Corki is a
very strong ranged AD carry, capable of dishing out massive amounts of
burst damage while also offering lots of consistent damage output to his
team. Corki deals a potent mix of both physical and magical damage
making him very hard to itemise against which is one of his biggest
strengths. Corki also packs a built in escape skill and several area of
effect based abilities.
This Corki guide aims to be a basic and simple introduction on basic strategy that should be adopted when playing Corki, it is recommended for people just starting to use Corki.
This Corki guide aims to be a basic and simple introduction on basic strategy that should be adopted when playing Corki, it is recommended for people just starting to use Corki.
Abilities
-
Hextech Shrapnel Shells (Passive)
An amazing passive which is basically free damage, the fact that its
true damage is even better. This skill makes you very deadly for the
entire game and can also help you score early game last hits. -
Phosphorus Bomb
Your main early game harassment skill. This skill also has the ability
to reveal enemies in the bush and is a great farming skill. -
Valkyrie
Corki's built in escape skill that can also jump over terrain, this
makes Corki very hard to gank during the early stages of the game, it is
also great for positioning yourself during team fights and chasing down
enemies. The damage on this skill is reasonable during the early stages
of the game and may be the difference between first blood. -
Gatling Gun
This ability offers Corki lots of consistent damage output while also
shredding the enemies armor, increasing his own damage and that of his
allies. It has a long duration and stays active even if Corki gets
stunned. -
Missile Barrage (Ultimate)
Corki's long-range poke ability that is also great for harassment and
farming. You should use this skill primarily to proc your Trinity Force
while also poking down the enemy. This skill also packs a reasonable
area of effect, making it very effective when enemies stand together, it
can also be used to check bushes.
Ability Order
Ult > Phosphorus Bomb > Gatling Gun > Valkyrie
Maxing out Phosphorus Bomb first gives you amazing harassment during the laning phase and grabbing it at level 1 can help you scout bushes ahead of your team if you plan on invading their jungle at level 1 (it also gives you an area of effect form of damage). Picking up Valkyrie at level 2 allows you to avoid any early gank attempts on you and allows you to re-position yourself in lane for a kill or to escape. Maxing out Gatling Gun second makes this skill very deadly as each level increases its duration and the armor it shreds. Of course you want to pick up your ultimate (Missile Barrage) every time you can, while leaving Valkyrie for last.
Runes
Yellow (Seals) - Armor // Mana Regeneration
Blue (Glyphs) - Magic Resistance
Purple (Quintessences) - Attack Damage // Armor Penetration // Health
Focusing on a defensive rune setup (combined with masteries) allows Corki to play very aggressively early as it gives him great lane staying power, allowing him to outlast his opponents and thus maximizes his farm. Running Armor Penetration on Marks gives you some great early game penetration and combining it with Attack Damage Quintessences gives you great damage output and last hitting power. Grabbing Armor Seals reduces the damage you take from AD champions but you can also run mana regeneration. On Glyphs you want to run Magic Resistance to give you some extra staying power against casters. If you feel you need more defensive setup you can run Health on Quintessences.
Summoner Spells
Best Summoner Spells:
-Flash
-Ghost
Running Flash and Ghost gives Corki great mobility, providing him with great escape and ganking possibilities, it also gives him great tower diving potential. These two summoner spells remain very powerful throughout the game and combined with Valkyrie can allow Corki to constantly escape danger and reposition himself in a team-fight.
Other Good Summoner Spells:
-Cleanse
-Exhaust
-Ignite
Corki has several other options for summoner spells. If you know your going up against an extremely crowd control heavy team Cleanse can be a solid summoner spell choice. If you want some reliable crowd control (which is what Corki lacks) you can run Exhaust, giving you a great edge in 1v1 encounters. You can also pick up Ignite to boost your damage output and to ensure those early game kills.
-Flash
-Ghost
Running Flash and Ghost gives Corki great mobility, providing him with great escape and ganking possibilities, it also gives him great tower diving potential. These two summoner spells remain very powerful throughout the game and combined with Valkyrie can allow Corki to constantly escape danger and reposition himself in a team-fight.
