GAREN BUILD GUIDE: If you don't spin, you won't win! by Xanhast

WHO is Garen?

This video pretty much summerizes everything about Garen.

Hah! Just kidding...

What I really want to show with this video is what to basicly gonna do most of your game through. That's right, spin.

No, I'm just kidding, yet again. I don't....

But really, who is Garen?

Garen is by far my most played champion in my LoL match histories. He's a solo top laner, he's a viable jungler now - due to his major patch changes in a previous patch - and can also be picked as full retard combo for a bot lane synergy, with champions such as [champ/morgana.png]

or other single target cc champs.

He everything that I was looking for in my bruiser/carry selection when I first started to play him. He has a cc removal/reducer in 2 abilities, a silence that lasts longer and longer through out the game, an ultimate which works as an execute, and the best part is: HE SPINS! (and mostly wins.....)

A lot of people claims that Garen is for low elo players at the 800-900 and all the way up to about 1200 elo. +/-. Why is this? This is because these people claim that Garen's skill level is one of the lowest in the game, since all he have to do is to press E and move his mouse courser to the pointed place where the enemy champion tries to escape to.

This my fellow readers and players, is by far NOT the case. I personally used a lot of time to meassure, counter meassure etc. every ability he had and thereby achieved a higher skill level.
Yes, he might seem a bit easier mechanicalwise, compared to a champion such as [imgsmall=champ/jayce.png , because he seems hard to play because he accuires to change stances to fully get up on a level where he achieves his full potential.

The same thing actually goes for Garen. Believe it or not, high elo players (2k and above) also plays this champion because they find him well to play against most melee bruisers on the top lane, his potential in teamfights is high, he got the games best gap closer (by my personal prefference - don't count [champ/darius.png]

into the poll. Because.. He's Darius...)

Garen farms well - due to his E and specific item build. He got a poke now (after the patch remake) which also silences and breaks slow effects. He has an amazingly strong gap closing ultimate, and a defensive abiltiy, which both have a very strong passive and activation effect. He also have a passive which kinda makes him a "sustain able" laner, due to the regeneration amount it gives. It's not really that much as people interpret it to be, I agree, it's really not that good in the long run, since Garen wins most of his games on his lanes by being the more aggresive player.

OBS!! - Don't believe what you hear/read about Garen being a bush-banger. He needs to be in his lane. He needs to actiave and dominating in the fields of Justice! Don't believe the rumors about Garen only being a champion for the incompetent and unskilled players. He IS much more than "just a bush camper", that can only overcome his lane by hidding in his bush all day.

Take some time, and play him. Follow this guide and build, and you will have a GOOD time playing League of Legends - or if you already play Garen, you might find some information and/or inspiration.

Have fun reading, and don't forget to comment!

Oh.. and btw... DEMACIAAAA!!!!

Masteries

Offensive or Defensive masteries for Garen?

This comes down to what you might go up against in your lane. The Defensive masteries rely on a lot of self regen - an establishment of the masteries and Garen passive. But this type of talent basic have all what Garen needs to have his "main" pressence in his lane. He got the bonus AD and his Armor Penetration from the 9 points in Offensive, the rest of the 21 points in Defensive gives him his tankyness and overall beefy body on lane and in teamfights.

>>>> Note: Both mastery builds is my own used, and is what I preffer, if you'd like to go otherwise, it's your call. These 2 builds works - against just about any champions picked for toplane.
- The only champions you are gonna get dumped on by is mainly: [champ/nidalee.png]

(AD or AP makes no difference. You WILL get pushed back into your lane and you WILL lose CS - thereby lose game pressence) also SCUMBAG [champ/teemo.png]

. Some

's and

's have though, been able to do extremely well against my Garen. So be careful if you want to pick Garen against these kind of champions, or if you get counter picked by them.
Just remember: A lane is most of the times won by the jungler, and since Garen will probably lose this lane and miss out on kills, get your jungler to babysit you at top - your opponenet will get cocky at somepoint, and thereby overcommit like a retard - THIS is where you act! You are already low in farm compared to your enemy, this is where you get your 300 gold, and maybe actually get ahead in your lane!<<<<

About the 21/9/0 Masteries:

I sometimes chose with Garen to go absolutely full retard about my commitments, pushing, farming etc. and just go full out on the Offensive masteries.

What benefits may this give you in your laning/TF phase?

