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Taric isn't as weak as people think he is

Taric the Gay··12 votes·2,804 views

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: item 2049 Upon buying it change your trinket to this item item 3341 along with buying some of these item 2043 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 item 3401 item 3060 item 3050 item 3023 item 3512 item 3190 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: item 3083 item 3075 item 3110 item 3065

37 Comments

redniwediS3 votes

I like the builds, but this is what I prefer to go.

item 3009 item 3933 item 3078 item 3742 item 3143 item 3065

Taric the Gay2 votes

{quoted}

I like the builds, but this is what I prefer to go.

item 3009 item 3933 item 3078 item 3742 item 3143 item 3065

That's a pretty pricey build. I have no doubt it works but I often play Taric as a support and I don't think I could pull this off on a support salary. I assume you jungle with Taric? How are his clears?

redniwediS1 votes

His first clear is mediocre for speed. His boosted armor and heal will keep you healthy of course, but it's not the fastest clear. If you don't get invaded once you get your jungle item it speeds up into reasonable levels.

The ganks are nothing special, however counterganking is where he shines. With a point and click stun, aoe armor boost, heal, and the aoe stats from his ult he can easily turn around an enemy gank. Couple this with Taric's passive and Sated Devourer, and you've got a countergank machine.

Taric the Gay1 votes

{quoted}

His first clear is mediocre for speed. His boosted armor and heal will keep you healthy of course, but it's not the fastest clear. If you don't get invaded once you get your jungle item it speeds up into reasonable levels.

The ganks are nothing special, however counterganking is where he shines. With a point and click stun, aoe armor boost, heal, and the aoe stats from his ult he can easily turn around an enemy gank. Couple this with Taric's passive and Sated Devourer, and you've got a countergank machine.

Thats probably my worst role. If I knew how to better keep track of the enemy jungler I might be better at counter jungling. So I won't be doing this any time soon. Maybe in a bot game. Maybe :)

redniwediS2 votes

Grab a few friends who won't yell at you if you're crap and get some practice against a real jungler! Practice makes perfect, after all.

Killstrado1 votes

{quoted}

I like the builds, but this is what I prefer to go.

item 3009 item 3933 item 3078 item 3742 item 3143 item 3065

Scary AF

A Palmtop Tiger3 votes

Just go Taric top against AD comps and watch them cry. If you auto inbetween spells your W is almost always up and your Ult will be readily available as well.

Taric the Gay1 votes

[{quoted}](name=A Palmtop Tiger,realm=NA,application-id=WEuoGbmp,discussion-id=HpvLRp4L,comment-id=0004,timestamp=2015-09-14T00:50:41.449+0000)

Just go Taric top against AD comps and watch them cry. If you auto inbetween spells your W is almost always up and your Ult will be readily available as well.

With this week's champion rotation and my current summoner level this is all too common. I played about 5 games today in normals and all of them wins. I had a Wukong "support" go against me one game. Did exactly what I mentioned, when he went in I charged their ADC and our damage output beat their engage. They did this 3x before they finally caught on and stopped doing this but by then I had a thorn mail and warden's mail and nothing was getting past my armor that I couldn't heal away anyway. Taric is probably the best support to be when the enemy team is all AD like they have been this weekend.

EndlessSorcerer1 votes

I did that all the time when Kha'zix, Riven, and Wukong were common picks in the top lane. Once you had Iceborn Gauntlet, there was nothing they could do to you.

Nick Valentine2 votes

Taric is never weak. He's just super super basic.

Taric the Gay6 votes

[{quoted}](name=Cinderella Eyes,realm=NA,application-id=WEuoGbmp,discussion-id=HpvLRp4L,comment-id=0003,timestamp=2015-09-14T00:16:51.941+0000)

Taric is never weak. He's just super super basic.

"Just as fabulous as the day he was born" is how I like to word it.

