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Tristana Build Guide by Evandabank

Middle [Patch 14.15] Grandmaster Tristana Mid Guide - Evandabank

Middle [Patch 14.15] Grandmaster Tristana Mid Guide - Evandabank

Updated on August 11, 2024
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League of Legends Build Guide Author Evandabank Build Guide By Evandabank 7 0 16,270 Views 0 Comments
7 0 16,270 Views 0 Comments League of Legends Build Guide Author Evandabank Tristana Build Guide By Evandabank Updated on August 11, 2024
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Runes:

Precision
Fleet Footwork
Absorb Life
Legend: Bloodline
Last Stand

Resolve
Demolish
Conditioning
Bonus:

+10% Attack Speed
+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP)
+10-180 Bonus Health

Introduction

A Grandmaster Midlaner/ADC and Collegiate Player


I've been playing League of Legends since I was 7 years old, for a total of 12 years now. I've been a Master level player for the past 5 and decided to make a guide for the service of the community. I play a wide variety of midlaners, and recently picked up Tristana as she has been incredibly strong in the current meta.

This guide is a compilation of not only my knowledge, but other YouTube guides, and builds from Pro Players. I made it entirely myself and links to source information that I used to learn how to make this guide are in the credits. I don't stream or upload on YouTube anymore, but the links with my old videos are included below. I hope you all enjoy.

Took off LinkedIn and Discord link because someone emailed my employer.


Draw A Bead


INNATE: Tristana's basic attacks, Explosive Charge and Buster Shot gain between 0 − 136 (based on level) bonus range, for a total of 525 − 661 (based on level).




Rapid Fire
ACTIVE: Tristana empowers her cannon, gaining bonus attack speed for 7 seconds.
Rocket Jump
ACTIVE: Tristana jumps to the target location. Upon landing, she deals magic damage to nearby enemies and slows them by 60% for a duration.
Scoring a takedown or detonating Explosive Charge at maximum stacks on a champion will reset Rocket Jump cooldown.
Tristana can cast any of her abilities during the dash. Rocket Jump will cast at max range if cast beyond that.
Explosive Charge
PASSIVE: Tristana basic attacks are empowered to trigger an explosion when they kill the target, dealing magic damage to nearby enemies.

ACTIVE: Tristana tosses an explosive charge at the target enemy that attaches to them for 4 seconds. The charge then detonates, dealing physical damage to nearby enemies. Explosive Charge can target and damage turrets, and explodes in a larger radius on a turret.

Tristana's basic attacks on-hit and abilities against the target increase Explosive Charge's damage by 30%, stacking up to 4 times for a maximum 120% increase, upon which the charge also detonates instantly.

The charge's total damage is additionally increased by 0% − 33.3% (based on critical strike chance).

If Buster Shot is used to apply the last stack, the detonation will instead be delayed until the end of the airborn knock back or the 4 seconds expire.
Buster Shot
ACTIVE: Tristana fires a massive cannonball at the target enemy that deals magic damage. They and surrounding enemies are also Airborne icon knocked back and Stun icon stunned for up-to 0.75 seconds, during which they are Reveal icon revealed.






fleet footwork
The best keystone for most marksman currently. The movespeed and sustain it gives is crazy valuable. First, the movespeed allows you to kite the tough melee matchups AND dodge spells in difficult mage matchups such as Ahri and Hwei

The sustain from fleet is currently very strong. Take advantage of this by hitting the tower, enemy champion, or even a jungle monster such as rift scuttler when your fleet proc is available. Though the health is heavily nerfed on minion, don't hold autos and stop attacking the wave when you have a fleet proc. Be mindful of when you have a proc but don't let it entirely change your trading pattern.

Hail of Blades
Gives you attack speed on your next 3 autos (nerfed on ranged champions). This rune is a great option in VERY specific lanes. In lanes where we need the sustain, Fleet Footwork is always going to be your best option.

However, Hail of Blades is viable in lanes where we can get off all 3 autos in a trade, will not have extended trades that would otherwise enable us to get off multiple Fleet Footwork procs, and are comfortable taking the other domination runes. Examples where this rune is viable include: Orianna Sylas and Lucian

In the case where we go hail of blades, you runes will be: Hail of Blades > Sudden Impact > Eyeball Collection > Treasure Hunter with Absorb Life > Last Stand

We could also run Demolish and Conditioning over Absorb Life and Last Stand in lanes where we don't need the sustain from Absorb Life and expect to be able to take turret plates

Absorb Life
Absorb Life gives us sustain that scales based on level. This rune is insanely overturned, especially in midlane! The rune gives you so much health, it essentially functions as an extra refillable potion throughout lane.

Just check the amount of health it restores before the end of lane phase and you will be shocked. The number is usually close to 1000 health restored at 14 minutes. Take this over Triumph everytime.

