Wukong Counters: How To Counter Pick Wukong

Wukong, the monkey king, is a top lane fighter champion in League of Legends. In this article, we explain how to effectively counter Wukong on Summoner’s Rift.

Best Wukong Counters

• Lee Sin
• Darius
• Pantheon
• Garen
• Renekton
• Olaf

Jade Dragon Wukong

Wukong Counter Picks

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

Garen

When Wukong activates his Q you activate your W to reduce all incoming damage from his burst. Also, hit him with a Q so he won’t be able to cast his clone and use E.

Darius

If Wukong has blood stacks and W you will be able to tell that its a clone. Also, Darius can bring Wukong back with his E extending the trade most likely in your favor.

Renekton

• Save your W until after Wukong has used his clone.

Pantheon

• Wukong gets poked hard by Pantheon. Heartseeker Strike continues to deal damage through Decoy’s stealth.
• Be sure to have your passive up when you go all in for your combo.

Lee Sin

Lee Sin can reveal Wukong in stealth when he uses a decoy. Lee Sin can negate Wukong’s E attack speed buff with cripple and can knock Wukong back when he uses cyclone.

Olaf

Although Wukong’s E grants him an attack speed buff, Olaf’s W is much stronger as it gives both an attack speed buff and life steal. You can poke with your E as it deals more damage than Wukong’s Q.

Radiant Wukong

Tips For Playing Against Wukong

• Avoid clumping up so that Wukong won’t be able to use his ultimate to its full potential.
• Wukong usually uses Decoy after using a Nimbus Strike. Try to hold your abilities for an extra second to see if he did use Decoy.
• Wukongs Q reduces your armor temporarily, try to duel him after the debuff expires.
• An Oracle’s Elixir will let you see Wukong even if he uses Decoy.
• Clicking Wukong before he uses his clone will show the status window on the top left. This status window will disappear when he uses his clone.
• Try not to duel Wukong at early levels. His Level 1-3 is exceptionally strong with his Armor Debuff and Attack Speed increase.
• If you are playing as a tank, consider purchasing both health and armor items so his Crushing Blow is less effective.
• Do not be tricked by his Decoy clone, If you see him suddenly stop, try to continue moving forward instead of attacking him so you will see him when his stealth duration is over.
  • If you are close enough activating Oracle Alteration will counter his stealth.
  • BEWARE: he could use it the other way, like suddenly stopping without using Decoy.
    • To avoid getting tricked between him stopping or deploying the Decoy, notice his idle animation. The clone starts its idle in a set position so if he suddenly ‘jerks’ in his idle animation, you know he used Decoy. Otherwise, feel free to continue battering Wukong.
    • It’s also wise to save up abilities like ultimates during this situation, as the decoy can be used as a shield against certain attacks and abilities, making them get wasted.
    • Wukong also has rather low movement speed in comparison to other champions; without his decoy or ultimate, it’s possible to escape from him or pin him down to kill him. Even if his decoy can confuse his opponents, he may still be too slow to run away from most AoE-based attacks.
  • Buy stealth detection items to neutralize the stealth advantage of Decoy, or land slows on him before he uses the ability, making it difficult to use the stealth to escape a large distance – preferably with non-skill shots, as Decoy cannot stop them from hitting while they are already in flight.
  • Be careful if you happen to be fighting Wukong in a one-on-one if he has his Decoy up; with proper timing, it’s possible to take extra damage from both Wukong and the decoy, enabling extra burst damage with a sneaky-touch and it’s possible to also get killed by a decoy as well.
• Crushing Blow can easily peel at his target’s defenses. Make sure Wukong doesn’t land it so that he’ll deal as little damage as possible.
• Wukong can also easily act as an assassin as well as an initiator. Be sure to kite him with your carries and/or high-utility teammates to prevent him from killing any vital teammates off by preventing him from closing in.
• Be sure to spread out to avoid Cyclone – its potential makes up the most of Wukong’s power and having the team avoid getting affected by it as much as possible can significantly reduce his effect in team fights.
  • Knockback effects and escapes can avoid a lot of Cyclone‘s damage – perhaps even all of it!
  • In general, with a good amount of certain types of abilities available, it’s possible to punish Wukong for activating his ultimate, though this requires good positioning and timing to hit/kill Wukong during it.
• Sustain can nullify the effects of Wukong‘s harassing combo, and the combo costs a significant amount of his mana which can quickly leave him unable to use his abilities. This is also true since he lacks any natural sustain himself.
• Be careful if ganging up on a fed Wukong during late game; his Stone Skin may make him tank a lot more damage than usual, so it’s often best to assault him alone or with as few allies as possible.
  • By proxy, Stone Skin can only work on enemies who could be seen, so champions with stealth can really be effective in assassinating him if he happens to be fairly squishy without his passive.
  • True damage and defensive-bypasses are also very effect against his passive early-to-late game, so champions with that natural type of stat in their kits are able to give Wukong a rough time early game, but be careful if he happens to build a lot of health over defensive stats, as this way depending on how Stone Skin can affect/benefit him can still make him relatively tanky.
• Wukong is one of the few bruisers who are actually meant to shine late game, unlike most who tend to do more damage early game as he not only requires more skill, but due to lack of sustain and high base ratios he is very item-dependent. Be sure to deny him early if possible.
  • This can also be said about his early game in either laning or jungling; he has no self-sustain and his passive is very weak at early levels, making him very squishy early game. Dueling him early in the jungle can really hinder his progress.

General Wukong

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