Seriously now, Garen.

WeNeedADuck·11/18/2015, 11:59:29 PM·2 votes·765 views

He was with only one item, one offensive item. With that, and only that, he managed to tank and deal hell lots of damage. (Way more than me, Wukong with the same item and was just dealing damage, not tanking like he did)

Why such easy champion has to have such high scaling damage and tankiness? Shouldn't it be a sort of counter-height? Like, easy skill play equals to weak damage? (weak, not 0 or 50% less than usual). Hell, ATLEAST DAMAGE? (not talking about tankiness, i'm totally ok with a champion being easy to play and tank at the same time )

Now i'm not here because i lost my lane (it was 0-0 till teamfights started) and came over to QQ on boards, but to simply understand WHY such easy champion has an extremely high damage and tankiness at the same time?

why?

12 Comments

Dominick Destine11/18/2015, 11:59:51 PM5 votes

Because no stun, slow or taunt.

Because no gap closer.

Because awful base stats.

Because Demacia.

redniwediS11/19/2015, 12:16:48 AM2 votes

Every balanced champion has equal strengths and weaknesses. Larger strengths require larger weaknesses.

Garen's kit is designed around having his tankyness and damage as his strengths, which are balanced out by his lack of utility and inability to jump on top of a priority target. Without movement speed from items like Black Cleaver, Dead Man's Plate, high tier boots, and Garen's Q it would be nearly impossible for him to deal his damage on properly positioned enemies without using Flash first.

It's supposed to be like that for all champions Riot considers to be Juggernauts. If you let them get on top of you they will destroy you, however they have a harder time than most getting on top of you. Hopefully this answers your "why" question.

Whether his strengths are properly balanced by his weaknesses is a matter for debate. I'm probably biased since I've been a main of Garen for five years now, but I think he is both balanced to play as and to play against. I don't personally have an issue with fighting against Garen, however I am more experienced with his kit than the average player so I know what to do and when to do it to counter him.

Hyrum Graff11/19/2015, 12:35:49 AM2 votes

In a straight-up fight, Garen beats Wu. But if you can bait him into ulting, Qing, or spinning on your clone, you might be able to beat him.

That aside, even if you play well, he might beat you. That's because Garen as a champion is an excellent duelist, while Wu is more about wombo combo teamfights.

It's like complaining that with an even amount of gold, Malphite can't 1v1 Fiora. Well, yeah. Fiora is the grand duelist. She can't engage like Malph can.

TehNACHO11/19/2015, 12:05:56 AM1 votes

So I couldn't see your match history. Excuse these next few questions if they come off blunt.

When did you trade with him? Were you ever the villain? Did you realize if he was out-farming or out leveling you? Did either of you properly counter Build? And, most importantly, don't you know rammus can kill most ADCs and melee carries in one spell rotation?

Seriously though, he is a champion without hard cc or team based utility. You should assume that if he farms well, he will stat check you hard.

IronwallJackson11/19/2015, 12:20:28 AM1 votes

When a champion has a very simple kit, then there are few places to invest their power budget. This means that there's a lot of raw power to throw around, be it in cc, damage, tankiness, or what have you. Garen is a truck, Annie is burst damage monster, Malphite is literally a rock etc, etc.

Simplicity does not equal weakness.

Critmaster Garen11/19/2015, 12:21:07 AM1 votes

also, i want to add that there is no way wukong is more difficult than garen. im saying that as someone who frequently played wukong in the past, along with many other top laners. so maybe not the greatest example.

the difference in skill required between picking up both champions is at best minuscule.

Critmaster Garen11/19/2015, 12:12:31 AM1 votes

because he doesnt have armor shred on his q

because he cant make himself invisible on his w with a decoy

because he doesnt have a point and click gapcloser on his e

because he doesnt have a teamwide knockup on his spin.

less utility, less mobility, more defense and better 1v1 than wukong. you have more outplay potential against him. youre expected to use it.