Welcome to my guide to Amumu, the Sad Mummy. I won't be covering jungle Amumu like a million other guides on this site already have, no, I'll be showing you Amumu's hidden power: the support role! This little sad guy actually works a lot better as a support than you would expect, even more so in season 4 with the changes to the support role. It's now very common to reach at least four / five items every game, so you can both help your team and be incredibly tanky at the same time!

This guide will focus on playing Amumu as a kill lane support, who gets his AD carry fed while being a very great asset to teamfighting comps. Try to pick Amumu into a team with very high AoE damage, like Miss Fortune, Katarina and Rumble.

Pros

1. Flat damage reduction on Tantrum, neglecting a lot of poke damage from ranged attacks
2. Percent damage with Despair which helps a lot against the tanky supports you often see nowadays (Leona, Taric and Thresh, to name a few)
3. Great at teamfighting - he has a good initiation and all his other spells are AoE
4. Good at peeling with multiple forms of CC
5. In the botlane Amumu finally has a friend to be with! :D

Cons

1. Might get flamed because people are not used to seeing support Amumu
2. Melee range and therefore can be poked easily
3. Reliant on hitting Bandage Toss - just like Blitzcrank, a lot of your kill potential depends on if you can hit your skillshot stun / knockup or not
4. Runs out of mana pretty fast if missplayed

These runes mainly focus on making you tankier, while also slightly improving your damage in lane. 72 flat health is a big deal in the early game and can often make you win an all-in that you otherwise would have lost. The armor is always helpful when laning against an AD carry, while the magic resist is to cover up a little poke from the support and make your late game safer. We go with armor quintessences and health seals, because since the patch where they changed runes they tend to give you a little more effective health on Amumu than health quintessences and armor seals would do. Look below for the exact calculation. You can also take more flat / scaling glyphs than recommended, depending on your enemy. The magic penetration marks improve your damage quite a lot, assuming that most botlaners start off with a pretty low amount of magic resist.
I would take this runeset in nearly every single game, unless my enemy had zero magic damage (which I have never, ever seen happen before!) damage, then I'd swap out my glyphs for something more damage oriented.

Okay, to calculate what the best combination of quintessences and seals (health / armor) is, we first need to know Amumu's base stats, scalings, runes bonuses and the formula to calculate effective health. We're also going to take in magic resist, because health helps against both physical and magic damage while armor only helps against physical damage.



Now that we know the background numbers, we can start on calculating what would be the most effective runes.

To calculate the amount of effective health one would have - assuming half of the damage you take is physical and half magic - we need to calculate the effective health against physical damage and the effective health against magic damage, then add it up together and divide it by two.

Greater Quintessence of Health // Greater Seal of Armor

Greater Quintessence of Armor // Greater Seal of Health

Against physical damage

698.5 (472 + 78) x (1 + ((18 + 9) / 100)) 550 x (1 + (27 / 100)) 550 x (1 + 0.27) 550 x 1.27 = 698.5

711.4432 (472 + 72) x (1 + ((18 + 12.78) / 100)) 544 x (1 + (30.78 / 100)) 544 x (1 + 0.3078) 544 x 1.3078 = 711,4432

Against magic damage

742.39 (472 + 78) x (1 + ((30 + (3 x 1.34) + (6 x 0.16)) / 100)) 550 x (1 + ((30 + 4.02 + 0.96) / 100)) 550 x (1 + (34.98 / 100)) 550 x (1 + 0.3498) 550 x 1.3498 = 742.39

734.2912 (472 + 72) x (1 + ((30 + (3 x 1.34) + (6 x 0.16)) / 100)) 544 x (1 + ((30 + 4.02 + 0.96) / 100)) 544 x (1 + (34.98 / 100)) 544 x (1 + 0.3498) 544 x 1.3498 = 734.2912

Total effective health

720.445 (698.5 + 742.39) / 2 1440.89 / 2 = 720.445

722.8672 (711.4432 + 734.2912) / 2 1445.7344 / 2 = 722.8672

This column proves that at level 1, armor quintessences combined with health seals are better than health quintessences combined with armor seals. The laning phase, though, will not forever be played at level 1. Since there are no squares in this formula, the accessory diagram will be a straight line and we only need to calculate the amounts of effective health at level 2 to know if (and if so, when) the health quintessences combined with armor seals will ever surpass the armor quintessences with health seals.

