The Royal of the Rift - A Guide to Qiyana - League of Legends

19 Jul 19

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Zooph

The Royal of the Rift - A Guide to Qiyana - League of Legends

This guide aims to provide you with the information necessary to start winning with Qiyana!

Qiyana is the new AD Assassin that has been introduced to League of Legends! It has been a while since we have had a new AD Assassin introduced to the Rift and, now, we get a powerful one! Qiyana can seem a bit hard to handle at first, but once you get used to her, you will be able to slice your way to victory. This guide aims to give you what you need in order to be successful on Qiyana! First, we will take a look at her abilities, then her runes, then how to play her in Lane, how to play her in Teamfights, and finally, how to build her! So, let’s get into her abilities!

Abilities

Qiyana’s Passive, Royal Privilege, is a lot like a Sheen, granting bonus damage on the next ability you cast or the basic attack. There is a small cooldown on this Passive for each target affected. However, this passive cooldown resets on targets after you switch elements, which we will get to a bit later!

Qiyana’s Q ability is Elemental Wrath/Edge of Ixtal. This is a basic skillshot that is cast in a straight line in front of Qiyana. However, this ability changes based on the element Qiyana possesses at that time. When Qiyana has an element, she will throw her weapon and it will have a bonus effect. This ability also has its cooldown reset whenever Qiyana picks up a different element from the one she just used.

If Qiyana has the Brush element, then when she throws her weapon, she will be able to go invisible for 3.5 seconds. This effect is broken when she attacks or when she leaves the affected area. This invisibility can be used to give you a small window to let your cooldowns come back while evading your enemies’ attacks.

If Qiyana possesses the River element, then she will root the target she hits for half a second and then slow them after the root for 1 second. This ability is effective in both kiting away from enemies and for chasing enemies down.

Finally, if Qiyana is wielding the element of Terrain, then she will deal 60% increased damage with this ability against enemies who are below 50% Health.

Terrashape is Qiyana’s W, and this is the ability that allows you to pick up and change elements. Furthermore, Qiyana gains increased attack speed and increased damage while holding an element. She also gains out of combat Movement Speed while moving through the element she is currently wielding. Mastering which elements to use and when is the key to playing Qiyana really well!

Qiyana’s E ability is Audacity. This ability is very simple in comparison to all of her other abilities. This is a point and click dashing ability that dashes a fixed distance. You can also cast your Q while casting Audacity and it will automatically aim at the target you are dashing at.

Qiyana’s Ultimate is her Supreme Display of Talent. This ability is very much like a wide skillshot version of Vayne’s Condemn, with a little added flair. Casting this sends out a large wind blast in a target direction that will knock enemies back and it they hit a wall with the wind blast they will be stunned for a short duration.

Upon hitting the wall, the wind blast creates a shockwave that travels around the terrain that was hit. This can be a very large shockwave depending on the terrain that was hit, and any enemy hit by the shockwave will also take damage and be stunned for a short duration.

Now that we have learned Qiyana’s abilities, we will take a look at what Runes are most effective on her when taking to Summoner’s Rift.


Runes

Being such a new Champion, finding the best set of Runes that synergize with Qiyana is hard to pinpoint. As a result of this, I will share the Runes that I have seen the most success with and describe why I believe they are the best fit for her as a Mid Lane Champion.

Being an Assassin, the Primary Tree I take is the Domination Tree. For the Keystone, I use Electrocute, as it is very easy to proc in skirmishes against enemies and the extra burst damage given by the Keystone really helps out in taking enemies out before they can do too much damage to you.

This is followed by Sudden Impact, as you have a lot of dashes built into your kit and it will almost always be utilized by Qiyana whenever she is fighting.

Next on the list is Eyeball Collection. This will help you snowball really hard in your games, as you will start gaining more damage after getting a takedown. This is obviously good for the reason that you can get ahead of your opponents faster and secure your leads more effectively.

Lastly, you will want to take Ravenous Hunter. The extra bit of health gained from dealing damage to your enemies is very helpful in fights. Ultimate Hunter is not a bad alternative, as the reduced Cooldown you would gain instead of healing is very good for quite the powerful Ultimate that Qiyana possesses. Regardless, I personally find more success with the Ravenous Hunter Rune rather than the Ultimate Hunter Rune.

The Secondary Tree we will be using is the Sorcery Tree. In the Sorcery Tree, we will be taking Nimbus Cloak and Scorch. Nimbus Cloak helps out a lot; allowing you to stick to your enemies after casting your Ultimate as well as for defensive purposes. If you are being chased by multiple adversaries, you can Ult them away and then run away with the bonus movement speed.

Scorch is the next choice. This helps you out quite a bit in early game trades. This can be effective in bullying your opponents out of lane and maybe even providing you with that little bit of extra damage to secure a kill and help you gain a snowballing lead.

For the bonus Rune Stats, you will want to take the Adaptive Force from both the Offense and Flex options and then take the Bonus Scaling Health for your Defensive option.

Before getting into the game you will want to take the proper Summoner Spells as well and for these it will be the classic duo of Flash and Ignite. These two Summoner Spells are an Assassin’s bread and butter and Qiyana is no exception to them.

Now that we know what to prepare ourselves with before queueing into a game, let’s learn how to get the most out of Qiyana in the Laning Phase!

Laning Phase

Qiyana is not the best in lane compared to other Champions, but that does not mean she is bad. The goal is to play safe early and then you can overpower your opponents a bit later. You will want to max Q first, then E, then W.