Legend: Bloodline
Legend: Bloodline is a great rune that gives you around 5% lifesteal when fully stacked. I recommend taking this in most games, especially when you opt into taking Kraken Slayer as you won't have the lifesteal from Bloodthirster

As an alternative we can take Legend: Alacrity which will give you attack speed (and stacks quicker than bloodline). I personally don't find value in Alacrity as we already have 125% attack speed from Rapid Fire.

Last Stand
Last Stand is my personal favorite between Last Stand Coup de Grace and Cut Down. This is for the simple fact that Last Stand mathematically gives you more damage on average than the other two runes.

I also find myself checking my damage dealt by Last Stand at the end of the game and finding that it did more damage than the two alternatives. As such, I usually run this rune UNLESS I find myself in a game where the enemy has no ability to dive onto me. In those games, I take Cut Down which currently deals more damage than Coup de Grace

Demolish
Demolish allows you to charge up an attack and deal bonus damage to a turret. For Tristana, the range to begin charging an attack is smaller than your total range. As such, move closer to the tower to use Demolish

Don't try to proc your demolish and move too close to an enemy assassin under the tower. Be conservative when getting your demolish procs and ensure that you won't die or overstay in order to get another turret plate.

It's worth noting that although this rune scales with base HP (which you don't build on Tristana). The base damage is more than enough to make it worth taking Demolish.

Conditioning
Conditioning is mostly a placeholder rune for this section of the build. We will end up going Conditioning in games where we don't get great value out of both Second Wind and Bone Plating

Go Second Wind in matchups where the enemy midlaner has a lot of poke such as Xerath or Vel'Koz. Go Bone Plating in matchups where the enemy cannot poke off your plating and needs to allin in order to kill you such as Ekko. In all other matchups we should run Conditioning since it is better than alternatives such as Overgrowth giving us more effective stat value.
Always
We have to take flash in every game! Playing a marskman without flash, especially in a lane where 50% of players will pick an assassin, is not an option. Flash has been broken for 14 seasons.This is a must in every game.
Favorite
Take in almost every game, completely broken summoner after 10 minutes. In most matchups, ignite is not necessary to have kill-threat on the enemy laner. Take TP as a get out of jail free card in the case that you get ganked or take a bad trade.
Situational
Very situational summoner spell. Would not reccomend unless you are in low elo or it is a strong player preference. I will leave it up to your discretion (try ignite out in a game) to see if you find it effective in your current elo.


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Doran's Blade is the best and only starting item that is built on Tristana. While you may want to take Cull, the gold value for a 400g starter item from Doran's Blade makes it the best option. Take this in every game.
Cull is the only option besides Doran's Blade in the current meta, the stats from Cull are comparably far too weak. If there is a starting item meta shift, this may be a viable option. For the time being, cull is a poor choice. Stick with Doran's Blade even in farming matchups.

Kraken slayer is the most popular first item on Tristana at the moment. While the rework to the item is a nerf against tanks, it increased the damage aganint squishy targets. This is perfect for Tristana in the midlane.

This item drastically increases your damage and enables you to kill squishies in close to 4 autos with [buster shot].

The alternative to [kraken slayer] is [Blade of the Ruined King]. The reason for this is due to Kraken's lack of sustain and weaker damage against tanks. Consider opting out of kraken against poke mages and enemy tanks to build BORK instead.
You will not run Berserker's Greaves in most games!! Check out the matchup guide for the specific boots in your matchup.

Berserkers are generally good in games where other boots are bad. This sounds obvious BUT if you don't need mercerury treads or Plated Steelcaps then you will opt into building attack speed boots.

Tristana comes close to hitting the attack speed cap with these boots and doesn't really benefit from the attack speed due to her Rapid Fire.

Sell your other boots and buy Zephyr when you hit late game.
Navori Flickerblade is one of your two standard options for second item. The alternative is Phantom Dancer. This generally comes up to personal preference.

Flickerblade reduces your cooldowns on attack, synergizing perfectly with Tristana's Rapid Fire and Explosive Charge allowing her to near 100% uptime with her attack speed steroid. Safe to say, this effect is extremely powerful.

Flickerblade is performing at .5% higher winrate than PD at the moment so I put it into this guide. Be sure to try out both items to decide what feels best for your own persoanl gameplay.
This item is just the bread and butter of marksman. Not much needs to be said about this item. It literally increases your DPS by 50% when you get this item.

Though it only gives you AD, crit chance, and crit damage, these stats are insanely powerful on Tristana. Be ready for an awesome power spike once you hit this third item.

Only skip this item if the enemy has two tanks building full armor. In that case, build this item fourth and opt into building Lord Dominik's Regards third instead.
Lord Dominik's Regards is the perfect item once armor begins to be purchased by the enemy team. This item gives you 40% armor penetration (a ridiculous amount) and enables you to kill tanks quickly. Tristana cannot kill armor stackers without this item!

