Hello everyone, this is the first guide I've ever written, so please forgive the poor formatting, I plan to fix it in an updated version when I get the hang of this program.
When I first started playing league I only used free week champions. I would have to change my main every week, but I enjoyed trying out a lot of different champions. One week, Blitzcrank was free, and as soon as I started playing him I knew I had found my first main. I love his high mobility and cc, as well as his ability to 1v1 other champs very well, and who doesn't like the feeling of pulling your enemies around? Long story short, Blitzcrank was the first champ I bought, and my playstyle with him has evolved over the months getting gradually better over time. Thanks, and I hope you find my guide useful!

Why should you play Blitzcrank?

Pros:
Some of the best CC in the game
High movespeed
High base health
Incredible mana shield
Tower smashing like a bot
Good CSing abilities (for late game)

Cons:
Mana-hungry early game
Skillshots
Your grab can get your team killed if used incorrectly
May require communication with your carry
Somewhat item dependant

Alright, here is where I explain my rune choice.

greater mark of desolation
I chose armor penetration marks because the vast majority of Blitzcrank's damage comes from his auto attacks, and early game it can really help Blitz pack a punch, really helping him get that early game damage and possibly even a first blood.


Armor seals are also good for your early game and can help you survive the enemy AD's attacks, and ignore some of the minion aggro (when combined with Tough Skin).


MR glyphs help balance out your defense, and help you weather the enemy's ability pokes such as attacks from or . Which helps you stay in lane longer and can increase your effective health while keeping your actually health fairly low, which is good for baiting.


Speed quints are very important on Blitzcrank because they help him move extremely fast late game, while helping to compensate for the fact that Blitz doesn't get boots until fairly late in the game. Movespeed can help you dodge enemy attacks while catching up to a fleeing enemy just enough to land your grab and pull them back into your team.

I go 0/21/9 because Blitzcrank is more of an damage-sponge/initiator than a true support or tank. He eventually becomes a Tanky DPS from this guide, making him both a threat offensively, and a nuance to kill. If played properly you shouldn't need GP5 masteries or runes because you'll get fed off of assists early, and CS from roaming later. Blitzcrank is really mana hungry, so I choose mana and mana regen in the utility tree. I also get some movespeed (because that is always good) and CDR so you can apply even more CC throughout a fight. The defensive masteries also help you ignore minon aggro so when you do initiate early game you don't have to worry about being shredded by enemy minons and you can just focus on the fight.

For summoner spells I usually take and

Good Spells:


This is one of my all time favorite spells. It allows you to be almost anywhere on the map in a short time, and can really surprise your enemies. With this you can recall and be back in lane incredibly fast, allowing you to get items or refill your health giving your lane fight a second wind, and making sure that you don't miss too much EXP while you are gone. In addition to being used defensively, you can use it to extend a push, or even take a tower! By teleporting to the minion that the tower is currently attacking, you make it invulnerable, and can buy even more time in a push, while getting you in on that tower smashing action on a monemt's notice.


Heal synergizes incredibly well with your passive, and if timed right, it can effectively bring you back up to full health. Use it right when your mana shield procs to instantly refill your health bar. Perfect for all sorts of baiting and general utility. It also helps cover the fact that Blitzcrank has no built in sustain for himself or his lane partner. It can be used to save yourself or your carry.


Flash is perfect for escaping over a wall (should you ever need to) and for flashing into the perfect position to grab. In addition it is a very commonly used spell, and can do all sorts of good, however i prefer the first two spells.


CV can really help you in a lot of ways with the vision it grants. You can use it for grabs through walls, to check where the enemy jungler is, or to see what items the enemy team is starting out with.

Ok Spells


Ghost is good for catching up to enemies, but you already have your W to do that. THe only reason I would take ghost is if I had the random urge to go drag racing with my Piltover Customs Blitzcrank skin. Having said that going fast is almost never a bad thing. I just believe there are better spells for Blitz.


Surge can be a good spell if you plan on backdooring. That extra attack speed and AP are both useful to Blitz, but only if you plan on playing very aggressively.


I would only recommend this against teams that have extremely heavy CC, but even then I would advise taking heal and accepting your CC like a robot.

Bad Spells


Exhaust can really trap your opponent and limit their damage, but with Blitz's skillset you don't really need more CC, let alone soft CC.


