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Favorite Pocket Pick, How You Build Them, and Why They are Secretly Good/Underrated!

coppinslinger·1/26/2015, 10:45:24 AM·12 votes·8,620 views

EDIT: Holy crap, more people are biting than I thought :O. I wanna see the wacky builds people! Let Meta fear our collective pocket picks!

Title. I wanna see what the community likes to bring out in those niche situations that completely obliterates the enemy team! Let me know your secret picks, when you use them, why they're good, and how you build them!

I'll start: Malphite Jungle

Runes: 3x AS Quints 9x Hybrid Pen marks 9x Armor seals 6x Flat CDR glyphs (5%) 3x Flat MR glyhps

This set-up gives you good clear, while also giving you a bit more damage in fights. The main focus is on increasing your naturally slow clear times.

Masteries: 9/21/0 Pick up Both CDR and AS in the offensive tree. Use last point as you want. Pick up Defensive masteries as your own preference (I like to take the Less Damage/%Bleed to jungle monsters especially)

Again, focused on strengthening your clear, while still making you strong in teamfights and skirmishes.

Core Build: item 1039 item 2003 into item 3067 into item 3024 into item 3725 into item 3110 and then diversify build as necessary. Also good is item 3143 item 3075 item 3068 item 3001 item 3102. Buy item 3047 always since you already have tenacity.

This build gets you 40% CDR very early on, which is a huge power-spike! Can ult all over the place in the mid-game.

Why He's Good (in the right situations): Malphite is extremely strong right now against the right team compositions. If you see a high amount of AD and/or AS focused champions on the enemy team, Malphite is a great champion to completely shut them down in the mid-game. An Example team-comp he works well against - Fiora JarvanIV Zed Vayne Janna. Because he has huge armor in the mid-game (before people buy Armor Pen), and an AoE ~50% AS slow (really, it's massive), he completely wrecks in mid-game teamfights even with one 1 or 2 items. Not to mention his ult, which can be game-changing for your team.

Moreover, his jungle clear is extremely safe thanks to his shield refreshing at every camp, his high AD on his W, and his AS slow on his E. Malphite can basically indefinitely clear the jungle starting from lvl 1.

He is also less susceptible to early-game aggression in his own jungle because his high Armor, AS reduction, and Q literally means he can just walk away unscathed (or wait for his team to help). In the mid-game, he out-duels any AD champion thanks to his W and E. In the mid-game, I could literally beat the enemy 5/0 Hecarim in a 1v1 because his dueling against AD champs is just so strong!

Weaknesses: Ganks are non-existent before lvl 6. You rely on your team to carry you through the early-game. Completely unviable against high-AP comps. Falls off late when the enemy builds Armor-pen. Still strong if your team can follow-up on your CC and provide damage. Still reduces a lot of AD damage with his AoE AS slow. Useless if your team has no damage of their own.

Strengths: Completely shuts-down AD comps in the mid-game. Especially that pesky Zed Safe jungle clears, even against invades. Strong synergy with AoE damage from your carries (a item 3001 + Annie makes for a great wombo-combo) Really strong at pushing objectives because he can tank Dragon, Baron and Towers with his high armor. Great for diving in the mid-game or sneaking early Barons.

72 Comments

cshakes1/26/2015, 3:09:59 PM4 votes

Taric Support 0/21/9 masteries, prioritise Armor over MRes MS quints, Armor marks, HP or Armor seals, Scaling MRes glyphs.

Build Starting Items item 3302 item 2010 item 3340, swap a biscuit for a item 2044 if you're vs a jungler who's scary early (Lee Sin, Jarvan etc)

Core item 2045 item 3110 item 3190 item 3341 Sightstone is core on all supports, the Sweeper also helps with vision control. Frozen Heart gives you (and your allies) delicious armor, as well as 20% CDR and Mana to help with your mana problems. Build a Locket, Taric with a Locket has like 75% win rate. (See links at bottom)

Final support item item 3069 or item 3401 If you need engage, take Talisman. If you're playing "protect the hypercarry" and peeling, take FotM.

Boots item 3117 item 3111 and on occasion item 3158 item 3009 are OK.

Other items Heavy-duty Armor items are your friend. item 3143 item 3056 item 3025 item 3075 are the most useful ones IMO. If you want to deal tons of damage (and get some mana) grab item 3025. item 3512 might be amusing. Consider a item 3068 if you're ahead.

Non-Armor situational items item 3065 increases the power of your self-heal item 3222 has nice MP5 and an awesome active item 3800 has an active that helps you catch enemies (and also some mana)

Skill order Start with E. E is your one-point-wonder stun. Level E last. By level 2, decide whether you need burst (W) or sustain (Q) more right then. Skill the appropriate ability, take the other at level 3. By level 4, decide whether you want a burst lane (W) or a sustain lane (Q). Max the appropriate skill first, the other one second, and E last. Take a point in your ult whenever available.

When to pick

  • When the enemy team has at least 2 dealers of physical damage that are not the ADC and the ADC is not Corki. (Example: Rumble top, J4 jungle, Zed mid, Graves ADC)
  • When all non-botlane damage dealers are physical damage -based. (Example: J4 top, Lee Sin jungle, Talon mid)

http://www.nerfplz.com/2015/01/fotm-tarics-explosive-win-rate-wlocket.html http://www.nerfplz.com/2015/01/fotm-report-taric-season-3-gems.html

Remlap12231/26/2015, 12:02:47 PM4 votes

MissFortune bot lane. No, really, 99% of the reason that people say she sucks is because they don't level her skills and build her correctly.

