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Heimerdinger Build Guide by flagnut

Support Dive us you dirty apes, I dare you! Bot Lane / Support-Dinge

Support Dive us you dirty apes, I dare you! Bot Lane / Support-Dinge

Updated on November 19, 2019
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League of Legends Build Guide Author flagnut Build Guide By flagnut 28 5 407,490 Views 20 Comments
28 5 407,490 Views 20 Comments League of Legends Build Guide Author flagnut Heimerdinger Build Guide By flagnut Updated on November 19, 2019
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Runes:

Domination
Electrocute
Cheap Shot
Eyeball Collection
Ravenous Hunter

Resolve
Demolish
Bone Plating

Spells:

LoL Summoner Spell: Exhaust

Exhaust

LoL Summoner Spell: Flash

Flash

Threats & Synergies

Threats Synergies
Extreme Major Even Minor Tiny
Show All
None Low Ok Strong Ideal
Extreme Threats
Ideal Synergies
Synergies
Ideal Strong Ok Low None

Introduction

Welcome to my Dinger guide! The purpose of this guide is to inform people of the wonderful abilities that Heimerdinger brings to the bot lane. I attempted to make this a comprehensive guide to the "why" of Heimer for the newby as well my specific advice for supporting. The TLDR is that a properly placed turret nest give you near ungankability, and unparalleled siege/push combined with one of the best CC/Engages in the meta (GRENADE!).
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Pros/Cons

Pros:
+ Strong Anti-Gank
+ Great Push / Zoning
+ Excellent sustain with passive
+ Very versatile with his 3 ults
+ Are CC and engage


Cons:
- Generally Squishy, slow, and no escape
- CC is difficult to land
- Kill stealing can be an issue
- People will complain
+ No longer unexpected!
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Strategy a.k.a. Applied Trig

First things first, Heimer's turret AI can be tricky, but the basics are that they will attack whoever is attacking you, or whoever you are dealing damage to. Now on to more interesting matters.

***NEW FOR 2019***
Demolishers? Say whaaaaaat...
Ok, hear me out. Heimer is a pusher. Its in his (artisanally crafted) DNA. With the advent of Tower Plates, pushing is now more important then ever. Enter demolishers. By taking this rune instead of something more "damage-y" you will be able to greatly help your lane capitalize on Heimer's pushing and the safety his towers bring to siege-craft. Depending on your opponent, you can position among the minions juuuust in range and get that wrench off. Heimer has a relatively long range, and one or two demo wacks can mean the difference between a plate, no plate, or even getting multiple plates. This is a lot of money, not just for you but your carry. Especially early game, this is more important then even direct kills. And because demolishers scales beautifully, it will remain a relevant rune throughout game play. And a little tankyness never hurt!

NOTE : Heimer turrets will attack most structures and NPCs with set hitpoints. This includes but is not limited to towers, inhibitors, the nexus, Yorick ghouls, Shaco boxes, and other Heimer turrets. They will NOT attack targets which require a set amount of hit to kill, such as wards, jungle fruits, etc. In order to help make sure your turrets will definitely hit a structure, place the turret as close as you can. The turret AI will sometimes not recognize a structure if it is partially out of the range radius. The good news is putting a turret closer after placing a turret too far way will sometimes "rewire" the first turret once the second starts hitting.

Pro-tip : Because you are selecting the turret skill, you will want to place these turrets IMMEDIATELY. You can have all 3 turrets humming and have all 3 turrets back before the minions make it to lane. I recommend starting in the B position or doing the tri-bomb (see further in the guide)

One thing to always keep in mind when playing Heimerdinger is the superiority of the triangle. It is tempting to place your turrets in a line, or clustered together for burst, but it doesn't really work that way, because clustered turrets can be aoed and turrets in a line are easier to avoid and kill with skill shots.

One more thing, keep in mind that while placing turret in the bush seems smart, a turret hitting an enemy (or enemy minion) will light up that bush as good as an enemy ward. I recommend putting the turrets in bushes ONLY when setting up a grenade ambush.