Oxycut2 votes

I just don't see Tarics making enjoyable plays the way a Leona ult or Thresh hook does. I enjoy support but Taric is just a boring champ to play from my perspective.

Taric the Gay1 votes

{quoted}

I just don't see Tarics making enjoyable plays the way a Leona ult or Thresh hook does. I enjoy support but Taric is just a boring champ to play from my perspective.

He's not a very flashy champion. He's not a big play maker support like all these recent supports are. He thrives at keeping the status quo. If your lane is a farm fest he's one of the best ones to have at your side. And his armor aura isn't to be underestimated either. Hell, it's so strong that by just standing next to my ADC I was able to prevent Rengar from insta-nuking my ADC. Stunned him mid combo and then placed myself between him and my ADC so his bolo couldn't hit my ADC. So he focused me, lol. Ult, armor shred, heal and let my ADC knock him in the head a few times. Now Rengar is the one who is dead and not my ADC :)

Taric the Gay1 votes

{quoted}

I just don't see Tarics making enjoyable plays the way a Leona ult or Thresh hook does. I enjoy support but Taric is just a boring champ to play from my perspective.

Taric is like a bedazzled version of superman. 99% of the time he's Clark Kent but once he presses R he becomes Taric the super gem. Stat-wise only Alistar can really handle him when he has his ultimate up. But when he doesn't have it up he likes to keep the status quo. He's kinda like Janna in the sense that he is better off as a reactionary support than a proactive support. His lack of range and CC means that he isn't all that great at poking the enemy down. He will heal away their damages and outlast them rather than whittle them down. When they go in to make a move Taric reacts, going into super gay mode and bedazzling the enemy carries and soaking up damage and taking focus off his carries. Failure to not focus Taric usually ends in someone on the enemy team dying. Don't underestimate the gem knight.

EndlessSorcerer1 votes

I personally prefer a build closer to the following: item 3047 or item 3111, item 3401, item 3025 or item 3110, item 3190, item 3143

Face of the Mountain provides the shield, sustain, and gold generation. Iceborn Gauntlet provides an additional slow and a lot of sustained damage when Taric's passive is used appropriately. Frozen Heart provides CDR and the aura. Locket of the Iron Solari provides an additional shield and MR aura Randuin's Omen provides another powerful slow and durability.

Two or three items in, you can reasonably 1v1 many bruisers if you rotate through your abilities correctly while providing a lot of utility.

Taric the Gay1 votes

{quoted}

I personally prefer a build closer to the following: item 3047 or item 3111, item 3401, item 3025 or item 3110, item 3190, item 3143

Face of the Mountain provides the shield, sustain, and gold generation. Iceborn Gauntlet provides an additional slow and a lot of sustained damage when Taric's passive is used appropriately. Frozen Heart provides CDR and the aura. Locket of the Iron Solari provides an additional shield and MR aura Randuin's Omen provides another powerful slow and durability.

Two or three items in, you can reasonably 1v1 many bruisers if you rotate through your abilities correctly while providing a lot of utility.

I really don't like running Randuin's Omen, same reason why I dislike RIghteous Glory. It's great as an initiation tool but Taric isn't an initiator. He is a middle liner guy who just so happens to be super tanky. And Ice Born gauntlet can give Taric some burst as well as sticking power but his cooldowns aren't short enough to use this item to its full power. Ninja Tabi and merc treads I do buy according to what is on the enemy team.

EndlessSorcerer1 votes

Eh, I honestly like Randuin's Omen more for the ability to help peel; the slow's duration is pretty good when you have resistances built.

His cooldowns are definitely short enough to take advantage of Iceborn Gauntlet, at least if you autoattack between casts. With 30-40% CDR, you can do at least two full rotations without downtime if you autoattack between each abilities. This works pretty well when you are protecting your carry from enemy divers; they are trying to walk past you instead of kite you, so you can easily stay on them.

Captain Aishi1 votes

randuins slow is a flat value now, it no longer scales

EndlessSorcerer1 votes

Huh, missed that change.

