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Morgana Counters: Who Beats Morgana

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

Morgana counters are supports who hurt her without magic damage, or who poke from well beyond the reach of her binding. She’s a 450 range mage whose kit is a long root, a damaging pool, a shield that absorbs magic damage and disables, and an ultimate that chains nearby champions and stuns the ones who stay close. The picks that beat her either ignore Black Shield or never let her get near.

Five supports below, each chosen by holding their abilities up against hers. Nothing here leans on a stats site.

Morgana counters: Morgana, the Fallen, splash art

Why is Morgana hard to counter?

  • Soul Siphon (passive): she heals as she damages champions, large minions and medium or larger jungle monsters.
  • Dark Binding (Q): a bolt that roots an enemy in place and deals magic damage. Cooldown 10 seconds.
  • Tormented Shadow (W): a cursed circle that deals magic damage over time, more to enemies on low Health. Cooldown 12.
  • Black Shield (E): a starfire barrier for an ally; it soaks up magic damage and disabling effects and lasts until broken. Cooldown 26 seconds at rank 1, 16 at rank 5.
  • Soul Shackles (R): she chains nearby enemy champions and gains Move Speed; the chains slow and damage at once, then stun anyone who hasn’t broken them. Cooldown 120/110/100.

Black Shield is the reason engage supports hate this lane. A Leona or a Nautilus walks up, presses a stun, and the stun just vanishes into the barrier, which leaves them standing next to an ADC with nothing to show for it. Ugly trade. Dark Binding then roots them for the counter-attack. Put simply, crowd control is the wrong currency against her. The shield only stops two things, magic damage and disables, so anything that deals physical or true damage, or that never tries to disable at all, walks straight past it.

Which champions are the best Morgana counters?

Senna

Senna’s damage comes from her Relic Cannon, and those attacks are physical, which Black Shield doesn’t absorb. Her 600 range is the longest on this list (Zyra is next). Absolution (passive) adds Attack Damage, Attack Range and Critical Strike Chance as she collects souls, so she gets further out of reach as the game goes on. Piercing Darkness (Q) fires through a target, healing allies and damaging enemies, and Curse of the Black Mist (E) makes her and nearby allies camouflaged and unselectable, which is a rough thing for a skillshot root to aim at. Does Last Embrace get blocked? Yes, the root is a disable, so save it for when the shield is down.

Vel’Koz

Organic Deconstruction (passive) stacks on every ability hit, and at three stacks the target takes a burst of true damage. Black Shield absorbs magical damage, not true damage. The same goes for Life Form Disintegration Ray (R), a channelled beam that follows the cursor for 2.5 seconds and, once a champion has been researched by the passive, deals true damage instead of magic. Plasma Fission (Q) splits on reactivation to slow from awkward angles, and Void Rift (W) bursts twice in the same spot, which is honestly a nightmare to stand near when Tormented Shadow has her rooted to a zone of her own. The catch: Tectonic Disruption (E) knocks up, and that knock-up is exactly what the shield eats.

Xerath

Arcanopulse (Q) is a long-range beam that hits everything in its line, and Rite of the Arcane (R) roots Xerath in place while he fires several long-range barrages. Neither cares much about who is shielded. Eye of Destruction (W) slows and damages a whole area, with extra damage in the middle. Against a 450 range support who needs Dark Binding to land before she can do anything, a mage who fights from that far away takes the binding out of the lane entirely. To be fair, Shocking Orb (E) is the one spell that Black Shield will block (it stuns), so throw it at whoever isn’t shielded.

Brand

Blaze (passive) sets targets ablaze for 4 seconds and stacks up to 3 times; at max stacks on a champion it detonates after 2 seconds and deals heavy damage in an area around the victim. That area part matters. Black Shield protects one ally, while Conflagration (E) spreads to nearby enemies, Pillar of Flame (W) hits a whole circle for 25% extra against burning units, and Pyroclasm (R) bounces up to 5 times between champions. The shield breaks, and everyone else still burns. Sear (Q) only stuns targets that are already ablaze, which is the bit to time after the barrier pops.