Pictured is what you should strive for. The red circles are the targeting distance of the turrets, you want them to overlap like a Venn Diagram, and your *** should be right in sweet spot in the middle. This way anyone who tries to fight you will be taking shots from all 3 turrets and cannot easily kill them all. All you have to do is wait like a spider in its web, then when they get to you, grenade them so they are stuck with all guns blazing.

If your turrets are getting killed, set them up further back so you can retreat into them. Remember, always try to have 3 turrets up.

As a rule, always have your triangle "pointing" at the enemy (the single up front). The reason for this is 3 fold. 1 - it gives your enemy a single turret so you know where they are going to try and hit it. 2 - When the enemy minion wave pushes, they will only target that turret giving your minions time to catch up. 3 - Reasons 1 and 2 may result in the turret dying (especially early game) but generally you can replace 1 turret instantly.

Now for how to set up in lane.


In lane with your carry, there are 3 primary positions for you to place your turrets. These are noticeably labeled A, B, and C.

Position A (The Missionary Position)

: This is going to be your standard starting position / default position during early lane phase. You keep your 2 turrets toward the jungle so that the enemy minions are just outside their range. This means that the jungler that wants to get to you has to go through them, or come from your jungle which gives you the advantage anyway. You can either put your third turret smack dab center lane, or use it as a living ward in the lower bushes.


Position B (Siege-Dinger)

: This is Heimer's real potential coming out. If your enemy lacks the knowledge or ability to kill you turrets, you and the lane partner can set up shop just outside their tower range. This will wave clear like mad, but the enemy can't come out without your turrets lighting them up, and the jungler can't come in without the same. Standard triangle formation, pointing at the enemy so the point absorbs hits. If you are getting cocky you can reverse the triangle for more wave clear and damage.


Position C (Playing it safe)

: If its just not your day and they are killing your turrets and hard pushing lane, place 2 turrets slightly in front of the tower and the point a bit further in front. This way the enemy team can't really get in range to poke out your tower and it keeps minions for wailing on it as well. Just sit tight and wait for the jungler or for them to try to dive you (then grenade time). If the push is really intense, place all 3 turrets in a triangle hugging the tower, this will provide maximum defense.

Those are the main strats for in-lane heimer. Other good general tips :
- Hit your rockets and huck those wrenches. The spellthief's edge won't use itself!
- Save those grenades for hard engages (both yours and theirs). The grenade is very mana intense, and has a long cool down. Use it only to start a fight you intend to finish or stun them when they come in.
- After laning phase, enjoy being heimer and doing what heimer does. Don't forget to keep helping your carry out (if applicable) and placing those wards but in post laning support heimer does not differ significantly from other heimers. If supporting by this point you should have a frost queens and working knowledge about whether your carry is an idiot (that is, whether to farm or continue helping the carry).
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Bot Lane and the CH-2 Electron Storm Grenade a.k.a. You screw around too much!

The year is 2019. And Heimerdinger is (still kinda) in meta! (Cue hextech fireworks)

Most of this guide can be applied to playing Heimer bot lane as either AP carry or Support. I have attempted to tweak the verbiage to apply to either situation. There is one thing however, as a student of the D-onger, that I must point out.

HEIMERS EVERYWHERE! STOP USING THE GRENADE ON COOLDOWN!

Ahem, a bit of context.

Within the last year, there was a change to how Heimerdinger's turrets charge up their "big laser". Now, instead of charging at a set pace, the turrets charge very, very slowly. However, if you hit the grenade, it will charge all nearby turrets INSTANTLY. The turrets all charge a percent based on the number of Rockets hit (up to 100%). This change ultimately proved to be a good thing, since now Heimer's combo of grenade->rockets will now proc the "big laser" TWICE when done with correct timing.

So, to everyone playing bot lane, it is super-super critical that you hit your grenade. SAVE IT. Don't use it to poke (that is what the rockets are for). Heimer is most vulnerable when his grenade is on cool down, since the turrets need that grenade to fire big lasers.