Under rare situations, the enemy team will not purchase any armor. In these situations, you can decide to build other items over Lord Dominik's Regards such as Bloodthirster if you need sustain, Guardian Angel if you need the passive, or Maw of Malmortius if the enemy is heavy on AP.
Bloodthirster is a very common item to roundout your build. This item gives excellent sustain and a shield for decent survivability. This is especially strong in games where you're split pushing, need to heal up against poke mages, or no other items feel strong in the game.

Bloodthirster is not essential for Tristana's build patth. It is included in the core build as a standard item that will give you value in all games against all enemy team comps.

You should consider purchasing Guardian Angel or Maw of Malmortius in games where you need survivability against the enemy's primary damage type. Don't build bloodthirster every game unless its necessary! Check the items below to see if another item would be a better fit.

Settings are important on every marksman in the game. The below settings (and their functionality) are not unique for just Tristana. Please use them on all champions

Important to note


Ensure that you EITHER disable auto attack or are comfortable using the "s" key to stop your autos. Failure to do either will result in missing CS and auto attacking at poor moments.

Change "Camera Lock Mode" to "Fixed Offset" to ensure that your character is in the middle of the screen when you play locked-screen

Enable "Attack Move on Cursor" which enables you to have more forgiving clicks. This setting essentially allows the game to guess where you want to attack. You simply need to click close to your target.


Champion Matchup Table of Contents
Ahri Akali Akshan Anivia
Annie Aurelion Sol Azir Brand
Cassiopeia Corki Diana Ekko
Fizz Galio Gragas Hwei
Irelia Jayce Karthus Kassadin
Katarina LeBlanc Lissandra Lux
Malzahar Neeko Orianna Qiyana
Rumble Ryze Swain Sylas
Syndra Taliyah Talon Twisted Fate
Veigar Vel'Koz Vex Viktor
Xerath Yasuo Yone Zed
Zoe


Ahri
Matchup difficulty
Summoners Recommended build
Ahri is a fairly standard matchup for Tristana we need to be careful of her Fox-Fire as she can just walk up level 1 and get a good trade onto us. When she does this, make sure that we use Explosive Charge even if we only get 1 auto while it is active. This will always be an even trade.

The important thing to understand when playing into Ahri is to keep auto attacking when she is dashing around us. Ensure that we wiggle back and forth to dodge her Charm and Orb of Deception. If we can do this, begin the trade at even health, and dodge at least one ability, we will always win the trade.

When attempting to Rocket Jump onto Ahri for our standard trading pattern, jump slightly to the side of the Ahri. Most Ahri players will throw their Charm in a straight line. If we jump at an angle, they will usually miss. If the Ahri holds the charm until after we land, begin wiggling so we can dodge it. If she holds the charm too long we will win the trade regardless as she will take too much damage from our auto attacks.

You can buffer Ahri's Charm to effectively nullify her crowd control with your Rocket Jump. Check the INSERT PART WHERE THIS MECHANIC IS IN THE GUIDE section to learn how to buffer crowd control.



Akali
Matchup difficulty
Summoners Recommended build
Akali is one of the hardest assassin matchups in the game. We need to make sure that we dodge her Shuriken Flip at all points in the game. If she hits in and we are below 50% hp, we are guarenteed dead.

During the early stages of the lane, ensure that you hit akali when she goes for CS. If she runs Doran's Shield and Second Wind we won't be able to do too much damage too her. This is fine, just continue to harass her and ensure that she cannot get all of the CS.

Try to stay out of range of her Five Point Strike. You will always lose trades if she is able to chain multiple of her Five Point Strike onto you. Akali simply does too much damage.

At no point in the game can we trade with Akali while she is in her Twilight Shroud. When she uses this ability, simply run away from her and wait until it expires. Only Rocket Jump onto her when her shroud and Shuriken Flip are on cooldown. If only her Shuriken Flip is off cooldown, try to Rocket Jump onto her and simultaneously dodge the ability or stay behind your minions so she cannot hit the shuriken.



Akshan
Matchup difficulty
Summoners Recommended build
Akshan is such a difficult matchup against good players. This is one of the few lanes where I recommend running Hail of Blades for some extra trading power.

Do not trade auto attacks with Akshan. His Dirty Fighting will give him a shield that is too large for us to win the trade. The only way that we can win this lane is by waiting for our jungler to come or Rocket Jump at an angle that denies his Hookshot onto the wall. If we can manage to find this dream angle, we can kill him.

In reality, this perfect scenario is far too rare. This lane is really just not playable. If Akshan does miraculously waste his Hookshot on the wall we can certainly find a kill onto him. Just try to shove waves, wait for your jungler to come, and ping your team when Akshan is roaming. You should have a higher impact on him in teamfights lategame.


Anivia
Matchup difficulty
Summoners Recommended build
Anivia is a really easy and simple lane. Early in the lane phase, we want to dodge her Flash Frost. If she uses her Flash Frost, we can immediately jump on her.

If you want to Rocket Jump on her when her Flash Frost is not on cooldown, try to jump at an angle similar to the Syndra and Hwei matchups so Anivia misses her core ability.

