Who counters Mel in League of Legends?

By rules over Riot's ability text, the picks that fit best against Mel are Maokai, Taric and Thresh, and each one is listed on this page with its reason. This is Analysis, not a win rate.

How do you play against Mel in League of Legends?

Riot's own tip: Mel can reflect enemy projectiles, including powerful spells. Wait until she casts Rebuttal before throwing powerful projectiles her way. The counter picks on this page add the champions whose abilities answer Mel, each with its reason.

Who is Mel good against in League of Legends?

Read the other way round, the same rules over Riot's ability text find Mel strong into Locke, Kassadin and Kha'Zix. The reason for each is on this page. This is Analysis, not a win rate.

Which lanes does Mel play?

Data Dragon has no lane data. As a Mage and Support champion, Mel typically plays Mid and Support. This is a class-based filter, not a play rate.

How hard is Mel to play?

Riot rates the difficulty of Mel as Medium (5 out of 10).

Mel Counter LoL: Best Picks & Why (Patch 16.21.1)

Tactical identity

Mel, Mage / Support

Mel, the Soul's Reflection, is a Mage and Support champion in League of Legends. Everything below comes from Riot's Data Dragon for patch 16.21.1: ability text, base stats and Riot's tips. Counters and matchups by class are worked out from that text, and each one shows its reason.

Riot's ratings, out of 10

Attack: 2
Defense: 4
Magic: 9
Difficulty: 5

Typical lanes (class-based)Mid, Support

ResourceMana

Playing as Mel

Riot's own tips

Mel can reflect enemy projectiles, including powerful spells. Wait until she casts Rebuttal before throwing powerful projectiles her way.
The more Mel hits you, the more Overwhelm stacks she applies. If your health drops too low her next hit will kill you, so back off for a couple seconds to let the Overwhelm stacks fall off.

Playing against Mel

Riot's own tips

Mel can reflect enemy projectiles, including powerful spells. Wait until she casts Rebuttal before throwing powerful projectiles her way.
The more Mel hits you, the more Overwhelm stacks she applies. If your health drops too low her next hit will kill you, so back off for a couple seconds to let the Overwhelm stacks fall off.

What the kit does

Analysis read from Riot's ability text. Each line shows the words it rests on.

Hard crowd control
Solar Snare: "rooting those at"
Soft crowd control (slow, silence, blind)
Solar Snare: "around it slows enemies and"
Execute or low-health damage
Searing Brilliance: "consumed to execute the target"
Area damage
Radiant Volley: "repeatedly to enemies within the area"

Mel in recent patches

Every official patch that changed Mel, newest first. Numbers from Riot's official notes (before and after).

Patch 26.22adjusted2026-11-03
- Base Stats: Health: 640 + 99/Level → 590 + 107/Level
- Base Stats: Mana: 480 + 28/Level → 455 + 38/Level
- Base Stats: AR: +5.2/Level → +5.4/Level
- Base Stats: AD: 54 + 3.3/Level → 52 + 3.3/Level
More changes in the patch notes.

Mel's abilities

Riot's own text and preview clip for each ability, from Riot's Data Dragon, patch 16.21.1. Pick an ability and its clip plays here, muted.

PPassive

Searing Brilliance

Whenever Mel uses an ability, she gains three bonus projectiles (up to nine maximum) on her next attack. When Mel deals damage through an ability or attack, she applies Overwhelm, which can stack infinitely. If the enemy is hit by Mel with enough Overwhelm damage, the stacks are consumed to execute the target.

Effects in the text

Execute or low-health damage
Scales with time
Ranged poke
Burst damage

QQ

Radiant Volley

Cooldown: 10/9/8/7/6 s
Cost (Mana): 70/75/80/85/90
Range: 950

Mel fires a barrage of projectiles that explode around a target location, dealing damage repeatedly to enemies within the area.

