Tryndamere is a very underplayed champion, but he was one of my favorites when I started. I've played him a lot since then, and tried out many different builds. I've had spectacular failures, and glorious victories. Tryndamere is a bit tricky to use in teamfights, and he takes a knack for knowing when to charge in, and when not to. He also involves a lot of luck, and if you can deal with some frustrations, can be a very enjoyable play, especially when you kill someone in two hits.


VERY high end game damage.
Can do a lot of damage early game if you have rage bar filled.
Extremely strong 1on1 champ. (Abuse it.)
Very hard to kill in the lane after level 6.
Has good farming capabilities with his spin, which also serves as a great escape ability on a relatively short cooldown.
Q spam gives him quite a bit of lane sustainability.


Easy to shut down in a teamfight via CC.
Requires a decent amount of farm to be effective.
Bit tricky in teamfights.
If underfarmed/underfed, can be really lackluster due to lack of heavy CC.

June 19, 2012:
Updated the Masteries chapter
Updated the Runes chapter
Updated the Item build chapter
Updated the Summoner spell chapter
Updated Lane Matchups

August 3rd, 2011:
Changed Masteries
Changed Runes
Some changes to the Item build section.
Took down jungle chapter, and inserted Stonewall008's jungle vid. (Don't really know how Jungle Trynd works now :P)

October, 2011:
Changed summoner spells, using flash instead of ghost.

November, 2011:
Updated some item choices.
Switched to Exhaust over Cleanse
Added a rune choice.

December, 2011
Added a Hard Lanes chapter.
Updated Hard Lanes chapter.
Changed up item build.
Updated jungling video.
LOTS of minor changes in most chapters.


September, 2012 (Been a while I know :P)
Added a Mid-Game chapter.
Changed "Hard Lanes" chapter to Teams Chapter, and updated it. (Added more counters, and champions that synergize with Trynd.)
Updated Masteries Chapter.

Standard masteries for most AD Carries. I use them on Trynd because he can get away with being that aggressive in his masteries. Because of his ultimate, going full offense will actually work due to the 5 seconds of invulnerability.
Some of the masteries to note here are:

Weapons Expertise - 10% Armor penetration (You really won't notice thsi much early game, same as Lethality, but late game when you get your Last Whisper, it'll get you to 50% ArPen, which will make tanks easier to kill.)

Lethality - 10% crit damage (Not a HUGE deal early game, but late game with your full build, this will do a lot more.)

The points in the defensive tree help smooth over his early laning phase.

You can also sink some more points into the Defensive tree if you feel a bit uneasy about going all in with the Offensive tree.

Armor Penetration Marks - Better early game damage.
Flat Armor Seals - Makes you tougher vs auto attacks. (You will see a lot of these as a Melee laner.)
Flat Magic resist Glyphs - Decrease early game magic damage.
Flat Health Quintessences - Makes you that much tougher early game.


This rune build balances some defense with offense.
This rune setup isn't a must, and there's lots of different setups that work well (They are not in any designated order.):




Flat Attack damage - About the same amount of damage vs. Champs early game, and also makes last hitting a lot easier.
Critical chance - These help with getting those crits early game.


Health per level - Will help make you a bit tougher late game.
Critical chance - If you want more of it.


Magic resist per level - If you want late game survivability against mages.
Critical chance - If you want more.


Critical chance - More crit chance!
Flat Attack damage - Reasoning explained above.
Armor penetration - Same reasoning as marks.
Movement speed - These allow you to stay on people easier, and make you even harder to get away from. (Plus they can help you get away.)

You take flash for obvious reasons, chasing and escaping.
Exhaust is a very strong Summoner spell. It can shut down an AD's DPS, and is also VERY strong in 1on1 situations. The slow is just icing on the cake.

Alternate summoner abilities:
- A good choice vs. CC heavy teams.
- If you prefer it to flash.
- A more offensive spell. (Can be taken in combination with Exhaust if you feel daring.)
- When combined with Ignite, Heal will allow you to win almost any 1v1
- If jungling.

Uses Fury, gaining 5 per hit, 10 per crit, and 10 extra per kill.Fury decays at 5 Fury per second after being out of combat for 10 seconds.Battle Fury grants up to 35% Critical Chance, depending on how full his Fury bar is



If you want to fight somebody, make sure this is topped off before you do, as your damage output will be pretty low without a full bar. Make sure to take into account how full the bar is before you try and pull anything risky.