- Well, it gives you more start out dmg - earlier and easier execute/gap closing - This will get you kills early on in the game, and turn your role as tanky/ad bruiser into something useful for your team later on in the game.
With these masteries you farm better, you earn easier kills, you push down towers easier - but - you are also more exposed to enemy ganks and enemy trade offs.

Only pick these kind of masteries if you feel completely sure about your Garen playing. If not, go the "easy" way, and pick up the 9/21/0 masteries.

Both masteries scales splendid with Garen - but you might have to adapt into them.

Go ahead and try them out in some games!

Runes

This chapter will be very short! (NOOOOOOOOOOOOOT)

I chose to go flat AD, basic armor and MR pr. lv runes because I like to have some early game dominance, being able to have this you need dmg. Garen's base AD is about 53 at lv 1. With runes and masteries you'll get just about 70+ (I think it's 72 or 74) at level one. So at this point you won't have to care about your AD scaling into your abilities. Because they scale the other way around....

Anyway! You might then question this: "But Xanhast, don't we need either crit or armor penetration when we play Garen?" I'd answer simply: No. Look at my build and then reconsider your question. "hint hint"[number][/number]

>>>> QUICK INFO: I have +16 AD, and not +15 AD - The reason behind this is the single glyph that gives me 0.28+ AD. League of Legends is so kind to round up your stats for you, which is one entire AD. <<<<

Before Garen's remake I did actually go 25 armor pen. 13+ armor and 13+ magic resist. But my item build at that time was also different, and I rushed damage before tankyness/survival.
Nowadays after his remake you just need flat dmg and tanky stats from lv 1 and beyond. This does not count for Garen entirely, this counts for basicly ALL AD bruisers.
After the mastery remake you can get FREE 6 armor penetration AND 10% - TEN PERCENT!!!! - armor penetration if you just chose to spec into it. (10% is a lot for Garen especially since you main [skills/garen/e.png]

as your primary ability - this ability will ignore armor and thereby dmg even more with armor pen. from masteries - and later on [items/last-whisper.png]

)

I like to say, that you don't need a rune page for something you are going to build items into. What I mean by this, is, that I don't need either armor pen. or crit chance from my runes nor masteries (basicly) because my build gives me all the things I need to excel into teamfights, lanephase, and lategame compositions.

Summoner Spells

Explanation:

Flash is by far the most overpowered ability in League of Legends - so why not use it until Riot gets enough and nerfs once again?!
I chose flash for ALL my champions - no matter the role. Flash works SO good all around Garen for instance. Flash is both a really good escape tool past walls or any enviroment to be honest. And also, Flash in an initiating spell. THE best actually.
You can get extra kill in a lot of situations with this beauty off cooldown. [summoners/flash.png]

= UMADBRO?!

Why I chose [summoners/ignite.png]

for Garen is for that simple reason, that [summoners/ignite.png]

is a DoT gap close. Combined with [summoners/flash.png]

it gives Garen 3 gap closes.
Like previous described you can [summoners/flash.png]

for a kill commitment, but you can with [summoners/ignite.png]

do the exact thing but finish/start with [summoners/ignite.png]

before/after you land your [skills/garen/r.png]

to get a kill.

What I tend to do with [summoners/ignite.png]

(and this "ability" comes from a lot of experience from playing Garen so much - I can eye meassure when or when NOT to use my ulti as a gap closer for a kill, and whether if I have to use [summoners/ignite.png]

or not)
Simply put - You combo your enemy, if he gets low and [summoners/flash.png]

's away (after the silence duration is over from your [skills/garen/q.png]

) you

after him and you [skills/garen/r.png]

!!
If you by this point have not killed him, and can't afford to overcommit on your lane, because this will otherwise kill - and is in general very very stupid - you just simple toss your [summoners/ignite.png]

at your enemy, and walk away to safety, strawling around - waiting for the announcement "You have slain an enemy!" - and recalls with a satisfied grin on your libs.

Umad enemies?!

[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/7/78/Trollface.svg/200px-Trollface.svg.png]

Skills

READ THIS BEFORE YOU CONTINUE READING THIS GUIDE - THIS IS GAREN'S ACTUAL ABILITIES AS THEY ARE NOW IN GAME!!!!

NOTE: This website have an outdated skill information about Garen. For the exact information about all his abilities - until this website have updated atleast, just go click this link: http://leagueoflegends.wikia.com/wiki/Garen
^- these abilities listed to Garen is the abilities I'm ACTUALLY writting about and describing in this chapter section. So if you were confused, here's your clarity!

Let's go!

Passive: Perseverance

Garen will regenerate 0.5% of his maximum health per second after not receiving damage for 7 seconds.

