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Rammus, Tips & Tricks to get ok.

Oaklen·2/21/2014, 11:22:16 AM·4 votes·878 views

Recently in S3 I picked up Rammus and have been jungling him for a while now, I quickly started to figure out some simple things that really helped my game with him and wanted to post them here to help others wanting to Rammus. I managed to get my way out of Silver V -> Gold III in a very short amount of games, sadly my time to play is limited but I'm happy with Gold III. If you have any other tips or enjoyed the tips here please bump away with oks, ok?

-For jungling routes I tend to start Red as he is weak to counter jungling, also getting a hard leash from your adc & mid really help his slow early clears. May seems simple but greatly helps out Rammus, I will only use a single Health Potion on my way to Blue and be at full Hp.

-Grabbing Homeguard boots early pays off with Rammus unlike other junglers. These are so useful during laning phase you can counter gank quickly, and recall more often for healing and be right back into another lane ready to gank before the enemy see it coming. Once more seems like bad buy but going Sprit Stone -> Boots 2 -> Homeguard will make you a ganking machine early.

-After boots, Golem Sprit, and Homeguard a amazing item to build on Rammus is Banshie Veil. It's not on his list of recommend items but this single item is amazing at all lvls of the game. That Teemo Minefield preventing you from ganking? Nope. That single build in CC that every AP Mid has stopping ya? Nope.. I've snowballed more lanes with this item then any others. It's highly underrated.

-Thornsmail is a bit of trap for Rammus, you look at it and it looks amazing BUT Rammus needs Health early-mid game, don't rush it; get sunfire or BV first the Health is greatly needed for him to beable to tank. Another simple but something I myself didn't know till later after several games.

Ok enough about items.. Things that really help me gank well tricks!

-Powerballing.. When you want to gank, and you have time to sit in the bush make sure not to Powerball -> coming spinning out right away. Powerball gains speed starting slow and then slowly progresses to gain speed then crackball insane speed. Make sure to 'grind' in the bush till you are about 50% through you Powerball, so when you come out you have roughly 400+ movement speed. Tons of Rammus make this mistake and end up coming out of hiding too slow and failing the gank because of it.

-When Powerballing don't forget to watch the wave of minions, if you see a batch just showed up then your golden to come ganking without worrying about minions blocking or screwing up your main tool. If you don't see any make sure to look at the map and mentally see the minions walking into lane, remember as you come out if you are behind your minion wave they will start to aggro you and walk INTO your path. Another common thing that get's over sighted.

-Smite, yes.. SMITE! If you are ganking a lane that has 'pet' Malz, Annie, Elise. Remember in mid powerball you can smite that little sucker out of your way and surprise them. This also works with minions. So many times you'll see the enemy walk behind minions to escape your rolling girt and believe themselves safe but then SMITE and then BAM SURPRISE!

-Flashing with Powerball. Many Rammus players flash just to hit them, few flash OVER them. Powerball is a Knockback effect, and when used on the otherside of a player it pushes them away from Rammus. So by waiting just a hair when powerballing you can flash over them and knock them back into your team. While it doesn't seem like a lot, all these tiny movements can have huge impacts on the gank/fight.

-Powerball is a AoE. meaning that you don't have to hit the enemy directly, never forget that if a minion wave is blocking your path if the enemy is close enough on the otherside you will still hit them.

-Flashing in general is amazing we all know that, when force to gank hard spots like Tri and ramps don't forget to Grind in place, then flash over the wall at max speed with Powerball another stupid but simple one that many forget.

-Powerball's Speed is amazing for lane ganks, never forget that Rammus is one of the best lane gankers EVER. I've even had people facecheck me in bot bush when I was just grinding. Just funny.

-Taking buffs, sometimes you DON'T want to hit anyone with rolling about. Ward the enemy buffs plus powerballs speed allows Rammus to do some dirty things with steals. See the enemy coming to get their Blue/Baron/Red/Dragon? Do a drive by, steer to avoid the enemy and Smite that sh*t.

