Hello and welcome to my Galio build. Please do not down-rate until you have tried it, and if you are serious about Galio, please read this whole guide. I promise to be very informative. Any comments trying to improve my guide, I will take into consideration and try it out, if it passes then I will add it to this guide.

NOTE: The stuff written here is if Galio is your main tank. If you already have a complete tank on the team, Offtank AP Galio is still very good. You may play more aggressively, but you must not overextend as much in team fights. I recommend main tank Galio. Offtank is extremely weak vs an AD team. It is only really viable vs a AP heavy team. *Offtank Galio build in Team 2: Slot.*

I just did 5 Galio games quickly before I posted this guide, just to prove it works.
*Please ignore the troll ad Cho match in the middle..*

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Pros + Naturally Tanky + CC *Slow, Speed up, Shield and AOE Taunt* + Does decent Damage + His ult is a teamfight changer + Helpful to other teammates + Useful in fights

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Cons - Always oom at the start - Ult has a long cooldown *Use Sparringly* - Useless once oom - Item Dependant *Somewhat relies on farm*

Your role here is a support/tank with a decent nuke on the side, that means a few things...


#1. You initiate teamfights.
You do what you can do take the damage.
You Q the enemies who the team decides to target.
You E in the direction of the squishies.
You W the teamate who is being targeted.
You ult to either initiate the fight, during the fight while the enemies are all together or to save the carries.
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#2. You protect the carry. Q to slow the enemy chassing your carry. E to speed the carry up. W to keep the carry alive. Keep the carry alive.
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#3. Harrass them lategame with your Q and E. Do not over use them to harass early until you get your 2 mana items, otherwise you will be overly omm. You need your mana for either
A) The kill
or
B) Slow enemy/Speed you and ally up/Shield you or ally during ganks.

• Runic Skin (Passive): Galio receives 50% of his total magic resistance as additional ability power.
  *50% of magic resist into ap is nice because while he is tanky, he is strong and powerful.*
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• Resolute Smite (Q): Galio fires a concussive blast from his eyes to a target location, dealing magic damage to all enemies hit and reducing their movement speed for 2.5 seconds.
  Cost: 60/65/70/75/80 mana
  Magic Damage: 80/135/190/245/300 (+0.7 per ability power)
  Slow: 24/28/32/36/40 %
  *This is his main source of damage. The slow is very useful for catching up to the runners or for getting away.*
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• Bulwark (W): Galio shields an allied champion for 4 seconds, increasing their armor and magic resistance. Each time that unit suffers damage, Galio is healed (-20% healing for each consecutive hit).
  Bonus Armor & Magic Resist: 30/45/60/75/90
  Heal: 25/40/55/70/85 (+0.3 per ability power)
  *I max this out 2nd after Resolute Smite for its tanky use. Use on whoever is being targeted.*
  
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• Righteous Gust (E): Galio unleashes a gust of magical wind that deals magic damage to all enemies in its path. A directional draft remains for 5 seconds, increasing the movement speed of allies passing through it.
  Cost: 70/75/80/85/90 mana
  Magic Damage: 60/105/150/195/240 (+0.5 per ability power)
  Movement Speed Bonus: 20/28/36/44/52 %.
  *Its damage output is very low and doesen't stack to well with ap. I get one point in this for the movement speed but level this up to 5 last.*
  
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• Idol Of Durand (R): Galio channels for 2 seconds, taunting nearby foes and reducing 50% of incoming damage. After channeling, Galio deals magic damage to surrounding enemies, plus an additional 5% damage for each attack suffered while channeling. Maximum +40% bonus damage. Can be cancelled early.
  Cost: 100/150/200 mana
  Cooldown: 170/150/130 seconds
  Magic Damage: 220/330/440 (+0.6 per ability power)
  *A big AOE taunt that does a decent amount of damage. Just remenber to take into account that it can be cancelled.*

> > >

Whenever you can, upgrade your . But when you cant, you should upgrade your first. Then your , with your being upgraded last.


