Orianna combos: cooldowns, costs and the order that matters
Ability-by-ability breakdown of Orianna with real cooldowns and costs, the combo worth drilling, and why order changes the outcome.
Damage is a sequence, not a sum
Casting in the wrong order on Orianna does not shave a little damage off — it frequently wastes an ability outright, because the setup lands after the payoff.
525 attack range means Orianna wins by not being where the fight is. Spacing is the whole skill, not a detail of it.
The kit, with the real numbers
Clockwork Windup
Orianna's Attacks deal additional magic damage. This damage increases the more Orianna Attacks the same target.
Command: Attack
Orianna commands her Ball to fire toward a target location, dealing magic damage to targets along the way (deals less damage to subsequent targets). Her Ball remains at the target location after.
Command: Dissonance
Orianna commands her Ball to release a pulse of energy, dealing magic damage around it. This leaves a field behind that speeds up allies and slows enemies.
Command: Protect
Orianna commands her Ball to attach to an allied champion, Shielding them and dealing magic damage to any enemies it passes through on the way. Additionally, the Ball grants additional Armor and Magic Resist to the champion it is attached to.
Command: Shockwave
Orianna commands her Ball to unleash a shockwave, dealing magic damage and launching nearby enemies towards the Ball after a short delay.
Skill order, and how to reason about it
Take Command: Shockwave at levels 6, 11 and 16 — the ultimate is always worth the point it costs.
For the basic abilities, Command: Attack (Q) gains the most from being ranked: its cooldown falls by 4 seconds between rank 1 and max, which is the largest improvement in the kit. That is the usual argument for maxing it first.
This is reasoning from the cooldown data, not a win-rate ranking — a matchup that punishes you can invert it.
- Q · Command: Attack — cooldown 7/6/5/4/3s, improving by 4s across its ranks
- W · Command: Dissonance — cooldown 7s
- E · Command: Protect — cooldown 9s
Reading the cooldown column
Those cooldown figures are per rank, lowest first. The gap between the first and last number is the best argument for a skill order there is — an ability that drops sharply as you rank it earns those points; one that barely moves does not.
Orianna is mana-gated, which is the real limit on how often you can contest a wave early.
Riot's own notes on playing Orianna
These are the designers' words, not ours — the tips shipped in the client for Orianna.
- Command: Protect can be used on yourself to return the Ball back to you quickly. Combine this with Command: Attack for a quick harassment.
- Command: Dissonance is a very powerful escape tool if Orianna has the Ball. The combination of speed and leaving a slowing obstacle can be quite powerful.
- Command: Shockwave can be used to drag enemies towards you or away from you if you position the Ball properly.
Drill it in practice tool
Practice tool has no MMR attached and lets you reset cooldowns on demand. Ten minutes there beats ten games of learning a sequence while somebody fights back.
What the stat line does between level 1 and 18
| Stat | Level 1 | Level 18 |
|---|---|---|
| Health | 565 | 2435 |
| Attack damage | 44 | 44 |
| Armour | 20 | 91.4 |
| Magic resist | 26 | 48.1 |
Movement speed 325 and attack range 525 do not grow with levels — they are the two numbers that stay true all game.
Full Orianna page — abilities, stats and every skin →