Effects in the text

Area damage
Clears waves
Ranged poke

WW

Rebuttal

Cooldown: 38/35/33/29/26 s
Cost (Mana): 80/60/40/20/0
Range: 250

Mel forms a barrier around herself that reflects enemy projectiles back at the attacker, prevents her from taking damage, and grants her movement speed.

Effects in the text

Ranged poke

EE

Solar Snare

Cooldown: 11/10.5/10/9.5/9 s
Cost (Mana): 50/60/70/80/90
Range: 1000

Mel fires a radiant orb forward, rooting those at its center while the area around it slows enemies and deals damage over time.

Effects in the text

Hard crowd control
Soft crowd control (slow, silence, blind)
Protects allies

RR

Golden Eclipse

Cooldown: 120/100/80 s
Cost (Mana): 100

Mel strikes all enemies marked with Overwhelm regardless of their distance from her, dealing additional damage for each stack of Overwhelm. Ranks of Golden Eclipse increase Overwhelm's damage.

Effects in the text

Area damage
Clears waves
Scales with time

Build direction, Analysis

Items and runes that fit Mel

Riot publishes no builds and this page invents none. Below: completed items ranked by how many of the stats Mel's kit uses they give (ability power (AP) first), the runes whose official text matches the kit, and picks for each enemy type. A fit, not a strength ranking. No win rates.

Closest stat fit

Editorial estimate

Completed items ranked by how many of the stats Mel's kit uses they give. A fit, not a verdict: Riot publishes no builds and no win rates.

Cryptbloom3,000
- +75 Ability PowerMel scales with it
- +30% Magic Penetrationits damage is magic
- +20 Ability Hastecasts abilities often
Actualizer2,800
- +90 Ability PowerMel scales with it
- +300 Manaits resource is mana
- +10 Ability Hastecasts abilities often
Archangel's Staff2,900
- +70 Ability PowerMel scales with it
- +600 Manaits resource is mana
- +25 Ability Hastecasts abilities often
Blackfire Torch2,800
- +80 Ability PowerMel scales with it
- +600 Manaits resource is mana
- +20 Ability Hastecasts abilities often
Luden's Echo2,750
- +100 Ability PowerMel scales with it
- +600 Manaits resource is mana
- +10 Ability Hastecasts abilities often
Malignance2,700
- +90 Ability PowerMel scales with it
- +600 Manaits resource is mana
- +15 Ability Hastecasts abilities often

Boots

Armored Advance1,200

Chainlaced Crushers1,250

Crimson Lucidity900

Immortal Path1,100

Spellslinger's Shoes1,100

Swiftmarch1,000

Rune fits

Editorial estimate

Runes whose official text matches the most things Mel's kit does. Each line shows the words it rests on.

AftershockResolve, Keystone · Matches: 1
- It can immobilize, slow or impair enemies: Solar Snare: "rooting those at"
Arcane CometSorcery, Keystone · Matches: 1
- It deals damage with abilities: Searing Brilliance: "three bonus projectiles"
Deathfire TouchSorcery, Keystone · Matches: 1
- It deals damage with abilities: Searing Brilliance: "three bonus projectiles"
Manaflow BandSorcery · Matches: 2
- It deals damage with abilities: Searing Brilliance: "three bonus projectiles"
- It uses mana: Mana
Approach VelocityInspiration · Matches: 1
- It can immobilize, slow or impair enemies: Solar Snare: "rooting those at"
Cheap ShotDomination · Matches: 1
- It can immobilize, slow or impair enemies: Solar Snare: "rooting those at"

Against each enemy type

Editorial estimate

Situational picks, counted from what the champions of each class do in Riot's Data Dragon. Swap a slot when the enemy team has several of that class.

