Taric isn't as weak as people think he is

Or for short "How to play Taric properly"

His kit isn't anything special but he does have his uses. The targeted point and click stun I wish had a shorter cool down at times but I have actually managed to win consecutive games with him. I think the reason why people don't play him well is that they like to use his stun as a poking mechanism. Don't do that. The ideal play style of Taric is this: Let your ADC free farm all laning phase. Heal any poke he may take. If he gets locked down by the enemy supports this is the toughest aspect of your laning phase: charge the enemy ADC. Stun the enemy ADC. Wall off the enemy ADC. Any damage you take will be mitigated by your W. Your ADC will eventually break free of the enemy supports CC. If your ADC want to all in them go ham. R to buff yourself. W when your ADC gets a target focused. Stun the target again if its up and they try to run. Now that they are both dead just go back to admiring your gems and healing your ADC as they free farm to their heart's content. Any gold you make should be used towards buying this item: Upon buying it change your trinket to this item along with buying some of these and win your team the vision war.

Mid game Taric still serves a purpose. You are the rock (covered in diamonds) in your team's team fight formation. You COULD go to the front lines and bait out the enemy assassin to charge your back line. It's only baiting if you stay within stun range of your back line. Then have your team unload on them for a 5v4 situation. Now when you are under your turret just heal your party up as much as you can. When you get directly under the turret you can now heal your cannon minions. It seems silly, I know, but the cannon minions take reduced turret damage. Your heal on that minion is generally 2 turret shots or about 1.5 seconds of time if it is a beam laser turret (inhibitor/nexus turret). That actually equates to more "health" than using on yourself later.This will keep pressure on that turret for longer and allow your team to chip away at the turret for longer periods of time. Again, if your teammates get charged use your E to PEEL rather than secure a kill. Use it on the assassin who is chasing your ADC away from the fight, not the enemy ADC who is dead to rights anyway. Chip away at the tower, wear the enemy down and get out of there before they force a team fight. Ward accordingly at key objectives. Sweep prior to setting up a gank and taking dragon or stealing a buff.

Late game Taric plays much the same as he does in mid game only by this time Taric has a few finished items with actives at his disposal. Items such as are commonly built items. Taric is best when stacking armor and when he has a little bit of health, mana and ability power under his belt. Taric's main role in late game hasn't changed much from mid game but now he has more tools at his disposal. Face of the mountain is self-explanatory. It is a point and click shield that costs a small percentage of your health. Use this on your tank or front liner if your stun is still up and your team wants an engage. If the enemy does not chip it away in time it bursts and gives out a small amount of AOE damage. If your stun is down save it for if your ADC gets focused upon. It is risky to use it on your tank/bruiser and often times an experienced enemy assassin will notice you have both your stun and your face of the mountain on cooldown and will change focus onto your ADC and burst them down. Banner of command is for sieging. Use on a cannon minion, let the cannon take turret aggro, have your team chip away at the turret while you heal that cannon minion so it can take more punishment. Zeke's Herald is the item to buy when you (for some strange reason) are one of your team's primary forms of initiation. Zeke's Herald causes short "power spikes" which encourage poking/all inning your target. It's better used on an Alistar or a Leona but you can buy it too in an emergency. Twin shadows is a situational item. Buy this item when the enemy is prone to getting kited (Hecarim, Rammus & Darius) or when they have champions who like to use invisibility to their advantage. Use the active to scout ahead. The ghosts will "chase" the two closest targets and reveal/slow them for about 3 seconds. This is also a wise item to buy if your team needs to split push in order to win. Zz'rot Portal fits the same purpose but is more defensively focused and costs a bit more. It is a combination of a siege/defend/split push/distraction item. If you are going to use it you have to put it in a hidden/defensible position in order to take full use of it. It is better used offensively than defensively because it deals more damage to turrets than minions. Lastly is Aegis of the legion. This is when your team wants to team fight and the enemy team has a pesky AOE damage mage on their team. The MR aura will help mitigate the mage's damage and the shield will help with surviving an all in situation. Other items that can be built that don't have actives are the following: