Rumble is one of the most impactful top/mid laners in the game if he is played to his strengths. His ultimates can easily turn a bad teamfight, control objectives, and win games. Rumble excels in short trades and in teamfights. Play towards his strengths and you will be successful in any ELO.

Rumble has a fairly limited build path, but there are some times when you should prioritize certain items over others. Rumble core is fairly simple, Sorc Shoes, Liandries, Zhonya's Hourglass, but there are other items you should take into consideration and be aware of.

First off, it is important to know when to build Abyssal and when to build Void Staff. Build Abyssal if their team is squishy and hasn't built locket/banner. Build Void if there is a lot of MR or their team has a locket/banner.

Rylais is another item that is situational. It gives everything Rumble really needs for being a little beefier as a front line, allows for AoE slow you can get complete rotations of your Q, and give AP, whats not to love? Well, its really good for catching people out in the jungle, or melting tanks once you have Liandries, but sometimes it is lacking as an item if you are playing against a team with a lot of escape/kiting abilities. Since slows no longer stack, Rylais really only applies to your Q, so if your not in range it is useless. Sometimes you just want to ult their backline and flash Q Flamspitter to melt their team, and in my experience Zhonyas outshines Rylais a majority of the time and provides so much more utlity/disruption.

TLDR: Zhonyas is usually better than Rylais.


This is a HUGE situational item, but it has singlehandedly won me games and that is Morellonomicon. If your playing a game where the enemy team has the likes of Soraka, Any Late Game ADC with lifesteal, Zed, Maokai etc, Morellonomicon is very strong as it reduces healing effects and inflicts greavous wounds. Plus it gives some CDR for your ult which is always nice. If i build this it's usually last or second to last item.

This is an important decision to make on Rumble as it can completely change the way will be played out.

Starting Q and getting past 50% heat will give you an early damage spike, but consequently, you will shove your wave faster and leave you susceptible to ganks.

Starting W is always a safe start. Scrap shield will help absorb early poke and allow you to farm safely. This is a great start against someone like Malphite, who will Q you early every time you go in for a CS.

Starting E is a really passive start but will allow you to get some safe CS and wait for your other abilities to come. Good start against the likes of Riven, Gnar etc.

Pros

If played correctly can win almost any lane

Huge midgame Powerspike

Objective Control

Game Changing Long-Range Ult

Good Roaming Potential With Scrap Shield

Low Cooldowns/No Mana

1v2 Outplay Potential

Cons

Almost useless if kited

Big Hitbox

Lackluster escape (w)

High Skill Cap

Hard to Farm With

Rumble is the ultimate teamfighter. Knowing how to use his ultimate in synergy with your team is essential you Rumble's success.

Most people think that his ultimate should be just dropped on as many people as possible (sometimes that is true if you have the other team in a chokepoint), but sometimes its best to use your Ult on the enemy team's backline.

Sometimes it is best to use your ult to peel for your ADC. Example : Maokai twisted advances on your ADC. The best thing to do is to start the ult on Maokai and aim it towards their team so they cannot capitalize on Maokai's W..

Sometimes your ult is used best to zone off the enemy team's backline, or sometimes it is used to pin people to walls.

There are so many Factors/Variables that can change how to use your ult and all of it must be taken into consideration into a split second. Learning how to use Rumble ult is the most important factor to mastering Rumble.

The only thing i want to touch on is Rumble's overheated auto attacks. People often underestimate his burst when you get a full rotation of Q-E-W-Overheated AA's that can often catch your opponent out by surprise.

Rumble has the unique ability you 1v2 if you get ganked by a jungler and play it right.

Lets be honest here, Rumble sucks at farming and has a really slow and clunky feeling Attacks animation that will take a while to get used to.

Most of his shortcomings can be accounted for once you get used to him.

You can use his E to farm from a safe distance.

His W can be used to absorb a chunk of damage when you go in for a last hit.

His Q can shove waves really fast and it takes practice but, your last tick of Q can get CS if you time it right.

Hi im Thorgazum,

In season 5 i climbed from Silver 5 to Diamond 5 playing Rumble only. In my time i have learned an incredible amount about every matchup and a lot of the intricacies that Rumble has.

Season 6 i climbed from Plat 4 to Diamond 4 in about 4 days with a 80% winstreak playing Rumble + Ignite mid.

I love talking about and teaching Rumble so if you have any questions feel free to add me in game!