Tanks
Anti-heal 25 of 46 heal or sustain
Executioner's Calling Morellonomicon
Cleanse or tenacity 20 of 46 have two or more hard CC abilities
Chainlaced Crushers Endless Hunger
To cut through them Tanks stack armor and magic resist; these items give magic penetration.
Cryptbloom Shadowflame Stormsurge Void Staff
Fighters
Anti-heal 40 of 60 heal or sustain
Executioner's Calling Morellonomicon
Armor 38 of 60 deal physical damage only
Chain Vest Dead Man's Plate
Assassins
Anti-heal 24 of 46 heal or sustain
Executioner's Calling Morellonomicon
Armor 23 of 46 deal physical damage only
Chain Vest Dead Man's Plate
Mages
Magic resist 52 of 74 deal magic damage only
Abyssal Mask Banshee's Veil
Anti-heal 30 of 74 heal or sustain
Executioner's Calling Morellonomicon
Marksmen
Armor 14 of 33 deal physical damage only
Chain Vest Dead Man's Plate
Supports
Magic resist 35 of 42 deal magic damage only
Abyssal Mask Banshee's Veil
Anti-heal 19 of 42 heal or sustain
Executioner's Calling Morellonomicon

Counted from the official ability text, League of Legends patch 16.21.1. These are counts of champions, not win rates.

Rune trees

Lit runes: their official text matches something Mel's kit does (Analysis). Select a rune to read why.

Precision2 lit

Domination3 lit

Sorcery7 lit

Resolve2 lit

Inspiration3 lit

Matchups by class

Mel against each class of champion, counted from the official ability text. Choose a class or a lane to narrow it down.

Against all 172 champions: 70 ahead, 53 even, 49 behind. Each class is read against that, so check the best and toughest tags too.

Class

Lane

Patch

16.21.1Older patches: not available yet

Against Tanks

Weak

Toughest class

9 ahead · 4 even · 33 behind of 46

Ahead of

Struggles against

Your damage is magic only, so they can stack magic resist against you.
Their healing or shields outlast your poke.

What to do: A risky pick into tanks. Wait for the enemy draft before you lock it, or pick it with a team that covers the gap.

Against Fighters

Even

26 ahead · 14 even · 20 behind of 60

Ahead of

Struggles against

You out-range them and can poke from a distance.
Their healing or shields outlast your poke.

What to do: Neither side has a clear edge over fighters. Execution and the team around you decide it.

Against Assassins

Strong

Best class

30 ahead · 15 even · 1 behind of 46

Ahead of

Struggles against

Your hard crowd control stops their dashes.
You out-range them and they have no healing to recover.

What to do: A good pick when the enemy has several assassins. Play for the fights where your edge shows.

Against Mages

Even

30 ahead · 32 even · 12 behind of 74

Ahead of

Struggles against

You can lock down squishy targets that have few escapes.
They can lock you down: you have few ways out.

What to do: Neither side has a clear edge over mages. Execution and the team around you decide it.

Against Marksmen

Strong

16 ahead · 13 even · 4 behind of 33

Ahead of

Struggles against

You have early pressure while they need time to scale.
You can lock down squishy targets that have few escapes.

What to do: A good pick when the enemy has several marksmen. Play for the fights where your edge shows.

Against Supports

Even

12 ahead · 14 even · 16 behind of 42

Ahead of

Struggles against

You can lock down squishy targets that have few escapes.
Your damage is magic only, so they can stack magic resist against you.

What to do: Neither side has a clear edge over supports. Execution and the team around you decide it.

Source: Nexus Lab rules over the official ability text, League of Legends patch 16.21.1. Each champion of the class is compared with Mel one by one; the counts come from those rules, not from match results, so they are not win rates. Strong, even and weak compare the number of champions ahead and behind. Lanes are the lanes each class usually plays (Riot ships no lane data per champion), not play rates.

Building against Mel

Analysis: answers to what Mel's own kit does.

Mel deals magic damage only, so magic resist pays off. Mage role

Abyssal MaskIt gives magic resist (listed in its stats).

Banshee's VeilIt gives magic resist (listed in its stats).

Bloodletter's CurseIt gives magic resist (stated in its text).

Picks that can punish Mel

Analysis: rules over Riot's ability text.

