Garen is a tanky dps champ who has the highest damage output of any champion from levels 1-11. You must use this advantage to dominate your lane. Otherwise, he scales extremely poorly in the late game suffering from the typical choice of having to choose between being tanky and irrelevant, or damaging but squishy. Therefore, you must crush your laning opponent, get fed, and destroy the other team by getting the farm necessary to be both tanky and have good damage. How do we accomplish this? Let’s begin.
Skills
Passive: Perseverance A solid passive that improves your laning sustainability. It is very important to avoid minion aggro to keep the passive on. Remember to allow the minions to lock targets on each other first before farming.
Q: Decisive Strike This has great frontloaded damage and synergy with E. Use it to chase, run away, silence, whatever. It works on towers too so spam it when you are bringing the tower beats. The speed boost duration is much shorter than the time you have to attack, so you can bait champs into thinking your Q is down and then give them the business.
The silence is useful for keeping people trapped in your E for a little bit. You must save it in team fights if they have a channeler (nunu, kat, malz, ww, etc.).
W: Courage This skill is very good when initiating team fights, allowing you to mitigate a significant amount of damage. It can also take off a lot of damage from tower hits when you are diving. The bonus armor and mr is gravy.
E: Judgement 300 damage lvl 1 rofl u mad? This skill…. Yeah this makes Garen OP early on. It gets even better as you level it, but scales off significantly in the late game. Most of your early game will revolve you attempting to land a q-e combo to take away half your opponent’s hp. You can also farm waves ezpz with this once you get a sunfire or some ad items.
Knowing when to end E early is really important. If the opponent gets out of your E range, you have to end it to get it back on CD faster. If you are tower diving and your opponent is low, you have to end it, ult them, and get out of there. It is much more relevant than you would think at first.
It negates slows and reduces the effectiveness on slows applied afterwards. Remember to use it when escaping or chasing.
R: Demacian Justice The most satisfying ult in the game. Nothing feels better than executing a Teemo. Knowing when to use the ult is something that takes a lot of experience, but less than 25% is usually a 100% kill and 35% is borderline. Obviously much harder to execute tanks due to their higher MR.
Move Speed Quints are 100% necessary to keep people in your E in the early levels. It also allows you to pick up a doran’s blade without sacrificing too much speed.
The rest are just great early game runes where you are the strongest anyways.
Masteries: 21/9/0 Early game burst+nimbleness too gud.
Summoner Spells: Flash/Ignite
Flash is OP. Getting a flash-Q will prevent them from escaping with whatever and will lead to several early kills.
Skilling Order: EQEW -> R > E > Q > W
The first skill actually varies a lot between Q or E. First if we have a level 1 jungle battle, you must pick E for the aoe damage. If you are in the duo lane, you must also pick E first because, once again, for the aoe damage, and presumably you are paired up with a stunner. However in a solo lane I will pick Q most of the time because it allows you to zone much better and won’t push your lane when you chase. It is also much better against boots openings because then it is more difficult to keep them in your E. I do pick E first in a solo lane when I get a good bush surprise in top lane and I can just E them for half their life. Never pick your first skill until the last moment!
Since W got buffed to give full stacks, it is now worth getting at level 4.
Item Build:
1) Early game Start: Doran’s Blade 2nd Item: Boots 1
From here on you will be buying a second dblade and merc treads, but the order varies depending on how the game is going and how much money you have when you shop. Rush merc treads if you are having a hard time in lane against an ap champion or somebody with a low cd stun. You can get another dblade if you are ahead and you feel like crushing them, but you must get at least a 3rd dblade if you are behind.
2) Late game In a standard game, you will have 3 dblades, merc treads, and pots and wards at this point. The next item I get is usually a blood thirster. I've abandoned the brutalizer part of the build just because Garen scales so badly he really needs a BF item and IE is just not very good on melee champs.
After this I get warmogs -> atma's impaler -> force of nature. The game is usually over by this point.
