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Senna Counters: Who Beats Senna

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

Senna counters are engage supports and dive champions who reach her before her slow, long-range attacks add up. She plays support or bot with 600 attack range, a heal on Q, a delayed root on W, a camouflage zone on E and a global beam on R, and none of that is a dash, so hard engage and Grievous Wounds both work.

We went through the kits one ability at a time to pick these five. Win rates played no part in it.

Senna counters: Senna, the Redeemer, splash art

Why is Senna hard to counter?

  • Absolution (passive): souls of units that die near her get trapped in Mist, and attacking them gives her Attack Damage, Attack Range and Critical Strike Chance. Her attacks fire slower but hit harder, and they briefly steal some of the target’s Move Speed.
  • Piercing Darkness (Q): a beam fired through a target that heals allies and damages enemies. Cooldown 15 seconds.
  • Last Embrace (W): a wave of Black Mist that latches onto the first enemy it hits, then roots them and everyone nearby after a short delay. Cooldown 11 seconds.
  • Curse of the Black Mist (E): a storm around her that turns her and allies inside into camouflaged wraiths. Wraiths move faster, are unselectable and hide who they are.
  • Dawning Shadow (R): a global beam that shields allies and damages enemies caught in its center. Cooldown 140/120/100.

She scales the longer the game goes, because every soul she collects adds damage and range. Is she hard to catch? Not by herself. The thing that saves her is E: once the storm is up she’s unselectable, and anyone who follows her into it is chasing a wraith that looks like everyone else. Wait that out, though, and you’re left with a marksman who has no movement ability at all.

Which champions are the best Senna counters?

Leona

Zenith Blade (E) sends a sword image down a line, and the last champion it hits gets briefly immobilized while Leona dashes straight to them. Then Shield of Daybreak (Q) stuns on her next hit. That’s a chain Senna can’t step out of, and Eclipse (W) gives Leona Armor, Magic Resist and damage reduction so the slow, heavy Relic Cannon shots don’t punish her for standing there. Solar Flare stuns the center of its area, too.

Nautilus

Nautilus doesn’t care about 600 range. Dredge Line (Q) pulls him and Senna together, Staggering Blow roots her on his first attack, and Depth Charge (R) chases her down, knocks her up and stuns her at the end. Point-and-click ultimates are rough on a champion whose escape is a timed camouflage (and Depth Charge is about as point-and-click as it gets).

Pyke

Bone Skewer (Q) can pull an enemy toward him, Phantom Undertow (E) stuns champions along the phantom’s path, and Ghostwater Dive (W) camouflages him on the way in. Pyke wants low-health targets for Death From Below, which blinks to them and executes. Senna has no tank stats in her kit (nothing in it adds Armor or Health), so poke that gets her low sets up exactly that blink, to be fair.

Morgana

Last Embrace is a disabling effect, and Black Shield (E) absorbs magic damage and disabling effects until it breaks. Put it on your ADC and the root never lands. Dark Binding (Q) then roots Senna in place, and without a dash she needs her E storm to get out of the follow-up, which costs her the zone she’d rather save for a fight.

Samira

Samira is the bot laner on this list. Blade Whirl (W) destroys enemy missiles around her, and Senna’s whole damage pattern is slow, powerful attacks. Wild Rush (E) dashes through her, and the Daredevil Impulse passive dashes Samira into range of anyone who’s immobilized. Pair her with an engage support and Senna gets very little room. Real talk: miserable lane (dashes against zero dashes).

How do you play the lane against Senna?

  • Stand away from your teammate when the Mist flies. Last Embrace roots the first enemy hit and everything nearby, so stacking up doubles the damage.
  • Count Piercing Darkness. It heals her ADC and hits you, on a 15 second cooldown, so trades right after it are cheaper.
  • Don’t chase into the storm. Curse of the Black Mist makes wraiths unselectable, and you’ll waste cooldowns on nothing.
  • Deny souls where you can. They come from units dying near her, and each one makes her stronger later.
  • Track Dawning Shadow. It’s global, so a low enemy across the map can be saved by its shield.

Which items counter Senna?

Grievous Wounds first, since her Q heals her carry and her R shields the team. Executioner’s Calling gives 15 Attack Damage and 40% Wounds on physical damage, and it’s only 800 gold, while Oblivion Orb does the same job on magic damage for 800. Upgrade into Mortal Reminder or Morellonomicon later. Her attacks are physical, so Armor helps a lot. Plated Steelcaps reduce damage from attacks by 10%, Randuin’s Omen cuts damage from critical strikes by 30%, and Frozen Heart lowers the Attack Speed of nearby champions by 20%. If you’re the one carrying, Infinity Edge and the other options sit in our item database.

When is Senna at her weakest?

Early, before she’s collected souls. Honestly, that’s the window. Her range, damage and crit all come from the Mist, and in the first few levels she’s a support with a long-cooldown heal and a root.

The other moment is right after Curse of the Black Mist. It’s a 26 second cooldown at rank 1, and once it’s used she has no other way to become unselectable or move faster than normal. Go in then.

If you’re not sure which role each of these champions fills, the guide to LoL roles explains bot lane and support. Senna’s skins are listed on the Senna skins page. Want her in ARAM instead? Read the Senna ARAM guide. For what it’s worth, the Senna counters above all share one idea: reach her before the souls stack, and cut the healing when you do.

FAQ

Who counters Senna the most?

Engage supports like Leona, Nautilus and Pyke, plus Morgana, whose Black Shield blocks Last Embrace, and Samira in the bot lane, who can destroy missiles and dash to immobilized targets.

Does Senna have a dash?

No. Her mobility comes from Curse of the Black Mist, which camouflages her and grants Move Speed, and from her passive, which briefly takes some of a target’s Move Speed.

Does Grievous Wounds work against Senna?

Yes. Piercing Darkness heals allies, so Wounds reduces the healing her team gets from it.

How does Senna get stronger during the game?

By collecting souls. Units that die near her drop Mist souls, and each one she attacks adds Attack Damage, Attack Range and Critical Strike Chance.

Is this list based on win rates?

No. The picks are chosen from how abilities interact in patch 26.21. We don’t use win-rate data.