Whats common is for people to get your up before your , but thats not the wisest choice. Your is your only source of healing, and its also your way of making your lane partner *and you* tanky for a short period of time. After many games I've found that your is much more useful leveled up then your . Your is a very minimal source of damage output, even leveled up. At max, its 240 damage + half of ap. In comparison to your , thats weak. It also uses up alot of mana for harrass, so I save it for when you or alies need the speed boost, and instead just upgrade your . Just trust me on this, if you dont agree, please try it out before you argue.

A common 9/21/0 masteries page taking the 15% magic pen in attack masteries. I do this because I play Galio slightly offensive. Another common masterie page is 0/21/9 taking gold per 5 in utility.

Either of these pages work, but I personally enjoy being offensive.

My rune page is set up like this.

In total, this gives you
8.5 Magic Pen | 3.5 Mana Re / 5 | 5.85% CD | 78 HP
The Magic Pen and Cooldown Reduction is for my offensive playstyle. The mana regen is because Galio is constantly oom and the HP is for that bit of Tankyness.

If you would like to play him more defensively/tankier you may replace the Greater Seal of Replenishment with Greater Seal of Health Greater Seal of Vitality and you may replace the Greater Glyph of Cooldown Reduction with Greater Glyph of Magic Resist.

Offensive: *Mine, recommended by me*
8.5 Magic Pen | 3.5 Mana Re / 5 | 5.85% CD | 78 HP

Defensive/Tankier:
8.5 Magic Pen | 47.7 HP | 14.41 Magic Resist | 78 HP *Total 125.7 Flat HP*
or
8.5 Magic Pen | 174.96 HP @ 18 | 14.41 Magic Resist | 78 HP

Good for getting back to lane faster and teleporting into a teamfight. *If you are solo top, this becomes a must.*

A must have for positioning your ulti. You can use it to catch up to people and getting away but flash is a must for Galios ultimate.
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space Galio is constantly oom, if you find you need this then get it in replace of teleport. I used to use this until I made one change il explain in "Early Game Debate:". Now I do not need this as much so tele is better.

Good for getting into battle faster, getting away and catching up to the run aways.

Usefull for exhausting the AD Carry, but if you can, leave this for another teamate.
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Wouldnt recommend but has its uses.

Not really needed but has its momments.

For lower levels I supose but there are better options.

Would recommend leaving this out, give it to another tank.
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Underused, lategame can be VERY usefull... but the cooldown just isnt worth it.

Underused but no.

Leave for other champs like lux and supports please.

^^ This is my Core Build. Ive based this core on alot of math, experience, trial and error. My reasons for getting these items are the following.


: Builds into your Philosopher's Stone. This is nice because it gives you some health regen to stay in lane and farm *Wich I will talk about in "Farming:" chapter*.

: Movement speed is good, but do not fully complete these yet. Your Philosopher's Stone and Chalice of Harmony are higher priority. They both are fairly cheap so you wont halfto wait long. Sometimes I dont get these until I get the other 2 first.

Philosopher's Stone: The minute you can afford this. Spam all your spells. push those minions and go back to buy this at the same time as your boots. You want this early for 3 reasons.
A) Getting this sooner rather then later will maximize the gold you get from gold per 10.
B) Gives you the mana regen you desperatly need.
C) Gives you some nice health regen.

*SITUATIONAL: Read "Lasthits Denied:"* If you are not getting enough lasthits because of your lane partner, buy this Item, it upgrades into a nice item *or just sell it later* plus 5 gold per 10 is great.

*SITUATIONAL: Read "Chalice?": For how cheap this item is, its really helpful. Gives you more mana regen plus some beautiful magic resist.

: Finish off your boots.

: Gives you a nice mana pool *last mana related item, your never oom after this item*, a nice health pool and a awesome passive that helps with taking hits from there abilitys.