At level 2, you can trade a bit with your opponent by casting Audacity to gap close toward them and cast Edge of Ixtal while this is happening. Mix in a basic attack, and you will proc Electrocute to get the most out of this trade.

At level 3, you can start to do a lot more and you will also have much more room to punish your opponents for their mistakes. By using the River element, which you gain from casting your Terrashape on the River, you will be able to stun and slow your opponent, then cast Audacity to get on top of them, mix in a basic attack, then Terrashape to the Terrain element and get the extra damage off of your Edge of Ixtal.

Using the Brush element can be extremely useful in escaping from ganks, as the 3.5 second invisibility in the affected area gives you time to escape without being able to be targeted. This can also be effective in trades by hiding and then popping out to do more damage on your unsuspecting foes.

If you have Lane Pressure, then do not be afraid to roam and apply your strength to other lanes or even an unsuspecting enemy Jungler. Qiyana thrives on being able to switch elements and use them to her advantage and she gets the opportunity to do this when she roams, as the River supplies all 3 of these elements to choose from.

Now that you understand this Champion in lane and roaming, let’s look at how to play her in teamfights.

Teamfights

Teamfights with Qiyana are different from many Champions for the fact that the environment plays a big role into Qiyana’s kit and if you are fighting where there are only one or two elements, then you are restricted by what you can do. This means that you cannot really get the most out of what your Champion can do.

For example, if you are fighting in your or the enemies’ base, then you only have one element at your disposal, Terrain. This means you can only get the Terrain bonus from casting your Terrashape.

When you see a fight about to break out in an area that may not have all the elements, what you can do is grab an element that is not there before going to the fight that way you can start with it, then Terrashape when you need to an element that is plentiful in the environment that your team is fighting in.

This idea is what makes fighting with Qiyana so unique. The idea that the way you will approach a fight or the abilities you will use in a fight will depend pretty heavily on the surroundings of where the fight is taking place. This is very important to keep in mind when learning this Champion.

Your goal as an Assassin is very generally to kill the carry. Sometimes it can be very difficult to get to the carry if the enemy team is doing a good job of peeling for them. Using the Brush element combined with your Edge of Ixtal ability can make this more doable.

When you go invisible you will be able to get closer without being targeted in the chaos. Then you can use Audacity to close the gap between you allowing you the chance to assassinate the carry.

However, like I had mentioned earlier, if the fight is taking place in an area where there is no Brush element, you will have to find a new plan of attack. The best case scenario is to approach the fight with this Element preselected, but you must work with what you have.

If all that is around you is the Terrain element, then fear not, there are still ways to fight. You will want to still try to get on the carry, but you will not want to use the Terrain element in combination with the Edge of Ixtal ability until your target is below 50% Health. If you do, then you will not be getting the most damage out of your kit and this can be detrimental in a fight.

Now let’s look at the ways to build Qiyana to continue to get the most out of her kit.

Build

Qiyana, being an AD Assassin, benefits from, well, AD items. More specifically items that grant Lethality. For your first item you will want to build towards a Duskblade of Draktharr. This item synergizes quite well with Qiyana, especially when she uses the Brush element in combination with her Edge of Ixtal ability.

After going invisible you will gain the Passive from the item, Nightstalker, which will grant bonus damage on your next basic attack. Next, you will want to build a Youmuu’s Ghostblade. This item also grants you with Lethality and provides you with an Active that grants you with bonus movement speed.

If the enemy team has a lot of CC on their team, you might want to opt for an Edge of Night rather than the Ghostblade. The Edge of Night provides you with the Active to gain a Spell Shield that will completely block the next ability you are hit by within 7 seconds after a 1 second Channel.

Your third item will be a Death’s Dance. This item grants you more survivability in fights as well as Cooldown Reduction. You will gain health from attacking enemies and damage you take will be converted to damage over a quick time, rather than all at once, giving you more of a chance to survive your fights.

Fourth, you will want to build a Last Whisper item, either Mortal Reminder or a Lord Dominik’s Regards. This grants you more Armor Penetration against your opponents. Mortal Reminder is the item you will want to take against enemy teams that have a lot of healing, and Lord Dominik’s Regards if there is not a lot of healing.

Mortal Reminder applies Grievous Wounds to any enemy hit for 5 seconds, reducing healing by 40%, and Lord Dominik’s Regards provides more Armor Penetration than Mortal Reminder, so these items will be situational.

Your fifth item choice should be a Guardian Angel, as the Passive will keep you alive after you die. This will keep you in fights longer and allow you a window of time to plan your next course of attack or retreat, depending on the situation.

Finally, your Boots will depend on your situation as well. If there is a lot of Magic Damage and CC to avoid, then Mercury’s Treads will be the best option for you. If the enemy team is composed of mostly AD Champions, maybe you will want to consider Ninja Tabi. If you are really ahead, Boots of Mobility can be an okay option as well, allowing you to roam more effectively, but you will rarely ever want to take these.

Hopefully you can take this guide and apply it to learning Qiyana, as she is a blast to play and can be quite strong when mastered! I recommend taking time to learn this Champion in some Normal Games and in the Practice Tool first before taking her into Ranked Games, as it can be difficult to juggle all the elements at her disposal and learn when to use them. Good Luck in your coming games Summoners and we hope to see you out there on Summoner’s Rift!

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