Passive: He gains 5-20/10-30/15-40/20-50/25-60 Attack Damage depending on how wounded Tryndamere is

Active: Consumes all Fury to heal Tryndamere for 30-80/40-135/50-190/60-245/70-300 depending on how much Fury was consumed

Cooldown 12 seconds




This is the skill you max first, as it increases your damage output by a lot. It is also great for the laning phase, as you can heal up quite a bit of health by using the stacks gained from last hitting. The amount of sustain this can give should not be underestimated.
Another neat thing is that you can use it to heal even if your rage bar empty. Make sure to remember that and make use of it when you have no rage, but are not full health.
One more thing to take into account is that you do get some AD from this even at full HP, which can come in handy for last hitting.



Decreases surrounding champions' physical damage by 20 / 40 / 60 / 80 / 100, and enemies with their backs turned also have their movement speed slowed by 30 / 37.5 / 45 / 52.5 / 60%. Lasts 4 seconds.

Cooldown 14 seconds
Cost none
Range 400




This is a VERY useful and underrated skill. This is what allows Tryndamere to chase easily, detect people in bushes, and know if that Eve or Twitch is about to pop out of thin air. Its fairly simple to get a hang of, just remember to use it when they are really facing away. (Ie, running for their lives.) Some will try and fake you out, turning back right as you use it.
The attack damage reduction is also not to be overlooked. At level 5, it is the equivalent of 2 BF swords being removed from your inventory, which is one of the reasons Tryndamere is a good 1v1 champion.
Another cool trick is using this over walls to help teammates escape. (By slowing the people getting chased.) The range on this is actually pretty far, so keep that in mind when chasing. (You can Spin to close some distance, and then W, and this will go really far.)



Tryndamere spins through his enemies, dealing 100% of his Attack Damage +460/90/120/150/180 (+100% of ability power) physical damage to enemies in his path.

Passive: Slash's cooldown is reduced by 2 sec whenever Tryndamere critically strikes.

Cooldown 13/12/11/10/9 seconds

Cost none

Range 25000





A flash on a 9 second cooldown? Yes please! This is your main (Only really.) farming tool, and when you crit, it reduces the cooldown! So not only do you do a lot of damage to minions with this, you only have to crit a couple times to have it come off CD. You can farm waves in seconds, which makes it easier getting your build. You can also use this to spin through most walls, most notably, but not limited to, Dragon and Baron.



Tryndamere becomes completely immune to death for 5 seconds, refusing to be reduced below 1 health. His abilities have no cost during this time and he gains 4 / 6 / 8 Bloodlust stacks.

Cooldown 130 / 115 / 100 seconds

This is what makes Tryndamere.... Tryndamere! Its why people save their CC for you, and why you should carry cleanse.
This allows you 5 seconds of doing a ridiculous amount of damage, while taking none. You can use this to make crazy tower dives, and to survive longer in a team fight so you can finish off those carries that have been annoying you all game.
Timing on this is crucial, and requires a pretty good knowledge of what a given champion can do to try and finish you off before you use it. I've seen some people freak out, and pop it early, while I myself have often delayed half a second too long. Also remember you can use this while stunned, suppressed, and silenced. Knowing when to pull out before it runs out is also important.
You also want to wait until the last second to use the Rage stacks to heal yourself.
Another way to use it is when you are getting towerdived, baiting them by staying intentionally (Or unintentionally) at low health, and getting them to over-commit. You then pop your ult. Use your W to slow them when they try and get out, and bash their face in with your high Crit chance.

Starting items:

This is pretty much standard now for Tryndamere's starting items. The move speed will help a lot with maneuvering around your lane.
Alternative starting items include:
- The armor will help vs attack harrass, and having 5 hp potions will allow you to sustain for quite a while. (Combined with your Q, you will be very hard to push out of lane.)
- If you want the crit chance/fast Avarice.

From there I usually build a . (If you started with , that will allow you to get it faster.) This gives you armor, life steal, AD, and a free perma-ward, all wrapped up into a cost efficient bundle. It makes your laning phase even stronger than it already is. After you build the Wriggles, then go for a

If you are laning against someone who is magical, for example, you can get , and turn it into a later on.

. This item is amazing on Tryndamere.
It gives him ArPen, damage, crit strike, and CD reduction, which are all great on him. And did I mention the active? Golden. (Don't forget to activate it!!)
I consider it a must.
(If you really don't like Youmuus, get a Zeal instead, and move onto your final build.)