My biggest piece of advice this, make the grenades count.
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Which Ult to Use and When a.k.a. Too Many Ults Spoil the Broth.

UPGRADE!
Heimerdinger's ultimate ability allows you to use an upgraded version of one of his abilities, so he basically has 3 ults which he can use, they are as follows :

The Hextech Rocket Swam. Sure, firing waves of rockets sounds great on paper, but this is, in my opinion, the weakest of The D-onger 3 ults. While it deals a ton of burst damage, it is not that much less then the grenade and generally nowhere near as much as the turret. Its biggest, most glaring flaw is that is that because once you are firing rockets, your movement is restricted, and therefore it is super easy to miss (or dodge). It has only 1 real purpose. If you hit a normal grenade, and your opponent is low, light his (or her) *** up. The rockets do excel as a kickass dragon stealer.

CH-3X Lightning Grenade. This ult is the underdog. At first, it doesn't look like it does much damage, is harder to hit, and generally useless. Nothing could be further from the truth. This grenade bounces 3 times in a straight line, dealing damage, slowing, and stunning anyone in the center of each bounce, now what is important is that this is AOE damage. Even with a slight miss the person running away may take damage and be slowed. This ult makes for a first class engage when the enemy is grouped if your team doesn't have any engage and with a little timing can stop a fleeing enemy dead. All in all, super useful.

The H-28Q APEX Turret. Ah, Heimer's finest creation. This ult will deal TONS of aoe and single target damage. Use this turret during every teamfight, lane fight, gank, skirmish, or kerfuffle that breaks out. One word of caution - timing is everything, use this turret when you are %100 sure a fight is going to happen on that spot. Once it is placed, you can't move it. Ideally you wait until the moment after they engage, pop the ult, place the turret, then hit the grenade. You might take some damage, but they will eat all the big turret shots (and small 3 turrets) for the entire grenade stun duration. It has a nice, short cooldown, but not so short that the biggest mistake you can make is placing it too early, having the enemy wait out its lifespan, then swooping in on you. You want your Turret right in the middle of the action, tanking hits (it don't go down easy) and taking names.
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Synergy a.k.a. Getting Your Carries to Listen to Their Betters

Strawman : "Heimer Support? What are you thinking, you'll take all the farm!"

The short answer is no. The long answer is only if your ADC is bad at farming.

While it is true that Heimer's turrets will attempt to steal your ADC's farm, they do not hit very hard early game. Their damage is more like a slow drain. A competent ADC should have no more problem last hitting a minion your turret is hitting then when friendly minions are hitting opposing minions. The exception is that occasionally the turret will fire off a big blast that might take out a minion. As Heimer, you can redirect the flow of minions using your body and minimize CS stealing by hitting a high health minion to make the turrets attack that one.

Important to mention also is you should encourage your carry to retreat into the turret nest. This is counter-intuitive to most carries, since they like retreating to the tower, but the turret nest will be closer, and almost as good. You can mitigate this via smart placement of a couple turrets, so that the ADC will at the very least walk through the turret nest to get away.

With all that out of the way, here are good and bad ADC synergies with Heimer.

GREAT Syngery


These champions all push lanes and towers very hard. They also (except Trist & Kog) have some sort of hard CC which will hold people in turret range.
Kog needs a helping hand early on and can safely frolic among your turrets until he hits 6 and can fire his hurtin' bombs safely from your nest. Then you both can push like no tommorow.

Simply put you and Trist will roast a tower like its going out of style. Also she can jump in and out of your turret nest.

Traps hold them still. Grenade holds them still longer. All the while they are having turret death rain down on them.

Jinx may be the best ADC tower melter in the game at the moment. Add in her traps creating perfect grenade targets and her rocket wave clear and you've got yourself an unbeatable combo.

I bumped Draven up based sole on his "Stand Aside" ability. It give you the exact amount of predictable displacement and momentary stun to hit your grenade. Perfect.

Good Syngery


There champions work well with Heimer but are nothing special.
Sivir is probably better off with a more mobile support, but it won't impede the lane.

