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Lissandra Counters: Who Beats Lissandra

Updated for patch 26.21. Ability details come from Riot’s official game data for this patch.

Lissandra counters are mid laners who either resist magic damage or can’t be locked down by one root and one stun. She’s a 550 range mage with a slowing spear, a point-blank root, a claw she can teleport to and an ultimate that stuns an enemy or makes her untargetable, so the picks that trouble her bring magic shields, channel-proof crowd control or a way to outlast her burst.

Five picks follow, each judged on how its kit lines up against hers. Nothing here comes from a stat site, and every reason points at a named ability.

Lissandra counters: Lissandra, the Ice Witch, splash art

Why is Lissandra hard to counter?

  • Iceborn Subjugation (passive): an enemy champion who dies near her turns into a Frozen Thrall that slows nearby enemies and then shatters for magic damage.
  • Ice Shard (Q): a spear of ice that shatters on the first enemy, deals magic damage and slows, and the shards pass through to hit everyone behind. Cooldown 7/6/5/4/3 seconds.
  • Ring of Frost (W): freezes the enemies around her, dealing magic damage and rooting them. Cooldown 10 seconds at rank 1, 8 at rank 5.
  • Glacial Path (E): an ice claw that deals magic damage, and a second press moves her to wherever the claw is. Cooldown 24/21/18/15/12.
  • Frozen Tomb (R): on an enemy, a stun. On herself, dark ice that heals her and makes her untargetable and invulnerable. Either way, the ice spreads out, damaging and slowing. Cooldown 120/100/80.

The problem is that she picks the fight. Glacial Path carries her in, Ring of Frost roots whoever is next to her, Frozen Tomb stuns the one who matters, and if it goes badly she casts the ultimate on herself instead and heals through the mess while nobody can touch her. Thing is, all of that is magic damage, and all of it works on a timer. Her E takes 24 seconds to come back at rank 1 (that’s a long walk home without it), and once the ultimate is spent on a stun she has no self-cast left to hide behind.

Which champions are the best Lissandra counters?

Kassadin

Void Stone (passive) makes Kassadin take reduced magic damage, and Lissandra deals nothing else. Null Sphere (Q) interrupts channels and wraps him in a shield that absorbs magic damage, so an Ice Shard trade costs him less than it costs her. Riftwalk (R) teleports him a short distance, which answers Glacial Path move for move. The catch is Frozen Tomb: the stun lands no matter how much Magic Resist he has, so he waits for her to use it before he commits.

Galio

Hero’s Entrance (R) grants every ally in the landing area a magic shield, and Shield of Durand (W) taunts and damages nearby enemies after a charge, which pulls Lissandra out of position right after she teleports in. Justice Punch (E) knocks up the first enemy champion he meets. Honestly, Galio is one of the few mid laners who can stand inside Ring of Frost range on purpose. Colossal Smash (passive) adds area magic damage on an attack every few seconds, so he trades back even while rooted.

Fizz

Playful / Trickster (E) makes Fizz untargetable while he sits on his spear. Frozen Tomb cast on an enemy needs a target, and for that second he isn’t one. Nimble Fighter (passive) shaves a flat amount off every hit, which matters most against Ice Shard poke at the 3 second cooldown it reaches at rank 5. Urchin Strike (Q) dashes through her, and Chum the Waters (R) sticks a fish to any champion it touches, slows them, then knocks them up when the shark arrives. Is there a worse feeling than being hit by that fish right after you teleported in? Probably not in this lane.

Malzahar

Void Shift (passive) gives Malzahar heavy damage reduction and crowd control immunity when he hasn’t recently taken damage or been crowd controlled, and the effect lingers briefly after a hit. Her whole engage is one root plus one stun. Both are disables. A Lissandra who opens with Glacial Path into Ring of Frost finds the root bouncing off the shield. Call of the Void (Q) silences champions, Nether Grasp (R) suppresses one target over a zone of damage, and Malefic Visions (E) ticks on her while she looks for the next angle. In practice she has to break the passive with Ice Shard first, and that costs her tempo every single time.