Usual Doran's start, but instead of going the stock ADC build, rush IE and Triforce, and build avarice into Yomumu's for more crit and AD next, or Bloodthirster if you get really ahead.

Oh, and MAX YOUR E SECOND. That is the biggest mistake that people make. Her E is useless mid game if you don't level it, but it's hella powerful if you do. You're already getting the grievous wounds bonus from her W, and the damage doesn't level anymore, so there's no reason to max out until 18. You build her this way, and you'll chunk anything short of hypertanks if you get your Q off first, and you'll outduel anyone short of the hypercarries late game.

You can also build her as a utility ADC if you're running Vayne top. Replace Yomumu's with cleaver, your defense item with wits end, turn on your W, and you'll make tanks cry.

Memejerdomo1/26/2015, 6:10:16 PM3 votes

I'll bite. Leona Mid.

Runes: I made the herrdurrschnerr of buying full AP and AD, but you want something with some resistance. I generally choose AP, but AD could be nice for last hitting..

Masteries: 9-21-0. You really need some tank. take the CDR and AP in offense. Just general tank in defense.

Summoners summoner 4 & summoner 3 /summoner 7 . You want to be bait.

Build: Start item 1054 or item 2041. Buy a item 3057 when you can, and an item 3001 can be considered pretty core.

If you have a rough start, build tanky. Go for an item 3025 , and build according to the enemy team.

If you do well, the fun starts. Get yourself a item 3100 , a item 3191 into item 3157 , maybe a item 3027 if you feel it. item 3135 is generally better then item 3089 , unless everybody is pure squish. Try not to go too crazy, 800 AP will do more harm then good. CDR if you can afford it, too.

Strengths: Cheeky enemies. It's not a ranked pick, it's a fun pick. DO NOT PUSH THE LANE. You are Leona, the undiveable godess. Deny them anything, and call your MIAs. Also, be ready for your power spike. Around midgame, Leona has high base damage, and it takes little more then your item 3057 to pick up some kills, even on your laner, who gets cocky because you are farming under tower. Also, you are strong against snowbally assassins like Talon or Zed . They will push and can't dive you. Also, I personally have luck vs Ahri . Don't think it's champ related (since the true damage should destroy me), just a personal experience.

Weaknesses: Passive laners. I dread the day I face a Veigar . You can poke with the basic combo when they get near tower, but everybody basically farms.

Why I Do It: I do it with friends, and make one of them pick a carry jungler. The only real downside to picking a snowball jungler is that you risk not getting fed and falling off. Use your plethora of CC and feed that MasterYi /Nocturne /Tryndamere . Worst comes to worst, things g wrong, you give up a kill or two, and become a tank with cc to waste.

tl/dr: have friends to feed, play safe, and know when to go tank and when to make the sunlight hurt their eyes.

Gorzke1/26/2015, 11:20:01 AM3 votes

It may not be a secret, but Zyra Bot with item 3089 item 3151 item 3135 item 3020 item 3060 item 2045 Tops Damage and is a really good support (And with proper runes/Masteries, 35% CDR too)

terkmc1/26/2015, 8:33:47 PM3 votes

I rush RoA into Crystal Scepter on Nautilus. Can he tank? Yes. Can he smack a bitch with an anchor made of solidified explosion? Hell yes

Syn Zykan1/26/2015, 12:27:45 PM3 votes

Shen Jungle

Setup (Runes/Masteries) AS Quints and reds, armor yellows, scaling mr blues

http://prntscr.com/5x8jfx Masteries I use. I started using Butcher over Double-edged because I don't want to be taking as much damage late game, 1% can make a difference. You can decide for yourself though P:

Build Starting items - item 1039 item 2003 item 3340 pretty self explanitory First back - item 3713 item 2043 after the change to the machete upgrades I won't be able to get the pink anymore but coming back with 450 gold is pretty easy.

I then pick up components to make the devourer enchant and swap rangers with stalkers once I am able to finish it. I like devourers on Shen because while he is gank heavy he can stack up the damage very easily with assists and farming his jungle. It helps him scale better into the late game after his really good early ganks.

Core item 3710 item 3091 item 3143 item 3047 I build these items just about every game, wits end synergizes so well with devourer and randuins + tabi helps me survive adc's damage and goes perfectly with E as well

Situational item 3102 item 3190 item 3156 - If I for whatever reason need to pick up more magic resist I will get one of these 3 depending on the enemy comp and how my team is doing. item 3074 item 3068 - if I am split pushing or need to get aoe damage in teamfights item 3153 - if there is 1 particular member of the enemy team I need to kill or if I need to sustain more in fights, or if the enemy team is full AD I will pick this up instead of wits item 3083 item 3022 - if I am needing to stack more hp against enemies that deal true damage item 2049 - vision wins games, if I feel I can pick this up I definitely will.

Why pick Shen? Pros Incredible sustain in the new jungle with his Q and W Really strong ganks with his taunt Surprisingly quick clears (nothing like shyvana or udyr but it is fast enough) Teleport Ultimate makes for some fun ganks, or can save a teammate and turn a near death into a kill Can counter jungle really well and escape with E Can itemize for split pushing pretty well.

