Taric, The Juggernaut Support
Welcome to my Taric Guide.
Hey there Taric fans! If you are looking to improve your Taric skills you have come to the right place. With his rework in the near future I thought it would be fun to write up a guide about Taric and how I play him. This isn't how everyone plays Taric so it isn't a one size fits all but I can say with confidence that my particular play style with Taric works well. I mainly wanted to post this guide so that when his rework hits the PBE I can compare how his new kit feels and behaves compared to his current kit. There is a certain feel to him that isn't quite like other tanky support. I feel that Taric is in a very unique place Support wise and there are a lot of options for him to build into whether he is top or support. For all intents and purposes he wants to be a juggernaut support which I have been finding work very well! For the intents of this guide I am explaining his role as a support and not top. I'll be talking about his abilities a bit in depth, items that are core on him, and why he became very powerful this season.
A bit about my Taric experience
In case math is not your strong suit, I'm currently sitting at an 82% win rate with Taric and in Plat 3. I started playing Taric in Ranked after I played a hell of a lot of games in Teambuilder with him. I continued to play him until I got a feel for, what kind of damage he can take, how much damage can he bring to the table, and how he likes to play and fit into a team. I know what teams he likes to work with and what teams he doesn't work well with. I know his strengths and I am aware of his weaknesses too. I've played games with him in jungle, top and support. Jungle was a complete failure (although I need to try it again with the new jungle items) and top can work extremely well against the right matchups. Support is where he can really shine though. This became very true with the preseason update and changes to some key items that really allowed Taric to bring his A game to the team.
Taric Abilities - His enemies will be shattered like glass
Passive: Gemcraft
After using an ability, Taric's next basic attack deals 20% armor bonus magic damage and reduces his abilities' cooldowns by 2 seconds.
Taric's passive....is odd to say the least but it can be abused very easily. The biggest benefit from this passive is the reduction to his ability cooldowns. Taric has ridiculously high cooldowns on all of his abilities except his ult. His ult actually really benefits from this passive a lot but his other abilities really suffer early game. The extra damage on his auto-attacks adds up fast so don't underestimate that. This passive is one that scales exponentially with whatever items he buys that has cooldown reduction for his abilities. It hurts his early game a lot but his mid and late game really puts this passive to the limit and goes from a hindrance to downright overpowered.
Q: Imbue
ACTIVE: Taric heals the target ally or himself. If he targets an ally, he heals himself for the same amount, and if he targets himself, the heal is increased by 40%.
Imbue is an incredibly potent heal. It heals 60 / 100 / 140 / 180 / 220 (+ 30% AP) (+ 5% bonus health). First off, ignore the 30% AP for healing. It pales in comparison to building health to boost it. You never really want AP on Taric because he scales so poorly with it that it is laughable. This heal is huge! After you have built some health on Taric you can heal his ADC for about 20-40% on their maximum health depending on what phase of the game you are in. If he casts in on himself he gets a massive heal because the values are increased by 40%. The best part? You get to build health to make it stronger making you far more tanky then people think.
W: Shatter
AURA: Taric and nearby allies gain bonus armor equal to 12% of Taric's armor. PASSIVE: While Shatter is not on cooldown, Taric gains bonus armor. BONUS ARMOR: 10 / 15 / 20 / 25 / 30 armor ACTIVE: Taric shatters his gemstones, dealing magic damage to all nearby enemies and reducing their armor for 4 seconds.
This is your bread and butter ability. Why? Because it shreds armor by a huge flat amount of 5 / 10 / 15 / 20 / 25 (+ 5% armor). You can get his ADCs (and himself) to deal near true damage with the right items. The problem lies in how to get Taric close enough to shatter onto the enemies. It also greatly increases his ally's armor making them take a lot less damage from enemy ADC. With two Armor items (one of which is core for him) you can grant your entire team +40 armor. Also, keep in mind that Taric also gets the aura bonus so he gets a lot more armor then just +10/15/20/25/30. With Taric on the team, everyone is a tank.
E: Dazzle
ACTIVE: Taric fires a prismatic sphere at the target enemy which stuns them and deals them magic damage, which increases with the target's proximity to him.
