Welcome guys to my first Moba Fire guide, presenting you ap Garen. Though this is my first guide,
I have quite a lot of experience with Garen and even more with jungling. Just to note, I suggest you this guide even at high elo, being a must-ban (like ap caster Vayne- expect a guide soon).
It may be a typical guide, but I chose something light for my first.

No need to discuss them, they are the classic Garen runes for jungling.

For masteries I also chose typical Garen masteries, save for Greed and Awareness , which I chose
because junglers, especially when lanes do need help very early, tend to stay back at exp and gold.

Well the begining is simple. Just take what every jungler (except perhaps for something like fidl) takes, Hunter's Machete and 5 pots.
After, try stacking ap but don't rush a rabadon's or a Nashor's tooth. Get them late game to take
the most out of their passives.
The first time you et back, I advice you taking boots of speed and then focus on building spirit
of the spectral wraith.
Don't upgrade your boots yet: your Q and runes give you all the movement you need so far.
Try being as close as you can at legendary item Deathfire Grasp and advanced item Haunting Guise.
(explaination afterwards). Thereafter you are free to progress on your build the way you see fit.
Now a bit of advices for situational items: If your team has the upper hand, why not taking a Nashor's Tooth or a Lich Bane. I don't advice you taking both because they will take slots from more nesseccary items. Also, if your opponents are clever enough to realize how OP you are, they'll probably try to get away from you on sight. To adress that problem, take a Twin Shadows, or Rylai's Crystal Scepter.
For defensive options the choices are pretty simple: enemy team has lots of ad? take Zhonya's Hourglass. Enemy deals tons of ap damage? Take Spirit Visage (it may not be giving you the AP you need, but works well with your Spellvamp). The other options at defensive section are not highly recommended, because never forget you only have 6 item slots leaving space only for the most neccessary items. As for the 3 items at my "Also working Well items", there are items that I have not yet tried but are sure to work just as fine as all the others.

The spell sequence is I think a-must-follow. For first spell take Judjement to help you clear the jungle. For summoner spells I personally choose Clarity (for mana issues) and Smite (you are a jungler dude).
If you are sure you can always have the blue buff, change clarity for Flash or (I suggest) Ignite.

(coming soon)

PROS

high mobility
quick assassinations
great burst
with the example build, you are getting the most out of your abilities.
op cc
many chances of survivability after assassination, even after tower-diving.


CONS

The strongest champions have the most chances of getting focused
Blue buff-reliant(basically I personally Rage-quit when I lose it)
No easy ganks until you hit lv6(like ww)
spellshields block your ulti and this can be a problem (sivir, Nocturne, Morgana)

Try to hold your smite to kill the monsters at jungle with that, to avoid enemy stealing, especially if it's about Buffs. Initiate your fight with monsters with Q then E and W. Frankly (or sadly for enemy Garens) you can't ulti minions or monsters. When ganking a lane and you have still health afterwards, try to take all the enmy minions. Do not forget that you have carry possibilities and so you sould be well fed at late game. Also I advice you not to give the bufs to allies. You need them, especially at early game. (late game it's wise to give red to adc).

Now about the serious part: pay close attention.

Ganging before you reach level 6 can be a bit difficult. Anyway, Garen can be a true assassin but enemies must have crossed the middle of their lane and have started pushing to do a sure kill or assist. Charge from the bush with Q and instantly ulti your enemy if he has low health, else spin a bit with E and then ulti him. Ignite can be working fine at this point, allowing you to walk away from your target like a boss leaving him to die slowly. Also ap jungler Garen is suitable for counter jungling, but I'm gonna write a different section for it.

Ok time to talk about the combo that ap jungler garen is feared of.
It goes like this:(pretty simple but I fell there is need to say it)

do the active of

Deathfire Grasp
ulti

(have ready an answer to the typical close-minded "you're reported" fools- LoL society is not ready for the Garen New Meta yet. Tell them "at least I take kills". Since they think the kill you just took was a ks, they'll probably ragequit. Then just report them. If they don't quit they'll surely start cursin you: report them in that case too. Enjoy ;) )

Ok, jungler is a laner that has meaning only if he can communicate well with teammates, and you are no exeption. Try not to ks the ADC. Even if he's not skilled, with a good score, he can work miracles.

If your teammates don't need much help and you have free time for counter-jungling, try it out as you outplay most junglers with ap Garen. Ambush them in their bush, smash your head to the keyboard (do all your spells) and leave quickly with Q not to get flanked.
A special case of enemy junglers are Twitch and Lulu. Lulu is countering you, so try not to be too aggressive. Her slow and powerful autoattacks will be enough to hold you until his allies arrive to try to kill you.
If you have Twitch for enemy jungler, he can at least drive you out of his jungle, as he will deal you all the amage he can and then become invisible and get away. If you want by all means to counter-jungle him, be sure to take frequent Oracle's Elixir, and believe me, you'll f*** him up. I don't recommend it though, as oracles are too expensive for this reason.

I hope I helped a little, and be sure it will be in a few days updated. Right now I don't know how to make hotlinks, so I would apreciate any help. Many other guides coming in due time. Oh I nedd also a bit of help as to how I can make the items appear next to my build title, and how I can upload match photos here. ty in advance.

Anyone wantin to play troll games please contact me (strings en other, Nordic server)