What's a Galio?
What is a Galio? It has become a running gag, people seemingly confusing Galio with other similarly named things while completely forgetting he's actually one of the oldest and more unique champions in League of Legends. And yet him having become synonymous for a forgotten champion, rivaling both Yorick and Urgot in terms of meme status, has been a trend that has only been growing while the game progresses. He's been in the top 5 LEAST played champions for years now and it's not because his kit's plain bad, seeing that an AoE Taunt's a very strong tool indeed.
So what's the deal with Galio and why do I think he needs a rework?
The Sentinel's Sorrow Galio's lore is a tale of woe. He's a magical construct, having been created by the great architect of Demacia Durand to protect the fledgling state in its time of growth. A watchful guardian, guarding Demacia and its lands with a resolute determination and an unwavering loyalty for Demacia and his master Durand, the man who gave him life and a conscience.
And yet Galio failed to protect him, Durand having been assassinated on his way to another Demacian settlement. Noxian assassins having murdered his master right in front of his eyes and left Galio to his own devices. Grief and depression overtook him, having failed the very task he was created to do, his creator dying in his stone claws as life soon left the Demacian Architect. His failure weighing heavily on the Gargoyle he simply sat there, protecting his Master's body in death, seeing that he failed to do so while he was still alive.
Now, Poppy was he key for Galio's strive for redemption but this bit of lore may be a tad outdated. Anyways, Poppy came about Galio, still like a statue, moss growing on his stone skin as Poppy rested in the safety of his massive stone form. The Yardley's determination to bring a fabled artifact to Demacia did ignite a spark in Galio's stone heart, providing him with the strength to seek to redeem himself and once again protect Demacia from the very enemies that his master fell victim to.
>>Galio is a protector, yet unlike Braum he seeks redemption for his failure, he isn't jolly or an Idol like the heart of the Freljord. He's the Sentinel's Sorrow, the weight of his failure, the emotional torment having shaped him to seek to fulfill his master's wish
Mage, Tank, Support... wat? Galio has an inherent problem of trying to be good at a wide variety of roles but being the master of none. He has mage like poke and wave clear, yet ally utility with speed buffs and resistances and even heals. His passive and Bulwark does make him feel like a tank though. Galio has a confused identity by aspiring to be a tank, a support and a mage, all in one. This heavily impacts his build due to him needing A LOT of stats to function; Mana regen, Magic resistance, Mana, AP and health to back up his resistances.
This is a very touchy subject to talk about, seeing that people may be attached to either one of these identities. What we can ALL agree on is that there are two to three major spells that make galio who he is.
Runic Skin, his passive, is crucial to his theme, a magically infused statue that soaks up magic like a sponge and strengthens his own magical force. This passive does have the problem of being useless if Galio faces off against heavy AD team comps. Which is fine in the sense that not every champion shines against every team composition. Yet by perhaps giving his spells damage based on his MR rather than him converting MR to AP might free his passive spot up for something more universally applicable and more unique than stat conversion
Bulwark; Galio is a watchful protector, a silent guardian, a dark knight! He should provide team support as well as thriving when actually diving into the fray to protect his squishies and take tremendous punishment for them. He'll redeem himself even if he has to suffer for it, he is built to protect! I personally love the healing when being hit, seeing that it's a fun and interesting concept
Finally, Idol of Durand is Galio's most ultimate (kek) ability and should remain mostly untouched. He focuses everyone's attention on himself, shielding his allies by becoming the center of attention and takin the enemy's punishment like a champ. He may fall but he's going to protect his friends with all he's got, even if he puts his own life on the line. It's an awesome ability and makes for very high moments.
>>Apart from retaining some form of offensive scaling for building MR Galio needs to keep his Bulwark and Idol in some way, seeing that they're both unique, fun and define who Galio really is. All his other basic spells and passive could be reworked to fit him into the role of the Sentinel's Sorrow, building him up to be either a Support, Mage or Tank
-> I PERSONALLY feel Galio should be fitted for the tank role more so than Mage, seeing that it fits his themes a lot more. BUT he should not be a brick wall, no, he should actually feel like this sponge who soaks up magic damage only to unload the stored power and unleash arcane force upon his enemies. He should be somewhere in between a Bruiser mage like Swain and Vlad and resistance tank like Rammus.
What do you think about league's very own Gargoyle and what role would you want him to fill? Feel free to post your own opinion since I do love to discuss these kinds of things!
, you're mostly set for mana, so you just build MR and AP.
springs to mind) and he's weirdly even useful against some assassins because of how strong his counter-engage is. He's a weird niche, actually. Unlike most tanks, he thrives AGAINST sustained damage, instead of falling to it like most tanks.
) Galio is a good champion where he is. He deals loads of damage with his Q and less damage, but good poke damage with his E. His W is insane if you put it on a tank, and really helps when fighting in lane past minions. His ultimate is game changing. It doesn't matter if you have monkeys as teammates, if you can land an ult on 3+ people, you have won the teamfight. He's a very good champion that just isn't made for the current AD Meta, or Tank Meta.
