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Twitch Counters: Who Beats Twitch

Updated for patch 26.22. Ability details come from Riot’s official game data for this patch.

Twitch counters are bot laners who kill him before his items arrive and keep vision on the bushes he hides in. He’s a 550-range marksman whose poison deals true damage each second, who goes camouflaged on Ambush, and whose ultimate pierces every enemy in a line, so early kill pressure, a reveal and a way to dodge attacks beat him.

Five picks, judged on his patch 26.22 ability text against theirs. We don’t rank by win rate.

Twitch counters: Twitch, the Plague Rat, splash art

Why is Twitch hard to counter?

  • Deadly Venom (passive): his basic attacks infect the target On-Hit, dealing true damage each second.
  • Ambush (Q): Twitch becomes Camouflaged for a short duration and gains Move Speed. Leaving Camouflage grants Attack Speed, and when a champion carrying Deadly Venom dies, the cooldown resets. Cooldown 16 seconds.
  • Venom Cask (W): a cask that explodes in an area, slowing targets and applying Deadly Venom. Cooldown 13/12/11/10/9.
  • Contaminate (E): a blast of disease on poisoned enemies. Cooldown 12/11/10/9/8.
  • Spray and Pray (R): bolts fired over a great distance that pierce all enemies in their path. Cooldown 90.

Twitch wins team fights from a flank you didn’t know existed. Ambush makes him Camouflaged and faster, so he walks around the fight instead of into it, and when he comes out he has Attack Speed and a Spray and Pray that pierces everyone standing in a line. The poison is true damage, which no Armor reduces, and Contaminate cashes it in on everyone already infected. Then somebody dies with venom on them, Ambush resets, and the rat vanishes again. What does he give up for that? Everything else. He has no dash, no shield and nothing that stops you from killing him in the first ten minutes, which is honestly where all five picks below do their work.

Which champions are the best Twitch counters?

Draven

Draven exists to punish marksmen who need time, and Twitch needs more of it than most. Spinning Axe (Q) adds bonus physical damage to his next attack, and catching the axe readies another, so every trade in the first levels is his to take (ask anyone who has laned into him). Stand Aside (E) knocks enemies aside and slows them, which pulls a Twitch out of position before Ambush is even off cooldown. Whirling Death (R) hurls two massive axes that execute enemies with less Health than his Adoration stacks. Same 550 range, far better early numbers, and League of Draven (passive) pays him bonus gold for each kill he takes along the way.

Caitlyn

Caitlyn attacks from 650 range against Twitch’s 550, which means the rat takes a Headshot before he can answer, every time he steps up to farm. Yordle Snap Trap (W) is the real counter: a sprung trap reveals and immobilizes the enemy champion for 1.5 seconds and grants an empowered Headshot, and a trap in the bush Twitch likes to Ambush from turns his flank into a stun (and a free Headshot). 90 Caliber Net (E) slows him and knocks her back out of his range, and Ace in the Hole (R) deals massive damage at a huge range to a target who has no way to escape it except an ally stepping in front.

Lucian

Ardent Blaze (W) explodes in a star shape, marking and briefly revealing enemies, and Lucian gains Move Speed for attacking marked targets. A revealed rat is no ambush. Relentless Pursuit (E) is a short dash whose cooldown drops with each Lightslinger attack, Piercing Light (Q) shoots through a target, and The Culling (R) is a torrent of shots that trades evenly with Spray and Pray in the one window Twitch thinks he owns. Thing is, Lucian’s 500 range is shorter than Twitch’s, so he has to use the dash to start fights, not to end them.

Samira

Blade Whirl (W) destroys enemy missiles around Samira, and Spray and Pray is a line of missiles. Wild Rush (E) dashes through an enemy and refreshes when she kills a champion, Daredevil Impulse (passive) dashes her to attack range on anyone affected by an immobilizing effect, and Inferno Trigger (R) shoots everyone around her. In practice the matchup is simple: Twitch wants to stand still at 550 range and fire, and Samira is standing next to him with a sword before the second bolt lands. The catch is she has to reach him through the poison, and true damage doesn’t care how much Armor her support bought her.