First of all, either you or the offtank MUST have this item. If its an ap heavy team, you may take it, if there an ad heavy team, he must take it to free up room for you to build more counter items. Its an item ive only recently started using but now its becomming more of a core item. Let me explain it better.
Self: +270 HP+30 Armor*including aura*39 Magic Resist*Including aura*+8 AD+19.5AP *Passive*
All around that is very nice. Especially the 270 Health Bonus, because this build lacks health. But now, add the aura into the thought process.
In team fights you have 5 people. This gives your team a total bonus of...
60 Armor 75 Magic Resist 40 Damage from the aura.
and yes. That is a teamfight changer.

NOTE: "Situational Items" in the "Core Items" section are here because, though they are situational, when needed they become core. They become a MUST at this stage of the game when they are needed, that is why they are put here. EX. Frozen Heart & Chalice of Harmony.

: 2+ AD Carrys or 3+ AD Brusers = Get thornmail. Yes the 30% of damage they do to you they take back is usefull. But the 100 Armor is great and very usefull.

: If they're team does not qualify for a thornmail, get a Zhonya's.
50 Armor is nice for a non-ad heavy enemy team. The 100 AP is a very nice boost and the Zhonya's active is very usefull for those Flash-ULTI momments when you have low health and become targeted imidiately afterwards.

: 70 AP = Nice, 57 Magic Resist = Beautiful and the passive is very nice in team fights. Whats nice about this is the 57 magic resist. 57 Magic resist becomes an additional 28.5 AP.
So this item gives you 98.5 AP + 20 Magic pen AOE + 57 Magic Resist to help be tanky.

: Very nice to keep your death low. Plus the little bit of armor and magic resist *Plus the magic resist to AP passive* is very usefull. I get this item if I have around 4ish+ deaths OR if I keep having a "JUST GOT AWAY!!!" momment. Eventually they will get you, so better be safe then sorry.

: Often my last Item, a MUST HAVE if you need to get that thorn mail, but either way its very nice to have on a tank.

: If the team already has 2+ tanks and your team needs some damage to be done, Void Staff is the way to go. Its a VERY underused item. It gives you a good AP boots plus 40 Magic Pen. Its very nice

: Another really good late late game item. Very nice health regen and VERY nice magic resist. Highest in the game.

: A very nice item on alot of champs. This item is especially good on Galio because once he ulti's, they are forced to auto attack him, slowing them, making it hard for them to get away after your ulti finishs and making them easier for your team to focus down.

: An AP/Mana and health boost, very nice for Galio because he lacks some HP, If you would like to get this item I would recommend getting it very early on to max out its passives potential. Either just before or after banshies veil.

: I usually get this instead of Thorn VS a AD heavy team. It gives the same armor *practicly* but it also gives 500 Mana, used with Banshie's, makes your mana pool great enough to safely sell and Philosopher's Stone later on without the fear of being oom. Plus the 20% CD is amazing for spamming is Q,W and E *Not to mention helps the insanely long cooldonw on ult.*. 20% cooldown on a 140 secound ulti is almost 30 secounds less to wait everytime you use it.

: This item is the most underused item in the game. If you didnt pick cleanse as a spell, this might be needed. Mordes ult killing u? Get this. WW? Get this. Malz? Get This. Its better then a cleanse cause it can stop an ignite *with a shorter cooldown then cleanse*. It is a lifesaver all the time, plus gives the 2nd most amount of magic resist in the game *AKA, More AP*. Highly recommended if they have aton of CC or a morde/malz/ww who is dominating.

: I will either upgrade Philosopher's Stone to this LAST, or I would sell philophoser's stone and buy another item that I mentioned above.


NOTE2: Sell the for a better, more expensive item I mentioned above ^^. Also, unless you must go full tank, I would start getting tanky items that gives AP or Cooldown Reduction *RoA, Abbysal Scepter ect..* so that you remain a threat. No one will target a non threatening tank.

Ahhh, Chalice of Harmony, How you keep me from being oom. Used to be a must on Galio, until I realised something...

philosopher's stone + + is more then enough to keep you from being oom.

In the case that you are going to build a frozen heart *They're team has heavy AD or even decent ad for that matter* I no longer build chalice. You will not need it, your mana pool will be big enough that you are never oom.
NOTE: Same goes for RoA and any other mana pool type item you may get.