This is an odd ability on Taric but very powerful when used correctly because it is a point and click CC. It serves two purposes engaging, and peeling. Taric is amazing at dealing with divers because of this point and click ability. However, it also stuns enemies just long enough for him to get into their face to start dealing some pretty hefty damage for a tanky support. However, you would only want to do this when you know Taric can stick to a squishy. The key thing to remember about this ability is that part of it's value is hidden in the fact that Taric's passive can reduce it's ridiculously high cooldown. It feels like Taric has very little CC but once he gets 30-40% cooldown reduction he can Dazzle people all day long with his truly outrageous gems. Early game you need to really think about when to use it and in last game you can almost spam it.
R: Radiance
ACTIVE: Taric slams the ground with his hammer, dealing magic damage to all nearby enemies. For the next 10 seconds, he also gains bonus attack damage and ability power, while also generating an aura that grants half of those bonuses to nearby allied champions.
Honestly, I'm amazed at how many players that let Taric get close enough to use his Ult. This is partly because people don't respect him and his damage and partly because he makes a really strong frontline that is able to protect his carries. This ability is super crazy and adds a level of burst damage that catches most players completely off guard. This combined with Shatter will decimate the enemy team. The trick is figuring out how to get Taric close enough to use it on the enemies. There are times you need to wait for the opportunity to use this ability but at the same time his passive can help you get his ult back up in 20 seconds or less depending on how much CDR you have. It can be used by Taric to clear a wave pretty quick just make sure he won't need it immediately.
Item that are Truly Outrageous, truly truly truly outrageous
Standard starting items. This is a pretty solid way to start off. Taric needs the extra sustain from the biscuits early, this is because of his unique style of fighting in the early game.
I've been buying a pink ward and Targon's brace instead of Sightstone for my first back. There are a few reasons for this. The first is that the yellow trinket now has 2 charges and a permanent pink is very useful if you gain control of the bot lane. A lot of players have been buying pinks too so it is not uncommon for multiple pinks to be positioned defensively in the early stages of the game. Secondly, Targon's gives more sustain in the lane and extra gold for Taric which can really put the pressure on the enemies. This sustain and extra help with your ADC's CSing is really important if you are losing lane a bit too.
These are cheap early pieces to build some of Taric's core items. If you find yourself a bit low on gold in the early phases of the game these items are nice and cheap and build into items that Taric needs to transition into the midgame.
These items are great items to get early on. Glacial Shroud in particular gives Taric every stat he needs and will build into his first core item after a Sightstone.
Boots are pretty optional and you can switch it up depending on how you like to play and who you are playing against but the best boots on Taric are the Ninja Tabi. If you can get those get em. Other options include Swiftness which is great for his in the enemy face style of play. CDR boots are great on him if you are looking for some extra utility and damage. You can hit 30/40% CDR a lot quicker this way. Merc treads are an option but if there is so much AP on the enemy team that you need them you will probably have a minimal impact because Taric works best against AD based teams.
This is Taric's core support item after Sightstone. You need this. If you need to build another item first you are missing out of Taric's power spike for the mid game and odds are he wasn't a great choice to fight the enemy team. I cannot stress how important this item is for him. It gives him 65 armor, 20% CDR, 500 mana and one very powerful peeling ability that scales with his already high armor stats. This item was almost perfectly designed for Taric. It works very well with his stun too as you can stun walk up and AA for a large AoE slow zone to insure you stick to the enemy. However, if you can't get quite enough gold to get it right off don't be afraid to build a Chain Vest first to give it a bit of a boost before buying it. I wouldn't wait much longer then that though.
Armor items are a must for Taric. He needs a level of armor to really scale into the late game. The above are all great options. I am particularly fond of getting Thornmail after Iceborn Gauntlet. Those two items will crank Taric's W passive up to a point that he grants everyone on his team 40+ armor depending on Masteries and Runes. Omen is a good pick because it has health (making Q more powerful) and works very well against marksmen heavy teams. Deadman Plate helps with getting Taric into melee and initial burst damage, the CC itt brings kind of gets overshadowed by Iceborn though. Sunfire helps with teamfights by bringing a good chunk of extra damage to the table during extended fights.