Turn your boots into , or if they have little to no CC:.
Then go for a Zeal. The stats this item gives you are very useful, especially the move speed. You can either work on a different item (Probably ), or upgrade it into a Phantom dancer straight away.
This finishes your core build.

Now you should be working towards your .
Try and save up and go for the first, as that will raise your DPS by the most. Finishing off will rocket you into late-game damage output, and if they don't already, the enemy squishies will treat you like the boogie man, avoiding you at any cost.
Items from this point on depend on the course of the game.


Here are some late-game offensive items worth considering:
- All the stats on here are useful, and so are what it builds out of. VERY good on Tryndamere.
- This will boost your damage by a LOT. And the lifesteal is also a nice bonus.
- If they have a lot of armor. (With new masteries, you can get 50% ArPen with it.)
- A pretty good item now that it only takes 3 hits for 45 ArPen.
- You probably want someone else to get this, but it is still very useful.


If your really getting focused, I'd suggest getting a defensive item. Best choices here are:
- This will help a lot with the problem of being bursted down by fed mages.
- Gets you out of anything. (Except knockups/knockbacks :/) Even Malz/Warwick Ults.
- This has some nice synergy with your Q, and Life steal.
- Large chunk of health, and slow on attack. Its rather expensive though, so I'd only grab this if you aren't getting Red buff much.
- Has some useful defensive stats, and synergy with your ultimate. (Revive, then ulti.)

Lane Matchups that could give you trouble.

This excuse for a gerbil is one of the most annoying Champions in the League to lane against. He's fast, his auto attacks HURT, if you try to spin onto him he'll just blind you, and with a Wriggles he can sustain pretty dang well himself. One of the few lanes that will really give you trouble.




Jax does a LOT of damage. Early levels he will poke you with Q, and with his AD runes, unless you get some lucky crits, he'll probably out DPS you as well. He also has high dodge and natural armor. Once he hits 6, his sustained DPS goes way way up, and its quite possible he will be able to 1on1 you even if you have your ult up. Also, if you take him on with minions nearby, its guaranteed he will almost always have his stun proc up, and with a 6 (I think?) second cool down, it gets REALLY annoying.




This guy sustains almost as hard as you do. Throw in a Philo-stone/Wriggles combo, and he's a pain. His Wither reduces what attack speed you do have to pretty much zip, destroying your DPS, and also making you move super slow in the process. Play fairly aggressive when you can, but don't get too cocky, he does more damage than you'd think.




While I've never laned vs a GP as Trynd, I think he would be a pretty tough matchup. His Q pokes hurt, and the CD is really short. His grog-soaked blade will reduce your Q heals, he can eat his way out of your W, so both the slow and AD debuff are null and void, and he's also pretty dang fast to boot. Will update this if I ever lane vs one as Trynd.




While I have not personally laned vs a Kayle as Trynd, I can guarantee she will give you a LOT of trouble. She does a ton of damage, and has a similar ult to you. Be very wary in this lane, and super careful of ganks. Her combination of Physical and Magic damage also makes the damage hard to build against. As bad or worse than Teemo to lane against.


Kennens ranged harrass and mobility make him really painful to lane against. He's a good counter to most tanky dps top, Trynd included.


Vladimirs early laning phase is fairly weak, but from about 5 and on he starts to become a real pain in the neck, and will make your laning phase a living nightmare. If you do get stuck in this matchup, try building some MR, like: , which you can later upgrade into:


Early game, before level 6, this champion will stomp all over you. Avoid his level 1 passive harass as much as possible. (He will try and hit you with it when you to go last hit minions, so be watchful for it.) From level 2 on, he will have is E-Q combo, so make sure not to run in straight lines toward or away from him, or he'll have an easy time landing it on you. If you have a fast reaction time, you can either side-step, or spin out of the way of his knockup. After you get Wriggles, this lane becomes a bit easier, and you can probably sustain his harass, as long as you don't eat everything he throws at you. You can probably even start to fight back after getting a few more parts for items.


Her dueling prowess outmatches even yours. Her early game damage (3-5) is stupid strong, her attack speed steroid is amazing, her double-dash means your spin won't get you away from her, and her Parry will make you cry when you crit on it. Her ult also works extremely well vs yours if she times it right.


