How To Lane Against Singed?

Singed is one of the most annoying champions to lane against. While he lacks any dash or burst damage, he remains a menace to deal with because of his Poison Trail combined with the disruptive W and E in his kit. This makes him exert a lot of mental pressure on the opposing laners.

Singed is a melee champion with a weak early game. Short trades are beneficial against him and poking him down is the best option to deal with his oppression. Be careful of his Flash>E combo early and punish his lack of mobility/engage when his ultimate is down.

To understand the ideal playstyle against Singed, we must first understand how his kit works and what it allows him to do. Certain champions or items can counter Singed but knowing them won’t benefit you as much as simply understanding his weaknesses and capitalizing on them, no matter the champion you are playing.

Do Not Chase

This has been one of the universally known golden rules of League of Legends since more than a decade ago. Never chase a singed unless your champion’s kit allows you to catch up to him without losing all of your HP. In low elo, you will notice players chasing after a proxying singed through the jungle and losing all their HP because of the poison trail. At this point, the Singed player turns around and kills them with his fling.

So what can you do if you can not catch up to Singed? There are a few options. If your champion has better mobility than singed, then taking a small chunk of damage to catch up to him and finish him off is completely fine. If you see him proxying, you can call your jungler or mid laner to collapse onto him from opposite sides. As long as you remain aware of his fling, you should be able to kill him.

Level 2-3 Cheese

Singed does not have a lot of complex mechanics. Flipping a target into his W (Commonly known as Goo Flip) is one of the most common plays you can make on Singed. However, if you add a Flash to this combo, it suddenly becomes very threatening. You must respect it at all costs, otherwise, it can cost you first blood and potentially snowball the game out of your control.

The goo flip requires two abilities to execute, therefore level 2 is the earliest you can see this combo. Since champions are extremely squishy at this stage, a few tower shots are all it takes to finish off the target. At level 2-3, if you walk close to the enemy tower, always be wary of the number of minions alive. If the minions can die in the next few moments, you are in for a goo flip.

Singed can W behind him, and then Flash onto you and instantly cast his E. This will throw you into the goo under the tower. With no minions alive, you will remain rooted there until 3-4 tower shots help him finish you off. This is one of the most important cheese strats to take care of when laning against Singed.

The Ultimate Steroid

Singed’s ultimate makes him a better version of the same champion. His stats are improved across the board. He even gains movement speed and Grievous Wounds on his Poison Trail. This is a very potent steroid and makes the champion an actual threat to deal with. This ultimate has a 120 second cooldown at Level 6 so it will not be up all the time. Try to bait it out and disengage.

Once his ultimate is down, and yours is hopefully up, you have a massive advantage. Singed without his ult is underwhelming and can easily die to most champions in a 1v1. This goes the other way too: Avoid fighting Singed when he has his ultimate activated. If you fight him in his ultimate, you have such a lower chance of winning the fight that it is simply better to not risk it.

Lack Of Mobility

Singed Lacks any sort of dash or blink in his kit. This means that Crowd Control is a very strong counter to his existence. CC allows you to disengage from Singed which is the easiest way to deal with him. He has no other way of fighting except turning on his Poison Trail and running around you in circles.

Weak Early Trading

Singed is a Melee champion that relies on his Poison Trail as his main source of consistent DPS. His Fling allows him to gain a small burst of damage but it is not enough to win him the trade. Singed’s true power is unlocked at Level 6 when his ultimate becomes available to pump stats into him.

Use this fact to your advantage and take short, favorable trades to slowly chunk his HP bar down to lethal levels. If you continuously trade in his Poison Trail, you are likely to lose the trade due to the constant poison damage ticking and refreshing.

Lifesteal/Omnivamp is also very effective against Singed in lane for this reason. If you have the ability to trade with the opponent and then heal yourself using the wave, then you are likely to win the war of attrition.

Melee Champion

Singed is a melee champion and is very easy to punish for this reason. He has no way of CSing or trading without physically putting himself in melee range of his target. If you are playing a ranged champion, you can constantly poke him without any fear (outside of the flash fling combo). Singed does not have any damage mitigation or sustain built into his basic abilities so any damage you deal to him will end up making a difference.

