After playing as many champions as I could get my hands on I've realized over my time with the game that I am best suited at playing tanky characters. I was never really the type of person to run in and just drop massive damage on an enemy....it just wasn't me. Instead I get the most satisfaction when I jump in and assist a kill or save a teammate with a big strong tank. There's nothing better then being able to completely change the outcome of the battle because of your champions abilities. It also increases your value as a player to be able to play multiple tanks because most people want to either jungle or dps; which brings us to the guide.

Amumu is a champion that needs no introduction. He is a sad mummy that can deal great damage with his ratios and his strong ult as well as stand in the middle of a battle and take the damage. He is a very flexible champion that is easy to pick up and become useful with from the get go. This is my first guide so hopefully I'll make at least a little sense in the chapters below.

Now you can always switch your runes up from what I have depending on how you want your build to go (ie. more armor, mr, magic pen, etc.) but for me personally I like to have a lot of mana regen for his Despair ability and the Magic Pen to compliment the reduction in MR his passive does. This makes it so that not only are you able to stand toe to toe with anyone but you also can dish out some great damage with your abilities since you are eating away at any MR they have. I'd go into more details about the runes but they are pretty self explanatory.

After looking at several builds I couldn't find one that had a good balance between tankiness and enough damage to be a factor in team fights. Thus I created my own build to see if I could correct this problem. Before you just go into a game blindly using what I've put here I always urge you to try your own builds as well or use a variation of something you've seen. No build will work in every situation so you have to look at the other team an adjust accordingly. Below I will show you what I mean with certain items.

Eleisa's Miracle: Such a great item for a tank because it starts you out with a Regrowth Pendant which gives you decent health regen to stay in your lane and farm early on then morphs into a Philosopher's Stone which ups the HP regen, adds some Mana regen for that "W" and gives you an extra 5 gold every 10 seconds. It's also an item that is easily replaceable late game if you need to make up some ap, mr, armor or health with another item.

Mercury Treads: To me boots are a situational item and you should never just stick to a certain kind because a build says to. I usually like to go with Mercury Treads because of the MR and negative effect reduction but just look at the other team and see what will work best. Ninja Tabi, Ionian Boots of Lucidity and Sorcerer's Shoes can be just as good.

Sunfire Cape: With Amumu you will be up close and personal most of the time so it doesn't hurt to grab an item that gives you armor, hp and deals 35 damage every second to surrounding enemies. With your "W" always on you'll be hurting them by just standing there.

Force of Nature: Why this item over the usually more preferred Banshee's Veil? Well mainly because with the extra 20 MR and massive amounts of HP regen that you are stacking with Eleisa's you'll be pretty tough to take down. Oh and the increased movement speed pairs well with the Frozen Heart because it keeps you where you want to be...on top of enemy that is feeling the effect of having their attack speed reduced.

Frozen Heart: I love this item because you can get the Glacial Shroud early on in the laning phase which gives you a good armor boost as well as reducing your CD. Then once fully built you are getting a massive boost to your armor, even more CD reduction and it slows nearby enemies attack speed by 20%. +500 mana also doesn't hurt.

Abyssal Scepter: So you are all built up and doing well but you could use a little extra boost in your MR and AP to really put things over the top? Well in comes the Abyssal Scepter. +70 AP, +57 MR and it reduces the Magic Resist of nearby enemies by 20?!?! Paired with your passive you'll be asking anyone that gets close if they are prepared for a beat down.

Situational Alt Items: Like I stated in the intro to this section one build won't work all the time. Sometimes a teams composition favors one area over another and you have to adjust your build to compensate for what you lack. So without further ado, here a few situational items that you might substitute for Eleisa's in times of trouble.

AD Heavy Enemies: Throw on some Thornmail asap. Low cost with great armor and it throws back 30% of what they dish out to you.
AP Heavy Enemies: Now you can throw on your Banshee's Veil to fend off some of that spell damage being thrown your way. You also can't go wrong with a Guardian Angel.
Tanky but too low HP: Sometimes you can take the damage but can't take it long enough to let your team layeth the smack down. So the obvious choice here is Warmog's for the huge HP boost and awesome HP Regen to go along with the large amount you already have.
Tanky but no Damage: Easily solved with either a Rabadon's for the huge AP boost, a Void Staff for decent AP and more magic pen to go with what you already have or a Deathfire Grasp for some added AP and the ability to rip away stronger enemies HP with a single click of its active.

Cursed Touch (passive): Amumu's attacks reduce the target's Magic Resistance by 15/25/35 for 4 seconds.

