Taliyah Counters: Who Beats Taliyah

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

Taliyah counters are junglers who don’t need a dash to reach her, because her minefield exists to punish dashes. She’s a 525-range mage who throws volleys of rock while moving, shoves enemies in a chosen direction, lays mines that stun anyone who dashes through them, and raises a very long wall, so walkers, blinkers and Magic Resist beat her.

We matched her patch 26.21 ability text against theirs to pick these five. Statistics didn’t come into it.

Why is Taliyah hard to counter?

• Rock Surfing (passive): she gains Move Speed near walls.
• Threaded Volley (Q): a volley of rocks in a direction, thrown while she moves freely, which leaves Worked Ground under her; cast on Worked Ground, it consumes the ground to throw one stronger boulder that slows. Cooldown 7/6/5/4/3 seconds.
• Seismic Shove (W): an area of ground erupts and throws the enemies in it in a direction of her choosing. Cooldown 14/12.5/11/9.5/8.
• Unraveled Earth (E): a slowing minefield; enemies who dash through it, or are knocked through it, set off the mines and are stunned. Cooldown 14.
• Weaver’s Wall (R): a very long wall that she then surfs along. Cooldown 180/150/120.

Taliyah’s kit is a trap built out of terrain. She lays Unraveled Earth, and any jungler who dashes at her through it is stunned; she casts Seismic Shove, and the enemy who was standing still is thrown through the mines instead, and stunned anyway. Threaded Volley pokes while she walks, Weaver’s Wall cuts the map in half on a cooldown of 180 seconds at rank 1, and Rock Surfing means she arrives at fights faster than a mage should. What doesn’t she have? A shield, a dash of her own, or an answer to someone who walks up to her slowly. Honestly, most of her kit is a question asked of champions with a dash, and the five below don’t have one to lose.

Which champions are the best Taliyah counters?

Rammus

Powerball (Q) is Rammus accelerating in a ball, not a dash, so he rolls through Unraveled Earth without setting off a single mine and arrives with a slow on impact. Everything Taliyah throws is magic, and Defensive Ball Curl (W) multiplies his Armor and Magic Resistance while bouncing damage back at attackers. Frenzying Taunt (E) forces her into a reckless assault on him, which for a 525-range mage means walking into melee range of an armadillo (nobody wants that). Soaring Slam (R) from Powerball knocks up enemies near the center, and Spiked Shell (passive) turns the Magic Resistance into Attack Damage. The catch is Seismic Shove: it throws him wherever she likes. Mines included. So the roll has to come from an angle the field doesn’t cover.

Udyr

Udyr has no dash anywhere in his kit, which is the entire argument, and Blazing Stampede (E) gives him movement speed with a stun on his first attack against each target, while the recast grants immunity to immobilizing effects for a couple of seconds. A stun from the mines is an immobilizing effect. His other stances cover the rest: Iron Mantle (W) is a shield plus healing on the next two attacks, Wilding Claw (Q) is attack speed with bonus physical damage, and Wingborne Storm (R) is a slowing storm around him. Thing is, a slowed Taliyah with no dash has to rely on Seismic Shove to get him off her, and Udyr’s recast timing is what decides whether that throw lands.

Shaco

Deceive (Q) teleports Shaco to a location and makes him Invisible, and a teleport is not a dash, so he appears behind her on the far side of the minefield with an empowered attack that crits from behind through Backstab (passive). Jack In The Box (W) leaves hidden boxes that fear and attack whoever triggers them, which is a trap for the trapper. She hates it. Two-Shiv Poison (E) slows on hit and deals bonus damage below 30% Health, and Hallucinate (R) adds a clone that explodes into three mini boxes. In practice her defence is knowing where you’ll come from. Shaco makes sure she doesn’t.

Master Yi

Alpha Strike (Q) teleports Master Yi across the battlefield while he’s untargetable, hitting multiple units on the way, and a teleport doesn’t trigger Unraveled Earth. Highlander (R) raises his Move Speed and Attack Speed and makes him immune to all slowing effects, and Taliyah’s kit slows twice: the boulder from Worked Ground and the minefield itself. Wuju Style (E) adds true damage to his attacks, Meditate (W) restores Health while reducing the damage he takes, and Double Strike (passive) lands two hits every few attacks. Funny enough, the champion everybody calls simple is the one whose two buttons answer her two mechanics exactly (there’s a lesson there).

