Freeze the World: Lissandra Impressions

The air frigid, her hair at her feet, the Ice Witch wandered closer to her target.

"C-c-come no closer!" shouted Lissandra, frozen in place as if under a trance; she was cornered, "Ju-Just leave me alone!" Though noble and revered by many, Lissandra could do nothing but watch as her ultimate demise was to unfold.

"Don't you worry..child, for you are part of destiny. You will  bring about a great change in Freljord..." the being whispered. "Fret not; I do not intend to hurt you... No, I have great things planned."

In a momentary gain of confidence, Lissandra stood and shouted, "I am the leader of the Frostguard, I am NOT afraid of you!" However, looking up she noticed thousands of ice shards, a veil of darkness, pulsating above her head. It was obvious in a moment what the Ice Witch's plans were as the leader was impaled by the ice, and now frozen in her own bloody tomb.

The ice witch, assuming Lissandra's identity, stood regally in place. And with a single shrill, whispered. "Now then...let us begin..."

Lissandra, the Ice Witch: Pros and Cons

Even before seeing her in game, I knew I'd be attached to Lissandra just from her kit and her visuals. Riot really outdid themselves with this one!

For a list of her abilities and general info, check out this article by our own RoscoeThorncage. I've tried out Lissandra as both a mid laner and support, and definitely prefer the former. I feel she has one of the best ganking skillsets in the game; think Amumu, but with enough power to solo anyone who gets too overzealous, all while possessing enough wave clear to supplement the roaming potential.

I like to color....Okay?

Initial Impressions

Despite what Riot has said in their summary of her playstyle, I've found she actually has quite a lot of burst, albeit, close range burst. On initially playing her, she reminded me a lot of a mix between Morgana and Amumu. To the point of me saying, why pick Morgana over Lissandra? With the amount of burst potential she has, and all the CC that comes with it, balance comes in to question.

So far, in my opinion, she seems pretty well balanced (short range, squishy, HUGE mana costs). There are definite ways of beating her, and dealing with her:

1. Lissandra is extremely squishy, and short ranged: you can use this to her advantage. This creates a problem for her. In order for her to pull off her combo, she must be next to you.

2. Because she is short ranged, she must either flash or use her E to close the gap between you and her. This creates an issue for her. Will she use her only escape and compromise her position to damage you, or will she save it.

3. Ice Shards' range is abysmally low, and has a hitbox similar to Ezreal's Q before breaking apart. Because of this, it is easier to dodge the initial part of her Q by actually standing out in the open, rather than standing behind creeps. If you must stay by creeps, stay to the side of them, where her shatter won't hit you. This is the most important point about cutting down her damage!

4. I feel like she suffers under a condition all regular assassins do, despite her being a mage; once you are in a fight, you are IN the fight, and have no ways of getting out of it. Think Glass Cannon Katarina, but with higher cooldowns, shorter ranges, and your only escape is a huge cooldown with no reset. It also doesn't help that her main form of AoE CC is a snare, not a stun. Rushing in to a fight too early is bad news for Lissandra.

5. If all else fails build Magic resist and Tenacity, and buy wards. The core strengths of Lissandra are good burst, high amounts of CC, and her roaming potential. By doing even one of those things, you are cutting down her success rate immensely.

Lastly, some tips for playing Lissandra.

- Obviously, your best bet when playing Lissandra is building tanky AP. Items like Rod of Ages, or Zhonyas are CORE to her kit. once you enter a fight, your ownly means of escape is an unreliable blink and/or your ult, which if using on yourself could put you further out of position. You need Zhonyas to function as Lissandra during the later stages of the game.

- The only real way you are ever going to hit someone with ice shards in lane is utilizing the shattering mechanic. Use the minions to explod the shard into the AOE to hurt your opponent. Use clever positioning to try to do this; once your opponent figures out what you're doing, it is very easy to dodge it the rest of the game, as stated above.

- If ever in need of an escape, an easy way to assure it is by using your E efficiently. Cast your E in one direction, and start running the opposite direction. If they chase you, teleport to your E, otherwise, keep running. This is very easy to do once you get used to it, and will trip up your opponents.

- For a build: Lissandra is one of the only champions I'd actually recommend rushing Rod of Ages with (I hate the item oh so much..). It gives Lissandra all the stats she needs: Mana, HP, and AP, giving her some extra durability and damage. Afterwards, Lissandra can go any route. A tankier Rylais/Liandry's build, a more damage heavy build with Deathcap, or a bit of both with Zhonyas (This is what I prefer.) Again, I can't overstate enough how squishy Lissandra is. Building damage means nothing if you're instantly taken out of a teamfight!

That's all for this article, I hope you enjoyed the read. Lissandra is definitely a solid champ worthy of any line-up, and I love her so far. Have any tips I didn't cover that would be useful to the community? Lemme know!

Chryxis