Garen the Might of Demacia

I created and use this build as an early game harrasser/initiator/turret diver. To a mid game roamer/ganker. With late game offtank/DPS. I seldomly go negative on the scoreboard and find myself a pivotal role in our team.

In my opinion, Garen is by far the best Offtank/DPS by a long shot. His Early-Game is devastating. His Mid-Game is gamebreaking and his Late-Game is Dominating if played right. With practice, patience and perseverance. You will master Garen and become one of the biggest contributors to your games. I Garen'Tee it!

Below I will explain things in more detail.

Pros -
1. Easy to Play
2. No Mana/Energy
3. Devastating Ultimate
4. Great Roamer/Ganker
5. Awesome HP Regen

Cons -
1. Not a pure Tank
2. Not a pure DPS
3. Cooldown Dependant
4. People run from you
5. You will make the other team cry

Passive:

Perseverance

Garen Regens 0.5% of his max health per second after not recieving damage for 7 seconds.

Basically if you get harrassed alot, just stand back defensively or hop in a bush and you'll regain HP almost as fast as you would from a health pot. Just remember if you get hit you stop regening HP. So be constantly aware of your surroundings if your trying to regain HP.

Q Ability:

Decisive Strike

Garen's next attack strikes a vital area of his foe, dealing bonus damage and silencing them. Also increases your movement speed by 15% untill you hit an enemy or it wears off.

This ability is a great opener to use, especially if going up against someone with some form of crowd control or snares. I usually use this either for its Silence in team fights or to help close the distance between me and my enemy.

W Ability:

Courage

Garen's kills increase his armor and magic resistance. He may also activate this ability to give himself a damage-reducing shield.

This ability's passive stacks your armor/magic resist. While its Active gives you a straight 20% damage reduction for a short period of time. Making this a great skill to pickup early game to start stacking the passive and a great team fight ability with its damage reduction.

E Ability:

Judgment

Garen performs a dance of death with his sword, dealing damage around him for 3 seconds, and reducing the duration of slows by 50%. Garen removes any slow effects on him at the start of the dance.

This is your bread and butter ability. Most famously known as "Spin to Win". You basically spin like crazy and do damage every second for 3 seconds. I usually use this ability after Decisive Strike. This ability is AMAZING for teamfights as you will shread the entire opposing teams hp. Also it is good for farming creeps or jungle mobs.

R Ability: (Ultimate)

Demacian Justice

Garen calls upon the might of Demacia to deal a finishing blow to an enemy champion that deals damage based upon how much life his target has missing.

Garens Execute: This is by far one of the best ultimates in the game. It is not AD/AP based it is dependant on how much HP is missing from ur enemy. If your enemy is at 3/8's HP chances are you will kill them, wheither they are a tank or not this ulti is amazing. It is also great for kill stealing!

Runes -

Greater Mark of Desolationx9 - Garen is a physical damage dealer so this is a must.

x9 - Helpful against early game harrassment.

x9 - Helpful against early game harrassment.

Greater Quintessence of Desolationx3 - Garen is a physical damage dealer so this is a must.


Masteries -

24/6/0 - A primarily focus on Offense with a little Defensive flavor.

Even though you are building Garen as an Offtank, having the majority of your points in the offensive tree gives you that extra little bit you need to be that devastating deathdealer.

Offense:
Crit%
Cooldown Reduction
Armor Pen
Extra Attack Damage
Crit Damage

Defense:
Extra Armor
Extra Magic Resist


Summoner Spells -

There are many viable options of Summoner Spells Garen can use effectively. Any of the followings are usefull so choose at your own risk.

Flash
Flash is a MUST have, PERIOD. Allows you to close the distance of a runner or make a quick get away from a gank.

Exhaust
Exhuast is my personal preferance to help with runners or to escape someone chasing you near death.

Ghost
Ghost is nice for its obvious reasons, who can't use extra run speed!

Ignite
Ignite is a great summoner spell for getting First Bloods and to catch that guy who normally just barely gets away with a sliver of HP.

