EPTUpdated June 14, 2011
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That's right! Since there seems to be a distinct lack of a guide for everyone's favourite emo undead 10-year-old, I figured I'd step in and give my two cents on how Amumu should be played. Feel free to add your own opinions and builds to the thread and I will update as necessary (especially if mine turns out to suck)!
Skills
[Passive] Cursed Touch - Amumu's attacks reduce the target's Magic Resistance by 15/25/35 for 4 seconds.
This passive and Despair are why Sunfire cape remains a good item on Amumu. Pair this up with MPen reds and you'll be surprised how much damage you can dish out while still being tanky.
[Q] Bandage Toss - Amumu tosses a sticky bandage at a target, stunning and damaging the target while he pulls him self to them. (320 at max)
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One of Amumu's two stuns and one of the best initiation skills. Reminiscent of Blitz's Rocket Grab, but in reverse. This will connect with the first target it hits, minion or otherwise, so make sure you are REALLY good with skillshots if you're going to try to stun a champ in the middle of a minion wave. Practice makes perfect! A good Bandage Toss often makes the difference between a won or lost teamfight or an escaped or dead straggler.
[W] Despair - Overcome by anguish, nearby enemies lose a percentage of their maximum health each second. (24 magic dmg + 2.7% of hp/sec at max)
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Recently a graphic was added so you can see exactly the area this skill affects. Toggle this on and keep it on in teamfights, but don't forget to turn it off once it's over! It eats up less mana than it used to, but it'll still leave you dry if you're not running a lot of mana/5 or don't have blue. Excellent skill for taking down Dragon/Baron as well. This is Amumu's first skill to take in the jungle as it allows you take down creeps fairly quickly when combined with Tantrum.
[E] Tantrum - Permanently reduces the physical damage Amumu would take. Amumu can unleash his rage, dealing damage to surrounding enemies. Each time Amumu is hit, the cooldown on Tantrum is reduced by 0.5 seconds. (175 dmg/10 phys dmg reduction at max)
This is Amumu's bread-and-butter farming skill, along with Despair. Just walk into a minion wave, toggle Despair, hit Tantrum a couple times, and voilà! Even better, leveling this lowers the amount of harassment damage you take----10 physical damage at level 5! If an enemy champion moves up to last hit, go ahead and harass them with Tantrum, you'll probably get some much-needed CS along with it.
[R] Curse of the Sad Mummy - Amumu entangles surrounding enemy units in bandages, damaging them and rendering them unable to attack or move. (2 sec stun, 350 dmg at max)
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The Game-Changer. Although it had been nerfed recently, it is still one of, if not THE BEST AoE ultimate in the game. The damage is ok, but the stun is simply without match (for comparison, remember Galio's Ult can be interrupted, yours can't!). A Q+R combo is devastating to an enemy team, just make sure your team is ready to engage since Q will shoot you ahead. Since Curse is on such a long cooldown, blue elixirs/buff and CDR in general can make a big difference if teamfights are frequent. In the mid-to-late game you almost never want to fight without this skill up. Make sure when using it you maximize its potential---stunning enemy carries is often better than hitting the 3 tanky champs in the front with the stun while letting Tristana beat on your engaging team from the side or behind. If you have to Bandage Toss then wait on the Ult, better to wait; this is one skill that is absolutely crucial not to screw up. Curse is also a handy escape spell. Being chased down to your death? Ult then run your green little legs off. In a 1v1 situation you may also want to use this as well to clinch the kill, but make sure that your team isn't going to need it immediately after.
Amumu can and should be built mainly as a tank. While his AP ratios on [Q] and [R] are very nice, AP does absolutely nothing for Despair (it gets 0.5% of AP!!) and Tantrum ratio (0.5) is meh. You simply won't hit hard or fast enough to be a true caster. There is a caster-type build outlined later in the guide but I would only recommend it for more experienced players as it is more difficult to pull off well. (High risk/high reward)
I will outline both jungling and lane Amumu builds here. His mid and lategame are pretty much the same so I'll just combine the two parts at the end.
Jungle Amumu
Runes
Marks - 9x MPen
Seals - 9x Flat armor
Quints - 3x Flat HP or Movespeed
Glyphs - Mres/lvl or MP5/lvl or CDR/lvl.
In the most recent patch, Amumu doesn't need a great deal of help from runes to jungle but these seem to be the most optimal combination when considering his early to late game transition. I personally don't use MP5/lvl but I can see why one would. I like CDR/lvl because you can never have Curse up soon enough!
Masteries
Standard jungler fare: 1/14/15 or 1/21/8, making sure to take SoS and buff duration. Taking reduced damage from minions when paired with lvl 5 Tantrum will make some minions do 0 damage!
Summoner spells
Ghost/Smite. 'Nuff said.
Skill Order
WEEQE - This allows you to grab your stun for early ganking while leveling E does not increase mana cost while increasing damage --> faster jungling. After that, R >E>W>Q.