MR items are secondary on Taric. You ideally want extra health to survive magic damage however you will often want 1 or 2 MR items in many games. Spirit Visage is a total greed fest but it will make you near immune to AP carries just by itself. 70 MR is not a small amount and the extra 20% heal on Taric is borderline insane! I've cast heals that took me from 20% health to 60% health with one cast of Q when I have this. Mikael's is an obvious choice for long range CC engagers like Ashe, Ahri and Morgana. It is also great for champions that use suppression like Malzahar and Warwick. Locket is a go to item many times because it gives a team wide shield and increases their MR. Portal is fun in theory. I haven't really had a chance to build it yet because I often want to build it last. It has a lot in interesting stats that Taric would like and would obviously help to break down the inhibitor turrets if your team is having trouble cracking open the enemy base.
For health I go to the above items. I don't normally build Face of the Mountain but instead combine Targons and Sightstone into the Eye of Equinox. This saves Taric gold for other items and frees up an item slot that can be handy in the late game as well as provides an extra ward. This is just a preference and there is nothing wrong with building Face of the Mountain. Warmogs is a nice boost of health and gives even more sustain to Taric's already insane sustain and boosts his Q by a good chunk. I really like Righteous Glory though. That active is really strong on Taric.
These are items that should greatly increase Taric's survivability and damage. I haven't really played much with them yet but the thing to keep in mind is that they all grant massive amount of health so his Q would benefit greatly from them. Understanding Taric the way I do I know these items are viable on him but they don't add much to his support functions beyond increasing his Q heal value. I don't get to super-late game often this pre-season but when I do I often think about buying one of these items.
An example of a final build might be:
Emerald for Early, Sapphire for Mid, Ruby for Late
At level 1 Taric is pretty weak. You will want to start with E every time because that CC might be critical for survival. Focus on keeping your ADC alive unless one of the Enemy duo really gets out of position in which case punish them harshly with that stun. If your jungler pulls a level 2 gank use E to stun then too. Otherwise your focus is on survival and sustain. Don't just rush in and proc your Relic shield. Save it to heal damage you and your ADC take instead. Feel free to proc it once early but remember that's a 40 point heal you just lost.
Level 2 you will need to make a decision between W or Q for your next skill. This is really important. If you don't think your lane is going well get Q for the sustain and focus on helping your ADC get CS. If you beat the enemy to level 2 or had a good start and feel confident about pressuring the enemy get W as it adds a lot of damage to Taric's kit at level 2 as well as much needed Defense.
Level 3-5 you will have all the abilities that Taric needs to be a near unkillable support tank. You can get a little aggressive if you see an opening to E walk up AA W AA then the enemies return damage on you and you use Q on yourself to heal the majority of it back up or at least a good chunk of it. Taric has enough tank stats and sustain that he can take a pretty major beating and even come out poorly in the trade just to heal it up a 2nd Q later. Of course, being aggressive isn't always the answer. You can play defensively too and react to the enemy engaging and counter engage. When it is an AP support I find it best to focus them. If it is a tanky support I find it best to focus the ADC. Which ever support the enemy ADC has if they engage on you focus the enemy ADC. Max W most of the time but if you are against a long range AP support like Brand or Lux get Q to rank 3 before maxing W because that long range will make it really hard to engage so sustain is your game so that you can aim for mid and late game impact.
Level 6 is pretty good on Taric as long as you can get to the enemy. If you can stun the enemy ADC go in AA > Shatter > AA > Ult > AA > Imbue > AA > Shatter > AA > Stun. That is the optimal attack pattern but lets be honest, Taric's attack speed leaves much to be desired so you will likely just Stun > AA > Shatter > Ult > AA > Q > AA. It is harder to pull off then you think. Ideally you will hit 2+ with your Shatter and ult. If you had to put 3 ranks into Q you won't want to engage either. This burst of damage is best when the enemy tries to engage on you or your ADC. Let them come to you and punish them severely. Once you get Taric into melee with the enemy he can be hard for them survive his damage just like a juggernaut.