You can use this to your advantage and whittle down his HP bar little by little, without putting your own resource bar at any disadvantage. This will force the Singed player to recall early, thus providing you with a CS and Exp lead.

No Gap Closure/Engage

Singed lacks any tools in his kit to close the gap between him and his target. He will always try to throw his W under his target and then run at them to use his E. He has no other way of closing the gap except to run straight at his target. This makes him very predictable and prone to counterplay.

This also extends to his engage potential. Singed can not reach his target without directly running at them, so the only way he can engage is by using his E. Flash allows him to gap close by putting himself at a risk and no way out, so it is a tradeoff that can go good or bad depending on how prepared you are for the flash fling.

Both these points indicate that Singed can’t force a fight onto you, and you must be willing to opt into the fight if you plan to take him down. If you feel like you are weaker than him or that your champion can not punish him, stay out of his engage range and you will be fine.

Counter Items

While you are unlikely to give up on a mythic item power spike just to get defensive items against Singed, it is still required to know what works best against him.

Force Of Nature

This item is hands down the best item in the game against Singed. It provides everything that directly or indirectly counters Singed. Force of Nature provides 70 Magic Resist and 350 Health. As if that wasn’t enough to absorb all the damage from Poison Trail, the item provides a 25% reduction to all incoming Magic Damage. This pretty much prevents Poison Trail from doing anything except tickling you.

Once fully stacked, the item also grants you a 10% bonus movement speed, which allows you to either escape Singed or chase him. This item is the ultimate counter to Singed.

Maw Of Malmortius

A more aggressive option for champions that do not require tanky stats and would rather keep increasing their AD. Maw of Malmortius offers protection from lethal damage from Singed all while providing AD and Ability Haste. This is a great item for Assassins and even ADCs if they find themselves prone to Singed’s Poison.

Anathema’s Chains

This item provides a lot of Health and some Ability Haste. The item’s main attraction is the active that allows you to mark Singed, reducing the damage you take from him. It also reduces his tenacity when he is near you, allowing you to CC him for a longer duration.

Hullbreaker

While Hullbreaker isn’t specifically a Singed counter, it’s a great item to prevent Singed from doing anything in a side lane. The resistances gained from Hullbreaker are enough to nullify any lethal threat from Singed. The empowered Seige or Super Minions are very hard for Singed to kill, rendering him useless when it comes to sidelaning against you.

Wit’s End

Wit’s End isn’t the greatest item to rush early. However, it provides great value in mid to late game. If your champion relies on auto attacks a lot, then this might be a great item for you. The item offers Magic Resistance and Movement Speed, all while granting Attack Damage and Attack Speed that you might need to make your champion deal more damage.

Zhonya’s Hourglass

Zhonya’s Hourglass allows you to buy time if you are targeted by a Goo Flip, or simply are at risk of being chased and flipped. It buys you some valuable seconds so that your team may collapse on the Singed, allowing you to escape safely.

Counter Champions

It is best to learn to play around the strengths and weaknesses of a champion so that you may lane against it on any champion of choice. However, if you are looking to add a new champion to your pool for countering Singed, these are the best champions in their respective lanes against Singed:

Top

Singed mainly goes to the Top lane so it is easier to counter him in the lane with champions that punish his early weakness. Here are some champions that can either keep themselves safe from him and outscale or simply punish him if he steps too close.

Also check: How to Get S Rank as a Top Laner in League of Legends?

• Vayne
• Urgot
• Olaf
• Gangplank

Mid

Recently, Singed has also seen some play in the mid lane with his roaming style so it is better to know some mid lane counters to him as well.

Also check: How to Get S Rank as a Mid Laner in League of Legends?

• Anivia
• Leblanc
• Sylas
• Zilean

Conclusion

Singed can be a very annoying champion to deal with due to his ability to run away, leaving behind a deadly poison that prevents you from giving chase. However, with proper itemization and understanding of his weaknesses, you can optimize your laning experience against him.