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How to counter Mel in League of Legends
h
Hamza Rashid
Gamer
03 Feb 2025
Posted On
League of Legends [1] continues to introduce new champions to the game that players can control. While most are complete newcomers to the Runeterra universe, the same isn’t true for Mel. First introduced in the animated Netflix show Arcane, Mel is a powerful mage champion who was introduced in League of Legends 2025 Act 1. However, the problem is that she’s a little broken.
With abilities that include reflective barriers and unblockable insta-kills, it can get a little tough to counter Mel. Things get even more annoying when you realize that Riot Games refused to nerf the champion and effectively told players to get good. Fortunately, we’re here to help you do just that with tips on how to counter Mel and our favorite champions who negate most of her abilities to help you get the upper hand.
Without anymore delay, here are the best tips and tricks you can use to counter Mel in League of Legends. If you want to properly have someone teach you how to counter this annoying champion, you can always hire a professional coach from Eloking to show you how it’s done. Just don’t forget to use the code “BoostToday” so you get an epic 20% discount on your order too.
Tips to counter Mel in League of Legends
Before anything, we want to go through some tips you can utilize to counter Mel by shutting down her abilities.
1. Bait her W
Mel's W can be a real game-changer, making it important to bait it out and play around her cooldown. She’s vulnerable when her W is down, providing a window to play aggressively. However, she can turn the match on its head as soon as it's up.
To maximize your chances, poke her from a distance and try to keep her on the defense. You can also use your abilities to deal damage or create pressure, forcing her to use W prematurely. When playing as a melee champion, avoid getting into those extended trades where she can utilize her Passive for extra damage.
2. Don’t let her auto-attack
Try your best not to let Mel get free auto-attacks on you, especially after she's used her abilities. With every spell cast, she accumulates stacks of her passive which increases the damage she can deal with her auto-attacks. The damage from her passive becomes overwhelming when she's at a higher level, has more items, and the overall game state is more advanced.
Minimize this threat by being extra careful after she uses her Q or E. Expect her to position well to land auto attacks on you. Mel can push you into execute range if she gets multiple auto attacks on you rapidly, which is especially dangerous if you are a squishy or weaker melee champion early in the game.
After Mel uses her abilities, be sure to back off a little, giving yourself some space so she doesn't get those additional damage stacks on you. If you can avoid getting hit by her auto-attacks following her spell usage, you can reduce the pressure she places on you and prevent her from quickly snowballing with extra damage.
3. Team fights against Mel
Mel is a powerful team-fighter champion with an all-around kit that gives AOE damage and crowd control. Q and E have massive area-of-effect damage, making it difficult to engage without taking heavy hits. AOE CC freezes multiple enemies at once, which can disrupt your team's counters and mobility during the fight.
The most important thing when fighting Mel is to do it in areas that give your team enough space to spread out. Areas like lanes will keep you scattered rather than lumped together, and this is a perfect way to minimize damage from her AOE and crowd control. She thrives from close-quarters fights in places like the jungle or around objectives, where your team is bound to cluster, making it easy for her to land her abilities on multiple targets and deal massive damage.
Be careful with her poke damage. Mel can chip away your team's health with her abilities, and if your team is too low, she has the potential to execute anyone who gets into range. Always keep an eye on your team's health bars and avoid overextending, as Mel can finish off low-health champions with her abilities if you aren't careful.
Remember to bait her W! Timing attacks around her W is important to gain the advantage.
Champions who counter Mel in League of Legends
While knowing tips and tricks is fine, having the right champions can also make a huge difference. Below are some of the best champions you can use to counter Mel, whether though CC or by utilizing excellent range.
1. Vel’Koz
Vel'Koz is one of the best counters to Mel in the mid-lane, with far R poke, ability to deal true damage, and crowd control. His kit lets him harass and burst down Mel constantly before she can turn around to retaliate. His poke is long-range, which creates problems for Mel to get in close and stack up on Overwhelm passive. Vel'Koz pushes her out to prevent her from trading, making her unable to engage to a great degree and giving him control of the lane.