Cons People will think you are trolling If you fall behind it is really hard to catch back up Teammates don't understand how to get ready for a gank or don't follow up and blame you for failing. Teamfight is lackluster and if you miss your taunt you are just SoL

Jungle pathing On red side I will start Krugs (smite) > Raptors > Red (Smite) then either gank top/mid or back On blue side I start Gromp (smite) > Blue > Red (Smite) Then gank mid/bot or back.

You can jungle leashless and still have most of your hp at the end of your first clear, just start Q and grab W at level 2 then E at 3 when you'd be going for your first gank. You can also do a cheese level 2 gank if you start Red and grab E at level 2. Just let which lane you'd be doing it in know right away so that it can pay off, if it fails you are already going to be behind.

toxıc sIut1/26/2015, 8:51:16 PM2 votes

Straight tank Jungle Sion . You get 80 HP for every full clear of the jungle and 52 for small camp clears. This adds up hella fast and you become very tanky without much cost. you have great initiation and waveclear and work very well with other high CC tanks (Leona is amazing for this, you can combo your ults for a disgusting amount of CC). Rush item 3725 and item 3068, pick up boots ( I usually go item 3047 ), and get either item 3190 or item 3102 depending on if their magic damage and cc is single target or AOE, and then grabbing a item 3143 or item 3083 depending on if you need the extra armor or not. I usually end with a item 3075 or whatever magic item I didn't buy earlier depending on their damage types. You get a shitton of health from your passive alone, so even with the lower income of the jungle Sion can easily get to 5k health lategame. I almost never lose when I pick him. Also, you get to BM since you're so tanky. It's a grand time.

Xtremey1/26/2015, 4:04:17 PM2 votes

MasterYi mid

21-9 either going the crit route or cdr doesnt matter ad quints, as reds, armor yellows, mix of cdr and mr blues or just straight mr blues

build:

start item 2041* vs pretty much every midlaner who has harass*. when vs a long range mage your goal should be to survive the laning phase and get to that powerful 3 item stage.

get item 1036 or item 1055 if you are vs an assassin who's weak early game and you want some kill pressure (Fizz Akali Yasuo Zed).

only start item 1029* if going vs* Riven.

start a item 1054 if you want that hp regen and are vs a single target mage (Leblanc Ryze Veigar Cassiopeia) , but i personally prefer item 2041 for more sustain.

item 3153 item 3142 item 3035 core items. Usually always get these 3 as they compliment each other so well. build item 3153 first if you're looking to 1v1, item 3142 first if you want to roam a lot. usually get item 3035 after both are completed.

get an early item 3155 if you're losing lane vs a mage. no need to upgrade it until you have finished your item 3142 item 3153 item 3035 . for boots you can go anything really. item 3111 if vs cc that's difficult/impossible to dodge with alpha strike. item 3047 if losing to a Zed or Yasuo. item 3006 if you're ahead and want some more attsp.

5th and 6th items are largely game dependent. go item 3031 if you're going crit yi and want to do the damages. item 3139 vs hard cc like Lissandra or Annie ult. if the enemy is mostly one damage type, a item 3102 or item 3075 can mitigate it. item 3026 is a great last item if you're getting focused. get an item 3056 if you want to have some fun diving. item 3087 or item 3046 can replace item 3142 in the lategame for more crit and attsp. item 3172 replaces boots at 6 items. item 3074 if you want more burst and some lifesteal.

Max Q first every time, unless you're feeding hardcore and need to survive some insane, low cc burst (Akali Leblanc Katarina Mordekaiser Zed ) .

when going in for trades, i like to get my passive up to 3 stacks, q onto them, pop e and get 2 hits of true damage on them before they use escape/get into tower range. heal up with your w or use it to mitigate their damage whenever possible, and use q to dodge tower shots and cc abilities. remember that W is an AA reset!

pros:

  1. scales hard
  2. difficult to completely shut down
  3. good roams
  4. can dodge most projectiles
  5. has % damage reduction

cons:

  1. susceptible to cc
  2. requires some finesse to use alpha strike to dodge things
  3. low burst early-mid game

when to pick: a good choice if the enemy picks a low cc, high burst champion. also good if you need an ad damage threat for lategame.

blueberrypancake1/26/2015, 4:12:00 PM2 votes

OMG, ANOTHER JUNGLE MALPHITE PLAYER. I"M NOT THE ONLY ONE. Sometimes I even get hydra to make it so that he has more damage followup on his ultimate, be able to push waves, gives him warwick tier sustain, and make get some health regen to help later on when I get tanky. I might be going a little too far

My build item 3074 item 3725 item 3143 item 3110 item 3800 item 3271

Against heavy ap I add spirit visage and I situationally get Warmogs if I need more health

Barbwired Mind1/26/2015, 4:23:21 PM2 votes

Ryze CDR op.. so underrated. Too lazy to explain why i'd rather mid lane with him. He's great if you can build him tank/ap correctly

ESeTyRC1/26/2015, 8:17:06 PM2 votes

Amusing thread, so here goes. A top lane Jayce build I created to make myself a prime target for the enemy in fights. Since I usually duo queue, I can generally count on my duo to clean up.

1st item rushed is item 3074 . A choice that gets questioned by players on both teams including the one whose face I'm bashing in.

