Warwick Counters: How To Counter Pick Warwick

Warwick is the best jungler in League of Legends. He has high sustain, a fear, damage reduction, attack speed/movement speed increase, and best of all, he can take the dragon at level 2. In this article, we explain how to effectively counter Warwick.

Best Warwick Counters

• Yorick
• Swain
• Kayle
• Renekton
• Udyr
• Olaf

Firefang Warwick

Warwick Counter Picks

Now that you know who counters Warwick, you can finally counter pick Warwick in any matchup. Let’s take you through some tips on how to use a few of these champions who are counters to Warwick. After, there is a general section explaining how to use any LoL champion as counters for Warwick. After all, if you know how to play against Warwick, you can play safely and effectively to defeat Warwick in a lane.

Kayle

Warwick can’t do anything pre-6 and gets harassed out of the lane. In team fights, Kayle can ult when he ults to negate the damage, though the suppress is usually more important.

Olaf

• Don’t seek 1v1 duels with Warwick post-6 until you’ve built quite tanky and at least a Blade of the Ruined King. If he ults you then ult back and you’ll deny the suppression.
• Olaf and Warwick both have good life steal, however with high attack speed and his amazing passive Olaf can out-trade/out-duel Warwick from anywhere past level 3.

Grey Warwick

Tips For Playing Against Warwick

• A Quicksilver Sash and will stop Warwick’s ultimate immediately.
• Try to save a disable (silence/stun/knock-up/displacement) for when he uses his ultimate.
• Warwick heals a lot of health from his Jaw’s of the Beast & Eternal Hunger – using an Ignite on him will make him heal for a lot less.
• Do not fight Warwick for long periods of time, as he excels at long trades.
• Warwick has an extremely weak pre-6, call for ganks and be wary of him trying to fight you at 6 because he can kill you.
• Warwick has a hard time ganking before level 6, and if you force him to gank, counter jungling him will set him back severely.
• If you are above 50% health and suddenly see the red wolf-face icon above your champion, it means that Warwick has activated Blood Hunt on you and will probably be coming for you (if the situation points to a gank, then it is most certainly going be the case). It is advised to back away or play very defensive for the duration.
  • You can also use this information to get a rough estimate on where Warwick is on the map as the Active component of Blood Hunt will always mark only the closest enemy.
• Although not practical, try remaining above 50% health so that Warwick cannot detect you.
• If you have an extremely low-health teammate but you remain healthy, try to set up an ambush against Warwick since he may take the opportunity to hunt down the said teammate. Remember, he is highly kitable.
• Warwick cannot be stopped while mid-air during his ultimate, but can be CC’d out of his suppress. Try to save any hard crowd control effects (stuns, silences, knockup, etc.) for this moment to save teammates.
• It is also advisable to save any hard Crowd Control for the moment that you or a teammate, along with Warwick, falls below 50% HP, because it is at this time that Warwick is the strongest. If he cannot attack during this period, he cannot benefit from most of his abilities.
• Even though Warwick is an AD champion, at least half of his damage is magic, especially during the early game, where almost all of his damage is magic and only starts leaning toward mixed damage during the mid and late game.
  • This means purchasing magic resistance items is a better choice against Warwick. Adaptive Helm, in particular, helps, because most of Warwick‘s damage is sustained. Abyssal Mask and Spirit Visage also help though and may be potentially better than Adaptive Helm for some champions. Quicksilver Sash, which removes Warwick‘s ult, also happens to have magic resistance.
  • This doesn’t mean armor is useless against Warwick. It is just better left as a mid-game purchase since that’s where Warwick starts to do significant amounts of physical damage.
    • Bramble Vest, in particular, is a good choice against Warwick. It reduces his sustain if he tries to trade with you, so you have a better chance of winning trades. Because Jaws of the Beast applies on-hit effects, it means it is also affected by Bramble Vest, therefore it will have its healing reduced. However, this item doesn’t prevent Warwick from resorting to sustaining off minions or monsters.
  • Grievous Wounds items overall are good against Warwick because they reduce his healing power. Warwick is very reliant on sustain to survive. Apart from the aforementioned Bramble Vest, AD champions can also purchase Executioner’s Calling. For AP champions, they can also purchase Morellonomicon. However, for AP champions, because Warwick tends to build tanky, it may be hard for them to bring him down to 35% HP, to begin with.

Big Bad Warwick

By using the champions who counter Warwick and the LoL Warwick counter tips above, you can now develop a strategy to help you, as a summoner, become an effective counter to Warwick players.