Blitzcrank is an underrated champion that quite possibly has the highest learning curve. The greatest thing about Blitzcrank is how he is the best initiator in the game in the right hands. This guide is to help Blitzcrank players tap this champion's incredible potential.

Currently, the only lane viable for Blitzcrank is bottom duo-lane as a support. He offers more utility and CC than most supports, while at the same time being tanky akin to Alistar and Taric support. Blitzcrank functions as an agressive support allowing you to dominate bottom lane early game, and he functions as an initiator late game to secure easy team-fights.

Because Blitzcrank is an agressive support, he needs to be paired up with an AD carry that can be agressive. Perfect examples of this are These champions have the ability to put down great amount of burst damage if Blitzcrank is successful with his rocket grab.

The best possible laning partner for Blitzcrank is , as Caitlyn can lay down which Blitzcrank can pull enemies to. This usually results in an instant death for the character as trap damage + rocket grab damage + caitlyn's Q damage + rocket fist damage and few autoattacks can instantly put down many characters. You can see this in action in the video below.

Having a passive lane partner defeats the purpose of having Blitzcrank, and in those circumstances, a passive support with sustainability should be chosen instead, such as

Here are some videos of me playing Blitzcrank. (Warning: lots of profanity)
I also didn't take CV as my top solo didn't want to take teleport.

- Basic Blitzcrank combo is . If your succeeds in grabbing your target, click to power fist them afterwards, and ending your combo with , which silences them so they can't retaliate. This should do fair amount of burst damage and should pull enemy out of position for your team to take advantage of.

- Warding is extremely important as a support. Warding lets you safely push minion waves and freely harass enemy laners. Try to buy a ward every time you go back to base.

- To build up extra mana for , use your spells in the fountain to raise mana for 0 cost.

- You have 3 CCs. If the enemy is in the position to kill your AD carry, save them, even if it costs your life. Your life as a support is worth much less than their life as a carry.

- When low on health and near a tower, try to bait enemies by pressing B - dumb enemies will try to disrupt your B by attacking you, and you can rocket grab and power fist them when they come close to attack. This will allow tower to take few shots at enemies, and sometimes you can pick up few free kills this way to unsuspecting enemies.

- If the enemy is not too far away, and is in reasonable reach within your W sprint, sprint up to them and power fist them first. Rocket grab is much successful after power fist as the enemy is much more predictable.

- Remember that you can grab red buff lizard and blue buff golem. Good CV or warding will let you steal red and blue buff right underneath enemy jungler's eyes.

- It is very tempting to steal kills with at times. Please don't. Kills help carries more than it does supports.

- Be very careful in grabbing enemies at level 1. Blitzcrank's damage output at level 1 is rather low, so you might end up trading badly if you are to engage at level 1. It's usually smarter to wait until lv 2 to start with rocket grabs.

I felt like Rocket Grab deserved its own section... well here it goes. (I will update this section with pictures once my LoLReplay starts working again)

- Do not stand still when you are trying to grab (unless you're in a bush). Letting out rocket grab while you're moving makes it much harder to predict for enemies.

- Do not fire a grab if you're alone unless you are sure that you can kill the target.

- Try not to put yourself in a position where you have to rocket grab straight at the enemy. In fact, you can cover more area with rocket grab if you are firing Q from an angle.

- Rocket grab comes out of Blitzcrank's right fist. Hitbox for the grab is slightly to the right from how it shows on the skill shot arrow.

- Practice and get used to the delay before rocket grab reaches its target.

- When chasing a target, be patient and wait for a good opportunity to fire rocket grab. No one is rewarding you for amazing clutch grabs. However, you are rewarded with gold for successful grabs, so try save the grabs for when you're at a comfortable range and when enemy is more predictable. This is further reinforced by the fact that you are faster than most opponents with W speed buff - using power grab after you've gained some distance will yield much higher grab rate than when you're using it from max distance.

- Try your best to predict where the enemy will move when you toss out your grab. Chances are, you will miss your grab when you aim it straight at them - try aiming slightly towards left or right (most people have tendency to move towards their tower when they see something dangerous)

- Rocket Grab has long cooldown and extremely high mana cost in beginning stages of the game. Instead of trying for max range clutch grabs, try to save it for when enemies are more predictable.

- However... with rank 5 rocket grab and max CDR, Blitzcrank can let out a rocket grab every 10 or so seconds. This means that he can almost spam rocket grab until he's successful. Do not try to start a team-fight unless your grab is successful unless you are confident that you can win with minimum loses. Blitzcrank can wait 10 seconds and try for another grab if he fails to pull an enemy.

- DO NOT grab or any other tanks in general, unless you are sure your team can kill them instantly. Pulling these champions is giving the enemy team a free initiate, so if you see these champions on the enemy team, be very careful about tossing out your rocket grab.

