How I got from Halfway through Bronze 3 to Silver 5 in just 11 Games

Nunu. Jungle Nunu. And yes, the rest of this post is going to be about my strategy.

I guess I should start with Runes, Masteries, and Items. Runes: When I made the page, I believe this was Nunu's highest win rate page on Champion.gg, however I believe that has changed and I need to update the page. My page is 5 Attack Speed reds and 4 AP Reds, Scaling Health Yellows, AP Blues, and 2 % HP and 1 Attack Speed quint. The new highest win rate page on champion.gg (which I need to update this page to be) is all AD Reds, Scaling Health Yellows, 3 MR and 6 Scaling CDR Blues, and all 3 Attack Speed Quints.

For Masteries, I run 12/0/18, getting Stoneborn Pact. I am currently running Fresh Blood, though Expose Weakness is probably better, especially for late game.

My build is typically full tank, getting , usually , though I may also get or depending on the enemy team, and then going for either vs a magic heavy team, vs a physical heavy team, or vs an attack speed heavy team (say they have Master Yi and Twitch, get this. Actually, it can be pretty worth to get it just for 1 of them). From there, I take my pick from the items I listed above (usually getting the resistance I haven't gotten already for my 3rd item), (Stoneborn Pact's heal procs the Ardent Censor effect, will explain the Ardent strat later but I don't go it every game), , and finally . Switch to red trinket as you transition into the mid game because you will not need that many wards, but being able to know that you're not spotted when doing Dragon can be very useful and this way doesn't require you to take up an item slot for a control ward.

Ardent Censor strat: If you have at least 2 champions who are autoattack reliant on your team (say a Twitch ADC and a Yasuo mid), it can be a very good idea to get Ardent Censor. Why? Well, take a look at the effects. Stoneborn pact isn't a regen increase, it actually heals for 40% of the amount it will heal for right away and then the other 60% over the 2 seconds. That 40% instant heal is what triggers the Ardent Censor. Whoever you're Blood Boiling, if they are attacking whoever you're snowballing, now has an always up 80% attack speed increase, and the other attack speed reliant champion on your team has 35%. Not to mention that this also gives them a life drain effect on hit for 20-35 damage, meaning that their basic attacks are dealing 20-35 more damage and healing them for that amount. It can be worthwhile to let a Lucian, say, get the on-hit damage while you give another ally the Blood Boil to give them the full 80% attack speed buff.

When it's not a good idea to run Ardent Censor: If you only have 1 AA champion, or if the enemy team gets a lead early game and you need to go full tank in order to be able to absorb their damage for long enough to get your ult off.

Game Strategies: Early Game: Figure out which buff your opponent isn't starting at. Take it. Then take as many camps on that side of their jungle as you can before you're discovered. If you are, use your snowball to flee in terror back to your jungle (you may not need to blow your flash, so don't just use it instantly). Then do a full clear on your jungle, being sure to get all your camps as quickly as possible. Most games, I start Q, however there are times when, when doing my initial scouting to figure out where the enemy jungler is starting, either I guess wrong and need to get out (in which case I will make the choice between just running, flashing, or starting E instead to get out depending on what I need) or I may find an enemy alone in their jungle and need to start E to slow them down and set up a pick on them.

After my first full clear, I gank as much as possible before I have to back. I may go and take a scuttle crab in order to get enough health to be able to gank, but generally you should come out of the clear above half health.

First back I aim for being able to buy the Cinderhulk outright, so I stay out as long as I possible can. I typically don't spend a lot of time clearing my jungle after the first back, instead opting to gank, ward, and take the enemy jungle as much as I can get away with. You are a control jungler; you don't care about clearing your own jungle as much as the enemy team's. And ganking is always my first priority if I have an opening to. Ask your laners to tell you when the enemy doesn't have a summoner; it can be very good to know who can escape and who can't when deciding where to gank. A guaranteed kill is better than blowing summs, though obviously if you have to just opt for blowing summs and leaving with no kill, it may be an idea to. I've had games where I went to gank someone who had both flash and ignite up, and instead of trying to survive, they flashed onto my laner, blew all their abilities and ignite, and then accepted that they were dead (and typically didn't get the kill that they blew everything for).

Mid Game: This is personally where I'm at my worst with playing Nunu is the mid game area. Look for objectives mostly, see where you can get a turret if nobody stops you, and try to take as many objectives as possible. Dragons, Rift Herald, hell, even an early Baron if you have the team comp for it. And turrets. After a successful gank, you should always help push the wave no matter what phase of the game it is, but focus more on getting the actual turret itself as the game transitions into mid game. For larger skirmishes, blood boil the person who would benefit from it the most and then use ult and E for peel. You aren't super tanky yet, though. Trying to get off a full channeled ultimate when I'm not tanky enough to survive the enemy team's damage that long in the mid game section is what causes most of my deaths in my Nunu games. What I should be doing is seeing how they react to seeing me charging my ultimate in the first teamfight (run away or turn and kill me) and make my choice on what to do afterwards based on that. If they flee in terror, keep ulting because they'll keep running and still get hit by the full thing unless they use mobility. If they turn, however, in future, don't use your ultimate in mid game teamfights anymore. You won't survive the damage they're outputting that long, so instead stick to keeping your distance some (stay in the front line, just not all the way up) and kiting with Blood Boil and Ice Blast (yes, that is the snowball's real name).

Late Game: Now you're basically unkillable as you should have at least 1 armor item, at least 1 MR item, and a GA. You don't have to be afraid of getting off a full channeled ultimate at this point unless the enemy team is super fed; they won't kill you otherwise. Last item is where I make the choice to get or not get Ardent Censor usually, so save it for here. Just remember to keep Willump well-fed with Feed the Yeti stacks (you don't need to fully clear the camp; if you know a teamfight is about to break out but you don't have full stacks, just Q a large monster real quick and get back to your team). Your focus right now is on using Blood Boil to buff your carry and Absolute Zero and Ice Blast to peel for them, forcing the enemy team to focus you while your carry rips them apart.

And always remember than any time you do anything, you have to dance, laugh (if you have Nunu Bot), and spam your mastery emote to absolutely tilt the enemy team out of existence.

And that's it! That's how you play Nunu!