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Choose Champion Build:
Spells:
Flash
Smite
Ability Order
Eternal Hunger (PASSIVE)
Warwick Passive Ability
Welcome


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21 - 0 - 9
R > Q > W > E
Hey my name is CombatJack and this build is designed to truly create a multi-purpose, sustainable, ganking machine out of one of the most fun jungling champions out there. Warwick can deal insane amounts of damage with the right build and that's precisely what we're aiming for here. You'll see hundreds of guides out there telling you to build pure tankwick, and I'm not here to say that's not smart, but I am going to offer an effective alternative to those who like a little more bite out of their jungler. If you don't like that style, you're welcome to go play



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Pros![]() +High base AD and AS +Strong ganker +High sustain in jungle +Good chaser with ![]() +Ultimate procs on-hit effects +jungler = more global exp |
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Cons![]() -Weak early ganks (pre-6) -Slow clears before ![]() -Early blue buff reliant -Expensive itemization -Susceptible to crowd control -Cooldown dependent ![]() ![]() |
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I like to take Exhaust because it is the definitive anti-AD carry/DPS spell that will stop that fed ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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This spell is useful for a number of reasons and most people swear by it. On warwick, ![]() ![]() |
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I've seen Warwicks packing Ignite but I really don't think it's all that necessary on him. Here's why: you're already one of the best chasers in the game, if you need just a few more ticks of damage you can run up to them and hit them yourself. Sure it's useful for making that ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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I personally think it's a bit redundant with your passive ![]() ![]() |

Offensive and Utility Masteries
I take 21-0-9 as per typical of the new jungle masteries for a DPS-type jungler. I do like the new 21st mastery because it will make those last few autoattacks and







With Utility there are a couple divergent options with the first tier of masteries. If you choose to take






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Runes




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9x
![]() I take magic penetration runes because each of the three proc-based items deal additions magic damage as well as your two damage-dealing abilities. 8.5 mpen coupled with the 20 Mpen from ![]() ![]() |
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9x
![]() Flat armour seals are always effective on junglers and even laning because it reduces the damage you take from neutral minions and early game harassment from auto-attacking champions. I take these seals on almost every champion I play for their early game value. |
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9x
![]() I take per level runes because for magic resistance because they offer the most benefit late game when most casters pick up large amounts of AP, and you will need all the help you can get surviving ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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3x
![]() Warwick is actually very flexible with his Quintessence build because he can easily jungle nearly runeless, so you have a lot of room to experiment with different quints. Probably some of the most universally useful runes are these movement speed quints that will both speed up your travel time between camps as well as your ganking, allowing you to get off that extra autoattack that could be the difference between a kill and a failed gank. These scale well into throughout the game and I definitely recommend them if you have the extra 6150 IP to spare. |
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Debuff Bruiser Build
Runes




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9x
![]() I use these marks a lot of tankier junglers who don't utilize the flat attack damage as well as those with scaling abilities like ![]() ![]() |
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Seals and Glyphs should ideally remain the same between each warwick build regardless of your itemization.
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![]() These quints provide fantastic synergy with your 9x ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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Optional Alternatives
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![]() Not a bad alternative for any jungler, although better suited to those who have spammable abilities that scale with AD, which warwick does not. Still, Warwick has a very high base attack damage, and coupling that with runes and a ![]() |
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9x
![]() Mana regeneration is critical for a champion such as Warwick who is very much a caster type champion with high-cost spells. These benefit more late game when you won't have as much time to make rounds to blue buff, or when you save it for the AP carry instead. These runes will help keep you at a sustained mana pool to cast all your spells when the need arises. Overall great runes at their turnover level when they surpass the flat mana regeneration option. |
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9x
![]() You may find these runes to be invaluable for faster cooldowns on ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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3x
![]() These runes are perfect for nearly all junglers and very typical of junglers like ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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![]() You really can't ever go wrong with the flat health Quints and that's exactly why they cost 2050 IP each. While these were nerfed some time ago, they remain to be the most universally useful runes you can buy for early game survivability when every point of health matters. Three of these will grant you 78 bonus health right off the bat to help with a safer jungle route. |
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greater quintessence of desolation | ww |
3x greater quintessence of desolation
These are also typical of my tankier jungle runes because they give 10 flat armour penetration right off the bat to substitute for the lack of armour pen marks. If you start with these and the attack speed marks, you're going to clear the camps very very quickly which means more time for ganking and invading. They won't help your magic DPS but will certainly increase the damage of your autoattacks on all targets, beefing up your early ganks when combined with ![]() |
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I pick one point in






