Sejuani Build Guide by Gizladlo

Update Log

• April 18th, 2012: Added two chapters: "Patch Notes" and "Update Log." Corrected the spelling of "Hecarim" in the "Preview * Pros/Cons" section and made necessary patch notes changes. Condensed all the "TL;DR" sections into one chapter. Made general improvements on the wording and wordiness of several sections.
• April 15th, 2012: Published first draft of build after approximately thirty games of research and replay analysis.

Patch Notes

Here I will store the relevant patch note information concerning Sejuani.

April 18th, 2012:

• Arctic Assault mana cost reduced to 70/75/80/85/90 from 70/80/90/100/110
• Glacial Prison cooldown reduced to 130/115/100 seconds from 150/130/110

Introduction

I suppose this opening paragraph is a bit of a disclaimer: I am making this guide because I wasn't quite satisfied with the other guides for Sejuani, so I took the time to find the build that works for me, which I share with you now.

This guide is meant purely as advice and I will never say this is the perfect way to play Sejuani. That said, this is the way I win with her, even in ranked play, with some degree of success, so maybe that is worth something. This is my first guide on MOBAFire, though I am highly receptive to constructive criticism and will respond accordingly. I will keep this up-to-date so long as I play League of Legends.

A little about me: I began jungling as Amumu and Maokai, then tried Sejuani during her free week and fell in love with her almost instantly. I got to level thirty primarily through playing tanks and support, playing a lot of Taric and Blitzcrank along the way. I only just began to play junglers, though, I learn quickly. Now the roles I fill most are either jungler or support.

Summoners who play champions like Blitzcrank and Leona will have an advantage to learning Sejuani simply because the skillshots are essentially the same, and they both usually behave as tanks or tanky DPS. Players who have jungled with Amumu will already have a head-start on jungling with Sejuani. A friend of mine summed her up rather nicely: "She does everything Amumu does, only better."

Preview (Pros & Cons)

Currently Sejuani is the only champion in the League that rides a mount, as Hecarim, the Shadow of War, is technically a centaur. She has two selectable skins that differ from her default: Sabertusk Sejuani and Darkrider Sejuani , both costing 975 Riot Points to unlock. Currently there is no word whether or not more skins will be made for her.

She is a melee tank champion who specializes in slows as her primary form of crowd control ("CC"), though she has a stun in her ultimate, Glacial Prison. She benefits directly from health due to her Northern Winds ability. All of her abilities deal magic damage, benefiting from magic penetration. I will cover her abilities more in the Skills & Leveling Sequence section.

Sejuani is a pretty good jungler, with a fast clear and formidable ganking power. However, she is highly susceptible to counterjungling. She begins at blue buff, trying to gank at level two, and needs blue buff and red buff for her first run through the jungle only. However, one drawback comes from the fact she cannot take dragon by herself, which is why it is important to ward dragon.

She is weak against champions that can boost movement speed on allies, such as Karma and Kayle, and she is weak against high-damage junglers. The one champion that has both of these counters is Master Yi. She does not do a lot of damage alone. Because she needs her items to tank successfully, having no abilities that provide a temporary boost to her health, armor or magic resist, I feel like she needs gold, which is why she should jungle rather than lane. More on this will come in the Jungling and Counterjungling sections.

Masteries

Because she fills both jungler and tank roles, she should have twenty-one points in the Defense tree, and I personally feel the added movement speed from Swiftness makes all the difference, which is why I put my remaining nine points into the Utility tree.

The masteries I have set up will net you the most health during your clears of the jungle, so you should be able to gank pretty often. On that note, let's go through them:

What I take (and the reasons why)