If you follow the above two paragraphs, you should be able to find a solo kill pre-6 against her. After level 6, Anivia's Glacial Storm will permanently delete the wave. Just shove and roam once this starts happening.


Annie
Matchup difficulty
Summoners Recommended build
Alright look. There's not much I can do to help with this lane. If we play properly, this should be a free win. Annie doesn't have as much damage as other mages and can be easily pushed out of lane.

Begin shoving the wave immeditaely. Annie has really bad waveclear and will not be able to successfully farm under tower. We can deny her a lot of CS this way. When Annie steps too far up the lane to attempt to contest you pushing the wave, jump on her after level two and you should have hard winning trades.

If Annie has her Pyromania of cooldown do not Rocket Jump onto her. Wait until she is forced to use an ability on minions to CS. If she has her stun off cooldown and flashes forward, anticipate that she is going to stun you and Rocket Jump to buffer CC and get to safety. Most likely when this happens, the jungler is ganking you.

You can opt into getting Mercury's Treads if Annie gets early kills or you are getting killed from full HP. Most of the time, Annie will not have enough damage to threaten kills on you.


Aurelion Sol
Matchup difficulty
Summoners Recommended build
Aurelion Sol is a very tricky lane that rquires many games to fully understand the matchup. I will do my best to summarize the key points, however, this lane is very even for the most part, and Asol does a ton of damage. This is far from a free win.

At most points in the game, we can jump onto Aurelion Sol and win the trades. At level 1, try not to get poked by Aurelion Sol Breath of Light. If he does get too close to you, use your Explosive Charge even if you can only return one auto attack.

After level 2, we win trades onto Asol almost all of the time. Ideally, wait until he uses his Singularity on the wave and begins to CS it. His Breath of Light also has a long cooldown and we can look to Rocket Jump onto him when either of these abilities are down.

At level 9, we can take shorter trades into Asol. His Breath of Light no longer has a cooldown. He will now win longer trades if we cannot kill him quickly. Just Rocket Jump onto him and prock your Explosive Charge before jumping back to safety. Keep autoing him if he is close to lethal though! It should be obvious if he will die before killing you.

Throughout the whole game, remember to wiggle when he uses Breath of Light to dodge some of the damage. His teamfighting is much stronger than you. Try to get a lead before it comes to it. His teamfighting is what makes this matchup feel preferable for Aurelion Sol



Azir
Matchup difficulty
Summoners Recommended build
Azir is a relatively even matchup. We win this lane pre 6 easily. You can permanently jump on Azir when your Rocket Jump is on cooldown. Ideally, try to wait until he has no sand soldier or his Shifting Sands is on coolwdown. Regardless, just jump on him repeatedly.

At level 6, he can use his Emperor's Divide to shove you under the tower. You can buffer this CC with your Rocket Jump. In this case, ensure that your Rocket Jump is off cooldown when he has the ability to shove you under tower so we don't die without the ability to buffer the CC.

Azir does a lot of damage midgame. It will be very obvious when he reaches the point where he can oneshot you. When he has the ability to kill you with his combo, try to flash some of his abilities or itemize into a Maw of Malmortius to continue winning the lane.



Brand
Matchup difficulty
Summoners Recommended build
Brand does a lot of damage but is super squishy (low base stats). Take advantage of him by jumping on him whenever his Sear is off cooldown or he doesn't have another ability to proc the stun.

If he has the ability to stun you with Sear after your Rocket Jump jump off to the side a little so he misses the stun. Don't jump onto him post 6 when all his abilities are up. He will oneshot you.

You can build Maw of Malmortius or Mercury's Treads if Brand gets ahead and has the ability to oneshot you. You shouldn't need to itemize defensively in this lane though.



Cassiopeia
Matchup difficulty
Summoners Recommended build
Cassiopeia does a ridiculous amount of damage. Never jump on her if she has her Miasma up. In this lane, you need to wait for your jungler and wait for teamfights.

Cassiopeia is a very squishy midlaner and can die very easily to ganks. Try to play safe and avoid her Noxious Blast in order to stay healthy and CS out of the lane. You should be more impactful in teamfights with proper positioning.




Corki
Matchup difficulty
Summoners Recommended build
Corki wins the 1v1 unless you have an item advantage or he uses spells on the wave. He can easily use Valkyrie when you Rocket Jump to avoid your damage and place you in his burn.

Luckily, Corki is way easier to gank than Tristana as we have a huge mobility advantage. Try to play for your jungler. Shove the wave and roam to attempt to have a larger impact on the game. You should mostly be farming this lane out. Whoever engages on the other person will lose here. Don't engage.


Diana
Matchup difficulty
Summoners Recommended build
Diana needs to be respected but can be bullied for most of the lane. Try to dodge her Crescent Strike and harass her whenever she goes for cs. You can usually Rocket Jump onto her for a successful trade whenever she wastes a spell or you have an item advantage.