Only take this skill if you plan on dying. Seriously, don't do it.


You are not jungling. 'nuff said.


Clarity can be good, because it can effectively heal you if your mana shield is procced, and it does help with early game mana issues, but overall it doesn't provide as much sustain for yourself or your carry.


Promote isn't really a good skill because you will probably end up stealing your carry's CS, while pushing your lane. The only time I would recommend it is if you somehow time your telesmashing with a cannon minion. But then you give up too much survivability.


This is good if you want to counter or , but not much else. You shouldn't be the one securing kills early game, and DoTs can be unreliable later on.

Blitz has an incredible skillset which makes him a very powerful champion, either as a foe or an ally.

Passive


Mana Barrier:
(Innate): When Blitzcrank's life is brought below 20% health he activates Mana Barrier, creating a damage shield that lasts for 10 seconds. The shield strength is equal to 50% of Blitzcrank's current mana. There is a 60 second cooldown before Blitzcrank can activate this effect again.

This ability is incredible for all sorts of baiting, especially late game when you have tons of mana. It synergizes very well with and actively encourages you to solve Blitz's mana issues. This paired with summoner heal can turn a 500 health Blitzcrank who looks totally divable into a full health CC machine.





Rocket Grab (Q)
(Active): Blitzcrank fires his right hand at a straight line to the target area. If his hand encounters an enemy unit it will pull the target back to his location, dealing magic damage and stunning it for 1 second in the process.
Cost: 110 mana
Cooldown: 20 / 19 / 18 / 17 / 16 seconds
Magic Damage: 80 / 135 / 190 / 245 / 300 (+1.0 per ability power)

This is Blitz's signature move. when used properly it can turn a brewing teamfight into a 4v5 in your favor instantly. However, when used poorly, or against skilled foes, you can end up killing yourself and your team. Early game its mana cost is very steep, so you need to choose your grabs carefully. It can be blocked by minions, so I usually have the path indicator open, allowing me to predict which grabs are good and which ones are a waste of mana. This skill is powerful even when you aren't using it. If you get a few good grabs off early game you can intimidate your enemy just by moving towards them, causing them to back off and lose CS and EXP. If you start off with a couple of bad grabs, then you don't intimidate the enemy as much and can get yourself killed. There are few things scarier than knowing a Blitzcrank is in the bushes at bot lane waiting to grab you. This ability is one of the best ways to displace your opponents and allows you to literally feed kills to your team and catch up to fleeing foes. One of the best things about this grab is that it works through most walls. If you have vision or good intuition, you can easily pull an enemy through a wall making their escape nearly impossible. Finally you can use your grab to force foes to dive you. Few things feel worse then getting pulled under tower by an enemy Blitzcrank. When with your team I use the grab as an initiate, but when traveling solo I use it to prevent enemy escapes. It can be very disheartening to feel like you've made it to safety, only to get pulled back into a fight by a skilled Blitzcrank. One more key thing to know about Blitzcrank's grab is that the enemy will end up wherever you end up. This means that if you flash over a wall after you land your grab, but before your target reaches you you can pull your target through a wall. I first noticed this then an knocked me through a wall as I was pulling his . He ended up sending the Vayne through the wall with me.
Max first to lower cooldown and increase damage. No mana penalty for leveling it up.





Overdrive (W)
(Active): Blitzcrank super charges himself to gain dramatically increased movement and attack speed for 8 seconds.
Cost: 75 mana
Cooldown: 15 seconds
Movement Speed: 16 / 20 / 24 / 28 / 32%
Attack Speed: 30 / 38 / 46 / 54 / 62%

This is an incredible steroid that allows Blitz to play effectively without boots until later on in the game, and makes him an inescapable/uncatchable foe late game. In addition to the mobility, it also increases Blitz's damage output, and helps him demolish towers and enemies alike. It is an excellent tool to help farm up as well. Early game the mana cost is too high to use except in when you really need to flee from or catch up to an enemy. Once you get your however, you should always have your W on, even when waiting in a bush. It is the main way to stack your tea, and now that your mana problems have been solved you have effectively gotten yourself a pair of boots.
Max second to increase speed and DPS.





