So, What's The Best Way To Counter Tristana?

Have you ever faced the unfortunate fate of being jumped by a bloodthirsty Tristana and getting obliterated? Or perhaps she just got way too fed and carried teamfights your team with her long range. Whatever the case might be, Tristana can be a formidable force to be dealt with in League of Legends.

The rebel yordle is one of the staple champions of the bot lane. Her whole design revolves around being a reckless marksman who can potentially put out tons of damage. She was one of the first champions to be released and has always remained a somewhat popular pick for solo queue. Occasionally she sees competitive play in team comps that focus heavily around protecting the ADC, but often she shines in the chaos of solo ranked. As you might’ve been able to tell, she’s a very strong all-in type of champion who can also be a hyper carry if her team backs her up.

This guide will showcase every single champion and strategy that can counteract Tristana’s ability to be a bully. We’ll be looking at support and adc champions as well as general strategies you can use to punish the enemy Tristana for their mistakes. Maybe after this guide the Tristanas you face might not want to be so rebel after all!

Champions that counter Tristana

1. Diana - Tristana Counter Rating: 99/100

As with all squishy champions, Tristana has a hard time against assassins.

Diana is especially punishing against her as her kit can shut down Tristana’s entire kit. If the Diana is fed,Tristana’s will probably not be fast enough to save her and she’ll get one shot. If she does manage to use it, Diana can cancel it with her E and proceed to killing. Diana’s gapcloser also denies Tristana the ability to push Diana away. Overall, it’s very hard for a Tristana player to be effective when playing versus a Diana.

• Her E can cancel Tristana’s jump
• She can burst Tristana down in seconds
• Relatively high ranged assassination

2. Lucian - Tristana Counter Rating: 95/100

Lucian wins out on this matchup due to raw strength and power rather than he himself countering Tristana. There’s not a lot she can do against him. He has higher damage, can dash away or into him and catch up to her with his mobility, has a long-range ultimate which he can all-in with, and is just a very exhausting champion to deal with for any ADC.

• Offers significantly more damage.
• Has mobility to match her escapes/engages.
• Generally stronger scaling until late game.

3. Kai’sa - Tristana Counter Rating: 92/100

As more of an assassin than a traditional marksman, Kai’sa has many tools to deal with Tristana. Her damage is comparable if not stronger than Tristana’s, especially once she gets her ultimate. Her giant ultimate gapclose and the mobility of her E allow her to choose which time to go in or back out. Tristana’s only opening to get a lead on Kai’sa is in the early game, but if she’s not able to she’s in for a tough ride.

• Ability to assassinate her.
• Comparable damage, especially later on in the game.
• Ranged poke and engage.

4. Thresh - Tristana Counter Rating: 85/100

Thresh is likely tristana’s worst nightmare as a support. He’s a CC machine who counteracts almost all of her strengths. If she wants to be aggressive and jump in, he can save his teammate with a lantern or flay them away. If she’s trying to jump away, he can also cancel her jump with is flay. Even if Tristana manages to avoid both of these things, he can still hook her and slow her, rendering her short range in the early game uneffective. Thresh’s strength against her falls off in the late game though, as she will start outranging him. He’s a very good pick to deal with her in lane and in skirmishes though.

• Seemingly endless CC to trap her.
• Can cancel her jump with his flay (E)
• Able to engage on her.

5. Ezreal - Tristana Counter Rating: 81/100

This pick shouldn’t come as a surprise to any. Ezreal’s E is perfect to deal with Tristana’s jump since it has a similar range and casts instantly. Ezreal can poke her out in lane and get a gold lead with kleptomancy, allowing him to scale much faster than she can. He also has very strong damage if he lands his W and another ability on her. How well Ezreal does against her will come down to skill and mastery of the champion, but he’s a worthy pick to learn nonetheless.

• Very slippery and mobile.
• Can harass her from long range.
• Scales better than her up until the late game.

6. Ashe - Tristana Counter Rating: 76/100

Ashe can counter Tristana at several stages of the game. In lane, she can poke with her w and even push Tristana in if she gets the opening. Her slows makes it hard for Tristana to safely trade, and her higher range is the icing on the cake. Tristana’s jump is very ineffective at dodging Ashe’s ultimate, as the arrow travels much faster than Tristana’s jump animation. This means that it’s very easy to set up plays against her and her teammates, as Ashe is exceptionally good at doing.

• Her arrow can stop Tristana on her tracks.
• Stronger laning phase due to range and abilities.
• Can slow and stun tristana if she wishes to jump in.

7. Veigar - Tristana Counter Rating: 75/100

Veigar is a pain to deal with for Tristana players who want to jump in recklessly, as he can stun them for ages and one shot them if they get too eager. Veigar players often play too safe for her to be able to heavily damage them, but aggressive enough to be able to burst her if she gets too close. A good Veigar player can be a nightmare for a Tristana if he plays correctly.

