November 28: New masteries = more flexability

November 7: Edited item build

October 11: Added jungle item guide

September 28: Added Update section
Added a full item build for a balanced team.

This is my first guide so please leave constructive criticism. No Trolls

Amumu is an amazing tank both early game all the way the way to the end of the game. He is viable for any type of team as a full tank of off tank. Amumu has the benefit of being an amazing initiator that never dies. Personally i play Amumu as a full tank the entire game.

Disclaimer: This guide will not work for everyone's play style. This build is highly situational and requires a players knowledge of the different types of champions. This build is meant for competition on Summoner's rift and the Twisted Treeline, not Dominion.

I use masteries 0/21/9, but do not put a point in ardor because it is just simply useless. For the 9 points in utility i use all the points for as much mana regeneration to aid with the laning and roaming phases of the game. I may place the 9 points in the offensive tree if you plan on building Amumu as ability off-tank.

Runes really depend on a persons style of play. If they like to play aggressively and go for kills then get runes that help with damage or cool downs for skill spamming. If you try to out lane the opponent then get runes based on defense and regeneration.

The runes I recommend 3 Greater Quintessence of Health, 9 Greater Seal of Armor, 9 Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist, and finally 9 Greater Mark of Magic Penetration

The reason for flat armor glyphs is because of tantrum ability to block physical damage. The magic resist per level helps because all character gain armor per level, but everyone starts with flat magic resist. The flat health is to survive any early game fights. An extra 78hp equals an extra 1 or two auto-attacks. Finally The marks of magic penetration work really well with Amumu's Despair.

As Amumu i use summoner spells for escape and support. So it's flash and clairvoyance for me, but this should not limit you to what you choose. There are many good combinations of summoner spells to use depending on your team composition.

Flash Flash is a great summoner spell that can be used offensively and defensively. It is a great escape tool when u can blink right over a wall for that perfect escape or initiation. This is a must have whenever playing Amumu. This skill will help maximize your ultimate Curse of the Sad Mummy

Clairvoyance This summoner spell is usually held by the support on the team, but can be equally effective when a tank holds it. This can be used to hunt junglers down of spot ganks before they come.

Exhaust Exhaust is not a necessity when you are playing a tank. This summoner spell should be held by one on the carries on your team.

Ghost Ghost is a summoner spell i have considered a lot for Amumu, but the use of flash seems to be just a little bit more effective, due to the fact u can get over a wall or a creep wave faster.

Heal As a tank you are already able to take so much damage that this skill is a luxury. You can heal 500 to you and 250 to your allies. For an Amumu 500 hp takes a while to take down.

Revive Again as a tank you should not be dieing that much or you are doing something utterly wrong.

Teleport This is a great summoner spell when it comes to farming and defending lanes. Although not everyone o n your team should have this skill. This guide focus on gold per second so this summoner spell is a personal choice.

Cleanse This should not be a necessary spell for any Amumu that is a tank. If their team is placing all their crowd control your doing your job right.

Ignite NO! Just NO! You should not be using ignite to gain kills or for any other reason. the tank should have zero kills, zero deaths, and a **** load of of assist.

Fortify This I don't see as a viable skill for Amumu. Please leave a comment about what you think here.

Clarity The philosopher's stone should give you all the mana u will need. If it's not enough a frozen heart could help.

Early Game
Philosopher's Stone

I start with a regrowth pendant and a health potion. Try to get a few last hits to quickly get a Philosopher's Stone. At this time allow the carry in lane to get the majority of the last hits while you allow the gold to go up. Buy Boots and a Heart of Gold. If you can accomplish this by the 10 minute mark you are doing very well.

Mid-Game


Depending on the enemies team composition the boots you purchase will make a big difference. If the entire team has a lot of crowd control abilities then get the Mercury's Treads if they don't have a lot of of crowd control then, purchase Boots of Swiftness. Amumu's ability Tantrum gives him an advantage over other tanks when during the mid-game dealing with AD carries. By blocking flat damage he also reduces minion damage to zero. Aegis of the Legion gives the necessary health, magic resist and armor to survive most mid game encounters. It also gives a good advantage over the other team when in large team fights. This goes especially well for fighters like Wukong who can get lots of hp but little resists.

Late Game
By now you should have made an impression on your opponents. Striking fear in their minds.The rest of the game you will need to decide what items are appropriate for your game depending on what champions you are up against. The base build will give you decent hp armor and magic resist. Here is a short list of some tier 3 items for Amumu

Guardian Angel If the other team has a lot of burst damage then it is likely they can kill you after you initiate the fight. this item is great for surviving those giant bursts of damage and still be helpful in the fight.

