Skip to content

Olaf Counters: Who Beats Olaf

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

Olaf counters are top laners who never let him reach melee range, or who blunt the attacks his whole kit runs on. He’s a 125 range bruiser who gets Attack Speed and Life Steal as he loses Health, throws a slowing axe, swings for true damage, and with Ragnarok becomes immune to disables for as long as he keeps attacking. The picks that beat him kite him, blind him, or slow his attacks down.

Below are five top laners with the abilities that explain each matchup. Win-rate tables stayed closed.

Olaf counters: Olaf, the Berserker, splash art

Why is Olaf hard to counter?

  • Berserker Rage (passive): Attack Speed and Life Steal that grow with his missing Health.
  • Undertow (Q): an axe thrown at a spot that damages enemies it passes, cutting their Armor and Move Speed; picking it up resets the cooldown. Cooldown 9 seconds.
  • Tough It Out (W): more Attack Speed and a Shield. Cooldown 16/15/14/13/12.
  • Reckless Swing (E): a hit that deals true damage to the target and to Olaf, with the Health cost refunded if it kills. Cooldown 11/10/9/8/7.
  • Ragnarok (R): passive Armor and Magic Resist; when activated, immunity to disables as long as he keeps attacking. Cooldown 100/90/80.

Olaf gets stronger as he gets hurt, which is the opposite of how most fights go. Low Health means more Attack Speed and more Life Steal, so chunking him halfway often just makes the next ten seconds worse for you. Undertow slows you so you can’t walk away, Reckless Swing ignores your Armor entirely, and once Ragnarok is up, stuns and roots do nothing while he’s swinging. So what’s left? Range. Every one of those tools needs him next to you, and the axe is the only thing he can throw.

Which champions are the best Olaf counters?

Teemo

Blinding Dart (Q) damages and blinds the target, and a blinded Olaf’s attacks miss. That shuts off his damage and the Life Steal from Berserker Rage at the same time, and Ragnarok doesn’t help, since blind isn’t something he needs to break free of. Toxic Shot (E) poisons on every attack for 4 seconds from 500 range, Move Quick (W) adds Move Speed until a champion hits him (with a sprint that ignores being struck), and Noxious Trap (R) mushrooms slow and poison anyone who steps on them. In practice, Olaf spends the lane picking his axe out of mushroom fields.

Quinn

Quinn attacks from 525 range, more than four times Olaf’s. Vault (E) dashes to an enemy, slows them, briefly interrupts them and then leaps back out to near her maximum attack range, which is a disengage built for exactly this matchup. Blinding Assault (Q) sends Valor to cloud a target’s vision, then hurts everyone standing close by. Harrier (passive) marks enemies for bonus damage on her first attack, and Heightened Senses (W) gives her Attack Speed and Move Speed after hitting a marked target. Behind Enemy Lines (R) lets her fly around at great speed. Can Olaf catch her? Only with the axe, and she sees it coming.

Malphite

Ground Slam (E) deals magic damage based on Malphite’s Armor and reduces the Attack Speed of enemies around him. Attack Speed is the stat Olaf scales with, from Berserker Rage and from Tough It Out. Granite Shield (passive) is a rock layer worth up to 10% of his maximum Health, and it comes back after a few seconds of not being hit. Seismic Shard (Q) steals Move Speed for 3 seconds, which offsets the Undertow slow. The catch is Reckless Swing: true damage ignores all that Armor. Still, Unstoppable Force (R) knocks him up from range before he gets to press Ragnarok.

Kennen

Kennen’s 550 range and fast Thundering Shuriken (Q) poke Olaf from far outside melee distance. Mark of the Storm (passive) stuns any enemy hit three times by his abilities, so a Kennen who lands the third mark before Ragnarok wins the trade outright. Lightning Rush (E) lets him pass through units with extra Move Speed, which is how he walks out of the axe’s slow. Electrical Surge (W) adds marks on attacks and its active, and Slicing Maelstrom (R) strikes all nearby enemy champions. Honestly, Olaf’s best hope is that Kennen gets greedy.

Gnar

Mini Gnar kites. Boomerang Throw (Q) damages and slows on the way out and back, its cooldown shrinks when he catches it, and Hop (E) bounces off units to travel further. Hyper (W) adds bonus damage and Move Speed as his attacks land. Rage Gene (passive) turns him into Mega Gnar at full Rage, where Wallop (W) stuns in an area and GNAR! (R) throws enemies, stunning any who hit a wall. Ragnarok makes Olaf immune to those disables while he’s attacking, so time Mega Gnar for when it’s on cooldown. That’s 100 seconds at rank 1.

How do you play the lane against Olaf?

  • Dodge Undertow, then stand on the axe. Picking it up resets his cooldown, so blocking the path makes him wait the full 9 seconds.
  • Trade when Tough It Out is down. The shield and Attack Speed come back every 16 seconds at rank 1.
  • Don’t stop at half Health. Berserker Rage gives him more Life Steal the lower he gets, so finish the burst or back off.
  • Save your stun for when Ragnarok is on cooldown. While it’s active and he keeps attacking, disables don’t work.
  • Armor doesn’t help against Reckless Swing. It deals true damage to you and to him.

Which items counter Olaf?

His sustain is Life Steal and his damage is mostly attacks, so Grievous Wounds and Attack Speed reduction come first. Thornmail applies 40% Wounds for 3 seconds to any champion who attacks you and adds 75 Armor, and Bramble Vest starts the same effect at 800 gold. Frozen Heart’s Winter’s Caress cuts the Attack Speed of nearby champions by 20%, which hits Berserker Rage directly. Plated Steelcaps knock 10% off damage from his attacks. On a ranged top laner, Executioner’s Calling does the anti-heal job for 800 gold. Tanks wanting extra Health can look at Heartsteel, and the full list is in our LoL items database.

When is Olaf at his weakest?

When Ragnarok is down. For 100 seconds at rank 1, every stun, root and knock-up works on him again, and he can’t run through your team. Most lost fights against Olaf come from wasting crowd control while the ultimate is active.

The other window is the walk in. Olaf has no dash and no blink (just Undertow’s slow and his own Move Speed), so a ranged top laner who keeps the gap open takes free trades all lane. Funny enough, that early lane is often the part Olaf players hate most. Keep him at range until he has items (and ideally after, too).

Wondering how the top lane differs from the others? Our guide to LoL roles explains it, his skins fill the Olaf skins page, and the rest of the roster lives in our guide index, with the Olaf ARAM guide covering his teamfight side on the Howling Abyss. Long story short, Olaf counters kite him, blind him or slow his attacks, and save their stuns for after Ragnarok.

FAQ

Who counters Olaf the most?

Teemo, Quinn, Kennen and Gnar, who keep him at range, and Malphite, who slows his Attack Speed and knocks him up before Ragnarok.

What does Ragnarok do?

Passively, it grants Armor and Magic Resist. When activated, Olaf becomes immune to disables as long as he keeps attacking.

Does Armor work against Reckless Swing?

No. Reckless Swing deals true damage, which ignores Armor. It also costs Olaf Health, refunded only if it kills the target.

Does Grievous Wounds work against Olaf?

Yes. It reduces his Life Steal healing from Berserker Rage.

How were these Olaf counters chosen?

We set Olaf’s patch 26.21 ability descriptions beside each top laner’s kit. No win-rate data was used.