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Eternal Thirst: Your passive has now been buffed to scale tremendously into late game as well as increase your early jungle clear speeds on par with the likes of ![]() ![]() |

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Hunters Call: This is an incredible ability for taking down large monsters in the jungle and destroying towers with ruthless efficiency. Increasing your attack speed by 80% at level 5 and 40% to surrounding teammates will make towers and inhibitors crumble in a matter of seconds. You should max this directly after ![]() |

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Blood Scent: This ability is what makes Warwick one of the best chasers in the game. It will grant him bonus movement speed if an enemy is below 50% health within a deceptively long range. In addition, it reveals units stealthed from brush (although not those by ability such as ![]() ![]() |

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Infinite Duress: This is your most important skill as Warwick, and I will be explaining in depth just what this skill does and how it synergizes with your items. The ability description says this will suppress the enemy champion for 1.8 seconds and strike 5 times in that duration. This suppression cannot be escaped from through summoner ![]() ![]() |

Note: Speaking of on-hit effects, this is where Infinite Duress really shines through. It is an ability that will proc on-hit effects just like












I prefer to start with a












Here's where the fun part begins, the item build:
I am the kind of person who loves to calculate and analyze every aspect of items to best maximize my benefit for a champion. I spent a long time theorycrafting and testing these different items, and this core build is so far my favorite. I will offer alternatives as well in this section if procwick isn't necessarily your style, although if you give him a try I think you'll find it to be one of the most effective builds for arguably the most versatile champion in the game.
Potential end-game builds:
General Magic DPS:
CC-heavy team:
Caster-heavy team:
AD-heavy team:
Magic DPS Itemization
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Your Best Choices
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General Offensive Items
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General Defensive Items
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This build emphasizes magic penetration to maximize the damage output from our three magic damage proc-based items with on-hit effects. Dealing the full 4% max health damage will not be a problem against most enemies that don't stack magic resistance (which hampers the rest of their gameplay if they decide to do so anyway).
With our breakneck attack speed and




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Why I don't take Wriggle's Lantern in every game |
Wriggle's is a questionable item late game because it provides only meager stats and a small amount of lifeteal, as well as a 20% proc chance to deal 425 magic damage to target minion or pet. (Which is an incredible passive ability, but only effective on non-champions) This can actually ends up doing less damage on average to monsters and minions because of the infrequency of the effect, particularly against baron, which this guide allows you to take on entirely by yourself. It may seem cheaper and the warding every 3min is certainly helpful (although many who buy Wriggle's use that as a crutch so they don't have to buy as many wards), but overall you lose out on a HUGE amount of champion damage output imbued in


You have one ability that scales with ability power and it's on a 6 second cooldown. Your hungering strike scales 100% with your AP along with a base damage of 275 at level 5, seems nice right? Well it also has the potential to deal 16% of the enemy's max health with one strike, which is 90% of the time, the option that deals the most damage between the two. I'll show you with a few calculations detailing how much AP you would need to deal 16% maximum health damage to the respective opponents through the AP component:
Enemy at 2000 HP- (2000 x 0.16 = 320 damage), (320 = 275 base damage + 45 AP)
Enemy at 2500 HP- (2500 x 0.16 = 400 damage), (400 = 275 base damage + 125 AP)
Enemy at 3000 HP- (3000 x 0.16 = 480 damage), (480 = 275 base damage + 205 AP)
By those calculations, you would need an extra 80 AP for every 500 health the enemy has in order to deal the same amount of damage as the simple 16% max health alternative. Is it really worth spending tons and tons of money on expensive AP items only to deal a small amount more damage than your

Edit: This section is a little outdated since the recent



Early Jungling:
Probably the best route for weak early gankers such as Warwick is the Wolves -> Blue -> Wraiths -> Red -> Golems -> Wraiths -> GANK. Depending on which side you start on (purple or blue) you will want your top or bottom laners to help you clear the wolves as quickly as possible, don't worry about them stealing exp because it's not nearly as much of an issue with the nerfed jungle. After clearing wolves (don't let your team last hit any of them, because losing gold is bad), you should get your middle laner to leash to the blue golem over the wall and your bot or top laner should hit it a few times, just enough so that you don't lose too much health from its attacks. This type of hard leash is not fully necessary with


When starting at wolves, you have about 13 seconds to kill them and move on to blue buff before it spawns, meaning a little damage from your teammates is always helpful. They should ideally stick around to prevent invasions as well.