Defense tree: 21 points

1/1 Summoner's Resolve : Grants ten gold on Smite use. Obviously worthless if you decide not to take Smite.
3/3 Hardiness : An additional six armor will make that first run through the jungle easier, and as a tank, armor is not really her strong point with this build.
2/2 Tough Skin : Reduces damage from minions and monsters by two, and again, makes that first clear safer, not to mention how it helps while chasing an enemy champion past a wave of minions.
4/4 Durability : Additional six health per level, with 108 health at level eighteen. Get that extra edge in health, which will help keep the Initiator buff on you, and gives Northern Winds more damage. Jungle clears no longer are as scary.
3/3 Vigor : Three additional health regained every five seconds. This has two-fold power: it makes clearing the jungle safer, and it helps keep your Initiator buff up.
2/2 Indomitable : I take this over Honor Guard because it helps with the earlier clears. Because two is one percent of two hundred, it might be worth more to put the two points into Honor Guard for the late game, since it will block a larger amount of the damage you are dealt.
1/1 Veteran's Scars : A flat extra thirty health. Same reasons I took Durability .
1/1 Bladed Armor : Returns six damage dealt by minions and monsters. A little edge on clearing the jungle, since the monsters there will hit you. That said, I'm not sold on this.
3/3 Initiator : An extra three percent movement speed buff so long as you are above seventy percent health. It makes all the difference in the late game, and it will help you close the gap before your enemies have a chance to react.
1/1 Juggernaut : An extra three percent of my maximum health? Too good to pass up, in my opinion, and the ten percent reduction on incoming disables helps too.

Utility tree: 9 points

1/1 Summoner's Insight : Fifteen seconds off the Flash cooldown, so I am not as afraid to use it offensively since it will be up a little sooner than normal.
3/3 Expanded Mind : Twelve mana per level, with a maximum of 216 mana at level eighteen. Not the most hungry for mana, but, a little extra goes a long way.
4/4 Swiftness : Two percent extra movement speed. Perfect for maximizing your movement speed to close those gaps.
1/1 Runic Affinity : I'm not sold on this: an extra twenty percent duration on buffs when she'll use them only once during the game? She needs blue and red buff for her first clear only, so I feel like this point could be better spent in Scout or something.

What I don't take (and why you might consider them instead)

Offense tree

To be honest, the only way I see you wanting to come in this tree is for Mental Force , Sorcery , and Arcane Knowledge for the extra ability power, cooldown reduction and, most importantly, percentile magic penetration. Anything else seems like a waste.

Defense tree

0/3 Resistance : Two additional magic resist per point might benefit her, but, with this build, she already has very little to fear from magic damage as it is.
0/3 Evasion : One percent per level less damage taken from area of effect abilities might be nice against champions like Fiddlesticks, Kennen and Miss Fortune, but I feel like you will not be getting as much as you would with other parts of the tree.
0/1 Siege Commander : Reduces the armor of turrets by ten. If you find yourself helping your allies destroy turrets, then, by all means, move a point to take this.
0/3 Enlightenment : Extra cooldown per level might seem like a fine choice, yet, her cooldowns are already small as it is, so this would only help you get your Glacial Prison back earlier.
0/3 Honor Guard : One percent damage reduction per point. Could take this over Indomitable or the Tough Skin , Bladed Armor combo, and this will really help your late game. So, if you find your games last longer than forty minutes, take this.
0/3 Mercenary : Eight bonus gold on champion kills and assists. Though this would help her get her items quicker or pick up more wards, I feel like this is a waste because I get about fifteen assists a game, on average, which equals either 120, 240, or 360 extra gold in total.

Utility tree

0/3 Good Hands : A three, seven or ten percent reduction on the time spent waiting to respawn, depending on the number of points you spend on it. As a tank, you are supposed to sacrifice yourself to save your allies, and this might be a better pick over Expanded Mind if you find yourself dying too much, resulting in your being underleveled.
0/1 Improved Recall : Takes a second off the time it takes to Recall back to base. Not a bad choice if you like to Recall a lot.
0/3 Meditation : An extra one mana regained every five seconds per point. Helpful if you are one to spam your abilities, but Philosopher's Stone ought to be enough mana regeneration for her.
0/1 Scout : Since you do place a few wards here and there, it might benefit you to take this, since it increases the sight range on Sight Wards by five percent.
0/4 Greed : An additional 0.5 gold gained every ten seconds per point spent, this would help her get her items sooner. To maximize this, though, it would require taking some points out of the Defense tree.
0/3 Transmutation : An extra one percent of spell vamp per point spent, this could help her sustain because all of her abilities do magic damage, especially her biggest damage dealer, Northern Winds. Again, to max this, it would mean taking some points out of the defense tree.

Runes

I feel that the runes I use are pretty straightforward, but there is a little room for modification. The logic behind the build I use is as follows: magic penetration marks because all of her abilities do magic damage, armor seals for jungling, magic resist per level glyphs to better fill role as a tank, and health quintessences to make jungling easier and to keep the movement speed bonus from Initiator up as much as possible. Personally I don't have the runes to test the other rune options I have listed here, but, in theory, they should work well.