Nocturne

Shroud of Darkness (W) blocks a single enemy ability, and the one to block is Seismic Shove, since the throw is what puts you through the mines. Paranoia (R) removes the enemy team’s vision and launches him at a champion, which is a dash, so it has to start from outside Unraveled Earth or it ends in a stun; cast from beyond the field, it lands on a 525-range mage with no escape. Her escape attempt meets Unspeakable Horror (E), a fear if she can’t leave its range in time, while Duskbringer (Q) gives him a trail to move through units on. He’s a 125-range fighter, so the whole matchup is one well-aimed ultimate.

How do you play the jungle against Taliyah?

• Don’t dash through the field. Unraveled Earth stuns enemies who dash through it or are knocked through it; walk around it, or wait the 14 second cooldown out.
• Stand where the shove can’t throw you into the mines. Seismic Shove throws in a direction she chooses, and she always chooses the field.
• Fight away from walls. Rock Surfing gives her Move Speed near them, and Weaver’s Wall adds one wherever she wants it.
• Move off Worked Ground. Threaded Volley cast on it throws a stronger boulder that slows, so the ground she just stood on is the ground to leave.
• Buy Magic Resist early. Every spell she has is magic damage, and the volley comes back every 3 seconds at rank 5.

Which items counter Taliyah?

Magic Resist and anti-slow, in that order. Force of Nature is the natural first item against a volley mage: Steadfast grants 70 Magic Resist and 6% bonus Move Speed after 8 instances of magic damage from champions, and one Threaded Volley is several instances. Spirit Visage adds 400 Health to 50 Magic Resist. Kaenic Rookern’s 80 Magic Resist is welcome, though its Magebane shield only returns after 15 seconds without magic damage, which a Taliyah who pokes on a 3 second cooldown rarely allows. A Spell Shield from Banshee’s Veil absorbs one enemy ability, and against Taliyah that ability should be Seismic Shove. For the slows, Dead Man’s Plate gives 350 Health, 55 Armor and up to 20 bonus Move Speed while moving, with Unsinkable reducing the effectiveness of slows by 15%, and Mercury’s Treads add 30% Tenacity against the mine stun. The full list with build paths is in our item database; Heartsteel is the page for tanks who plan to walk through the field on purpose.

When is Taliyah at her weakest?

With Unraveled Earth on the ground behind you instead of in front of you. The field is her only hard crowd control besides the shove, and both need you to be in a specific place, so a jungler who approaches from the side she didn’t mine has reduced her to a 525-range poke mage with no shield and no dash. Walk, don’t dash, and she’s yours.

And after Weaver’s Wall. At rank 1 the wall is on a 180 second cooldown (three full minutes), and a Taliyah who surfed it to escape or to split the map has nothing left to cross terrain with except Rock Surfing’s Move Speed. Did she wall to run from a fight? Then for three minutes the river belongs to whoever is chasing her, and she knows it.

New to jungling a mage? Our guide to LoL roles runs through the jungle. The Taliyah skins page has her cosmetics, and the Taliyah ARAM guide covers the Howling Abyss. To be fair, cleverness isn’t what the best Taliyah counters bring. They just don’t press the button she’s waiting for.

FAQ

Who counters Taliyah the most?

Junglers who reach her without a dash: Rammus, Udyr, Shaco, Master Yi and Nocturne.

What triggers Unraveled Earth?

Dashing through the minefield, or being knocked through it by something like Seismic Shove. Walking through it only slows you.

Does Rammus counter Taliyah?

Yes. Powerball is a rolling movement speed boost rather than a dash, so it doesn’t set off the mines, and Defensive Ball Curl gives him a large amount of Magic Resistance against a kit that deals only magic damage.

Can you block Seismic Shove?

Yes. A Spell Shield from Banshee’s Veil, or Nocturne’s Shroud of Darkness, blocks the next enemy ability, and the shove is the spell that puts you through the mines.

Is this list based on win rates?

No. Taliyah’s patch 26.21 ability text against each champion’s kit is the only input; no tables were opened.