Blue buff is important for your first jungle clear because it allows you to spam



Kill the wraith camp next, focusing down the blue wraith before taking care of the smaller ones. Later in the game this camp is often subject to counter-jungling from either the enemy jungler or mid-laner. Pay attention to the potential of enemy wards around this area and always be on your guard for strategic invasion.

Next you will move onto your own red buff and proceed to kill it. Your



Finish off the larger of the two golems with


The best junglers in the current meta are those that can farm creeps without losing health so that they can gank at near max health to their fullest power. Warwick is fortunately a very sustained jungle with his own ability to lifesteal and you should be at or near full health by the time you gank. However, always remember that if there is any question at all, just GO BACK: DYING IN AN UNSUCCESSFUL GANK IS THE WORST THING YOU CAN DO. This not only sets you back on gold and experience, but feeds the enemy laner, making life hell for your teammate.
Counter-Jungling:
A well sustained jungler such as Warwick should push his advantage every chance he gets. This includes frequent ganking and pressure on lanes as well as counter-jungling (denying farm and experience for the enemy jungler). In order to really set back the enemy team, you should make every effort to be very conscious of when buffs are picked up and when they will respawn. Remember that Red and Blue buff both have 5 minute respawn timers, and if you get to those enemy camps right as they spawn, many times you can take them uncontested.
For junglers who start at wolves/blue: the second blue buff will respawn anywhere between 7:10 and 7:30 depending on their leash and clear times.
For junglers who start at wraiths/red: the second red buff will also respawn somewhere between 7:20 and 7:40 depending on leash and clear times. (Note red is stronger than blue and takes slightly longer to kill)

In the event that you mistime the respawn, place a ward and you should be able to catch the enemy jungler either taking the buff for himself or giving it to a lanemate (often blue for AP casters at mid lane), and you can either


Early Ganking:
Warwick is a difficult champion to gank with because he basically has no CC until he hits level 6. But you cannot wait that long to gank, or you'll be set back and your team will likely struggle to hold their lanes. This is the reason I sometimes take




2. allow laner to catch up or get ahead in farm
Advanced Ganks:
A technique that has seen more use recently is called the bush gank, and it can be quite effective on lanes where your team is pushing much harder than the enemy (something that is inevitable with certain lane combinations, and not such a bad thing).

To do this, walk up to the lane from behind your teammates and the minions, walking right into the bushes, ensuring that you are far enough away from the enemy minion sight radii. Remain waiting in the bush until the enemy either facechecks it thinking no one is there, or until your teammate initiates with some form of CC. If you're already level 6, with prior acknowledgment from your lanemate, go ahead and use your


Mid-Late Game Movements:
As lanes begin to lose towers and the game enters the roaming stage of mid-late game, your ganks won't be as necessary for lane dominance and you should focus on farming your jungle, counter jungling the enemy, particularly stealing their blue and red buffs if it is safe, and catching enemies that overextend themselves to farm pushed creep waves. By this stage definitely give your blue buffs to the AP carry (something you should do for all blues beyond the first or second), because you can much more easily just steal the enemy blue. Continue to farm up and build your items and prepare for teamfights, don't leave your teammates alone and don't get caught by yourself! People just don't seem to understand that dying in this game is one of the worst things you can do, especially for no reason.
These three items are crucial for map control and avoiding enemy jungler ganks as well as initiating your own team movements to result in kills in lane or the jungle. Where to ward is also a crucial part of map control, and I will explain exactly where the best places are for these temporary lifesavers.
Critical Locations:
The two most important spots for wards are Baron and Dragon, the latter carrying more importance early game and the former being much more game-changing late game. These are also good spots to place vision wards if you have them because the enemy team is more than likely to also have wards there, and shutting out the enemy's map control is half the battle.