Explanation:

This is your passive - this is Garen's lane primary lane sustain. Get yourself out of combat, and after 7 secs you'll start to regenerate a very small bunch of your max hp (0.5%) ps. This effect WILL stack with your mastery: Vigor.

Q: Decisive Strike

Garen gains a 15 / 20 / 25 / 30 / 35% speed boost for 4 seconds. His next attack deals 140% of his attack damage plus 30 / 45 / 60 / 75 / 90 bonus damage and silences his target for 2.5 seconds.

Cooldown 12 / 11 / 10 / 9 / 8 seconds

Explanation:

Your "poke" ability. Due to the new cooldown setting it recieved in Garen's remake pathc, the cooldown have been reduced at all level, which makes it prefferable by some Garen players on pushed back lanes because you can get into a bush or behind a creep wave, just to poke with your Q. I do not recommend playing like this!
Tactic: It modify bonus dmg into your next basic attack and silences your enemy for 1.5 - 2.5 secs.
Advanced tactic: Your [skills/garen/q.png]

can also remove ALL slow effects that might be applied on you at the given time you use it. This ability will also make you run 15-35% faster (determined by the level your ability may be in)

W: Courage

Passive: Garen's armor and magic resist are permanently increased by 0.5 every time he kills an enemy unit. This bonus is maxed at 25.

Active: Garen places a defensive shield on himself for the next 3 seconds, decreasing all damage taken by 20 / 24 / 28 / 32 / 36%.

Cooldown 30 / 27 / 24 / 21 / 18 seconds

Explanation:

This is your main ability when it comes to safe divings or hard teamfights. It's a double edged sword, in the good way - that provides you with both a passive ability and an activation ability.
Passive: Gives you are 20% boost in your armor and magic resist. At ALL time.
Activate: Gives you are a 30% dmg reduction shield for 2-6 secs.

NOTE: This website have an outdated skill information about Garen. For the exact information about all his abilities - until this website have updated atleast, just go click this link: http://leagueoflegends.wikia.com/wiki/Garen
^- these abilities listed to Garen is the abilities I'm ACTUALLY writting about and describing in this chapter section. So if you were confused, here's your clarity!

E: Judgment

Garen rapidly spins his sword around his body for 3 seconds, reducing the duration of slows by 50% and dealing 50/90/130/170/210 (+140% of attack damage) physical damage to nearby enemies every 1 seconds. Garen removes any slow effects on him at the start of the dance.

The bonus damage is further increased by Garen's critical strike chance. Damage to minions is reduced by 50%.

Cooldown 13/12/11/10/9 seconds
Range 330

Explanation:

This is your MAIN ability (other than your ultimate ofc)
[imgext=] [skills/garen/e.png]

, also knows as the SPIN TO WIN!! ability, makes you rotate like a motherfucker for 3 secs. The lv 1 dmg - which you will get in lv 2, is very low, it's only +20 in dmg - but when you take another level in it at lv 3, the dmg raises to +45 dmg. Which is at this point a LOT.
This is where you are turning aggresive. And when you get W at lv 4, you can go even MORE full retard on your enemy.
Tactic: You can either chose to farm with ability (note: it has a 25% dmg redcution and also a max dmg output for minions in general) or you can spin into/at your opponent. You will however, not be able to use any other ability than W meanwhile spinning. You can though, after 1 sec of a global cooldown press E again to STOP spinning. Maxing this ability first will improve your entire lane pressence and especially the dmg part will make you feared on lane.
Advanced tactic: As described above, you can actiave/cancel this ability. This is essential when you poke through minions and into the enemy with it - sometimes are so close to the turret that you have to cancel this ability to prevent yourself from taking any turret hits.
- A basic combo with this ability as your main source of dmg, is a described above in the chapter: "Summoner Spells" - as following. You get near opponent, so near that you can basic attack him/her - follow STRAIGHT after with your [skills/garen/q.png]

to then immidately after start your [skills/garen/e.png]

- THIS part have to be done quick as possible because your [skills/garen/e.png]

slows you with 25%, but as listed above, your [skills/garen/q.png]

increases your movementspeed for 4 total secs after the use. This will give you are total of 2.5-3 secs, roughly, to continue to deal dmg. Meanwhile you spin, your enemy CANNOT escape or use abilities because of your [skills/garen/q.png]

's ability to silence.
Keep doing this 1 or 2 times, sometimes 3 if your enemy is too tanky or have a quick escape, like [champ/jax.png]

.