Zyra

Garden of Thorns (passive) spawns seeds around Zyra, and Deadly Spines (Q) or Grasping Roots (E) cast near them grow plants that fight for her. Thing is, plants don’t care about Black Shield being on the ADC, they just keep shooting. Rampant Growth (W) stores several seeds at once, and every kill shortens its recharge, so a won skirmish leaves her with a full garden ready for the next one. Soul Shackles chains enemy champions only, so plants keep attacking while Morgana’s ultimate goes off. Stranglethorns (R) knocks enemies airborne as the thicket contracts. In practice the plants zone the bush, and Morgana loses the safe spots she would normally throw Dark Binding from.

How do you play the lane against Morgana?

  • Look at the shield before casting a stun. Black Shield absorbs disables, so a hook or a root into it is wasted.
  • Count the shield’s cooldown. 26 seconds at rank 1 is long, and that’s your window to engage.
  • Keep a minion between you and her. Dark Binding is a skillshot root on a 10 second cooldown, and it’s her main way to start anything.
  • Step out of Tormented Shadow early; its damage rises the lower your Health gets.
  • When she casts Soul Shackles, run. The chains only stun champions who haven’t broken them, and distance is how you break them.

Which items counter Morgana?

Her damage is all magic and her healing comes from Soul Siphon, so the shopping list writes itself. Oblivion Orb, at 800 gold, applies 40% Wounds for 3 seconds when you deal magic damage, and Executioner’s Calling does the same with physical damage. Serpent’s Fang matters more here than in most lanes. Its Shield Reaver passive cuts the shields of whoever you damage, Black Shield included, and the item carries 55 Attack Damage. For the binding itself, Banshee’s Veil grants a Spell Shield that blocks the next enemy Ability (on a mage that’s 40 Magic Resist too), Edge of Night does the same for AD champions, and Mercury’s Treads with 30% Tenacity shorten the root. Quicksilver Sash removes the Soul Shackles stun after the fact, and tanks can lean on Kaenic Rookern and its magic shield instead (it comes back after a stretch without magic damage). The rest is in the item database.

When are Morgana counters strongest?

Right after Black Shield goes on cooldown. That’s 26 seconds at rank 1 (still 16 at rank 5), and without it her ADC has nothing to stop a hook, a stun or a knock-up. If your support has engage, wait for the barrier to pop, then commit. Not before.

The second window comes when Dark Binding misses. It’s a 10 second cooldown, and a Morgana without her root is a 450 range support who can only drop a pool and hope. Rare, but it happens: a missed binding into a missed ultimate, and the lane flips for half a minute. Who punishes that best? The poke mages above, since they were never planning to walk in anyway.

New to the bot lane? Our rundown of LoL roles covers what a support does. Her skins live on the Morgana skins page, while the Morgana ARAM guide walks through her build for the Howling Abyss. Long story short, the best Morgana counters deal damage her shield can’t absorb, and they wait out Black Shield before throwing any crowd control.

FAQ

Who counters Morgana the most?

Senna and Vel’Koz, whose physical and true damage pass through Black Shield, plus Xerath, Brand and Zyra, who poke or zone without needing to land a disable first.

What does Black Shield block?

Magic damage and disabling effects, until the barrier breaks. It does not absorb physical or true damage.

How long is Black Shield’s cooldown?

26 seconds at rank 1, then 23.5, 21, 18.5 and 16 seconds at ranks 2 to 5.

How do you escape Soul Shackles?

Move away from Morgana before the delay ends. The chains slow and damage at once, then stun only the champions who are still in range and haven’t broken them.

How were these Morgana counters chosen?

From the patch 26.21 ability descriptions of Morgana and each support. We don’t use win-rate data.