Reasoning: Strong sustain, pushing power, AoE damage, bonus AA following Active. This gives Jayce more incentive to use his hammer stance which returns mana for him on hit in addition to HP. Cannon stance W + Hammer stance Q + W + 3-4 AA's + Tiamat or Hydra active + E gives Jayce a lot of burst. This will drain his mana, but attacking in Hammer stance returns a good amount.

2nd step: This next part depends on how much gold is available upon returning. I often find myself returning with 2k-3k after getting Hydra. item 3158 ->item 3134 ->item 3114 This step in conjunction with 5% cd from masteries gives 40% cd in addition to sticking and roaming power. This is usually where I begin pushing harder and applying pressure elsewhere, using Accel Gate and constant stance changing to get around quickly and engage / disengage at will.

Because this step doesn't give much raw combat power, choosing what to do and when to do it is crucial. This is the part where I've personally screwed up hardest, and also where I've secured the most objectives and kills with varying performance.

3rd step, again depends on how much gold Jayce is returning with, since this build provides sustain of both hp and mana with easy lane pushing and jungle clearing (preferrably the enemy's).

item 3071 ->item 3222 Neither of these items are common choices so..

Reasoning for Black Cleaver: Jayce already has Hydra by this point, which synergizes well with Cleaver to begin with. Jayce, however, can apply all 5 stacks of black cleaver in an AoE at insanely high speed.

Given a normal engage combo of (optional Cannon stance AA for R passive)Cannon Q+E with E right on top of Jayce for highest missile speed and immediate speed boost, W + R to Hammer stance, Q to dive in, W for AoE + 3 AA's at max speed, and all 5 have already been applied to every target in range.

At this point, at least one target is usually low enough to be hit with E for a kill as well, and because of max CD, you can switch back to Cannon to do more damage right after Hydra active + additional AA (and switch again soon after).

Reasoning for Mikhaels: Diving in and dishing out a lot of damage makes Jayce a high priority target in fights, but also an easy one. Mikhaels gives the option of hanging back to fire off multiple Shockblasts without worrying about mana, and the Active gives Jayce a chance to last long enough after diving in to win despite CC. The fact that it's useable on other teammates also makes it more versatile, esp if someone else is in need to a quick heal.

To finish this set off I usually build item 3031 and item 3075 .

Infinite Edge for obvious reasons, though I sometimes choose item 3072 instead, and Thornmail because ADC's tend to be the ones giving me the most trouble with their ranged sustain and mobility.

Enjoy, don't try to blame me if it doesn't work out for you. You're going to be dying with this build.

Gallowgrim1/26/2015, 10:08:57 PM2 votes

I'm not sure it's too "out there" but I've completely caught people off-guard with Viktor - I hardly ever see him played, but when you know how to get him going he can hit like a truck, and once you get the vectors down on Death Ray the shenanigans it allows are both numerous and amusing.

I'm the dark horse who goes with Scaling AP runes/quints, Magic Pierce marks, and flat armor seals, starting with item 2041 and proceeding to maximize item 3198 ; after that comes item 3135 and item 3111 . switching up the other items depending on needs.

Max E first, Spacing it with Q and taking W at 5th to aid in Chaos Storming at 6th; upgrading E first, then W, then Q/R.

Poro King was a nasty surprise that got me my share of "WTF!"s ;)

4nth0l0gy1/27/2015, 1:11:57 AM2 votes

Well, I've got two. I'll give you one.

Rammus Jungle 9/21/0 masteries, old fashioned jungle runes (AD quints, AS marks, armor glyphs MRpL seals) Alternatively, swap MRpL for health (I'll explain why I keep MRpL later)

Summoners summoner 11 summoner 4 Basically no exceptions: You're a jungler, and you're going to need to cross a minion wave at some point to land your powerball.

Build Here's the thing: you can start two ways. It used to make way more sense to start item 1029 + 5xitem 2003, because you would not only get an extra pot, but a legitimate combat stat for your first gank. However the new tank jungle item doesn't build from item 1029, and furthermore, you are almost definitely not ganking after your first clear because the jungle sucks so hard to fight right now, so you're probably always better off with item 1039 + 2xitem 2003. If you really want that combat stat for like, a level 2 gank, then sure, cloth5. That being said, Rammus does not level 2 gank without a teammate's CC to back him up and a squishy target.

Core item 3725item 3270item 3068item 3143 So, the immediate complaint I see when I show a build for Rammus that lacks MR is that I'm leaving the champion vulnerable by not itemizing with both damage type resistances.

My philosophy is this: if your champion has a strength, exploit it to the fullest, so long as it is not detrimental to your gameplay. Rammus's passive converts 25% of his total armor into attack damage. His powerball, the thing that makes him one of if not the best tank in the game (hi Sion), deals back damage equal to 10% of his total armor. Oftentimes I hear people say that's not a lot, but it's definitely significant. That's one incentive to build straight armor.

The other is more nuanced and has to do with both the meta and the way damage works in the game.

Typically, right now, your tank melter is the ADC. He's the guy that's going to hurt Rammus the most in the long run. Other roles that popularly itemize AD damage right now: Mid ZedTalonJayce, Top RivenRekSaiKalista(DariusFiora), and (most importantly, imo) jungle: RekSaiLeeSinJarvanIVViPantheonKhazixRengar. You notice that just about every other jungler commonly being played right now is an AD bruiser. Mid and Top both have a good chance of being an AD. Overall, there is a lot more AD in the game these days than AP.