Vayne can stun, but its difficult and typically knocks people away. Heimer is more about bringing the fight to him.

No hard CC and not great range or tower push. Nothing too positive to go with Heimer.

The arrow can CC but is better for a long range engage. It can work but nothing special.

No hard CC and a bit more mobile then what synergizes well with Heimer.

Like ashe, his ult is a good CC, but varus suffers from very slow attack and turrets might pose an cs issue. It will work just fine but a little extra care needs to be taken.


Bad Syngery


These champions do not work well with Heimer in lane. In the cast of Kalista, she needs a tank or just generally someone who syngerizes with her ult. Heimer does not. In the case of Ez, he needs a highly mobile support to keep up with and support him, it just does not make for a good fit with Heimer.
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A Quick Word on Item Selection a.k.a. Why I'm Not Crazy

Just a quick word on each item :

- Frostfang - Absolutely essential when playing support. It will net you up to a few thousand gold, some nice CDR, and mana regen. Lately I have been stopping short of completed this item's line (Remnant), because the last level doesn't provide a tangible benefit to gold gain and I believe the gold is better spent on producing more powerful items.

- Refillable Potion - I have an unhealthy (heh) obsession with this item since its debut. Turn into a Corrupting Potion as soon as feasible for that sweet sweet sustain and a little extra oomph.

- Luden's Echo - Due to changes in the Lost Chapter, the Luden's build line now gives incredible sustain as well. It gives a ton of AP, a great spike of damage (which scales) and best of all works with heimer turrets! Note it ~only~ procs off of the turret's laser shot. Since as heimer you should be constantly running around among your turrets, this item will always charge super fast. I recommend it before the Deathcap, for early game burst and its a bit cheaper.

- Rabadan's Deathcap - This item is really really good for Heimer for 2 reasons. One is that is the biggest damage boost you can get, and two is that the turret's HEALTH scales off AP, so more ap means harder to kill turrets, which means better Heimer. This is why if I am generally able to escape, I suggest Deathcap over Zhonya's. Since they both build out of the needlessly large rod, you don't have to decide right away if you buy that first.

- Void Staff - Second to the deathcap in terms of raw damage increase, it will help immensely in the mid to late game. Again, substitute for Zhonya's if they catch on that they should target you.

- Sorceror's Shoes - Fit in the shoes around the edges when you can't afford anything else. They aren't very important, but can make the difference, especially later game.

- Spellbinder - An excellent item that will boost the power of you ultimate (including the turret!) and gives a nice boost of movement speed.

- Rylai's Crystal Scepter & Liandry's Torment - Ah! The peanut butter and jelly of League's AP scene. A lot of people consider these two items to be absolutely necessary on Heimer, and while I may not quite think that, I do recognize that they are a powerful combination. Since Liandry's now damages based on MAX health (it used to be current ) I bow to the combo. IMPORTANT : Every one of heimer's turret shots (not just "big ones") will proc Rylai's!

Optional Items


- Zhonya's Hourglass - The AP user's defense item extraordinaire. As Heimer, you are going to want to do the following : Let them come into your turret nest, hit then with rockets, ultimate turret, grenade, Zhonya's at the last moment, grenade #2, rockets. They should no longer be alive. Also note that you can activate your ult WHILE Zhonya-ed so if you need to activate to block a burst, you can immediately drop the ult turret when the hourglass wears off. Due to the introduction of Luden's Echo, only get this item if you are getting targeted / burst down. You will have to leave 1 damage item off, I recommend leaving off the void staff, unless they are very tanky.

- ZZ'Rot - Playing safe and still hurting? Like pushing the lane? Then the ZZ'Rot portal is for you! This item is getting a lot of hot play by allowing people to push lanes without actually being there (hrmmm, where have we Heimers heard that before?). If needing the extra damage isn't an issue, this item combined with Heimer's natural push and protecting racket can really add that little extra push you need to really get those towers down. Build either before the ludens or the deathcap, it will replace the void staff.