Still, a 4 second slow is pretty good.

HEAljvLykd1 votes

Taric sucks.

Taric the Gay12 votes

[{quoted}](name=King Crunch,realm=NA,application-id=WEuoGbmp,discussion-id=HpvLRp4L,comment-id=0001,timestamp=2015-09-13T22:38:22.363+0000)

Taric sucks.

Actually Taric wears the pants in the relationship. Technically Ezreal is the one who sucks.

Twiggles2 votes

[{quoted}](name=Taric the Gay,realm=NA,application-id=WEuoGbmp,discussion-id=HpvLRp4L,comment-id=00010000,timestamp=2015-09-13T23:46:04.280+0000)

Actually Taric wears the pants in the relationship. Technically Ezreal is the one who sucks.

http://i.imgur.com/uAw4bR1.gifv

ABlueQuaker1 votes

During the cinderhulk Top Lane Meta I went: item 3111 item 3143 item 3717 item 3110 item 3065 item 3075

It was amazing.

Max R>W>Q>E. Run 10% CDR from Runes and Masteries. Play Pattern should basically be E, Auto, W, Auto, Q, Auto, W, Auto, E, Auto. Over and over and R when you feel it's necessary.

The Loveless1 votes

Triforce sounds/sounded good with that set-up.

AnArousedCactus1 votes

I love your name. It's so... fitting.

TouchpadExpert1 votes

Gems.

Taric the Gay1 votes

{quoted}

Gems.

Gems.

TouchpadExpert1 votes

[{quoted}](name=Taric the Gay,realm=NA,application-id=WEuoGbmp,discussion-id=HpvLRp4L,comment-id=00070000,timestamp=2015-09-14T17:24:29.827+0000)

Gems.

Gems?

Taric the Gay1 votes

{quoted}

Gems?

Gems.

Silver Fluffenbu1 votes

enemy team locks in 4/5 ad? looks like this game is going to be truly, truly outrageous

Taric the Gay1 votes

[{quoted}](name=Silver Fluffenbu,realm=NA,application-id=WEuoGbmp,discussion-id=HpvLRp4L,comment-id=0009,timestamp=2015-09-14T18:01:15.910+0000)

enemy team locks in 4/5 ad? looks like this game is going to be truly, truly outrageous

Truly

The Swede1 votes

I build item 1028 item 3010 item 1027 item 3067 item 3112 item 1063 item 3363 on the fabulous gem knight

Lugg1 votes

If a team has double AD carries, Taric can make their life pretty miserable.

TurquoiseYoshi1 votes

Taric really isn't weak, just really simple. I remember a YouTube video where somebody played Taric as a side activity, as all he has is a stun to do in lane. Other than that, he is just a smart super minion.

Taric the Gay1 votes

{quoted}

Taric really isn't weak, just really simple. I remember a YouTube video where somebody played Taric as a side activity, as all he has is a stun to do in lane. Other than that, he is just a smart super minion.

He's more than just that. He is fabulous. And his power is "hidden" in a way. His W aura helps out trade the enemy ADC. So if you're standing right next to your ADC a majority of the time your heal should be enough to replenish any poke you just took. But most people try to make plays, they get away from their ADC and well... that's just not how to play Taric. Babysit your ADC, do not let them out of your sight and get the band aids ready for when they chip a nail pummeling the other ADC's face in. You have yet to face a good Taric player I wager. Not hard to believe with the current state the meta is in.

VesperNadal1 votes

Any word on when Taric's rework is coming and whether or not you will main him after the rework?

Taric the Gay1 votes

{quoted}

Any word on when Taric's rework is coming and whether or not you will main him after the rework?

Not a clue. And most likely. Taric is unanimously agreed upon as being "in a bad spot" right now. Anything Riot does will surely increase his viability. Hopefully they just give him an overhaul similar to Ashe's that improves his gameplay but doesn't completely remove his identity.

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