When asked which champion bot laners fear the most or find hardest to deal with, one name consistently comes up: Blitzcrank. There are many reasons why he has become the most challenging Support champion to face in recent days, and it’s no surprise that when unable to handle him, players opt for the simplest solution—banning him.
In fact, any champion in League of Legends has its weaknesses, and there are effective counters that, with a little effort in understanding, you can completely withstand him.
1. Prepare for Blitzcrank’s Invades
Blitzcrank has many advantages at level 1 and can easily invade. Most Blitzcrank players choose to invade the enemy jungle right from level 1, trying to secure a favorable start with a few kills, or at least taking down important summoner spells.
You can easily prevent these early engagements by tightly controlling vision at the jungle entrances. If you spot Blitzcrank with his team, back off immediately.
The above is an example of positioning when your team faces an enemy team with Blitzcrank. It depends on the champions you are playing and which side Blitzcrank is on, as well as whether your jungle wants to start from Red Buff or Blue Buff.
Additionally, you can place wards in the bushes along the river to detect Blitzcrank if he tries to invade. This prevents him from stealing the Red Buff or Blue Buff, causing your jungle to waste time and fall behind in levels compared to the opponent.
2. Adjust Your Positioning
An important thing players often forget is to maintain position in the lane. For bot laners, the standard positioning of ADC and Support is usually quite close together to provide protection and attack together. If one player stands too far back, the other will find it hard to lane effectively and will feel like they are in a 1v2 against the enemy.
However, this standard positioning often cannot be applied when facing Blitzcrank (depending on the champion you are playing). This is because instead of tracking your ally’s position and maintaining the proper distance to them, you will need to pay attention to Blitzcrank’s position and ensure that there is always at least one minion between you and him at all times.
This is easier said than done, but a good tip you can use is to continuously switch between monitoring your position, Blitzcrank’s position, and the enemy ADC’s position. This will prevent you from getting hit by his hook as there will always be a minion blocking the path of Rocket Grab.
3. Hit Level 2 at the Same Time as Blitzcrank
One of Blitzcrank’s greatest strengths is his all-in potential at level 2. While level 1 allows him to deal a lot of damage to you if he lands a hook, level 2 allows him to complete his basic combo—often resulting in a kill or at least key summoner spells being burned.
You can completely counter Blitzcrank’s level 2 all-in potential by utilizing your range advantage at level 1 to poke him down, making him lower on health and less aggressive when he hits level 2.
The most feasible way to counter Blitzcrank at level 2 is to hit level 2 before or at the same time as him. In the bot lane, to reach level 2, you need to kill 9 minions—meaning you must take down the entire first wave plus 3 melee minions from the second wave.
Once you hit level 2 before or at the same time as Blitzcrank, you have naturally limited Blitzcrank’s ability to kill you since you have an additional skill to protect yourself, dodge his hook, or deal more damage. Additionally, you will tank better and gain more defensive stats thanks to your champion’s natural progression.
4. Always Save Your Mobility Skill
Many of the top ADCs in the current meta have mobility skills or movement speed boosts, such as Vayne, Lucian, Ezreal, or Caitlyn. When facing Blitzcrank or similar champions, keep in mind that whenever these skills are on cooldown, you are very vulnerable to being hooked by him.
The best time to use your dash ability proactively is when he has missed a hook previously. After that, you can use this skill when Blitzcrank runs out of mana or when your Support uses a CC ability on a target.
5. Take Advantage of Blitzcrank’s Q Cooldown
Whenever Blitzcrank is on cooldown for his Q, you should take this opportunity to play aggressively and look for trades. This is because he has virtually no threat to you once he lacks his primary ability, greatly reducing his damage potential as well as crowd control.
For some champions like Janna or Nami, this is also the ideal time to attack Blitzcrank as it is the safest time for them to step up and harass the opponent without fear of being hooked. If you don’t find ways to poke or play aggressively when Blitzcrank doesn’t have Q, it means you’re telling your opponent that he is in control of the lane and can do whatever he likes at any time!