Amumu Build Guide by sneakysponge

Introduction

This guide is for people who want to kick some major booty as amumu. I am going to make this guide short because I personally like short and sweet better. If you guys have any suggestions, please tell me. I have a lot of success with this build and setup, if you don't believe me just check out the match history section. If you are convinced, feel free to skim through the rest of the guide for more information. If you aren't convinced, well I think you're missing out and sorry for wasting your time.

Runes

Greater Mark of Magic Penetration
Want Damage? Magic Pen is the way to go. Plus there aren't better marks for amumu.

Greater Seal of Defense
Don't want to die? Here is some more armor

Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist
Tanky runes help you be tanky, per level is the best for Amumu

Now for Quintessences it is your choice, I personally like movement speed, but if you want health or armor it is up to you. Amumu is a generally slow champion, and this helps him out a bit, especially when you are slowing enemies with your Rylai's Crystal Scepter.

Masteries

The reason I go 0-11-19 masteries is because of Awareness Wealth and Runic Affinity . Runic Affinity is a must, this helps me have blue up for most of the game. Awareness I believe is also a necessity. With this I never fall behind on levels if my jungle hasn't been messed up. Remember, leveling up is extremely important, it means you have more damage on your Despair and Tantrum. Also your game breaker ultimate is ready faster.

I take Tough Skin and Bladed Armor to make my jungle faster, also after golems I have more health so I have the option to gank.

Items

The key 3 items on Amumu are Sunfire Cape Rylai's Crystal Scepter and Abyssal Scepter. If you don't have these on Amumu, you suck aren't as helpful as you could be to your team. Now you may be wondering why I don't have a 6^th item up there, and this is because I have it so it is entirely situational. If they have a lot of AD champs doing a lot of damage, I go with Thornmail. If they have a lot of magic champs, get a Force of Nature. If you need more health, go with Warmog's Armor. Need more AP? Put on a Rabadon's Deathcap. Other good options are a Guardian Angel Quicksilver Sash and a Randuin's Omen. Also, don't forget to sell your Philosopher's Stone for a better item.


Usually if it is really late game, I either get Thornmail Rabadon's Deathcap or Force of Nature. If you get a deathcap your AP goes up quite a bit, with an Elixir of Brilliance it goes to 429. Pretty decent amount for a tank. With 429 AP your ult does an incredible 779 damage to EVERYONE, excluding magic resist. If you bandage toss a squishy that does 749 damage, that is 1528 damage to their squishy before the fight even starts. Of course it is less because this is not including magic resist, but still, it is a lot of damage to a squishy.

Summoner Spells

Smite and Flash are a must. Flash helps you get away in tough situations, and smite helps you jungle. Should be self explanatory. Flash can also help you position yourself to get all of your enemies in your ult.

Skill Sequence

Always start of with Despair, provides a constant amount of damage, and since you have no cooldown reduction yet, Tantrum isn't that great. No matter what, get Bandage Toss at level 3, you always want the option to gank if you need to, even though I usually don't, a lane might need one. Trust me, that minimal amount of extra damage on despair or tantrum, is not better than a stun. After that I trade off between tantrum and despair to provide a constant amount of damage. Of course get the ult whenever possible. The reason I don't level up bandage toss first is because it is on an extremely long cooldown at low levels. If you level up bandage toss and miss, you are going to do very minimal damage to the enemy with your low levels of despair and tantrum.

Creeping / Jungling

Start off with blue and make your way to golems skipping red. Don't forget about your passive Cursed Touch to decrease mob magic resistance. When doing blue while it is leashed, hit the big golem once then hit both the wraiths. After that only hit the golem because it should be attacking you by now. Smite it and head to the wolf camp. In the wolf camp hit E then W. Smack each of the wolves once then starting with the big wolf, then only hit the big wolf after hitting them all. On wraiths, only hit the big blue one, ignore the other little basters. Remember to Tantrum first then Despair to get the most damage. For golems, hit them each once and focus on the bigger golem, only hit the smaller golem every 4 seconds. If your slow enough, your smite should be off cooldown and go ahead and use it to kill the golem for some extra gold. If your fast enough you shouldn't be able to smite it. Once done with golems, back and buy a Philosopher's Stone and a few health pots. If you need to gank after golems, that is why there is another health pot to have more health.

Team Work

In team fights, try to initiate on a squishy with your Bandage Toss. While going through the air when you latch on, Despair and when you arrive throw a fit with Tantrum. When you ult, just try to get as many people as you can. If two people are out of position, go ahead and latch on to them and ult if your team is around. If all goes well, two of their teammates should be down and its now 5v3. Worth the ult. But if the enemy team is close by, don't waste it on two people, its not worth it.

Farming

When going up to a minion wave late game and there are none of your minions around, make sure to Tantrum when you get to the first wave, then get in the middle of them and tantrum again. They should be all dead by the second tantrum.

Unique Skills

If you need to escape and you are in a tight situation, don't forget your Bandage Toss Can go over walls. There has been many times where I am being chased by their team and about to die, but I quickly latch onto a jungle mob such as Baron or Dragon. This has saved my butt many times.

Match History

Added 4-06-12. Once again amumu is pretty good in my opinion. If you get fed don't waste it, don't try to take other peoples kills though, it is no good if you are the only fed one, try to get other people kills so late game they can wreck too. To clarify this is every single amumu game to my knowledge since I started this guide. I do not like lying, and frankly I don't need to.

Added 3-04-12. Always a chance to win a game with an Amumu on your team, especially if you build him right. Some games I literally have to carry the team, others all I do is stun and win. Teamfights are easy when your ult does an incredible amount of damage.Added 2-19-12. As you can see, I rarely ever have the same items, but I always have the main 3 items, but then I build to counter their team. Hence the force of nature in one match, and armor boots in the other.Added 2-09-12. My last few matches with Amumu.

Miscellaneous Matches

If you follow my guide and have a few screenshots, feel free to send them to me so I can show you off.

Summary

There you go, this is how I play Amumu. I rarely ever lose when I play with him and I think he is a fun champion. If you try what I say and see somewhere I can improve, please tell me. Otherwise, thanks for reading, and have fun.