In summary: dblade -> boots -> dblade -> dblade -> merc treads -> blood thirster -> atmogs -> force of nature
Play style
Garen is good both in a solo lane and a duo lane. However since his laning is so dominant, I prefer to run him solo top unless I have a truly abusive duo lane partner (ie taric). I like to think Garen as a punisher. If your opponent makes a mistake, you simply destroy him with your retarded early burst damage. Your opponents will have to play extremely passive in order to survive the first 11 levels. Your best matchups are melee champs, followed by casters, and finally ranged dps.
Melee champs are 100% screwed against you. They simply cannot last hit without eating a full combo. Casters will do a little better off but you can bully them early before they get damage and they cannot sustain using their spells to either harass you or last hit. Ranged dps can pew pew you safely, but if they get too greedy on a last hit you will destroy them.
Solo: At level 1 you should harass if you can but it is difficult to have a level 1 fight because of the free bf minion sword that the other champ gets will hurt you badly. Against strong level 1 champs like Lee Sin, you should just last hit. When you get to level 2, things start to get out of hand. You must now aggressively approach the opponent and completely deny them of any last hits by punishing them with a qe combo every time they get close to last hit. Predict when they are going to go for a last hit and PUNISH them for it. You must also zone them from exp range in between last hits by threatening the qe combo. If they get too close…. PUNISH them. From levels 7-9 you should be getting a kill almost every time.
There is a brief ~10 second period of vulnerability when your qe combo is down. The opponent might try to take advantage here and harass you, but don’t be afraid to trade blows if you can avoid minion aggro. Your base ad is very good.
This play style will naturally push the creep wave as they are not last hitting as much and your E will do a lot of incidental damage. This is ok. You are difficult to gank with your movement speed and slow removal and their tower denies them of last hits. It is also very common that you force them to b early because you get a combo on them. A pushed wave will allow you to take the tower down by 50% and put your opponent in a real bad situation.
When going for the kill, the combo is flash, Q, ignite, E, and R. You must ignite early to maximize damage on your R. This will easily kill any squishy from 100% life.
Duo: Herf derf sit in bush and zone out opponents. Lane with taric, always kill, never die.
Late Game: Late game you are the initiator. It is your job to jump in there, separate them, and then stick onto a carry. You must let your team know that you are going in there or else you will suicide. Save your Q if they have a channeler, otherwise just whack someone with it. Do not be scared to initiate fights unless your team is way behind. I believe the most common reason why games are lost is because people do not understand their roles and positioning. Do your job, get in there, and spin2win.
I tend to go, Boots->2-3dblades->Hexdrinker->Mercs->Frozenmallet->Atmas->Funfire->FoN (Vice versa depending on team comp).
Early Hexdrinker is pretty great, nice damage and MR + underrated shield. Hex+mercs+Mr/lvl's+Masteries=110ish MR by level 8-10 if you performed well early game, else by the time you've farmed these items you'll still be lvls10-14 - which personally I feel is enough MR to last till late game FoN (Also hex shield Op). This item build maximizes Garen's early game dominance by removing your biggest threat early on (magic burst deepz). Then get da Mallet cuz Q proc's slow = garentee'd full judgement to face and proceed to build generic Tanky DPS.
21-9-0.
ArmpenQuints/reds. Mr/lvl blues(I use flat cdr page for low magic dmg teams), HP/Lvl yellows.
I'm pretty sure flash/ignite is better than ghost/ignite (as he already has q and usually a ghostblade) and 21/9/0 or some variation of havoc mastery is pretty standard.
Always open boots + 3 pot, otherwise you're throwing away your ridiculous level 1-5 game.
And do yourself a favor and put flat AD runes on all your physical champs.
On July 27 2011 11:05 ZERG_RUSSIAN wrote: I'm pretty sure flash/ignite is better than ghost/ignite (as he already has q and usually a ghostblade) and 21/9/0 or some variation of havoc mastery is pretty standard.
Always open boots + 3 pot, otherwise you're throwing away your ridiculous level 1-5 game.