Other Good Summoner Spells:
-Cleanse
-Exhaust
-Ignite
Corki has several other options for summoner spells. If you know your going up against an extremely crowd control heavy team Cleanse can be a solid summoner spell choice. If you want some reliable crowd control (which is what Corki lacks) you can run Exhaust, giving you a great edge in 1v1 encounters. You can also pick up Ignite to boost your damage output and to ensure those early game kills.
Masteries
The defensive tree gives you great lane sustainability through increased armor, magic resistance and health regeneration based upon your mana pool (works great with Manamune).
The utility tree offers improved ghost, experience boost, mana regeneration, increased buff duration, movement speed, improved flash and reduced summoner spell cooldown.
Item Build
Final Item Build:
-Mercury's Treads
-Manamune
-Trinity Force
-Black Cleaver
-Bloodthirster
-Banshee's Veil
Steps/Reasoning:
-You have two choices for starting items, you can either go Mana Crystal & 2 Health Potions, this provides a nice starting mana pool for harassment and some solid health regeneration thanks to Strength of Spirit, alternatively you can start with a Doran's Blade.
-On your first trip back you want to build yourself a Tear of Goddess and pick up Boots of Speed. This will give you some mobility and some mana regeneration, while increasing your mana pool (and thus health regeneration).
-You want to finish your Manamune as soon as possible, converting your mana pool into attack damage, while also finishing off your boots, Mercury's Treads are a good choice.
-From here you'll want to build up your Trinity Force, grabbing the Sheen first and then the Phage for the nice slowing effect it provides.
-Depending on how the game is going you will either want to build offensive items such as The Black Cleaver (works great with your Gatling Gun) and The Bloodthirster for a powerful AD boost and some life-steal.
-Alternatively you may need a defensive based item, in which case you should build a Banshee's Veil.
Alternatives:
-Last Whisper (A great item choice against multiple high armor targets.)
-Berserker's Greaves (If the enemy lacks crowd control, this is a solid boot choice.)
-Madred's Bloodrazor (Good choice against high health teams.)
General Corki Tips
- Once you've built your Tear of Goddess/Manamune don't forget to cast your abilities before leaving the summoners platform to boost your mana pool. You can use Valkyrie to get off the platform to get back to lane alittle bit quicker.
- Valkyrie has a reasonable cooldown even at max rank, you generally will only be able to use one per team fight so it is important to consider where you position yourself, be it offensively or defensively.
- Gatling Gun has a long duration at max level, even facing your enemy for alittle while can dish out some serious damage and armor debuff. So don't stress about constantly facing your opponent.
- Don't forget that if you run Flash and Ghost you have 3 potential escapes, this gives you great mobility for escaping and ganking as well as tower-diving.
Early Game
- Despite the defensive and utility based rune/mastery setup last-hitting is a breeze thanks to Corki's passive.
- Use your Phosphorus Bomb to harass the enemy champion, try to avoid doing this near minions constantly as you can end up pushing the lane.
- Don't be afraid to throw in a few auto-attacks against your lane opponent as well, thanks to your passive they can pack a punch.
Mid Game
- As an AD carry you want to focus on farming as much as possible while still supporting your team when required. For farming you can use Phosphorus Bomb and Missile Barrage to destroy all the caster minions in a wave instantly. You can also use Valkyrie to jump over the jungle walls to quickly farm the jungle minions.
- Try to save your big missiles for enemy champions as opposed to minion farming.
- You can attempt to kill enemy champions 1v1 now, use Valkyrie to get in range for Gatling Gun and combine it with Phosphorus Bomb and Missile Barrage for lots of burst damage.
- Be very careful in mid-game team fights, your not going to have the protection of a Banshee's Veil, so you'll want to rely solely on your positioning.
Late Game
- Try to keep an active Red Buff at all times.
- Your focus should be poking down the enemy before team fights with your Missile Barrage and keeping your distance. Once your tank initiates you can use Valkyrie to get into the fight quickly.
- Don't forget to scout out bushes with either Phosphorus Bomb or Missile Barrage, so that your team doesn't get caught out. This can be devastating during the later stages of the game.