Here it is in list form:

• Nine Greater Mark of Magic Penetration: +8.55 magic penetration at 1st level
• Nine Greater Seal of Armor: +12.9 armor at 1st level
• Nine Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist: +1.35 magic resist per level (24.3 Magic Resist at 18th level)
• Nine Greater Quintessence of Health: +78 health at 1st level

OTHER POSSIBLE MARKS

• Nine Greater Mark of Armor +8.91 armor at 1st level
• Nine Greater Mark of Magic Resist +8.73 magic resist at 1st level
• Nine Greater Mark of Health +31.23 health at 1st level

OTHER POSSIBLE GLYPHS

• Nine Greater Glyph of Magic Resist: +13.41 magic resist at 1st level
• Nine Greater Glyph of Armor: +6.3 armor at 1st level

OTHER POSSIBLE QUINTESSENCES

• Nine Greater Quintessence of Armor: +12.78 armor at 1st level
• Nine Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed: +4.5% movement speed at 1st level

Summoner Spells

Jungling with Sejuani without Smite is ill-advised. Not only does this spell make it much easier for your team to get Baron Nashor and dragon, which Sejuani cannot take by herself, but it also lends even more speed to an already quick jungler. With a point in Summoner's Resolve , it gives a gold boost every minute or so, so use it as much as possible. Personally I save it for the buff creeps and dragon, as well as a Baron steal.

In a similar state of mind, Flash is almost too good to pass up, as it can be used offensively and defensively. Flashing from the brush in any lane and immediately using Arctic Assault to close the remaining distance increases her ganking power immensely, which she would not have with any other spell, even Ghost.

That said, Ghost could be a viable option because it removes unit collision and lasts longer, but Flash is instant and, due to reaction time, is probably more fatal to your enemies.

Skills & Leveling Sequence

Passive: Frost

Applies a ten percent movement speed debuff for three seconds to each enemy hit by her basic attack. Applied when she uses Arctic Assault, and Permafrost increases the percent slowed to frightening amounts.

Q: Arctic Assault

Variable-length skillshot that deals magic damage and applies Frost to all struck enemies. Turrets and champions will stop her if she collides with them, so keep that in mind. A utility spell, great for getting away and initiating and chasing. Also goes through walls. Take this at level two to speed up your jungling, but max it last.
Cooldown per level: 19/17/15/13/11 seconds
Damage per level: 60/90/130/170/210 (+40% of ability power) magic damage
Mana cost per level: 70/75/80/85/90 Mana
Maximum range: 700

W: Northern Winds

Magic damage per second area of effect skill that lasts five seconds. Scales on both ability power and her maximum health, making it important to grab health items for damage output. Deals fifty percent more damage to targets that are affected by Frost or Permafrost. Take this skill at level one and max it first for easier and swifter clears.

For maximum damage to multiple targets, use Arctic Assault to dash in and apply Frost, activate Northern Winds and, after about a two second delay, activate Permafrost to refresh the Frost debuff on all targets.
Cooldown: 10 seconds
Damage per level: 12/20/28/36/44 (+10% of ability power) (+[1/1.25/1.5/1.75/2% of maximum Health]) magic damage per second
Damage per level to Frosted targets: 18/30/42/54/66 (+15% of ability power) (+[1.5/1.875/2.25/2.625/3% of maximum health) magic damage per second
Mana cost: 40 Mana
Maximum range: 775

E: Permafrost

Area of effect magic damage nuke that provides a little burst and, more importantly, increases the slow on targets affected by Frost considerably. Can be activated -- similar to Soraka's Starcall -- only when a target with Frost on it comes into range, so it should not accidentally go on cooldown. Take this ability at level four and max it second to Northern Winds.
Damage per level: 60/110/160/210/260 (+50% of ability power) magic damage
Movement speed reduction per level: 30/40/50/60/70%
Mana cost: 55 Mana
Maximum range: 1000

R: Glacial Prison

Magic damage skillshot that travels the full distance or until it strikes an enemy champion. The first enemy struck by this ability is stunned for two seconds, while adjacent enemies are stunned for one second. This ability also applies Frost. The hitbox for it is wide, wider than the path shown without smartcasting. In other words: they don't dodge; you miss. Level this ability whenever you can, at sixth, eleventh, and sixteenth level.