Be careful once she hits 6, you may want to invest into a Null-Magic Mantle so that she doesn't oneshot you with her ultimate. She does big damage with her ult but usually not enough to oneshot you until she is level 16 or very ahead.

Ekko
Matchup difficulty
Summoners Recommended build
Ekko players are running Hail of Blades these days and have very strong short trades. Most games, I will run Hail of Blades to match their trading power.

To abuse ekko, ensure that you harass whenever you go for CS. Perma shove the wave as Ekko will struggle to clear waves for levels 1-5. Be sure that you don't get caught in his Parallel Convergence

If he uses his Phase Dive and attempts to get a short tried, try to deny him his Z-Drive Resonance proc by kiting until his passive stacks expire and dodging his Timewinder by wiggling. You should be able to return the trade with an Explosive Charge and auto attacks when he walks away.

Itemize into early Mercury's Treads to avoid getting oneshot by the ekko. You win trades when you are even. Buy Maw of Malmortius later if Ekko gets ahead and can oneshot you through the Mercury's Treads

Fizz
Matchup difficulty
Summoners Recommended build
Fizz is a very bad champion and this should be a free win for us. Fizz cannot poke you at all. Run Bone Plating and harass him at every CS. Build a Null-Magic Mantle but don't complete Mercury's Treads unless the Fizz gets ahead.

Simply harass him at every CS, spaming your spells on him. Don't Rocket Jump until after he combos onto you. Typically the Fizz will Urchin Strike before using his Playful / Trickster to disengage or for extra damage. You can use your rocket jump to follow the Fizz after his disengage or to dodge his Playful / Trickster.

Use your best judgement when deciding to fight Fizz. He can deal a lot of damage if he is ahead. Be sure to itemize into Maw of Malmortius if he is oneshotting you in the sidelane.

Galio
Matchup difficulty
Summoners Recommended build
The difficulty of this matchup will heavily fluctuate based on the current patch. Riot seems addicted to changing Galio from a mage to a tank and vice versaa.

We need to space Galio's Justice Punch properly and understand how close we can get to him when harassing him while he farms. This will take some practice. Generally, we can auto him once while he farms but need to backspace when he begins to walk towards us.

If Galio attempts to use Justice Punch and misses, you can full trade into him by using Explosive Charge and jumping on him while he tries to run away. You will always win the trade when Galio misses Justice Punch.

The hard part of this lane is Galio's Grand Entrance. You need to keep waves pushed and permantently ping your team when Galio has good Ult opportunities. You lose this matchup by losing the map due to Galio's ultimate.



Gragas
Matchup difficulty
Summoners Recommended build
East lane just harass Gragas when he goes for CS. You can buffer all of his CC with your Rocket Jump. Play behind your minions and don't let him land every single Explosive Cask and you win easy.

Super free lane, just don't int and you win.


Hwei
Matchup difficulty
Summoners Recommended build
Hwei has a lot of abilities. Read them before you play this matchup.

Hwei matchup plays almost exactly like Syndra. He has good poke but he can be easily abused if he uses his key CC spell incorrectly.

When Hwei uses his Molten Fissure on the wave, make sure that you don't stand too close to it or he will use his Crushing Maw to pull you into it. You can also bait him into doing this combo if you are high HP. This way, you can Rocket Jump onto him while his Subject: Torment is on cooldown. Not reccomended though unless he is far from his turret and you can for sure kill him.

When jumping on Hwei while his Subject: Torment is off-cooldown, he will attempt to use Grim Visage when you Rocket Jump. Use your jump slightly off to the side and immediately wiggle afterwards so he misses the fear. Afterwards, continue to chain auto attack him, using your Fleet Footwork movespeed to chace him down.

You will always win the trade if he misses the Grim Visage. If he holds the ability for too long, you can chunk him with auto attacks and heal back up on the wave after the trade. Rinse and repeat these trade patterns and itemize into an early Vampiric Scepter or even swap Kraken Slayer for Blade of the Ruined King in this lane if you prefer.


Irelia
Matchup difficulty
Summoners Recommended build
Irelia is a cringe champion for people who watch too many chinese Irelia montages on TikTok.

This champion is very simple to play into. You lose if she has 4 stacks or hits her Flawless Duet but you will win otherwise. Harass her when she goes for CS level 1 (or anytime really) and cannot get her 4 passive stacks.

Generally, this lane is super tough and the Irelia will get ahead. Just farm up and clear waves, sustain and wave clear. You will be a lot stronger than Irelia in fights.


Jayce
Matchup difficulty
Summoners Recommended build
Jayce has a lot of damage and you cannot Rocket Jump onto him ever or he will kill you.

You can only trade into him if he uses multiple spells on the wave. Particularly, some Jayce players will use their To The Skies! to clear the wave. Immediately punish him for this and fulltrade into him. You can kill him for sure.

If Jayce never griefs and uses spells on the wave, just farm up and dodge his spells. Shove and roam. Jayce is very weak to ganks as he lacks reliable CC or mobility to escape a jungler. Call for jungler and set up ganks to get kills during lane phase.