Items
+ Show Spoiler +
Cloth + pots --> Boots --> HoG --> Merc Treads --> HoG/Aegis/Catalyst/Negatron --> Banshee's --> Sunfire --> Randuin's --> whatever the hell you want. He doesn't need AP to deal damage so build him as tanky as you need to, while paying attention to what enemy champions are building. A Rylai's for the utility in teamfights is often a good choice. I have never tried Shurelya's Reverie on Amumu however it seems like a good item for him after you have a lot of the earlier build---extra health/hp5/mp5/CDR VERY good for Mooms. There is something to be said about CDR boots to aim for 40% CDR for Amumu since this can lower Bandage Toss cooldown to 5 secs or so at max, and lowers Curse cooldown to about 75 secs which is great...situational, I suppose. If you get the boots don't get Shurelya's and vice versa. Amumu will get all the rest of the CDR he needs from Randuin's/runes/masteries. Overall be flexible with your tankiness; if the opposing team is all ranged AD carries get Tabi instead of Mercs for example. The order in which you get your tank items is flexible as well, everything after HoG #1 or 2 and boots I would say is entirely up to the opposing team composition and your own.
Above guide works but is slightly outdated. Better jungle builds now consist of Sapphire + 2pots opening --> Cata, or even better, Regrowth pendant + pot --> Philosopher Stone as SOON as you can get it. HoG is no longer a useful item for Amumu to get, and at least until Philostone is nerfed, you should be taking advantage of the fact that you'll never have to bluepill to heal again while still earning gold. The rest of the item build still works, though I would almost definitely throw in Abyssal Scepter for your team when you can.
Jungling Path
I'm not the most experienced when in comes to jungling so I will lay out here what I know. Since the most recent patch (1.0.0.111) Amumu's jungling speed has been greatly improved thanks to lower mana cost of [W] and lower incoming damage from [E]. A standard start at blue-->wolves-->wraiths-->red/twins-->twins/red gives you level 4 in under 4:00 easily. Even faster if you get a little help with Ancient Golem. Port back, grab boots and prepare to gank. (It may even be possible to gank before porting back, but I would reserve this for a lane with strong cc or a slower more careful jungle time.) If you start with Philostone jungle build, pick one up as SOON as you have enough gold for it. If you start Sapph + pots opening, port back for Ruby Crystal and try to stay at high HP. This build isn't nearly as fast but it ultimately pays off really well. Amumu's level 4 gank isn't amazingly strong as he only has the one skillshot stun, so be content if your first try only send your opponents back to base. Your level 6 gank, however is an easy FB if it hasn't happened yet. Q+R mean your opponents will be stunned so long they won't even know what hit them. Feel free to tower dive if you need to; Amumu can take it. There are other possible jungle paths, but none are as solid overall as this one. If you're worried about being ganked at blue you can try a wraith jack or to start at your own wraiths, but know your path will be slower. Amumu does not counterjungle very well, but he is rarely at low HP so he is tough to gank himself. A stolen blue will absolutely cripple Amumu in the jungle since he is so mana-hungry so absolutely ward your blue if you're not starting there, and ward it after you've taken it once. On the other hand, if you've gone with Philostone path, your slower jungle pays off even if you lose blue to a Nunu or something, because the mana regen allows you to continue without having to go back for mana, so long as you're not constantly spamming E.
Lanemumu
While not as strong as a jungle mummy, Amumu in lane does ok as a babysitter, and can clear minion waves very effectively, making it difficult for enemy champions to push. Be wary though, he is very easy to zone out at early levels so make sure your lane partner is effective in that regard. Amumu should never have a solo lane.
Runes
Marks - 9x MPen
Seals - 9x Flat armor or MP5/lvl
Quints - 3x Flat HP
Glyphs - Mres/lvl or MP5/lvl or CDR/lvl.
Amumu's skills eat up a LOT of his mana in the early game so if you think you're going to be harassing a lot, I would recommend either MP5/lvl seals or glyphs. It's definitely possible to not use them at all though, as long as your partner will be helping out.
Masteries
0/21/9 or 0/9/21. I prefer a safer build with less harassment so I take 0/21/9 but 0/9/21 will allow you to hang to that much more mana and will make harassment easier.
Summoner spells
Ghost/Flash or Ghost/Ignite. I won't go into detail why the other ones aren't particularly useful for him. A Flash ult can be redundant on Amumu because of Bandage Toss, but if you have positioning issues, feel free. It's an excellent escape tool as well if you find you're getting caught and don't feel like dying for your team.
Skill Order
QEWEE - Early stun for lvl 1 teamfights/facecheck gank is pro. After that, R>E>W>Q for easy harassment, farm, and less damage from minion aggro.
Items
+ Show Spoiler +
Doran's Shield --> Boots --> HoG --> Mercs--> HoG/Catalyst/Negatron --> Banshee's --> Sunfire --> Randuin's --> etc.