This is not ALWAYS the case of course. You have your midlaners SyndraAhriOriannaFizzLeblanc(and I'm thinking Tristana with her rework). You have a couple toplaners KassadinRumbleLissandra...Swain? And supports itemize AP sometimes, though it's more often than not negligible, especially to a tank.

So what we take away from this is that, most of the time, your greatest threat is going to be an AD source of damage. So it makes a LOT of sense for a tank, who is the damage soaker of the team, to build a lot of Armor. What we also take away from this is that, since the APs being played are typcally bursty mages (Azir being the leading exception), you, as the tank, are not going to be their focus.

What makes Rammus special is that he gets a ton of free armor and magic resist (120 at level 5. 120 armor and magic resist.) on a low cooldown. So, in theory, your W (and the MRpL runes I recommend) gives you enough inherent MR as to not need to itemize for it. At all.

This is of course risky, and often times, if the enemy team comp really demands it, I will add a item 3190 or a item 3102 to my late-game build. But mostly, you just want to have a ton of health for your W's resistances to play off of, and a ton of armor to make the enemy ADC feel bad about their life.

As a bonus, stacking armor and health also makes you a god damn monster for tower diving. And, my favorite bit: his clears become quite a bit stronger, which allows a champion with naturally strong ganks to also be a decent farmer.

I take item 3068 despite it's lack of popularity and gold efficiency because it helps a little with your clear times, adds a bunch of AOE damage to your ult during prolonged teamfights, and is relatively cheap for all the armor and health it gives. Plus it's cool, so shut up.

item 3270 Homeguard is necessary if your team is down. Rammus is all about hard, fast engages, then he doesn't need to do much moving, so the loss of speed when in combat is totally acceptable.

Other items item 3075 pretty obvious late-game AD counter. Synergizes real well with Rammus. item 3110 Good. I usually take Thornmail over it, but if you really want some CDR, not a bad choice. item 3065 I prefer Banshee's, given the spell shield that lets you keep the homeguard mobility a little longer on engage, but CDR is valuable. item 3709 Mostly a style preference. I like being able to clear faster, since Rammus already has a great ganking tool with his Q, and he gets sustain with item 3725. item 2049 ...I do spend a lot of money on wards. But, usually a no. item 3800 Cool new item! Health is great. The active(s) are great. Not really a bad idea in most if any scenarios. item 3026 Hahaha. Sure. item 3001 Why? Because you have a lot of AP on your team, your opponents have a lot of MR. Never because you're taking damage from their AP. item 3091 Stop it.

Skill Order Start W, unless you have a hell of a level 1; in which case, take Q for engage/damage. I really do not recommend starting E ever. Do avoid level 1s unless absolutely safe.

Q or W level 2, whichever you didn't take level 1.

Usually E level 3, UNLESS you are positive you're not ganking for a while, in which case, second point in W.

Now, after Level 3, I see a lot of streamers Max E. I prefer to alternate levels between W and E, prioritizing W. It gives you some more survivability, which is really the bottom line. Can't gank or farm when you're dead. Q is always last, as you gain nothing but extra damage from levels.

Tips and tricks -You don't have to exit an active Q to smite or to place wards. -You can taunt over dragon pit's wall if close enough to an enemy. -The recent W/Q overlap change allows a rolling rammus to be shielded for a second before he enters the fray, IF you time it really well. Remember, as soon as you press W, you're exiting powerball in one second no matter what you do. -Although you're trying to distract the ADC, your best bet for a taunt is always an AP caster. If they're taunted, they're not being useful AT ALL. -Don't be afraid to use your E on jungle camps. -Your ult has a 60 second cooldown. It does damage to towers. You are an amazing splitpusher (especially with sunfire), you just don't know it. That being said, your place is in the wings, watching your team like a spikey flightless hawk. -Ward deep, ward often. You can be cheeky, you're a tank with awesome mobility.

When should you play Rammus? Always. Counterjungling is a thing of the past, and you gank almost as well as any old LeeSin. Plus you scale way better.

I don't LIKE playing Rammus into double AP, but he's fine honestly, he just loses some benefits of playing against ADs.

AMYS GRAVE2/5/2015, 5:14:36 PM1 votes

I saw AD Lulu with a Nami support and i've been meaning to try it. they crushed it. lulu's passive means she gets 4x the damage output on every AA and i think they can crit too. it was terrifying.

she made it this far through her build.

item 3153 item 3508 item 3004

junglerboy161/27/2015, 2:05:12 AM1 votes

Back before they gave him his micro rework, mine was AP Maokai mid/top.

Now though, my favorite pocket pick is AP Bruiser Alistar Top/Jungle (he doesn't do as well jungle though because of the nerf to his passive). #BurningDoomSteak!

Runes: Hybrid pen marks (AS if jungling) Armor per level seals (Take 3 flat if jungling) MR per level glyphs MS/Flat AP Quints (better roam or better damage+sustain, your choice based on play style)

Masteries: 9-21-0 or 0-21-9, snagging standard defensive options and then either more AP and CDR if wanting an aggressive lane or picking utility for the strength of spirit (HP5 based on max mana), MP5, and MS for better roam and sustain.

