I've been playing Garen a lot recently and have been told that he is supposed to be an early game lane bully. I haven't really been able to play him as such, and have usually waited until my first item to really start bullying. Does anyone have any tips for playing Garen pre-first item, and pre-6?
Wait lvl3, start facerolling the keyboard. That should do the trick as Garen.
At level 1, you want your trade to be AA,Q, so you can get the auto reset, bonus damage, and run speed to escape retaliation. Don't run in with Q.
Level 2, get E, same thing, AA, Q, E. your speed buff keeps them from easily running away.
General note: Try to make these trades when you have the minion advantage if at all possible. And always retreat into bush to reset minion aggro.
Max Q first, try to get the extra damage onto your opponent and use the speed to get out of melee range before they can hit you back. This will help you whittle their health bar down and get you an easy kill with a gank, or over extension on their part.
Depends on the matchup. In favorable matchup it is sometimes as easy as q and e at level 2 as long as you don't chase them too far beyond their minions.
In less favorable matchup you may have to give up cs until you are allowed to farm under the turret. Take any cs that you can as long as you are not too low from poke and then sit back and take advantage of the health regen passive until you get pushed under your turret. Then get everything you can when the enemy minions get pushed under your turret. If you are doing well vs the poke, buy a little bit of ad to make csing easier. Otherwise, start working on stacking health.
Keep in mind that Garen was a great lane bully before the Juggernaut patch. He used to be able to bully people even in unfavorable matchups, but that's not really the case anymore. He had a fair amount of power shifted from his early game into his late game. He still does great in favorable matchups, but you have to play somewhat safe otherwise.
Personally I try to Q my opponent a few times right off the bat. It doesn't do a whole lot, because even if you trade well you're just getting a potion or two out of them, but it shows you what kind of damage you'll be doing. Unless you use ignite you're not going for kills just yet, even if they get low, you're just trying to get your opponent low enough that they will willingly give up control of the lane and let you freeze the minions.
If they make a mistake feel free to jump them, but until you know him better it's probably best to let your opponent come to you. Garen is fantastic at punishing mistakes after all, and once you get a few items on your opponent getting near you is a mistake. Just know your limits, and don't chase too far unless your allies are pressuring the map heavily elsewhere.
If you prefer videos look up stonewall008 on youtube. He doesn't do guides, but his Garen videos should offer a bit of helpful advice.