Maokai

Counters you

Maokai has hard CC (Bramble Smash: "Maokai knocks back nearby") to catch Mel, a squishy champion with few escapes (Mage role).

2 more reasons

Maokai can avoid damage for a moment (Twisted Advance: "becoming untargetable and dashing"), and Mel relies on burst (Searing Brilliance: "consumed to execute the target").

Mel deals only magic damage (Mage role), so Maokai can stack magic resist (Tank role) against it.

Watch out: Mel is ranged (Mage role) and can poke Maokai, a melee champion (Tank role).

Taric

Counters you

Taric has hard CC (Dazzle: "damage and stuns enemies") to catch Mel, a squishy champion with few escapes (Mage role).

2 more reasons

Mel deals only magic damage (Mage role), so Taric can stack magic resist (Bastion: "Passively increase the Armor of Taric") against it.

Taric can avoid damage for a moment (Cosmic Radiance: "making them invulnerable for a"), and Mel relies on burst (Searing Brilliance: "consumed to execute the target").

Watch out: Mel is ranged (Mage role) and can poke Taric, a melee champion (Support role).

Thresh

Counters you

Thresh has hard CC (Death Sentence: "Thresh binds an enemy") to catch Mel, a squishy champion with few escapes (Mage role).

2 more reasons

Mel deals only magic damage (Mage role), so Thresh can stack magic resist (Damnation: "permanently granting him Armor and Ability") against it.

Thresh can outlast poke with healing or shields (Dark Passage: "lantern that shields nearby allied") against Mel's ranged skillshots (Searing Brilliance: "three bonus projectiles").

Watch out: Mel is ranged (Mage role) and can poke Thresh, a melee champion (Support role) with no sustain to recover.

Alistar

Counters you

Alistar has hard CC (Triumphant Roar: "roar by stunning or displacing") to catch Mel, a squishy champion with few escapes (Mage role).

2 more reasons

Mel deals only magic damage (Mage role), so Alistar can stack magic resist (Tank role) against it.

Alistar can outlast poke with healing or shields (Triumphant Roar: "charged he heals himself all") against Mel's ranged skillshots (Searing Brilliance: "three bonus projectiles").

Watch out: Mel is ranged (Mage role) and can poke Alistar, a melee champion (Tank role).

Leona

Counters you

Leona has hard CC (Shield of Daybreak: "damage and stunning the target") to catch Mel, a squishy champion with few escapes (Mage role).

2 more reasons

Mel deals only magic damage (Mage role), so Leona can stack magic resist (Eclipse: "shield to gain Damage Reduction, Armor, and Magic Resist") against it.

Mel needs time to scale (Searing Brilliance: "which can stack infinitely") and Leona has early pressure (Shield of Daybreak: "damage and stunning the target") to punish that.

Watch out: Mel is ranged (Mage role) and can poke Leona, a melee champion (Tank role) with no sustain to recover.

Sion

Counters you

Sion has hard CC (Decimating Smash: "up and stunned") to catch Mel, a squishy champion with few escapes (Mage role).

2 more reasons

Mel deals only magic damage (Mage role), so Sion can stack magic resist (Tank role) against it.

Sion can outlast poke with healing or shields (Glory in Death: "heal him") against Mel's ranged skillshots (Searing Brilliance: "three bonus projectiles").

Watch out: Mel is ranged (Mage role) and can poke Sion, a melee champion (Tank role).

Who Mel is good against

The same rules, read the other way.

Locke

You pressure

Mel has hard CC (Solar Snare: "rooting those at") that can stop Locke's dashes (Ashen Pursuit: "location before dashing to attack").

Kassadin

You pressure

Mel has hard CC (Solar Snare: "rooting those at") that can stop Kassadin's dashes (Riftwalk: "Kassadin teleports to a").

Kha'Zix

You pressure

Mel has hard CC (Solar Snare: "rooting those at") that can stop Kha'Zix's dashes (Leap: "Kha'Zix leaps to an").