Against physical damage

826.102 (472 + 78 + 84) x (1 + ((18 + 9 + 3.3) / 100)) 634 x (1 + (30.3 / 100)) 634 x (1 + 0.303) 634 x 1.303 = 826.102

842.0224 (472 + 72 + 84) x (1 + ((18 + 12,78 + 3.3) / 100)) 628 x (1 + (34.08 / 100)) 628 x (1 + 0.3408) 628 x 1.3408 = 842.0224

Against magic damage

869.7846 (472 + 78 + 84) x (1 + ((30 + 1.25 + (3 x 1.34) + (6 x 2 x 0.16)) / 100)) 634 x (1 + (30 + 1.25 + 4.02 + 1.92 / 100)) 634 x (1 + (37.19 / 100)) 634 x (1 + 0.3719) 634 x 1.3719 = 869.7846

861.5532 (472 + 72 + 84) x (1 + ((30 + 1.25 + (3 x 1.34) + (6 x 2 x 0.16)) / 100)) 628 x (1 + (30 + 1.25 + 4.02 + 1.92 / 100)) 628 x (1 + (37.19 / 100)) 628 x (1 + 0.3719) 628 x 1.3719 = 861.5532

Total effective health

847.9433 (826.102 + 869.7846) / 2 1695.8866 / 2 = 847.9433

851.7878 (842.0224 + 861.5532) / 2 1703.5756 / 2 = 851.7878

Whereas at first the difference was 722.8672 - 720.445 = 2.4222 - the difference now is 851.7878 - 847.9433 = 3.8445. That means that every level, the combination of armor quintessences and health seals starts to outscale the combination of health quintessences and armor seals more and more! They will probably be even better assuming that the mix of physical and magic damage in the botlane normally is not 50% / 50%, but more like 70% / 30%. However the difference isn't too big (I mean, it's just 5 health, come on), it will once every so often save your life. Ever survived a fight with less than 5 health? -It's cause of your runes my friend!

Note: I didn't mention the masteries in this calculation and also didn't use them, but for both rune pages they would be the same, so if I'm not mistaken that shouldn't make a difference in which of the two rune pages is the best. The exact numbers may slightly differ, but the armor quintessences and health seals will still be the best option.

This is in my opinion the best mastery page on Amumu support, and I run it on most other melee supports such as Taric an Leona as well. It gives you some quite decent tanky stats, while also granting you a good amount of gold income. However, there really are a lot of mastery pages that work well for Amumu.

Some of them are listed below:


9/21/0 for extra high kill potential
9/12/9 for a good mix between everything (note: this way you go over the cooldown reduction cap)
0/21/9 for a little more tankiness and some less money

I won't explain every single point in detail, but if you have any questions on why I took one point and not the other, feel free to ask them!

Note: The mastery trees in the above pictures slightly differ from what the real mastery tree is like, but the points that we use in this guide are still the same, so it isn't a real problem.

This is the summoner spells set you will be using in most of your games (let's say a little more than half of them). It improves your kill potential even more, helps against those pesky Soraka supports and Flash is 100% necessary on Amumu to be able to initiate fights. 1. Flash 2. Bandage Toss 3. Curse of the Sad Mummy 4. ??? 5. Profit!

Never ever must you deviate from using Flash, but Ignite can be replaced with two other summoner spells, being Exhaust and Heal. You take Exhaust if the enemy team has a hypercarry or assassin, or if you already know you probably won't be able to score a kill in lane. The last option is Heal, which you can take if your AD carry insisted on taking Barrier, or if you feel like you want to play with double Heal (be careful not to use the second Heal shortly after the first one, it decreases the effect!)

The other summoner spells are just a big NO on support Amumu.

An OK passive. It rewards auto-attacking in lane and can help when you are teamed with an AD carry who deals some magic damage (Corki, Varus, Tristana), but it's not as good as for expample Leona's Sunlight. Try to proc it as often as you can, but don't overdo and put yourself at great risk just because some random dude on the net told you to use your passive "as often as you can".

A one point-wonder. This will define if you are a good Amumu or not. The animation of Bandage Toss requires some accustomisation, but as soon as you get the hang of it it isn't that hard to land. I find myself to nearly never miss it, unless I'm really not trying to hit it. Make sure you time your engages well (tell your laner / jungler when you are going in, you're just like Leona.. you need a follow-up or otherwise your engage is useless!)