This guy has become a FOTM champ, and is a hassle to deal with as a top lane Attack based champ. His damage is pretty high, one of his abilities slows your attack speed, and he can even kite you with his Q. Did I mention that he even gets Damage by building Armor? Yah, he's a pain.

Will add more as I find them.
Mechanics that counter Trynd: CC(Slows/Stuns/Snares/Attack speed reduction.)--Burst damage()--Knockbacks/Knockups
The biggest thing that counters Trynd is anything that can lock him down and keep him from attacking. Morgana, Taric, Sion, Malph, etc.





His Blood boil and Snowball help you stay on top of opponents, and the attack speed helps you to do a LOT more damage. Nunu helps Trynd out a LOT.


One of the counters to Tryndamere is CC, and she has a spell shield. She also has a snare and slow/stun to help lock down people for you.


His ult is great on Trynd, and can help you be a strong presence in a teamfight for quite a bit longer than otherwise possible. (Although you'll still be dead after.)


He can make you Super speedy so slows won't be as big a deal and revive you if you do actually die.


Yah I know, nobody plays here, but she would work well with Trynd. The speed-up plus her massive shield will help you out a lot in teamfights.


If he can get some good targets trapped inside his ult, it makes your job that much easier. Plus, he has some nice CC outside of his ult that will help you out as well.


She has a heal Speedup, a slow, and Invulerability, and all 3 help you out a lot.

Mechanics that help Trynd out a lot: Speedup--Attack speed--CC--Revive

Couple of play styles here. You can really either play passively, or aggressively.
If you play passively, it really just means last-hitting and not really trying to put any pressure on your lane opponent. (Possibly because they are better at it than you are.) This can be exchanged more easily for an aggressive play style after level 6.
If you play aggressively, it means relying on a bit of luck from crits, and getting up in your opponent's face. If you play this way, you'll probably be at around half health a lot of the time, which also means you do more damage. You'll use your spin to jump across minion waves so you can smack people in the face with your sword.
I'd suggest getting all up in their face, doing a bunch of damage, and then backing out. Use your to heal up the damage you took, and then rinse and repeat.
If your a new Tryndamere player, I'd suggest playing passively until you really get the hang of him. It takes some practice before you can play aggressively effectively.
Also make sure to buy wards!!
If your getting heavily harassed (Maybe by that ), don't just eat the damage, stand close enough to get xp, and wait for the minions to push your tower, then last-hit and gain your health back up using .



This is when you can take most people 1v1, and when you can tower dive easily. You also start doing a decent amount of damage with Rage and items. As soon as you have your Youmuu's, your damage output goes way way up. Remembering to use the active is very important. I suggest binding it to a hotkey nearer to your fingers than 1-6, like t for instance.

Mid game you should be farming as much as possible, trying to finish your core build. In team skirmishes, try to come in from the side, avoiding the main AOE spells and CC (Or wait to go in until after they have been blown), and going for the carries. Also try and keep Red buff up, as its great on Trynd. Tryndamere is a good ganker, as his spin helps him close distances, and his W can be used for the slow. He can also tower dive well using his ultimate.

But mainly, as long as your team doesn't need the help, your priority should be totally on farming. Before you go farm a lane though, pick up a couple wards so you can do so safely, otherwise you are a sitting duck for ganks from the enemy team.
Your item goal mid game is

Now you really pack a punch, and the real team fights are starting. You should still be farming on the side, but mainly you'll be roaming with your team. You can solo dragon quickly and easily, and also escape if/when ganked with your spin. Try not to overextend because the enemy team will really be looking out for an opportunity to pick you off before a team fight. You can also take down towers fairly quickly using your Youmuu's as a boost in damage output.



In team fights, wait until some of the more dangerous CC has been blown, and then come in from the side, using your spin to close the gap to their squishies. Your Youmuu's should be used as soon as you are on top of a squishy, and don't see any heavy CC headed your way. Try and take out the most dangerous DPS on their team first, using your spin to get to specific people. Also use your Mocking shout as soon as your in to decrease Physical carry damage. Try to let your tank know to be right there with you to absorb some of the damage that will inevitably come your way, and to help CC your targets. Try to have Red buff up for team fights, it'll make your job a lot easier.

Tryndamere is a fun champ to learn, and if played right will wreck teams.
Hopefully this guide will help you on your way to becoming a proficient Tryndamere user.
Good luck on the Fields of Justice!
If you have any questions, suggestions, or would just like to point out an error in my guide, please leave a comment.