- Banner of Command - Farewell once again dear Banner! Sadly they removed the AP ratio. However, this still synergizes well with the ZZ-Rot if you want to go full-utility. UPDATE 2018 - Goodbye dear friend, maybe we will meet again.

Strawman - "What, no [insert survivability item here]?"

This build is very light on any kind of tank, toughness, or generally survivability. This is because, as Heimer, you should never be in a situation where that is necessary. Your turrets give you the longest functional range of any character (ults not-withstanding), allowing you to control the zones and your grenade is very good (if hard to hit) hard CC. As a rule, you will benefit much more from the tankier turrets the AP provides. That said if you are fighting 5 ADCs, maybe get the thornmail.
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Secret Techniques ( a.k.a. shhhh!)

In this section I will attempt to impart a few little tricks which can give you that much needed edge in close battles. In no particular order ...

1. The Hsalf (reverse flash). This technique is simple but highly effective. When the enemy charges you, after you do your opening salvo, kite/walk out the back of your turret triangle out of one of the edges (so you pass over a turret. Then when your opponent is at the edge of your turret distance, turn around and flash over top of him to kite him back through your turrets and give you abilities a chance to come of CD. If you have it built, this is also the perfect times to pop the Zhonya's, so they are taking the full brunt of the turrets. Do this, along with a little circular shuck-and-jive and watch their HP drop.

2. The Merry-Go-Round. Whenever the opportunity presents itself, place your 3 turrets around a structure, such as a tower or inhibitor. This makes it very hard for enemy characters to get at your turrets. If you are on a friendly turret they may also have targeting issues.

3. The Tri-Bomb (Starting purple bush bomb).
When starting on the purple side, get to lane as QUICKLY as possible, and run to their tri-bush. Throw a ward in first, to be sure you aren't walking into a 2 vs 1. Once clear, drop a turret into that bush. Drop all 3 turrets as quickly as they build up. If all goes wells, the ADC and Support will walk right through your turret nest when making their way to lane. %60 of the time, it works every time. Little to no risk if done swiftly and correctly.

4. The Zombie Kill. The main reason not to run away from your turret nest. After death, your turrets will continue to pummel their last target for a few seconds after you die while they shut down. This is why it is super important to have 3 turrets down at all times, and to get your ult off before you die. Especially during a team fight it is not uncommon to get a triple kill after being burst down at the beginning because you got your turrets down.

5. Dragon Tactics. The Dragon has become an even more necessary objective and early game dragon pit skirmishes are quickly becoming the standard meta. There are a few tactics to use when it comes to Dragon hunting. The first is if you are placing your turrets and need to get the most damage as quickly as possible you need to place your turrets so the dragon's blowback doesn't knock the turrets back, simply place them against the wall of the dragon pit before engaging the dragon. If you are alone, place your ultimate turret a little bit away from the dragon, so that you can place a small turret to gain aggro and let the big turret live longer if you have to.

The second tip is if you need to protect the jungler/team doing the dragon, place your 3 turrets OUTSIDE the dragon pit so it does ~not~ hit the dragon and they will absolutely light up any enemies trying to interfere.

Last tip is for stealing the dragon. This is probably the greatest use for the Rocket Swarm. In the same vein as a nunu or cho'gath, the rocket swarm can out damage smite. You have to time it just right, but the rocket swam can absolutely steal a dragon.

6. The Immortal Turret. WARNING : This technique requires the summoner skill Teleport. You may not have this in bottom lane, but may have it mid and will certainly have it top lane.

When pushing towers, or diving towers during a teamfight, the smart Heimer will place his turrets right under the enemy tower so as to either roast the tower itself or scare off the enemy team. Unfortunately, the tower AI will target your turrets as soon as possible (or just as bad it will target YOU because your turrets are hitting a player). Well worry no more! Take a few steps back from the tower ( out of its range, and preferable somewhere safe like near your teammates) and teleport to your rapidly dying turret. Because your turret is treated like a minion, for the duration of the teleport it will be unkillable, buying you (or your team) previous second under that tower.