Core items. Get them. Every game. Mana from the tear gives you a greater bonus on your passive shield and lets you use your high mana cost skills. The CDR from the boots lets you spam and abuse the power of rocket grab. Sheen lets you do extra damage.


You might be asking - why not ? Well, max cooldown on Blitzcrank allows him to grab every 9~10 seconds, which means you potentially have the ability to kill an enemy every 10 seconds or so if your team is backing you up. Also, you can now get tenacity from masteries.


Items to get after 3 main core items vary. By this point in the game you can look at the score chart to see which enemy champion is most fed, whether you need armor first or MR. If you can't tell, I would recommend getting as it gives you both tankyness and CDR, but is a fine choice if you need some MR. If your team is winning all across the board, you can pick up damage items such as and


By mid-game to mid-late game, you should have finished and , which gives your CDR, Armor/MR, Health, and Mana - all essential in making Blitzcrank tanky enough and reaching that max CDR.


If you feel that you are tanky enough after this, you can start working on your damage items. Against teams with high armor, you want to take the AP route, completing and then . If the enemy is stacking armor, you want to take the AD route, completing and then . However, if you think you aren't tanky enough after finishing the two items, you might want to pick up either for more tankyness or e for utility purposes.


Most games will end before Blitzcrank can either finish or get started on his 6th item. I recommend either Guardian Angel or Shurelia's Reverie for the 6th slot, greatly increasing survivability. However, if you find your team's damage lacking, or can serve Blitzcrank as well.

This passive makes Blitzcrank tanky from level 1. Just be careful as the amount of shield offered by the passive depends on the current mana, not maximum mana. Do not try baiting enemies when you are low on mana.



The very skill that makes Blitzcrank the best initiator in the game. The ability to land this grab differentiates good blitzcrank from a bad one.



With enough CDR and mana, this ability lets Blitzcrank be in a state of permanent speed buff, giving Blitzcrank the means to chase down most targets or to run away from a gank. Have this activated at all times after your Tears of Goddess reaches around 400~500 mana bonus. Activate this when taking down towers as well because it also gives you a boost to attack speed.



Extremely good CC ability. Also note that this ability resets your auto-attack timer so it can be used to last hit minions easier.



Good burst damage. Great for clearing minion waves. Extremely low cooldown. Use it in conjunction to your QE combo, and once you have enough mana, you can W up to enemies, R and run back for easy damage. Also note that the passive on R does quite a lot of damage over time. If you are chasing someone, it might be smarter to save R and let the passive do damage and use R to finish them off.

Keep in mind that this skill can cancel certain enemy ults:

Blitzcrank is extremely versatile when it comes to raising his skills. In most games, I recommend raising first as it lowers the cooldown of Blitzcrank's most essential move. However, if you are not doing as well in lane or you find that enemy team has boots and you find yourself too slow, try putting few early points into until you have your

Although many Blitzcrank players will tell you to raise first, this is not necessary as 1. In early stages of the game, only time you're in range to use E is when your Q is successful, and 2. Your main job as Blitzcrank is to create a favorable initiate, which is accomplished by Q, not E.

I go for 21 defense, which allows Blitzcrank to take hits early when he doesn't have tanky items, and the last point in defensive tree gives Blitzcrank the necessary tenacity that he can't get through boots.

For the other 9 points, you can either put it to offense for extra burst damage, or in utility, taking summoner's insight, expanded mind, 2 points in swiftness, and last 3 points in meditation.

You can't go wrong with flash. Take it.


Necessary for supports. Dropping down CV can help make difficult grabs much easier; also, it is very effective in grabbing enemies who flash through walls to escape.


If you're playing on Twisted Treeline, you might want this instead. Slowing enemies down with exaust can help you land grabs easier, and CV and Teleport are both fairly useless on TT.


Only consider getting this if no one on your team has teleport. I'm not saying teleport is necessary for every team, but if you are proficient at teleport ganking, you might want this because Blitzcrank is a very strong teleport ganker. (Although you should probably still take CV in ranked games)

- Quints: Extra health. You can't go wrong with extra tankyness

- Yellows: Flat Mana Regen. Blitz eats up mana like no other in early game. The flat mana regen helps mitigate that and helps your sustainability.

- Blues: Flat CDR. Flat CDR gives Blitz good enough CDR until you pick up glacial shroud. However, you can take MR runes instead if you choose to as Blitz reaches max CDR anyway eventually.

- Reds: Magic Pen. Until Blitz picks up offensive items (which is very late into the game), main source of Blitzcrank's damage comes from AP. Even if you end up building AD Blitzcrank, having magic pen will increase Blitzcrank's burst between levels 6 to when you pick up your AD items.

Questions? Suggestions?
Email it to me at Hyunion@u.northwestern.edu