And if you can get them low by doing this over and over, either go for the kill completely, or continue doing this until lv 6 where you will haave ultimate - and that point the job gets done a lot easier.

Remeber not to hesitate on your [summoners/ignite.png]

if you know there's a 100% kill chance in the given situation!

R: Demacian Justice

Garen calls upon the might of Demacia to attempt to execute an enemy champion, dealing 175 / 350 / 525 damage plus 1 damage for every 3.5 / 3 / 2.5 health they are missing.

Cooldown 140 / 120 / 100 / 0seconds
Range 400

Explanation:

Explanation about this ability is very simply. You do not need to be a math genious in anyway to figure this abilities potential.
Simply put; the lower hp your target has, the more dmg your ultimate will do!

NOTE: This is the ONLY ability Garen has that deals MAGIC DAMAGE. You read right, it deals magic damage.
This is Garen gap close. This is everybody's fear when they enter a battlefield vs. a Garen.

SO JUST [http://sd.keepcalm-o-matic.co.uk/i/keep-calm-and-demacia.png]

[http://sd.keepcalm-o-matic.co.uk/i/keep-calm-and-demacia.png]

Skill Order

If you are looking for an explanation about each of Garen skills, go back up and start reading my chapter:

Skills

This is going to be a more short term explanation about why I chose this ability order.

I always start with [skills/garen/q.png]

because I first of all, is lazy as f*ck when I have to get to my lane or the blue river entrance, so more movementspeed aint that bad. Also, since I've already picked Garen for top laning, I'm basicly always against a full melee or hybrid melee carry/bruiser, so I know the trade off is going to be all melee, and [skills/garen/q.png]

level 1 dmg is very good! An auto attack directly follow by this ability is about 25-35% of your enemy's hp.

I max [skills/garen/e.png]

because it has more dmg than most abilities in the game from ability level 2 and forth. NOT chosing this ability as your primary one (other than ulti of course) will make you lose essential damage and pressence on your lane, and you will in the end not have enough damage to overcome a trade off with your enemy. So max it as fast as possible. ALWAYS!

[skills/garen/w.png]

makes you survive reckless commitments, Karthus ulti's (sometimes!!), makes you a diving MACHINE both in lane phase and in teamfights. It's overall an ability that makes you able to take a lot more beating than most other champions.
I also chose to max this ability before maxing out [skills/garen/q.png]

because of the bonus survivalability is gives you in 1v1/2/3/?? or teamfights. The stat bonus % on [skills/garen/w.png]

is not increasing, but the duration is, and that's the essential part of it!

[skills/garen/r.png]

is the gab closer, or in other words: Your EXECUTE after a trade off, if you can manage to pull this ability off on a low opponent after a 1v1 battle, YOU will be victories. I GARENtee ;)

So down into very basics. You max [skills/garen/e.png]

for highest dmg output, you poke (only if possible) with either [skills/garen/q.png]

solely, or [skills/garen/q.png]

and

combined. For finishing moves you can, as mentioned above in my guide: [summoners/flash.png]

to achieve kills after your regular dmg output/poke.

Good killing out there!

Item Builds

I hope by now you have some sort of general idea behind both my playstyle, how to play Garen in general, and how/why my item build is as it is.

Simple put, it's about maximizing both dmg output and tankyness, since you really want to be that beefy bruiser that LEADS THE CHARGE - Do what you were ment to do brother!

The Reason why I preffer this build above so many other build, is that I can play MY aggressive playstyle by it. I have the dmg to inflict serious problems in teamfights or 1v1 fights, this build makes me fed early game, and thereby scales me good into mid/lategame situations.
[items/sunfire-cape.png]

early on makes me farm SO well combined with [skills/garen/e.png]

. Other than providing an easier and a better farming phasefor you, [items/sunfire-cape.png]

also makes you able to take some serious dmg early on, due to the amazing scalling between it and your W - [skills/garen/w.png]

. Turret shot? NO PROBLEM BRO!
This particular item makes me able to play insanely aggressive meanwhile I last hit creeps and achieve kills! It's a win - win situation, so this is why I chose have this item into my build.
NOTE: Maining [skills/garen/e.png]

and rushing [items/sunfire-cape.png]

will get your creepscore at 20 min. (a pretty basic count position and also a good time in the game that all of you have or is about to leave your laning phase) to look like a pro's! You will have around between 135-200 cs at this point if you are focusing more than you are used to into farming right. Remember - your enemies Golems are yours for the taking, and so is your junglers wolfs.