Mid game is a boon for Taric. He officially hits his mid game spike when he builds his Iceborn gauntlet. He gets CDR of 20% with that item and a pretty hefty amount of CC, armor and mana that helps him deal his damage. Ideally this will be combined with a Chain vest but that doesn't alway happen. Taric is pretty tanky versus AD based champions at this point. He should act like a massive front line and protect any carries that are behind him. He can seriously punish anyone trying to dive with his point and click CC followed by a shatter. This can even really hurt tanks as the shred is strong enough that before tanks get 2 armor items it has a pretty big effect and will almost always shred 35+ armor.
Stay with your carry/team and be a big wall of protection for them. You might be granting a good chunk of armor that will protect people from AD assassins. I have seen the difference of this armor first hand. I had an ADC that split push without me and a rengar jumped in and BAM dead as per usual. Next time I was with him. My armor bonus saved him from the initial AD burst allowing me to stun Rengar and heal my ADC and we easily dispatched Rengar in return.
Taric can solo most tanks at this time as long as the tank isn't fed (this doesn't mean he kills them, he doesn't have THAT much damage but can force them to retreat). This is because he keeps shredding their armor and healing himself for ludicrous amount. Keep in mind most tanks do not work alone. I've soloed Rammus, Shen, Nautilus, poppy, Reksai and others that build tank to the point they need to retreat. Taric is very hard to kill without concentrated damage on him because of his self-heal and defensive stats. He can also take any jungle camp fairly quick except Dragon and Baron.
Taric is best at defending during the mid game but he can engage with a good flash E > Iceborn AA. The only time to do this is if your allies are near and you can catch an enemy carry like the enemy ADC or APC. Ideally the APC because with them dead your Armor Aura is crazy strong in the ensuing teamfight and will likely mean you survive. Taric can die here if they focus him down but as I said, it takes a lot of concentrated damage to do so. Enemy teams will often be down some key cooldowns as a result leaving your team ready to mop up. If they don't spend enough to kill you you can often just walk out by healing yourself, and you are a support!
Late game Taric is a monster. His armor aura can get up to 60+ with the right items and that just isn't right. Of course, that kind of aura would only be doable against an all AD enemy team. Likely you will be around 40-50ish armor aura and have 40% CDR with some MR to boot. You....cannot die. I mean, it's insane how much damage Taric can take. Even true damage can't completely beat him because he can heal himself for a very large amount (Vayne's %max health true damage will still eat you in a few seconds). Feel free just to charge at the enemy and watch them run because if you get on them they won't get away without a dash/flash because of the huge Iceborn slow areas you will be making. Your CDR means that as long as you have something to hit a heal and stun are only a few seconds away. Taric's heal is kind of like a mini Mundo ult but instant and without a move speed increase. It's on a much shorter CD as long as you AA something too.
Just be threatening in the late game. You want to be aggressive at this time because of your durability. The enemy knows that if you get to them they will be in trouble. However, there are things to look out for. QSS/Scimitar and Mikael's in particular can really prevent you from engaging at this point (or in mid game if they build them early). you only have 1 hard CC then you have to rely on Iceborn's passive to get that extra CC so you can AA and get your CDs back up. This is why late game you want to focus on move speed boosts to get you into the fight. Things like Deadmans plate, Rightous glory, and Enchantment Alacrity help a lot here. Luckily Taric has some semi decent base move speed and you will certainly want masteries to include move speed boosts as well. He isn't Lee Sin for base MS but he isn't terrible either. He's a juggernaut support and like other juggernauts you want him in the middle of the enemy team causing havoc.
Teaming Up With The Outrageous One
Taric works well with a lot of different ADCs. He works best with ADCs that can take a bit of a hit or look out for themselves though. He works well with any ADC but he likes working with some more then others. This is about how I feel personally about how well the ADCs work with Taric. Not everyone plays the same and their is certainly no reason not to pick Taric even if you pick the least qualified ADC to synergize with Taric.
