So you’ve come here because you lost a game against Tryndamere; let me guess, he was left alone to farm and accumulated his core items and just started demolishing your carries which eventually led the game to spin out of control and made you lose the game? If so, I got you; in this article, I will show you how to counter Tryndamere and play any game against him and come out on top. But before anything else, let’s take a moment and learn Tryndamere’s kit and the things that make him such a solid late-game champion.
Tryndamere’s Abilities
- Passive – Battle Fury – Every time Tryndamere hits a unit, kills a unit, or inflicts a critical strike, he builds upon his fury; the higher his fury, the more crit chance he has.
- Q – Bloodlust – Tryndamere gets stronger the lower his health drops; this ability can also be activated, making tryndamere consume all his fury pool and heal him. Higher fury gives tryndamere stronger heals
- W – Mocking Shout – This can be activated to reduce a nearby enemy’s attack damage; it also slows enemies facing away from tryndamere.
- E – Spinning Slash – This is his main gap closer ability; he spins his sword and moves to a specific location. It also has damage that grows along with Tryndamere’s attack damage.
- R – Undying Rage – His ultimate ability prevents Tryndamere’s health from dropping to zero.
Well, of course, you didn’t come here to get to know these things, so now let’s get to the “how to counter Tryndamere” part. Tryndamere is a strong melee champion who relies solely on his basic attacks. He has a substantial gap closer that has relatively significant damage and has a cooldown that can be reduced every time he hits a crit. With the addition of Mythic items, he can build the Galeforce, giving him more gap closer, making it harder for you to chase him or get away from him. With all that in mind, let us now take a look at the champions that have the potential to counter him.
Also read: How to Counter Trundle?
The Best Champions to Counter Tryndamere in Season 12
1. Jax
Tryndamere, a champion reliant on basic attacks would be easily countered by Jax’s E ability counter strike. As Jax, you can lane against Tryndamere aggressively in the early laning phase, level up your W as your first ability, and out damage him. You can bully him out of minion exp range, so he’ll fall behind early and deny him of gold he badly needs because his power spike relies on items. As you hit level 2, you can even further your lead against him by leveling your E, completely stomping his lane. Continue zoning him out, and if his jungler comes to gank, you can just back and wait for the enemy jungler to back off and rinse repeat the aforementioned laning phase strategy until you snowball and win the game.
Jax early game items to counter Tryndamere:
Bramble Vest – An item that gives a substantial amount of armor and gives your attacker grievous wounds, a great way to counter Tryndamere’s heavy hits and reduce heals from his Q ability. This will make for a great first item.
Plated Steel Caps – Boot upgrade that reduces oncoming basic attack damage by 12%. This is a great way to mitigate Tryndamere’s damage.
2. Malphite
Malphite is one of those champions who can stack up so much armor that your physical damage would make him feel like he’s being tickled. He has a Q ability that is great to run away from Tryndamere as it not only slows down its target but also speeds Malphite up for a substantial amount. You can max out his W to raise his armor percentage growth and completely deny Tryndamere’s damage, and if Tryndamere happens to get close and hit you, you can use your E to slow his attack speed down, so Tryndamere can’t do anything against you. During the early game, you need to play safe because he can bully you out of your lane, but when you build your core items, you will barely feel Tryndamere’s damage against you.
Malphite early game items to counter Tryndamere:
Bramble vest – goes well with your stats and denies Tryndamere’s massive heal with his bloodlust.
Glacial buckler – Gives you mana to harass Tryndamere with your q and a great item that can be built into a frozen heart later on.
3. Quinn
Not only will you outrange him, downright bullying him out of the lane, but also use your E ability to keep your distance from him and continue basic attacking him. Quinn’s ultimate is great for returning to lanes or roaming other lanes and giving your team further lead against opponents. Unlike other champions, there isn’t a specific item to counter Tryndamere with Quinn; you can build any of Quinn’s core items and still stomp Tryndamere during the laning phase.
How to Counter Tryndamere? Best Season 12 Counter Tips:
- Build early game items that would counter Tryndamere’s healing from his lifesteal and Q ability.
- Stack up on health and armor to mitigate his damage
- Zone him out and deny him of gold and exp
- Play champions with crowd control abilities
- He is very vulnerable without his ult so go on all-ins when his ultimate is down
Also read: How to Play Against Illaoi?
The Best Items to Counter Tryndamere in Season 12
Frozen Heart
If you are playing a tank champion, the Frozen heart is a great item to build against Tryndamere. It gives a tremendous amount of armor, and with season 12’s item updates, it now reduces incoming basic attack damage by a flat amount and is increased by 3.5 for every 1000 bonus health you have.
Randuin’s Omen
A classic item to counter champions that rely on critical hits. Tryndamere builds up crit chance with every hit or kills or crit he does, so building this item would significantly reduce Tryndamere’s damage. It also has an active effect that can be used to slow nearby enemies, a great way to get away from him if he uses his e ability to get close to you.
Executioner’s Calling / Bramble Vest / Oblivion Orb items
Basically, every item that inflicts grievous wounds on opponents. As we all know, Tryndamere builds lifesteal items to improve his already impressive lane survivability, so building Grievous wound items would greatly reduce Tryndamere’s heals, as one of his core items this season the Goredrinker gives him so much healing.
Also read: How to Counter Garen?
Conclusion
I know watching those Tryndamere montages where he slaps everyone with his sword and takes their health bars down to a quarter seems daunting when you are in a game against him. Still, with everything that I just mentioned above, by now, you should know how to deal with his damage and completely deny him out of the game. Just learn when to play aggressively or defensively; after all, every win comes down with how you play the game, and the game has an infinite number of ways to be played depending on the situation. So no matter what you read, it all comes down with how you read your opponent’s mind and counter how they play; if you think like this, then there would be no such thing as a counter champion, and you can reach an even higher rank you’ve only dreamed of once. So get out there and play with all these in mind, GLHF Summoner; see you on the rift.