7. The Thunderbomb. This is pretty simple, thanks to recent changes to Heimer's turrets, if you hit a grenade it instantly refreshes a "big one" on all nearby turrets. A great strategy when pushing a tower is to stomp all 3 turrets next to each other under the enemy tower, wait for the enemy to target your turret, then drop the grenade on their head. A lot of the time they will be way to pre-occupied trying to save their turret, giving you the opening. But the real secret here is that as soon as you throw the grenade, follow it with an auto attack and your turrets will target the enemy and the tower will target YOU! But why is that a good thing? Because your turrets wont die! If you are nice and healthy, your turrets will kill the enemy first!

8. "Changing" Tower AI. If you ever find yourself in a situation where you want to push a tower down, timing when to place your turrets can make all the difference. The secret here is that a tower will NOT switch targets unless either A : the current target is down or B : a player character damages another player under the tower. If nobody is around, wait before setting your turrets up under the enemy tower until the tower is targeting a (preferably a healthy cannon) minion, this way the tower will take several shots to kill the minion before switching to your turret. In the same vein always place the super-turret first, then regular turrets, this way the tower will try to chew through your super-turret (which often self-deactivates before the turret can kill it anyway). If you time it right, you can have your turret down before the tower even fires at the minion.

One more note, since the change where turrets no longer take full damage unless in the presence of a minion, thanks to the tower prioritizing turrets, you can extend the "useful life" of even a SINGLE minion by a huuuuge amount to keep that full damage running on the tower.

9. Solo-Herald. This is more of a top-or-mid Heimer trick, but you never know! The Rift Herald is a tough customer for most players to solo, but the D-onger has a trick up his sleeve! The herald's big weakness is that he takes enormous chunks of damage when hit from behind, normally impossible for a solo character to hit more then once, which is why your ult turret is going to do the tanking! Starting as soon as you have 3 turrets and your ultimate, you can take him down. Start by quickly placing your ultimate behind the herald, it will start attacking, then hit him in the back for the first burst, then quickly stomp your turrets stacking on the big one and hitting him in the back as often as you can (be sure not to stand close enough for him to target you!). He will most likely kill the turrets, but either A : Your turrets will be just tanky enough for you to kill it or B : you can carefully kite the herald between you and your turrets, the time it spends running between you two giving the just enough to edge him out. Enjoy that sweet buff!
WARNING : Herald now counts switching between turrets as separate engages and will RESET if switched too many times. You may have to tank the herald a bit more then you would like.

9. TBA - When I think of more techniques, I will add them : ).
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Thank You!

Thank you for reading my guide on Support-Heimer style. The D-onger has long been my favorite character (since before the re-work) and I play him in every lane but the jungle (sigh, one day, one day) and wrote this guide because when I started Heimerdinger supporting, nobody was doing it (it is still a rare sight).

So I'll leave you with a question..

RaIsE YoU'rE WhAt ?!

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ΔT a.k.a. Changes Over Time (edits)

4/9/2015

Added Luden's Echo and reworked the items around it.
Added Meji's option.
Rearranged the ADCs a little bit, added more granular info on them.
Swapped out the starting potion and green ward for pink ward. The pots didn't do much because of the D-onger passive and generally as Heimer you will have river bush control.
Added dragon tactics.

4/28/2015
Added "The Immortal Turret"

9/23/2015
Added Zeke's Harbinger option
Added notes on Turret AI
Jungle still not viable :{

2/11/2016
Guide updated for season 6!
A lot of little changes, but the big one is Mejais is no longer worth building and the frost queens claim is better then ever!
Added the "Thunderbomb"
Added in some tactics against common support you might run up against.

4/14/2016
Added Changing Tower AI technique
Added Solo-Herald technique
Added items ZZ'Rot and Banner of Command

3/14/2017
Updated for the new season!
Changed recommended starting item from pink ward to refillable potion
Changed banner of command recommendation

7/23/2018
Update for the 2018 Season! Many changes!

11/19/2019
A few updates in verbiage and reworked rune selection!
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