Kindred

You pressure

Mel has hard CC (Solar Snare: "rooting those at") that can stop Kindred's dashes (Dance of Arrows: "Kindred tumbles and shoots").

Akali

You pressure

Mel has hard CC (Solar Snare: "rooting those at") that can stop Akali's dashes (Shuriken Flip: "Re-cast to dash to the").

Counter picks are Analysis: rules over Riot's ability text, each with the words it rests on. They are not win rates, and no League of Legends matchup list has been reviewed by hand yet.

Official story

Mel's official story on Riot UniverseA link to the official source (in English). We do not copy its text.

Champion video guide

Video by 3 Minute League of Legends · Watch on YouTube The player loads from YouTube (privacy-enhanced mode) only after you press play.

Measured numbers

Numbers published or counted by a named source. Each row names the source and the patch.

Attack2

Defense4

Magic9

Difficulty5

Riot data Riot's ratings out of 10, Riot's Data Dragon, patch 16.21.1

Base stats
Stat	Level 1	Per level	Level 18
Health	630	+99	2313
Mana	480	+28	956
Armor	21	+5.2	109.4
Magic resist	30	+1.3	52.1
Attack damage	54	-	54
Attack speed	0.625	+2.5%	0.891
Attack range	550	-	550
Move speed	330	-	330
Health regen per 5 seconds	6	+0.55	15.35
Mana regen per 5 seconds	9	+0.9	24.3

Riot data Riot's Data Dragon, patch 16.21.1. Level 18 is calculated from Riot's growth formula on the same numbers.

Editorial estimates

Our reading of the data. These are not measured rates and they change when the rules or the data change.

Counter picks: 6 Editorial estimateNexus Lab rules over Riot's ability text, patch 16.21.1
Good against: 5 Editorial estimateNexus Lab rules over Riot's ability text, patch 16.21.1
Typical lanes: Mid, Support Editorial estimateLanes of the class; Riot ships no lane data per champion
Best class (relative): Assassins Editorial estimateWins minus losses over the class, compared with the other classes; counts of champions, patch 16.21.1
Toughest class (relative): Tanks Editorial estimateWins minus losses over the class, compared with the other classes; counts of champions, patch 16.21.1

What no source gives us

Win rate, pick rate and ban rate. Riot publishes none we may print (the Riot API cards are switched off) and no third-party statistics site is read, so none is shown.
Popular builds. Riot publishes no builds: the items and runes in Build & Runes are a fit to the kit, not a popularity ranking.

Sources

Riot Games Data Dragon
Names, ratings, base stats, ability text, cooldowns, costs, range, items, runes and art.
Patch 16.21.1, file generated 2026-10-26
Open
Riot ability preview clips
Played from Riot's own server when you press play; never copied here.
Each clip checked with a request before it is offered
League of Legends Wiki
Release dates and skin prices in RP (CC BY-SA).
Committed data, see the skins page
Open
Nexus Lab rules
Counters, matchups by class, item and rune fit: rules over Riot's ability text, each with the words it rests on.
Patch 16.21.1
Riot Universe
The official story of Mel (a link, nothing copied).
Open

Mel League of Legends champion guide

Mel, Mage / Support

Playing as Mel

Playing against Mel

What the kit does

Mel in recent patches

Searing Brilliance

Radiant Volley

Rebuttal

Solar Snare

Golden Eclipse

Items and runes that fit Mel

More items with the same stat 29

Boots

Tanks

Fighters

Assassins

Mages

Marksmen

Supports

Rune trees

Precision2 lit

Domination3 lit

Sorcery7 lit

Resolve2 lit

Inspiration3 lit

Building against Mel

Picks that can punish Mel

Who Mel is good against

Official story

Get new stories and champion updates

Champion video guide

Mel skins

Quick answers

Who counters Mel in League of Legends?

How do you play against Mel in League of Legends?

Who is Mel good against in League of Legends?

Which lanes does Mel play?

How hard is Mel to play?

Related champions

Next steps

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