Our guide for Milio, the newest enchanter addition to the League of Legends roster.
Milio is one of the most beginner-friendly champions Riot added to League of Legends in recent years. His playstyle isn’t all that different from the already existing enchanters like Lulu or Karma, so it shouldn’t be daunting for new players to pick him up. Still, if you are looking for a quick introduction to the champion, this Milio guide is just the thing for you.
Before we get into his runes, items or lane matchups, let’s talk about how Milio wants to play. Just like any other ranged support, Milio generally wants to play aggressively in the early laning phase, trading heavily with the enemy using his double shield on his Warm Hugs (E) and his passive burn. To help with the trades you can put three points to your E then start maxing Cozy Campfire (W), or you can just max your E completely. The passive burn also helps you stack your support item, Spelltheif’s Edge, a lot faster compared to your lane opponent, which gives you a vision advantage.
Using this vision advantage and the range you get from your W to push lanes and siege towers is a crucial step for Milio’s mid game. You can also contest objectives really well since you can keep your team healthy during standoffs with your AoE heal. The late game side is more focused on your ADC and your job is to keep them alive while buffing their damage with your passive.
When should you pick Milio?
There are a couple of ways to think about when you should play Milio. His powerful ultimate, Breath of Life, offers one of the best counterplays to AoE crowd-heavy composition with picks like Amumu, Lillia or Rakan. Or you can use it to neutralize the enemy support during the laning phase. With his Ultra Mega Fire Kick (Q), Milio can cancel a lot of the engage abilities in the game, which makes him a decent counter-pick to melee supports like Rakan, Rell and Nautilus. His best pairings are AD carries who rely on their auto attacks, rather than their abilities. Picks like Caitlyn, Jinx and Kog’Maw can become really oppressive with the extra rage. Win rate-wise his current best pairing is with Ashe, as her slowing auto attacks of her make it really hard to disengage for the enemy.
Of course, you don’t or always cannot pick later than your counterparts. It can be risky to blind him in these situations, as he can be vulnerable in the lane if you cannot disengage with your Q. Still, Milio doesn’t have to win lane and chose to play safe and scale, as his value increases with items and levels.
Best Milio runes
Milio doesn’t have too many choices when it comes to his runes. He either cannot make use of some of the support Keystones like Glacial Augment or Arcane Comet, or he really wants some of the rune options due to great synergy with his kit. His two best, and probably only two, options are Guardian and Summon Aery.
One rune Milio really enjoys in the Resolve tree is Revitalize. Both his kit and items revolve around heals and shields, so this minor rune is a must-take for him. And thanks to the two stacks on his shield ability Warm Hugs (E), he can make good use of Guardian. Not to mention these two runes also interact with each other. The other two runes in this tree don’t matter too much. Font of Life or Shield Bash are both decent options. You default to Conditioning for some durability in mid to late game or opt into Second Wind if you think you will get poked in lane.
The second option is the classic enchanter rune, Summon Aery. Just like any other enchanter, Milio can get a lot of value from Aery so it is a good choice if you want to access Manaflow Band secondary rune. With some of his builds, Milio can experience mana problems, especially when spamming abilities, so it is always a good choice.
The only problem with the Sorcery tree is that Milio doesn’t necessarily need the other runes in this Keystone. Gathering Storm and Transcendence are generic runes that aren’t bad on him, but they aren’t that good either. Of course, you can always go Guardian with Sorcery second if you really need the Manaflow Band.
Recommended Milio items
On the side of the items, you have a lot more options for Milio. While the first thought is to build the regular enchanter items, Milio’s low range and his need to stay close to the fight make tanky builds really good.
It’s not really optimal to play this champion by just staying behind your ADC as you also want to be close to your frontline in case you need to use your relatively short-ranged ultimate. Building tank items helps with this playstyle a lot since Milio is naturally squishy and is susceptible to taking a lot of damage in hectic fights. The new Mythic item Radiant Virtue is a great item for him. It gives you tanky stats to survive and its healing gets amplified by your runes or heal/shield power from your other items, like Redemption. After these two items, you can go for more of a traditional enchanter build with things like Mikael’s Blessing, or continue building tank with Frozen Hearth or Anathema’s Chains.
If the enemy team doesn’t have too much damage, or lacks backline access, you might get away with not needing tank stats. In these games heal/shield power items can give you more value. Shurelya’s Battlesong is a great item on Milio since three of his abilities either shield or heal so you can provide your team with constant movement speed buffs, especially since his shield has two charges. For this setup, it’s better to skip tank items and get classic enchanter items, but Redemption is still one of the best buys for him in the game.
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