Garen Build Guide by LiberatorXZ

Introduction

I AM NO LONGER SUPPORTING THIS GUIDE. THIS WILL NOW BE ARCHIVED.

Garen

Pros / Cons

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Pros + Great damage early game + Very easy to master + Great durability in lane + One of the best champions for solo top + Easy to escape enemies

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Cons - Not very good late game unless you're really fed - Must know when to use ultimate at the right time - Not effective against tanks like Rammus - Thornmail can gives enemies higher chances of surviving and you dieing

Runes

Runes
Greater Mark of Armor Penetration 9	Greater Seal of Armor 9	Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist 9	Greater Quintessence of Armor Penetration 3

• greater quintessence of desolation: I have chosen this rune because people are most likely to get armor since you have high damage. With this, you'll still do a great amount of damage against a tank. Without it, you'd be doing much, weaker damage against a tank.
  
• greater mark of desolation: This has the same reason as the quintessence, it will help you do much more damage against a tank!
  
• Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist: Many people ignore magic resistance. It's best to be prepared because you may be fighting against an AP champion!
  
• Greater Seal of Armor: This will help you if you're fighting against an AD champion and will help keep you alive much longer.

Masteries

Masteries

1/1

3/4

3/4

1/1

4/3

1/1

1/2

3/3

3/1

1/4

2/3

3/4

3/3

1/2

• Summoner's Wrath is obviously useful since I am using the summoner spells Ignite and Exhaust.
• I master Brute Force , Deadliness , Havoc , and Executioner because I am going AD Garen and want as much AD as possible.
• I get Weapon Expertise and Sunder so I can deal much more damage against tanks if needed.
• Alacrity , Demolitionist , and Vampirism is mastered because I have nothing else to master and need to move on.
• Resistance , Hardiness , Durability , and Veteran's Scars is mastered because it will help you stay in your lane more longer.

Items

• : This is the perfect boot for Garen because he needs that movement speed. He is very slow without boots. Even though Decisive Strike gives movement speed, it won't always be there to give you movement speed.
  
• : Why not give Garen some HP? Not only does this give some HP but will also give +20 attack damage. Not a bad deal is it?
  
• : This item will provide some damage for Garen as well as some armor penetration which will help against tanky champions.
  
• : Have you ever tried criting with Garen? Trust me, having critical chances on Garen is awesome. It also works with your E too. Don't forget the damage Infinity Edge provides.
  
• : This is very useful since now you should have around 2,800 HP. With Atma's Impaler, it will turn 1.5% of your maximum HP to attack damage. It also provides armor and more critical chances which goes with your Infinity Edge.
  
• : This item will provide you more attack damage and give you some life steal. You can increase your attack damage up to 100. More attack damage is good!

Summoner Spells

Exhaust: Gives you a chance to get first blood, very useful for solo top. May save you from getting ganked by a jungler.

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Ignite: Useful for reducing heal for an enemy or take out an enemy at a very low health.

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Flash: Useful for escaping ganks. However, you already have Decisive Strike to help you run away from a gank and Exhaust as well.

Exhaust

Ignite

Flash

Ignite

Skills

• Hide in bushes to heal and avoid going to close to minions or they will cancel your passive.
• Go back to your base to heal if you really have super low health.
• Make sure you're still able to gain exp while using this passive. Don't go out of lane just to heal, you need exp too!

• Don't be afraid to use this ability for some movement speed because Garen doesn't use mana or energy.
• Use this ability to escape or chase your enemies down!
• Last hit minions with this skill.

• Use this ability to reduce damage from towers.
• Remember to use this ability when fighting an enemy, you want to reduce as much damage as possible done to you!
• Farm some minions to gain some armor and magic resist.

• Use this ability on an enemy after using Decisive Strike so you can get near to them enough!
• Don't use this ability to farm early game because it won't do much damage to minions.
• If your going against a champion that can stun like Sion for example, try to activate this skill before he can stun you so you can at least deal some damage to him.

Demacian Justice

• Use this skill to kill enemies with low health escaping team fights!
• Only use this skill if the target's health is low and you think that this ability can really kill him!

Skill Sequence

Ability Sequence
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18

> > >

My skill sequence starts with Decisive Strike which I try to level up when possible, but for the first three levels I take all 3 abilities before attempting to max Decisive Strike. At level 6, I should obviously take my ultimate: Demacian Justice. After, I continue to level up my Q until I reach level 8 where I have to level up Judgment. At level 9, Decisive Strike is finally at it's maxed level.

The next skill I start to max out is Judgment. You may have noticed that I ignored Courage because I'm not aiming to be a tank. At level 11 and 16, you should be leveling up Demacian Justice. At level 15, you can finally start to level up Courage after you maxed Judgment.

Farming

Garen

Decisive Strike

Judgment

Team Work

LeBlanc

Demacian Justice

Summary

Perseverance

Decisive Strike

Best Matches

Send me your best matches of Garen and it may just be posted here!

Update Log

- Did a little editing in the Items section. - May 12, 2012
- Added a Skills section to provide tips and tricks. - May 12, 2012.
- Items have been switched a little. - May 12, 2012.
- Guide is finally released. - May 10, 2012.

Future Updates

- Upcoming section: Item Sequence will be available.
- Upcoming section: Alternate Items will be available.
- More details and suggestions for this guide may be added in.
- More creative codes will be used.
- Best matches with Garen will be posted.
- Pictures & videos will be added in.
- Mistakes found in this guide will be fixed. (If there are any....)