Guide · Mid

Lissandra Guide

the Ice Witch

Mage

Tier A Mid

Lissandra, the Ice Witch, is a mage champion of medium difficulty. Across our 529 analysed ranked games, Lissandra is mostly played in Mid (85% of its games), and more rarely in Top (15%), with a 51.0% win rate in that role: tier A among Mid champions (#11 of 42, ranked by win rate). Lissandra's damage is mostly magic (91%): magic resistance items are therefore effective against this champion. Win rate varies with game length: 57.4% in long games (over 35 min, 54 games) versus 49.7% in short games (under 25 min).

Averages measured over 449 Mid games played with Lissandra, from our ranked Solo/Duo data collection.

Combos and how to play

Lissandra is an ice and control mage: Ice Shard damages and slows, Ring of Frost roots nearby enemies, Glacial Path carries her to her claw, and her ultimate can freeze an enemy or entomb herself to heal. Her passive turns champions who die near her into Ice Minions that explode.

The engage

E › E › W › Q

When: An enemy is within claw range.

Glacial Path throws a claw and carries you to it; Ring of Frost freezes and roots nearby enemies; Ice Shard finishes.

Control

R › W › Q

When: A carry is isolated.

Frozen Tomb on an enemy champion freezes and stuns them; dark ice spreads from the target and slows nearby enemies.

Survival

R

When: You are in danger.

Cast on yourself, Frozen Tomb entombs you in ice: you heal, become untargetable and immune to damage.

Laning phase

Ice Shard passes through the target and damages the enemies behind: cast it along the axis. Glacial Path lets you reposition: recast it to teleport to your claw.

Common mistakes

• Casting Glacial Path into nothing.
• Using the ultimate on yourself too early: you cannot act during it.
• Forgetting Ice Minions: they slow and explode.

Riot's official tips for playing Lissandra

• You can instantly use your ultimate on yourself by pressing the self cast key and the ultimate key at once (alt+R by default).
• Casting Glacial Path and then running in the opposite direction will leave your enemies uncertain which way you will actually go.
• Lissandra's abilities are shorter range than those of many mages. As a result, buying items that offer both ability power and defense, like Zhonya's Hourglass and Banshee's Veil, can be a great choice to help her both survive and deal damage.

Build, runes and summoner spells

The most-played core build is Malignance, Zhonya's Hourglass, and Shadowflame (74 games, 58.1% win rate), usually with Spellslinger's Shoes (54.7% over 256 games).

Malignance+Zhonya's Hourglass+Shadowflame

74 games · 58.1%

Rabadon's Deathcap+Malignance+Zhonya's Hourglass

29 games · 58.6%

Rabadon's Deathcap+Malignance+Shadowflame

29 games · 55.2%

Boots

Spellslinger's Shoes54.7% · 256 games

Crimson Lucidity49.2% · 124 games

Chainlaced Crushers46.3% · 41 games

Summoner spells

Flash + Teleport49.7% · 332 games

Flash + Ignite55.7% · 106 games

Most-played runes

Electrocute + Sorcery

50.8% · 189 games

Primary tree · Domination

Cheap Shot88%

Grisly Mementos85%

Ultimate Hunter99%

Secondary tree · Sorcery

Manaflow Band90%

Transcendence78%

Shards

Adaptive force76%

Adaptive force100%

Health scaling70%

Arcane Comet + Domination

45.9% · 109 games

Primary tree · Sorcery

Manaflow Band95%

Transcendence97%

Scorch98%

Secondary tree · Domination

Ultimate Hunter100%

Cheap Shot94%

Shards

Adaptive force84%

Adaptive force98%

Health scaling89%

Arcane Comet + Resolve

47.4% · 38 games

Primary tree · Sorcery

Manaflow Band100%

Transcendence92%

Scorch100%

Secondary tree · Resolve

Bone Plating87%

Overgrowth50%

Shards

Attack speed79%

Adaptive force82%

Health60%

For each row, the most picked rune among the games played with this page (share of games in brackets).

Which items to build against the enemy team?

We sort every game by the enemy team's damage. These are Lissandra's completed items and their win rate in each situation; "▲" marks an item that does at least 3 points better than its usual win rate.

Mostly magic-damage enemy team58.5% · 123 games

At least 50% of their damage is magic

Malignance 57.8% ▲

Zhonya's Hourglass 53.1%

Shadowflame 58.8% ▲

Blackfire Torch 61.8% ▲

Hextech Rocketbelt 51.8%

Rabadon's Deathcap 54.5%

The item that stands out most is Blackfire Torch: 61.8% win rate, +10 points versus its usual win rate.

Mostly physical-damage enemy team48.5% · 138 games

Less than 35% of their damage is magic

Malignance 46.8% ▼

Zhonya's Hourglass 52.2%

Shadowflame 49.1%

Blackfire Torch 56.5% ▲

Hextech Rocketbelt 43.2% ▼

Imperial Mandate 60.9%

The item that stands out most is Blackfire Torch: 56.5% win rate, +4 points versus its usual win rate.

Balanced enemy team47.9% · 188 games

Mixed physical and magic damage

Malignance 54.1%

Zhonya's Hourglass 57.0%

Shadowflame 46.1% ▼

Blackfire Torch 44.1% ▼

Hextech Rocketbelt 54.5% ▲

Rabadon's Deathcap 52.9% ▲

The item that stands out most is Rabadon's Deathcap: 52.9% win rate, +6 points versus its usual win rate.

Counters and matchups

Who counters Lissandra in Mid

Ahri Lissandra: 35.3%17 games

Ahri has the edge in 65% of the 17 Mid duels against Lissandra. See the Ahri guide.

Yasuo Lissandra: 41.2%17 games

Yasuo has the edge in 59% of the 17 Mid duels against Lissandra. See the Yasuo guide.

Zed Lissandra: 61.1%18 games

Zed has the edge in 39% of the 18 Mid duels against Lissandra. See the Zed guide.

Akali Lissandra: 66.7%18 games

Akali has the edge in 33% of the 18 Mid duels against Lissandra. See the Akali guide.

Who Lissandra is strong against

Akali66.7% · 18 games

Zed61.1% · 18 games

Yasuo41.2% · 17 games

Ahri35.3% · 17 games

How to play against Lissandra

• The best way to stop Lissandra from moving using her Glacial Path is to immobilize her before she reactivates it.
• Lissandra's Ring of Frost has a long cooldown at early ranks; engage her while it's on cooldown.
• Lissandra's Ice Shard only slows the first unit it hits. Approach Lissandra from behind your team's minions to avoid being slowed.

Win rates measured over direct same-role duels; only matchups with more than 15 games are listed. See all of Lissandra's matchups.

Abilities

PassiveIceborn Subjugation

When an enemy champion dies near Lissandra they become a Frozen Thrall. Frozen Thralls slow nearby enemies and then, after a delay, shatter from the intense cold, dealing magic damage to nearby targets.

QIce Shard

Throws a spear of ice that shatters when it hits an enemy, dealing magic damage and slowing Move Speed. Shards pass through the target, dealing the same damage to other enemies hit.

WRing of Frost

Freezes nearby enemies in ice, dealing magic damage and rooting them.

EGlacial Path

Lissandra creates an ice claw that deals magic damage. Reactivating this ability transports Lissandra to the claw's current location.

RFrozen Tomb

If cast on an enemy champion, the target is frozen solid, stunning it. If cast on Lissandra, she encases herself in dark ice, healing herself while becoming untargetable and invulnerable. Dark ice then emanates from the target dealing magic damage to enemies and slowing Move Speed.

Frequently asked questions

Full Lissandra page · League of Legends tier list · All champion guides