And do yourself a favor and put flat AD runes on all your physical champs.
Flash/Ignite is better on Garen
Boots first is only opening.
For Garen, Flat AD Marks make a lot of sense but again, it's an investment. Otherwise, ArPen is still very good.
rule #1 to playing garen,don't pick garen unless u have a partner rule #2 start doran blades(it gives u a superior early game than boots believe it or not~) rule #3 21/9/0 always,dont forget the dodge yellows~ rule #4 ignite flash...plz no fucking ghost rule #5 CAMP BRUSHS!
On July 27 2011 08:07 Truez wrote: I tend to go, Boots->2-3dblades->Hexdrinker->Mercs->Frozenmallet->Atmas->Funfire->FoN (Vice versa depending on team comp).
Early Hexdrinker is pretty great, nice damage and MR + underrated shield. Hex+mercs+Mr/lvl's+Masteries=110ish MR by level 8-10 if you performed well early game, else by the time you've farmed these items you'll still be lvls10-14 - which personally I feel is enough MR to last till late game FoN (Also hex shield Op). This item build maximizes Garen's early game dominance by removing your biggest threat early on (magic burst deepz). Then get da Mallet cuz Q proc's slow = garentee'd full judgement to face and proceed to build generic Tanky DPS.
21-9-0.
ArmpenQuints/reds. Mr/lvl blues(I use flat cdr page for low magic dmg teams), HP/Lvl yellows.
Edit: Masteries n stuff.
Same items as you, except i go 21-9-0, MS quints, arp marks, mres/lvl blues and dodge seals. Them nimbleness es OP. also flash/ignite
Brutalizer early game if you're playing bot lane is very good too.
I don't bother with brutalizer, since ghostblade is really ehh, I never get ghostbuild and think WOW this was useful. I go like 3 dblades-->Blood thirster-->Atmogs with maybe a negatron.
Reasoning: "Tank" garen is really dumb because all he has is burst damage he has nothing that makes him a tank. No initation, no cc. However, with just mercs and level 5 courage you're hitting at 125 MR + your W gives damage reduction, and your armour with just atmas is just as high, and you will probably have dodge yellows and nimbleless. You are already pretty tanky. Garens best trait is being able to burst down somebody under silence, so I tend to maxmize this by going AD spam. You can easily survive the 4-5 seconds you need to (flash) W Q E Ignite R somebody, and once you get that combo off you are useless until next E cooldown, so having sunfire and being in the fight the whole time is just a ticket to dying to any good ranged carry.
The burst damage definitely helps you avoid those problems where its like "oh my whole team is dead except me and I can't kill them, team must be bad".
I think locicero did something similar and I remember thinking how stupid BT would be on garen. But the damage is really insane. BT-->Atmas-->Warmogs would be my go to build into a maybe a negatron, last whisper, infinity edge, something like that.
Garens base AD scaling and burst is insanely high. Like 4.1 AD scaling? Almost as good as a lee sin who hits all his spells, and your base damage is better and its easier to land your spells.
I've been having lots of success with dorans blade first into boots and 2 more dorans into bloodthirster into atmogs into fon. (order depending on enemy team comp). 21-9-0 Armor pen reds, dodge yellows, mr/lvl blues, ms quints.
I go qeew. The early point in w is to get some stacks on it. I start dorans blade and buy boots d blade and brutalizer on first trip back. The brutalizer is for the extra armour pen and cdr you upgrade to ghost blade last and if you're playing Garen the game should be over before you get a complete build. I like atma's and sunfire cape. FoN or early hexdrinker against ap heavy teams. I've never needed speed three boots when i've run nimbleness, tabi or merc treads. Frozen mallet I.E. and Last whisper are good offensive options.
Protip: e will remove your slows. use weq to gtfo of that 4v1 you were about to engage with out burning flash. Going 21-9-0 is my favorite. Nimbleness is good at getting to the carry with out melting, take magic pen in teh offensive tree, its one point, and your ultimate does magic damage plus you're going to like having the 4 points in cool down reduction.
