Blitzcrank is undoubtedly one of the hardest support champions to play against. A lot of players of all Elos have a hard time playing against him because of his Q, Rocket Grab. With this ability, Blitzcrank fires his right hand out in the target direction pulling the first enemy hit by it directly towards him. This includes champions, monsters, jungle camps or minions. Being caught out by this ability, especially in the early game, can lose lanes or make laning incredibly hard. So, how do you beat a Blitzcrank in lane?

Before we get into how to play against and beat him, we must understand his kit and his role. His Q is a pull, his W is a speed boost followed by a crippling slow, his E is a knock up and his Ultimate is a big silence. His main role is to start fights by hooking and pulling any enemy champion (preferably the enemy squishes) into his team.

Fight Blitzcrank Early

Poking Blitzcrank is one way of making sure he doesn’t get ahead in lane, or have any opportunities to go for hooks. You do not have to kill him. Instead, poke him as much as possible and whenever you can. One example is when he goes for CS for his Relic Shield. This is the best time to poke him because he will be within your range to auto attack. I also recommend going to poke him whenever he mispositions but be careful to not draw too much minion aggression.

Fighting him early is another way of making him have less pressure in the early game. Depending on the champion and your ADC, you may be able to go for an early trade and try to poke them down. Make sure to hit level 2 before him (9 Minions) and go all in at the level 2 power spike. You can potentially make him blow summoners or use up some of his health pots. If it goes incredibly well, he may have to back. This will put him behind in lane and will not be able to catch up as quickly.

Don’t Get Hooked

I apologise for over simplifying this, but just don’t get hooked. You can stop yourself from being hooked by positioning well in lane and not putting yourself in a position to be caught out. You should stand behind your allied minions and use them as a defensive layer to protect you from hooks. This will work because Blitzcrank's Q does not go through minions - so use this to your advantage. Positioning well will help you out in lane because he will not be able to go for hooks or even hook you.

If you’re playing a champion with dashes or speed boosts such as Lulu, Karma or Nami you can use your ability to speed yourself up to escape his hook. However, you should never be in a position where he can hook you. You can also use your abilities to speed your ADC or team up.

You will need to be careful of minions with low health. This is because they may die and he may hook you as soon as they have passed. Be prepared for this and move to a position where it will not directly affect you.

Play Tank Champions

If the enemy has shown their pick and is unfortunately playing Blitzcrank then you should play a champion that counters him. The majority of Tank Champions counter Blitzcrank such as Braum, Alistar or Thresh. Blitzcrank counters most peel and sustain champions who use Ardent Censor. He is very good versus the more peel orientated supports because many do not have the Crowd Control or lane pressure that Blitzcrank has early. It is best to pick a tank in this matchup to make it more equal and match his early game lane dominance. This is because they provide more presence in lane and can be more helpful when protecting your ADC in the laning phase.

Tank supports are also very good because in most cases it would be a much larger risk of follow up if the Blitzcrank would go for a hook. For example, if Blitzcrank goes to hook an Alistar then he would be much closer to getting onto the carry and being able to use his Headbutt/Pulverise combo on them. This would result in the enemy coming off much worse than before. If you are to play tank champions, then you would match his early game presence and make him less useful and less likely to snowball the lane.

There are other champions that counter Blitzcrank:

Morgana – Her Black Shield counters any crowd control including Blitzcrank's hook. If she were to use it, it would block the pull on the hook and remove any resulting damage.

Rakan – He can escape with E or W, and can also jump in if his ADC gets hooked. Rakan also has a lot of early game pressure because of his W and can often win lane just from one perfectly timed W.

Thresh – Also has a hook and can lantern his ally back to safety. This will be more of a skill matchup, however Thresh can get his ADC out of sticky situations if they get hooked.

Braum – Can shield and jump in to save his ADC if they get hooked. Also provides a lot of CC and slows which counters Blitzcrank.

Alistar – If pulled, he can W-Q the enemy carry and protect his ADC if they get pulled as well. Alistar is good as he would be one of the worse enemy supports to pull as Blitzcrank.

Taric - His ultimate can protect his ADC for a few seconds by making them invincible. Taric provides healing and shielding and a stun that can help protect his ADC but also start fights and peel for them.

If you happen to have already showed who you’re playing and they pick Blitzcrank, you will need to play passive if you’re playing a peel support such as Lulu or Janna. Make sure to position well and not get hooked. You can abuse your range advantage and try to poke him whenever he comes close to minions to stack his starting item (Relic Shield) and whenever he mispositions.

When Blitzcrank misses a hook, then you should push up and apply pressure to him by autoing and poking him whenever possible. Beware, Blitzcrank may be putting himself in a "bad position" but he could be positioning to hook you easier or he could be baiting. Make sure to track of the enemy jungler and keep an eye on him.

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