Thornmail A great item to counter many AD carries that stack massive amounts of attack damage. this items gives you the most armor in the game.

Force of Nature If the team many ap champs or champions with many on hit affect items like Madred's Bloodrazor then this item s a great counter. It gives the most Magic resist for a single item, plus amazing health regeneration and a tiny movement speed bonus.

Soul Shroud This item is great if you plan on playing a more supportive role on your team. This item resonates well with Aegis of Legion and Abyssal Mask.

Rylai's Crystal Scepter With its health stats this is still a great item for Amumu if you feel you are tanky enough and you want to do that much more damage to an opponent.

Abyssal Mask This item resonates well when your team has heavy ap casters. Since you'll always be in the middle of a fight, you can maximize the afffect of the aoe debuff.

Items to stay away from
Warmog's Armor This item is just way to expensive for an item that is easily countered. By buying this item you are trading armor anf magic resist for flat hp. This is easily countered by Madred's Bloodrazor or a Deathfire's Grasp. Also Amumu is not the greatest farmer so getting full stacks on warmogs wastes alot of time.

Sunfire Aegis Personally I have lost the love for sunfires because its abililty has become a unique passive. Also when you are in lane with sunfires and you want to attack the turret knowing the defending champion can't hurt you, you can't. The aoe damage from the sunfire cape will force the turret to attack you instead.

This Skill I get at level one then max out last. Bandage Toss is a skill shot that moves slower the the majority of other skill shots. Don't worry if at first you don't land all your stuns. It just takes alot of practice.

This skill is where the majority of your damage will come from. As long as you can stay alive you will be doing considerable damage. An aoe skill that does a percent of max hp is a serious threat to hp stacker.

This skills passive is what makes Amumu such a strong tank. He blocks up to 10 damage after armor reduction has been applied. This means by the middle of the game you don't have to worry about minion aggression at all! Also this aoe ability's cooldown decreases every time Amumu is hit making it an almost continuous damager when an ad carry is attacking you.

One of the best ultimates in my opinion. This is why Amumu is banned in almost every ranked game. This ultimate combined with Bandage Toss makes the perfect initiation. You can fully immobilize a 5 man team easily allowing your team to sweep the kills.
Note: This will not interrupt Katarina or Nunu & Willump when they ult.

This passive is one that should not be forgotten. It can help a lot if your team ha aoe or single target the debuff will make its mark. Also this resonates well with an Abyssal Mask.

Amumu has a very low base attack damage making it difficult to last hit with him. Also since he is a melee champion he is easily harassed when trying to last hit . This is why this build utilizes both a Philosopher's Stone and a Heart of Gold. Also using tantrum to last hit works very well too. Usually let your partner in lane farm and protect your lane partner.

The biggest and most important part of this game. TEAMWORK. It is important a team communicates, especially when you are the initiator. Make sure your team is prepared to to go in team fight. Also as a tank you should always be in the middle of the fight protecting the carries. One mistake many players make playing tanks is the conception that it is okay that once a tank gets into a fight they should die too. When you are at a very low health it's okay for you to leave the fight. If you took that much damage for your team then the enemy team has wasted a lot of skills on you. Which mean you should have won that team fight as you carries kill their team.

There's really not much to say in this section. If you end up with the choice to pick Amumu in a ranked game pick him immediately. Remember you can switch with someone else after the draft pick.

This section will help I.D. the different carries you will be up against.

AD Carries
These champion focus on dealing massive amounts of damage as a continuous rate. Most champions like Master Yi and Ashe which invest heavily on both attack damage and attack speed. To counter them a Thornmail will do the best job, as the 30% damage reflection will almost allow them to kill themselves. Next we have champions that stack solely ad like Corki and Pantheon. A Thornmail will still work effectively against these champs. Finally we have ad carries that focus on attack speed and on hit effects. The best way to counter this is with a Frozen Heart. This combined with the Randuin's Omen will stop them dead in their tracks. The best thing is they don't need to attack you to feel the affects of the decreased attack speed.

AP Carries
Most ability power have the same goal to burst a single champion down before the full fight starts. Your job is to try and bait these champions to use their spells on you instead if your carries. This can be done by just running in alone taking the damage before your team goes into the fight, but in reality the best way to accomplish this is to run in and stun the ap champ. Allowing your team to burst them down before they get to use their abilities.