The perfect ultimate, in my opinion, to make or break a teamfight. Use where you can get the highest number of high-value targets stunned, such as the carries. A perfect time to use it is when all ten players are grouped up, ready for a teamfight.
Cooldown per level: 130/115/100 seconds
Damage per level: 150/250/350 (+80% of ability power) magic damage
Mana cost: 100 Mana
Maximum range: 1150

Items

To be honest, buying items is about reacting to what the game demands of you at the time. That said, here is my standard build for Sejuani, with some added suggestions if you think building one particular item is not right for you.

There are two roles you must fill as Sejuani: jungler and tank. I find the most important thing to build on her is health + armor and health + magic resist items, with some movement speed thrown in to help her close the gap because she's a melee champion. Though it is possible to build ability power + armor or ability power + magic resist items, I advise against this because her job is not to take kills, but to secure them for others, not to mention the fact that her most powerful skill, Northern Winds, scales better off of maximum health than ability power anyway.

To start the game, I have found Cloth Armor and Health Potions is the way to go. I have tried a Regrowth Pendant with one Health Potion, but I found that I always have less than seventy percent health when I come out of the jungle to gank, meaning I do not gain from having Initiator , and for you min/maxers out there, this makes all the difference.

I rush two gold-per-ten items, stopping between them to buy Boots of Speed, because Philosopher's Stone makes jungling without blue buff possible, and Heart of Gold helps in the health department. I get Boots of Speed between them because not having 383 movement speed cripples her, affecting her jungling speed and he ganks negatively.

After I purchase Boots of Speed, I begin to buy one or two Sight Wards to help secure dragon or to aid me in counterjungling. Every time I go back, I try to purchase a ward because I do not go back that often, and map awareness is very important. More on ward placement in the Counterjungling section.

After my gold-per-ten items, I rush to get Aegis of the Legion and Force of Nature, both excellent items for Sejuani. The first provides her with everything she needs to tank: health, armor, and magic resist, and then, on top of that, provides an aura that grants herself and nearby allies extra attack damage, armor and magic resist. With Force of Nature, AP carries are less frightening, and the health regeneration helps me stay out in the field longer. The added movement speed brings my maximum up to a swift 481, and I usually have no trouble catching my enemies.

After I buy Force of Nature, I must admit, usually one team has surrendered. That said, if it is not, I finish Shurelya's Reverie for the extra health, regeneration and, most importantly, the active. Extra movement speed for everyone nearby can help chase down the enemy team or, when necessary, run away from a bad engage. Sometimes, especially when the game is going my team's way or when the AD carry gets scary, I will pursue Sunfire Cape first.

After Shurelya's Reverie, it becomes important to begin stacking armor, and I get Sunfire Cape for the added health and the magic damage per second since I usually stand next to my enemies anyway, and I get Randuin's Omen over Locket of the Iron Solari for the attack speed debuff. That said, the added health regeneration aura on the latter might make it viable, but the active ability on it is, in all honesty, not as good in my opinion.

Here is a list of other items that you could build without compromising your role as tank:

• Abyssal Scepter
• Banshee's Veil
• Guardian Angel
• Locket of the Iron Solari
• Quicksilver Sash
• Thornmail

Jungling

Sejuani is a fast jungler, able to gank at level two, which can happen around the three minute mark, and she usually finishes her first clear around the four minute mark. This means she kills the small golems at four minutes into the game, and can gank bottom or top lane.

She needs blue buff the first time but, for all subsequent times it is up, blue buff can go to whoever needs it the most, usually the AP carry mid or the support in bottom lane. The same holds true for red buff: probably needs it for the first run through but, after that, it can be given to other players who would benefit from it more than her, such as the AD carry in bottom lane or whoever took the solo top lane.

Her only major drawback, though, is that she does not seem capable of taking dragon by herself at level four. I will test this more, though, and post the results later.

Counterjungling

This section will cover the thought process behind counterjungling, why it is something you should consider doing, and how to prevent yourself from being countered.

First of all, I cannot stress enough the usefulness of the summoner spell Clairvoyance, which can aid you in your counterjungling efforts. As someone who also plays support, I have secured kills on the enemy jungler with Clairvoyance more times than I can count, and nothing strikes fear in an enemy jungler than the opposing team knowing where you are in the jungle, alone and vulnerable. I will probably write a guide on Clairvoyance later.

