Mel has been the most banned champ since her release, and she’s still a headache in ranked with her W reflect, safe wave control, and nonstop pressure. Thankfully, we at BOTDIFF.LOL dug through the matchups and found the champs that actually shut her down, letting you turn her supposedly “broken” kit into a free lane. Here are the best counters to make Mel wish she dodged champ select.
1. Xerath – Artillery Mel Counter
Xerath is Mel’s most devastating counter matchup and one of the only champions who prevents her from snowballing back into the game. His Q, W, and even his ultimate is unreflectable, removing the biggest threat Mel brings to lane with her W. Instead of worrying about accidentally nuking yourself, you get to chip her down safely from a distance she can’t contest. Xerath’s poke, wave control, and ability to influence the map without committing give him every advantage this lane can offer.
For this matchup, you want to run Arcane Comet to match Mel’s skirmish and poke tempo, and open with Q to hit both the wave and her for early pressure. A Dark Seal start works extremely well because even if you’re not killing her in lane, you’ll pick up stacks through global ult assists. From there, rushing Luden’s gives your Q and W the extra burst needed to punish her anytime she steps forward. Your job is to keep her under her turret and kill her when she tries to move past.
The most important part of this matchup is your E usage. Never throw E when Mel has vision on you and her W is available. If she reflects it, you stun yourself and hand her the perfect al -in window. Instead, wait for her to use W preemptively or defensively. Once it’s down, she becomes extremely vulnerable. She lacks mobility, meaning a clean W slow into E stun almost always lands, and once it hits, you have a guaranteed full combo that can force her out of lane or secure a kill. Patience with your E is the difference between a free matchup and losing to her only win condition.
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2. Fizz – Assassin Mel Counter
Next on the list is Fizz, who takes the complete opposite approach from Xerath. Instead of playing at max range and suffocating Mel with poke, Fizz thrives by getting right in her face and blowing her up before she can do anything about it. His mobility, untargetability, and enhanced autos give him multiple ways to bypass Mel’s reflect windows, and the only real part of his kit she can reliably turn back on him is his ultimate. As long as you respect her W cooldown, Fizz can dominate this matchup with explosive trades and relentless kill pressure.
For runes, you want Electrocute + Ignite to maximize your burst, and you should start E for early wave control, invulnerability, and the instant Electrocute setup. Level 3 is your first real all in window. Q + W procs Electrocute instantly, and if Mel doesn’t flash or perfectly react, you can chase with E and ignite to finish the kill. Even if she plays safe, the combination of your mobility and her limited early damage lets you control the lane tempo, set up short trades, and keep her too low to walk up.
The entire matchup revolves around using your E to dodge Mel’s Q and E, then snapping back onto her once she commits. Your E makes her biggest trading tools unreliable, and once she misses, her lane becomes extremely punishable. The biggest rule is saving your ultimate until Mel’s W is on cooldown. Getting your shark reflected into yourself or your jungler can instantly flip a fight. Play with confidence and commit fully when you choose your moment. Fizz wins this matchup by taking over early and never letting Mel scale back in.
3. Aurelion Sol – Scaling Mel Counter
Aurelion Sol doesn’t bring the early pressure that Xerath and Fizz do, but his kit gives him exactly what he needs to survive Mel. Safe waveclear, long range trading, and unpunishable scaling. Your E + Q hits the wave from far enough away that Mel can’t threaten her snare into Q without overstepping, and your ultimate can’t be reflected, making any bad position from her instantly costly. Instead of fighting her head-on, you simply play the lane at a distance she can’t interact with.
Take Arcane Comet, start Doran’s Ring, and build Rylai’s into Liandry’s for constant chip damage and peel. You don’t have the same early kill threat as the previous matchups, but you completely avoid the part of lane where Mel usually takes over. Aurelion Sol gets to farm, scale, and stay safe while poking her out in small windows, which is all he needs to hit his mid-game power.
Just be mindful of Mel’s ability to punish mistakes. Her E is her whole engage pattern, so track its cooldown and keep your distance when it’s up. Once you unlock W, matching her roams becomes easy, and flying into skirmishes lets you flip fights before she can even get in range. Play patient, use your range, and you’ll make this a matchup where Mel never gets to threaten you.
Check out these other counter pick matchups!
4. Kassadin – Anti-Mage
Kassadin is one of the classic mage counters in mid lane, and Mel is no exception. His passive cutting 10% of her magic damage, combined with the magic shield on his Q, makes it extremely hard for Mel to punish him early. In this matchup, Electrocute is the go rune since it lets you trade back effectively and gives you enough burst to threaten her whenever she mispositions.
While most of Kassadin’s kit can be reflected by Mel, your ultimate can’t, and that completely breaks her game plan. Once you hit 6, you get to ignore her spacing, jump straight into her range, and force trades on your terms. A Riftwalk into her face with a magic shield and an Electrocute auto makes it tough for her to fight back, and it gives you real kill threat the moment she slips up.
For items, rush Rod of Ages into Seraph’s. The healing from RoA and the shield from Seraph’s make you incredibly hard to burst, and the huge mana pool turns your Riftwalk into a terrifying mid-game nuke. Kassadin cleanly shuts down Mel’s early pressure, scales past her faster than she can handle, and becomes one of the hardest champs in the game for her to deal with once you come online.
Mel might feel oppressive with her reflect windows and overloaded trading patterns, but she’s far from the impossible matchup people make her out to be. Once you understand how her W shapes every trade, the lane becomes all about playing your range, timing, and aggression the right way. Champions who can either ignore her reflect, punish her cooldowns, or force fights on their terms make her far less threatening than she looks on paper. Play patient early, capitalize when she overextends, and you’ll turn what should be her strongest phase into the moment she starts falling apart.