In this matchup, Vel'Koz's biggest strength is his true damage. Mel's W does protect her from projectiles, but it doesn't prevent true damage from Vel'Koz; he can always deal damage to her, even if she's on the defensive.
Vel'Koz also has Crowd control that will disrupt Mel's attempt at engaging or setting up her abilities. This makes it difficult for Mel to execute her combos and puts her in a position for possible punishment.
Lastly, the ultimate gives massive burst damage, combining both magic and true damage. This allows him to burst Mel down before the latter can stack Overwhelm or retaliate, and he's scary once he hits level 6.
2. Xerath
Xerath is an asset in long-range poke and harassment, making him a strong lane bully against Mel. Low cooldowns and high damage allow him to inflict pressure multiple times; though staying out of her basic attack range keeps her from triggering those empowered auto-attacks, thus limiting the damage.
Against Xerath, Mel's W is largely ineffective. Though she can block your E, you'll probably be too far for her to reach using W. To minimize Mel's damage, maintaining distance is crucial.
To maximize Xerath’s potential against Mel, focus on using your abilities to poke and push her back. By keeping her under constant pressure from a distance, you’ll make it tough for her to lane effectively while also giving yourself roam potential to assist your team.
3. Kassandin
Kassadin is a melee champion with tools in his kit that make him a strong pick against Mel. However, there are some challenges to consider. First, being melee means you’ll need to avoid getting punished by her basic attacks and empowered auto-attacks.
Survive the early game by building sustain along with health and magic resistance, which will help you survive the lane phase. Do not hesitate to fall back if you’re low to avoid being killed.
Kassadin excels against immobile champions, and since Mel has no reliable escape, she becomes vulnerable to him once he hits level 6. Early on, let her push you in while you focus on farming and gaining XP. Once you reach level 6, you can start playing more aggressively.
This matchup hinges largely on timing your Q to interrupt her damage. With the additional shield from your Q, it makes it pretty easy to trade with her and, from there, use your Ultimate and E to chase her down the lane and continue applying pressure. Provided you don't fall behind early, Kassadin can be oppressive in the late game.
4. Taliyah
You might be surprised to see Taliyah on this list since Mel is stronger in 1v1s after level 6, and her ultimate gives her a strong push in team fights while Taliyah's ultimate is a utility to move around on the map. But there are several reasons why Taliyah is a solid pick against Mel.
Early game, Taliyah can safely farm with her Q from a distance with no means for Mel to get into range to auto-attack freely. This gives Taliyah a lane advantage since Mel cannot trigger empowered auto-attacks. This way, even if Taliyah is behind, her Q can secure minions and thus get gold and XP.
Taliyah can also CC Mel. Since Mel cannot dodge or avoid crowd control, Taliyah can use her W to interrupt Mel's attempts to engage with auto-attacks. This is particularly useful when Mel tries to go for an all-in, as you can hold your W to disrupt her and follow up with a full combo.
As the laning phase progresses, Taliyah's roaming potential is huge. She can push Mel in with her E>W>Q combo and then rapidly swing to support her teammates, perhaps initiating some ganks, or rushing to support the jungler. Roaming is significant for mid-laners and gives Taliyah an advantage in the end game because of this ability to impact the map.
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FAQs
Will Mel get nerfed in League of Legends?
While Mel may get nerfed in the future, it won’t be any time soon. We say this because Riot Games told players in the League of Legends patch notes that it won’t nerf the champion, encouraging players to instead learn how to counter her. With that being said, Mel’s ban rate is consistently high, so Riot will likely have to eventually ban her if it wants to make her viable in competitive play.
Which roles does Mel play in League of Legends?
While Mel could technically fit in most roles thanks to her unique mage abilities, she shines the most on the middle lane. Thanks to her CC and fairly high AP potential, she can dominate the mid-lane, especially since her barrier ability directly counters strong mid-lane champions like Veigar. Mel could also be a good supporting champion, though the problem with this is that she would have to play forward since her barrier can’t be applied to teammates.
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