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Milio Counters: Who Beats Milio

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

Milio counters are engage supports who apply more crowd control than one Breath of Life can remove. He’s a 525 range enchanter whose kit is a knockback kick, a healing campfire, a two-charge shield with Move Speed, and an ultimate that heals and cleanses his allies, so the picks that beat him stack stuns, pulls and knock-ups faster than he can answer them.

What follows is five supports, chosen by reading his ability text next to theirs. No statistics. Every argument below names the spell it rests on.

Milio counters: Milio, The Gentle Flame, splash art

Why is Milio hard to counter?

  • Fired Up! (passive): his abilities enchant allies on touch, so their next damage deals a burst of extra damage and burns the target.
  • Ultra Mega Fire Kick (Q): a kicked ball that knocks back an enemy, flies upward on hit and falls back onto them, damaging and slowing everyone in the area. Cooldown 10 seconds.
  • Cozy Campfire (W): a zone that heals allies and increases the attack range of everyone inside. It follows the ally nearest to the cast point. Cooldown 29 seconds at rank 1, 21 at rank 5.
  • Warm Hugs (E): a shield tossed to an ally, with a temporary Move Speed boost. Two charges.
  • Breath of Life (R): a wave of soothing flames that heals allies in range and removes crowd control effects from them. Cooldown 160/145/130.

Milio makes the enemy ADC very hard to kill and very annoying to fight. The campfire heals and extends attack range at the same time, so the carry standing in it outranges you while regenerating. The shield has two charges, the kick knocks you back when you finally reach someone, and the ultimate undoes your stun. Thing is, every one of those is a reaction. He has one damaging spell, one knockback, and no way to start a fight himself, which is why the supports who do start fights give him so much trouble.

Which champions are the best Milio counters?

Leona

Shield of Daybreak (Q) stuns, Zenith Blade (E) immobilizes the last champion struck and dashes Leona onto them, and Solar Flare (R) stuns enemies in the center of its area. Three separate disables, one Breath of Life. Even if Milio cleanses the first, the second lands, and the ultimate that removes crowd control is on a 160 second cooldown at rank 1. Eclipse (W) gives her Damage Reduction, Armor and Magic Resist for the trade, so Fired Up! burns don’t move her much. Honestly, Leona is the matchup most Milio players dread, and the ability text explains why.

Nautilus

Dredge Line (Q) pulls Nautilus and the target together, Staggering Blow (passive) roots on his first attack against each target, Riptide (E) slows in three waves, and Depth Charge (R) chases one opponent, knocking up everyone in its path before it erupts and stuns the target. That’s a root, a pull, a knock-up and a stun from one champion. Breath of Life removes crowd control effects once per 160 seconds at rank 1. Can Milio cleanse all four? No, and the pull alone drags the carry out of Cozy Campfire.

Pyke

Bone Skewer (Q) pulls a target toward Pyke, Phantom Undertow (E) stuns every enemy champion the phantom passes on its way back, and Death From Below (R) executes low Health enemies and resets when it kills. Milio’s shields and heals keep a carry above the threshold, which is the catch here, but Ghostwater Dive (W) puts Pyke in Camouflage, so he picks the moment when Warm Hugs is already spent on someone else. Gift of the Drowned Ones (passive) regenerates the damage he took while hidden, which makes the poke trade Milio relies on a lot less useful.

Blitzcrank

Static Field (R) removes nearby enemies’ shields when activated, then damages and silences them briefly. Warm Hugs is a shield. So is Mana Barrier, but that one is Blitzcrank’s own. Rocket Grab (Q) drags Milio or his carry out of the campfire, and Power Fist (E) pops the target into the air. A silenced Milio can’t cast Breath of Life (silence stops spells), so the order Static Field, Rocket Grab, Power Fist leaves him watching with the cleanse unusable.