Power Fist (E)
(Active): Blitzcrank charges up his fist to make his next attack deal double his total attack damage and knock his target up in the air.
Cost: 25 mana
Cooldown: 9 / 8 / 7 / 6 / 5 seconds

This is yet another one of Blitz's amazing skills. It is on hit hard CC that, when comboed with your grab can lock an enemy down for about 2 seconds before they can even react, often times turning an enemy towerdive into a kill. I cannot even begin to count the number of times I have used my grab-knock up combo to turn a towerdiver into free gold for my carry. Some of the best parts about this ability is that it has an incredibly low cost and cooldown, getting down to 5 seconds at level 5 without any additional CDR. In addition, because it is a next hit, it synergizes perfectly with armor penetration runes and and later . This rests the autoattack timer, and can allow Blitzcrank to instantly deal double his AD, +173 from the trinity force without a critical. Plus the on hit CC can be used to break all kinds of channels, even taunt channels such as 's ultimate, as long as it is activated near before you get taunted. Finally, this ability is what helps make Blitzcrank a tower smashing "American Hero". It procs on towers and can allow you to deal over 600 damage in a single hit to a structure. This, paired with is passive and his W make Blitz an excellent backdoorer, allowing him to get two or maybe three of his Power Fist's out dealing 1800 damage to a tower not counting normal autoattacks.
Max this last because levels only reduce cooldown.


Finally


Static Field (R)
(Passive): Blitzcrank fires lightning bolts to deal magic damage to one random nearby enemy unit every 2.5 seconds (not affected by cooldown reduction). This will not damage enemies in stealth.
Passive Magic Damage: 100 / 200 / 300 (+0.2 per ability power)
(Active): Blitzcrank emits a wave of electricity to deal magic damage to nearby enemies and silence them for 0.5 seconds. Activating it removes the passive lightning bolts until Static Field becomes available again.
Active Magic Damage: 250 / 375 / 500 (+1.0 per ability power)
Cost: 150 mana
Cooldown: 30 seconds

This ability is straight up incredible. A fairly low cost, low cooldown AOE nuke that has a silence thrown in. This is perfect for canceling channels, ending a team fight, or even just farming minions. It is incredibly satisfying to use this ability to clear a lane of minions and allow your own guys to push, and because of the ridiculous cooldown, it will almost certainly be back up by the time you are ready to fight. It's possible to even use this ability multiple times in a teamfight, and its large AOE radius almost guarantees that everyone is hit earning you assists or even kills. All of that amazingness doesn't even take into account the passive. You PASSIVELY deal a base damage of 300 every 2.5 seconds to a random target. This is incredible in 1v1 fights, especially in the jungle where no enemy creeps are around to divert your focus. If you are alone with an enemy then you deal all of that passive damage to that one target, just by standing nearby! This also happens when you are doing a major jungle objective such as Baron or dragon, allowing you to be done much faster. The only downsides to this passive is that you can aggro jungle creeps while walking by (but they go away if you ignore them), you can accidentally steal your carry's CS (this can be avoided if you learn the range and try to stay away from the creeps), and worst of all you can aggro turrets while trying to smash them if you randomly hit an enemy champ. This last problem can be quite annoying, especially if you just want to focus the tower. A solution I often use is simply using my ult, as the passive is not in effect while on cooldown. This may seem like a waste, but with the low cost and cooldown it is only a minor issue.

First buy:
fairy charm, three sight ward, and two
I start with this because it allows you to start off on right as a support. The Fairy charm will give you enough mana regen early so you can stay in lane longer, while the health potions will give you the survivability to stay longer and possibly even bait your opponents. Although I will not expressly mention it in this guide, you should continue to buy wards accordingly throughout the game. This means that you shouldn't have five wards at all time, but you should occasionally buy more to have one or two on hand.

First back:
Upgrade fairy charm into philosopher's stone and begin working on your .
If you start with it will make you more tanky because of your passive shield, but if you start with you will have more mana sustain and can use more abilities. I prefer Meki Pendant (if you can't afford the whole tear) because of the mana sustain and slightly lower cost. Once you have your fully built tear you should be keeping your always on. The cost is low enough that you shouldn't feel any significant loss of mana, and it is a great way to effectively have boots while stacking your tear.

