Tryndamere Counters: Who Beats Tryndamere

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

Tryndamere counters are top laners who shut down basic attacks or survive his crits: Armor tanks who slow his Attack Speed, champions who dodge or block attacks, and anyone who can stop his Spinning Slash or wait out Undying Rage. Tryndamere is a 175 range fighter whose damage comes almost entirely from auto attacks and crit. Take the attacks away and there’s very little left.

The five picks below were matched to his kit by hand. Win rates weren’t used.

Tryndamere counters: Tryndamere, the Barbarian King, splash art

Why is Tryndamere hard to counter?

Battle Fury (passive): Fury from attacks, crits and kills raises his Critical Strike Chance and can be spent on Bloodlust.
Bloodlust (Q): more Attack Damage the more wounded he is, and an active that consumes Fury to heal. Cooldown 12.
Mocking Shout (W): lowers nearby champions’ Attack Damage, and slows those with their backs to him. Cooldown 14.
Spinning Slash (E): slices toward a target, damaging enemies along the path. Cooldown 12/11/10/9/8.
Undying Rage (R): for its duration, he can’t die no matter how low he gets. Cooldown 120/100/80.

Tryndamere wins by hitting things. Fury raises his crit chance, Bloodlust adds damage as he gets low and heals him when he spends Fury, and Spinning Slash closes gaps. Then Undying Rage makes him impossible to kill for a few seconds, which is when most of his kills happen. Where’s the gap? He has no crowd control except Mocking Shout’s slow, and almost all his damage is attacks.

Which champions are the best Tryndamere counters?

Malphite

Malphite is an Armor tank with an Attack Speed answer. His E shockwave scales with Armor and, more to the point, leaves anyone it hits attacking slower for a moment. That’s Tryndamere’s main stat gone. Granite Shield (passive) absorbs damage up to 10% of Malphite’s maximum Health and recharges when he isn’t hit for a few seconds. Seismic Shard (Q) steals Move Speed for 3 seconds, slowing a Tryndamere who tries to run. The ultimate charge launches him upward, and Thunderclap (W) adds aftershocks to Malphite’s own attacks for a few seconds. Honestly, an Armor-stacked Malphite takes his attacks like rain (and hits back with that Armor).

Jax

For a couple of seconds his E makes every swing aimed at him miss, and then it ends in an area stun. Tryndamere’s damage is attacks. Time it when Undying Rage starts and a big chunk of the rage goes into dodged swings. Leap Strike (Q) jumps to a unit. Relentless Assault (passive) speeds up consecutive attacks, Empower (W) adds damage to the next hit, and Grandmaster-at-Arms (R) adds magic damage every third attack with an active that raises Armor and Magic Resist. In practice, Jax gets to decide when the duel starts and when it pauses.

Poppy

Steadfast Presence (W) can be activated to stop enemy dashes around Poppy, slowing and grounding anyone whose dash gets stopped. Spinning Slash is a dash. Heroic Charge (E) pushes him back and stuns if he hits a wall. And Undying Rage? Keeper’s Verdict (R) knocks enemies very far away, so a raging Tryndamere ends up far from the fight while the timer runs out. Hammer Shock (Q) slows in a zone. Iron Ambassador (passive) gives her a shield when she picks up her buckler, and the passive half of her W adds Armor and Magic Resist that grows when she’s low.

Shen

Spirit’s Refuge (W) blocks attacks that would hit Shen or his allies near his spirit blade. For a champion who only attacks, that zone is a no-damage area. Ki Barrier (passive) shields Shen after each spell. Shadow Dash (E) taunts enemies in its path, forcing Tryndamere to attack into the refuge. His Q blade strike scales with max Health and slows anyone fleeing from him. Stand United (R) shields an ally and teleports Shen to them, a way to counter Tryndamere’s side-lane split push across the map (rare, but it decides games).

Teemo

One dart, and Tryndamere’s next few seconds are wasted. Blinding Dart (Q) damages and blinds a target, and a blinded fighter’s attacks miss for the duration, which is exactly where his damage lives. Teemo attacks from 500 range with Toxic Shot (E) poison on every hit. Move Quick (W) keeps him fast until a champion hits him, plus an active sprint. Noxious Trap (R) mushrooms slow and poison when stepped on, so a Tryndamere chasing through them pays for it. Standing still in a bush, he vanishes. The catch is Spinning Slash: Teemo has to keep his distance or the blind won’t be enough.

How do you play the lane against Tryndamere?

Don’t fight him while Undying Rage is up. For its duration he can’t die, so back off and let it run out.
Face him. Mocking Shout only slows enemies with their backs turned to him.
Trade when Bloodlust is down. It’s his heal, on a 12 second cooldown.
Respect his low-health damage; Bloodlust grants more Attack Damage the more wounded he is.
Track Spinning Slash. Once he spends it going in, his way out is gone for 12 seconds at rank 1.

Which items counter Tryndamere?

Crits and attacks, so the answers are clear. Against a crit-stacking barbarian, Randuin’s Omen is almost mandatory for tanks: Resilience shaves 30% off every crit, and its Humility active slows him hard when he tries to leave. Stand near him in Frozen Heart and his Attack Speed drops by 20%. Thornmail returns magic damage on every attack and applies Wounds, which reduces Bloodlust’s heal. Plated Steelcaps cut attack damage by 10%. Need the full stat lists? Our LoL items database has them, and Frozen Heart is broken down on its own page.

When is Tryndamere at his weakest?

Right after Undying Rage ends. He usually uses it at low health, so when the timer runs out he’s still low, with Bloodlust often already spent. A single ability can finish him then.

He’s also weak against crowd control. Tryndamere has no way to cleanse a stun or a slow, and with only Spinning Slash for mobility, a stun on him during Undying Rage burns the clock without him dealing damage (to be fair, that’s true of most melee fighters, but he relies on attacks more than any of them).

New to top lane? Our guide to LoL roles sketches the job. His barbarian outfits sit on the Tryndamere skins page, and he has a separate Tryndamere ARAM guide for the Abyss. Long story short, Tryndamere counters take away his attacks, wait out Undying Rage, and punish him right after it ends.

FAQ

Who counters Tryndamere the most?

Malphite, who reduces his Attack Speed; Jax, whose Counter Strike dodges attacks; Poppy, who stops his dash and knocks him away; Shen, whose Spirit’s Refuge blocks attacks; and Teemo, whose Blinding Dart blinds him.