Vladimir

Sanguine Pool (W) sinks him into a pool of blood and makes him untargetable for 2 seconds, which dodges Frozen Tomb and lets Ring of Frost freeze empty air (while slowing anyone standing on the pool). Transfusion (Q) steals life from her on a short trade, and Hemoplague (R) marks the area so every infected enemy takes increased damage before the burst lands. Vladimir has no Mana to run dry on and heals as he farms, so the long game of poke that most mages lose to Lissandra barely registers on him. He does need to respect her levels 6 through 11, when his pool is on a long cooldown and her ultimate isn’t.

How do you play the lane against Lissandra?

  • Track Glacial Path. Its cooldown is 24 seconds at rank 1 and still 12 at rank 5. While the claw is down, she has no way to reach you or to leave.
  • Stand to the side of the minion wave. Ice Shard passes through its first target, so the shards reach you if you stand directly behind the creep she hits.
  • Don’t fight inside the circle. Ring of Frost roots everyone around her, and it is her only reliable setup for the ultimate.
  • Count her ultimate. If she casts Frozen Tomb on you, she cannot cast it on herself, and for the next 120 seconds at rank 1 she’s a mage with no escape.
  • Pull away from dying champions. Iceborn Subjugation turns a nearby corpse into a Frozen Thrall that slows you and then shatters for magic damage.

Which items counter Lissandra?

Everything she casts deals magic damage, so Magic Resist is the first buy and a spell shield is the second. Kaenic Rookern brings 400 Health and 80 Magic Resist, and after 15 seconds without taking magic damage it hands you a magic shield that eats the opening Ice Shard. Banshee’s Veil carries Annul, a Spell Shield that blocks the next enemy Ability, and against a champion who needs the root to land before the stun, one blocked Ring of Frost ruins the combo. Edge of Night does the same job for AD assassins at 3,000 gold. Mercury’s Treads add 30% Tenacity, which shortens the root and the stun. What about the ultimate? Quicksilver Sash removes crowd control debuffs on use (not Airborne, but she has none), so it can break Frozen Tomb outright. Zhonya’s Hourglass puts an AP champion in Stasis for 2.5 seconds, long enough for the dark ice to spread and fade. The full stat lines are in our LoL items database, and if you’d rather out-damage her, Rabadon’s Deathcap is the usual answer for mages who win the trade.

When is Lissandra at her weakest?

Without Glacial Path. To be fair, she can still poke, but the claw is her only movement and it sits on the longest basic cooldown in her kit, so the moment it goes down she is stuck wherever she cast it. Punish that. It is the window for a jungler, or for any mid laner with a gap closer of their own.

The second window opens after Frozen Tomb. One cast, one use: either she stuns you or she saves herself, never both. A Lissandra who burned the ultimate to stun your ADC has nothing left to heal through a counter-engage, and at 120 seconds at rank 1 (80 at rank 3) that’s a long stretch of lane to survive.

Not sure which lane these picks belong in? Our guide to LoL roles sorts it out. Her cosmetics live on the Lissandra skins page, and for the single-lane version of this matchup read the Lissandra ARAM guide. Put simply, Lissandra counters either shrug off magic damage or refuse to be the target, and once her claw and tomb are spent she’s a 550 range mage walking home on foot.

FAQ

Who counters Lissandra the most?

Kassadin and Galio, who resist or shield magic damage, Fizz and Vladimir, who turn untargetable during Frozen Tomb, and Malzahar, whose passive ignores her root and stun.

Does Quicksilver Sash remove Lissandra’s ultimate?

Yes. Quicksilver removes all crowd control debuffs except Airborne, and Frozen Tomb is a stun, so the active breaks it.

How long is Glacial Path’s cooldown?

24 seconds at rank 1, falling to 21, 18, 15 and 12 seconds at ranks 2 to 5. It is her only movement ability.

Can Lissandra use Frozen Tomb on herself and an enemy?

No. One cast does one thing: cast on an enemy it stuns them, cast on herself it heals her and makes her untargetable and invulnerable. Either way, the dark ice then damages and slows nearby enemies.

Are these counters picked from win-rate tables?

No. Each one was chosen by comparing Lissandra’s ability text for patch 26.21 with the other champion’s kit.