Karthus
Matchup difficulty
Summoners Recommended build
Karthus can really only win against you if he hits every Lay Waste during your trades. This matchup should be Tristana favored with Karthus oustscaling due to his broken ultimate in teamfights.

Begin the lane by shoving the wave ASAP. After hitting level 2, we can jump on him with Explosive Charge to win the trade. If karthus manages to hit all of his Lay Waste, you will lose the trade. However, even if you lose the trade, you can reset your Rocket Jump and jump back to safety. You will have significantly more sustain than the Karthus in this lane.

Rush a Vampiric Scepter and build into a Blade of the Ruined King if you find that the Karthus is poking you out of lane. You can also run Phantom Dancer over Navori Flickerblade as your second item for the 5% bonus movespeed.

In the midgame, just jump on Karthus in the sidelanes over and over. You will oneshot him. Remeber that his Lay Waste does bonus damage when it hits only one target. Try not to be isolated tanking his Q.


Kassadin
Matchup difficulty
Summoners Recommended build
Such a free lane. Kassadin literally cannot play. He will build Doran's Shield with Second Wind and it may be difficult to find solo kills here.

You can either look to freeze your wave in front of your tower, or perma shove, denying him CS and harassing him while he farms. You can get many more plates the second way. It also enables you to shove and roam when an opportunity presents itself.

You are stronger in the 1v1 at all points in the game than the Kassadin. If you start to lose the 1v1, opt into buying a Maw of Malmortius and you should be fine.

Katarina
Matchup difficulty
Summoners Recommended build
Everyone tells me that Katarina is weak. I simply do not agree. This champion takes over the game immediately if she ever gets a kill.

Be aggressive here, like all assassins, you have an easy time poking her. You have more damage an win trades here. Hit her when she goes to farm and ensure that you don't stand on top of her daggers. If you do this, you will win the 1v1. Until she roams and kills your botlane. GG.


LeBlanc
Matchup difficulty
Summoners Recommended build
This matchup is very favored for Tristana. In the early levels, LeBlanc will try to Distortion on top of you and go for auto attacks. In EVERY trade, respond with Explosive Charge and get as many autos as you can before she returns back to her Distortion. You will go roughly even in these trades.

Once your Explosive Charge is on cooldown, you can't walkup or she will get favorable trades. We also need to attempt to dodge both her Distortion, by staying out of the range necessary for her to get the impact damage, and her Ethereal Chains. She usually cannot kill you from full hp. Especially when we rush Mercury's Treads.

Get as many autos off as possible when trading, sustain with Blade of the Ruined King and you should win this lane. Don't stay in lane when you are low. She will burst you quickly when you are below 50% HP.

Lissandra
Matchup difficulty
Summoners Recommended build
Lissandra is a very unique champion. She is very easy to Rocket Jump on top of throughout the laning phase. We will always win the trade, especially because she has to use her Glacial Path as a disengage after we jump on top of her, preventing her from getting damage from all of her abilities.

There is not much going on in this lane. Continue to Rocket Jump and be aware of where the enemy jungler is, Lissandra has amazing CC. Rush Mercury's Treads to combat this. Very easy lane.



Lux
Matchup difficulty
Summoners Recommended build
Lux dramatically outranges us. Similar to Syndra and Hwei]] we need to be very careful about her Cosmic Binding

When we go to Rocket Jump on Lux, jump at an angle. After junmping at an angle, halfclick in the opposite direction (either backwards or the other side of where you jumped). 90% of the time, the Lux will miss her binding.

Even if Lux hits her binding, pre 6, if we land the slow from Rocket Jump you will still win the trade. Post 6, it is a 50/50 if we will win the trade as Lux might be able to one-shot us. Use your best judement here.

You can use your Buster Shot to move Lux and displace her ultimate so it misses.



Malzahar
Matchup difficulty
Summoners Recommended build
Might be the easiest lane in the game for us. The only advice I have is don't just jump into Malzahar R and kill his Void Swarm when he spawns them. If you see Malzahar flash forward, he is going to ult. Immediately respond by Rocket Jump to your turret. Other than that, easy lane and just jump on him over and over when the enemy jg isn't around.


Neeko
Matchup difficulty
Summoners Recommended build
Neeko has her stength in her teamfights with Pop Blossom. We need to be careful of her positioning in fights to ensure that she doesn't get a game winning ult. Have eyes on her permanently.

Be mindful of Neeko's Inherent Glamour. She will often disguise herself as a lane minion to land her Tangle-Barbs and get a positive trade.

We can Rocket Jump on Neeko throughout the entire game and we will always win the trade as long as we aren't too far behind. This lane is very free but we need to be careful of her ability to play around passive and setup for her jungler.

Orianna
Matchup difficulty
Summoners Recommended build
Orianna does not have a CC like the more difficult mage matchups. Rocket Jump on her pre-6 to win every trade. Even post-6 if you are full hp you can jump on her.