Pretty much the same thing. Lanemumu does have farm issues especially if he's babysitting (and his autoattack animation is HORRIBLE for last hits) so I could definitely advocate 2xHoG. Build as tanky as necessary. Considering CDR? Read above.
Pretty much the same thing. Lanemumu does have farm issues especially if he's babysitting (and his autoattack animation is HORRIBLE for last hits) so I could definitely advocate 2xHoG. Build as tanky as necessary. Considering CDR? Read above.
Above is outdated. Grab a Philostone and stay in lane forever. Also Aegis if no one else on your team grabs it. The rest of the tanky build is pretty much the same as the above updated jungling Amumu build.
Utahime's Lanemumu
Disclaimer from Utahime:
I'd not recommend it
1) without proper defense runes and 21 defense mastery and
2) against AP heroes 1v1, Amumu's more of an anti-phys specialist in lane
He can still punish players with bad reaction speed and such but it's pretty difficult to outlast most sustained magic harass.
An AP powerhouse, use this build to take advantage of Amumu's insane AP ratios on his Bandage Toss, Ult, and Tantrum. You can even solo a lane quite nicely with this build, though I would not recommend it for newer players as it requires some skillshot and harass finesse. Also your team may yell at you/not let you 'cause they'll think you're trolling. Fuck 'em 'cause you're NOT.
Items
Regrowth pendant + pot --> Philostone --> Merc Treads --> Abyssal --> Sunfire/Deathcap/Hourglass --> Whatever.
Skill order: Max E first, though you probably want to be maxing Q after getting a point in W because Q has a better ratio, and does decent damage at max level. You'll be needing it for harass/ganks/stuns on the lower cooldown.
Amumu is still fairly naturally tanky and will survive decently in teamfights, however running around with Despair on will get you killed a lot quicker than with a full tank build. Also important to note, is that this build really works so well because of how OP Philostone is right now; it allows Amumu to shrug off harass even easier than usual. When they nerf it, this build will probably become a lot less viable. It may be possible to do this with Catalyst--> RoA instead, but I doubt it works as well.
Midgame
Ok some turrets are down, some lanes have been lost/won, and it's time to roam. At this point you want to stay with your team. 'What a novel idea!' you say, 'A tank that stays to tank for his team!' I can't emphasize this enough. Amumu is almost ALWAYS the difference between a won or lost teamfight. Your Ult still has a long cooldown here, so if your team can afford to let you hog Blue (I insist on it a lot of the time...even when I know I shouldn't) go for it. You'll be able to keep Despair toggled on almost indefinitely and as soon as you catch someone out of position Q on low cooldown means a quick kill while still having it up to chase soon after or initiate if necessary. You can solo dragon easy but it may take a while. Bring your team over and force fights on dragon as well...spammable AoE plus percentage-based AoE means no one is safe, not even tanks. Farm minion waves during lulls in action if you're absolutely SURE a teamfight will not be happening. Amumu farms extremely well mid and lategame and easily makes up for any lack of gold from early game. Your tank items will come very quickly when your CS is above 250.
Lategame
You have your Randuin's, you have your Banshee's, you have 3k health and 200+armor/Mres. DIVE LIKE A BOSS. You laugh at turret fire while you wrap your enemies in cursed bandages. Make sure you are the first one to enter a fight ALWAYS. Your opponents will be avoiding you like the plague---don't let them. The more time spent focusing you to cease that infernal sniveling, the more time you team can wail on theirs (no pun intended). Be careful because a blown ult is a MAJOR screwup for Amumu. He is a game-changer one way or the other; make sure it's in your favor.
Tips + Tricks
These may seem pretty intuitive but I figure I'll get a few of these out there:
- Bandage toss will pull you through walls. Enemy team fighting at Dragon? Fly through the wall an open up a can of whoop-ass while your team filters in through the other side.
- On that note, if you're running away from an enemy champion, through the jungle or otherwise, you can use your Bandage toss to get further ahead of your opponent or latch onto a jungle creep and fly through a wall to safety.
- Boots 3 and Rylai's turns you into an unstoppable chasing and killing machine. Just turn on [W] and watch them die. Flash to escape? No problem. Bandage toss and continue to pour on the hurt. Only recommended for fun or troll builds.
- If you're caught in a lane on your own and you're about to be turret dived, use Q or R to stun them in turret range after you feign running away. This is often a quick and easy kill or at the very least stalls until your team can come help.
- A dead Amumu with 4 dead on their side means you're doing your job properly. Sit back and laugh while their turrets fall like rain. As your skill increases, you'll learn when and how to retreat from a teamfight while staying alive and still managing to ace their team.
This is all I can think of for now; it's pretty comprehensive as you can tell. There are not a lot of hard numbers and theorycrafting here, but I can do it and will if people ask for it.
Amumu is one of my absolute most favorite champions and he remains an excellent pick all the way up to high levels of ELO. He is hard as hell to take down, and fun as hell to play. Use him well, summoners.