Nilah

Jubilant Veil (W) is mist: more movement speed, and every incoming attack dodged for its duration. Twitch’s damage is attacks, and each stack of Deadly Venom starts with one. Slipstream (E) dashes her toward a target through anyone in the way, and Apotheosis (R) damages enemies around her and pulls them closer (the rat does not want to be closer). Her attack range is 225, which sounds like a problem against 550 until you remember he has no dash. She has one.

How do you play the lane against Twitch?

  • Trade early and often. He has no dash, no shield and a 550 range that most marksmen match, so levels 1 to 6 are yours.
  • Ward the lane bushes. Ambush makes him Camouflaged, not invisible, and a Control Ward for 75 gold takes the surprise out of the flank.
  • Don’t group in a line. Spray and Pray pierces every enemy in its path, so a team standing in a row is five targets per bolt.
  • Step out of Venom Cask. It slows and applies the poison that Contaminate needs, so dodging the cask also disarms the E.
  • Kill him when he comes out. Leaving Camouflage gives him Attack Speed, not Health, and the first seconds after Ambush are when he’s closest to you.

Which items counter Twitch?

Two problems: his attacks are physical, and the poison on them is true damage that no resistance touches. Armor handles the first. Plated Steelcaps are the cheap start, 25 Armor with Plating cutting incoming damage from attacks by 10%, and most of what Twitch does is an attack. Frozen Heart’s Winter’s Caress reduces the Attack Speed of nearby champions by 20%, which hits the Attack Speed he gains when leaving Camouflage, and the item also carries 75 Armor and 400 Mana. Thornmail returns magic damage when an attack strikes you and applies 40% Wounds for 3 seconds to a champion attacker, and a rat that attacks six times a fight collects six of those (more, usually). For the true damage there’s only Health: Warmog’s Armor gives 1,000 Health and restores Health per second once you hold 2000 bonus Health and haven’t taken damage for 8 seconds. Randuin’s Omen is for the crit build, with Resilience making you receive 30% less damage from Critical Strikes. All of them, with build paths, are in our item database; the Sunfire Aegis page is a fair place to start for tanks who expect to stand in front.

When is Twitch at his weakest?

Before his first item, and that’s not a figure of speech. Nothing in his kit defends him, his 550 range is ordinary, and Ambush on a 16 second cooldown is a Move Speed buff, not an escape, since a Camouflaged champion is still a champion standing next to you. Trade. Keep trading. Put simply, make the laning phase a question he can’t answer.

The other window is the moment he leaves Camouflage. He gains Attack Speed, which means he intends to stand still and shoot, and a marksman who intends to stand still has told you where he will be for the next few seconds. Is Spray and Pray up? Then the next few seconds decide the fight. Is it down? Then he’s a 550-range marksman with a slow on a 13 second cooldown and nothing else.

Our guide to LoL roles is the place to start if positions are still a blur, bot lane pairing included. Cosmetics are on the Twitch skins page. For the mode where he’s actually buffed, read the Twitch ARAM guide. To be fair, the best Twitch counters don’t out-scale him; they make sure the scaling never happens.

FAQ

Who counters Twitch the most?

Bot laners with early kill pressure or a reveal: Draven, Caitlyn, Lucian, Samira and Nilah.

Does Armor reduce Twitch’s poison?

No. Deadly Venom deals true damage each second, which no Armor or Magic Resist reduces. Armor only reduces the physical damage of the attacks that apply it.

Can you see Twitch during Ambush?

Ambush makes him Camouflaged, not invisible, so vision tools like a Control Ward and nearby enemies can reveal him. Lucian’s Ardent Blaze also reveals marked enemies.

Does Caitlyn counter Twitch?

Yes. She attacks from 650 range against his 550, and a sprung Yordle Snap Trap reveals and immobilizes him for 1.5 seconds.

Is this list based on win rates?

No. We put Twitch’s patch 26.22 ability text next to each pick’s kit and chose from that. We don’t use win-rate data.