Hello everyone, here is my approach on Galio, the Sentinel's Sorrow. Since I don't really know how to explain this whole situation other than showing the build itself, I will be pretty brief. As you can see it is neither a tank build nor an ability one. However with 320 armor and 250 mr (using Bulwark) and with the passives of Frozen Heart, Banshee's Veil and the active of Zhonya's Hourglass you can't say that he is an easy kill. On the other hand, you can never ignore an opponent with 489 ability that can damage you by 1900 magic damage (more counting ulti's bonus)in a 2 second notice... Finally almost 40% cooldowns make you an ability spammer.

Thus the title: Galio, the Ability Tower

For Runes the rules are simple: You get as much Magic Penetration as you can, some mana regen to help you with your AWFUL mana pool, Cooldown glyphs to reach 5% (15% along with the masteries, 35% along with frozen heart) and you have a glyph to spare... I use it for Magic resistance just to get that 1 ap more but it's really up to you if you find it ridiculous to play with a rune unlike all others, and want to play them as a set.

For Masteries make sure to take ap on attack tree, cooldown reduction, and magic penetration and max out the utility tree, taking cooldown reduction wherever possible and mana masteries. I also master the utility spells as I use Flash and Teleport, getting a profit in both.

Here I go for Flash and Teleport:

: The ultimate combo, flash when your opponents dont expect it and ult them while they wonder what happened. Some say Galio w/o flash is useless. I say that he is not that unpredictable...


is just a habit I have with Galio ever since the Fortify spell was removed. I was playing tank back then but I kept it on AP Galio too. After all it is comfortable to go back just for a sec to buy sth and be back in your lane (mid preferrably) in a seconds notice.

Other than that, good spell choices would be Ignite or Ghost too but I'd/I'll never use them on Galio AT as long as I have teleport and flash.

The skill sequence is simple.

- You max Idol of Durand rightaway (6, 11, 16)
- You get a point on Bulwark early (lvl 3) to have an extra choice infight but max it end-game.
- You max both Righteous Gust and Resolute Smite at the same time (with the latter going in first). The concept is that you can do decent damage with both spells, so that you dont worry if eg your maxed out Resolute Smite is on cooldown and cant deal real damage with your level 1 Righteous Gust.

So you max out your damaging spells first, and depend on your AP to heal using Bulwark.

Galio AT rule no.1:
Your mana is FREAKING ending soon!!!!!!!

You want to spam your abilities, to farm as much as possible, but your mana is really low. So? So your first buy is mana regen item. The Chalice of Harmony is perfect. It is cheap, and can save your mana throughout the game without a problem. I start with the MR part of the item, for those 12 AP and the defense against my potentially AP enemy in mid, but it's in your choice.

Then the boots. 35 tenacity, 25 MR, 12 AP. Why not? Because some go with sorcerer's. That's a choice too, but I prefer Mercury's Treads for movement.

Now you have good MR, decent AP, movement speed, hopefully a kill or two but you are still fragile. Next step: Zhonya's Hourglass. Tons of AP, and maybe the best active item in game. Not bad...

From now on the order is not that standard, you can get the items in any order you wish, depending on the game and your opponents.

My preferences are:

Rabadon's Deathcap: What the hell of a caster are you without your hat? tons of AP plus even more from passive, pluss even more from passive combined with your passive. Pure Ability for a pure nuker.

Abyssal Mask: Ability Power, Magic Resistance, and guess what? MORE Ability Power. This item practically cries out: "I was made for Galio, baby!!!"

Athene's Unholy Grail: Upgrade your chalice, to get more AP, some CDR, and a couple cool passives... Not bad, huh?

Soooo final item. Usually while building champions I use my last slot to cover any weaknesses the champ might have. Until now Galio has two main weaknesses in his multi-role in this game. Low health - low armor. You will find items like Thornmail really useful, but still on 1800 max hp youre not tanky, you're just a laugh. A warmongs would leave you with low armor. So my choice would be either Sunfire Aegis or Rylai's Crystal Scepter, which might not give you armor, but enough health, many AP, and a cool passive as well (a tad useless on galio though, his spells are aoe and one of them is slowing already, but still...)

Now seriously lets face it. You have enough AP to deal about 2000 dmg in 2 seconds, you cant die easily (high defenses, zhonya's active), have decent penetration (don't forget to add abyssal's passive too) and you can be a great support (all 4 spells can be used to aid your allies). You can defend, attack, support, pretty much everything.

No build is perfect. The build I present is what I call "A trinity Force" for Galio. It's a little bit of everything. And that fits in most games pretty much. However each game is different, so different builds are required.

Some items that may look useful:

Tanky matches:
- Thornmail for its armor and passive at a good price (Beware its passive when tanking a turret)
- Force of Nature for MR, AP, movement speed, and regeneration
- Warmog's Armor for tons and tons and TONS of health!

Ability matches
- Mejai's Soulstealer for lots of AP (keep in mind it's really risky though)
- Lich Bane is perfect if you can use its passive
- Rod of Ages I once hated it, but nowadays i think its the best option for survivable AP's (I use to get 2-3 of them on Anivia and other casters, it gives you everything you need)

Farm as much as possible. After level 6 cast at the same time your Resolute Smite and your Righteous Gust at the caster minions . It should be enough to give you 3 free minion kills

To summarize it's a balanced build to play as an AP offtank, emphasizing in AP.

Pros:
-Great Damage
-Not squishy
-Many passives grant you too many advantages
-Great farming (surprisingly good for Galio)
-Element of surprise (no one will expect you to deal that damage)

Cons:
-High damage but not "DAT BURST" you get with other champs/builds
-Not really a tank
-CC vulnerable
-If you played Galio as a heavy tank before, you should see a big difference in his survivability. The thing is that when you get chased by a high damage opponent, you dont run away. You just kill them. Remember, you CAN do damage. And if you do remember, your opponents will. For ever.

And before this guide ends, I have to repeat what you will hear in EVERY galio AP build, that yes you can stop your ulti earlier by pressing R again and still do full base damage. That is, when you want to ensure your kill (YOU grabbed em, didn't you? ;) ) before your teammates steal it. Believe me, you need to learn to do it.

That's is guys, I hope I made my points, the build is at your disposal. Good luck and have fun using it and I'm eager to hear ANY feedback you may have. GGaliOP.

AntJPGR