Senna beginner’s guide: How to play The Redeemer

Senna arrived in League of Legends two weeks ago as a unique support marksman whose abilities are both offensive and defensive.

Senna can be a traditional support in every aspect, from her runes to the items that get the best out of her. If you think it’s better to use her as a marksman, though, that’s an option, too. But because her abilities can go both ways, it’s crucial to know where to start with her.

Here’s everything you need to know about Senna, from runes and items to gameplay.

Runes

Support Senna

As support Senna, Summon Aery is the keystone you should be picking, just like with most other supports that have a shielding ability. Besides Aery giving her Q extra poke, it also adds a shield in addition to healing when the ability is used through allies. The rest of the runes focus on damage and cooldown reduction so Senna can harass enemies with her abilities.

ADC Senna

If you want to play Senna as a bot laner, you’ll be looking to use a more standard rune set for ADCs. Fleet Footwork will give her more damage and heal on energized attacks. The rest of the runes will add more sustain, tenacity, and damage to Senna, which helps keep her alive and snowball the game.

Items

Support Senna

Even as a support, you still want to deal damage to enemies. Start with Spectral Sickle for more damage and gold, then build Duskblade to make her in-lane poke more threatening. More power and cooldown reduction will come from the rest of the build.

ADC Senna

Unlike most traditional marksmen, Senna doesn’t scale with attack speed, so her focus shifts on cooldowns and damage. What you’re looking for with ADC Senna is to deal damage through abilities as quickly as possible, while still having mana to fight. And this build revolves around that.

Gameplay

Senna’s gameplay is similar whether you’re playing her a support or marksman. What you’re looking to do is to harass enemies in lane, especially with your Q.

As a support, you don’t need to focus on farming, but you still need to be aware of Mist Wraiths. Collecting their souls will pump up her passive, which is necessary for a stronger late game.

Use your Q to damage enemies and heal your allies. The general combo you’re looking to do with Senna is W—auto attack while enemies are rooted—Q, and then ult to finish them off if necessary. If you’re a support, try to use your Q to keep your ADC alive while still damaging enemies.

Later in the game, keep an eye on the map since Senna’s ultimate is global and can help turn fights around. All the way from the bot lane, Senna’s shield can save a top laner from dying in a duel or pick off an enemy that’s trying to escape with low health. 

In teamfights, use the advantage of her long range on abilities and position yourself in the backline. Senna is squishy and easy to lock down and kill, so you need to deal damage from behind. Try to save your E to help yourself and teammates escape when things get too heated.

Regardless of what role you pick, level your Q first, followed by W, E, and, of course, R.