Why Flat Armor/MR runes when you can get per level runes that work much better late game? Early game Garen is hard to harass and sits in the bushes to heal and Judgment anyone who dares facecheck. In my opinion the early Armor/MR isn't needed, especially if you have Flat HP quints.

Items are nice, but I recommend you get boots first for a chance of First blood.

And also, getting both sunfires or even one before a FoN would probably be better, sunfires help farm better, hurt more, and FoN gives more hps when you got hp, ha.

Nice build, really helped out when none of my team picked a tank character :D

Pretty awsome build but you have to be very good at last-hitting early for this build and his courage passive to build up and be a rock that wont break late-game.Not really a build for new players in my suggestion but +1 anyhow very good and solid build

Very nice build if the game is pulled into late-late game. Its pretty difficult to get kills early with better than average players. But once you have atleast teh 3 capes its kickass time. best garen build i loved it thanks ;o +1

In terms of choosing Boots or Swiftness of Mercury Treads it should really be based on what sort of team your up against. Although most teams will have at least 2 heroes with CC if say one of them was a hero with a "soft" CC such as a slow rather than an outright stun, you can really bypass Mercury and go for Swiftness for that extra movement and mobility.
In regards to Atma's, the extra damage isn't going to really do anything much late game. Your better off going the recommendations that Fortune put up for a 6th item.

its a matter of personal preference, i prefer mercury treads over boots of swiftness, because getting CC'd means the enemy can just ignore you and kill your allies, meaning youre not doing your job correctly. you must be able to shrug off CC's and pummel the enemy.

and regarding atmas, this build relies on armour and magic resistance more than HP (your only HP boost comes from runes+ sunfires) and as such the bonus damage from atmas is not as great as it could be. as i said, all a matter of personal preference. try an atmas as a 6th item?

Good build, but have you considered boots of swiftness and atma's impaler, They give a nice damage boost without hurting your defense that much

haha glad to have helped, xj9.

Awesome build, just went 8-1-11 with it!

Thank you you actually wrote the cons I always noticed late game tank Garens power begins to fade because the raw power of Judgement starts to fade good guide man I still don't like tanking Garen though.

ima try this build out when i can. looks solid :D.

no +/- yet since well i haven't tried it XD