You win every trade. Don't die to enemy jg and its a free win. We can buffer her ult CC with our Rocket Jump.

Qiyana
Matchup difficulty
Summoners Recommended build
A personal least-favorite champ for me. Sadly, I'm convinced this lane isn't actually that hard, I'm just not the greatest into Qiyana. She seems to always double kill my botlane after walking over a ward :(

We win this lane hard pre-6. We need to be careful though, Qiyana can kill us in one combo if we are below 50% HP. Buy a Refillable Potion on your first reset AND a Cloth Armor but don't buy Plated Steelcaps. We can harass with Explosive Charge when she goes to CS. Only Rocket Jump once she gets low OR uses an ability on the wave.

In teamfights, make sure that you know where the enemy qiyana is. Her Supreme Display of Talent will stun your entire team when she uses it in the River (if it hits you all). Do not let her get a flank. You can Buster Shot when she goes to engage and ult your entire team.

Rumble
Matchup difficulty
Summoners Recommended build
Rule number one of Rumble. DO NOT Rocket Jump on top of him. We can only do this once he is below 40% HP.

Play the lane standard. Explosive Charge and chain auto attacks when he goes to CS. Stay behind your minions so he can't Electro-Harpoon you. You win the trade if you trade your autos into his Flamespitter if he doesn't land the harpoons.

This matchup doesn't change, even in sidelane. Keep your distance until he is low.

Ryze
Matchup difficulty
Summoners Recommended build
Ryze is an easy mage matchup. Rocket Jump on him after he uses spells on the wave. You will win every trade. Easy matchup and if you position well in fights, you should win easily.


Swain
Matchup difficulty
Summoners Recommended build
Swain allegedly counters Tristana but this is not the case. Swain is a very flawed champion. We can stand in front of his Nevermove and allow our minions to block it when he throws out the ability.

We always win trades if we can dodge Nevermove. Just be sure that you don't Rocket Jump into him without a way to get back out. You will literally every trade.

If you ever need the Swain to push the wave, you stand in the middle of the wave and force him to Death's Hand your minions. You should never have the wave in a bad spot against this champion. Easy matchup and you outscale, especially with Blade of the Ruined King percent current health damage and Swain's high HP.


Sylas
Matchup difficulty
Summoners Recommended build
Sylas is a tricky lane. It is fairly even but he will absolutely dominate if he gets ahead. We need to be very careful. I typically run either Blade of the Ruined King or rush a Vampiric Scepter into Kraken Slayer for the sustain.

Level 1, some Sylas will attempt to Abscond / Abduct only you. Stand inside your minions and dodge the chain while returning with your Explosive Charge. You win the trade easily.

We need to dodge his Chain Lash and just like level 1, stand inside our minions to dodge his Abscond / Abduct. After he attempts to engage and hopefully misses, we return fire and can even Rocket Jump onto him while he runs away. Never Rocket Jump while he has his spells off coolwdow.

When he steals your Buster Shot, the abiity scales with 100% HP and will do a lot of damage. He can oneshot you with his combo + your ult. Be careful and DO NOT let him land all his abilities (or buy a null magic mantle as needed).

Syndra
Matchup difficulty
Summoners Recommended build
Syndra is one of the hardest matchups for Tristana. Syndra's Scatter the Weak has the ability to deny us successful trades throughout the laning phase.

We need to be careful with how we approach trading. Test the Syndra's reaction by attempting to W on top of her. If she is able to Scatter the Weak and push you back during your Rocket Jump and stun you, the Syndra player is too good for us to brainlessly jump on.

If we can't jump on them directly, wait for the Syndra to use their Scatter the Weak in an attempt to poke you out of lane. Once this ability is down, we jump on top of them to get a successful trade.

Be sure to wiggle throughout the laning phase to dodge her Dark Sphere. If you are having a hard time dodging her abilities, you can buy early boots to give higher movement speed for easier dodging.

Taliyah
Matchup difficulty
Summoners Recommended build
Taliyah is really annoying. Her Unraveled Earth makes it such that we cannot Rocket Jump onto her. Farm up and wait until she uses the spell for no reason.

When she looks to Seismic Shove you, start wiggling to dodge it. She will typically use Unraveled Earth when she tries to shove you. You now have an openining to engage. Walk forward into her and use Explosive Charge. Jump onto her and chain auto attacks. You will win this trade IF you don't jump through her Unraveled Earth. Only Rocket Jump after walking out of the rocks or after the ability is on cooldown.

Talon
Matchup difficulty
Summoners Recommended build
Talon should never hit both parts of his Rake. Space him properly so he cannot get close enough to ever Noxian Diplomacy. Ping his roams when he moves. Standard assassin matchup, harass him when he goes to CS and be careful of his damage. If he gets ahead he will oneshot you.

Twisted Fate
Matchup difficulty
Summoners Recommended build
Twisted Fate has very weak trades. We can just wait until he uses Pick A Card on the wave. He is not a champion that we can jump on when his CC is off cooldown since it is point and click.