I like this passive because even if you aren't going with an AP build with Amu it can still be effective. With the Abyssal Scepter, your runes and this ability they'll be getting set up without even knowing it.

Bandage Toss: Amumu tosses a sticky bandage at a target, stunning and damaging the target while he pulls himself to them.
Throws a bandage to target location. If it hits an enemy unit, Amumu will pull himself to the enemy, stun them, and deal 80/140/200/260/320 (+1) magic damage.

A solid initiator that will set up your ult every time. Not only does it hit for great damage but it pulls Amu to the target and stuns them as well. While it is a skill shot, it has great range and with a little practice isn't too hard to hit. Also great for catching run away enemies.

Despair: Overcome by anguish, nearby enemies lose a percentage of their maximum health each second.
Toggle: Nearby enemies take 8/12/16/20/24 magic damage plus 1.5/1.8/2.1/2.4/2.7 (+0.01)% of their maximum health each second.

LOVE LOVE LOVE this ability. It is such a great farming tool and since the mana cost per second doesn't increase as your level and your mana regen rate do, you'll be able to almost leave this on indefinitely without worry (get Blue Golem and forget about it). Whenever you engage anything always have this on because it's always dealing damage.

Tantrum: Permamently reduces the physical damage Amumu would take. Amumu can unleash his rage, dealing damage to surrounding enemies. Each time Amumu is hit, the cooldown on tantrum is reduced by 0.5 seconds.
Passive: Amumu takes 2/4/6/8/10 reduced damage from physical attacks.
Active: Amumu deals 75/100/125/150/175 (+0.5) magic damage to surrounding units. Each time Amumu is hit, the cooldown on Tantrum is reduced by 0.5 seconds.

Amu's bread and butter. With this and Despair you should have no problem farming at all. It does decent damage to a pretty wide range of surrounding enemies and also reduces the amount of physical damage you take. This will be your main attack and if you are getting hit you'll be able to spam this like no other.

Curse of the Sad Mummy: Amumu entangles surrounding enemy units in bandages, damaging them and rendering them unable to attack or move.
Amumu entangles surrounding enemy units, dealing 150/250/350 (+1) magic damage and preventing attacks and movement for 2 seconds.

This is why he gets banned in ranked games. His ult is vicious. If enemies group together you throw out your Bandage Toss and grab whoever you can then let loose on the ult and watch the tide of the battle change. With a large AoE that stuns and does great damage with a hefty ratio, this ability will make your teammates love you. When in doubt this is your savior.

Summoner's Spells: Another area that I feel is purely the users choice. I of course always choose flash because it can be used in so many situations and I like to pair it with either Ignite for a little added damage or Exhaust to make Bandage Toss against running enemies a cinch. Teleport and Ghost can also be useful spells. Just promise to never get Heal.

I'm not going to spend a whole lot of time on this section because it is easier to just give you a few obvious pointers and then let you go do your thing. People will play their own way regardless of how in depth the strategies are presented so it's better to just give them a basis from which to leap from.

Early Game/Laning: Farm like it is your j-o-b...since it kinda is. There is no need to really engage the enemy early on unless they get overly aggressive and present you with an opportunity you can't let pass. Just use your "W" when going into a group of enemies and when they get low hit that "E" to get multiple creep kills. Don't be afraid to play close to the tower and don't worry about taking down theirs this early.

Mid Game: Roam and Gank...still farm in between battles because you want to build up as quickly as possible, but if you see an enemy pushing and low on health feel free to end them. Try to go into a battle with a carry close by because even with the Bandage Toss, Ult, Despair and Tantrum you won't always have enough to completely kill them off. Most of the time yes but it doesn't hurt to have a friend there to clean up just in case. If you don't have a jungler then hit that area as well because Amu jungles really well.

Late Game: By now you are tanked up and able to deal a considerable amount of damage to multiple enemies. Lead the charge and pop into a group of enemies with your team at your back and you'll send them packing to spawn. You can also poke at enemies tower guarding giving your carries a chance to also pop in and back them off. Just play smart and you should have no problem here.

Tanks are a vital part of any team and once you've learned to play them you'll be an invaluable member. Hopefully with this build you'll be able to grab Amumu and start using him effectively right away in real game situations. Just remember to play smart, communicate well and work with your teammates. Even a really strong Amumu can't do it alone. Just try to have fun playing with one of the most dominant and strange champions the League has to offer.

Most Recent Game using this Build:

All comments are welcome so please leave them.