Rell

Shattering Strike (Q) breaks shields and stuns the units in its line, which deletes Warm Hugs before it absorbs anything. Ferromancy: Crash Down (W) knocks enemies up when she dismounts and gives her a large Shield, and the dismounted form gains Armor, Magic Resist and Attack Range. Magnet Storm (R) pulls nearby enemies toward her and keeps dragging them for a short while, and no single cleanse stops a drag that keeps reapplying. Break the Mold (passive) steals Armor and Magic Resist on hit, so her trades get better the longer the fight runs. In practice she’s slower than Leona but harder to escape once she’s on you.

How do you play the lane against Milio?

  • Chain the crowd control. Breath of Life removes it once, on a 160 second cooldown at rank 1. The second stun after the cleanse is the one that counts.
  • Fight outside the campfire. Cozy Campfire heals allies and extends their attack range, so a trade inside it is a trade on his terms.
  • Bait Warm Hugs first. Two charges, so expect two shields. Poke until both are gone, then commit.
  • Stand at an angle to Ultra Mega Fire Kick. The ball knocks back the first enemy it hits and then falls on the area, so sidestepping the initial kick avoids the slow too.
  • Break shields with the right spells. Rell’s Shattering Strike and Blitzcrank’s Static Field both remove shields outright, which makes his E useless.

Which items counter Milio?

Milio deals magic damage through Fired Up! and the kick, but his real contribution is healing and shielding, so Grievous Wounds comes first. Oblivion Orb costs 800 gold and applies 40% Wounds for 3 seconds on magic damage, Executioner’s Calling does the same on physical damage for 800, and the upgrades (Morellonomicon, Mortal Reminder, Chempunk Chainsword) keep the same 40% figure. Serpent’s Fang is the anti-shield pick for AD champions: its Shield Reaver cuts the shields of enemies you damage. For the engage supports listed above, Locket of the Iron Solari (30 Armor, 30 Magic Resist) shields your own team when you go in, and a tank who intends to sit on his carry wants Health from Heartsteel or the burn of Sunfire Aegis ticking through the campfire. Prices and full stat lines are in our LoL items database.

When is Milio at his weakest?

In the 160 seconds after Breath of Life. That’s the rank 1 cooldown, 130 at rank 3, and without the ultimate he has no answer to crowd control at all. A support who forces the cleanse early and then engages a minute later fights a Milio with nothing but a kick and two shields. What is he supposed to do then?

The other window is when he’s alone. Every ability in his kit works on an ally (the passive, the campfire, both shields, the ultimate), and Ultra Mega Fire Kick is the only thing he can point at an enemy. Catch him walking to a ward and he is a 525 range champion with one 10 second cooldown. Easy prey. Funny enough, the roaming supports on this list were built for exactly that walk.

If you’re still working out what an enchanter support is for, our guide to LoL roles explains the position. His cosmetics are listed on the Milio skins page, and the Milio ARAM guide covers how his healing and shields change on the Howling Abyss. Put simply, the best Milio counters bring two disables for every cleanse he has.

FAQ

Who counters Milio the most?

Engage supports with several disables: Leona, Nautilus, Pyke, Blitzcrank and Rell. Blitzcrank and Rell also remove shields, which answers Warm Hugs directly.

Does Milio’s ultimate remove crowd control?

Yes. Breath of Life heals allies in range and removes crowd control effects from them. Its cooldown is 160/145/130 seconds.

Does Grievous Wounds work against Milio?

Yes. Grievous Wounds reduces healing on the target, so Cozy Campfire and Breath of Life heal the affected ally for less. Oblivion Orb and Executioner’s Calling are the cheap ways to apply it.

How many shields does Milio have?

Warm Hugs has 2 charges, so he can shield twice in quick succession. Items that remove shields, such as Serpent’s Fang, or spells like Rell’s Shattering Strike, cancel them.

Were these picks chosen from win rates?

No. We compared Milio’s patch 26.21 ability descriptions with each support’s kit and picked the five whose crowd control outlasts his cleanse.