A


If you know the enemy support or jungler has either an



This is where you can expect most attempts at stealing baron to come from if you are on the blue side of the map. Ward this area to prevent any heroic


The two buff camps (red and blue) are also great places to ward if you feel they will respawn soon as this will allow you to gank the enemy jungler when he is preoccupied or weak, as well as have central sight on the enemy jungle. If you were counter-jungled early by a more aggressive jungler like



Second to these locations are the areas near the two wraith camps, where there are four diverging pathways. This ward will cover half the ganks coming towards mid lane as well as allow you and the mid laner to steal the enemy wraiths for extra experience and gold.

For bottom and top lanes, a ward in the tri-bush will help give away the position of the enemy jungler attempting to gank your laner. This is a common place where enemies will set up ambushes or wait for the opportunity to gank, and vision there will shut this down quickly.
Use Your Judgment:
As for other locations, there are tons of good places to put wards in the jungle and any areas where there are either choke points or divergent paths will cover the most for your team. Just be smart about your placement and try to anticipate the enemy's movements so that you can catch them in the sight radius of your wards when they come. If an enemy jungler likes to gank directly from the brush, go ahead and ward that area so that your laner can know exactly how long he stays and when he finally recalls. There are so many situational locations for map warding that you must use your judgment beyond the aforementioned crucial areas.
Oracle's and the Team:
An early


Purpose in Teamfights:
As a well-built warwick you have a lot of damage potential in teamfights, but you're useless if you die and all that damage output and single target destruction is wasted. Your purpose in teamfights is to suppress the enemy carry and separate him from the rest of his team while chewing his health away with extreme prejudice. You also have the ability to devour the enemy tank if he get's a little too bold and tries to disrupt your team. He may think twice when you've taken 60% of his health in less than 3 seconds. In addition to your strengths as an anti-carry, you are also a very strong tanky DPS champion who can soak damage and peel the enemies off your own carry. Suppressing an aggressive enemy and taking a considerable amount of his health will mean you cannot be ignored while your own carry continually pumps out autoattacks. Timing is crucial and you have multiple jobs in teamfights, use your judgment as to who to suppress and when to do so because the outcome of the fight can very often hinge on this.
Initiation:
You really shouldn't be the first one to initiate a teamfight, especially if your team is unprepared to pounce on the enemies because you will likely end up getting focused 5v1 and laughed at while you sit and contemplate your 60sec respawn timer. Play smart, choose wisely with your

Warwick and Baron Nashor:
One awesome ability that this guide will give Warwick is the power to solo Baron Nashor. Baron buff grants a significant amount of ability power and attack damage as well as most importantly massive percent-based health and mana regeneration. This buff is critical late-game for outlasting the enemy in those long-range stalemates then moving into the final push and ace that will win the game for your team or the other. Often Baron is warded by good teams, and near constant surveillance will ensure that 5 champions cannot even go near the north river without notice. One Warwick however, with



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Olaf: Whether in the jungle or lane, this guy is a monster who becomes stronger as his health goes down and has a ridiculous true damage ability in ![]() ![]() |
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Gangplank: Another one of your hard counters because every champion has these for balancing purposes. His ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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Alistar: The last of the champions who can cleanse your ultimate ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Special Thanks: To JhoiJhoi and Psiguard for their guide templates and organization that improves everything on this site. Thanks to their work making Mobafire a great resource for League of Legends. Thank them yourselves too, they're all really nice people!
If you liked this guide please head over and check out my friend JhoiJhoi's guide Wanderlust Warwick, she appreciates the love just as I do!
03/31/2012: Finally reached 100,000 views, thank you everyone for your support, your comments, and your votes! With your help more and more people will be able to see this guide, and it is my hope that it can help the most players possible. Thank you!
05/03/2012: 500,000 views and still rising. Thank you all for your support of this as the definitive

05/21/2012: 1,000,000 views, thanks to everyone who brought this guide to the top so that it may reach the most people possible. It's truly been a pleasure writing this, and it makes me happy that it's been received so well.
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