Garen Build Guide by Betrome

Introduction

From what I can tell, a lot of people still recommend building Garen as a tank or an off tank who only gets 200 attack damage. Sure he might be hard to kill, but it doesn't matter if you can't kill the enemy quickly and effectively. that's what this build is for: a build that gives you nearly 300 attack damage while still being bulky. And for team two, you can still play the role of the tank, but you get 330 attack damage! That's AMAZING!

The numbers lie!

Some of Garen's stats are not correct.
They should be:
Team 1:
Attack Damage 292.41
Armor 150.29
Magic resist 115.91
Movement speed 462.15

Team 2:
Health 3703
Hp5 64.3
Attack Damage 332.21
Armor 161.9
Magic resist 162.8
Movement speed 462.15

Pros and Cons Please

PROS:

• You can kill nearly anybody(I still don't recommend chasing Singed though).
• You are still pretty bulky (for a killing machine).
• You can even catch Master Yi!
• The ultimate kill secure!
• 25 minute trinity force ftw!

CONS:

• You have to kill champions to get your items quickly.
• You'll be focused, even though it won't help them much.
• you aren't invincible.
• teammates might rage at you for getting Trinity Force (at least it's not a Hextech Gunblade.

What's with the trinity force?

Good question. Garen's Decisive Strike procs Trinity Force's passive, which would make it deal about 700 damage. That's effectively a single target nuke on a 6 second cool down (that's including cdr). Not to mention that Trinity Force also gives you health, attack speed, critical chance, and the all important movement speed.

Ok, how about those movement speed quints?

I used to question using movement speed quints too, But before using them it seemed like I couldn't quite reach my target before they escaped. Having the extra movement speed makes it easier for you to:

• catch your target.
• escape after taking down a turret/inhibitor.
• makes getting around a lot faster (especially with [Decisive Strike]).

Why the heck do you have 22 points in utility?

I run 22 points in the utility tree for a couple of reasons:

• The bonus experience lets you get ahead in levels quickly, so you can crush the other champion (or two) that are top.
• The extra gold at the beginning of the game helps you stay in lane for much, much longer.
• The cool down reduction increases your damage output quite a bit.
• The other trees help you most early game, but the utility tree is useful through late game.

One last question, why teleport and ignite?

Well, Teleport is the best mobility tool. You can teleport to a tower to save it, or to finish it off, and it gets you more time on the field and less time running around. It also lets you help out a teammate if he's in a losing battle. And, because of his awesome amount of movement speed, you don't need Ghost or Flash to escape or initiate.

Ignite is great for finishing off a champion if Demacian Justice doesn't. It's also nice against champions like Dr. Mundo or Tryndamere to counter their ultimates. Exhaust is also a good thing to have against ad carries and other melees, but I still prefer Ignite.

The Skill Sequence

Below I have Garen's skills and a blurb on each of them.


(Innate): Garen will regenerate 0.5% of his maximum health per second after not receiving damage for 7 seconds. The regenerative state will stop if Garen receives damage.

Perseverance is what allows you to stay in lane forever. If you're ever low on health just stick by your tower or jump in a bush for a bit. It's also nice whenever you are running around.


(Active): Garen gains bonus movement speed for 4 seconds, in addition his next melee attack within 6 seconds will deal physical damage and silence its target for 2.5 seconds.
No cost
Cooldown: 12 / 11 / 10 / 9 / 8 seconds
Total Physical Damage: 30 / 45 / 60 / 75 / 90 (+1.4 per attack damage)
Bonus Movement Speed: 15 / 20 / 25 / 30 / 35%

Decisive Strike is pretty much the only cc Garen has, but it's all he needs. At level 18 one hit from this would deal 554 damage, but with Trinity Force it deals 787. Impressive, no?


(Passive): Garen's armor and magic resistance are permanently increased by 0.5 every time he kills an enemy unit. Garen can gain a maximum of 25 armor and magic resistance.
(Active): Garen places a defensive shield on himself, decreasing all damage taken by a percentage for 3 seconds.
No cost
Cooldown: 30 / 27 / 24 / 21 / 18 seconds
Damage Reduced: 20 / 24 / 28 / 32 / 36%

Courage is the move that makes you unkillable. The Damage reduction is amazing in team fights, and it's passive makes you much tankier early game. Getting one point in this early lets you max its passive earlier, thus making you harder to kill.


(Active): Garen rapidly spins his sword around his body for 3 seconds, removing all existing slows and reducing the duration of new slows by 50%, plus dealing physical damage to nearby enemies every half second. Minions and neutral monsters only take half damage from this ability. Garen can deactivate Judgment early by activating the ability again after 0.5 seconds. Garen cannot use Decisive Strike or Demacian Justice while Judgment is in effect. Judgment's damage can critically strike, in which case, only the bonus damage will be multiplied.
No cost
Radius of AoE: 330
Cooldown: 13 / 12 / 11 / 10 / 9 seconds
Physical Damage Per Second: 50 / 90 / 130 / 170 / 210 (+1.4 per bonus attack damage)
Total Physical Damage: 150 / 270 / 390 / 510 / 630 (+4.2 per bonus attack damage)

This is Garen's bread and butter skill, and is also his main source of damage. Maxing this first ensures that the damage you deal is always head of the others. Late game, Judgment would deal a total of 1558 to one enemy, without critical strikes! Remember that this is an AoE ability.


(Active): Garen brings down Demacian Justice on his opponent, dealing magic damage, plus additional magic damage based on how much health his opponent is missing.
No cost
Range: 400
Cooldown: 140 / 120 / 100 seconds
Magic Damage: 175 / 350 / 525
Additional 1 Damage per: 3.5 / 3 / 2.5 target's missing health

Demacian Justice is your kill secure. It can kill any champion once they have less than 25% hp at level 3 and it is a great way to start a killing spree.

In a team fight

You just finished your build and you initiate a team fight. Here's what would if the enemy team's armor and magic resist reduced your damage by half:

You initiate with Decisive Strike on their AP caster, silencing them and taking out half of his health. You immediately use Courage to decrease the damage you take and then use Judgment. You spin through the team, killing everybody. You finish off by using Demacian Justice on one champion and Decisive Strike on the last one. Look at that, you just got a pentakill.

Total Physical Damage: 4682
Total Magic Damage: 863

And to think that you just dealt over 5000 damage in 6 seconds. Amazing.

In conclusion

I thought about making a big, long Here's How You Play Garen, but he's the easiest champion to use. you initiate with Decisive Strike; use Courage; spin with Judgement; and finish everyone off with Demacian Justice, Ignite, and auto attacks. And the example team fight above should help you execute this simple combo.

My final piece of advice: Use bushes to your advantage and make sure you auto attack Pantheon once before using Decisive Strike. I wish you luck in your endeavors and be sure to try this build out before you rate it.

All Ability stats taken from here.

Edits

Edit 1: Took out my ad for ap Nasus. made the team fight more realistic.