Your main damage output during mid and late game teamfights. It shreds through enemy tanks like nearly no other ability and makes your damage output relative against every single member of their team. There's really just one restriction to this skill, and it's the mana. Just make sure you have enough mana to have this skill up all the teamfight long, and you should be fine.

This skill boosts your laning phase so incredibly hard and scales so well with levels, that I almost start wondering why noone has every considered lane Amumu before. This skill makes Amumu very strong in trades in lane. Damage on a low cooldown, and free damage reduction, is nothing to laugh at. Also, combined with block it will cover Amumu's biggest weakness: poke.

This is one of the best abilities in the entire game. It renders the enemy AD carry and / or assassin(s) useless by making them immobile and stopping them from using auto-attacks. It also deals a fair amount of damage and has a good range. It makes you win most level 6 all-ins and can swing around the course of the whole game.. just by simply pushing the R button on your keyboard!

As for the general skill order, you of course always take your ult when you can. We start with Bandage Toss at level 1, because it is your CC move. What you take at level 2 and 3 honestly doesn't matter, however I think Tantrum is better because the flat damage works better early game and the damage reduction is pretty useful. Just make sure you have all your skills by level 3. From here on we max Tantrum, because both the damage and damage reduction go up, and the cooldown goes down. It just scales the best with levels. Second comes Despai, because it adds the most to your teamfighting presence. Last but not least, we max out Bandage Toss.

Relic Shield is the best out of the three gold income items for Amumu. The health, heal on execute and gold income are all very important on Amumu. I haven't done the exact maths, but someone lately stated that Relic Shield grants Amumu himself a little less money than Ancient Coin would, while Relic Shield also heals your ally in lane and therefore is a more team-oriented item. Also, Face of the Mountain is great on Amumu because 500 health is nothing to laugh at. Yes, its active is inferior to Talisman of Ascension's, but weighing all the pros and cons I come to the point saying that Relic Shield is better. Also, it rewards playing actively in lane (you need to look to proc your stacks, and not just sit in the bush getting money), which is a huge plus for me because it makes me feel more useful and improves my general game-experience.
An alternative way to start the game is with a Doran's Shield and a Health Potion, which you should take if you are up against a botlane with very heave poke (e.g. Caitlyn and Sona). If you take a Doran's Shield because you are playing a hard lane, chances are you should also take 21 points in defense in your masteries. Be careful though, as this starter leaves you with no Stealth Ward!


Most of the times when you back you will have at least at 800 gold, making you can immediately buy your Sightstone which is your first important buy. It's essentially also a gold income item if you look at it (every ward used equals to 75 gold earned that you didn't have to spend at Stealth Wards), and makes your general laning phase a lot safer. If you have some spare money, pick up a Vision Ward and some potions. Also, don't forget to swap out your Warding Totem for Sweeping Lens, because you won't need the one minute ward anymore.


As the name already suggests, this is your core build. It consists of the most important items for early / mid game and contains the components for your late game build. The Boots of Speed are great for just that edge to cath up to somebody, while they later on will build into your tier 2 boots which are very important on Amumu. The Sightstone, of course, is core on every single support. Right after you purchased your Sightstone, you should upgrade Relic Shield into Targon's Brace for higher gold income. This is really important, because now you can have three stacks, and they come up faster. Your next purchase should be a Kindlegem, which I consider core on most tank supports. It gives health and cooldown reduction and builds into five different items, that all are good on Amumu (however we probably won't be getting the Ancient Golem Spirit on support Amumu..) You will also probably have reached level 9 by now, meaning your Sweeping Lens will automatically upgrade into an Oracle's Lens.


There are a lot of options for boots on Amumu, and all are good purchases. You just need to be able to make a good estimation of what the game needs the most. If the enemy team is CC heavy and deals a lot of magic damage, your best bet would be to get Mercury's Treads. If they have heavy auto-attackers though (such as Master Yi jungle and Fiora top), you should buy Ninja Tabi. If they have a mixed team but a lot of slows, take Boots of Swiftness. If you need more movement speed and roaming because you need to place wards all around the map, take Boots of Mobility. Last but not least, if your team needs more damage, you can even go with Sorcerer's Shoes. It really depends on the situation.


By mid game you should upgrade your Kindlegem into either a Locket of the Iron Solari or Face of the Mountain, depending on what the game needs the most. If you start teamfighting early and the enemy team has a lot of AoE damage, getting Locket first would be the best. If you continue to lane for quite a long while, Face of the Mountain would help a lot with your gold income and the one-person shield benefits you more. After, take whatever you didn't get first.