Summoners: summoner 12 +summoner 4 /summoner 11 +summoner 4

Items: In Jungle: I don't really use Alistar much in the jungle anymore because his clear is too weak early on for my liking. That said, the jungle Item I go for is almost always item 3725 because he loves the tenacity, and he needs the extra clear more than the tiny gank power of stalkers since his ganks are already so powerful that they don't really need it. after getting your tier two jungle item for the empowered smite, rush item 3116 —>item 3151 and finish the rest of the build like a standard lane build minus item 3027/item 3800

In Lane: Start either item 1054 +item 2003 x1 for a stronger early game or item 1028 +item 2003 x1 +item 2004 x1 for a faster core rush. Core items are item 3010 +item 1001. Once you get those, decide whether to get item 3027 (If ahead and/or can get it before 15 minutes), or just hold on to Catalyst and get item 3800 mid-late game when team fights become a top priority. After that, rush item 3116 —>item 3151 . These items make your passive melt people because it applies both of these items' passives on EVERY tick of damage. After those two items, you need either armor or mr. For armor, I usually go for item 3110 , but item 3025 can work too (It isn't as good as it used to be because they removed his W+AA combo though). For MR, get either item 3065 for increased durability from your self heal, or item 3190 if your jungler hasn't gotten it. I usually pick up tier two boots after getting either item 3027 if I was ahead, or after item 3116 if I skipped item 3027. If you get super ahead, instead of item 3110 , go for a item 3157 into a item 3089 and play as a tanky AP assassin (Wouldn't recommend this though since AP Alistar really needs item 3128 to function well, and that item is going away soon.

Your role is to be a super tank and survive a fight as long as possible. You want to either initiate with a W+Q combo or peel for carries. Once you are in a fight, try to stagger spell casts so the your passive is up for as long as possible, because it applies Liandry's burn each second, which basically turns your passive into a % HP sunfire cape shred. You will slow the entire enemy team down as well, making you a threat via your CC and your damage, while still being hard to kill. If possible, team fight over enemy minions, since your passive's AOE with Liandry's will allow you to kill them very quickly for more spammable heals which means more time with your passive up. In lane, avoid trading at all before you get level 2, and try to push them off of minions with your W. If you get ganked, use your W to either dash to an enemy minion in the direction of your turret, or to punt away one of the enemies attacking you. Remember to use your heal in this situation too since it activates your passive which lets you avoid unit collision (which is a big issue with the new minions I've found).

Pros: Super tanky late game. Passive turns into a massive % AOE burn a la Amumu tears. Huge CC Decently bursty mid game. Heals for a moderate amount with Rylai's and Liandry's AP. Super sticky with Rylai's slow on you passive. Still really durable even if behind. This build has a ton of CDR for better ability spam. Powerful roaming/ganking Excellent peeling.

Cons: Weak-ish early game. Moderately item dependent. Not as much burst as full AP builds. Cannot carry alone.

Mecha MaIphite1/27/2015, 3:08:39 AM1 votes

Jax mid

Standard 21/9/0 masteries, AD quints and reds, armor yellows and scaling MR blues. Start cloth or longsword depending on the size of your balls. item 3078 item 3153, item 3115 item 3100 against AP sometimes. Hextech if I'm ahead, otherwise just 3 tank items. He's mobile enough that he can roam, and he's also great at dueling a lot of the assassins that are dominating mid.

blubabby1/27/2015, 7:00:17 AM1 votes

Kennen Top/Mid Masteries I actually can't say much about these since I change these depending on who I'm up against, but generally I use 19/11/0 taking Cdr, AD, AP, and stopping once I get the 6% hybrid pen. I prioritise Armour over MRes in defense. Runes Hybrid Penetration Reds Armour Yellows 3 Magic resistance/level blues and 6 flat CDR blues AD Quints

Other runes to consider: Magic Penetration Ability Power Attack Damage - only really good if you're able to harass your opponent but extra AD to last hit with never hurts Summoner spells summoner 4 Flash is required on Kennen because of the very obvious synergy with his ultimate and his Lightning Rush.

For the second summoner you have two choices. summoner 12 or summoner 14 Teleport gives you massive teamfight/map pressence because your combo is devastatingly powerful early game (more on gameplay later). Ignite obviously lets you stomp harder, but makes it harder to catch up if you fall behind. Build Starting items item 1001 item 2003 item 2044 item 3340 or item 1055 item 2003 Are, in my opinion, the only two worthwhile starting builds for Kennen. Only take Doran's if you're against someone you know you can harass and piss off the entire laning phase.

Core item 3157 item 3116 item 3020
These three items are required in literally every game of Kennen with priority on the Zhonya's so you can start picking teamfights.

The reason we want this when we're building Kennen is because Kennen has extremely strong team-fight potential and thus we want to cater to this strength.

Zhonya's synergizes well with our ultimate and basically guarantees a double stun on the enemy team assuming you can keep them near you. Another benefit of getting an early Zhonya's is it keeps people like Jax or Shyvana from easily tower diving you if they're bold enough to try diving a Kennen.

