Are you having problems with your LoL champion and find yourself continuously dying within seconds of meeting up with an opponent? If so, then you may be playing on a squishy champion.
The Meaning of a Squishy Champion
As funny as the term “squishy champion” may sound, the meaning behind it isn’t so silly. When you play a squishy champion, you’re playing a champion that lacks defensive stats/health. Most of the ADCs in League of Legends are squishy because they emphasize damage instead of defense.
A squishy champion will lack both defensive and health stats. Some champions, such as Mundo, Nasus, and other tanks, may prioritize healthy to counteract items that give them armor/magic penetration. Since they usually have 4000 HP, this doesn’t make them squishy in the least bit.
The squishy champions are usually the ADCs of bot lane as well as assassins. Assassins are meant to eliminate their target quickly, so for them, a lot of defensive stats and health is pointless. To prevent being killed off quickly because of their squishiness, they will require backup from the team and/or combat skills. The individual playing this champion will have to continually fight to prevent their champion from dying or develop some form of strategy – we will touch on what you can do to survive using squishy champions in LoL later on in this article.
To elaborate further, squishy champions will lack in the following departments:
No Personal Deal Prevention
Even if you’re a tank, any champion will fall under pressure if enough focus fire is applied. However, squishies are going to crumble within moments of focus. This is because they lack abilities that help mitigate damage, and of course, they lack defense stats. This includes damage shields, damage reduction, and so on.
A good example of a champion with reduced squishiness in this aspect would be Poppy. She has a passive that quickly reduces damage, her ulti allows her to negate all damage, and she gets stacks of armor. This helps her survive once the damage has started.
Low Defense Stats
Armor, Magic Resistance, and Health play a vital role in preventing a champion from dying. A tank will excel in this department, but the same cannot be said about a squishy LoL champion. A squishy champion will usually have poor stat progression per level.
Vladimir would be an excellent example of an LoL champion that has reduced squishiness in this area. He has a passive that gives him extra health for bonus AP, and extra AP for bonus health. This encourages Vladimir players to buy health items while he builds offensively.
Also read: How to Increase Your Honor Level in League of Legends?
Poor Trading Blows
Having the ability to eliminate an enemy before they hurt you isn’t going to affect your squishiness. If you were to get jumped from the bush, that ability isn’t going to be helpful.
Graves is an LoL champion that would be a good example of this – he has reduced squishiness in this department. His passive ability increases his Magic Resistance and Armor. So, if Graves survives an ambush, he will get a growing advantage. A large portion of his kit supports trading blows on the offensive side.
It’s Time to Fix Your Level of Squishiness
Now that you understand what factors, or per se, the lack of factors that play a role in a champion being squishy, it’s time to do something about it and fix that level of squishiness.
Strength
What’s good about squishy champions is that most of them have the strength to survive. The trick would be for the player to amplify the said strengths, instead of focusing on armor, such as health regeneration, massive damage, etc.
Buy Items
The main thing to consider for your squishy champion would be to fix their squishiness direction with items. You can fix it directly by getting defensive items. Remember, every bit of armor, health, and magic resistance will go a long way when you’re playing a champion like this. You can buy many high-tier items that will help you, like Frozen Mallat, Abyssal Sceptre, and Wriggle’s Lantern.
You could also consider items like Banshee’s Veil, Zhonya’s Hourglass, and Hexdrinker as they directly present potent defenses.
Take Lifesteal/spell vamp as an example, it’s not going to save you from something like a nuke barrage, but it comes in handy for improving the champion’s ability to trade blows because, for each hit, it will heal you.
You should also consider items such as Randuin’s Omen as this can help slow the enemy’s attack speed so that it doesn’t feel like they’re slicing through you like there’s no tomorrow.
Problems and Solutions
Problem 1: Burst
There you are, peacefully walking along the bottom lane at a full health bar, last hitting enemy champions. All of a sudden, your peacefulness has been interrupted by Blitzcrank when he rocket grabs you (so much for the peaceful atmosphere). During this process, the enemy teams AD carry is continuously shooting you with their auto-attacks, and before you know it, you are lying on the floor, waiting to respawn.
Here’s another scenario – you’re in the top lane, fighting against Riven, when all of a sudden, her Ulti is activated, she rushes to you, stuns you, uses her auto-attack/broken wings combo, and then finishes you off with her wind slash and ignite. Weren’t you just at full health seconds ago?
Solution 1: Defense
If the enemy laner is powerful enough to be able to take 80% of your life from you (maybe even all of it) all at once, sometimes, you have to put that normal build on hold to pick up a defensive item to survive. If you’re going against AD damage, we would go for a Warden’s Mail, maybe even a Chain Vest.
If, on the other hand, you’re up against magic damage, grabbing a Negatron cloak would be good for you – AP mids could go for Chalice of Harmony into Athene’s Unholy Grail. If you want an additional 380 health (this would be great for your squishy champion), then going in for a Giant’s belt is a great option.
If you’re dealing with a CC champion on the enemy team, then opt for Mercury’s treads – they will also reduce magic damage (that’s a great bonus to have). Ninja Tabi is also great against auto attacks.
When you find yourself dealing with a champion like Lux with his Light Binding, or Blitzcrank with his Rocket Grab (enemy champions that land skill shots), then you need to go into the item shop and grab a pair of tier two boots as soon as you can. You’ll want to hide behind your minions as much as possible because they will help block those skill shots from reaching you.
Also read: Best Vel’Koz ARAM Build
Problem 2: Harass
Many LoL champions on the block tend to harass other champions, especially those squishy ones, which causes the health to steadily go down and eventually kill you. This can come in the form of auto attacks (like most of the AD carries) or skill shots (like Ezreal with that Mystic shot or Lux with Lucent Singularity). Those point and click abilities (Jax’s Leap Strike and Akali’s Mark of the Assassin) are also harassment forms.
Solution 2: Sustain
When it comes to going against harass-heavy lines, you’re not helpless – there are many things you can do. Starting off, you need to go into the item shop and buy some magic resistance/armor, which will make their harass do less damage.
The second thing on the list would be to buy some sustain. What we mean here is spell vamp (for AP champions), life steal (for AD champions), or health potions (for every champion). These items will help you out by giving you health over time. If you find yourself continuously in that shop buying health potions, then go ahead and pick up the Crystalline flask.
The final solution would be to learn how to recall sooner. Yes, we know it’s never fun when you’re forced out of a lane, but you got to do what you got to do if you want to live.
Problem 3: The Jungler
Oh yes, the Jungler is one of the most annoying champions to deal with. This is the sneaky one that continuously creeps up on you from the bushes with the intent to slay you and ruin what would have been a great laning phase.
Sure, other enemy champions besides the Jungler can do this, but the Jungler is more likely to stop you.
Solution 3: Sight Wards
Regardless of the champion you’re on, most aren’t able to take on two enemies at one time and walk away – unless you’re Faker.
The best thing for you to do would be to avoid that Jungler as much as you can. If you see the Jungler in the bushes, wait by the tower. Dying over a couple of minions is not worth it.
If you have no wards remaining, and you know that Jungler is creeping around out there, then playback in the lane. Going on your side of the river is usually the safe thing to do, but it can be risky even then, and putting yourself on the enemy’s side of the river isn’t a good idea.
Conclusion
Playing a squishy champion can be a challenge, and that’s why many people avoid them. However, we can’t get over the amount of damage they’re capable of dealing, and that’s why one of our mains is a squishy champion. What about you? Do you love these types of champions, or do you avoid them at all costs?