From this point there are one of two things that should be happening. Either you are getting insanely fed off of assists, or you aren't. If you feel comfortable with your assist income, then you should buy next. It gives you a slight AP boost, which makes your grab and ult hit harder, and it gives you more mana to increase your pool and passive shield potential. Finally sheen allows your to hit even harder so you and your carry can kill enemies even faster. If you can afford it you should also start working on your because you'll want to be running all over the map.

Core 1: If you are fed and happy
philosopher's stone sight ward

Core 2: If you just aren't getting the assists you need to be wealthy
philosopher's stone sight ward

This is another key point where you need to build accordingly.
If you are doing well offensively you should upgrade your into . This will help you stack mana faster, increasing your pool with each autoattack, and help you become slightly more tanky. In addition this helps turn you massive mana pool from simply a defensive force (in the form of a shield) and a utility stat (in mana used for spells) into all that PLUS a tool of destruction. Blitzcrank can easily get over 3000 mana in a game, and manamune turns two percent of that into AD which can give you around 60 more AD, which is more than a ! This will allow you to smash towers and champs even faster, which will help you win games.

If you are suffering from a fed enemy AD carry, then you should buy a which you can upgrade into a . This will give you tons of armor while also giving you more mana (for your passive shield and later manamune) and CDR, which can help you build more tear stacks while allowing to have your W on even more! In addition your enemies will have 20% decreased attackspeed, which means less on hit effects, and less damage to your entire team overall. If you bought a earlier, then you can upgrade that into , however that does not synergize with Blitzcrank nearly as well as Frozen Heart.

If you are suffering from a fed enemy AP carry, then I suggest a , starting with a . This item is also great for Blitzcrank because it allows him to go even faster, and the percentage based regeneration is not wasted due to Blitz's naturally large health pool. I notice that with Baron buff and FoN I have the satisfaction of seeing little green "+20"'s popping up over my head, allowing me to run out of a fight, and come back soon afterwards with enough health to keep helping.

As you enter late game your build will continue to be situational. If you are still getting killed too fast, then you should purchase the other defensive item mentioned above. If you feel confidant and want to start dealing even more damage, then you should build your into a , starting with a to give you defense and add even more CC to your arsenal.

Your final build should be
and a situational item.
If they are very AD heavy, then you should get
If they are more AP heavy, then you should build
If you want more damage and sustain in fights, you can go for a
If you want to back door towers, then I recommend
If you and your team want to move fast as a pack, then upgrade your philosopher's stone into a
Or you could just leave that last slot blank for sight wards like a real support.

Blitz must be played very carefully early game or he will run out of mana or even get himself and his team killed. You should try to stay in the bushes as much as possible, and grab only when you know you have a clear shot and your carry is ready to follow up on it. I prefer not to even grab until I get my (at level 2) unless my lane partner has some form of CC because otherwise you might not get the kill and be out a third of your mana. Once you start grabbing though you will reveal your skill as a Blitzcrank player. If you continually miss the enemy or grab a minion, then they will not fear you, which can lead to their overconfidence and even cause them to dive you. This is a good thing, as long as you are able to land a few of your grabs and keep them under your tower taking massive damage. On the other hand, if you are good with your grabs, then you will cause your enemy to fear you. They will often back off at the sight of you moving towards them. Keep your grabs unpredictable, and you will force your lane opponents to play passively, missing out on gold or even EXP. Early game Blitz plays very well with towers. Once you learn to grab effectively, you can pull people out from under their tower taking minimal or no tower damage while allowing your team to severely hurt or even kill the enemy. Additionally if you are on the run with low health, you can bait an enemy close enough to your tower to fire your grab backwards and take them with you. Be especially mindful of both your, and your enemy's tower aggro radii, and use them to your advantage. Towards the middle of your early game you should have a , and this will greatly reduce any mana issues you have. The reason I don't get until level 4 is because it isn't really worth the mana cost until you get your Tear. It can only be used every once in a while for chases or escapes, and even still it uses a significant chunk of your mana. By going Q E Q W for the first four levels you get to increase 's damage significantly while reducing its cooldown. Meanwhile you aren't missing out on too much without your W. Furthermore it is important to get a point in your early to apply more CC with minimal cost. At earlier levels it should be used to initiate, and your grab should be used to block any attempts at escape (unless repositioning your enemy is important early on. For example pulling them into a gankable position).