Rylai's adds more CC to our team-fight and gives us stronger kiting/chasing, but one of the main reasons why we get this is for the extra HP. In most teamfights it'll give you about another second or two to position yourself before you need to pop your Zhonya's. For most mages you'll want to build the giant's belt component first, but this is just personal perference. Situational item 3135 item 3151 Oddly I'm lumping these two items into one because they both do the same thing but at different points in the game. Kennen has really good base damage on his spells and, while he has decent scalings, they're not enough to contend with the heavier hitters late game. item 3136 This should be the first major-ish item you buy or just skip it entirely. In conjunction with your W, Electrical Surge, you can really bully your lane opponent. However, in cases of Q max first, this item is usually wasted (more on this later, bear with me this is my first ever written guide).

item 3041 Please don't do it but if you do at least make sure you're good.

After building your Zhonya's/Rylai's combo, every other item is considered a luxury.

Good options for Luxury Items include

item 3089 ... and that's about it.

Because of Kennen's kit and high base damage, he has a lot of room for situational items depending on what's going on in the game.

Skills

For the complete indepth technical details of each of his abilities, go here as I'm gonna be talking about skill order and how to use them more than what they actually do as they're mostly self explanatory.

However, I will talk about his passive because it is his best ability. Properly managed, it allows you to triple stun a single target and double stun an entire team! Of course the second stun is more of a mini stun but an interrupt is an interrupt.

Passive (Mark of the Storm) - The entire reason why Kennen as a champion doesn't suck. While your other spells have very high base damage and pretty decent scaling as well, your passive's stun and how fast you're able to proc this on entire teams gives Kennen so much teamfighting and dueling potential.

Q (Thundering Shuriken) - It's a pretty generic skill so not much to say except that at higher ranks you can infinitely spam this. It also makes a noise and plays a weird animation when it hits someone that looks like it rubberbanding a bit, so you can use it to check bushes safely.

W (Electrical Surge) - Passive: This is the entire reason why Kennen top is good. Against a melee champion who you can get away with right clicking a LOT without fear of retaliation (aka most melee tops) the passive will end up dealing a ton of damage and likely will force them out of lane. Active: Amazing AOE for teamfights and wave clearing, but very risky to use for the latter because it requires putting your Lightning Rush on cooldown. Also good for keeping melee champions at bay by adding another stack of Mark of the Storm

E (Lightning Rush) - Extremely expensive so try not to use it unless you need it to go for a kill or escape. Refunds some cost if you hit with it though so it's not so crippling. One thing to note is that the armour/mr buff is not attached to being in ball lightning so you can cancel this early to have your auto attack while still having some resistances. Another thing to note when trying to aim your Shuriken or just chasing/escaping in general is that this gives you unit walking. For the former, just go inside someone and mash Q to your heart's desire.

R (Slicing Maelstrom) - Honestly very boring ability in my opinion. Opens up double/triple stunning as a possibility. Also makes Kennen even better at teamfighting. Overall good though.

Skill Order This is something you'll have to learn as you get matched up with different champions, but in general if you can harrass them with autos a lot max out w first for the bullying potential (Examples include Jax(!!!!), Darius, Akali etc).

However if you can't because they're too safe (Jayce, Nidalee) or will murder you (Riven, Renekton(not much experience with this match up)), maxing out q for farming is much better.

Whichever of the two you do decide to max out first, you'll be maxing out the other skill next as Lightning Rush is pretty lackluster by itself despite doing pretty decent damage. Skill comboing If you can't combo you can't play Kennen effectively simple as that. For most of the game your combo won't actually change in terms of what you press, it'll just be you'll be doing it on more people at once. There is, however, one specific combo really really good for teamfights I'll cover in a second.

Lightning Rush+Electrical Surge+Lightning Shuriken The standard combo for initiating for an all in or a gank. Nothing much to say except make sure you harass them down first with autos before going for this. After your stun you should be able to get off enough autos to get the passive from Electrical Surge up for some extra burst.

Lightning Rush+Electrical Surge+Slicing Maelstrom+Thundering Shuriken+ Electrical Surge passive The classic double stun. Nothing much to say except if they don't die and are at a reasonable health to fight back you might die, but other than that there really isn't much to say except don't miss.

Lightning Rush+Slicing Maelstrom+Electrical Surge The teamfight variation of the above. Again nothing to say except you should be the second person in just after the main initiator whoever that may be. After the initial burst just spam your abilities to your heart's desire and pop Zhonya's when appropriate.

Triple stunning A little more difficult to explain. Open with your Lightning Rush, but on the way tag them with a Shuriken. As soon as the Shuriken hits, pop your surge immediately followed by Slicing Maelstrom. This'll pop the first stun right before you hit them with your rush. Your ult will tick again right as your Shuriken comes up to proc another stun. Your ult ticks again adding the initial mark as you activate both parts of Electrical Surge for the third stun. Simple right? Very possible to pull off in a teamfight against a carry or something but expect to fail a lot.

Early Game Kennen is a huge lane bully. Without going into much detail since there are a million guides out there, just poke if you can and farm otherwise. In general any melee champion that initiates you is going to lose the trade because of your Lightning Rush+Electrical Surge+Lightning Shuriken instant stun.

Mid Game This is when Kennen is an absolute monster. WIth your Zhonya's completed you can now start looking for teamfights or set up ganks to try and get your carries nice and fed. Just make sure that you keep the snowball going in your favour and not to let the enemy team catch you out of position as your ultimate is extremely impactful not only for CC but for massive AOE damage at this stage in the game.