-Don't forget you Shield and Ult will draw aggro when under turret so make sure not to use Shield when just trying to aa a turret with a enemy near by, but if they aren't there make sure to. That 120 Armor and MR turns 25% of that into AD for little Ramram making it drop that much faster.

-Powerball will also intercept other champions moves. Shadow Dash, Leesin Second kick, Fizz Q. If you see Leesin kick your carry and know he is going to Kick to her and kill her don't be afraid to roll inbetween them As soon as he come in it stop and hit you instead. Powerballing in place when Elise Repels, Guardian Angels, Zil Ult.

-Taunt, ok, ok, ok. This move allows you to have one of the best peels ever. With so many assassins becoming popular he is great vrs Zeds, Talons, Kassadins, ect. People who rely on that 'Get in-Get out' trick won't work vrs a well played Rammus. Wait for that dive, that Zed Ult and as soon as he comes in Taunt. Watch him do nothing but get exploded on by your team.

-Taunt + powerball is a great way to save teammates. Enemy chasing them and your low on health? Walk up to them, Taunt, start running once you get that foothold ahead of them powerball away and force them to chase you for 2.25 seconds.

-More Taunting! Sometimes you want to taunt, and AA them and try to kill them right? Well sometimes it's best to simply Taunt someone and 'walk' them into your team. Mind you this only works on Melee champions but it is a great way to pull people away from their team.

-Taunting Ranged Champs. First close the gap, get close with the enemy ADC or Mage -> Taunt. Since they are ranged attack champions if you turn to walk away, they will simply AA you and then take a single step forward and Taunt will be over. Which will be a huge waste. But if you Taunt -> Flash away and keep walking away, it will force them to follow you the whole 2.25 seconds. Walking them into team trying to close the gap to AA you.

These are just some of the simple things that I've noticed and done, but have led me to having great success with Rammus. I hope it helps some of you out there.

-ok

edit: Honorable addition is Homeguard+Teleport allow for some grade ok gank that are unstoppable. ( Shoukansha Ichi (NA))

5 Comments

Pollyanna Wright2/21/2014, 11:19:27 PM1 votes

-When taking buffs also don't forget that you can slam into the enemy jungler then taunt him. Rammus Taunt is one of the longest CC effects; during those 2.25 seconds he CAN'T Smite, so wait and fight over the buff then Taunt him, and hit it once or twice, Smite and Powerball out. Deuces. Many Dragons and Barons can be secured this way.

Only suppress can stop smite. :(

Everything else seems pretty legit. Only thing I would recommend to add is Homeguard+Teleport.

Tyliear Depraw2/22/2014, 4:45:39 AM1 votes

i preffer to start blue and get my laner to ward my red, with a real ward, then we fold in and slaughter the enemy jungler at my red, 75% of the time, the other 25% my team doesn't liston about how there gonna be at my red and i die at it, but thats not my fault, i told my team what to do to get us the kill instead of there jungler but my team didn't do it.

Sky of Smiles2/22/2014, 4:57:12 AM1 votes

I think whether or not Rammus gets killed by counter Jungling when doing his 2nd buff (The Elder Lizard Camp), depends on how well one manages his cooldowns. For me, I powerball into it, walk away from the Elder Lizard's melee attack range to throw down a trinket ward in the other end of the bush and activate Defensive Ball Curl. Regardless of the enemy Jungler's early game damage, I'll burn my pots while Defensive Curl is up as I attack the Elder Lizard to make sure I don't drop so low in hp as to get taken down before I'm able to react. When Defensive Curl is off and enters cooldown, I'll kite the Elder Lizard around the camp, using Powerball's knockback (10% CDR from Blessings of the Ancient Golem) to gain more time until Defensive Curl is off CD if need be prior to smiting it. Doing this allows two options against counter jungling. The first being to run, the second being able to manipulate the Elder Lizard to help you take down the enemy Jungler. Overall, I don't think Rammus is weak to counter Junglering early game except for in the case of an Udyr who opted for Tiger and Bear stance at level 2.