By now towers should be playing a smaller role in your fights, as you should have taken your enemy's first tower by about this time. Now you are free to roam around and help other lanes by using your turret smashing abilities, or displacement and hard CC to feed your other lanes. You can use your Ult to quickly clear minions and prevent other lanes from taking your towers, and be sure to take advantage of the CS that can be found in any unattended lanes, but be careful to not overextend or steal your carry's CS. Continue to intimidate your enemy with grabs or grab feints and help your team get fed with uncontested CS or kills and towers. Keep an eye out and help your jungler take Dragon whenever possible, as you not only provide significant passive damage with your ult, but you can also help your jungler escape with your CC if you get ganked at Dragon. Remember, as a support you shouldn't have very many kills, and you should be willing to sacrifice your own life if need be to let your team get away. This may involve staying in the middle of the enemy team applying as much disruptive CC as possible, even literally pulling people off of your carry so he or she can escape. Finally, you should keep an eye open for any minion waves attacking enemy towers. If there is one that is far, you can use your teleport on the minion taking tower aggro to extend the push, and deal significant damage to the tower before running back to the safely of your team.

At this point you should have built to counter your opponents' strengths (if they have anything particularly devastating) and you should be working on finishing up your damage items. At this point you have evolved from a support into something more. You should now be able to 1v1 most of your opponents, as long as they are not fed. Don't let all this power go to your head though, you can still get yourself killed if you become overconfident. Keep an eye on where your opponents are, and backdoor some towers if they are far enough away. You should be tanky enough with your mana shield and defensive items to deal significant damage to towers even without minion support. I only recommend using this strategy if your team has little other hope for victory, or if you are certain that they are distracted and will not come to kill you after you weakened yourself tanking a tower. When both teams are preparing to teamfight look for an easy grab. If you catch someone out of position you can turn a fight form a 5v5 into a 1v5 and 4v5 both in your favor. Be careful not to grab any hand grenade characters though. Avoid grabbing tanky enemies with AoE spells such as , , or , and avoid grabbing anyone with short range displacement CC such a s a knock-back or a fling. Examples of these are , , and once again . If you have been pushed back into your own base, do not give up hope! You can pull your enemies into the strongest turret in the game: fountain. With Blitzcrank the game is not over until the nexus falls. One good ace can allow you and what's left of your team to push for a victory while your opponents can only watch.

Remember that Blitzcrank's is blocked by minions, so as long as you keep some between yourself and Blitzcrank, he cannot grab you.

His is on hit, so when you see that his fists are charged (they get a buzzing static field), it is better to stay out of his melee range until the effect wears off or is used on a minion.

You can see weather or not Blitz has his because when it is available for use Blitz will have a belt made of blueish electricity.

Do NOT ever towerdive Blitzcrank unless you are positive that his heal and mana shield are down. If you aren't sure, then let him go, especially if he doesn't try to run back to his next tower or recall instantly. He is likely trying to bait you in range of his CC so he can turn the tables.

Learn the range of Blitzcrank's grab so you can tell when you need to be concerned about it. Also pay attention to his grabbing tendencies. Does he lead you a little bit so he can catch you while you're kiting? If so listen for the sound of his grab and react accordingly. Few things are more frustrating than when a Blitzcrank cannot land his grabs. He feels bad, and his team will probably get angry at him too. Not everybody understand how difficult his grab really is, and will constantly urge him to grab, even when it's not a clear shot. A few missed grabs can turn the entire team against a Blitzcrank.

Spell shields are another great way to block Blitz's CC. Examples of this include 's , 's , or best of all 's which can be cast on others, not just herself. If you do not have any of these champions on your team, you can always buy a .

Finally, mentally be aware of his cooldowns. His mana shield lasts for 8 seconds, so it might be better to wait it out than just beat it away. It also as a one minute cooldown, so you can keep track of weather or not he has it. His grab had a 16 second cooldown at max level without CDR, and even with max CDR it still has nearly a 10 second cooldown. Use the windows left after he misses a grab to attack him.

Awesome Partners



She can be an amazing lane partner because of her . If you are standing in one when you land a grab you can have a ton of CC at level 1, and at level 2 you can extend that CC even more if you time your properly. Just be sure not to use it too early or you'll wast the CC from the knockup.