Late Game If you're approaching late-game and your team doesn't have a massive advantage, you're in trouble. Kennen isn't known for his ability to carry and is usually relegated to stun-locking crucial enemy champions (Vayne, Lux, etc). Stick with your team and drop your least valuable item (Liandry's, Voidstaff, etc) for wards because it's all gonna be about that one initiation winning teamfights. Aside from that, just don't get caught out of position.

EDIT1: Revised some stuff I left out or forgot to delete, added some stuff I missed.

Big Bang Bob1/31/2015, 2:54:54 AM1 votes

Shen

Is the top laner an AD melee?

And not Darius or Irelia?

Can you not feed long enough to to buy item 3068?

Do you have epic map awareness (or at least good awareness of your allies health bars?

I all these are yes, which they likely are (besides the last one) you will beast top lane and feel like a god whenever you get a good ult off.

Bemapon2/1/2015, 8:46:20 PM1 votes

Not as good as it used to be but can still be scary: Sona mid. Im not very good with runes and masteries but heres my item build summoner 4 summoner 14 Start with item 1056 and item 2003 then i either go item 3057 into item 3165 oritem 3174 or I rush a item 3100 Finish up the build with item 3020 item 3089 item 3157 anditem 3135

And something thats fun and underestimated. Sion jungle I prefer item 3714 but you can go item 3718 or item 3710 Then the real fun begins. Boots: item 3252 Items: item 3046 x2 and item 3031 x2 You get tank from killing things. Theres something satisfying about kicking everything to death. And the last thing the other team wants to do is kill you first.

One more. Tank Anivia top. summoner 4 summoner 12 Works best against heavy AD teams. It isnt too bad against AP either though. item 3047 or item 3111 depending item 3174 for mana regen item 3075 item 3068 item 3102 oritem 3065 item 3083

Watch the other team kill themselves on you.

Doom Brownies2/2/2015, 10:57:40 AM1 votes

Zilean top.

With item 3027 item 3089 item 3174 item 3020 item 3157 item 3165

He can just zoom away from most top champs/junglers. I just bomb my own minions so they can't farm because I'm constantly blowing up the lane. And when I get ganks I just slow them for death.

If this doesn't work, R.

People get mad.

amonkeybutt2/2/2015, 6:44:12 PM1 votes

Urgot Mid You think im fucking joking? YOU THINK THIS IS GAME? Because its not. Results may vary, but vs Zed Talon Fizz you'll friggen shrek them if you play just a little bit carefully. I start item 1027 so that I can rush item 3070 ASAP. The sooner you get the upgraded item 3043 the better. From there I go item 3110 and item 3025 for the massive amounts of Mana, armor and sheen procs. Between your W slow and the iceborn doing its thing, it wont matter how mobile they think they are. They aint goin anywhere. I hold off on boots for a tad, midline is pretty small.

But this works to your advantage if they try to dive you. You know how zed does all that lame stuff where he jumps around with Deathmark? Well thanks to your ult, you can prevent him from stacking damage on you during that window (2 second suppression bitches) AND throw him under tower AND be right next to his shadow. Just throw up your W and be ready to slow him if he jumps back near you. With all the armor AND the ult bonus you're golden. He wont do dick to you unless he rushes item 3071 . Urgot "C'MERE YA LITTLE SHIT"

After item 3110 and item 3042 , you really only need one more damage item item 3071. With all the CD and mana you can spam Acid hunters and Sheen enhanced Muramana AA's. Its wicked nasty. From there you can build more health and MR if you need. I take defensive boots of course. If you REALLY want to be a dick go item 3508. Its not the best pick but youll pretty much never run out of mana, which is all urgot needs to do damage.

Leveling is a little weird. You want Acid hunters at max ASAP, but the other two are kinda whichever you need. If youre really ahead, take E up an extra point or two over W, but generally speaking you want W up next for the slows.

I don't know what the stigma is with Urgot . Yes, he's a tad situational, but when he works he does so beautifully. He doesn't really need much in terms of items to do damage, just a shit load of mana and little time to get the Q's out. You HAVE to engage him because if you don't, hes just going to poke you down into oblivion from behind minion cover.

Before the Kassadin changes back in Season 3, I always countered with Gangplank in mid lane. Oranges his silence level 1 and go beat his ass. First blood every game.

balbraaksel1/26/2015, 8:31:35 PM1 votes

I play support Jinx and Lulu support with a tanky build.

Lulu support 25% cooldown reduction @level 18 from runes and masteries. (10% + 15% from scaling glyph's) Starting items generally: item 3303 item 3340 item 2044 item 2003 Full build is: item 3040 item 3025 item 2045 item 3512 item 3026 item 3111 OR item 3047

A lot of champions deal % health damage, shields counter that. (to some degree) Lulu is also known to be squishy so she tends to become focused. So this really tends to work well. Also Iceborn gauntlet makes it impossible to get away from her.

Gentleman Gems2/5/2015, 4:46:12 PM1 votes

Jax AP Jungle. Base stats: AP, Attack speed. Idea: Jax the Ripper Full build:item 3115 ,item 3116, item 3718, item 3124, item 3100, item 3089, item 3361 Spells: summoner 11, summoner 4 Runes: AP, Attack Speed, Cool Down Reduction. Game Play: He jumps in, He crushes your skull with the E.L.L Combo: (Empower, LichBane, Leap Strike), super Grandmasters might every third attack.