I feel like this build has the best mix of offense, defense, magic resist and armor and fits in nearly every game. Again, depending on what the game needs the most, you decide what your last two items are. If they are magic damage heavy and your team also has at least one other caster, you should get the Abyssal Scepter first. The stats it gives are insanely good on Amumu, considering you will almost always be in the middle of their team and affect everyone with the debuff. Also, if you use your passive, you can potentially give someone a 70 points decrease in his magic resist.. that's insane and probably makes you deal true damage against an AD carry! The Frozen Heart will most of the times also be in your build, because 100 armor, 20% cooldown reduction, a huge deal of mana and an attack speed debuff is just too good to pass by. Also, its components are very cheap and therefore make it easy to buy.


If you need more armor because their team is so physical damage heavy, these items are all good possibilities. Randuin's Omen and Sunfire Cape are some kind of the same in terms of stats they give, whereas Randuin's Omen gives you better peeling and Sunfire Cape improves your damage. The last good item would be Zhonya's Hourglass. I actually think it synergizes very well with Amumu's kit. Think about it, you jump into their team and ult everyone, and most likely they will start focusing you. You pop your Zhonya's, and for a second or two will cause chaos amongst the enemy team. Just enough to give your team the time to follow up and win the fight! You can either take this instead of Frozen Heart if it fits the game better and the passives help you more than an attack speed debuff, or together with Frozen Heart to completely nullify any physical damage against you!


Out of this items, Banshee's Veil makes you the most tanky. The stats it gives are roughly the same as Spirit Visage, but the bubble benefits Amumu so much more than the healing increase. However, if you haven't reached the cooldown reduction cap yet and really want to do so, feel free to take the Spirit Visage. Next comes Mikael's Crucible, a very niche item which is very good on supports. It grants Amumu a lot of mana regen, solving one of his biggest problems. The magic resist it gives is pretty nice too, but the best point is the active. It's basically a cleanse for a teammate.. If they somehow were too stupid to pick Cleanse against a heavy CC team, you can be their savior! It's also pretty cheap to boot, making it a perfect purchase.


Finally, if your team ends up dealing too little damage, you can opt to purchase one of these items. Liandry's Torment is perfect for Amumu. It makes you even scarier for tanks, and you can also proc the effect double because you have both a stund and an entangle. Also, afterwards you can keep the passive up all the time because of your Despair. It also gives health, magic penetration and ability power which are all good stats. Rylai's is also insane on Amumu, because his Despair makes him have a permanent slow now. All you need to do is toggle on W and walk around your enemy. The last two items I find myself to nearly never get, but they should work fine in theory. Both make you a little tankier while providing an aura / more utility for your team.

You buy your starting items, head over to either blue / red buff to help your jungler, or walk over to the lane and sit in the bush, waiting for the enemy. If you have an AD carry with strong early burst (Ashe, with her crit ready, Twitch who can get a few of his passive stacks off), you can try to ambush the enemy and smack a stun in their face while dealing the burst damage. This tactic can give you a pretty big early game advantage because it enables you to zone them. Start playing passive in lane until level 3. Just take the occasional last-hit with your Relic Shield and stun the enemy if they engage on your AD carry. There's nothing more you can go do in the beginning. Come level 3, you can start to play aggressive. Play just like you are Leona. Time and communicate your engages, try to kill the enemy carry and if not try to at least damage him heavily and / or burn some summoner spells. At level 6, you can easily get your AD carry a double kill if you play it well. Your ultimate is insane for 2v2 fights.


This is the part of the game where Amumu is strongest. With three AoE skills, decent tank stats and a game-changing ultimate you should aim to be looking for teamfights. You can't push turrets all too well because of the fact you are melee, but you can dive well. Eliminate your enemies first, then you can take the objectives! ;) You don't necessarily have to win the game fast, Amumu scales pretty well. I won't be making an apart chapter on late game, since it's essentially the same as mid game, except for the fact that AD carries are now a lot stronger and assassins tend to lose some power now that everyone gets his defensive items and doesn't get blown up so fast anymore. You should now focus more on defending your AD carry.

11/5/2014 // Swapped health from quintessences to seals and armor from seals to quintessences
12/5/2014 // Added explanation on why I did the above
12/5/2014 // made 0/16/14 the general mastery page and moved 9/12/9 to the optionals