Garen and his limited Keystone options

DISCLAIMER: This post is NOT a post saying that Garen needs buffs, nerfs or the like. This is just MY PERSONAL STUDY on Garen and how he and his kit work with the Keystone runes that are currently available.

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For Garen, there's not a whole lot of options when it comes to Keystone runes. Let's look at Resolve to start, since that is USUALLY what I see Garen players take as their main path.

Grasp of the Undying- Deal 4% of my max health to heal 2%, and permanently gain 5 health with a basic attack around roughly every 4 to 5 seconds of being in combat.

Health is the stat that Juggernauts usually want to build (Alongside resistances), as their own base AD along with maybe one to two AD items like or is enough in the damage department. So, 5 health for free for simply doing what a Juggernaut is supposed to do, attack? Sure, I can get behind that.

Aftershock- Immobilize a champion to gain resistances, and then deal damage in a circle around you after a short delay.

If I remember correctly, Garen has no way of even proccing this Keystone. The Silence on his Q does NOT count as an immobilizing effect, so that can't proc it. Bonus Actives on certain items like or that Garen usually buys don't count for it either I believe. So he can't even USE this one at all, and taking it causes it to be switched for Grasp.

Guardian- Grant a shield to yourself and an ally upon using a unit-targeted ability on them.

Garen also has no way of proccing THIS Keystone either, as he has no abilities that affect allies. The only way he could proc it is by tanking a skillshot or something while in range of an ally. When you're up in top-lane in the laning phase, generally by yourself, that's not going to see much use.

So just in the Resolve tree, we can see that the only one that Garen really has, IS GotU.

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Then, let's expand our study.

Looking at Electrocute in Domination, or Phase Rush in Sorcery, they both require 3 different attacks to proc them. So for Garen, that would be AA, then Q, then E, just as an example. I'm pretty sure that the pattern of attacks doesn't have to EXACTLY be that, but it Is the most reliable way of proccing them when one takes these Keystones.

These Keystone runes CAN work, though it's usually in niche situations where he needs what whichever keystone respectively gives, and it makes Garen more of a glass cannon than a durable warrior, just in my personal experience. If you were a Garen player that can proc these reliably, then great! More power to you. But that makes it more of a "Hit and Run" rather than the "In your face all the time" playstyle that Juggernauts are USUALLY supposed to be known for.

Then there's Predator in Domination. That requires Boots and a channeling time of 1.5 seconds. While the MS Boost can sync well with his Q, using it leaves him without a Keystone for almost 3 minutes, to a minute and a half, depending on his level. Not exactly something one wants to be without, depending on your matchup.

Next, Dark Harvest. He has to have the opponent at 50% health or lower and then damage them. While this isn't necessarily difficult for a Garen to do, if he's up against a person or team that can kite him, it's not the best option.

Then, Arcane Comet in Sorcery. It requires using an ABILITY to proc. Meaning for Garen, his Q, E or R. Not exactly difficult, but Arcane Comet isn't certain to hit EVERY time one uses it.

Now, Glacial Augment in Inspiration. A free slow every once in a while on an AA. Not bad, but he has items he can purchase that grant the same effect. or the Momentum effect of come to mind. can do it in the form of an Active as well, though it IS on a 60-second cooldown.

I know that the things mentioned above isn't every Keystone in every Rune path, but its the ones that I can think of that that a Garen player COULD choose to take. Granted, they could take ANY one they wanted, but these are the ones I think they would logically choose based on what he and his kit can do.

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Last, but certainly not least is Precision.

Press the Attack- Gotta land 3 AA's in pretty much rapid succession. Yes, he can most certainly do it. But, while some Juggernauts do (Like , and some others) function on AA's, Garen for the most part, ISN'T one of them. He isn't known for fast AA's.

Lethal Tempo- More attack speed related stuff. Garen's not exactly a AA Juggernaut, he's more of a Caster, damaging with his abilities. You COULD say that buying makes him more of an AA Juggernaut, but he's mostly after it for the Sheen and Phage effects, in my experience.

Fleet Footwork- A free heal and bonus movement speed. While the movement speed could be nice, his Q grants largely the same effect, and the heal really isn't that much; Grasp with the percentage heal is more reliable, since Garen will have, for the most part, a large amount of Health, and thus heal more THAT way than the flat amount that FF's heal gives.

Conqueror- Ahh, one that Garen can use effectively for a change! Although, with the Villain passive already granting true damage (Granted it's only on 1 champion at a time, the point nonetheless stands) all he can really count on it for is the AD boost, and if he is facing a champion that he can really use the True Damage conversion against.

When looking at Conqueror specifically for the interactions it has with the Villain passive, he already deals 1% of THEIR maximum health as true damage. The additional 20% conversion would apply more to the NON Villains he attacks, since he's already doing the 1% to the Villain themselves.

So there's my look at Garen and the Keystones, my personal take on it and why his choices in them are rather limited.