- Honestly This team-up is disgusting. Graves is the most durable of the ADCs and Taric pushes him into the realm of neigh unkillable. This is the best ADC to pair him with by far.
- These ADCs work well because they have built in mobility/cc that can help them take care of themselves. Taric has a pretty good time with Ezreal (^_^) because Ezreal and move around the field easily to both support an engage by Taric and to get out of trouble allowing Taric to be focused and then comeback in and attack from afar. Kalista can throw Taric...I cannot stress how awesome this is for Taric. Kindred has crazy sustain and a lot of tools for surviving allowing Taric to do some work. Lucian is pretty good with Taric too due to his mobility and pretty high burst damage. Ashe's CC is amazing with Taric because she makes it so easy for Taric to get in the enemy's face.
- These are all decent ADCs for Taric to work with. They are not the best but they all have their quirks and benefits to working with Taric. There is absolutely no reason not to pick Taric with them.
- These are not the best ADCs to pair up with. Kog, Twitch, and Miss Fortune all need a level of protection beyond just some extra armor. They are late game scaling hyper carries. Now, Taric can play well with them but his kit works better with other ADCs. I would only pick Taric with Kog/MF/Twitch as long as your team also had a tanky Jungle and/or Top to provide a really strong front line. I would not pick Taric without that though, sure you can snowball the lane early with some good trades but I tend to not always count on snowballing a lane. Quinn is a bad choice too because she is so hyper mobile and squishy that Taric has a hard time synergizing with her. He can certainly get her though the laning phase but her Roaming style of play doesn't lend well for Taric
Taric's Enemies
These enemies give Taric a bad day. They counter him pretty badly and you need to be aware of that because you will need to adjust your play style to make up for that countering. Any AD based champions he is fine against but their are some AP champions that makes him want to crawl up and die.
- One ADC pulled away = Dead. There just isn't much Taric can do about it because he needs to get close to have an affect. That doesn't mean death or anything you just need to play around that hook like everyone else in LOL. Don't fret if you get pulled as long as your ADC is close enough to assist you can turn the pull in on Blitzcranks head with your W and R. Later if he builds AP aroudn the mid game he can kill you out right because his ult does a lot of magic damage. Be careful of that. Max W.
- Brand is your hard counter, whether as support or in mid his magic damage is so high that he can almost single handedly kill your entire team with 1 R cast. As a support he is just as oppressive. He also has insane range with his abilities making it really hard to engage him. If you are against a Brand support you will not win lane, it's just that simple. Get 3 points in Q to help sustain your ADC and aim for late game.
- long range magic damage with hard CC is not fun for Taric and Lux has that in spades. 3 points in Q for laning phase then max W.
- Yeah you have burst but her sustain and healing is crazy good. You want to focus her. Run her off if you can so that she can't heal her ADC. You deal enough damage to be threatening to her. You will want W in this matchup but don't be surprised if she out sustains you. You will likely be in for a long laning phase which Favors Soraka more then you because her healing scales even better then your armor.
- You won't see him as a support but even in mid he makes your life hard. This is because his zoning control is really strong and deals a lot of magic damage which Taric doesn't want to itemize for until later in a game. After Iceborn you will want to look at getting MR asap.
- Another Hard counter for Taric but this time it is because of her Blackshield. Taric is very dependent on his Stun for getting into the enemies face and it isn't exactly the highest damaging ability in the game. You need to bait out the Black shield before using your stun or someone casting stun at point blank so that she can stop it. Morg can counter Taric early and mid game but if you can make it to late you will have a good time.
In addition. There is a time you don't want to pick Taric. That is when there are 2 AP carries (count Brand support as an additional AP carry). This is because Taric can get enough health to survive 1 source of magic damage but an enemy team with multiple sources of magic damage isn't great for Taric. He is best against AD heavy teams so make sure that when you pick him you are picking him at the right time. If you find yourself in a situation that the enemy team has many APCs max Q and E and lastly W because all that armor isn't going to do much for you against magic damage. Build health to get the most out of your heal and focus on just peeling during mid game for your carries because it will be hard for you to charge into the enemy APCs without some good MR.