Early [items/the-brutalizer.png]

is situational really. If your enemy quickly rush armor, this item will make your early game much easiser when it comes to dealing dmg to your enemy. It's also good due to the CDR it gives you.
I don't usually build [items/the-brutalizer.png]

after my upgraded boots/ [items/sunfire-cape.png]

, I insted rush my [items/infinity-edge.png]

because this item is ESSENTIAL for Garen in ALL possible ways for him to survive through the game as a useable source of dmg. This item is the KEY to all Garen's dmg throughout his game. Since his main source of dmg is based on [skills/garen/e.png]

- this item gets beneficial in ALL ways through this particular ability. The more AD Garen has, the more this ability dmg. +80 AD - Check! [skills/garen/e.png]

excels over its dmg count through crit. - Crit you say? Well here's 25% more crit chance! - Check! And for last, [skills/garen/e.png]

's 2nd new passive effect, that this now can CRIT while spinning - TRIPPLEMOTHERF*CKING CHECK BRO'S!!

At this point into the game you basicly have your core build.
This contains of following 3 items:
[items/mercurys-treads.png]

and

The following next 3 items, which is by My build: [items/last-whisper.png]

(GA is because if you are fed early game, and ahead in level, items and farm, this item will be game changing for your team. You can flash into Judgementday dmg all, lead your team to victory, yeah you might die trying, but who cares - 'Cause you got your GA up!) / [items/frozen-heart.png]

FH is situational in this build. It's good because of the bonus armor that scales with your [skills/garen/w.png]

and 25% CDR is a lot for Garen. It gives his [skills/garen/r.png]

only a 61.4 sec cd. That's one minute. ONE MINUTE!
Other than [items/guardian-angel.png]

you can also build either [items/randuins-omen.png]

for maximizing survival in teamfights through tankyness. It's down to personal prefference or situational building. Considerations > Trolling. Period.
and lastly [items/maw-of-malmortius.png]

.
I chose MoM because I like it's passive effect, especially to MY playstyle it fits perfectly, giving me more and more bonus AD the lower I get. That's just = MORE SPIN DMG!! for me (yay!) + the scaling from [skills/garen/w.png]

and previous mentioned tanky items.

So the following 3 build terms will work as sort of "milestones" in your games:

Early game:
[items/boots-of-speed.png]

+ either

Mid game:

-> finished into your [items/last-whisper.png]

Late game/finished build:
[items/mercurys-treads.png]

NOTE: Keep in mind that Garen CAN be killed, I don't believe you will focused above an AD carry or AP mage carry because of the tankyness this build provides, but dieng IS possible - Unfortuantly.

Final Comments

If you have any comments or question, please go ahead and throw them into the comment section or PM me personally. I will do my upmost best to answer any build related question/notes you might have for me! :D

It have been a pleasure to write this guide, and I sure hope you, the readers, will like it just as much as I have had writting it.

My personal experience about Garen, is, that he's harder overall to master than most other "over" played top champions.
I write overplayed because I find Garen underplayed, by... A lot actually. And it's a damn shame, because he's such a good champion that fits into a lot of teamcompositions!

Anyway...

Any feedback is welcome - so go ahead and give me your best shot.

REMEMBER TO RATE FAIRLY!!

Peace out bros - Xanhast.

DEMACIA!

[http://0-media-cdn.foolz.us/ffuuka/board/vg/image/1336/63/1336631863118.jpg]

[http://0-media-cdn.foolz.us/ffuuka/board/vg/image/1336/63/1336631863118.jpg]

F*cking scumbag Teeto....

You must be logged in to add a comment!

Comments: 3

Xanhast
6 months ago
Armor pen. runes are now completely useless due to the build im running.
Your E scales better with overall falt AD (+16) than flat armor pen. (+31). After his Garen's remake I tested this, and the result were in the flat AD rune pages' favour.
Try it out yourself. E's dmg is overall shitcarring about your armor pen. all that matters now is flat AD, the more the merrier.
Judgement got buffed and remaked. So this build I've presented is by far one the best there is.
Besides, 10% armor pen is 1/4 of a Last Whisper in itself. Why would you want more flat armor pen. that you could get from a brutalizer, which is by far much more than enough?
vasilinhorulezz
6 months ago
ArPen red & quints are so much better on garen and if u want a brutalizer they are the best choise
Campine
6 months ago
Very good job, sir.

Page: 1

	Level	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18
	Perseverance (Passive)
	Decisive Strike
	Courage
	Judgment
	Demacian Justice