back towards your ganking Jungler.

Tip 4: Gragas' ultimate has a substantially lower cooldown then Morgana's

Karthus

Summoners: Flash, Exhuast/Teleport (Never take Ignite)
Masteries: (21-0-9)
Skill Order: R > Q >W > E (Always max your wall second as it reduces magic resistance)
Items: Rod of Ages, Rabadons/Abyssal, Void Staff/WotA, Zhonya

Strategy:

With Karthus your #1 goal is to out farm Morgana. You want to keep her in your lane the entire time, prevent her from roaming, and last hit properly. If your team does their job you can ult for free kills/assists and out farm Morgana. Karthus' lategame is much more powerful than Morgana's as his damage out put to begin with is much higher and when considering his passive and ult he will be a bigger factor than Morgana.

Make sure that if you are going to die that you die in a choke hold forcing the AD carry and Morgana either out of the fight or to stay ontop of your Death Defiled. Use your q in lane to poke at Morgana while hiding behind your own minions and save your W: Wall of Pain for when Morgana's Black Shield is down. 

Tip 1: When taking wraith camps, any neutral camp you can use your W: Wall of Pain to reduce the magic resistance of the neutral creeps below zero allowing for your abilites to do true damage (aka clear faster). 

Tip 2: Your W: Wall of Pain gives vision throughout the entire bush it is placed into, whereas your Q: Lay Waste only provides limited vision. 

Tip 3: Karthu's Ult has a longer cooldown then Morgana's. 

Mordekaiser

Summoners: Flash, Ignite/Exhuast (I prefer Ignite to increase your kill potential w/ ult)
Masteries: (21-9-0) or (9-21-0) [Depending on the rest of the team and your play style]
Skill Order: R > E > W > Q
Items: Hextech Revolver, Abyssal/WotA/ Zhonya, Rabadon/Void

Strategy:

Mordekaiser's matchup against Morgana heavily depends on the enemy junglers ability to either camp you or ignore you. If the enemy jungler completely ignores you (never ganks) you should completely dominate Morgana and out farm her by at least 40 minions. However, most of the time you will not be able to freely push the lane against Morgana and steal her wraith camp. To ensure your survivability you must have the enemy wraith camp constantly warded. Between levels 1-4 I recommend pushing the lane as fast as you can while focusing on last hitting.

The goal is to put pressure on Morgana and make her burn through some mana while missing a few last hits. This also serves to attract the jungler to your lane and allow your other lanes to play aggressive. As soon as you have your Hextech Revolver I recommend taking your own wraith camp every time it spawns (let your jungler know so he can either steal the enemies or gank).

Lastly, if you do get ganked and ulted by Morgana do not freak out, especially if you've built Hextech/Wota and Abyssal as you should be able to ult, ignite and burst Morgana down past half health while sustaining your own life. The #1 rule with this lane like all others is do not let Morgana get a free Dark Binding on you (hide behind minions or bait out her Dark Binding before going for last hits). 

Tip 1: Mordekaiser can push much faster than Morgana early on

Tip 2: With a fully powered Shield Mordekaiser can stand within Morgana's Tormented Soil for up to 3 seconds.

Tip 3: Mordekaiser's ultimate has the exact same cooldown as Morgana at rank 1, but lower cooldown on later ranks.

Orianna

Summoners: Flash, Teleport/Ignite (I prefer Ignite)
Masteries: (21-0-9)
Skill Order: R > W > Q > E
Items: Dorans(x2) + Chalice of Harmony, Rabaonds, Voidstaff/Abyssal

Strategy:

Orianna vs. Morgana is primarily a passive farm lane. With proper positioning (dodging Dark Bindings) and blue buff or chalice you can slowly poke Morgana down and force her out of lane. Orianna also has a faster wave clear then Morgana allowing for her to roam against Morgana.

During teamfights you can use your W: Command: Dissonance to either slow down Morgana's intiation or speed priority targets (yourself and/or your AD carry out of her ultimate). Furthermore, your ultimate: Command: Shockwave can be used to through Morgana away from your team.

Tip 1: Using E: Command: Protect on a tank followed by Command: Dissonance can allow for quick unexpected intiations.

Tip 2: Remember to use Command: Protect on your tank/intaitor so you can use Command: Shockwave if your intiator gets near the enemy team's priority targets.

Tip 3: Command: Dissonance can speed yourself out of Morgana's ultimate  if on the outer edge.

Tip 4: Using Command: Attack to Command: Dissonance will always break Morgana's Blackshield 

 

Ryze

Summoners: Flash, Ignite/Exhaust/Teleport (Highly Recommend Ignite)
Masteries: (9-21-0) or (0-21-9) or (9-0-21) [9-0-21 is my preferred]
Skill Order: R > Q > W > E (Maxing E allows for faster wave clear - your choice)
Items: Catalyst, Tear of the Goddess, Rod of Ages/Banshies (preference), Frozenheart/WotA/Voidstaff/Abyssal/Rabadons, Archangels

Strategy:

The duel between Ryze and Morgana is a very brutal one. Ryze is known for having an incredibly weak early game. However, Morgana isn't notorious for being a bully other than shoving the lane incredibly well. With enough mana regen in runes and masteries Ryze can comfortably farm underneath his turret until level 6 when he can use his ult to push the wave back off his tower.

The goal as Ryze is to stay within 10 minions of Morgana and prevent her from roaming. If she roams you should follow her as your teamfight presence is just as strong as hers. Ryze completely outscales Morgana late game no matter what build you use. Ryze will be tankier and out damage Morgana as long as he farms well during the first 20-25 minutes. 

Tip 1: Always start with a point in W to prevent any jungle invades/help on your team's jungle invades. 

Tip 2: Aim for building a catalyst before a tear of the goddess. Catalyst offers much needed survivability to Ryze's laning phase.

Tip 3: To maximize Ryze's damage alternate between using his Q, and either W/E/R.

 

General Overview: There are many champions that scale with Morgana, and if the lane is left passive, will stay even or surpass Morgana's damage mid-late game (25+ minutes). There are other mid lane champions that I have not listed that can beat Morgana. The champions I have selected have an easier time when matching up against Morgana although champions like (Brand, Fiddlesticks, Fizz, Kennen, ect.) are able to beat Morgana, but those matchups are highly dependent on player skill and knowledge of those individual matchups.

In Part 2 I'll discuss a few other Ap mid lanes (Swain, Twisted Fate, Veigar, Vladimir, Xerath, Ziggs, and Zyra) that can easily handle Morgana while giving your chance a fighting chance. In the conclusion part 3 I will discussion champions in other roles that work effectively against Morgana.