• He can zone her with his cage to prevent her from using her jump freely.
• If he gets close enough, he can one-shot her
• Can waveclear efficiently, so it’s hard for her to harass him.

8. Miss Fortune - Tristana Counter Rating: 70/100

Miss Fortune can heavily abuse Tristana in the laning phase with her easy poke. Tristana’s low range makes it that she’s susceptible to Miss Fortune’s poke if she wants to farm, and MF’s already strong damage means that it’s hard to fight her. She can also cast her E into Tristana and walk away if she happens to jump in.

• Stronger laning phase.
• Higher potential damage with her ultimate.
• Quite annoying to play against in general.

9. Corki - Tristana Counter Rating: 65/100

Corki in the bot lane hasn’t seen much play recently, but he can be a good surprise pick to counter Tristana. She has a hard time farming under tower due to the passive of her E, and Corki can very easily shove her into tower with his abilities. Once he gets level 6, he outranges her heavily and can harass her from a long range all day long. His escape is also quite useful to avoid her jumping onto you, especially once he gets his package.

• Can push her wave in relatively easily.
• Can poke from afar with his rockets.
• Has a great escape which is long range when he gets his package.

10. Zyra - Tristana Counter Rating: 61/100

A very annoying champion to play against in the bot lane. Zyra can poke Tristana non-stop and prevent her from farming during the laning phase. She can also root her if she wants to jump in, and once she gets her ultimate her skirmishing power increases significantly. Her kit doesn’t necessarily counteract Tristana’s, but she’s here nonetheless due to her raw bullying power.

• Can be her biggest lane bully in the bot lane.
• Her root and ultimate provide reliable CC.
• High damage.

Strategies to counter Tristana:

Tristana is not known for having the best mid game out of all ADCs, which means that champions who spike in power at this point can easily shut her down. Here are a few ways you can take advantage of Tristana’s weak phases and shut her down before she scales:

Pick a tank. Someone like Sion or Urgot will work perfectly, as they’re tanky enough to be hard to kill but also have enough damage to repel her away, if not straight-up kill her.

Pick an assassin. I mentioned before that squishy champions have a hard time against assassins. Of course, this is also true for ADCs like Tristana. Most assassins can make sure work of her with just a tiny lead, sometimes even without one.

Let her push the wave and have your jungler gank her. It might seem pointless as her jump is a reliable escape, but hear me out. A lot of Tristana players will try to shove the wave and look for opportunities to go aggressive. Just like her champions, they’re often very reckless. If you can bait her into going on you then she’ll be in a horrible spot herself, but perfect for your jungler to come clean up.

Focus her in teamfights. This time you’ll take advantage of timing. Her jump animation takes a bit, which means you can CC her or outright 1 shot her if you’re fast enough. In the middle of a teamfight it’ll take her even longer to react as she focuses on what’s going on and how to do damage.

Now, we’ve covered champions and ways in which you can counter Tristana. I don’t think I need to explain to you how not to play against her, but I will give you a list of champions you should NEVER play against her. Unless you want your sanity intact, of course.

Champions Tristana is Strong Against

1. Twitch

Twitch already has a very bad laning phase as it is, but Tristana adds another layer of hurt, especially if she has an aggressive support like Thresh with her. It’s very hard to win this match up unless you’re patient as wait for opportunities.

• Easy to abuse in laning phase due to low damage and range.
• No reliable engage of his own.
• Can be taken advantage of by aggressive supports due to low mobility.

2. Jinx

Tristana likes to play against immobile champions, and Jinx is surely one of these. She can definitely be useful by shoving tristana in with her rockets, but if Tristana gets the jump on her she’ll likely lose out on the trade. Jinx scales way better than Tristana though. If you can get past the bad times, you can do a lot of work.

• Very low mobility.
• No real way of fighting Tristana if she jumps on top of her. Unreliable CC.
• Waveclears slower than her.

3. Vayne

Vayne versus Tristana lane can go either way a lot of the time. However, Tristana can bully Vayne pre-level 6 by pushing her in and looking to go aggressive. She has the range advantage and can fight her confidently. Ultimately, it mostly comes down to Vayne’s mechanical prowess.

• Very low range in comparison during the laning phase.
• Her E is hard to use correctly and only pushes enemies a short distance away. Not very useful is Tristana is already on you.
• Her dueling potential only comes at level 6.

How to outsmart a Tristana player even in a losing matchup

As I said before, having your jungler stick around bot lane while you bait her to go in can be a great way to get a lead against her. Most Tristana players will walk straight at you with the face of her champion pointing to where their cursor is. That generally means she’ll jump to that spot, so you can have your support CC her as soon as she lands and either run away or fight her while your jungler arrives.

You can also play the lane very safe to the point where she might get impatient and jump in to an unfavorable situation. There are many ways to outsmart enemy ADCs like Tristana.

Hopefully this article helped you out tons. The rebel yordle might not be happy about this, but hopefully she can learn to be more prudent in the future!

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• The 10 Best LOL Champions for Kills
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