Sejuani is not as susceptible to counterjungling as some other champions because of how fast she is, not to mention the surprise an Arctic Assault through a wall brings. The most memorable time of this occurring in my experience was when I caught and killed a jungling Fiora who was at my wraiths about three minutes into the game. I caught her by surprise because I used Arctic Assault to jump through the wall between middle lane and wraiths.

On that note, the best camp to counterjungle is the wraith camp because of its location on the map, and I would say the worst camp that isn't a buff to counterjungle is wolves. If you choose to counter the wraith camp, bring a ward with you and place it in the brush in the jungle between it and middle lane. The brush I mean is a little northeast of the camp on purple side and a little southwest of the camp on blue side. This can lead to killing the jungler at the wraith camp with your mid later, since you will know when he or she passes through there.

Be sure to check your opponent's blue buff. Not only can you escape a potential gank with your Arctic Assault, but you will also see when it respawns on the map, which means you can counter it more effectively. In ranked play, players often pick junglers who do not need blue buff, and will then give it to their mid. With a well-placed Sight Ward or even with Clairvoyance, you can turn the tide of the game by stealing blue buff. This can be done by either killing the mid who is on his or her way to get it, or with Smite. On a similar note, be sure to secure your own blue buff, and I suggest trying to steal the opponent's blue buff a couple of times so you know what other players will try in order to steal it from you.

If you are afraid of being countered, have your ally with Clairvoyance use their summoner spell on camps you think are being countered, or place a Sight Ward near your camps to prevent them from being stolen if nobody took Clairvoyance. A good support with Clairvoyance will use it almost constantly, since the cooldown is only a minute.

As a final note, the best time to counterjungle a camp is when your jungling route brings you by to begin with.

TL;DR

Unsatisfied with other guides, I found my own way, so I made this guide, which is my first guide, and plan to defend my build and correct it accordingly.

Sejuani is a melee tank champion who isn't buff dependent, specializes in initiating and chasing, slowing enemy champions, doing AoE magic damage, but must rely on her items to tank and teammates to kill enemies. This makes her an excellent jungler pick, but she can be countered by champions that reduce or eliminate the effects of slows, such as Karma, Kayle, and Master Yi, and her one major drawback is that she cannot kill dragon by herself.

Take defensive jungle masteries, grabbing armor, health, health regeneration, and movement speed wherever you can, and master both of your summoner spells.

Magic penetration marks for a little more damage, flat armor seals because it's a jungle build, magic resist per level glyphs to help tank, and flat health quintessences to make jungling easier and to help keep Initiator up.

Smite and Flash are probably best. Ghost is a viable option, but there should be no need to take any other spells.

Take Northern Winds at 1st level and max it first as primary way of clearing jungle and doing damage. Take Arctic Assault at 2nd level and max it last because its main job is utility. Take Permafrost at 4th level and max it by level thirteen because of slowing capability. Always take your ultimate, Glacial Prison, whenever you can.

Build health + armor and health + magic resist items on her, taking some necessary movement speed items. Begin with a Cloth Armor and five Health Potions. Build Philosopher's Stone and Boots of Speed on first time back. Begin to buy one or two wards each time back to secure dragon and, eventually, Baron. Then build Heart of Gold, Aegis of the Legion, Negatron Cloak into a Force of Nature, finish Shurelya's Reverie and then build Sunfire Cape, then finish off with a Randuin's Omen.

Fast jungler, with a gank on mid at level two, isn't blue or red buff dependent (except for the first clear), but seems incapable of killing dragon by herself at level four.

Clairvoyance is a big help while trying to counterjungle, but it is better if your support champion takes it. The easiest camp to counter is wraiths, where the hardest is wolves after the buff camps. Warding the enemy jungle makes them easier to counter, since you have an idea as to where the enemy jungler is. Control of a blue buff can make or break games. The best time to counterjungle is when your path takes you by it anyway.

Thanks for watching, and help me make this guide better!

Conclusion

In conclusion, I sincerely hope people begin to play Sejuani more because I feel like she is viable as a jungling tank. Hopefully you have found this guide helpful and, if there are any problems with it, please tell me so in the comment section below.