So if that is the case, just skip it. If you are facing a team that gives you no need for Frozen Heart then I would recommend Chalice of harmony. It is still a great item on Galio, just more situational.*Though when needed, becomes core*

All those situational Items *and even some changes to the core* are all based on one thing. The situation. Getting into a habit of doing the exact same build from boots to warmogs every single game is unhealthy. learning to addapt to the situation is key for any chamption, so I dont recommend taking any of these example builds below exactly. Theyre more of a guideline for certain scenarios to help you get the main idea.
NOTE: I will leave 1 free slot at the end of every build for you to fill. *After you sell Chalice and such*

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Lanning Bot with an AD Carry, against a AD heavy team.

SellPhilosopher's Stone & late game for room for your last items. Upgrade to .
NOTE: Against AD heavy teams, tell your offtank to buy Aegis, so you have room to prepare for them. And If you feel you can deal with being oom for abit, skip and go straight for . With Banshee's veil and Frozen Heart, your mana pool will be big enough that you wont need Chalice.

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Solo top against a AP heavy team.

Ideal Scenario. Building Magic resist is all the tanky you need, that and the health from and Rod of the ages is all you need. This is more a offtank build, but its the best if your in this perfect scenario.

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Lanning Bot with a AD Carry against a AD Heavy team with aton of CC

*Galio Hell*
This is the worst possible scenario for Galio *and yes, ive played it. it happends.*. This is against a Udre, Ashe, Jax, Warwick and Teemo. Warwick is fed in this game and keeps ganking with his ult. Exchange for because Quicksilver is the best/most underused item in the game. After that you would build some armor *Ditch Aegis, give that to your offtank*. Build Banshee's but

I have had a argument within my head ever since I started to learn Galio. Here are the two scenarios.

I used to ALLWAYS do this.

Sommoner Spell:
Items: Mercury's.

Until someone in-game told me to do this instead.

Replace with . Now you can go back to battle more, be in teamfights more and generaly not fall behind in levels by going B.
and in return for the Mana issue, get a Philosopher's Stone. It gives you a nice mana regen+health regen PLUS 5 gold per 10. This adds up to 30$ a minute, 900$ after a half hour.

I took that into consideration, thought it threw. Did some number punching and tried it out. Here is my anwser.

Spell:
Early Items: Philosopher's Stone .

Ever since the change from the old spell+items to the new, I am oom less often and more importantly. I finish my build/get VERY FAR in it alot more often, why?

The Stone gives me 900 gold after 30 minutes of having it. You get it early and BAM, thats some profit. Also, lets me leave, buy the gold per 5 and come back into the lane. Meaning I never loose any XP or lasthits, so I get more minion fed and XP fed.

You must farm as Galio. You must be able to stay ahead of the AD Carrys while Nuking them at the same time.
ORDER OF WHO NEEDS LASTHITS:
AD Carry > Ad Bruser/Galio > Tank/Ap Carrys/Supports

The reason Galio needs it more then some other champions is simple.
He is decently Item dependant. He needs the items to be tanky and to hit hard. Veigar can still hit high without alot of items, same with ]Kass and Nidalee. Galio needs farm.
If Galio is lanning with someone, im not saying take them all, im saying take about half from anyone who needs it as much as you or less. DO NOT TAKE FROM AD CARRYS.

As we all know, they're are 3 lanes *+jungle*, but for the way this game works, Galio is only viable in 2 places. Solo top or Duo Lanning bot *obviously Duo Lanning top if your team doesent have a jungler*.

You should decide wich lane to go in based on your team composition. Personaly I would like to solo top for its free farm and because you can keep safe with your from any harm. So here are your options....

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+ Free Farm (XP and Gold)
+ You can hold it off better then mages or ad carrys if its a 2v1 lane
+ In a ideal team composition, if you are here then a support and ad carry are bot, and it works better then you fighting over lasthits at bot.


- You halfto deal with 2v1 pressure alot of the time.
- You cant go B as often as you need to because if you leave, the turret is dead. *Wich is why is a must if you solo top*

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+ You have a teamate who can help you apply presure.
+ You can go back if you need to *IE. Heal* without fear of loosing the turret.