If we do Rocket Jump on him we can usually get off 2 autos before he pulls a gold card. This is not enough for us to win the trade. We need to shove waves, wait until he uses Pick A Card to respond (otherwise he will lose prio for the entire lane phase) and Rocket Jump once the ability is down.

His Destiny roaming should not be a problem since we will always have prio. Ping whenever he bases or walks out of mid so your team is aware of his roam timers. He can essentially ult from midlane to anywhere on the map.

Veigar
Matchup difficulty
Summoners Recommended build
We win every trade when Rocket Jump onto Veigar. Try to dodge his Baleful Strike when you land.

There is not much to say about this lane, Veigar is a very easy lane. We cannot buffer his Event Horizon cage stun or get out of it by jumping. Just stand in the cage and try to auto him back. You autoscale this lane easily. Buy a Maw of Malmortius once his combo starts to oneshot you.

Vel'koz
Matchup difficulty
Summoners Recommended build
Vel'koz is a strange champion. He will just randomly oneshot you at certain item spikes. Be careful and respect his damage. He will usually have crazy waveclear and contest you for mid-push throughout the game.

When going to Rocket Jump onto him, be very careful to dodge his Tectonic Disruption upon landing. Similar to other lanes, you can usually move backwards or the opposite direction of the direction that you jumped to dodge the ability. Most players are very predictable with the placement.


Vex
Matchup difficulty
Summoners Recommended build
Wait for Vex to use an ability on you and waste her Doom 'n Gloom. Once it is on cooldown, you can engage. You will never lose a trade against this champ and she does no damage. Shouldn't be hard and she can never force you out of lane. Standard matchup and super simple.

Shove and roam if she refuses to use abilities on the wave.


Viktor
Matchup difficulty
Summoners Recommended build
Check Orianna matchup. This lane plays exactly the same. Just Rocket Jump on him and try to dodge his Death Ray.


Xerath
Matchup difficulty
Summoners Recommended build
Classic mage matchup. Rush a Vampiric Scepter and boots for some sustain and the ability to dodge his skillshots. In this lane, we play similar to Syndra.

We dodge his poke and wait for an opportunity to Rocket Jump. After we jump, we step backward OR the opposite direction of where we jumped to make him miss his Shocking Orb. If he misses, you will get an insane trade into him.

Care his Living Artillery. If he steps even slightly off mid, he can use it to shoot towards top or bot. Ping this for your laners and let them know when Xerath can punish with his ultimate. You can really only lose this lane if he gets free kills from this ability.



Yasuo
Matchup difficulty
Summoners Recommended build
Yasuo is super annoying and wins most trades if he ever has minions.

Typically I will just farm and ensure that he doesn't poke me too hard. I wait for jungler to come before Rocket Jump onto the Yasuo like an ape. Yasuo is very easy to gank due to the fact that he will usually play very far up the lane. Some junglers such as Nidalee will have a hard time punishing him though.

Be aware of the enemy jungler. If it is Gragas or Diana you really need to respect their ultimate combos. You will just die if they ever land it.

CS and wait for jungler. Not a fun lane but you outscale since Yasuo dies to CC instantly in teamfights.



Yone
Matchup difficulty
Summoners Recommended build
Yone is a lot easier to lane against than Yasuo. We can Rocket Jump on him whenever he has 0 Mortal Steel stacks.

You can buffer his Fate Sealed with your Rocket Jump if you time it perfectly.

Generally, just harass him when he goes for CS. Respect when he has 3 stacks of his Q and can knock you up. This matchup is easy if you respect his all-in timers and don't play overly aggressive.




Zed
Matchup difficulty
Summoners Recommended build
Zed we can play against like most mages.

Shove the wave and attempt to dodge his poke. You can get a Cloth Armor once he gets his first Serrated Dirk to nullify his Lethality . He shouldn't be able to oneshot you until much later in to the game.

Hr*** him when he goes to CS and Rocket Jump on him if he steps too far forward or uses his Living Shadow to poke you or clear the wave. You can hit his turret when you crash the wave if he uses his ability to attempt to farm. Shove and take tower or shove and roasm. Either way, you should be able to get a substantial lead.


Zoe
Matchup difficulty
Summoners Recommended build
I am personally not a fan of playing against this Zoe champion. She is very aggravating.

Shove the wave against Zoe. She does not have great waveclear. Most Zoe's will take their Spell Thief level 2, meaning they don't have their Sleepy Trouble Bubble just yet. If this is the case, Rocket Jump on her forehead for a nice trade.

You want to be careful to ddoge her spells and get some autos off if she Portal Jump into your range. You will usually just ping-pong waves with her and roam around the map. Your champ is just stronger than hers, especially if you dodge her spells.

Always reset if you are below 50% HP. This is roughly her lethal range with electrocute and ignite with her bubble early game.

A Grandmaster Midlaner/ADC and Collegiate Player


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