For shits and giggles. magic pen red. dodge yellow. mr per level blues. armour pen quints.
go 21-9-0 with nimbleness magic penetration and cdr in the reds.
Build Sword of the occult and leviathan. now that you're kicking ass its time to get death fires grasp and a lichbanes and a hat. you hit them with dfg lichbanes q e to spin stop spinning with e and hit that r. you basically murder any tank in one combo.
TL;DR be pro play DFG lichbanes AP Garen after snowballing out of control because of your imbalanced early game.
I recommend 21-9-0 everytime. You need the damage to abuse his early game damage, and you can compromise on damage/resists/hp etc through items during the game.
I recommend opening dorans blade if you have a partner and go bottom.
I recommend dorans sheild, regrowth pendant, ruby crystal or null magic mantle or boots if you go top, depending ofcourse.
Flash > ghost.
1. Flash is OP, I recomend flash on almost every champion, and it synergizes extremely well with garen. Garen does not autoattack much, he is a tanky dps caster. Q > E > Tank. Flash + Q is a brilliant initiate.
Health regen quints are if your solo top, armour pen for bottom. Dodge yellows are brilliant, you get plenty of armour from W + items, so dodge is better. Health/lvl or Health regen/level would be 2nd and 3rd pick after dodge. And his item build can lean in favour of armour a lot easier than in favour of magic resistance. Move speed is a no go on Garen once you pass the early levels/elo hell.
The general goal behind Garen is to get as much damage as you can possibly get, while being tanky enough to run in Rambo. Thats all Garen can really do. He is not a tank, nor a tanky dps, nor a bruiser, nor an initiater nor anything else. He is just a rambo.
Wut? I knock down half life on some champions? Well don't mind if i do.
Doran > Shoes (MR or CD) > Brutal > Infinite > Who really gives a fuck?
Garen is clearly not in a balanced place right now. At level one you can auto-atack and Q strike someone wich will instantly give you the lane if you can pull it off.
I only level Q after maxing out E but Q is still hitting for a ton, not to mention the silence and the speed it gives you. You are up and away before anyone turns to ask if they can have their hp bar back.
With his W you can tower dive without any problems, you outrun most champions in this game and nobody can start a prolonged fight with you because there are few skills that do more damage over time then his E spin. That said they can't really go for a poke war either because nothing pokes as hard as Q at level 1. His ultimate just provides that ton of raw damage that you need to bring people down from 100% > 0% if they walk into your combo.
I don't see how he got this strong and how he was overlooked so long. People have been building him tank for too long i suppose.
Garen is also a cruell bastard to feed because when he spins into your team he is just dishing out insane numbers. E deals great single target damage wich just happens to also be AoE.
Ooh did i mention he never ever has to leave the lane unless he feels like it?
On August 07 2011 18:22 Truez wrote: You know with all that sick AD, the enemy team is sure to have no problems bursting you down before you can land your "insane numbers".
It takes approximately 4 seconds from target range to doing your full amount of damage probably killing them. Your W will basically be up for the whole time, meaning if you had a solo lane and merc treads we're looking at ~125/125 resists I'm pretty sure you can survive 4 seconds and then flash out.
On August 07 2011 18:22 Truez wrote: You know with all that sick AD, the enemy team is sure to have no problems bursting you down before you can land your "insane numbers".
If only i had a skill that allowed me to mitigate damage to such a degree that focussing me would cost them so much skills that my team would win anyway.
Garen is naturally one of the most tankiest champions in the game but supposedly he is going to have massive problems surviving whilst just about any other champion can easily survive teamfights with half his hp and half his mitigation.
He has 100+ natural stats on mr and armor and he can activate it to receive a hugh mitigation boost. His basic HP is also quite high. But by all means keep going tank Garen, expecting idiots to dump all their damage on you for no reason whilst you dish out a silence wich is 0.5 seconds shorter then Soraka.
EPT