Below is the sequence of items I use and buy:

Doran's Shield
Early Game is all about lane presence and dominance. Since your masteries focus on Offense you can pick this up for its extra HP, HP Regen and armor to make you more beasty within the first few minutes of the match.

Boots of Swiftness
Mobility is absolute KEY with Garen, people aren't going to stand still while you Spin to Win on them, so having extra mobility will help u stay with your enemies.

Warmog's Armor
I start off with buying a Giants Belt first then saving the 1890g required to complete. This item will allow you to tower dive and be a great initiator with your large HP pool.

Atma's Impaler
Combined with Warmog's this item gives you more survivability and also gives you your first dosage of AD. So now you are Tanky AND can pack a punch.

Infinity Edge
I start off with buying the B.F Sword then saving the 2180g required to complete. Once you build this you will be doing 400 damage per scond with your Spin to Win! Plus your criticals will deal 250% instead of 200%.

Frozen Mallet
I start with Giants Belt since it will give you an extra 28 damage from atmas instead of the 23 damage phage gives you. This item will give you more HP making you have around 4k+ HP and will also slow enemies on hit. Can't beat that!

The Black Cleaver
Again start with a B.F Sword then save to complete. This will give you more AD and more Armor Pen for those awesome Spin to Win's. Nuff said.

Once you have completed all the item's listed above you should be around 4.5k HP 300 AD. Making yourself one hell of a teamfighter and Late-Game Dominator.

Laning Partners: Anyone with some form of stun/root/snare will net you the most kills early game.

Early Game -

Learn your E Ability(Judgement), Buy your Doran's Shield and head to your lane. If you are with a compitent lane partner then go ahead and rush to the brush and wait for the opposing champions to face-check the brush. First blood is fairly easy with Garen and your Spin to Win. Don't be afraid to use Exhaust/Flash here to get that First Blood!

You can afford to be somewhat balsy, you have alot of defense and you can pack quite a punch. So don't be afraid to try and zone the opposing team. Play smart, last hit your mobs for increased gold and be aware of you surroundings.

If everything goes well, once your level 6 start roaming and ganking. ((If you roam, make sure while in other lanes you stay long enough to soak enough XP to keep you on par with your opponents. Jungling with Garen isn't effective with the build)). Try not to go back to base untill you have 1450+ gold so you can buy your Boots of Speed and Giant's Belt before heading back into the lanes.

Mid Game -

Around 20 minutes in, you have either pissed off the opposing team and they surrendered from your dominance or your team surrendered because your teamates are lame, or the game is continueing on evenly matched. Given the later, by now you should have your Warmog's complete and starting to work on your Atma's Impaler. Keep up your laning/Ganking to ensure a healthy intake of gold to build your items. You are very Tanky and can do effective damage, don't be afraid to initiate team fights and to take a 2v1. Just play smart and keep buying your items. Push lanes and help teamates as often as you can.


Late Game -

You are a devastating powerhouse at this point. You should have atleast your Warmog's, Atma's Impaler and Infinity Edge. Keep working towards the Frozen Mallet and The Black Cleaver to help in teamfights.

Your team should be pushing as a full force ganksquad at this point. Taking towers, Jungles and Baron aswell. You are a pivotal role in this point in the game because this is where YOU shine. You are "nearly" unkillable, you dish out damage like the rest and you are great at getting those essential killing blows. Make sure you work well with your team and stay with the main group. You shouldn't be wondering off on your own at this point in the game. You need to be a team player. So be there for every teamfight, rack in those kills/assists and dominate the opposing team.


Zone Control -

If you don't know what zone control is, last hitting or basic knowledge of Leage of Legends then I suggest you watch this video below:
Play Video

I have posted this guide as I am always complimented on my gameplay with Garen. So I figured it would be a good idea to share with the community how I play Garen. I realize nobody is perfect and not everyone will make this build work. So to that extent I ask you to be kind with your feedback and posts and to give it an honest try!

Garen is one of my favorite champions to play with, Learn em, Live em, Love em!

Thank you,
Delirios