Even though Archangel (Staff of the Archangel) is a popular item on Orianna, I would generally advise against using it in SoloQ. You simply need a lot of burst to carrien games, and therefore you should prefer Luden’s Companion. Instead, we balance out the high mana cost with Manaflow Band and Presence of Mind. You shouldn’t have too many mana problems with these.

In the lane, you want to get your Lost Chapter as quickly as possible and then work towards Ludens. You can, and should, also put the running shoes for 300 gold in between. However, I would only upgrade them in a few exceptions. We want to get our Ludens as soon as possible, as this item makes solo kills and trades much easier. The damage of Ludens doesn’t scale with levels, which means that the earlier we are in the game, the more damage we get. I would only upgrade the shoes early in matchups where mobility is extremely important, e.g. if you’re playing against a Syndra and need to dodge her stun.

Once you have your first item, I would get the Wizard Shoes as soon as possible if you haven’t already. Dark Seal is also a very good item on Orianna, as Orianna can get assists much easier than other champions by shielding her teammates. So if you have exactly 350 gold left, you can go ahead and get a Dark Seal. The latest time I would buy a Dark Seal is after completing the first item.

Now we come to the most important part of the item build, Stormsurge. This item synergizes perfectly with our previous item build. The more magic penetration you have, the more effective this stat becomes. Magic penetration is particularly effective when you have a lot of base damage, and as already established, we have more than enough of it thanks to our W, our Ult, Ludens Tempest and the effect of Stormsurge itself. It also makes up for our lack of mobility, and the item helps with repositioning in teamfights. You can also go for more aggressive plays, as the running speed of the Stormsurge proc makes it easier to get out. This item is perfect for Orianna in the SoloQ.

From the third item onwards, you have four good options. Rabadon’s Deathcap and Void Staff are the classic options and both should not be missing in a complete item build. If the opponent builds a lot of magic resistance, Void Staff is a good choice, otherwise Rabadon’s Deathcap. If you are the only source of magic damage in your team and the opponent does not build any magic resistance, Shadowflame is a good choice. In this case, you would deal absolute damage due to the amount of magic penetration, and the item also fits perfectly into our burst profile. The fourth option I would like to highlight is Zhonya’s Hourglass and explain when to build this item.

I keep seeing players make the mistake of building Zhonyas while they are behind. This is actually a huge mistake. Zhonyas is an aggressive item buy. If you’re behind, then to stay in the game you have to go for comebacks. You can only go for comebacks if you have enough damage. However, Zhonyas gives you much less damage than the other items, and even if you build Zhonyas, the likelihood of your opponent killing you is still very high as they are ahead. You should buy Zhonyas if you want to defend your shutdown and your opponents have a lot of Engage. It’s a way to protect your lead. If you are ahead, you have enough damage anyway, so you can buy defensive items as well. That’s a general rule of thumb in League: if you’re ahead, buy defensive items, and if you’re behind, buy offensive items.

In special cases, if the opponents have a lot of tanks in the team, I would advise against this build and focus more on DPS by buying Archangel (Staff of the Archangel) or Blackfire Torch and then Liandrys second. If you decide to go with Archangel, you can also forgo Presence of Mind and go with Cut Down instead.