Corki is great to lane with because of his amazing burst. Blitzcrank excels at laning with burst partners because then, if you're lucky, you can grab someone and burst them hard enough to kill them or make them back, leaving their partner alone. Corki's level one burst with his is great, and Blitz's CC can hold people inside the range of Corki's to shered more armor and deal more damage.



Ezreal is a good champ to lane with Blitz because the means he can easily reposition himself to deal damage after Blitzcrank grabs. This puts less pressure on Blitz to look for both a good grabbing opportunity, and a moment when his carry is in position to follow up. Also, Ezreal's skillshots allow him to poke easily, making the enemy suffer if they play passively to avoid Blitz.



Graves is one of the best partners Blitzcrank can have for a variety of reasons. Graves's can be used to reposition him for fights and deal more damage. At level 1 can be especially potent burst right after a Blitz grab, which is great for getting first blood. Finally, Graves's can be used to disorient enemies and give Blitz time to get in a good grabbing position, while forcing them to play even more cautiously.



Tristana has awesome repositioning with her so she can easily react to Blitz's grabs, and help apply a bit more CC in doing so. Her can also be used to move the enemy even further out of position.



Vayne is possibly the BEST partner Blitzcrank can have. Her is perfect for repositioning to react to Blitz's grabs. In addition Blitz can easily set up her for great burst damage and even more CC. Just remember to save Blitz's until after the stun has worn off so as to not waste any CC. This combo works extremely well if Blitz can manage to grab someone through a wall, and then Vayne condemns that person to the same wall. Vayne's condemn can also be used like any other knockback to move someone further out of position. Finally, Blitz can hold someone down long enough for Vayne to get at least one of her three ring combo's off.




Abnormal, But Still Great Partners



In this situation Blitz would play the role of carry, more than that of support, though his build would be more or less the same. At level one you will have a ton of CC, but almost no damage, however, when you hit level 2 you can combo Blitz's and with Alistar's and to move an enemy all the way back to your tower from a significant distance. This will force your enemies to play very passively, allowing you to do whatever you want. Furthermore Alistar's can give you even more sustain in lane, and help you bait just a littl ebit harder under tower.



Darius and Blitzcrank is another good CC combo because Darius's can pull an enemy into a good grabbing position, and Blitz can also keep your enemies close enough for Darius to deal a lot of melee damage.



AD Poppy can be a serious threat to any team, as long as she gets fed. If she lanes with Blitzcrank then this is a distinct possibility. Blitz's grab is perfect for setting up Poppy's , much like Vayne's . With that you can have massive CC and damage at level 1, which only gets stronger as the levels climb. Poppy's is also good for repositioning, so almost any grab should end up in full combos for both Poppy and Blitz.



Shaco can use his to easily reposition to do damage after Blitz's grab/ Another amazing thing about this combo is that if Shaco fills a bush with 's, then Blitz's can grab his enemies into a fearing death trap. This is much more effective than Teemo's 's because they don't stack.



Tryndamere's is great for repositoning while his can prevent them from escaping. In addition, Tryndamere's can be perfect bait to tempt people to dive Blitz and Tryndamere, which can hand them free kills.




Ok Partners



Ashe can be a good partner to Blitz because her soft CC from her and , and the vision from her can help you land grabs or keep people from escaping more often, however her lack of early burst doesn't make her one of the best carries to lane with.



As mentioned above with Darius, Blitzcrank can make melee AD carries more viable because he can bring enemies in melee range. Olaf doesn't really have the CC or the burst to keep enemies close for very long or kill them very fast.



Teemo doesn't have a strong enough early game to synergize with Blitzcrank, and his mushrooms don't stack, and don't provide strong enough CC.

Blitzcrank is no ordinary support. He can easily get you first blood if used properly, and can force feed your carry until it has more gold then it knows what to do with. He also excels at taking turrets down, and can help push your team to victory. His CC is also some of the best in the game, and is great for turning games around or simply tipping fights in your favor. He is capable of both high defense and high offense at the same time, and he is one of the few supports that can carry his team to victory if all else fails.

Thanks everybody! I hope you found my guide helpful!

7/6/12 Added the "Partner" section, and updated "Playing Against a Blitzcrank".
7/7/12 Improved the "Early Game" section by explaining reasons for skill order.