- You need to either A) Give up farming. B) Share your farm of C) Get all the farm cause your lanning with a support, when the support should be lanning with a carry.

Galio should not lane with everyone because he needs lasthits. Though some need it more then him. Lets say he lanes with a Ashe, who gets the last hits? Ashe by far. Same with any AD carry.

Galios Lane Buddys:
Any AD Bruser or AP Carry can lane with Galio, Like.
-Kassadin
-Monkey King
-Lee Sin
-Nasus
or similar Champions.

Galios Lane Foes:
Any AD Carry because they need lasthits more then him. Other Tanks or Supports are nice for farm but are not ideal for they are more usefull lanning with AD Carrys or AP Carrys, not a tank.
-Trynd
-Ashe
-MF
-Cait
-Soraka
-Rammus
or similar people.

Now im not saying Galio should take every single lasthit. He should have about half and share them with his lane partner. His partner should have some, but he needs them. 50/50 it with your partner.

"Hi im Bob, my team just forced me to go bot with an AD carry and/or a annoying teamate who wont share lasthits, what do I do?"

Very good question Bob, now here is how I handle being LASTHIT DENIED

After I get my Philosopher's Stone I get a to compensate for the lack farm *Yes I get it before or to maximize the gold*. This brings your farm up to 10 Gold per 10 or 10 Gold a secound. After about 30 minutes *or around 35 minutes into the game* you can sell it *or upgrade it into * knowing its more then payed for itself *NOTE: I usually upgrade it or sell it last! even after Philosopher's Stone*

If you are serious about ranks then you wanna only play champs who are ranked viable. So for those of you who would like to know if he is ranked viable, my anwser is this.

Yes/Usually/No.

If the enemy team is heavy ap, then Yes he is VERY viable.
If the enemy team is half and half ad/ap then id say he is viable.
If they are 4 ad and 1 ap kinda team, I would say no. Go rammus.
If they have HEAVY cc stun's and surpress' *If they can cancel your ult easily* then no.

But for normal games, he is amazing for that. and yes, I use him in ranks.

My overall win/loss with him in ranks is 51% win *actually 51.2*, but it should be higher since I changed how I play him. I was at 9/16 Win Loss with him in ranked, but then I completly changed how I played to this build here today. Im now at 21/20 and proud of how much I climbed. I can honestly say this build is the best way I have ever seen Galio played and ever since ive changed to this build, ive only gotten better in ranks and normals.

Now I bit u, fellow Galio friends, Adieu. I hope you read this whole guide, and if you liked it, please rate it up and leave a warm fuzzy comment to make me happy. If there is anything here you would argue with, leave me a comment below and il either prove im right or admit I was wrong then change the guide :)

Goodbye, and have a happy tanking

-Published August 14th, 2011

-Aug 14-Aug 20: *Log wasnt made yet* A few item changes, more HP items added, thanks to a comment from Iscariot5

-Aug 21:
-Aegis added to build and becomes a core item thanks to the Complete Balance build, wich made me rethink the item.
-Offtank AP Galio added to the build.
-Tittle changed to add *Updated Daily* into the name.

-Aug 22:
-Chapter "Solo Top:" added.
-Chapter "Lasthits Denied:" added.
-Item Added: Heart of Gold.

-Aug 26:
-Items Added: Quicksilver Sash & Shurelya's Reverie.

-Aug 27:
-Rewrote and Reformatted: "Farming:", "Galios Laning Friends:" and "Solo Top" into
"Farming:" "Lane or Solo:" and "Galios Laning Friends:"
-Reformated "Pros and Cons:", "Masteries:" and "Runes:" thanks to How To Make A Build
-Redecorated the whole build.

-Aug 28:
-Chapter: "Situational Builds" added

-September 11:
-Chapter: "Chalice?:" added
-Made Chalice of Harmony a *Situational* item in the "Core Item" section.
-Rewrote some "Situational Builds" to not all have Chalice of Harmony and Changed "RoA" for "FoN" in the VS AP team.